By Mary Gomes | April 25, 2018 – Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Every year in late spring, people from around the world choose to take a fresh look at their relationship with electronic media. They do so by participating in Screen-Free Week, which this year starts on April 30. This annual “media detox” began in 1994, when it was called TV-Turnoff Week, and has found renewed relevance in the age of smartphones.

As our relationship with mobile devices has grown, the research evidence has mounted: Excessive media use is not good for us physically, mentally, or emotionally. The good news is that taking a media break is a powerful way to improve our well-being. I’ve been assigning a four-day media fast in my undergraduate psychology classes for many years, and I’ve witnessed the effects firsthand. Based on the research and my teaching experiences, I’ve compiled these five reasons to participate in Screen-Free Week and take a break from media.

Present-moment awareness – The vast majority of American adults carry cell phones on their person throughout the day, rarely turning them off, according to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center. It is no surprise that incoming texts, emails, and notifications are a near-constant presence for many people.  Our moment-to-moment experience is being fragmented on an unprecedented scale.

When I assign the media fast in my classes, I know that a “cold turkey” fast is unrealistic for most students. Their phones and computers are their main links to family, friends, schoolwork, and other commitments. Most will need to check and reply to messages at least once a day. In the fast, I emphasize the importance of breaking the constant checking habit and removing their devices from the flow of their daily experience: during class, in the transitional moments walking from one place to another, in their moments of downtime when they so often turn to their phones to fill in the blank spaces of their lives.

When students write about their experiences on the fast, one of the most common themes is “present-moment awareness.” Using a range of terms such as presence, sensory awareness, mindfulness, immersion, and flow, fully half of the students spontaneously describe these experiences as a hallmark of their fast, which typically kick in after a day or two. As children of the smartphone age, some of them were experiencing long periods of uninterrupted attention for the first time in years, episodes of micro-mindfulness that can be deeply nourishing. As one young woman reported:

During my walks from my dorm to my classes, I took my time breathing in the fresh air. Focusing on my breath helped me savor my time being outside and eased my anxiety about not being on my phone. By the time I got to class I had become so consumed with my breathing and sense of place I forgot about my phone altogether.

Improved sleep – Electronic media is not your friend when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep, especially if it’s used in the hours close to bedtime. This is partly due to the physiological effects of the “blue light” of the screen, which impacts the brain’s production of melatonin, delaying the onset of sleep. In one study, for example, people reading on an e-reader at night, compared to those reading a print book, experienced delayed melatonin release, took longer to fall asleep, and felt less rested the next day.

In addition, we have probably all experienced the “quick check” of our phones or computers that inadvertently leads to many unplanned minutes (or hours) of use. When this happens at night, we lose sleep. It’s also increasingly common for people to sleep with their phones nearby, which means that calls and texts can awaken them. Add to all this the likelihood that the emotional tone of media engagement will be stimulating or stressful (work emails, news reports, social comparison on Facebook…), and you have a perfect recipe for sleep disruption.

“Breaking away from media allowed me to be more empathetic to not only my own struggles but to others’ as well”

―A student on a media detox

For all these reasons, many experts are suggesting that we avoid screens in the hours leading up to bedtime as a matter of basic self-care. Sleep is one of the single most important foundations of physical and mental health. The impact on sleep alone would be more than enough reason to undertake a media fast. But there is more.

Deepened connections – Social media promises social connection, but the full richness of human relationships is best found face-to-face. Preteens, after five days at a camp without media use, outperformed their peers in recognizing nonverbal cues of emotion, an important foundation for empathy. In both laboratory and naturalistic studies, people felt less connected to conversation partners, and found their partners less empathically attuned, when a cell phone was present during the conversation. This was even the case when the phone belonged to the experimenter, and was outside the direct view of the participant. In particular, the phones’ presence inhibited deeper, more meaningful conversations, which require trust, vulnerability, and undivided attention.

In many of their papers, my students report improved connections with family, friends, and classmates as a benefit of the fast. “Not using my phone while with my friends was a way of working on my relationships, and I noticed a difference between the conversations that night compared to other times,” wrote one young woman. “Breaking away from media allowed me to be more empathetic to not only my own struggles but to others’ as well,” wrote another. One student invited her boyfriend to participate in the fast with her. As a result, she said, “We ended up sharing things about each others’ past that we hadn’t talked about before, so it felt good to get to know him a little deeper.”

