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Move With Purpose to Live Better and Longer

People go to all kinds of extremes and expense to hold on to their youth. Yet there’s a simple, healthy habit that will not only keep your body looking fit but also trigger an internal makeover that could add years to your life. I’m talking about exercise. With a sustainable exercise strategy that focuses on consistency, protecting your body and achieving balance, you can be strong and healthy at any age. You don’t need a fancy gym membership. You don’t have to spend hours a day working out. You simply need to commit to a realistic approach that will keep you looking and feeling your best. Get moving—and stay in motion. One of the best ways to achieve a stronger, healthier body is through purposeful movement. It’s an important tool in your fight against disease, mood disorders and early death. No matter your age, you should do your best to move with purpose every day. You need to make it a habit and then stick to it. As you get older, you tend to become more sedentary. You need to fight this every step of the way. It’s not only seniors who fall into this pattern. Those in middle age find themselves in the same trap. The problem is, the less you move, the less you’re motivated to move. You become lethargic and lose energy. The less you move each day, the more your risk increases for falls, sprains and other injuries. Find ways to stay in motion during the day. Get up from your desk and take a walk outside. Do some gardening. Start your morning with some gentle stretching. Ditch the couch and go run some errands instead. Bike rides, yoga, hiking, dancing...whatever you enjoy. Just get moving. Give your body what it needs In your 20s, you were probably aiming for big biceps and flat abs. Don’t worry, you can still have both later in life! As you age, your physical needs change. You begin to lose muscle mass, flexibility and balance. Therefore, it’s important to expand your focus and incorporate strength training and other exercises that will combat these losses and help prevent injury. The good news is there are plenty of options that will keep you fit and add variety to your routine so you don’t get bored and give it up. These are some of my personal favorites: Strength Retaining muscle mass will keep you stronger, stimulate bone growth, lower blood sugar, reduce lower back pain and combat stress. And yes, keep you toned and fit. Weight training and dumbbell presses are effective, and using light weights will get the job done. If you don’t have access to equipment, try planks, knee extensions, squats or sit-backs. Many exercises can be modified and even performed sitting in a chair or leaning against a wall. Do what’s best for your body. Flexibility When your muscles and tendons are more flexible, you enjoy increased range of motion and much less risk of injury. I highly recommend that you grab a yoga mat. Even a few minutes of yoga a day will do the trick. Yoga significantly improves your physical health and transforms your body into one that is firmer, leaner, stronger and more flexible. You might also try Pilates (a system of low-impact exercises to develop strength, flexibility and balance), static stretching (where you hold a stretch for a designated amount of time) or myofascial release, a type of massage provided by a health professional to improve range of motion and increase flexibility after an injury. Balance Maintaining your balance becomes increasingly important as you age. Your bones become more brittle over time, so taking a fall later in life can cause significant damage. Aim to strengthen your core to feel more physically centered. Yoga and tai chi do wonders for improving your balance, but they aren’t your only options. Simple exercises like balancing while standing on one foot or walking heel to toe (with your eyes opened or closed) can help you become steadier on your feet. Everything in moderation The best way to keep any good habit going long term is to keep things easy and sustainable. Staying strong and healthy doesn’t have to feel like a full-time job. The key is to implement small, manageable changes. Devoting even five minutes a day to movement and exercise is all it takes to get started. You’ll see results, and that’s when your motivation kicks in and you make that leap to do more on a regular basis. When you take this approach to exercise, you can transform your body into one that is fit and strong. You’ll not only look younger, but you’ll feel younger and significantly increase your chances of living a longer and healthier life. 4 Exercises to Try Planks can help tone your belly, reduce back pain, and improve your mood, balance, flexibility and posture. Lie facedown with legs extended and elbows bent and directly under shoulders; clasp your hands. Feet should be hip-width apart, and elbows should be shoulder-width apart. Contract your abs, then tuck your toes to lift your body. You should be in a straight line from head to heels. Hold for as long as you can. Knee extensions strengthen muscles in the front of your thigh and shin and can restore mobility and strength to a painful knee. Sit in a chair with the balls of your feet and toes resting on the floor. Extend your right leg in front of you until your knee is straight. With right leg in this position, flex your foot so that your toes point toward your head. Hold in this position for three seconds. Take three to five seconds to lower leg back to starting position. Alternate legs. Squats strengthen your quads, glutes and hamstrings, and many trainers believe help to reduce knee injuries. Stand as tall as you can with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your body as far as you can by pushing your hips back and bending your knees. Pause. Now slowly push yourself back to the starting position. Sit-backs stabilize your lower back and help with your postural stability. They can increase flexibility and range of motion. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your arms folded across your chest. Slowly sit back as far as comfortable while maintaining a flat back, then return to the starting position. Make sure your feet stay in contact with the floor. Read more: The Healing Power of Yoga Listen to our podcast: Health and Happiness With Dr. Partha Nandi DR. PARTHA NANDIis the creator and host of the internationally syndicated, award-winning medical lifestyle television showAsk. Dr. Nandiand author of the bookAsk Dr. Nandi: 5 Steps to Becoming Your Own #HealthHero for Longevity, Well-Being, and a Joyful Life.

science

What Can Telomeres Tell Us?

