Life Hacks

If you’re going to take a mental health day off work – which day should it be? 

Here’s the answer from Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin, a licensed psychologist who focuses on helping professionals manage their careers. 

She says don’t take off a day mid-week – unless you have no other choice. Because it’ll be harder to disengage from your job when work is looming the next day. It won’t feel restorative because you’re coming down from the last day of work and also preparing mentally for the next day. 

It’s better to tack a mental health day onto the beginning or the end of the week, so it becomes an extension of your weekend, and you can fully disengage.

If you want to add an extra 10 years to your life…. Go swimming! 

According to Northwestern University, the more you swim, eat right and avoid tobacco, the longer you’ll live. Their studies looked at more than 355-thousand people and found that swimming can add as many as 10 years to your life. 

The studies found that, among healthy people, those who swam regularly had an 80% lower risk of heart disease. And another study, done by the University of South Carolina, found that over the course of a 13-year study swimmers had the lowest rate of death. 

So why would that be? The researchers speculate that it’s because swimming works the entire body – not just the lower half, like running. Plus, because water makes us buoyant, it’s something almost everybody can do……

Even people who have bad knees, arthritis or are overweight. And you don’t need to spend your life in the pool. An hour a day was all it took to get the longevity benefits. And it doesn’t matter what stroke you do – they’re all equally good. 

In fact, jogging in water – or water aerobics – will also provide the same life-lengthening benefits.  

Life is pretty much back to normal……But a new survey by the American Psychological Association finds 75% of people are still experiencing daily stress-related symptoms – including headaches, sleep issues, fatigue, and feeling overwhelmed.

Well, experts are blaming it on so-called “ambient stress” – which is stress that’s running in the background, below our level of consciousness. That’s according to clinical psychologist, Dr. Laurie Ferguson. It’s like the ambient noise in a coffee shop. You don’t even notice the machines buzzing, or the hum of conversation – but it’s there. 

And that’s what ambient stress is……It’s just always there, eating away at us. The journal Environment and Behavior describes ambient stress as chronic and negative, but we function like everything’s fine, when it’s really not. And, over time, it takes a toll. 

Now in 2020, we were acutely aware of our stress. So we started baking, doing zoom calls with friends, and walking around the neighborhood. But now that we’re constantly in a state of low-grade stress – it’s become part of us, so we’ve stopped trying to manage it.

So what can we do? Start managing it again! Dr. Ferguson says it helps to give your brain new stimuli. Even small changes, like eating something new for lunch, can introduce healthy novelty. And exercise is also key. It’s proven to override stress – even ambient stress.

I have 2 questions for you…… Are you trying to lose weight? And, do you like peanuts?

If the answers are yes and yes – I have good news! Researchers from Texas Tech University and the University of South Australia found that eating lightly salted peanuts twice a day before meals leads to weight loss and lower blood pressure.

For the study, the adults ate roughly 35 lightly salted, dry-roasted peanuts twice a day, half an hour before meals. After six-months, the researchers found that study subjects had significant weight loss, improved blood sugar levels, and lower blood pressure.

Kristina Petersen is a professor in Texas Tech’s Department of Nutritional Sciences – and worked on the study. She says, a lot of people avoid nuts and nut butters when they’re trying to lose weight, because they have a lot of fat and calories. But peanuts contain HEALTHY unsaturated fats, which can actually help with weight loss. They also have a good amount of fiber and protein. 

Plus, peanuts have a high satiety value – meaning they fill you up! So you don’t eat as much overall. 

So, if you’re on the weight loss train – keep some lightly salted dry-roasted peanuts on hand for a snack. Because now we know – they’re proven to help you lose weight.

Let’s say there’s a jar of pickles or pasta sauce……Do people hand the jar to YOU to open? That means you have good grip strength – and beyond that, you’re probably in good health overall and you’ll probably live longer than most!

Because, according to the British Medical Journal, a strong grip is a sign that more blood is being pumped around the body. But weaker hand muscles can indicate heart problems, lung issues, and a lower life expectancy, even among younger adults. 

A separate study found people with stronger hand strength are better at problem-solving, memory tests and reasoning, and have faster reaction times. Again, because they have better circulation – so the brain is being fed with more oxygenated blood and that helps it process things faster.

So, what’s the best do-it-yourself grip strength test? A digital dynamometer. It looks like a staple gun, but you squeeze two bars together as hard as you can. They’re available online for about 30 dollars……and they not only measure your hand strength, they can be used to improve it. 

If you don’t want to buy one, grab a small, rubber ball, and every other day, squeeze it as hard as possible for 5 seconds, then relax. And repeat that 10 to 15 times with each hand.