Whether we are catching the eye of a fellow student on the way to class, fully acknowledging the cashier at the store, or engaging in an uninterrupted heart-to-heart conversation with a loved one, a break from media allows us to nourish our relationships. We may well be surprised to find ourselves feeling more, rather than less, connected when we disconnect from media.

Productivity and learning – Any work that requires a focused mind will benefit from a media break. This has been vividly demonstrated in a number of recent studies, summarized by Nicholas Carr in the 2017 essay “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds.” In classroom settings, he notes, mobile phones disrupt learning through the distractions of “task-switching,” as students text or surf the internet in class. Moreover, the mere presence of a cell phone, even when ignored, reduces people’s intellectual acuity, possibly because it takes a distracting level of mental effort to resist the pull of a nearby phone. The more distant the phone, the better the performance: When phones were placed in another room, learning improved notably, more than when they were tucked away in nearby backpacks. In a real-life instance, secondary schools in the U.K. that banned phones on campus saw significant increases in student test scores.

In my class media fast, I often hear accounts from students about their newfound ease of learning. Many of them mention improved study skills and less procrastination during the fast.

“I was able to stay on top of my assignments and get all my work done in a more efficient manner and with a lot more focus,” wrote one student. “Being able to see firsthand how my mind was affected by this fast was an eye-opening experience. I could feel how focused my mind was while doing my assignments and how the scattered feeling that I usually feel was completely gone.” In the words of another: “The last day of my media fast … it was almost shocking how quickly I was able to power through assignments.”

Breaking the habit – Greater mindfulness, improved sleep, deeper connections, and better productivity are significant benefits, but what, if anything, lasts beyond the days of the fast?

We use our devices for a wide variety of reasons—some very straightforward and practical (navigation apps help us find our way) and some more psychologically complex (turning to social media to avoid feelings of loneliness and disconnection). However, the routine of checking our texts, emails, and social media accounts can easily become a self-reinforcing pattern. Media fasts break that habit.

For some students, this interruption is a temporary break. But for others (I’d estimate about one third), the fast is more of a “reset”—a halt in the momentum of media use that creates the opening for lasting change. “The desire that I used to have turned from a loud screaming impulse to a faint whisper,” wrote a student. “The idea of going back to my old patterns and usage of technology did not have the same appeal for me.”

Follow-up research with my students suggests that, for many, the fast has an impact that goes well beyond its four days. A month later, students reported a moderate level of ongoing change in their media use. They limited their media in specific settings (such as before bedtime, or while doing schoolwork, spending time with other people, or driving) and continued to use strategies to limit media use (such as moving apps to a less accessible spot or deleting them from the phone). They felt less dependent on media in general. Others expressed the intention to undertake periodic media fasts on their own in the future. Interviews conducted six months later revealed that some students were still experiencing changes in their media use:

• “I decided to turn off all of my notifications besides academically related apps.”
• “Am now aware of how often I use media … I have better things to do and media takes a lot of my time, so I can now drop it.”
• “Not use my phone before bed. I get better sleep and am able to fall asleep faster. If I slip up, I can tell the difference … I wake up and my brain feels exhausted when I use my phone before bed.”
• “I deleted my Facebook account because I realized I did not use it that much and I don’t like how I feel when I use Facebook.”

Whether as a temporary breather or an opportunity to create enduring change, there is much to be gained from a media fast. And there is no need to go it alone. By participating in a collective effort like Screen-Free Week, you can give and get the social support that is so helpful in making significant change. Avail yourself of the resources at www.screenfree.org—and consider getting close friends, family, and household members to join you in this powerful effort to reclaim our collective well-being.

 

by Dina Cheney  – writer and recipe developer – www.dinacheney.com

Grocery shelves are waterlogged—with functional or enhanced waters, that is. If you believe the hype about these beverages, plain old H20 might seem lacking. Now, instead of trying merely to reach the old goal of eight glasses per day, many feel the need to choose waters with added protein, probiotics, activated charcoal, electrolytes, hydrogen, vitamins, minerals and botanicals (such as cactus and aloe vera). The market for these beverages might be ballooning. Yet the question is: Do you really need to up your water game? According to Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RDN, author of “Skinny Liver: A Proven Program to Prevent and Reverse the New Silent Epidemic—Fatty Liver Disease”; Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, author of “The Easy 5-Ingredient Healthy Cookbook”; and Lindsay Moyer, senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the answer is generally no because of insufficient evidence proving health benefits. “Most so-called functional waters are marketing ploys to sell water for a higher price,” Moyer says. “They’re not about health.”