For years, scientists have known that telomeres—the caps at the end of each strand of DNA—protect our chromosomes and affect how quickly and how well our cells age. As telomeres wear away, it affects our aging process, which explains why some people seem to age faster than others. Telomeres shorten as we age, but things like smoking, lack of exercise, a poor diet and stress also can shorten them. The good news is, just as certain habits can wear away at our telomeres and expedite the aging process, there are things we can do to lengthen them. And the even better news is that many of these practices will bring more happiness just by making them part of your life. Change Your DNA “The little things we do each day can add up to have big effects on telomeres,” explains Elissa Epel, Ph.D., who co-authored the book The Telomere Effect with Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for her groundbreaking discoveries on telomeres’ role in aging. Elissa says that an increasing amount of attention is being given to how habits like gratitude, meditation and happiness can influence telomere length. “We are talking about small habits during our life that really add up to healthy cell stability later in life, when we are typically so vulnerable to diseases of aging,” Elissa says. “People with longer telomeres are 20 percent less likely to develop heart disease.” While she advocates a healthy diet with lots of vegetables, Elissa’s prescription for longevity also differs from the traditional “eat right and exercise” approach. Much of living longer and happier is about changing our response to stress and minimizing negative thoughts. “Mindset and mental health are some of the most important parts of healthy aging,” she says. “We can’t forget the daily work of good, healthy habits…but fewer people realize that where we put our attention is also critically important.” Minimize Stress and Work on Well-Being Focusing on positive things, regardless of the situation, and finding ways to fully engage with life has a proven association with longer telomeres. Practices like meditation, tai chi and qi gong can reduce stress and increase the production of telomerase, an enzyme that replenishestelomeres. “When we can’t change stressful situations, we have to live with them more gracefully,” she says. “It’s hard to totally escape wear and tear. But there are different ways one can live with a difficult situation.” She recommends focusing our attention on positive things—even when there’s a lot of negative things happening—and to engage with our lives in real time. “Stress and aging are, in a sense, close friends. Chronic psychological stress can speed up aging in many ways, including by increasing inflammation in our blood slowly over time, and shortening our telomeres.” Adopting healthy physical and mental practices, however, can offset some of those effects. “They…are stress-buffering and essential,” Elissa says. “They are not just ‘good’ for you, they are critical for your survival and health span.” Read more: Be Happy to Live Longer Listen to our podcast: Tips for a Long and Healthy Life With Merlin Thomas Paula Felps is the Science Editor for Live Happy.

