Yearly Archives: 2023

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

Five takeaways:

  1. 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.
  2. 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%.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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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This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

How to Remember Everything

Five takeaways:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

Electric Vehicles are Bringing out the Worst in Us

Five takeaways:

  1. This article argues that while it is crucial to address climate change by transitioning the automotive industry away from fossil fuels and towards electricity, the current emphasis on large, battery-powered SUVs and trucks by car manufacturers perpetuates a harmful American culture of wanting to drive bigger, faster, and heavier vehicles.
  2. The increasing trend towards bigger cars makes for less space on the road, increasing the possibility of accidents. It also disproportionately endangers pedestrians– pedestrian fatalities reached a 40-year-high in 2021.
  3. Electric version of SUVs and Trucks tend to be even heavier than their gas-guzzling counterparts, due to the addition of huge batteries. For example, the new electric Chevrolet Silverado EV will weigh 8000 pounds– 3000 more than the gas-powered version.
  4. As car manufacturers focus on creating faster and larger vehicles, they are missing an opportunity to make electric vehicles safer than their gasoline-powered counterparts- eschewing potential safety-minded design changes the EV technology might allow.
  5. To truly maximize the overall benefit of the advance of electric vehicles into the mainstream, we must push manufacturers and lawmakers to ensure the development of smaller, cleaner vehicles are needed to address the emissions problem– without creating a new class of dangerous cars that rule the road.

From David Zipper at The Atlantic:
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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.

How to Restore Our Dwindling Attention Spans

Six takeaways:

  1. As a Professor of informatics at UC Irvine, Dr. Mark has closely studied behaviors of individuals as they pertain to use of their electronics. She has demonstrable proof that attention spans are declining.
  2. One repeated study used sophisticated computer logging techniques to measure attention spans and heart rate monitors and wearable devices to measure stress. Back in 2004, the study found that people averaged 150 seconds on any screen before switching to another screen. By 2012, it had declined to 75 seconds, and between 2016 and 2021, it diminished to 47 seconds. Studies by others have replicated these results within three seconds.
  3. Declining attention spans are tied to negative health effects. Studies have consistently shown that fast attention shifts lead to increased blood pressure and heart rate. Additionally, these shifts have been linked to higher anxiety and stress, lower productivity, and more errors and delays in finishing tasks due to the cognitive resources that are drained when reorienting to a task.
  4. One practical solution is for individuals to use digital technology in a more intentional way– taking proper breaks, being cognizant of the drift of attention, and planning to focus on important tasks during peak periods of focus.
  5. Ironically, new digital technology offers solutions such as AI programs that promote productivity and well-being. Some workplaces are also beginning to take steps to protect their workers from burnout, encouraging workers not to answer emails after hours and instituting daily quiet times where workers are discouraged from checking email.
  6. Dr. Mark notes that at the end of the day, our attention spans are in our own hands. “We still own our attention, and rather than simply submit to its further attenuation, we can take change into our own hands. Human beings created the internet, and it’s up to us, in the end, to decide how much we want to be absorbed by it.”

From Dr. Gloria Mark at The Wall Street Journal:

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Note: At the time of this posting The Wall Street Journal requires a subscription to read this article.

This site may contain links to articles or other information that may be contained on a third-party website. Advisory Services Network, LLC and MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors are not responsible for and do not control, adopt, or endorse any content contained on any third party website. The information and material contained in linked articles is of a general nature and is intended for educational purposes only. Links to articles do not constitute a recommendation or a solicitation or offer of the purchase or sale of securities.
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