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Three takeaways:

The piece opens with a reminder of the value of “unanswerable” or philosophical questions to force deep, honest, uncomfortable contemplation– and therefore spur growth.

We often resist deep contemplation because confronting unresolved, complex life questions has been shown to evoke discomfort and dark moods, but research has shown that we should consciously embrace these more difficult or mysterious queries.

A 2012 study asked young adults how often they considered questions such as “Do you ever reflect on your purpose in life?” and “Do you ever think about the human spirit or what happens to life after death?” They found that the people who spent more time on these questions tended to score higher than their peers on a variety of measures defined as spiritual intelligence, critical existential thinking, sense of life’s meaning, curiosity, and well-being.

Anxiety and depression rates have been exploding in the United States, especially among young adults. Brooks argues that this is not because we’re thinking too much about the hard questions of life, but too little. He suggests a three part routine for encouraging oneself to ponder life’s harder, more mysterious questions:

1. Schedule your mental workout – like exercise, an analytical meditation practice becomes easier with discipline and repetition. By keeping an ongoing schedule of reflection and thought, during which devices and other distractions are banned, you will quickly see the practice become pleasant- and then indispensable.
2. Go for a long walk – Research has shown that walking naturally stimulates creative thinking and facilitates the ability to focus without being distracted. Long walks- again, without devices– can increase one’s power to think deeply.
3. Invite boredom – We live in the age of screens and personal devices that make it seem that we are never truly bored. This is not a positive thing. Experiencing boredom is crucial for abstract reasoning and insight, because it stimulates the set of brain regions that becomes active when the outside world does not impinge on our mind’s attention.

By embracing these steps, we put ourselves in a better position to connect with the deeper threads of meaning and foundations of purpose that can so easily become so remote as we go about our busy, distracted days.

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
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Takeaways:

A surprisingly effective method can enhance both short-term and long-term memory, benefiting everyone from students to Alzheimer’s patients. The key? Being intentional about giving your brain some down time.

It is easy to assume that working harder guarantees better performance. But studies show that by spending 10-15 minutes in quiet reflection, your memory improves far more than if you had tried to fill that time with intense study.

In 1900, a study showed that after participants learned a list of meaningless syllables, one group took a six-minute break before learning a second list, while the other continued and learned the new list immediately. When tested 90 minutes later, those who had rested remembered nearly 50% of the list, compared to 28% for those who didn’t. The results showed that newly encoded memories are fragile and prone to interference without time for consolidation.

More recently, this study was revisited and applied to those who had suffered a neurological injury, such as a stroke. The results were spectacular. In some cases, amnesic patients showed an 11-fold increase in the information they retained when given a rest during study.

The exact mechanism in the brain that causes this is still unknown, though some clues come from a growing understanding of memory formation. It is now well accepted that once memories are initially encoded, they pass through a period of consolidation that cements them in long-term storage.

The research shows that scheduling regular periods of mental rest, without distraction, could help us all hold onto new material a little more firmly. We live in an age of endless distraction and information overload. It is only natural that our brains benefit when given a chance to recharge.

By David Robson, for The BBC
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Six takeaways:

While prevailing health advice can at times be relatively intuitive (“eat less and exercise more to lose weight)- there are many proven health tips that buck conventional wisdom. Here are Time Magazine’s favorites:

1. Drink Coffee to Have a Better Nap– A Japanese study found that a “coffee nap”—drinking around 200 milligrams of caffeine (about one to two cups of coffee) followed by a 20-minute nap—boosted alertness and performance on computer tests. The 20-minute nap aligns with the caffeine kicking in, which clears the brain of adenosine, a molecule that causes drowsiness. Since both napping and caffeine reduce adenosine, this combination doubles the alertness effect..
2. For healthy teeth, don’t brush after eating – Acidic foods—like citrus fruits, sports drinks, tomatoes, and soda—can soften tooth enamel, making it “like wet sandstone,” according to Howard R. Gamble, past president of the Academy of General Dentistry. Brushing right after eating these foods can accelerate enamel erosion, so Gamble advises waiting 30 to 60 minutes before brushing after you eat.
3. To wear a smaller size, gain weight – The weight in question, of course, is muscle weight rather than fat. Muscle takes up less space than fat- so focus on building muscle and “gaining good weight” by moving heavier amounts and cutting back on overall calories.
4. To eat less, eat more– Opting for a 100-calorie snack pack of cookies or pretzels might seem healthy, but it can leave you hungrier, due to its high carbohydrate and sugar content. Instead, protein-rich snacks like peanut butter or string cheese with an apple will help you feel full faster and stay satisfied longer, ultimately leading to fewer calories consumed overall.”
5. Skip energy drinks when you’re tired– Energy drinks can have up to five times the caffeine content of coffee, but their energy boost is short-lived and often accompanied by side effects like jitteriness, irritability, and a racing heartbeat. Any boost you gain from an energy drink will likely be followed by a crash- leading you to want another energy drink!
6. Drink a hot beverage to cool off– reaching for a hot coffee on a hot day will cool you off faster than drinking an iced one. When you sip a hot beverage, your body senses the change in temperature and increases your sweat production. Then, as the sweat evaporates from your skin, you cool off naturally.

Everyone’s health profile is different, of course. But these general guidelines and tips–as unexpected as they are– may help us take stock of our own habits and build out a better understanding of our own wellbeing.

By Time Magazine Staff
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