science

Be Happy to Live Longer

The search for the fabled Fountain of Youth is almost as old as civilization itself, but has largely been in vain. We have long dreamed of finding a way to avoid aging while at the same time (mostly) accepting its inevitability. However, that hasn’t kept science from looking for ways to slow down the aging process or make our later years more fulfilling. Today, there’s good news for anyone who wants to live a long, happy life. Science has found that happiness, not genetics, is one of the greatest predictors of longevity. Simple lifestyle changes can improve not only your mental health but can also change how your body ages. Just ask Cecile Williams, who didn’t even take her first fitness class until the age of 50. Today, at 77, she leads a busy life that includes trying new fitness classes, hitting Nashville’s famed honky-tonks to catch live music and attending fundraisers for social causes. Nothing about her, including her circle of friends, gives a hint of her age. “I always say I will not hang out with old people,” she says with an infectious smile. “They complain too much. It’s always about ‘my diabetes this’ or ‘I’m too old to do that.’ Too many people blame everything on being old.” Since retiring from a career with the Nashville Parks and Recreation Department more than a decade ago, Cecile’s life has blossomed into a rich adventure evidenced by her jam-packed calendar and strong social connections. Each day, she enjoys some form of exercise, whether it’s yoga, TRX, Pilates or POUND, a high-energy cardio workout that incorporates rock music and choreographed routines using weighted drumsticks. Despite coming late to the fitness habit, today she can’t imagine her life without it—and not just because it helps keep her body strong and staves off the effects of arthritis in her knees. “Being in fitness classes has opened me up to so many experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise,” she says, crediting the circle of friends she’s made. “It’s made me more diversified, and I am open to doing all kinds of different things that I never thought I’d do. Once I started spending more time with other people, I got more outgoing.” Those friendships have deepened over the years and have led to greater involvement in her community. Her 54-year-old daughter shakes her head at her mother’s latest antics. “She thinks I hang out with wild women,” Cecile laughs. “But she’s proud of all the things I’m doing now. And I am perfectly happy.” Without knowing it, Cecile hasn’t merely been enjoying herself, she has been consistently refilling a prescription for a long, happy life. Body of Evidence New findings indicate that if we are searching for that elusive Fountain of Youth, we probably need to look inside ourselves. Science shows that our thoughts and behavior play a bigger role in aging than we previously realized—and that gives us more say in how well we age. Today, researchers are looking beyond family genetics to find the sources of longevity and well-being. While centenarians share certain genes that protect them from aging, only about 25 percent of our longevity is genetic. The other 75 percent, for better or worse, is a combination of lifestyle and environmental factors. “It is not particularly apparent to us in molecular biology why what the human genome is doing should be connected to everyday life circumstances,” says Steve Cole, Ph.D., a professor of medicine and psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine. “And yet, that connection emerges time and time again. Our everyday life circumstances end up changing the way genomes function.” Genomes basically carry our genetic marching orders, and studying them helps identify the association between our daily habits and longevity. For example, Steve notes, one of the prominent findings is the effect of loneliness on our genes, which has a direct negative effect on our physical well-being. Loneliness, depression and stress are among the factors that create an uptick in inflammation and a downturn of antiviral activity in our bodies. Living with high levels of inflammation for too long will “statistically precipitate heart attacks, degenerative disease and strokes,” says Steve. “Those are three of the major killers of people in modern social settings.” Conventional wisdom has said that a healthy diet and exercise are crucial to improved physical well-being, and so is reducing stress (or at least minimizing our reaction to it). As it turns out, however, the missing piece of the puzzle may involve rethinking what it means to live well. Living Better, Thriving Longer Happy people, it turns out, have fewer symptoms of pain and illness and show slower declines in physical function. A positive mood is shown to reduce blood pressure during stressful times; positive people also miss less work due to illness and have fewer hospital visits over their lifetime. Adopting certain practices, such as gratitude, mindfulness and meditation, may help buffer against stress and lead to greater happiness in the moment as well as better health in the long run. In a study, Steve and happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., looked at how behaviors affect us biologically. They found that even when we are under stress, the way our body absorbs that stress can be very different—and it can be regulated by our own actions. Study participants who practiced acts of kindness for others showed a significant drop in the inflammation caused by white blood cells. Interestingly, study participants who did good deeds like writing a check to a charity or who practiced acts of self-care did not show the same positive effects. This led the researchers to conclude that simply performing small acts of kindness for others can have a big impact on gene regulation. “Prosocial behavior, in particular, has a very good effect on [our] biology,” Steve notes. “Focusing on the happiness of others, focusing on mankind, is both a recipe for happiness and, quite possibly, the recipe for good health.” Change Your Mood, Change Your Life In 1938, Harvard University embarked on a remarkable open-ended research project to look at what creates a long, healthy life. Today, the Harvard Study of Adult Development continues to provide insight into what affects health and longevity, now extending to the descendants of that original research project. What it tells us, says George Vaillant, psychiatrist and director emeritus of the study, is that how well we live is about much more than our genes, jobs, physical exercise or diet. “Genetics has much less effect on how long someone lives than their habits,” says George, who headed the study for 30 years. He cites alcoholism and smoking as the two deadliest practices, and says moderate exercise and a stable weight go hand-in-hand with longevity. Beyond that, he says, longevity depends upon our emotions and relationships. “People who live a long time have a lot of positive emotion,” he says. “And that means being part of a community. It’s hard to have positive emotion on a deserted island; you need other people.” Resilience, or our ability to bounce back from adversity, also affects longevity, but George says the No. 1 antidote to aging is healthy relationships. People who live a long time have a lot of positive emotion and that means being part of a community." –George Vaillant “Positive emotions, by themselves, are hard to measure, but what you can count are relationships. We know that positive emotions can stimulate the same part of the brain as narcotics, and giving to a charity lights up [those same parts of the brain],” he says. “It doesn’t sound very exciting, but it’s very healthy.” In fact, he says that tending relationships, be it with friends, family, a spouse or a support group, may be the most important thing you can do for your health. “Being nice and generous and funny and kind are more important to people’s health than they realize,” George says. “The earlier you start practicing these things, the better off you are. But it’s certainly never too late to start.” More Love, More Laughter, More Life Other research backs up findings from the Harvard study; Dan Buettner, whose groundbreaking work on longevity led to forming the Blue Zones organization to help Americans live healthier, longer lives, says that longevity walks the same path as happiness. “Health and happiness are inextricably linked,” Dan says. “You cannot pull them apart. Making sure that you have happy friends affects how long you live, because that’s contagious. And focusing on your immediate social network is more important than either diet or exercise programs when it comes to living a long, happy, healthy life.” He says having five positive-minded people who share interests in recreation—whether it’s golf, walking or gardening—and who truly care about you will have powerful incremental effects on your well-being. “That is almost the surest thing you can do in the long run for both making it to a healthy age 90 or 95 and enjoying the journey. [Happiness adds] about eight years to your life expectancy; it’s almost as good for you as quitting smoking.” Perhaps Dan’s greatest evidence of the link between happiness and longevity is much less scientific, though. “After interviewing about 100 centenarians, I can say that I didn’t find a single grump in the bunch,” he says. “That tells me that [happiness] is a really worthwhile pursuit.” Read more: What Can Telomeres Tell Us? Read more: Find Your Blue Zone for a Long and Happy Life Read more: Ikigai: The Secret to a Long, Happy Life Paula Felps is the Science Editor for Live Happy magazine.

