February 2023 – Page 2 – MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors

Five takeaways:

A Recent study set out to determine the least amount of walking one could do to offset the harmful health effects of sitting for long periods of time, as we often do at work.

The findings suggest that breaking up the day with short walks was the best means of reducing blood sugar levels substantially. The optimal tactic is doing five-minute walks every half hour, which was shown to reduce blood sugar spike after eating by almost 60%.

Study participants also said that the walking breaks had mental health benefits, making them feel more energized, sharper, and happier compared to those who stayed stationary for long periods of time.

This matters because it further confirms how walking can counteract the negative effects of lifelong/long term sitting, which include chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and getting several types of cancer at much higher rates.

Implementing techniques and guidelines in your workplace for more walking breaks could lead to a happier, healthier workplace. On a personal level, it can increase the quality of your work and guarantee better long-term health.

by Keith Diaz for The Conversation
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Five takeaways:

As this piece’s title might suggest, it argues that memory is a buildable skill. It starts with the story of an Atlantic reporter who covered a memory competition for his job, became inspired by speaking to the competitors, and went back to the competition a year later after practicing their memory-honing skills everyday.. and won the whole thing.

The technique is called ““elaborative encoding”— the act of “relating disconnected numbers, words, or facts to networks of existing memories and knowledge.” This involves giving the hard-to-remember things (like names or phone numbers) hooks that rely on our visual or spatial memory, which is much stronger.

For instance, competitive “memory athlete” remembers the milk and eggs on his grocery list by placing items in a “memory palace,” picturing himself pouring a gallon of milk over his head just outside his front door, then walking inside to see a chicken juggling some eggs.

In 2017, researchers found that learning to employ mnemonic devices when trying to build memory actually reorganized the connections in subjects’ brains. It showed that the act of memory actually lit up the brain’s nerve centers.

Importantly, memory training forces us to collect a bank of images to use as memory devices. It hones our attention, and our imaginations. This makes it a hugely valuable pastime in a chaotic world that tends to pull our attention in far too many directions.

From Annika Neklason at The Atlantic:
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MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors

Monthly Archives: February 2023

Sitting All day is Terrible for your Health – Now, a New Study finds a Relatively Easy way to Counteract it

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