Walking Can Save Your Life

I am a huge proponent of exercise.

I often write about the mental and physical benefits of exercise, and believe my morning running habit has changed my life and career more than anything else.

But I also realize that exercise doesn’t appeal to everyone, and it isn’t always enjoyable in the moment. An exercise habit is also very hard to get started, especially if you haven’t been active in a while.

If you have been living a sedentary lifestyle, a 30-minute run probably seems out of the realm of possibility, let alone joining a SoulCycle class or Barry’s Bootcamp. I totally get it.

But you don’t need to do high intensity interval training or push your body to the limits to see the benefits of exercise.

Walking — an activity that is available to nearly everyone — produces remarkable health benefits.

Even if you haven’t exercised in a while, it is still pretty easy to get up and go for a walk. No heavy weights or judgmental gym instructors required.

It turns out that the simple act of walking is the best thing we can do to improve our overall health and increase longevity.

Following the recommended exercise guidelines — which call for just 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity (equal to a brisk walk, at a pace of 3 miles per hour) per week — has been shown to lower the risk of death by 31% compared to people who get no leisure-time activity.

That means walking for just 30 minutes per day, 5 times per week, can slash your risk of dying by nearly a third. Going up to 1 hour of walking per day (7 days a week) drops the risk of death by 39%.

If that seems like a lot of activity right out of the gates, even very low levels of walking can help you live longer. Just 2 hours of walking per week — equivalent to around 17 minutes per day — has been shown to lower the risk of premature death.

Walking also reduces the risk of numerous diseases, including breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

But walking doesn’t only help stave off disease and help you live longer. Walking also helps you live better.

Walking has been shown to improve memory and cognitive function. In fact, a daily walk could cut the risk of developing dementia by 40%. Walking also lowers stress and improves mood.

So you can expect to be mentally sharp and happy during your extra years.

If the above benefits aren’t enough to get you out the door, consider also that walking is free (other than a pair of sneakers), can be done pretty much anywhere, and has one of the lowest injury rates of any form of exercise.

The bottom line is our bodies were made to move, and walking is the easiest form of movement.

If you want to live longer and better, make a habit of going out for a daily walk.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for health, happiness, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

A Daily and Weekly Checklist for a Better Life

Some actions yield significantly higher returns than others.

There are 5 things you can do on a daily basis, and another 5 things to do on a weekly basis, that will dramatically improve your life.

When I say improve your life, I mean help you make the most of each day, and live a longer and more fulfilling life.

Here is a daily and weekly checklist for a better life:

Daily Checklist

1. 30 Minutes of Moderate Exercise

Taking just 30 minutes per day to move your body — which equates to only 3% of your waking hours — will produce profound mental and physical benefits.

You will be mentally sharper, less anxious, and have a more optimistic outlook on life. You’ll lose weight, look better, and reduce your risk of numerous diseases.

Moderate exercise can be as simple as brisk walking. A daily walk has been shown to reduce the risk of dementia by 40%, and walking even as little as two hours per week could help you live longer.

If you find walking painful, then it might be worth checking in with your doctor to see if you need orthotics. Check out The Good Feet Store Reviews to find the right type of support for your feet.

Other examples of moderate exercise include biking, jogging, hiking, swimming, or even yard work. It really doesn’t matter what the activity is as long as you get your body moving and heart pumping.

A good rule of thumb is that you should sweat from exercise at least once per day.

2. 10 Minutes of Meditation

Meditation is another daily habit that works wonders for your mind and body.

Meditation has been proven to lower blood pressure, reduce stress and anxiety, increase focus, and strengthen your memory.

And while the benefits of meditation accumulate over time, you can see dramatic results with just a 10-minute practice per day.

There are numerous highly-regarded apps to help guide you through the process. Check out Headspace, Calm, 10% Happier, or Insight Timer.

3. 10+ Minutes of Reading/Learning

In our rapidly-changing world, it is more important than ever to be continuously learning. It is also highly fulfilling to be a lifelong learner.

It is no surprise that reading is a common habit among the world’s most productive and successful people.

Devote at least 10 minutes per day to reading or some other form of learning (this could be an audio book, podcast, TED talk, etc.).