Self-Care

Your Mind on the Move

Holly Becka Pry remembers exactly when—and why—she realized she had to start exercising. “Our son was about 5 or 6 years old, and we had taken a family vacation to Disneyland,” says Holly, of McKinney, Texas. “I knew I had gained weight over the last few years, but it wasn’t until I saw those vacation pictures that I realized just how much I had put on.” As a wife and working mother, Holly was accustomed to juggling many roles, but suddenly realized she had focused on work and family to her own detriment. It was completely inconsistent with who she had always planned to be. “I wanted to set a good example for my son. I wanted to have a good, healthy body image and be at a healthy weight. And I wanted to live a long and healthy life.” Holly immediately started hitting the gym, knowing that the muscle memory from her days as a high school athlete—she played tennis and was involved in cheerleading and dance—would help her lose weight fairly quickly. While she knew what exercise could do for her body, she didn’t anticipate what it would do for her mind. After working with a trainer for a couple of years—and losing 30 pounds along the way—she discovered Zumba and opened the door to a passion for fitness she’d never known before. “It’s like it was made for me,” says Holly, who started practicing Zumba about five years ago and now is a certified instructor. She’s also received her certification as a Beachbody coach and is a certified Aerobic Fitness Association instructor. “I loved everything about it—the music, the movement, the people—it all made me feel so happy. I got hooked.” Now, when she has a stressful day at her job as a marketing communications manager for an engineering firm, or when she’s feeling a bit under the weather, Holly finds teaching or attending a fitness class can change her mood instantly. She loves the endorphin rush and the connection she feels with others in the class. Whether it’s kickboxing, Zumba or a good core strengthening class, she says it’s an automatic reset button for her. “It’s the best stress reliever I’ve found. I can’t wait to get to the gym, and I feel like I cope better with everyday stressors. It makes me feel so happy.” Movement and Your Mind What Holly feels when she’s exercising is a well-documented phenomenon. Although there’s plenty of evidence that exercise gives us an emotional boost, the “why” of that response has taken longer to discover. Neuroscientists studying the role exercise plays in our mental and emotional health have found that it boosts our psychological well-being as well as our physical strength. “Our mind thrives on patterns, or algorithms,” explains Joseph Cardillo, Ph.D., a best-selling author and research associate at Mind-Body Institute International. “Exercise uses all the core processing components of our brain, and when you create a pattern through exercise, our minds and bodies love that.” As a result, as we use our brains differently through exercise—whether it’s creating a rhythm in your jogging pace, learning a series of dance moves or focusing on using breath to calm and sustain ourselves—those new patterns become ingrained. “Your brain makes the connection between what you did and how you feel, and that’s the first step in creating a pattern and being able to use [that feeling] in other [situations],” Joseph says. Just as your body reacts physically with anxiety or depression to a negative or alarming memory, it can have an equally positive reaction of energy or calmness when recalling that moment of exercise. “When you become aware of that, and learn to use it, you can visualize yourself walking, running, playing tennis—whatever it is that you do—and your brain will have a similar reaction.” Different Movements, Different Results Just as we can select certain exercises to achieve physical results, such as bulking up by lifting weights or getting lean through high-intensity training, science now says we can select certain exercises to achieve different psychological reactions. Wendy Suzuki, Ph.D., author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better, and professor of neural science and psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University, is researching how individuals respond to different forms of exercise. Her goal is to find a method for developing precise “energy prescriptions” that allow us to maximize brain function. Wendy considers how age, genetics and lifestyle influence what kind of exercise is most appealing and effective for people to improve cognitive function, including those affected by normal aging or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases. However, she says we don’t need a laboratory to start researching how exercise affects us. “You can experiment on yourself to see how powerful one type of exercise can be,” she suggests. She recommends trying one form of high-energy exercise like kickboxing or aerobics for two weeks, then switching to a lower intensity exercise, such as yoga, for the next two weeks. “See how you feel after each one. Start taking note of your mood, your cognitive function and then start tailoring your workouts to what is best for you at that time in your life,” Wendy says. “People have genetic predispositions that we believe make them want to do [a certain type of exercise], so a lot of this is about choosing the things that bring you joy.” Change It Up What works for you one month may be too much (or not enough) for you the following month. Allowing yourself to pursue different types of exercise, just as you might choose to read different books to suit your mood, means you can learn more about what suits you best as situations change. Highly stressful times might call for anxiety-defeating yoga classes, or you might find you prefer a challenging kickboxing class. Then, as you learn more about what areas of the brain benefit from certain activities, you can begin to explore exercise as a cognitive tool that just happens to offer a lot of physical benefits as well. For example, while you may be hitting the weight room to build mass, you’re also doing wonders for your prefrontal cortex, which is where most of your planning and problem-solving takes place. Multiple studies have linked weightlifting