Probiotics and protein – In general, Kirkpatrick says, “the majority of your nutrients can come directly from food and plain water.” So instead of water with added probiotics (which manufacturers assert impart immune and digestive benefits), she suggests fermented foods (such as sauerkraut) or a high-quality probiotic supplement. “I can spend a lot less money and get my dairy by just including a yogurt a day,” Amidor says. The same holds true for protein waters, which companies promote as an alternative to high-calorie protein drinks. “Why would someone want to put protein in water?” she asks.

Botanicals and antioxidants – Companies claim that cactus water can help improve skin and hangover symptoms, aloe vera water can boost skin health and soothe acid reflux, and antioxidant waters will provide a supply of health-promoting vitamins and minerals. Yet the experts believe evidence supporting their consumption is too scant. In fact, Amidor even advises consulting a doctor or dietician before purchasing botanical waters to avoid potential negative interactions between plants and medications. The only exception to her skepticism about waters with added antioxidants: 100 percent juices, in which companies add back nutrients (primarily vitamin C) lost during processing.

Alkaline or pH balancing – One much-hyped functional water category is alkaline or pH-balancing waters, which Amidor explains have a pH of about eight or nine versus seven for plain water. Such products have been touted to “help slow aging, regulate your body’s pH level, prevent chronic diseases, boost metabolism, neutralize acid in your bloodstream and help your body absorb nutrients more effectively,” she says. Yet both she and Kirkpatrick cite a lack of evidence backing up these claims, deeming pH waters unnecessary. “Your body naturally buffers the pH of food [anyway],” Amidor adds.

Activated charcoal – Because of their eye-catching black hue and marketing as removers of toxins, waters with activated charcoal have been receiving extensive media attention. Yet Amidor strongly recommends avoiding them. “Activated charcoal is used for medical detoxification when a poisoning may be life-threatening,” she explains. “The charcoal is not absorbed into the body but rather remains in the GI tract to help prevent the absorption of toxic poisons or drugs after ingestion. … So ingesting activated charcoal can leach nutrients from consumed foods, making the food less nutritious. It also has the potential of damaging the GI tract.”

Electrolytes – Sports waters or waters with added electrolytes (including coconut water) are the only category about which Kirkpatrick and Amidor are fairly positive. Still, they agree that sports drinks are only truly helpful during strenuous, protracted exercise sessions. For instance, Amidor reaches for drinks with electrolytes and sugar when playing two- or three-hour competitive tennis matches. “My body needs the sugar to replenish lost energy stores while I am in the middle of games,” she explains. In contrast, she says that if she works out for an hour at the gym, “plain old water [and snacks] will do the trick.” Not only are sports drinks frequently unnecessary, but Amidor also points out that often, nutrients (such as calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium bicarbonate) are added for taste rather than functionality. “If you’re looking to up your electrolytes to prevent dehydration, sports drinks aren’t the right choice,” she adds. Yet if you would still like to dip your toe into the water of sports drinks – Just make sure to avoid added (real or fake) sweeteners, she advises.

Cheers to your health – When you drink up, know that you will be reaping numerous health benefits. After all, as the Mayo Clinic points out, “water is your body’s principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Your body depends on water to survive.” Since we lose water via breathing, sweating and going to the bathroom, we need to replenish it through food and drinks, the same article explains. As one study showed, water can even help with weight loss: Increasing plain water consumption by one to three cups per day can decrease daily calorie intake by 68 to 205 calories.

Jazz it up – If plain H20 does not float your boat, try making it more mouthwatering by flavoring it with cucumber, muddled berries, citrus, fresh mint or basil, or whole spices. Kirkpatrick suggests purchasing a bottle that allows for diffusing fresh ingredients in water. “Try to keep your water as close to the farm as possible!” she says.

 

 

This weekend we gain an extra hour as we set our clocks back an hour Sunday morning. Below are a few fun facts, and a few tips.

Take advantage of the morning light:
Since 7 o’clock is the new 6 o’ clock, set your alarm an hour ealier and you’ll gain an hour in the transition. Use the beautiful morning light for some “me time,” read a good book, email a friend, or enjoy a special breakfast.

Fit in a morning workout:
Use the extra hour to improve your health. Bonus: A morning workout can help keep your mood up throughout the day. It’ll get you outside and expose you to light, which will help your internal body clock adjust.

