Heidi Godman Executive Editor, Harvard Health Letter. Recently she and Dr. Howard LeWine, and internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, collaborated on a review of 10 of the easiest ways to promote good health in the new year. You can read the full article at https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/beyond-the-usual-suspects-for-healthy-resolutions-202401243010 and check out their 10 tips below!

Review your health portals

Your medical information is kept in electronic records. You have access to them through the patient portal associated with your doctor’s office. Set aside time to update portal passwords and peruse recent records of appointments, test results, and notes your doctor took during your visits.

“Many studies have shown that when patients review the notes, they remember far better what went on during interactions with their clinicians, take their medicines more effectively, and pick up on errors — whether it’s an appointment they forgot to make or something their doctor, nurse, or therapist got wrong in documenting an encounter,” says Dr. Tom Delbanco, the John F. Keane & Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and cofounder of the OpenNotes initiative, which led shared clinician notes to become the new standard of care.

Doing this can help you become more engaged in your care. “We know from numerous studies that engaged patients who share decisions with those caring for them have better outcomes,” he adds.

Ask about health insurance freebies

Your insurance plan may offer perks that can lead to better health, such as:

• weight loss cessation programs
• quit-smoking programs
• free or reduced gym memberships.

Some insurers even offer breastfeeding counseling and equipment. Call your insurance company or take a close look at their website to find out if there’s anything that would help you.

Get rid of expired medications

Scour your cabinets for expired or unneeded drugs, which pose dangers for you and others. Look for prescription and over-the-counter medications (pills, potions, creams, lotions, droppers, or aerosol cans) as well as supplements (vitamins, minerals, herbs).

Bring your finds to a drug take-back site, such as a drugstore or law enforcement office, or a medical waste collection site such as the local landfill.

As a last resort, toss medications into the trash, but only after mixing them with unappealing substances (such as cat litter or used coffee grounds) and placing the mixture in a sealable plastic bag or container.

Invest in new sneakers

The wrong equipment can sabotage any exercise routine, and for many people the culprit is a worn pair of sneakers. Inspect yours for holes, flattened arch support, and worn treads. New sneakers could motivate you to jazz up your walking or running routine.

For example, if it’s in the budget, buy a new pair of walking shoes with a wide toe box, cushy insoles, good arch support, a sturdy heel counter (the part that goes around your heel), stretchy uppers, and the right length — at least half an inch longer than your longest toe.

Cue up a new health app

There are more than 350,000 health apps geared toward consumer health. They can help you with everything from managing your medications or chronic disease to providing instruction and prompts for improving diet, sleep, or exercise routines, enhancing mental health, easing stress, practicing mindfulness, and more.

Hunt for apps that are free or offer a free trial period for a test drive. Look for good reviews, strong privacy guardrails, apps that don’t collect too much information from you, and those that are popular — with hundreds of thousands or millions of downloads.

Make a schedule for health screenings and visits

Is it time for a colonoscopy, mammogram, hearing test, prostate check, or comprehensive eye exam? Has it been a while since you had a dermatologist examine the skin on your whole body? Should you have a cholesterol test or other blood work — and when is a bone density test helpful?

If you’re not sure, call your primary care provider or any specialists on your health team to get answers.

Four more simple healthy steps

The list of steps you can take this year to benefit your health can be as long as you’d like it to be. Jot down goals any time you think of them.

Here are four solid steps to start you off:

• Take some deep breaths each day. A few minutes of daily slow, deep breathing can help lower your blood pressure and ease stress.
• Get a new pair of sunglasses if your old ones have worn lenses. Make sure the new pair has UV protection (a special coating) to block the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light, which can cause eye damage and lead to permanent vision loss.
• Make a few lunch dates or phone dates with friends you haven’t seen in a while. Being socially connected wards off loneliness and isolation, which can help lower certain health risks.
• Do a deep cleaning on one room in your home per week. Dust and mold can trigger allergies, asthma, and even illness.

You don’t have to do all of these activities at once. Just put them on your to-do list, along with the larger resolutions you’re working on. Now you’ll have a curated list of goals of varying sizes. The more goals you reach, the better you’ll feel. And that will make for a very healthy year, indeed.

Happy New Year!

Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA is a clinical psychologist by training, and currently serves as Chief Clinical Officer at Calm. Over at Calm, Dr. Mosunic recently published a brief piece encouraging us all to have a more mindful new year. Included in this piece are 20 reflection questions to help you get going, which you can find below and at the full article at https://blog.calm.com/blog/new-year-questions.

• Looking back on 2024…
  • What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
  • What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them?
  • What moments brought you the most joy?
  • What did you learn about yourself this year?
  • Who made a positive impact on your life, and how did they help you?
  • What are you most grateful for as the year ends?
  • How did you spend your time, and did it align with your priorities?
  • What habits served you well, and which ones didn’t?
  • What are you proud of that you didn’t expect to achieve?
  • If you could sum up this year in one word, what would it be?

• Looking ahead to 2025…
  • What do you want more of in the new year?
  • What is one habit or routine you’d like to start in 2025?
  • What are your top three priorities for the year ahead?
  • How will you take care of your mental and physical health in 2025?
  • What are you excited to learn or try this year? H
  • What is one thing you’ll say no to in the new year?
  • How will you make time for the people who matter most?
  • What is one way you can be kinder to yourself in 2025?
  • If 2025 is your dream year, what happens?
  • What is your guiding word or phrase for the year?

The winter holidays can be challenging for some. While this can be a joyful time for some, for others this same span can involve many complex emotions based on holidays passed. Last year Dr. Jill Suttie took some time to reflect on these joys and challenges and shares her thoughts on how to navigate things as best we can. Below is a summary of her recommendations:

Add small, pleasant activities to your life. Making time every day to do something that brings you a little joy—whether that’s grabbing coffee at the local café, talking to a friend, quilting, or watching a sunset—can help balance the difficulties of the holidays with more positive experiences.

Move your body—even if it’s just a little. Exercise of any kind—walking, biking, weightlifting, dancing—is proven to be mood-boosting and is important for overall health, too.

Try meditating or practicing self-compassion. Making yourself more aware of your feelings and thoughts and learning to accept them (rather than just pushing them away) can help some people manage their moods. And, in the midst of your suffering, it can be good to remember that others feel this way, too, and to offer yourself kindness.

Connect with other people. Sometimes, we just need to stop avoiding social interactions and start connecting with people—friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, even strangers. Try calling an old friend, asking a colleague to coffee, waving at your neighbor, or greeting your local grocer or mail carrier. These small interactions can make you happier.

Give thanks for small blessings. Try starting a gratitude journal, where you write down a few small things you feel grateful for every day. Don’t try to be grateful for things you’re not happy about, though—you don’t have to paint a smiley face on difficult things. But look for the small, good things in your life—like a delicious cup of coffee, your pet’s soft fur, a beautiful winter sky, or your child’s goofy grin—and say thanks to yourself for those small blessings.

The below is provided by Madisyn Taylor and Scott Blum at the DailyOM. The full article and resources can be accessed at https://www.dailyom.com/inspiration/worth-the-time/

Ironically, when we get busy, the first thing that tends to get cut is our meditation practice. We have less time and a lot on our plates, so it makes sense that this happens. But in the end, it doesn’t really help us. Most of us know from experience that we function much better when we give ourselves time each day to sit in silence. And the more we have to do, the more we need that solitary, quiet time for the day ahead. While it may sound counterintuitive, it is during busy times that we need to spend more time in meditation rather than less. By being quiet and listening to the universe, we will be given what we need to get through our day.

Expanding our morning meditation by just 10 minutes can make a big difference, as can the addition of short meditations into our daily schedule. No matter how busy we are, unless we are in the midst of a crisis, we always have five or 10 minutes to spare. The key is convincing ourselves that spending that time in meditation is the most fruitful choice. We could be getting our dishes done or heading into work earlier instead, so it’s important that we come to value the importance of meditation in the context of all the other things competing for attention in our lives. All we have to do to discover whether it works to meditate more when we are busy is to try it.

We can start by creating more time in the morning, either by getting up earlier or by preparing breakfast the night before and using the extra time for meditation. We also can add short meditation breaks into our schedule, from five minutes before or after lunch to a meditation at night before we go to sleep. When we come from a place of centered calm, we are more effective in handling our busy schedules and more able to keep it all in perspective. If more time in meditation means less time feeling anxious, panicky, and overwhelmed, then it’s certainly worth the extra time.

