A series where I curate the latest news in health and wellness from around the web into actionable insights, so you can become a powerful wellness architect, and help your team perform at their best and thrive.
Here we are, three issues into my weekly wellness digest. Hockey is back, and things are starting to feel a little more “normal” for me because of it. I hope you’ve been learning a lot and are taking even more healthy action. I’ve learned a ton not only from the content itself, but from the process of creating this series. It’s turned out to be an awesome addition to my weekly routine. It seems that every time I share the digest I get a new insight, another piece of feedback, or some recommendations from a reader. It all helps. With that said, I made a couple of changes to the format of the digest:
Share only 2-3 articles in each category. Opposed to loading up the content in one category, I thought I’d really try to diversify the content out across all categories. This will help you get a good variety of content from many areas, but also will (hopefully) not overwhelm you.
Added in images for each section. This will help to break all of the words up, and assist in you finding the next section. I also made sure to pick images that align with the corresponding section. Sitting on a hammock, staring at the serene wilderness, presumably pondering life? Yeah, that’s definitely going into the ‘Comprehension’ section.
Please let me know what you think of these changes, or if you have any recommendations yourself.
How to navigate this report
Information: Your weekly archive of the newest wellness content. You will learn about a wide-array of health and wellness topics, respecting the Deep Health Model.
Comprehension: A quick glance at the information worth observing and contemplating more. This is highly subjective as these are my takeaways, but I simply aim to extract the most relevant materials that most of us can apply.
Transformation: Where the magic happens. Your call to action, and some suggested steps to leverage these new findings to better influence the health of yourself and those around you.
After reading this issue, feel free to share content in your social media, with your family and friends, in your company wellness newsletter, or, just use it to take some small healthy action today!
Let’s dive in.
Information: Your curated wellness archive update
Pick a couple of pieces to read whenever you have a chance, or read it all!
Estimated reading time for all materials: 45 - 60 minutes
Organizational Well-being / Workplace Wellness
Top 5 Workplace Wellness Trends for 2021 (Article)
Your organization really needs to stop talking about a second pandemic (Article)
Sleep Health
The math behind Jeff Bezos’ 8 hours of sleep - and why he says going ‘crazy’ with 4 hours isn’t worth it (Article)
Western University researchers looking at how social media and poor sleep influence mental health (Article)
Physical Well-being / Fitness / Nutrition
Optimizing health and performance through maximal aerobic function - The Drive by Peter Attia (Podcast)
Mathiesen SL, Mielby LA, Byrne DV, Wang QJ. Music to eat by: A systematic investigation of the relative importance of tempo and articulation on eating time. Appetite. 2020 Dec 1;155:104801. (Research)
Social-Relational Well-being / Diversity and Inclusion / Culture
The business case for diversity and inclusion (Article)
Update Your Leadership Style With Four Best Practices That Accelerate Inclusion (Article)
Bruins to retire number of Willie O’ Ree, who broke NHL’s color barrier (Article)
Mental & Emotional Well-being / Mindfulness / Creativity
Team links screen time and pandemic mental health risks at college (Article)
Dump Your Inner Drill Sergeant - The Happiness Lab (Podcast)
How to Boost Your Happiness and Health Scandi-style in 2021 (Article)
The secret to happiness? Here’s some advice from the longest-running study on happiness (Article)
Environmental Well-being / Nature
Supporting Physical and Mental Health Through Design (Article)
4 Reasons a Retreat in Nature Will Increase Productivity (Article)
What the pandemic can teach us about ways to reduce air pollution (Article)
Comprehension: The Key 3
Highlights worth contemplating this week
Make sure what’s around you supports your desired behaviours. If you want to eat better, keep the unhealthy foods out of your house. If you want to eat more mindfully, don’t have distractions around you (phone, television). Click to Tweet
Getting outside might feel like a chore, or not very appealing right now. But you’ll almost always feel better once you get out there. You might even come back with more energy, creativity, and joy. Click to Tweet
An inclusive wellness initiative or program doesn’t start with telling your team what to do. It starts with listening, and trying to uncover hidden perspectives. Click to Tweet
(Bonus) Reading a new book that my girlfriend got me for my 30th birthday. Some seriously deep insights. Gotta love the introspection. Just So by Alan Watts
Transformation: Your Call to Action
What to do today
Leverage your self-discovery/guiding question and take action to make yourself one percent better.
What can I rearrange or add to my surroundings that will nudge me to make healthier choices?
What to do this week
Before eating a meal this week, slow down and tune into a few things. Look at your environment and ask yourself if it offers you relaxed, distraction free eating for you and your team. Other great variables to consider are: Who are you eating with? Where are you eating? What are you looking at?Next, check in with how you are feeling. Perform what’s called a mind-body scan, and observe your mood, mental-emotional state, and physical sensations in your body. You want to try to create alignment between how you are feeling with your food choices, and try to spot patterns. Try this out: 30-Day Mindful Eating Challenge
Check out this new sleep practice!
Please let me know if you enjoyed this issue, and if you followed through on any of your call to action items!
Subscribe at paulkeefe.substack.com