Cultivating this practice will expand your mind, deepen your interests, and make you more interesting at cocktail parties. You don’t need to read for hours on end, but make sure to turn the page every day.

4. 5+ Servings of Fruits and Vegetables

I have read numerous books about the ultimate human diet, and the science is very clear on one point: a whole-food, plant-based diet is best. Every great diet revolves around fruits and vegetables.

Eating mostly fruits and vegetables is arguably the most important thing you can do for your health and longevity.

Eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day has been shown to add an extra 3 years of life expectancy.

But more is even better.

Eating at least 7 portions of fruit and veggies a day can lower your risk of premature death by 42%. Going up to 10 servings a day is associated with double-digit percentage decreases in the risks for heart disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and premature deaths.

5. 8 Hours of Sleep

As much as I hate to admit it, sleep is essential for health and vitality.

Adequate sleep makes you happier, improves learning and memory, and prevents against diseases like Alzheimers and other forms of dementia.

We need to be getting about 8 hours of sleep per night. Anything less won’t cut it.

If you want to establish a healthy relationship with sleep, here is a toolkit for a great night’s sleep.

Weekly Checklist

1. 45 Minutes of Vigorous Exercise

While a moderate daily exercise routine is essential as a foundation, it is also important to turn it up a notch on a weekly basis.

Aim to get up to at least 70% of your maximum heart rate for at least 45 minutes. You can work up to this intensity over time.

These high-intensity workouts have been proven to boost happiness and your ability to focus, while strengthening your heart and cardiovascular system.

Examples of vigorous exercise including running, swimming laps, biking uphill, singles tennis or squash, soccer, basketball, circuit weight training, and various other group or individual fitness activities.

This weekly workout can replace one of your daily moderate exercise sessions.

2. 30 Minutes of Yoga

A weekly yoga practice will help to reduce stress, challenge the brain, and increase your flexibility.

Yoga has also been proven to reduce inflammation, improve heart health, enhance sleep, and build strength.

You don’t need to practice yoga every day to see these benefits, but it should be a part of your weekly routine.

3. Attend Faith-Based Services

Practicing your faith or religion helps connect you with like-minded people, creates a sense of community, and focuses you on something bigger than yourself.

Research shows that attending faith-based services once a week adds 4–14 years of life expectancy.

This holds true regardless of the faith you practice.

If you do not connect with any religion, try joining a club that aligns with your interests instead. Joining a group that meets even once a month has been shown to produce the same happiness boost as doubling your income.

This could be a book club, walking club, wine tasting club, sports club, or anything else that is meaningful for you.

4. Volunteer or Give Back

Volunteering (or some other form of giving back) enables you to make a difference in other peoples’ lives, and it makes you feel better about yourself at the same time.

The world is in need of your skills, time, and resources. So find a cause that is important to you and pay it forward on a weekly basis, whether that means helping people access Sokolove Law about their mesothelioma illness, volunteering to walk animals at a shelter or donating money to the local school.

Volunteering or donating money has been shown to make people happier and more financially successful as well.

If you feel strapped for time, then keep it simple. Even buying a coffee for someone behind you in line at Starbucks will brighten the day.

Giving back — with your time or money — provides meaning in your life, and it is simply the right thing to do.

5. Make Social Plans

Social relationships are the number 1 predictor of overall happiness in life.

Strong relationships are vital for health, productivity, career success, and overall well-being.

While it would be ideal to socialize for 6 hours each day, it is far more manageable to commit to one social outing per week.

Many of the above daily and weekly habits can be done with others in a social setting, so that’s a great place to start.

You could also consider arranging a weekly happy hour with friends or get your neighbors together for a potluck dinner.

Additional Tips

When it comes to living a better life, finding effective ways to take better care of your overall health is key, especially when dealing with specific, persistent complaints. For example, if you routinely find yourself dealing with shingles, then you may want to begin to research different home remedies for shingles. This way, you can deal with the issues as soon as they arise, before they begin to cause any discomfort or pain. Holistic approaches are often key in cases like this!

Additionally, it's beneficial to embrace a proactive approach in managing any chronic conditions you may have. For instance, seeking outpatient treatment for bipolar disorder can provide structured support without the need for hospitalization. Alongside these specific treatments, embrace flexibility in your daily schedule. For instance, if your energy peaks in the morning, tackle the most challenging tasks first. If you're a night owl, reserve evenings for creativity or relaxation. By aligning your tasks with your natural rhythms, you can optimize productivity and ensure that your self-care practices, including those for mental health, are as effective as possible.