to better executive function. In other words, it helps with multitasking, reasoning, planning and overall decision making. Practices such as yoga and tai chi will not only improve your balance and breathing, but have a direct effect on your frontal lobe, which can help quell fear and anxiety. High-intensity or burst training, which involves short but high-energy workouts, can help curb cravings and give us better control over our food choices. Better food choices can have a direct effect on mood and how well your brain functions. New research from the School of Medicine, University of Brasilia, Brazil, found that adults who participated in high-intensity exercises showed improved cognitive function. Less intense workouts have brain benefits, too. Research from the University of British Columbia links regular aerobic exercise to a larger hippocampus, which is where memory and learning take place. Wendy’s own research has shown the superior benefits of aerobic exercise on cognitive function. “It is so important as an overall health strategy,” she says. And while it may have been a few years since your days as a high school athlete, performing sports drills—whether that means basketball, volleyball or tossing a football or baseball—has also been shown to improve attention spans and concentration in adults. Pound It Out Those drills also can help improve things like distance and space perception and boost your ability to switch more quickly from one task to another. It’s exactly that kind of mental edge that Kirsten Potenza was interested in achieving when she created Pound, a workout that uses lightly weighted (and bright green) drumsticks to perform a choreographed, high-intensity workout. In Pound, class participants follow an instructor through a series of moves set to contemporary music designed to ignite both your body and your brain. Kirsten points out that connecting with rhythm stimulates the mind and improves focus, which is linked to better decision-making skills. As a drummer herself, Kirsten was familiar with the research showing such brain benefits of drumming, but also realized they could take that further in a fitness environment. “When you’re doing a workout, you don’t realize what is happening in your brain,” she says. “It activates both sides of your brain, and it can have amazing results. You’re helping your coordination, your creativity and your mood. It can do incredible things for stress, anxiety and your overall physical health.” A Healthy Addiction For some people, exercise becomes such an important part of life that they begin planning their days around it. It’s a phenomenon that Wendy refers to as “a healthy addiction.” “We don’t think we know the full details about what gets you to that spot, but we do know that part of it is because exercise increases dopamine in the brain,” she says. “Dopamine brings you pleasure, so your brain begins to associate the feelings of pleasure with exercise, and if you can start to appreciate that, it helps you get motivated.” Someone with a healthy addiction to exercise will look forward to workouts; it may even be the highlight of the day. They may feel irritable or become a downright grump if they miss more than a day or two of exercise. It’s different from compulsive exercise, which can become a destructive behavior that is detrimental not only physically, but can wreak havoc on one’s personal and professional life. A Natural High Holly says she regularly experiences many of those “high” feelings from exercise, and it makes her eager to return to her next class. More recently, she’s discovered that her positive feelings about exercise begin even before she hits the door—something known in positive psychology as “anticipatory savoring.” Rather than looking forward to something like unwinding with a glass of wine or firing up a cigarette after a stressful day, Holly’s brain finds pleasure in thinking about working out. “If I’ve had a bad day at work, I start looking forward to going to class,” she says. “I know it’s going to make me feel better, I’m going to be in a room full of people who are smiling and having fun, and I know how I’m going to feel when I’m done.” To further her motivation, Holly often plays music from her fitness classes while she’s driving. “As soon as I turn on that music, I feel better. I’m ready to go do a class,” she says. According to Joseph, that’s because her brain is having a sort of Pavlovian response to the music. Without even realizing it, she has learned to associate certain songs with the dopamine high that accompanies exercise. “It goes back to the pattern in your brain,” he explains. “Everything you can do to ingrain that memory, that feeling, deeper in your brain gives you more ways to access them later. The more parts of the brain you use, the stronger the potion.” Getting There Is Half the Battle As with any change, the hardest part about starting or renewing an exercise habit is that first part: getting up off the couch, or pushing away from the computer, and just doing it. “We live in a sedentary society, and it’s hard to get started without motivation,” Wendy says. “There’s a big motivational and comfort threshold you have to get past to go from being sedentary to really moving and sweating and getting over the hump.” Those barriers aren’t just physical, such as the comfort of your couch or the discomfort of sore muscles, but also are psychological. Wendy’s book includes several four-minute “hacks” to encourage people to get up and move more. Her recommendations range from having a four-minute pillow fight with your kids to doing jumping jacks during television commercials to simple tricks like using the bathroom on another floor at work and taking the stairs to get there. While none of those shortcuts will have the kind of dopamine-inducing joy buzz of exercise, they can serve a greater purpose, she says. “Four minutes won’t have a great health benefit but, motivationally, you need to start somewhere,” she says. “Very few of us will start by going to a spin class, but you can do four minutes. And that’s really what it’s about: finding a place to start.” LISTEN TO OUR INTERVIEW WITH WENDY SUZUKI AT LIVEHAPPYNOW.COM Paula Felps is the Science Editor for Live Happy magazine.

