Per bryanhixon, in brainperformance.com “How Complaining Rewires Your Brain”.

“Complaining not only affects mood but also physically alters the brain. Each time we complain, we’re firing and wiring together neural pathways that make future complaining more likely. This process, known as Hebb’s Law, essentially means that neurons that fire together, wire together. Consequently, habitual complaining can establish a default mindset where negativity pervades, making it increasingly challenging to switch to more positive modes of thinking.

Research from Stanford reveals that frequent complaining shrinks the hippocampus, vital for memory and problem-solving. Even listening to complaints for over 30 minutes can harm the brain. Complaining triggers cortisol release, in turn, heightening stress. Elevated cortisol disrupts sleep, raises blood pressure, compromises the immune system, and increases heart disease and obesity risks.

A stressed brain weakens immunity, raises depression risks, and clouds cognition, impacting decision-making and problem-solving. This focus on negativity limits the brain’s ability to engage positively with its surroundings."

While it may be hard to do, stop complaining! Look at things in a positive way. Be kind. Be thoughtful. Practice gratitude. Invite positivity in your life and surroundings…. and positivity will come.

Per Jessical A. Stern & Joseph P. Allen, in The74 “A 25-Year Study Reveals How Empathy is Passed from Generation to Generation”.

“Our new research shows that parents who express empathy toward their teenagers may give teens a head start in developing the skill themselves. In addition, adolescents who show empathy and support toward their friends are more likely to become supportive parents, which may foster empathy in their own offspring.

The KLIFF/VIDA study at the University of Virginia has tracked 184 adolescents for more than 25 years: from age 13 well into their 30s.

Starting in 1998, teens came to the university every year with their parents and closest friend, and a team of researchers recorded videos of their conversations. Researchers observed how much empathy the mother showed to her 13-year-old when her teen needed help with a problem. We measured empathy by rating how present and engaged mothers were in the conversation, whether they had an accurate understanding of their teen’s problem, and how much help and emotional support they offered.

Then, each year until teens were 19 years old, we observed whether teens showed those same types of empathic behaviors toward their close friends.

A decade later, when some of those same teens were starting to have children of their own, we surveyed them about their own parenting. We also asked them about their young children’s empathy. For example, parents rated how often their child “tries to understand how others feel” and “tries to comfort others.”

We found that the more empathic a mother was toward her teenager at age 13, the more empathic the teen was toward their close friends across the adolescent years. Among teens who later had kids themselves, the ones who had shown more empathy for close friends as adolescents became more supportive parents as adults. In turn, these parents’ supportive responses to their children’s distress were associated with reports of their young children’s empathy."

This study shows the importance mothers play in shaping the generations that come after them. Happy Mother’s Day!

Photo by manu schwendener

The first thing most people grab in the morning is their morning cup of joe. While that is well and good…it is also important to remember the importance of that glass of water or even more glasses of water.

Here are some of the benefits of morning hydration:

Counters nighttime dehydration

• while we sleep, we lose water from sweating and breathing
• chances are it has been a few hours since you have had anything to drink so your body and brain has gone without fluids

Improves alertness

• helps your body wake up

May help to lower blood pressure

• a study show that adding hydration may decrease blood pressure

Digestive benefits

• works well with fiber to promote digestive benefits and prevents constipation

May lower risk of kidney stones

• helps in flushing out your kidneys to prevent cyrstalization or stone formation

Better hair and skin

• improves skin hydration, less wrinkles, increase shine and luster of hair

Some ways to improve morning hydration

• keep water on your bedstand so it is available to you if you wake up at night and also in the morning
• pair it with your morning medication
• you are also getting hydration when you have something like tea, smoothies, water rich foods(fruits)
• remember that you may require more hydaration in the summer

Photo by Anshu A

There are trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites that exist inside of our intestines and on our skin. The gut microbiome refers to the microbes that are found in our bodies. As an infant, the gut microbiome helps develop your immune system and helps to maintain it as an adult. Your intestinal tract is your largest immune system organ containing about 80% of your immune-producing cells.