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There you have it — daily and weekly habits that are practical and actionable to improve your life.

Use these checklists to plan your days and your weeks.

If you build in these items before you plan anything else, you will be way ahead of the game.

You will be maximizing your days and adding years to your life. And you’ll have fun doing it.

Live by this daily and weekly checklist and you will live a better life.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for health, happiness, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

We Are Feeding Our Kids Known Carcinogens

We know that smoking is bad for us.

Smoking has clearly been proven to cause cancer (and many other diseases), and therefore a health-warning label is required to appear on every pack of cigarettes. It has been that way for over 50 years.

Alcohol, too, is a known carcinogen. Alcohol bottles must also bear health-warning labels, and it has become common knowledge that excessive drinking causes health problems.

Of course cigarettes and alcohol can only legally be purchased and consumed by adults.

But there is another known carcinogen that many people consume every day and feed to their children.

In fact, there are over 100 known human carcinogens.

But only a few of these are related to diet and lifestyle (most are chemicals in the environment and other exposures).

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If there was something you were doing every day that was known to cause cancer, wouldn’t you want to know about it?

Perhaps, like cigarettes and alcohol, some people would choose to do it anyway.

If you knew something caused cancer, would you give it to your kids? Probably not, just like you wouldn’t want to expose them to toxic chemicals.

But there is a high probability that you are regularly eating a cancer-causing food, and putting it on your kids’ plates, too.

That cancer-causing food is processed meat.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (the cancer agency of the World Health Organization) has classified processed meat as a carcinogen, something that causes cancer. That means that processed meat is a Group 1 carcinogen, in the same class as asbestos and tobacco.

Red meat is classified as a probable carcinogen (Group 2A), something that probably causes cancer.

Processed meat includes hot dogs, ham, bacon, sausage, and some deli meats. Any meat that has been treated in some way to preserve or flavor it is processed meat (e.g. salting, curing, fermenting, smoking). Red meat includes beef, pork, lamb, and goat.

This finding was reached by 22 experts from 10 countries who reviewed more than 800 studies to reach their conclusions.

Rock-solid proof.

Eating just one hot dog or 4 strips of bacon every day leads to a double-digit increase in colorectal cancer risk, and for red meat there is evidence of increased risk of colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer.

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We are 100% certain that processed meat causes cancer.

About 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are attributable to diets high in processed meat.

And although eating red meat has not yet been proven to cause cancer, if the reported associations were proven to be causal, diets high in red meat could be responsible for 50,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide.

Those numbers don’t even include the other negative health outcomes caused by eating processed and red meat, such as high blood pressure and heart and cardiovascular disease.

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You may think that bacon is one of the joys of life, and still choose to eat it and serve it to your kids, but you should at least know about the risks.

Although these findings are several years old, most people have no idea that processed meat causes cancer. They grew up with hot dogs and cold cuts, and therefore give those foods to their kids as well.

Yes, the occasional hot dog or hamburger is probably okay, just like the occasional cigarette or martini won’t kill you.

But if the risks of tobacco and alcohol are widely known — and those products are required to display health warnings — then processed meat should be held to the same standard.

Processed meat is known to cause cancer.

Every package of processed meat should display that fact.

It is inexcusable that millions of pounds of processed meat are eaten every year (the average American eats nearly 18 pounds of bacon alone per year), and served to our kids, without the health risks being front and center.

Perhaps many people would make the same food choices anyway.

But I know I’ll think twice before I give my kids another hot dog, and I certainly won’t make a habit of giving them processed and red meat.

I wouldn’t encourage my kids to take up smoking, and I won’t steer them into a meat-based diet, either.

Your Phone Is A Stress Machine

How many times per day do you check your phone?

If you are like the average American, that number hovers around 80 times per day.

Or if you’re a millennial, it might be a staggering 150 times per day!

Chances are you instinctively grab your phone when waiting in line at Starbucks, when bored in a meeting at work, and probably even when you’re stopped at a red light.

