Thanks to advances in longevity science, lots of folks are becoming more proactive about health. From hitting your daily step count for cardiovascular vitality to adhering to a strength training routine for life-long mobility, folks want to put in the work early on—so they can feel their best for decades to come.
With all of the distractions and chaos of modern life, it’s easy for your train of thought to derail or forget your grocery list as soon as you enter the store. To be honest, my memory just isn’t as sharp as it was when I was regularly studying vocab flashcards in high school. And sometimes, when I walk into the kitchen, I forget why I was going in there in the first place (btw, the doorway effect1 is real).
There’s a reason we call cold plunge tubs an investment into your health—well, beyond the proven longevity and recovery benefits of taking an ice bath. The average price of a cold plunge tub falls around $5,000 (with some high-end models available for three times as much).
If you’ve ever felt your mood dip and wondered whether food could make a difference, the answer might be yes. New research1 suggests that what’s on your plate may play a bigger role in your mental health than you think—not just in terms of energy or longevity, but also for mood resilience.
Well, according to the CDC1, prolonged sitting time has emerged as a risk factor for various negative health outcomes, including cancer, heart disease, and obesity, just to name a few. A study published in Sport Sciences for Health found that sitting for prolonged periods of time could also have adverse effects on your mental well-being, in addition to your physical health.
We rarely think about it, but every second of our lives, we’re negotiating with one of the most powerful forces on Earth: gravity. It shapes how we stand, how our organs function, and even how we feel mentally. Yet in medicine, gravity has largely been overlooked—until now.
Why do you feel drained after scrolling your phone, but satisfied after a long walk or deep conversation? According to neuroscientist Tj Power, the answer lies in four key brain chemicals: dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins—or what he calls the DOSE chemicals.
Working hard is an admirable quality that leads to praise, awards, a good paycheck, and usually a good life. This centers a lot of our lives, but as we shift our priorities as a cultural movement towards self-care, having boundaries at work, and taking time for ourselves, that work-hard notion has a different ring to it. Let’s compare the difference between hustle culture and alignment within our work and purpose and see which one serves our well-being the most.
Thinking about a few things to do more and less of can help you embrace new patterns and let go of habits that aren’t serving you. As a social worker, here are a few things I recommend embracing and letting go of in order to improve your mental health.
Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Texas Christian University and a master’s in nutrition interventions, communication, and behavior change from Tufts University. She lives in Newport Beach, California, and enjoys connecting people to the food they eat and how it influences health and wellbeing.
Harold Ford Jr. believes Special Counsel Robert Hur’s damning report outlining the President’s struggles with cognitive thinking means his party needs to start having uncomfortable conversations about replacing Joe Biden.
Ford, a former Democrat congressman from Tennessee and current Fox News contributor, believes the report is evidence that Biden has “lost his fastball.”
Hur’s report indicated the President won’t be charged in the matter because he’s a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and it would be difficult to get a jury to convict somebody that feeble.
According to the report, Biden “did not remember when he was vice president” or “when his son Beau died,” and exhibited “diminished faculties” and “significant limitations” during his interview with the special counsel.
“I think these questions now are going to come more to the fore,” Ford told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade. “This was a tough night for the president, and I think many in the Democratic Party, which is my party, are going to have serious questions going forward about what this means.”
Ford Thinks His Party Needs To Talk About Replacing Biden
A couple of things come to mind regarding Ford’s comments that Democrats need to consider replacing President Biden on the Democrat ticket.
One, he didn’t just “lose his fastball” with this report: his fastball has been gone for quite a while. Good of you to catch up.
Two, has Ford been in a haze himself for the past three years? These questions have been “to the fore” for his entire term in the White House.
Hur writes that Biden “did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (“if it was 2013 – when did I stop being Vice President?”)…He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.” pic.twitter.com/N6B1FgdI3D
Ford stated the obvious in that clips of Biden’s press conference angrily declaring that he “knows what the hell he’s doing” and the special counsel report is destined to become campaign fodder against an already deeply unpopular President.
“This last night will be the closing ad in a campaign against President Biden as we get to November,” he said.
“The question is, are Democrats willing to go forward between now and November with a candidate that many in the country may not think is up to the job for four more [years]?” he added.
BIDEN: “I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing! I’m President and I put this country back on its feet!”pic.twitter.com/TCdYlZDDKM
Ford went on to suggest that President Biden’s disaster of a press conference – in which he referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi as the “president of Mexico” and forgot the name of the church where a rosary that he wears “every day” in his son’s honor came from – was evidence of what the special counsel report had discovered.
“President Biden last night, I think even in that interview, even in the press conference there, demonstrated to a lot of Americans what Mr. Hur wrote,” he said.
Ford added that he would have thought it extremely unlikely that Biden would be forced to halt his re-election campaign prior to yesterday’s events.
“But as of right now, I think Democrats are going to have to grapple with this over the next several weeks and few months,” he added. “And there are a few elders in the party that can perhaps have this conversation, and we’ll see if they do.”
Republicans have escalated calls for Biden’s cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment.
Biden is either mentally capable to stand trial & should be charged for mishandling classified documents as Vice President OR he is unfit to serve as President.
Contrary to Ford’s suggestion that Democrats grapple with the problem, they seem content with defending Biden despite the obvious signs he is not physically or mentally capable of carrying out the duties of President of the United States.
Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) vociferously defended Biden after a closed-door meeting with Democrats.
“He did so well in this discussion with members,” Wild told NBC News. “He’s very sharp, no memory issues, and his only stumbling is when he trips over words consistent with his lifelong speech impediment.”
Apparently, a stutter caused Biden to, at the meeting Wild is referencing, declare he is a leader of both red and “green states.”
As a marathon runner, my movement practice used to center fully around cardio—so I was shocked by the impact strength training could have on my physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Of course, I was even more shocked to find that lifting weights in my running sneakers was a major no-no, according to podiatrists.
Upgrading to proper weightlifting shoes has seriously transformed my workouts. My form is better, my lifts are heavier, and I feel so much stronger, especially when I’m wearing these Reebok Legacy Lifters.
The only downside? Weightlifting shoes run on the higher end of the spectrum price-wise, so the brand’s current $70 markdown is reason enough to try these lifters out for yourself.
Updated Oct 06, 2023, 2:51 am EDT / Original Oct 06, 2023, 1:15 am EDT
Consumer-staples stocks have gotten hit hard in recent weeks, and
hasn’t escaped the carnage. With the steady-Eddie beverage and snack giant set to report earnings on Oct. 10, its stock could be ready to pop.
Continue reading this article with a Barron’s subscription.
Peloton Interactive’s stock jumped after hours Wednesday after the connected-exercise-bike maker and yoga-wear giant Lululemon Athletica announced a five-year partnership that will combine digital fitness with workout and athleisure gear starting next month.
The move comes as the fitness industry recalibrates after a boom and bust in at-home workouts due to the pandemic, and after Peloton PTON, +0.65%
and Lululemon LULU, -0.40%
tried to compete with each other directly on connected fitness. But as part of the deal, Lululemon will stop selling its Lululemon Studio Mirror — its answer to Peloton’s pairing of exercise equipment and exercise videos — before the end of the year.
Shares of Peloton climbed 13.3% after hours Wednesday. Lululemon’s stock was up 0.3% after hours.
Under the partnership, Peloton will become the “exclusive digital fitness content provider” for Lululemon. Lululemon, meanwhile, will become Peloton’s “primary athletic-apparel partner.” Some Peloton instructors will also promote Lululemon’s clothing as part of the arrangement.
The partnership will target customers across North America, the U.K., Germany and Australia. Starting Oct. 11, co-branded clothing across Lululemon’s products will be available at Peloton stores and online in the United States, the U.K. and Canada, and in Peloton’s markets by March. Beginning Nov. 1, Lululemon Studio All-Access Members will have access to Peloton classes.
“Our two companies share a vision to advance wellbeing through movement, and this partnership ensures our lululemon Studio Members will have access to the most expansive and dynamic offering of fitness content possible,” Celeste Burgoyne, Lululemon’s president for the Americas and global guest innovation, said in a statement.
Lululemon bought Mirror — an interactive fitness company that displayed workout videos and fitness data on an actual mirror — for $500 million in 2020, when much of the world still faced pandemic-related restrictions.
Taking a day off to tend to your mental health isn’t a new concept. However, more social media users have been sharing their versions of a mental health day—with plenty of good tips, I might add—so the topic is getting more air time.
Influencer Madison Wild calls it her “happy brain routine,” on TikTok, sharing her must-do activities to keep her mood high. Model and influencer Sierra Brave takes her followers on a journey to “cure her brain” in her TikTok vlog, reminding followers that while she likes to keep her content positive, she too, struggles to get out of bed sometimes—and that’s okay. Another user, Kate Speights, also made a list of her go-to feel-better activities, especially for those with anxiety or people who are short on time.
This trend of normalizing bad days on social media is certainly a step in the right direction, helping to remind everyone that needing a day to get your brain back on track is normal, and more people do it than you might think.
Flash forward to the beginning of college. I started my freshman year at UCLA in 2018, and I had never been more excited for anything in my life. Like most 18-year-olds, I thought it was a chance to reinvent myself and start over. However, one month after I started school, I was sexually assaulted, and it sent me into a deep spiral.
Instead of reaching out for help, I isolated myself in my dorm room and refrained from telling anyone what had happened to me. Even though I was in such a negative headspace, I entered an unhealthy relationship that left me feeling more alone and ashamed than ever.
All of this compacted on to the trauma I experienced when I was sick led to me self-harm and eventually attempt to take my own life. During this time, I was diagnosed with clinical depression, PTSD, and OCD. I began going to talk therapy regularly, but I needed more support than I was getting.
This was when Dialectical Behavior Therapy, better known as DBT, was recommended to me.
I had no idea there were even multiple types of therapy before I started DBT. However, there are actually five unique categories of therapy recognized by the American Psychological Association: psychoanalysis, behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, humanistic therapy, and integrative or holistic therapy.
According to psychologist Lauren Kerwin, Ph.D., DBT is “a treatment that blends humanistic interpersonal systems, zen philosophy, and cognitive behavioral approaches into a coherent whole that helps clients not only survive but learn the skills necessary to build a life worth living.”
In other words, DBT helps people learn new ways to manage their emotions rather than just talking about their experiences. It was helpful for me to learn about tangible skills I can actually use in my everyday life.