“We create our own reality.”
We hear that a lot, don’t we?
Well, the main thing about our reality is our health. Being active, having good relationships, and feeding our minds and bodies good fuel is the best way to create good health.
References
Those who engage in creative activities report better mental health
Healio Minute, July 10, 2023
People who engage in creative activities are more likely to report better mental health, according to a press release from the American Psychiatric Association. According to July’s Healthy Minds Monthly Poll, which surveyed 2,202 adults from June 15 to June 18, 46% of Americans use creative activities to review stress or anxiety, and those who rate their mental health as very good or excellent are more likely to engage in creative activity more often than those who rate their mental health as fair or poor.
“We live in stressful times, and sometimes our jobs and responsibilities can drain our energy and our mental health,” APA President Petros Levounis, MD, said in the press release. “Creative activities aren’t just for fun, they can help us take a step back from the daily grind, use our brains differently, and relax. Picking up that paintbrush or solving a tricky puzzle can truly move us to a different mindset.”
Respondents listed the following activities they used to relieve stress or anxiety:
77% said listening to music;
39% said solving puzzles;
25% said singing or dancing;
24% said drawing, painting or sculpting;
19% said crafting;
and 16% said creative writing.
“When we think about positive actions that boost our mental health, creative pastimes are along the lines of talking to friends, walking in nature, and exercising, among other good options,” said APA CEO and medical director Saul Levin, MD, MPA. “APA is pleased to call attention to these positive actions as part of the public discussion on mental health.”
New Surgeon General Advisory Raises Alarm about the Devastating Impact of the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation in the United States
US department of HHS, May 3rd, 2023
“Today, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General Advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in our country. Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately half of U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness. Disconnection fundamentally affects our mental, physical, and societal health. In fact, loneliness and isolation increase the risk for individuals to develop mental health challenges in their lives, and lacking connection can increase the risk for premature death to levels comparable to smoking daily.”
People who eat environmentally friendly foods have 25% lower mortality risk
Healio Minute, July 23, 2023. “Planetary Health Diet Index and risk of total and cause specific mortality in two prospective cohort studies,” July 22-25, 2023
A new diet score incorporates evidence on the impact that certain foods have on health and the environment. Foods that are good for the planet were linked to lower mortality risks for CVD, cancer and more. People who consumed more environmentally friendly foods were less likely to die over a 30-year follow-up period than those who did not, according to research presented at NUTRITION. The EAT-Lancet Commission proposed a healthy dietary pattern in 2019 that could sustainably feed the increasing global population, as well as reduce food waste and improve agricultural practices, Linh P. Bui, MPH, a PhD candidate in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues reported.
“As a millennial, I have always been concerned about mitigating human impacts on the environment,” Bui said in a press release. “A sustainable dietary pattern should not only be healthy but also consistent within planetary boundaries for greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental parameters.” To quantify adherence to the diet, the researchers developed the Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI) by evaluating existing research on the associations between food groups and health outcomes based on the EAT-Lancet reference diet. According to the press release, Bui and colleagues sought to develop a simple tool that public health practitioners and policymakers could use to create strategies that address the climate crisis and public health. “We proposed a new diet score that incorporates the best current scientific evidence of food effects on both health and the environment,” Bui said in the release. They then studied the connections between PHDI and mortality of more than 100,000 people in two prospective cohorts of men and women in the United States who were followed from 1986 to 2018. During this time, the researchers observed more than 47,000 deaths. This translates to a 15% lower mortality risk from cancer or CVD, a 20% lower risk from neurodegenerative disease and a 50% lower risk from respiratory diseases, according to the release. Women in the highest PHDI quintiles had an added benefit of a lower risk for death from infectious diseases. “The results confirmed our hypothesis that a higher Planetary Health Diet score was associated with a lower risk of mortality,” Bui said. “We hope that researchers can adapt this index to specific food cultures and validate how it is associated with chronic diseases and environmental impacts such as carbon footprint, water footprint, and land use in other populations.”
Just a few minutes of vigorous physical activity a day significantly reduces cancer risk
Healio Minute, July 27, 2023
“Daily bouts of vigorous physical activity for up to 1 minute appeared associated with a 20% reduction in total cancer incidence. Sharper reductions occurred in risk for physical activity-related cancers, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology. “Even though study participants were not doing any structured exercise, about 94% recorded some vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity; 92% was done in very short bursts lasting up to 1 minute,” Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, MSc, BSc, professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the School of Health Sciences at The University of Sydney, told Healio. “A minimum dose of around 3.5 minutes per day was associated with a 17% to 18% reduction in total cancer risk compared with not doing any such activity.”
