Peak Health Wellness Insights Issue 39
Mental Resilience
Loneliness alters your brain's social network
A new study finds that loneliness can impact the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) which organises and maps a person’s social circles based on closeness. It is known from scientific research that this region activates in different ways when a person sees a family member or close friend versus a complete stranger. However, interestingly, the results of this study show that in lonely individuals, the brain activates differently. Specifically, when lonely participants see friends, the activity in their brain is as if they are seeing strangers. Meaning, when one feels lonely their brain demonstrates a “lonelier” neural representation of their relationships with others.
Sleep
Depression as a teenager linked with poor sleep that lasts until later in life
A new study has found that there is a significant relationship in teenagers between poor sleep and mental health issues. The findings show that teenagers who are depressed report poorer sleep quality and quantity then those that are not. This supports the notion that sleep and mental wellness go hand-in-hand and addressing either or both will have a substantial positive impact on a teenagers well-being overall that will last into later life.
Nutrition
Eating a late dinner may contribute to weight gain and high blood sugar
Research has demonstrated that consuming calories later in the evening has a greater impact on risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Specifically, in this research, participants who ate dinner at 10pm rather than at 6pm, had higher blood sugar levels and had burned less of the fat that they consumed, even though both groups went to bed at the same time (11pm) and ate the same dinner. This adds to the growing research that supports eating earlier dinner for improved metabolic health and weight maintenance.
Fitness
60 minutes of endurance training is enough to shift body clock in mice
New research has found that exercise impacts our circadian rhythm (our internal body clock). Specifically, a 60 minute session of endurance exercise in mice was shown to adjust the circadian rhythm in their muscle cells by 1 hour. These findings have interesting implications for timing exercise to beat jet lag, aid night-shift workers, and to treat ‘body clock disorders’ that can occur in many chronic diseases such as heart disease.
Productivity Tip
Always aim to complete one significant task before lunch
This allows you to start the second half of the day fresh and with momentum to tackle the next task
Habit Hack of the week
Make your workspace suitable for the work you need to get done
If you make a lot of calls, set up an area to take calls most effectively. If you need to print many documents, get a printer. If you need to brainstorm thoughts, get a white board