It is likely that you check your phone first thing in the morning (61% of people do) and last thing before bed (75% of people bring their phone to bed).

Although you might not want to admit it, you could be on your phone for over three and a half hours per day (the average for US adults), which adds up to more than 50 days per year!

The reality is that the average person checks their email 15 times per day, and workers spend 6.3 hours a day checking and responding to emails.

What is this addiction to our phone — and constantly being connected — doing to us?

It making us seriously stressed out.

Nearly one-fifth of Americans say their use of technology stresses them out, and stress levels run highest for “constant checkers.”

Additionally, constant checkers feel disconnected from their family — even when they are together — as a result of technology, and are less likely to meet up in person with friends and family because of social media.

Research shows that people who frequently check their email are more stressed than those who check less often. The effects are worst for people who check email constantly after work hours.

We also know that excessive social media use causes stress, and contributes to lower levels of happiness and wellbeing.

Technology use is a controllable source of stress. And it is wreaking havoc on our health.

Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease in the world.

Your phone — filled with all of your email and social media scrolling — is a verifiable stress-inducing machine.

We need to gain control over our technology if we want gain control of our health and wellbeing.

If you are ready to make a change — and take control of your devices — here are a few rules to live by:

• Do not check email immediately upon waking or last thing before bed. This approach is championed by Tim Ferriss who says that email first thing derails your priorities for the day and email right before sleeping gives you insomnia. Putting this into practice has been a life-changer for me.

• Schedule 2–3 blocks per day for email, instead of constantly reading and responding as new messages come in.

• Never reach for your phone while driving or stopped in traffic. If necessary, pull over to set your navigation or respond to a message.

• Try leaving your phone in your pocket the next time you are waiting in line. Look around you and see what you notice when you aren’t buried in your phone.

• Leave your phone in your pocket the next time you meet up with a friend. This will work wonders for your relationships. If need be, excuse yourself to take a call that requires immediate attention.

• Unplug after work hours. I personally go offline for 12 hours each day — from about 8pm — 8am. I also try to avoid email and social media for one full day each weekend. Keeping this schedule enables me to ‘down shift’ and prioritize my family and my health.

You don’t need to tackle all of these right away. Start with just 1–2 of these habits and see what happens to your stress levels and general wellbeing.

Once you start seeing the benefits, maybe you’ll go phone-free more often.

There is no way to truly experience life if you are head-down in your phone.

It’s time to put the phone down and start living.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

What You Should Really Be Eating, In Plain and Simple Terms

There is so much conflicting information out there about what you should be eating.

Dietary guidelines and best practices have changed drastically over the years, and it has become very hard to know who to trust.

Therefore I have studied this topic at length over the last several years, poring over books, scientific studies, and learning from the true experts in the field.

This is a very worthy endeavor — according to some reports, nutritional excellence has the power to virtually eliminate your risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as significantly reduce your risk of a variety of cancers.

After extensive research into the ultimate human diet, the science has become very clear on one point:

A whole-food, plant-based diet is best. Every great diet revolves around fruits and vegetables.

The most fundamental and understandable guidelines are set forth in the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate (the official dietary advice from Harvard doctors and medical professors), specifically:

Ensure at least 1/2 of your plate is vegetables and fruit

At least 50% of your food intake should be fruits and vegetables. However, less than 14 percent of Americans eat enough fruits and vegetables every day.

Eating mostly fruits and vegetables is arguably the most important thing you can do for your health and longevity.

According to research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day has been shown to add an extra 3 years of life expectancy.

But more is even better. Eating at least 7 portions of fruit and veggies a day can lower your risk of premature death by 42%. Going up to 10 servings a day is associated with double-digit percentage decreases in the risks for heart disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and premature deaths.

Choose organic, seasonal, and local vegetables whenever possible (reference the Dirty Dozen & Clean 15 list when deciding to buy organic or not). Include both cooked and uncooked vegetables, and aim for a variety of colors, from dark green to bright yellow and orange.

Fill your shopping cart with these detoxifying plants: Cilantro, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale, radishes, brussels sprouts, turnips, watercress, kohlrabi, rutabaga, arugula, horseradish, maca, rapini, daikon, wasabi, bok choy, artichoke hearts, beets, dandelions, mushrooms, onions, garlic, ginger, and seaweed.