These Tips provided by Alexandra Whittaker

For more tips visit this Health and Wellness blog

A Few Fun Facts:

Daylight Saving Time Act is repealed. Well, not yet.  California Assembly Bill AB-807 was introduced earlier this year, to repeal Daylight Saving Time. But it looks like it’s stalled in the Seneate: “Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Allen.” on Sept.09,2017

In 1918 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Standard Time Act which created DST to conserve energy World War I. Only seven months later the time change was repealed. During World War II, DST was reinstated to once again conserve energy and remained in effect until after the war.

Last time there was an adjustment was in 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act, which extended DST to begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November. A reason behind the extension in autumn was to improve safety for trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.

Enjoy your extra hour this weekend!

– Berkeley Wellness

In the past 25 years, olive oil has taken on the sta­tus of a health food, initially among those trying to improve their cholesterol lev­els and protect their heart, but then also among people who were just generally health-conscious. Yes, olive oil, like all plant oils, is 100 percent fat—but supposedly a “good fat.” A large part of its attrac­tion has been due to accumulating research about the health benefits of the Mediterra­nean diet, of which olive oil is a key element. Smart marketing has played a big role, too. The olive oil industry has sponsored lots of research and deftly promoted its product to consumers as well as nutritional experts.

Olive oil is sometimes promoted because it is high in monounsaturated fats, but so are canola and “high-oleic” sunflower and saf­flower oils. In addition, the fact is that corn, soybean, and other polyunsaturated oils are better than olive oil at lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and thus reducing coro­nary risk. Still, for many health-conscious people, none of these oils compare to olive. For them, and for some experts, there are other things about olive oil besides its effect on blood cholesterol that make it supe­rior—notably the polyphenol compounds it contains. Let us take a closer look at the olive oil story.

Why olive oil became hot: observational studies – Olive oil has been the basic edible oil in regions around the Mediterranean since the Bronze Age. Three thousand years or so later, in 1958, the famous Seven Countries Study gave olive oil a big boost. It observed that men who had low intakes of saturated fats had the lowest blood cholesterol and the lowest rates of heart disease (heart stud­ies did not include women back then). Strik­ingly, the very lowest rates were found in Greece, on the isle of Crete, where the diet was relatively high in unsaturated fat, which came primarily from olive oil.

Keep in mind, however, that these Greeks did lots of heart-healthy things— consuming mostly plant-based foods, mod­erate amounts of wine and fish, and very little meat, as well as doing hard physical work—so it’s difficult to know how impor­tant olive oil was. Note, too, that the Japa­nese, who consumed no olive oil, were also found to have a very low rate of heart disease.

Many subsequent observational studies also linked the traditional diets of various Mediterranean countries, all of which use olive oil as the primary fat, to cardiovascu­lar and other benefits, including reduced mortality rates.

An important Spanish dietary trial called PREDIMED (Prevención con Dieta Medi­terránea) was designed to determine the long-term effects of versions of the Mediterranean diet in people at high cardiovas­cular risk. Participants were divided into three groups: Mediterranean diet plus additional olive oil; Mediterranean diet plus nuts (one ounce a day); or a lower-fat diet (the control group, still basically Mediterranean).

The first study to come out of the PREDIMED trial was published in 2013 and showed that after five years both the olive oil and nut groups had fewer cardiovascular events than the control group, especially fewer strokes in the nut group. More recently, follow-up PREDIMED studies have linked the Med­iterranean diet enriched with olive oil to a variety of benefits, including a reduced risk of cognitive decline, breast cancer, and osteoporotic fractures.

It’s uncertain, however, how big a role olive oil played in PREDIMED, since the control group consumed nearly as much (averaging three tablespoons a day) as the olive oil group (four tablespoons). It’s also not known how other oils might have compared.

So which oil is best for improving blood cholesterol levels? – Much research, including animal studies and relatively short-term clinical trials, has focused on the relationship between dietary fats and blood cholesterol. It’s clear that foods high in polyunsaturated fats lower LDL cholesterol when they replace foods high in saturated fats (such as butter) or refined grain products; monounsaturated fats, less so. That’s why the American Heart Association emphasizes polyunsatu­rated fats in a heart-healthy diet, though it also recommends monounsaturated fats. So if your chief concern is to improve your cholesterol levels, you have nothing to gain by choosing olive oil or another monounsaturated oil over corn, soybean, or other polyunsaturated oils.