The aboveis provided by Madisyn Taylor and Scott Blum at the DailyOM. The full article and resources can be accessed at https://www.dailyom.com/inspiration/worth-the-time/

This post was adapted from “To help someone going through a crisis, use these 7 words” from NPR Shots. Read the full story at https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/26/nx-s1-5205605/empathy-emotional-support-listening-relationships

Kelly Corrigan has written four New York Times bestselling memoirs in the last decade. She has written many Op-Eds, hosts a very busy podcast, and much more. To say Kelly is a communication maven is an understatement. And yet when her daughters became tweens, Corrigan stood ready to help them with the troubles and travails of that delicate time, ready to solve any problems that came their way. Spoiler alert: it did not end well.

But then one day her daughter Georgia called crying while Corrigan happened to be in a car with a friend who was a therapist, so she put the phone on speaker. Georgia said she hated sixth grade. All the girls in class were turning on her for no reason. Corrigan’s friend whispered: “Say ‘tell me more.’ ” Corrigan echoed it to her daughter: “Tell me more.” Georgia went on complaining. “Say ‘that sounds really hard,'” whispered the therapist-in-training. “That sounds so hard,” Corrigan said to Georgia. “It is!” Georgia replied.

An important lesson was learned that day, and it is one we can all learn. When a family member or friend is struggling emotionally, using phrases like these can unlock a deeper connection, and it’s far more powerful than giving advice, says Corrigan.

Briefly, the steps toward truly supporting someone you care about through a difficult time can be summarized as follows:

• Hold off on problem solving: offering a solution Corrigan says it can be “kind of humiliating” if someone brings their problem to you and you just solve it right away. “Because, basically, the underlying message of that is what are you so upset about? Like, it’s not that hard to figure this out,” says Corrigan.
• Learn the seven words: “Tell me more…” “Go on…” “What else?” These words give them space to tell their story, to feel loved and accepted no matter how heavy the things are that they want to share. “You can get pretty far in life just with those seven words,” Corrigan says.
• Practice emotional hospitality: Love is not one size fits all, Corrigan says. For example, if you’re caring for children, remember that not all kids like to be hugged (or adults for that matter). “If I were to custom design a feeling for you, what would the shape of it be? What would the sound of it be?” Corrigan asks. But don’t pressure yourself to say just the right thing when someone is unburdening their pain, she says. Instead, practice “emotional hospitality,” where you create a comforting environment with your presence, inviting the other person to open up: “Tell me something. I’m here.”
• Tune in: Love can be quiet and still. Corrigan says when the going gets tough for a loved one, she gets a strong urge to jump into action mode. “Everything in me wants to grab a clipboard, make a to-do list and start calendaring appointments,” she says. She says there’s a better way. Instead of reassuring a person or minimizing their misgivings, listen. The idea, she says, is to telegraph to that person that “I’m going to absorb this thing with you. I’m going to mirror your seriousness about it. And maybe that can let you rest.”

This post was adapted from “To help someone going through a crisis, use these 7 words” from NPR Shots. Read the full story at https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/11/26/nx-s1-5205605/empathy-emotional-support-listening-relationships

Marian Altman, PhD, RN, CNS-BC, CCRN-K is a Clinical Practice Specialist with over 37 years of experience as a critical care nurse, including 30 years as an advanced practice RN. In her time she has learned quite a bit about the importance of gratitude and how to express it.

In one of her recent publication she shared that “Gratitude is the ability to recognize goodness in both your life and in the actions of others. Practicing gratitude helps you shift your focus from a glass half empty to a glass half full; or from what your life lacks to what it has.”