Most of these microbes are symbiotic. That means that both the human and microbe do well from them being there. However, some can raise the risk of disease if exposed to a poor diet.

The good microbes tend to outnumber the bad and keep them in check but the balance can be thrown off with things like a poor diet, stress, and antibiotics.

Gut health has been linked to mental health, gastrointestinal disorders, heart health, autoimmune disease, cancer and more.

Things that can harm gut bacteria

• antibiotic use-while they treat bacterial infections by destroying the bacteria causing the infection, they affect both the bad as well as the good bacteria.
• artificial sweeteners like sucralose and saccharin may alter the gut microbiome
• drinking too much alcohol may negatively affect the good bacteria and cause inflammation

How to improve gut health

Diet

• Prebiotics(mainly from plant source)
  • Prebiotics have indigestible fiber that acts as a food source to good/friendly bacteria and also help to break down and absorb nutrition
  • fruits, vegetables, legumes, beans, nuts, whole grains
• Probiotics(source of good bacteria)
  • Eat fermented foods
  • yogurt, kefir, unpasteurized sauerkraut, tempeh, kimchi
• Eat foods rich in polyphenols
  • can promote the growth of good bacteria and help fight bad bacteria
  • cocoa, blueberries, nuts, spinach

Reduce stress

• short term stress can cause loss of appetite and slow down digestion
• long term stress can cause diarrhea, constipation, indigestion, and an upset stomach
• chronic stress over longer periods of time can lead to irritable bowel syndrome and other GI disorders
• Look to reduce stress: practice yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, go for a walk, connect with friends/family, seek counseling

Exercise

• research shows being physically active increase the number of good microbes and promotes diversity in the gut. Exercise helps the digestive system get moving and also lowers stress.

Sleep

• Lack of sleep can increase stress and affect food choices(which an lower nutrients and minerals)
• aim to get 7 to 9 hours a night

Per Jessica Stillman in Inc. “Scientists Tracked 1,000 Kids for 40 Years. This was the No.1 Predictor of Financial Success”.

“If you wanted to figure out what really matters for raising happy, successful kids, you’d need to randomly select a bunch of babies from a broad spectrum of backgrounds. Then you’d need to follow them for decades. Only after measuring a multitude of factors about their personalities, families, schools, and neighborhoods could you tease out what mattered and what didn’t.

That sounds like a tall ask. But thanks to a team of dedicated psychologists who have been following and intimately recording the lives of more than 1,000 kids from the New Zealand town of Dunedin since 1972, we actually have such a study.

Parents often stress about their kids’ academic performance, worth ethic, and behavior toward others. Those things are clearly important. But according to the Dunedin study, none of them is the best predictor of whether a particular child will grow up to lead a satisfying, financially stable life. Neither is the wealth, education, or socioeconomic status of the parents.

What seems to matter most is whether kids understand their emotions and manage their reactions to them constructively.

Emotional intelligence isn’t just about being nice or even keeled. It’s a fundamental skill that greatly impacts how well kids do emotionally and financially. Which means parents should probably pay as much attention to it as they do to report cards and manners."

Emotional intelligence(EQ)is often overlooked. While children learn from life experiences and by observing how adults around them react to things, this study reemphasizes the need for EQ eductiona in schools, at home, and also social awareness of EQ.

Photo by Glenn Diaz

There is so much going on in our lives everyday that it can take a toll on us physically and mentally. Some health breaks can help:

Body breaks/Movement breaks

• Taking time to move your body during the day can prevent risk of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke
• If you are sitting at a desk all day, you are at risk for sitting disease. Stand up and move around every 30 minutes, if needed set an alarm to take a quick walk, grab a cup of tea, stretch, use a phone call as a walk break.

Rest breaks

• Having rest days from work to clear your mind is important
• Exercise rest days can help your body recover and prevent injuries
• Some things to tackle on rest days: leisurely walk, stretching, yoga

Screen breaks

• Take a screen break every 20 minutes for 20 seconds looking at something 20 feet away(20-20-20 rule) to prevent eye strain
• Use blue light filters or blue light glasses to avoid eye strain, reduce eye diseases such as macular damage from damage to retina, prevent headaches, and even get better sleep.