What about HDL (“good”) cholesterol? It used to be thought that polyunsaturated fats also lower HDL, while monounsatu­rated fats do not, or that they even raise it. But most research has found that all unsat­urated oils, in the amounts commonly con­sumed, have only a small effect on HDL levels, depending in part on what foods they replace in the diet. In any case, some recent studies have led many researchers to de-emphasize the importance of HDL as an independent factor in heart disease.

Other potential benefits – Olives contain polyphenols, a large group of compounds that are found in many plant-derived foods and that have been linked to an array of potential bene­fits. The less processed olive oil is, the more polyphenols it retains. Extra virgin olive oil is least processed (see box below on left), and most studies, including PREDIMED, have used it. The European Food Safety Authority allows bottlers of olive oil with high polyphenol content to make a heart health claim. Heating olive oil destroys some of these compounds. Keep in mind that olive oil is hardly unique—polyphenol intake from many foods (notably chocolate, tea, fruits, and vegetables) is associated with a wide range of health benefits.

Aside from its effect on cholesterol levels, olive oil may reduce cardiovascular risk in other ways. For instance, some research suggests that it helps lower blood pressure (at least a little) and inflammation, as well as reduce the tendency of blood to clot, which may lower the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Indeed, an observational study in Neurology in 2011 found that older French people who consumed the most olive oil had a dramati­cally lower risk of stroke than those who sel­dom consumed it. And in 2015 still another PREDIMED study found that participants in the olive oil or nut groups who consumed the most polyphenols had significantly lower blood pressure than the control group. In addition, the most recent PREDIMED study, published in Circulation in 2017, found that while the diet with extra olive oil did not increase HDL levels, it modestly improved HDL’s efflux capacity—that is, its ability to remove cholesterol from plaque in arteries so it can be eliminated from the body—and also enhanced HDL’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacity

Monounsaturated oils may help people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes control their blood sugar. That’s one reason why the American Diabetes Association advises a monounsaturated-fat-rich Mediterranean-style diet as one of its recommended eating patterns. A 2009 study in Diabetes Care, for instance, compared a high-monounsatu­rated-fat diet (such as Mediterranean) to a standard heart-healthy, lower-fat diet in people with diabetes and found that, over the course of a year, they were equally good in improving blood sugar control, body weight, blood cholesterol, and other cardiovascular risk factors. In addition, olive oil consump­tion is associated with a modestly reduced risk of developing diabetes, according to a 2015 analysis from the Nurses’ Health Study.

Oils high in monounsaturated fats are less susceptible to oxidation during cooking than polyunsaturated oils. Oxida­tion promotes the formation of free radicals and other potentially harmful compounds. This is primarily a problem when oil is heated to very high temperatures and for prolonged periods—as in some restaurants. Reheating oil, as for repeatedly making French fries, is especially damaging.

Kitchen advice – There is no perfect oil for every purpose. Flavor is a big factor, but it is largely destroyed by cooking. Another factor is the oil’s smoke point—the temperature at which it will start to break down and smoke. For frying or stir-frying, choose an oil with a high smoke point. The more refined the oil, the higher its smoke point. So if you want to use olive oil for high-heat cooking, opt for a more refined (and cheaper) “light” product. For extra flavor in salad dressings, experiment with specialty oils like avocado, almond, grapeseed, dark sesame, hazelnut, and walnut oil—or drizzle them on food after cooking.

Bottom line – Choose olive oil if you like it, not because you think it is a health food. Canola, avocado, peanut, high-oleic safflower, and high-oleic sunflower oil are also rich in monounsaturated fat. Corn, regular sunflower, peanut, walnut, and other polyunsaturated oils are good choices, too, particularly for their LDL-lowering ability when they replace foods high in saturated fat, such as butter. Though extra virgin olive oil is the best source of poly­phenols, many oils are also likely to contain potentially beneficial compounds, albeit in small amounts per typical serving, espe­cially compared to fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The exact amounts depend on the source of the oils and how processed they are.

Do not forget that all plant oils contain about 120 calories per tablespoon. If you simply add them to your diet, you’re likely to gain weight. The trick is to use them to replace other high-calorie foods.

Finally, keep in mind that there have been numerous reports of olive oil being diluted with cheaper, highly refined oils such as soybean or corn, and of more-processed olive oil being labeled “extra virgin.”

Living in Southern California we invariably end up spending a lot of time in our cars and dealing with traffic. There’s been a lot of focus on smog and we’ve had some great improvements over the years, as the L.A. Basin isn’t as smoggy as it used to be. But have you considered the air within your car? How healthy is that air?