You can read her full article on the website of The American Asociation of Crtical-Care Nurses , and below are some tips she offers on how to get started in the practice of gratitude:

• Write a thank you note, send a text or email to others expressing why you are grateful and specifically how you benefited or what was meaningful to you.
• Tell someone when you appreciate them – not only for the big things but for small things too.
• Be specific in your gratitude. Instead of only saying thank you, add thank you for … and then share exactly why you are grateful.
• Appreciate another person’s wins, including small victories.
• Start a gratitude journal. Write down three things you are grateful for as you start or end your day. These could be positive thoughts, emotions or interactions you experienced. If you don’t want to write, then think about three things you are grateful for each day.
• Use an app such as Gratitude Plus that allows you to track your gratitudes and sends a daily reminder to help you develop the habit. Or engage a gratitude partner who can help you remember to share.
• Sign up for Thnx4, the Greater Good Science Center’s online journal, which prompts you to share and document thanks on a regular basis.
• Give thanks at bedtime to help get your mind in a peaceful state for sleep. It doesn’t have to be something significant – maybe that hot cup of coffee, a sunny day or the beautiful foliage on your walkway.

https://www.aacn.org/blog/share-gratitude-during-thanksgiving-and-all-year

Recently, CNN published an article suggesting that standing desks may be bad for your health, new research finds. The article highlights that, while the sale of standing desks has been substantial, a new study from Australia involving over 83,000 participants actually found that prolonged standing may not improve heart health and could even increase the risk of certain circulatory problems.

These findings suggest that simply swapping sitting for standing isn’t a perfect solution. Our bodies respond better to regular movement rather than static positions, whether that’s sitting or standing. Incorporating short walks, stretching or light exercises throughout the day can interrupt long periods of inactivity and offer significant health benefits.

So what do we do about this? Cooper Operational Excellence Specialist Jennifer Garefino shared with us a recent post on Pulse+ “10 Exercises to Do at Your Desk.” Can’t access the pulse? We are including them below. And, with the holidays just around the corner, we encourage you to get moving now!

Hand and Finger Stretches

The simplest desk exercises are hand and finger stretches. Typing for long periods of time is known to cause repetitive strain injuries and tendinitis. Hand and finger stretches increase range of motion and relieves stiff joints.  1. Make a fist and hold it for 30 – 60 seconds.  2. Open your palm and spread your fingers wide.  3. Complete at least 4 repetitions with each hand.

Neck Rotations

Sitting all day places stress on your neck and shoulders. Correct ergonomics at your workstation can reduce muscle tension, and neck stretches are another chair exercise that can help ease pain.  1. Lower your chin and roll your neck in a circle.  2. Lift your chin and bend on each side for 10 seconds.  3. Repeat as necessary throughout the day.

Abdominal Stretches

Usually, the first place added weight appears is around the stomach. There are many abdominal stretches to choose from, but this one works your oblique muscles too.  1. Sit on the edge of a chair with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.  2. Place your hands behind your head and twist to the left, holding for at least one count.  3. Repeat the motion to the right and hold.  4. Perform 20 repetitions.

Hip Flexions

Extra pounds don’t stop at your waistline. They tend to travel farther down to the hips. Hip flexions are another office chair exercise that helps fight a sedentary lifestyle.  1. While sitting in a chair, raise one foot a few inches off the floor.  2. Keep your knee bent at a 90-degree angle and hold for at least 10 seconds.  3. Repeat with other side.

Leg Extensions

While you’re still sitting, transition to leg extensions as your next desk exercise. Doing leg extensions on an exercise machine with heavy weights can be harmful, but performing this exercise at your desk is easier for your knees.  1. Extend one leg until level with your hips.  2. Hold as long as possible and then relax.  3. Do each leg ten times. 

Toe Raises

Toe raises are a great office exercise for your shins. You can do this exercise sitting or standing, but make sure to hold on to something sturdy for balance. For a more strenuous office workout, use a resistance band.  1. Keep your heels on the ground and lift up your toes and the balls of your feet.  2. Repeat as necessary.

Calf Raises

Calf raises are similar to toe raises but use a different part of the foot for an effective exercise at your desk.  1. Stand in front of a desk to hold on for balance.  2. Raise your heels off the floor and slowly lower back down.

Chair Squats

Squatting in front of a chair is a desk exercise that works multiple muscles.  1. Stand with feet hip-width apart.  2. Bend and lower your hips until your backside is a few inches from the seat.  3. Slowly stand up.

Shadow Boxing

Some office workouts are more fun than others. Tap in to your inner boxer and take a few jabs to the air for stress relief. You can use full water bottles to add resistance to your punch.