Dark leafy greens are the king of the vegetable kingdom in terms of nutrient-density. White potatoes should be minimized because of their high glycemic index.

Berries top the nutrition chart among fruits, but all kinds of fruit are great. Just make sure to choose whole fruits over fruit juices (which have been stripped of nutrition content).

Make whole grains 1/4 of your plate

Whole grains — including whole wheat, barley, wheat berries, quinoa, oats, brown rice, and whole wheat bread and pasta — are more nutrient-dense and have a milder effect on blood sugar than white bread, white rice, and other refined grains.

When selecting bread, look for 100% whole wheat, sprouted grain, whole grain rye, pumpernickel, and true sourdough bread. Look at the label and make sure the serving size ratio of carbs to fiber is equal to or less than 5-to-1 (for example, if you divided 15 grams of carbs by 3 grams of fiber, that would equal 5 and would be acceptable). I am a fan of the sprouted Ezekiel bread from the Food for Life brand.

Oatmeal is a great breakfast choice to get your day started with whole grains (top it off with ground flax seed, nuts, and mixed berries for even more nutrition).

Make protein 1/4 of your plate

Beans and nuts are great plant-based sources of protein, so it is best to start there. Small amounts of carefully-selected fish, chicken, and meat are also acceptable. Animal protein can play a role in your diet, but as a condiment (2–3 ounces, a few nights per week), not the main course.

When selecting fish, go for wild caught (not farmed) SMASH fish (salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, herring) over large-mouthed, long-lived fish (shark, swordfish, tuna). And if you eat poultry or meat, make sure to get pastured chicken or grass-fed beef. Eggs should also be from chickens that are pastured, not factory raised.

Stay away from processed meats such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and cold cuts.

Eat healthy plant oils in moderation

Choose healthier oils such as olive, MCT, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, and peanut, and stay away from partially hydrogenated oils which contain unhealthy trans fat.

Include other good fats such as avocados, nuts, and seeds.

Drink water, coffee, green tea, and red wine

Avoid sugary drinks (soda, boxed juices) and limit milk/dairy (1–2 servings per day). Limit wine consumption to no more than 1–2 glasses (5 oz.) per day (max of one glass per day for women, two for men).

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If you are following the above guidelines, there will be very little room for unhealthy foods such as salty snacks (chips, crackers) and packaged sweets (cookies, candy bars, cakes).

If you are looking for a cheat sheet grocery list, the best longevity foods are (according to The Blue Zones research of centenarians around the world):

• Beans (black beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, black-eyed peas, lentils)

• Greens (spinach, kale, chards, beet tops, fennel tops, collards)

• Sweet Potatoes

• Nuts (almonds, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts, cashews)

• Olive Oil (green, extra-virgin is best)

• Oats (slow-cook or Irish steel-cut are best)

• Barley

• Fruits (all kinds)

• Green or Herbal teas

• Turmeric (spice or tea)

Blue Zones area centenarians eat a 95% plant-based diet rich in beans, greens, grains and nuts.

If you base your diet around these foods, you just might make it to 100 as well!

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

Stop Thinking About What's Next and Start Participating in the World Around You

We are often so focused on what’s next — getting a promotion, a new house, a bigger car.

After one achievement, we’re already thinking about the next one.

Our life becomes one big accumulation of achievements, in our relentless drive to succeed.

But the problem with that is, while we are racking up these ‘wins’, we aren’t really participating in the world around us.

When we are always thinking about what’s next — and tangible signs of success — we are not engaging in the life that we are living right now.

We only have so much time on this earth, and there is no way of knowing exactly how much time we have.

The reality is that each moment, week, and year of your life is precious. And finite.

If you are living today thinking about what you can achieve tomorrow, your daily life will never be fulfilling.

Setting goals and driving toward them is good, but not when it comes at the expense of enjoying the life that you have right now.

We need to think more about making today’s life as great as possible, instead of charging as fast as possible into tomorrow. You don’t know how many tomorrows you’ll have.

And when your time does run out, your personal achievements won’t do you much good.

If you want to make the most of each day you do have, here are some good places to start:

Prioritize family and friends over work

At the end of their life, nobody wishes they had worked more.

It turns out social connection is the greatest predictor of overall life happiness, and also vital to our health.