This article called Pollution Inside Your Car from UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley Wellness Newsletter, has information on how to keep the air in your car as pollutant free as possible. There are many factors which depend on the car or what type of traffic or area you are in. The in-car air might be worse for you than the air outside.

In the long list of ways to improve the air one item surprised me: On long drives with several people in the car, open the window for a minute or two every 10 minutes so carbon dioxide doesn’t build up.

Anything on the list that surprised you?

I saw an article the other day about scales and weighing yourself, and it reminded me of how I don’t like weighing myself at the doctor’s office. It’s usually mid-day and it always higher than at home when I weigh myself first thing in the morning. It does stress me out a little. A friend of mine refuses to weigh herself, or at least tries not to as much as possible. I admire that about her.

So when you are trying to lose weight, or maintain your weight, how often should you step on that scale?

This article from My Fitness Pal says, well it depends on you. What stresses you out? If you see your number spike does this stress you out? We all know stress isn’t any good. If you weigh yourself every day there will be fluctuations up and down. Maybe a weekly weigh-in is better for you. Or maybe you’re like my friend and no scale is best.

Bottom line is there is more to being fit and healthy than a number on a scale, particularly when that number varies so much day to day or even hour to hour. Jump on that scale if you like it, but if not, don’t worry so much about it. Think of your overall health, that’s what counts.

This article from UCR is about wellness programs at work lead to increased productivity.

Increasing Productivity by One Day Each Month

Mandy Caiyod wanted to share this with everyone. Thanks Mandy!

 

By Jim Kwik – a world expert in speed-reading, memory improvement, brain performance and accelerated learning.

Have you ever wondered how you can work more efficiently? As a memory expert, I often tell people that one of the best ways to work more efficiently is to learn to read faster, but learning how to become more creative is a close second. Creative insights seldom come on demand, but the good news is you can implement processes that contribute to your creativity every day. Here are some of my favorites.

Be more observant – What color are the letters in the Google logo? Chances are, you do not know the answer to that even though you see its website every day. I always tell people that if you cannot remember something, it is just as likely to be an attention issue as a retention issue. In other words, it is not that you cannot recall someone’s name; you just never bothered to pay attention to it in the first place. Observation is equally critical to creativity because so much of creativity comes from connecting disparate ideas in non-obvious ways so you learn to become powerfully present. As technology writer Pagan Kennedy often says, “If you’re seeing something that’s weird and not fitting and doesn’t quite make sense, having the ability to slow down and become curious and pull that string and follow it is really important.”

Take a break – We have all had problems that just do not seem solvable no matter how hard we think about them. When that happens, it is crucial that you take a break. Do not just stop thinking of the problem—physically walk away. Lee David Zlotoff, the creator of “MacGyver,” recommends this because even if you are not consciously working on the problem, your subconscious will work on it for you. Plus, stimulating your brain with new environments boosts your creativity. You might even borrow a tip from productivity expert Julia Roy. In our “Kwik Brain” podcast episode with Roy, she advises us to designate different areas for different kinds of work. For example, instead of brainstorming and checking email at your desk, brainstorm in a park near your office.

Take a shower – Ever wonder why people have so many creative insights in the shower? It’s because showers can cause theta brainwaves. During a theta state, you mentally disengage from the automatic task at hand, allowing your mind to wander and come up with great ideas. Theta states also can occur while you are driving, too.

Keep creating – The act of being creative is scary, especially if you are in a job that has not traditionally considered creative. However, that is precisely why it is so important, says artist and author Danny Gregory, who says being productive and creating is the most important way to deal with your inner critic. The more you create, the less you worry about whether your work is good enough—and the more likely something you create will in fact be good. You do not have to write the next great novel or paint a masterpiece—it can be something as simple as sketching or writing a blog post. Because, as Gregory says, it is much more important to make a lot of bad work than it is to make no good work at all.

Find your purpose – If you cannot see the point in being creative, you are starting with a limiting belief that makes your job that much harder. So be sure to connect your creative act with something greater. Gregory recommends thinking of everything you do as a bigger chain of incidents of service to others. So ask yourself: How will this specific act help other people? For example, let us say you need to design a bank brochure about mortgages, and you think this is nonartistic and a waste of your time. Think about the people who will be reading the brochure. Think about how exciting it must be to get your first house and how you can be a part of the first step in their path to that goal.