Podcast

How to Make Better Resolutions with Jan Stanley

Jan Stanley is an executive coach, consultant, speaker and facilitator who helps individuals and organizations thrive. Jan is well versed in the practical side of change, and is adept at finding just the right tool, system or method to enhance performance or to find joy and meaning in all that we do. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program, where she is seen as an expert on using ceremony and ritual to enhance daily well-being. What you'll learn in this podcast: How goals contribute to a fulfilling life Why goals and resolutions fail and what to do to increase rates of success How to commit to your goals once you've established them Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Download a free ebook Fresh Start: The Science and Practice of Designing Your Days

Lifestyle

Revolutionize Your New Year’s Resolutions

If you recently set some audacious goals for the new year, good for you! You are among the 45% of Americans who took the plunge to write down your goals, and research shows that simply writing down your goals makes you 42% more likely to achieve them. However, as a rational optimist, I need to level with you: research also shows that only 8% of individuals who set resolutions actually achieve them. I don’t say this to discourage you, but rather to call you to the mat. Are you ready to rise above the naysayers and make your dreams a reality? If so, read on. To make positive, sustainable change in your life, here are five strategies to help you reach your goals—and make them stick! 1. Focus on one goal While you might be tempted to tackle twenty new habits all at once, research shows that homing in on just one habit is far more effective. Practice that habit for 21 days in a row until it becomes ingrained; then you can pick up another habit to try. 2. Understand your motivation Rather than just pursuing a goal because you feel like you ought to do something, take a moment to connect why you want to do something. To help you do so, check out the Live Intentionally app that helps you prioritize your schedule around your intentions for the day. 3. Remember that practice makes perfect Falling off the horse is part of the learning process; getting back on the horse is where change happens. Cognitive brain training programs like Happify can help reinforce positive thinking and give you new skills to help accomplish your goals. 4. Involve others Consider setting goals with a group or sharing your personal goals with close friends to increase your level of accountability. Social support is important to long-term success and happiness, so tap into one of your most powerful success accelerants by finding friends who share similar goals with you. Apps like MyFitnessPal have built-in tools to share goal progress and to encourage your friends. 5. Track your progress Keep a log of your progress. While some people love to track habits with pen and paper, there are also a number of amazing apps that can help you see your progress over time. In advance of writing this blog, I decided to test out as many apps aimed at habit change as I could. What I learned through this process was that selecting an app to help me build positive habits was equally as hard as doing the habits themselves. There are about 100 apps on the market, ranging from free to $5 per month, and most look incredibly similar. So how do you know which apps are best? Let me save you some time and energy by sharing a few of my favorites by their core values. If you are looking for a goal tracker that is Simple—check out Productive or Balanced Fun—check out Habitica or Habitify Informative—check out Way of Life Good, but expensive—check out Strides or Habitloop While no app can’t make you achieve your goals, if you are like me, you need all the help you can get. Positive sustainable change begins with mindset and ends with action. Let’s make this the year that we beat the odds and truly stick to our goals and resolutions! If you need some extra social support and encouragement, you can find me on social media @amyblankson, where I regularly post encouraging tips and happy hacks to help you balance well-being in the digital era. Amy Blankson, aka the ‘Happy Tech Girl,’ is on a quest to find strategies to help individuals balance productivity and well-being in the digital era. Amy, with her brother Shawn Achor, co-founded GoodThink, which brings the principles of positive psychology to lifeand works with organizations such as Google, NASA and the US Army. Her upcoming book is called The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity and Well-being in the Digital Era (April 2017).

Woman sitting at a desk working on laptop with Christmas decor.

Giving

5 Apps to Make Holiday Giving Last All Year

‘Tis the season, and giving is on the mind. We’ve made our lists and checked them twice. Friends? Check. Teachers? Check. Co-workers? Check. Charities? Check. As we hustle and bustle to engage in this mass-scale giving exchange, it can be easy to lose sight of why we are doing all of this giving in the first place. Is this annual tradition just a test of our credit cards and tax write-off limits…or perhaps something more? Why we give Despite occasional grumbling over excessive consumerism and crowded stores, we return to this tradition year after year because giving makes us happy. We love knowing that our gift of time, talent, or treasure can make someone else’s life better or happier. But the truth is that the giver often receives far more than the recipient. In one study, Sonja Lyubomirsky asked students to commit five random acts of kindness each week for six weeks. Interestingly, the control group (who did not do acts of kindness) experienced a reduction in well-being, whereas those who engaged in acts of kindness showed a 42 percent increase in happiness. Giving not only releases a dopamine high that makes us feel happier, but it also improves our physical health, increases our life satisfaction, and lengthens our longevity. Another study found that we’re also happier when we spend money on other people more so than when we spend money on ourselves. So giving to charities is actually a great way to put a spring in your own step! Why we don’t give Given all of these benefits, the question remains: why don’t we give to charities all the time? Frankly, because giving takes a lot of time, money, and mental energy. Despite our best intentions, we get overwhelmed when we stop to think about to whom to give. The top three reasons that people cite for not giving as much as they would like: I don’t have enough money to make a difference. I don’t know where to give my money. I don’t know if my money will really be used for good. But what if we could make giving to charities easier for all? How to Make Giving a Way of Life Thanks to technology, giving back has become simpler and more efficient than ever. App developers understand that the best way to facilitate giving is to make it easy, straightforward, automatic and tangible. To that end, they have begun creating a new wave of apps that dovetail with your existing activities but leverage corporate sponsorships to raise money for charities. Orange Theory Fitness, for example, has a partnership with Sweat Angels through which it makes donations to a designated charity for every member’s “check in” on Facebook. With the power of crowdfunding, these small donations add up to big benefits for charities. In my upcoming book The Future of Happiness, I share examples of how technology can help make giving a way of life. Here are five of my favorite apps to help you do so: Charity Miles Charity Miles donates ten cents to your favorite nonprofit for every mile you bike and twenty-five cents for every mile you run. Feedie Use the Feedie app to post a photo of your food on social media and participating restaurants will make a donation to help feed orphaned and at-risk schoolchildren in South Africa. Spare Round up your dining-out bills to the nearest dollar to fight hunger in your own city. Donate a Photo For every photo you share through Donate a Photo, Johnson & Johnson gives $1 to a cause you want to help. Check-in for Good Using geo-targeted advertising, the app connects businesses and individuals that share a passion for the same causes. Then all you have to do is check-in when you visit, and the business will make a donation on your behalf and give you exclusive promotional offers as well. By developing a habit of giving, not only do we increase our happiness levels, but we also create a ripple effect of positivity in our families and communities. So this holiday season, take time to give—and then carry that glow into the New Year by infusing your everyday life with a habit of giving. Amy Blankson, aka the ‘Happy Tech Girl,’ is on a quest to find strategies to help individuals balance productivity and well-being in the digital era. Amy, with her brother Shawn Achor, co-founded GoodThink, which brings the principles of positive psychology to lifeand works with organizations such as Google, NASA and the US Army. Her upcoming book is called The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity and Well-being in the Digital Era (April 2017).