Add more socialization into your life by developing regular social rituals such as impromptu happy hours, pot lucks, or backyard barbecues. Set a weekly dinner and invite your extended family. Live close to your friends or make friends with your neighbors.

Choose social experiences over material things

Research shows that experiences bring people more happiness than material goods.

Instead of buying a new shirt or watch, or even a new car, opt for social experiences instead. For example, a dinner out on the town, sports or concert tickets, a vacation, theater or museum tickets, a cooking class, or a wine tasting.

Join a club that aligns with your interests and passions

Research has shown that joining a group that meets even once a month produces the same happiness boost as doubling your income.

This could be a book club, walking club, wine tasting club, faith-based club, sports club, or anything else that is meaningful for you. Prioritize clubs that have members similar to you in age, values, and interests in order to make new friends.

Choose a job that puts your talents to good use and enables you to make a meaningful difference

Work should be something you look forward to, rather than something you dread. Make sure you believe in the overall mission of your employer, and that you can make a meaningful contribution toward that mission.

You should also aim to develop at least one true friendship at work. Research shows that having a best friend at work is the biggest determinant of whether you like your job.

Unplug after work hours

You will never gain perspective or fully experience life if you are constantly buried in email or scrolling through social media. I personally go offline for 12 hours each day — from about 8pm — 8am. I also try to avoid email and social media for one full day each weekend.

Keeping this schedule enables me to prioritize my family and my health. I have found that balancing my online and offline time helps me to achieve balance in my life overall.

Spend Time Outside

It is all too common to spend most of our days inside and in front of a computer screen. Getting outside and connecting with nature is a powerful way to clear your mind and reduce stress. Increasing your time outside (which could be as simple as taking a walk) will likely do wonders for your mood and outlook on life.

Volunteer your time to help people who have less than you

Volunteering has been shown to boost your health and happiness, while helping those in need.

In general, focus on giving to others instead of accumulating things for yourself. Donate to charity, be the first to pick up the check, and overtip at the end of your meal.

Practice your faith

Research shows that attending faith-based services 4 times per month will add 4–14 years of life expectancy. This holds true regardless of the faith you practice.

Add a daily dose of humor

Tell a joke, read the comics, watch a funny TV show, or go to a Comedy club. In fact, the simple act of smiling reduces stress and increases happiness, even if you’re faking or forcing the smile.

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Achievement is good, but making the most of each day is even better.

Truly experiencing life is the best achievement of all.

Stop thinking about what’s next, and start living for today.

Hopefully the above principles and habits will help you along that path.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

Exercise Will Make Your Kids Smarter

We know that exercise is good for the body, but how about the brain?

And more specifically, does physical activity help children learn better?

The latest science reveals the effects of movement on children’s brains, and shows that exercise can be a powerful tool for learning.

We have known for a while that children with good cardiovascular fitness have better cognitive function, memory, and ability to focus.

But what we haven’t been certain about is causality — Is exercise increasing memory and attention span, or is it that children who have good memory and attention like to exercise?

Over the last five years, an increasing body of evidence proves that the answer is the former: Exercise improves memory and learning.

The latest findings could have huge implications for kids’ study habits and school curriculums (not to mention the routines of adult workers).

Here is what some of the studies show:

Exercise after learning improves retention

This study revealed that people who exercised 4 hours after a memory test (the test involved seeing and remembering very detailed pictures) had better retention 24 hours after the test. The results indicate that exercise affects the process by which memories are consolidated (transferred from short-term to long-term memory).

Even short bursts of exercise improve the ability to focus

This study showed that as little as 4 minutes of intense in-class exercise (called “FUNtervals”) increased the ability to focus among 9–11 year olds.

Even a single “dose” of exercise boosts learning

This study revealed that 20 minutes of fast walking (60% of max heart rate) on a treadmill increased reading comprehension in 10-year-old children. The learning benefits have been especially profound for children with ADHD.

Exercise Increases Motor Skills Learning

This study showed that as little as a single 15-minute bout of cardiovascular exercise increased brain connectivity and efficiency. Just 15 minutes of aerobic exercise on a bike immediately after practicing a complex motor skills task (a “pinch test”) resulted in improved performance at the task 24 hours after learning it.