Give yourself permission to fail – After interviewing several inventors for a book; Kennedy discovered a commonality in their childhoods: Many of them had a space as a kid where they were encouraged to follow their curiosity even if that meant making a mess. Some creative insights work spectacularly; others fail just as hard. But unless you give yourself permission to fail, you won’t be brave enough to find the solutions that work. Think of it the way Thomas Edison did. On his quest to create the lightbulb, he said, “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work.”

Certainly, creativity is a finicky thing. Even if you follow every single step in this process, there is no guarantee that you will be able to come up with the exact solution you need. But remember, if you are waiting for your creative muse to appear, she’s far more likely to show up when you are already working and preparing your work than if you’re just sitting around watching TV and hoping for an idea to hit you like a lightning bolt.

24Life, Vol. 3, Issue 7

By Julie Riggott – Greater Good magazine – July 21, 2017

“We’ll always have Paris.” Or will we?

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology indicates that hoping for lifelong memories of a happy time might only be wishful thinking.

While it’s common to anticipate the joys of looking back on something as special as a romantic trip to Paris, for instance, the study finds that we often overestimate how much we will actually think of, or talk about, these pleasant memories. Indeed, it suggests that the more people expect to remember, the higher their overestimation will be.

Darn those distractions!
Part of the problem is that we forget to remember. We think we will remember this experience forever—but don’t factor in the distractions of everyday life, which render that fond memory harder and harder to access.

Stephanie Tully, assistant professor of marketing at USC Marshall School of Business, and Tom Meyvis, marketing professor at the New York University Stern School of Business, conducted two experiments. They found that participants who thought about a future experience predicted they would think about and talk about their experience more often than other participants reported actually having done for a past experience.

The authors then demonstrated these effects in longitudinal studies, where they could examine the same participants across time. In one study, participants went to a U.S. Open tennis tournament and one day later predicted they would reminisce much more than they reported doing two months later. Moreover, the more they enjoyed the tennis matches, the more they overestimated.

In other studies, Tully and Meyvis found that this overestimation extended to other forms of retrospection, like looking at photos from an African safari and tweeting about Beyond Wonderland, an expensive music festival.

The studies indicated that this effect isn’t because people lose interest.

“Importantly, the desire to retrospect does not change over time,” Tully said. “Instead, past experiences become less top-of-mind over time, and, as a result, people simply forget to remember.”

Buy a memento
In a final study, the researchers looked at the impact of buying mementos. Specifically, people who purchased merchandise or professional photos of the studied event (a fun run) did not predict they would recall or talk about the race more than others, but two months later they did report talking about the experience and looking at photos more often. Importantly, having access to digital photos was not as effective.

“These results are consistent with the view that actual retrospection is strongly dependent on the accessibility of the experience, which is aided by visible mementos,” Tully and Meyvis wrote.

In other words, if you want a souvenir, go for it. With that miniature Eiffel Tower sitting on your desk, you’ll definitely always have Paris.

 

Traveling can be stressful. Can the science of happiness help?

By Jaime Kurtz | Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Last year I took a trip to Taos, New Mexico—a place I’d heard so much about and had always wanted to see. But, after passing by one extraordinarily beautiful vista after another en route, and racing through all of the major tourist sites in just one day, I realized that the experience left me feeling flat.

Yeah, Taos is a marvel. But I’d missed something important: happiness.

How many of you spend a lot of time planning your wonderful summer vacation only to feel let down by it? Given how little vacation time many people have these days and how much money it can cost to travel, this is disconcerting, to say the least.

Here’s where the science of happiness can help out. After having my own travel letdowns, I decided it was time to put my knowledge of happiness research to work, to get the most out of my vacations. In my recent book, The Happy Traveler, I outline the science that shows why we sometimes miscalculate what kind of vacation we’ll enjoy most and end up missing out on what vacations have to offer in the moment.

Many of us plan our vacations months or even years in advance. That means we need to predict what kind of vacation we’ll want in the future. Unfortunately, we are often bad at forecasting happiness; so, we need to find other tactics for making decisions around travel. Here are some of the ones I use, based on research, to help me plan and enjoy my vacations better.

Get advice from those who’ve gone before you – Of course, travel guides can be tremendous resources when you are planning a trip. But a simple, counterintuitive way to forecast how much we’ll enjoy being in a particular place is to ask others about their experiences in the same place at the same time of year. Believe it or not, this is usually a better idea than simply trying to imagine yourself how you’ll feel in a situation you’re not familiar with. In other words, you’re leveraging the power of social connection—one of the biggest predictors of subjective well-being.

