Peak Health Wellness Insights Issue 10
Mental Resilience
This fascinating study (which we would highly recommend reading in its entirety) on cell phone use demonstrates the cognitive cost of reaching for your phone when taking a break from a difficult task. The startling results show that using your phone as a mental break does not allow your brain to properly recharge and as a result significantly impedes your performance (effecting both your efficiency and accuracy) once you return to your task. In fact, those who took cell phone breaks performed just as poorly as those who took no break at all and far worse than those that took breaks and used paper or a computer.
Sleep
While sleep, or the lack there of, has an effect on energy and focus that is quite tangible to us, its effects on our other organs may be less physically evident. However, this research highlights the impact of poor sleep on obesity, and particularly our metabolic health (i.e. our appetite and our energy expenditure). It increases our hunger hormones, decreases our satiety hormones, reduces our activity level due to tiredness, and increases food consumption overall. Over time, short sleep is a factor that influences the development of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Nutrition
Your brain naturally loses mass as you age, however this latest study shows that an increase in fat around your middle, is linked with accelerated brain mass reduction, specifically of your brain cortex, which effects both your memory and thinking skills.
Fitness
You have no excuse - the benefits of exercise can be gained no matter how late you start regularly practicing it, according to this study. Results showed that people who had never consistently exercised had a comparable ability to build muscle to those who had consistently trained throughout their life. This means ability to increase muscle strength (which is increasingly important as you age and naturally lose muscle mass), is universally achievable despite previous experience level in the gym.
Productivity Tip
If this latest mental resilience study has taught us anything (if you missed it, see above), it is to AVOID using your cell phones during breaks in your challenging tasks during the day.
In fact, the study states: "Research has shown that even seeing a message notification on one’s cell phone is as cognitively distracting as is stopping and checking the message..." If we were you, we would avoid having our cell phones on our desks altogether!
Habit Hack of the week
Usually a failed habit is more a result of poor planning than a lack of motivation. Create "If/Then" plans for yourself to keep you on track when situations arise that are beyond your control.
Example: You would like to start a habit of exercising every day after work. However, one day you have to stay late in the office. Instead of skipping the gym that day and then slowly stop going altogether, have your if/then plan already in place, such as: "If I have to stay late in the office to work, I will sign up for a gym class for the following morning."