Meal breaks

• Don’t skip meals
• Skipping meals can lower your metabolism, affect your work performance, lead to blood sugar fluctuations, and can cause mood changes such as irritability

Commercial breaks

• When watching TV, use the commercial breaks wisely….get up, take a quick trip to grab some water, stretch

Per Meg Tirell, in CNN Health “Ozempic shown to reduce drinking in first trial in alcohol-use disorder”.

“For years, people taking Ozempic or other drugs in the same class for diabetes and weight loss have noticed the medicines don’t just curb their desire to eat; for some, they also lead them to drink less alcohol.

Now, the first clinical trial – although relatively small and limited in duration – has confirmed it.

A study of 48 people with signs of moderate alcohol-use disorder found that those taking low doses of semaglutide – the generic name of Ozempic – for nine weeks saw significantly greater reductions in how much alcohol they drank, as well as cravings for alcohol, compared with people on a placebo. The results were published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry."

The study was a relatively small study with 48 participants. While the results are promising, larger clinical trials are needed before we can draw any conclustions.

Photo by Margarita Zueva

The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the amount of energy it takes for your body to digest, absorb, and metabolize food. Certain foods, particularly protein-rich foods and complex carbohydrates, require more energy to digest and absorb, leading to a higher metabolic rate and improved energy levels.

High-thermic foods are specific foods that require the body to use more energy to digest than the energy they provide. These foods are important to boost metabolism, support digestion, improve energy levels, and help burn more calories. Protein has the biggest thermogenic response with around 20-30% of calories being expended during digestion, Carbohydrates about 5-15%, and Fat the lowest at 0-5%.

High-thermic foods

• Protein has the biggest thermogenic response and is one of the best macronutrients if you’re looking for weight loss and muscle mass retention. Protein-rich foods are fish, eggs, lean meat, and dairy products. Plant based protein include tofu, lentils, beans, and nuts.
• High fiber foods such as whole grains can help you feel full longer along with help with burning calories. Brown rice, oats, and quinoa are some examples.
• Spicy foods such as chilli peppers and cayenne pepper contain a bioactive component called capsaicin which increases your body temperature, makes you sweat, and helps to up metabolism and burn calories.
• Green tea-contains catechins which increases metabolic rate
• Fibrous vegetables-are high in fiber and have high thermic effect. Examples are spinach, kale, and broccoli.

Factors that effect TEF

• TEF decreases with age
• TEF decreases with obesity, type 2 diabetes
• TEF is about 31-45% higher in those that are physically active

While we can take advantage of the thermic effect of food and practice some mindful eating, eating a balanced diet with regular physical activity is what is important to maintaining a healthy weight.

Per Aimee Cunningham, in ScienceNews “Is alcohol linked to cancer? Here’s what the science says”.

“The link between drinking alcohol and developing cancer, described in a new report by the U.S. Surgeon General, may come as a surprise to many Americans.

Although evidence for this link has been growing for some time, fewer than half of Americans are aware of the association, according to the 2019 Cancer Risk Awareness Survey. That’s in contrast to tobacco, which 89 percent of the survey respondents identified as a cancer risk.

The Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk, released January 3, puts the link between drinking alcohol and developing seven different types of cancer — including esophagus, breast, liver and colorectal — in the spotlight to help increase awareness. The report calls for adding information about cancer risk to the Surgeon General’s health warning labels on alcohol. And it recommends public health professionals and health care providers discuss the risk, which generally increases the more one drinks, with patients and the public. That way, people can take the risk into account in choosing whether or how much to drink."

Dry January is a good time to evaluate your relationship with alcohol. Abstaining from alcohol for even a short period of time has many health benefits.

While many may have taken on the Dry January challenge, for those that have not, it is never to late to look at atleast cutting down and/or getting creative with mocktails and carrying over this theme throughout the year.

As per the famous Chinese proverb:

“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.

If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.

If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”

August 28th is National Thoughtful Day. It is a day to check in with yourself and see what you have been doing to spread thoughtfulness and joy to others and in the process to yourself as well.