Self-Care

Can Fermented Food Elevate Your Mood?

Scientists have been making some surprising discoveries about what really constitutes a happy meal, and it’s a far cry from the burger and fries you’d pick up at your local fast-food joint. Instead, think kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt and tempeh. These fermented foods are teeming with healthy bacteria called probiotics. You’ve probably heard that word, and also know that these microorganisms are a boon to maintaining a well-functioning digestive system. From belly to brain Now researchers are beginning to use a new term—psychobiotics—to describe the impact probiotics have not only on our digestion but also on our mood. In promising studies done on both mice and humans, boosting the levels of gut microbes has been shown to increase neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin that are linked to happiness. The exciting field began in 2011 when a team of researchers at University College Cork in Ireland, and McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, showed that anxious mice fed a probiotic-rich broth became less apprehensive and more—pardon the pun—gutsy. Dropped into a tall cylinder of water, the mice that were fed the broth spent more time swimming and less time floating in a state of what the researchers called “behavioral despair.” Two years later, a group of scientists at UCLA set out to test whether the human brain might also be influenced by gut bacteria. In a small study, a dozen women ate yogurt that contained live cultures twice a day for four weeks. A control group of women didn’t eat the probiotic-rich yogurt. Chilling out with yogurt At the end of the month, instead of being dropped into a vat of water like the mice, the women underwent fMRI brain scans while resting and while performing a task in which they matched faces to negative emotions like fear and anger. Those scans showed significant differences between the two groups of women in several regions of the brain that are involved in processing sensory input and emotions. In brief, the yogurt eaters reacted more calmly to the angry and fearful faces than did their yogurt-skipping peers. “The contrast was clear,” the lead researcher told reporters. “This was not what we expected, that eating yogurt twice a day for a few weeks would do something to your brain.” Justin Sonnenburg and Erica Sonnenburg, Ph.D.s, husband-and-wife microbiologists at Stanford University and co-authors of the bestselling book The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health, caution that this psychobiotic research is in its infancy. But, they write, “it seems not too much of a stretch to assume that improving the overall health of your [gut] microbiota could have a positive impact on your mental well-being.” Modern-day tonics and elixirs None of this comes as a surprise to Chakra Earthsong Levy. She began fermenting her own beans, seeds and cheese as a teenager back in the ’70s. “My mother had chronic health problems related to her gut,” Chakra says, “and our family life revolved around her flare-ups. I wanted to do everything I could to avoid that.” In 2010, after decades as a nutrition coach, Chakra co-founded the fermented beverage company KeVita. Now a leader in the field, KeVita offers lines of sparkling probiotic drinks, kombucha tea and probiotic apple cider tonics. Although Chakra is careful not to make any health claims for her drinks, she says “it makes sense that consuming live food like yogurt or kombucha makes people feel enlivened and uplifted. I hear that from friends and customers all the time.” For optimal microbiotic well-being, Chakra suggests getting doses of these beneficial bacteria throughout the day. Here are some ways to sneak more of these microbes into your diet. 1. Make miso a base of your salad dressing. For a two-ingredient vinaigrette, simply mix the fermented soybean paste with whatever citrus you have on hand. The Kitchn suggests a ratio of two teaspoons of white, yellow or red miso to two to three tablespoons of fresh orange, lemon or lime juice. 2. Get to know nama shoyu. Use this unpasteurized soy sauce, which is rich in beneficial bacteria, to flavor steamed or sautéed veggies, quinoa, rice or couscous. 3. Pick the right pickles. If they’re not refrigerated they’re not fermented, so skip the jar on your supermarket shelf and head for the cold storage section. “Any product that contains live probiotics will tout the benefit on the packaging,” Chakra points out. 4. Embrace yogurt. It’s the easiest way to get a hit of probiotics. Enjoy it with muesli or blended into a smoothie for breakfast, with fresh fruit for a healthy dessert or mixed with diced cucumber and chopped dill or mint as a relish for chicken or fish. 5. Ditch the afternoon coffee. Swap your afternoon latte for kombucha, kefir or a sparkling probiotic beverage. 6. Taste-test probiotic-rich foods that you haven’t tried. Your local Whole Foods, Sprouts or any well-stocked healthy market will offer a wide selection of tempeh, kimchi and sauerkraut. Chakra’s favorite sources for fermented foods are Wildbrine (their nine kraut flavors include “curry cauliflower,” “ beets & their greens,” “brussel kraut” and “red beet and red cabbage”) and Farmhouse Culture. It suggests enjoying its smoked jalapeño kraut on a grilled cheese sandwich or in a burrito and their horseradish leek kraut with grilled veggies or smoked salmon. Shelley Levitt is a freelance writer based in Southern California.