Elevated Push-ups

Traditional push-ups aren’t as easy to do in an office or cubicle, but changing your position creates an alternate desk exercise.  1. Lean on the wall or a sturdy section of the desk, supported by your arms and hands.  2. Slowly push away until completing a full push-up.  3. Repeat action for as many as you can do.

Seated Bicycle Crunches

Seated bicycle crunches are another great ab exercise to do from your desk. While you’re seated at your desk, bring your arms up behind your head and keep your feet planted flat on the ground. Next, bring one knee up and twist your body so that you bring the opposite elbow down to meet it and continue to switch sides. 

One of the top behavioral health issues presenting in primary care is sleep. Whether it is too much sleep or not enough, poor quality or the wrong quantity of sleep can have profound effects on physical and mental health.

One area that is often focused on in sleep work is the impact of exposure to light, with much of that focus being on so called “blue light,” or light immitted from electronic devices. But what does science say about this?

In a recent article published by NPR, Will Stone tried to answer that question. He summarized the work of a group of scientists who tracked nearly 90,000 people in the U.K. Participants spent a week with wrist-worn activity devices equipped with light sensors. Then, they analyzed their risk of dying over the next eight years. The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

The study participants with the brightest nights had a 21% to 34% higher risk of premature death, compared to those who were mostly in the dark between midnight and dawn. The opposite was true for daytime. People who enjoyed the brightest days had a 17% to 34% lower mortality risk than those who were in dim environments during the daytime.

The data underscore that light represents an “emerging risk factor for poor health and longevity,” says Daniel Windred, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Flinders University in Australia.

Want to learn more? Read the full article and source material at NPR.org.

Long night? Let’s start with the basics. Breathe. If you are having a difficult time, listen along with this 3-minute meditation from Calm.com.

Remember: Emotions are by their very nature valid. None of us choose our emotions. Emotions arise in response to what we find in the environment (internal and external) and how we perceive it. Emotions are a tool help to guide our attention, our behavior, and our decisions. Today, please remember your emotions are valid and so are the emotions everybody else are having and, while we cannot choose our emotions, we can , with practice, choose our response to them. Yes, joy for some is valid even if you do not understand their joy. But, if you are sad and grieving, try your best to choose connection, support, and healing in whatever way makes sense to you because that emotion is valid, too. If your are frightened, choose behaviors that help you feel safe and/or engage in behaviors to help others feel safe if you have the strength to do so. If you are angry, take care of yourself, then engage in behaviors that contribute to justice. If psychology teaches us anything it is that people are remarkably resilient, and those that do best are those that allow themselves time to sit with their emotions so they can guide their attention, behavior, and decisions well, time to heal and take care of themselves when needed, and then find a way to engage in behaviors that reflect their values.

For the last decade or so, mindfulness as been increasingly labeled as a panacea for all life’s problems. It is not, but that does not mean it is not one important tool in your toolbox toward overall wellness. In the same way we benefit from building habits like regular walks after meals or regular check-ins with our friends and loved ones, mindfulness helps to build toward a more calm and centered daily experience. But what is the evidence behind this?

Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor at Harvard Women’s Health Watch, and Howard E. LeWine, MD, Chief Medical Editor at Harvard Health Publishing recently published an article looking at the evidence base for mindfulness’ influence on our wellness, and what we can do to improve our mindfulness practice. You can read the entire article on the Harvard Health Publishing website, and a summary of the evidence and recommendations are below:

• In one study, MRI scans examining the amygdala (the neural home of fear and other emotions) showed that an eight-week regimen of MBSR lead to a decrease in the denticity of participants amygdalae, and these brain changes correlated to lower reported stress levels.
• In additional study took the same approach with participants diagnosed with GAD and provided evidence that MBSR aided this individuals in having more subdued reactions to provocative stimuli.
• A significant amount of extant literature suggests that these approaches can be generalized to the public and positively impact all, not just those with diagnosed psychological conditions.

If you are ready to try, start with small habits and build on them!

• Start with as brief as a 3 minute meditation, then try adding minutes, just as you might for exercise
• Try meditating outdoors, by which the authors mean pause for 1-2 minutes to simply observe the outdoor surroundings through all of your sense
• Pause to notice how you feel after you meditate, this is a form of meditation unto itself and increases the likelihood you will do it again!