Peak Health Wellness Insights Issue 40
Mental Resilience
Scientists studied large networks of information, using as a model: works from Shakespeare, musical pieces such as Bohemian Rhapsody, and social networks such as Facebook friends because all of these contain and convey a very large amount of information in an easy to understand way. What they found was that the structure of these networks all had 2 similar features: "community structure" and "heterogeneous structure". Meaning the information had a collection of similar concepts but also had a certain degree of randomness that evokes surprise. The researchers concluded that these 2 features act in the brain when digesting the content of these networks, allowing them to be information-rich but also easy to interpret.
Sleep
Why your sleep and wake cycles affect your mood
Researchers have begun to explain why your circadian rhythm impacts your mood. New findings suggest that different circadian rhythm types (night owls vs early birds) had different ways of coping with emotional stressors. Specifically, night-owls are more predisposed to psychological disturbances and early birds have better outcomes when dealing with stressors. Additionally, further findings show that anything that shifts or misaligns our circadian rhythm (jet lag, night shift work, seasonal changes in length of daylight) tend to result in increased anxiety and depression, and also impacts hormone and body temperature rhythms.
NutritionVegetarians tend to be slimmer and less extroverted than meat eaters
A new study has found that eating a vegetarian diet has a scientifically-proven impact on the body and one’s psyche. On average, the less animal products a person consumes, the lower their body mass index, and thus their body weight. This could potentially be due to the natural reduction in the amount of heavily processed foods consumed (such as cured meats) when one is vegetarian and also the reduction in foods rich in fat and sugar (such as butter and full-fat milk). Findings also show that those who follow a vegetarian diet tend to be more introverted. While the reasoning for this is less clear, scientists hypothesise it could be that people who are more restrictive in their diets are likely more neurotic people and may also be more socially segregated because of their eating habits.
Fitness
Obesity not related to how close you live to fast food or gyms
Scientists have for a long time tried to understand why certain neighbourhoods can be “hubs” for obesity and poor health and had hypothesised it was because these towns had lower socio-economic levels and less access to healthy facilities. However, new findings show that the availability of fast food restaurants or lack of gyms are not causes of obesity. Their findings show that the availability of gyms or healthy restaurants does not necessarily mean people will choose to use them.
Productivity Tip
Batch process
If the tasks on your to do list for a day include many routine items, group the similar tasks together and knock them out all together
Habit Hack of the week
Ensure your workplace is well lit
This will help increase your energy, reduce eye strain, and keep you better focused. Full-spectrum lightbulbs (which is most similar to the sun) will give you the maximum benefit