Mix up destinations and experiences so you don’t adapt – On a vacation, it’s good to linger and to relax—but not too much. Happiness researchers know that we humans will adapt to even the most amazing, unusual experiences—something called hedonic adaptation. So, for example, if a beautiful Hawaiian sunset is initially amazing, the tenth or eleventh fantastic sunset will not affect you nearly as much. You may even stop noticing it. That means it makes sense to move around and mix up our experiences, to help prevent hedonic adaptation. If we don’t, we may spend two of our three weeks on Maui pining for something different or even wishing we were back at home.

Minimize your choices – If you’re a maximizer like me, you may be worried about making the most of your experiences while also having strong fears of missing out, both of which can lead to unhappiness. That’s why it might help maximizers to limit their vacation choices so that making decisions becomes less fraught. Going to a small town with few options might be better than going to a big city with lots. You can also use the strategy of imagining a typical day on whatever trip you plan and writing down the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of that. By taking a more realistic view of what travel might look like—including long layovers, boring boat rides, and long waits in line to see the Mona Lisa—the choice of whether or not to reexamine your trip goals may become clearer.

Consider your own personality when making choices – To help us choose the right vacation for ourselves, we can also take a good look at our personalities. Are you more extraverted or introverted? Do you like novelty and adventure or comfort and stability? These factors can help you decide whether or not you might want a beach vacation in Cancun—where relaxation and socializing are primary—or a solo hike in the Alps—where adventure and isolation are key. However, we shouldn’t neglect the importance of challenge, meaning getting a little out of our comfort zone. Research has shown that travel can really be transformative, if we have the right level of challenge as part of the experience.

Don’t let cost concerns ruin your vacation – Spending money can be stressful, and there’s no getting around that traveling can be expensive. But a few simple rules will help you get the most pleasure for your buck. Since worrying about expenses is a real drag on happiness, it makes sense to consider buying prepaid vacation plans, where costs are up front and you don’t have to worry about nickel and diming your way through your vacation. Also, it’s a good idea to leave your most luxurious splurge to the end of your trip. Studies find that people tend to evaluate past vacations based on how they ended rather than their overall experience.

Plan for some uncertainty and doses of awe and flow – Many of us enjoy the anticipation of a trip almost as much as the trip itself. But, to keep things fresh, it’s good to leave some uncertainty in your plans. Though you may think a spa vacation is what you really need, it’s usually best to mix it up with some exploration of new things and a little bit of challenge. When we put ourselves in the presence of something vast and inspiring, we are bound to experience awe—an emotion that makes us feel part of something bigger than ourselves. Also, there is almost no more pleasurable experience than flow—or losing track of time because we are so engaged in a task. Adding doses of these into our vacations will help to increase our happiness and make our trips more memorable.

Choose immersion and connection in your travel – Some of us may play with bucket lists—places we want to see before we die. But, simply checking off destinations as we pass through them is not a way to increase happiness through travel. It is often more satisfying to aim for immersive experiences—even short ones—like avoiding restaurants catering to tourists or luxury chain hotels. Research suggests that people often underestimate how much enjoyment they will get talking to strangers.  In fact, when we make the effort to step away from the familiar to meet other people and experience their cultures, it can deepen our appreciation of the places we see. Though an introvert myself—and therefore less comfortable talking to strangers—I’ve found that the effort to meet others in a country pays off many times over.

Take time to savor your experience – This essay is adapted from The Happy Traveler: Unpacking the Secrets of Better Vacations (Oxford University Press, 2017, 304 pages)

Being mindfully present for any experience can heighten our sense of enjoyment when we are traveling. However, too many of us lose our connection to our experiences because we worry about what’s happening at home or spend too much time “sharing” our adventures with friends via social media. It’s a good idea to put your phone away for large parts of your trip and just be present. Research suggests that, even though many of us may post photos of our trips hoping to share our happiness with others, this can backfire and actually create more distance between us and our loved ones at home. Plus, it’s impossible to really enjoy fully what’s in front of us if we’re checking our “likes” on social media or worrying too much about getting the “perfect photo.”

Of course, there are many things to consider when vacationing besides the ones listed here—your budget, whether or not to travel with another person, how long to be away, how much time to leave at the end of your trip for reentry. But taking care of your happiness goals may be just as important as other logistics. And, given how much we invest in vacations, isn’t it worth taking the time to enjoy them?