Peak Health Wellness Insights Issue 12
Mental Resilience
The findings of this latest study show that being hungry effects our decision-making process, specifically it makes us less open to options that delay gratification. This biased decision-making can impact our financial choices, interpersonal behaviours and even make us susceptible to exploitative marketing. Being aware of how hunger influences our preferences and decisions is important to proactively avoid impulsive decisions.
“Researchers noted that if you offer people a reward now or double that reward in the future, they were normally willing to wait for 35 days to double the reward, but when hungry this plummeted to only 3 days”
Sleep
This new study has identified a gene responsive to brain activity during the day that is also linked to sleep. The findings suggest that our natural tendency to feel tired after a long day is related to how intensive our brain activity has been during the day, not exclusively to how many hours we have been awake. Specifically, this means that a day with more brain activity increases our desire and need for sleep.
Nutrition
Struggling to find the optimal snack? This study suggests choosing nuts, which have healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and fibre. The findings showed that including just half a serving a day was correlated to less weight gain and a decreased risk of obesity. By extension, this also decreased risk of heart diseases, stroke and diabetes.
The reason? Researchers suspect the benefit of nuts is multifaceted. They point to the high fibre as being responsible for keeping you full longer but also helping to flush fat out of the gut. They also believe that the unsaturated fat can increase resting energy expenditure (how many calories you burn).
Fitness
While research has demonstrated that exercising can improve mood and maintain brain health, this recent investigation identifies the ability of exercise to change the brain. Their results showed that regular exercise that requires endurance is associated with improved memory and problem solving ability. It also helped to maintain the structural integrity of the white matter in the brain (responsible for connecting cerebral nerves).
Productivity Tip
Check emails in the afternoon so you use your most productive hours (in the morning) to produce your best work.
Habit Hack of the week
Try to keep healthy snacks nearer to your desk and unhealthy ones further away. What types of snacks are healthy? We suggest a serving of nuts. Read the Nutrition entry (above) to learn why.