Physically active children are less depressed

This study revealed that the risk of depression is reduced for physically active children. This is especially relevant in today’s society, as the number of children and teenagers seeking help for depression and anxiety is on the rise in most western countries.

Data on when to exercise has not been consistent — in some of the research, it has been better to exercise during learning (“reading on a treadmill”), whereas in other studies exercising before or after learning is better. Future studies will likely bring clarity to the optimal timing, but the important thing is to know that exercise enhances learning.

For me personally, I swear by my morning run because it makes me sharper mentally all day long. There is no doubt that running in the morning makes me better at work throughout the day — I think more clearly and overall have a more optimistic outlook on work and life. Many of today’s top business leaders and entrepreneurs also include exercise as a key component of their morning routine.

The impact of exercise on the brain is expertly detailed in the book The Real Happy Pill by Anders Hansen, a physician and psychiatry specialist from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. The best-selling book has sparked a discussion about how exercise can be used as a tool for learning, and has caused the Swedish government to investigate whether schools should change their curriculum on a national level.

Many Swedish schools have already started to incorporate more exercise for children, often building in physical activity for 20–30 minutes before classes start for the day. The participating schools have reported that children are calmer, more focused, and better able to learn as a result of the morning exercise.

The effects of exercise on learning have perhaps been downplayed because we often associate kids’ exercise with sports. Additionally, exercise has not been as easy to commercialize as pharmaceuticals or supplements. If these results had been obtained from a food supplement, just imagine how heavily marketed that pill would be!

It is time to expand our view of exercise for children. Exercise for kids goes far beyond what happens at the gym, or while running, or playing football.

For children, exercise can be walking or riding a bike to school instead of being driven in a car.

We should restrict access to cell phones and computers during some parts of the school day, so kids will go outside and play instead of staring into a screen.

For adults, “exercise” can be as simple as always walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Even a daily walk can be great medicine for the mind — reducing the risk of dementia by as much as 40%.

The small stuff makes a big difference.

If you don’t do it for yourself, at least do it for your kids.

If the latest science is any indication, exercise as a tool for learning will gain significant attention in the years to come.

The results are too powerful to ignore.

If you want your kids to be smarter, send them outside to play.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

3 Easy (And Fun) Daily Habits to Extend Your Life

What if your vices could actually help you live longer?

A recent study followed 1700 nonagenarians to determine what makes people live to age 90 and beyond.

And the results are almost too good to be true.

The study revealed these 3 daily habits that increase longevity:

Drink Beer and Wine

That’s right — drinking alcohol was shown to have a statistically-significant impact on living longer, even when controlling for other factors.

Specifically, people who drank about two glasses of beer or wine a day (a glass is about 5 oz.) were 18% less likely to experience a premature death than those who abstained from alcohol.

“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” said University of California neurologist and lead researcher Claudia Kawas.

This is consistent with studies of centenarians from the world’s Blue Zones regions — the places around the world with the highest life expectancy — where they often drink up to two glasses of wine every day as a way to downshift from the stressors of daily life.

So it’s possible that a daily happy hour extends your life by shedding stress. We know that stress leads to chronic inflammation, which is associated with every major age-related disease.

Or perhaps it is because drinking alcohol often brings us together with friends and family. Social relationships are vital for our health (not to mention the best predictor of our overall happiness).

Or maybe the benefits come from what’s in the alcohol itself. For example, red wine contains powerful antioxidants that have anti-inflammatory benefits. People in the Blue Zones region of Sardinia, Italy drink Cannonau wine (from the Grenache grape), which is renowned for its high levels of polyphenols — antioxidants linked to heart health and protection from cardiovascular disease.

Whatever the reason, you can feel good about drinking a glass or two of beer or wine every day.

The research is clear — Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers.

Drink Coffee

While we’re on the topic of drinking, coffee is another beverage that extends your life.

Drinking two cups of coffee per day was shown to reduce the risk of dying prematurely by 10%.

Previous studies revealed that drinking 3–4 cups of coffee every day could significantly reduce your chances of early death, and even drinking as many as 8 cups of coffee per day can help you live longer.

And the benefits hold true for all types of coffee — caffeinated, decaf, ground, instant, etc.