Woman volunteering in a garden with a group of people.

Giving

17 Ways to Give Back According to Your Strengths

Use your gifts. You’ve probably heard this advice before. Identifying your unique skills, character traits and innate talents can help guide you to a career you love, where you get to use those strengths every day. Your strengths also can be guideposts for how to give back and make the world a better place. Using your strengths—those things you are good at and enjoy—gives you energy and boosts your sense of well-being. And you can get the same benefits from helping others. According to Harvard Health Publications, people who volunteer their time and talents feel more socially connected (which can ward off loneliness and depression) and may experience better physical health, including lower blood pressure and a longer lifespan. When you combine your skills with giving back, you’ve got a powerful combination to make a difference to the community at large. This year, on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, we celebrate "Giving Tuesday," a global movement and day that celebrates and encourages giving back. Unlike Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which emphasize material gifts or discount purchases, Giving Tuesday celebrates philanthropy and kicks off the charitable season. Giving Tuesday is a great reminder to write a check to your favorite nonprofit organization. But beyond money, when it comes to planning where and how you will spend your time and energy, let your strengths guide you to the most impactful ways you can help the people and community around you. And keep in mind that giving to a friend, neighbor or family member can be just as significant as giving to an organization; you are still making a difference in someone’s life. Discover your strengths The first step is to identify your strengths. “Don’t go looking for them,” says Michael Mantell, Ph.D., a transformational behavior coach. “Your strengths are within you, not to be looked for or searched for, rather, to be revealed.” If you aren’t clear on what those strengths are, tune in to the compliments people give you. “Sometimes, it’s someone else who sees something inside of us that reveals our strength,” Michael says. If you are still unsure, look for what you are doing when you don’t notice time passing. Or, pick up clues by remembering what you loved to do as a child. Or you can take VIA’s free 10-minute survey to reveal your character strengths. Writing a check or volunteering your time with your favorite nonprofit organization is always a great idea. But we’ve pulled together a list of 18 creative ways for you to put your strengths to work when giving back this year. Ways to give back Are you a savvy businessperson or entrepreneur? Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, came up with a twist on tithing: Instead of giving away 10 percent of your money, he suggests giving 10 percent of your fantastic business ideas to nonprofits. Are you an animal whisperer? Consider fostering some furry friends from your local animal shelter. Expert swimmer? Volunteer to teach children how to swim at your local gym or YMCA. If you are an Eagle Scout, volunteer to work with Boy Scouts or a similar organization. You can work with kids or help the organization with its fundraising efforts. If you’re an avid reader, pass on a bookthat could change someone’s life. The right book could help someone start a business, improve a relationship or provide a confidence boost. Love fitness? Sign up for a charitable walk or run and give to a cause you care about. Or, ask someone to work out with you and be a fitness mentor. Is your thumb green? Lead a community garden project or teach kids how to care for flowers and plants. Are you a talented teacher or an expert in a specific subject such as writing or math? Talk to a local school about volunteering to be a tutor. If you have skills as an event planner, you can donate your time and talents to a fundraising event for a worthy organization. Well connected? How could you use your network to help someone else? The right introduction could lead to a job prospect, an increase in revenue or a new friendship. Are you great with children? Volunteer to watch your friend’s kids for an evening or host a slumber party for your kids and their friends. If you are highly empathetic? Use this powerful emotional tool to lend an ear to someone in need. Look into organizations that work with at-risk youth or with teens who have gone through the juvenile detention system. Have a little extra cash in your wallet? Think about buying something for a stranger. Pick up the tab for the person behind you at the coffee shop or at the tollbooth on the bridge. Do you have a knack for photography? Offer to photograph a friend’s wedding, a home someone is putting up for sale or the birthday party of one of your friend’s kids. Are you a good mentor? If you’re in the position to do so, hire an intern who is interested in doing what you do and show him or her the ropes. Do you have the eagle eye of a copy editor? Volunteer to review and polish a resume for someone in need—or better yet, volunteer your services to a deserving nonprofit. Love to cook or bake? Volunteer your talents at a local soup kitchen. Stay true to yourself by giving in the realms that make you the happiest. When you give back with your own talents, it doesn’t feel like work—it feels like an expression of who you are.

Podcast Home

Practicing Digital Mindfulness with Janell Burley Hofmann

Janell Burley Hofmann is an international speaker, consultant & the author of the book iRules: What Every Tech Healthy Family Needs to Know About Selfies, Sexting, Gaming & Growing Up. Janell is the founder of The Slow Tech Movement & iRules Academy. What you'll learn in this podcast: How to use technology with mindfulness and intention The personal and professional iRules to help build a life of digital well-being How to engage in conversation to build connection and strengthen relationships Links and resources mentioned in this episode: Create your own iRules Contract Purchase a copy of iRules: What Every Tech Healthy Family Needs to Know About Selfies, Sexting, Gaming & Growing Up