Daily coffee consumption is another common habit among Blue Zones populations. Centenarians in all five original Blue Zones areas drink up to two or three cups of black coffee per day.

How can the longevity benefits of coffee be explained?

• Coffee is loaded with essential antioxidants. Similar to red wine, coffee contains polyphenols that neutralize free radicals and help prevent disease.
• Coffee reduces age-related inflammation.
• Coffee reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. This is specifically true for fully caffeinated coffee.
• Coffee lowers the risk of prostate cancer in men. This again could be because coffee contains many beneficial compounds that act as antioxidants, reduce inflammation, and regulate insulin, all of which may influence prostate cancer.

Coffee has also been linked with a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease and liver cancer.

All of this doesn’t necessarily mean you should start drinking coffee if you’re not already, but if you are a coffee drinker you should feel very good about your daily fix.

Moderate Exercise

OK, so maybe this habit isn’t as fun as the previous two, but it is still pretty easy to achieve.

The nonagenarian study showed that those who engaged in moderate exercise every day (between 15 and 45 minutes) had an 11% lower risk of dying early.

So you can’t just sit on your couch all day long, but we’re talking about a very small amount of physical activity reducing your risk of death by double-digit percentage points.

I won’t belabor this point, since by now we all know that exercise is good for us.

The health benefits of physical activity have been well-documented — including helping to control weight, strengthen the cardiovascular system, fortify bones, and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Exercise is also the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.

The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons, or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it.

Even if you are only active for 15–45 minutes per day, clearly the health benefits are profound.

That is a very small time commitment to significantly increase your life span.

...

This might just be the best news you hear all day:

Drinking alcohol, drinking coffee, and doing just a small amount of exercise each day will help you live longer.

Cheers to that!

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

The Healthiest People In The World Don't Go To The Gym

Maybe it's time to cancel your gym membership. 

If you want to be as healthy as possible, there are no treadmills or weight machines required.

Don’t just take my word for it — look to the longest-lived people in the world for proof.

People in the world’s Blue Zones — the places around the world with the highest life expectancy — don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms.

Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without even thinking about it. This means that they grow gardens, walk throughout the day, and minimize mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.

In fact, Blue Zones researchers determined that routine natural movement is one of the most impactful ways to increase your life span, and a common habit among the world’s longest-lived populations.

Of course this might not seem realistic in our current knowledge economy, where we’re often tied to a desk and in front of a computer screen all day.

Moving naturally throughout the day might sound pleasant and romantic, but the reality is that 90% of us have sedentary jobs (whereas 100 years ago it was only 10%).

However, there are still easy ways to add more movement into your daily life.

One of the best ways to do this is to use an active mode of transportation. This could mean walking your kids to school, walking or biking to the grocery store, to a friend’s house, or out to dinner.

Ideally you could walk or bike to work as well (or walk/bike to the bus or train station, if that’s more feasible).

Research shows that the best work commute you can have is a 15-minute walk each way, but any physical activity built in along your commute is a plus. On the flip side, the daily car commute is the number two thing Americans hate the most on a daily basis, behind only housework (but maybe housework would be more enjoyable if you reminded yourself of the life-extending natural movement involved!).

If active transportation isn’t possible in your community, you can still find time to go out for a walk.

A recent study from the American Cancer Society revealed that walking for six hours per week resulted in a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and cancer than not being active at all. But the research also showed that walking even as little as two hours per week could reduce the risk of disease and help you live longer.

Walking is also great medicine for your mind. A daily walk could reduce the risk of dementia by 40%, according to Anders Hansen, a physician and psychiatry specialist from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

If long walks aren’t your thing, break it up by taking several smaller walks per day instead (5 minutes per hour).

Make it a point to stand at your desk, or at least get up and move around regularly throughout the day. Get outside at lunch for some fresh air.

The bottom line is that our bodies were made to move.

And that doesn’t necessarily mean going to the gym.

You don’t need to lift heavy weights or grind through high intensity interval workouts to live a long and healthy life.

Simple, natural movement can be even more impactful.

Do as the world’s centenarians do — move naturally.

The Greatest Country in the World?

Is there a way to measure the greatest country in the world?

I suppose it depends on your definition, but I believe the best country is the one that produces the ultimate combination of happiness, health, and productivity/success.

Fortunately there are studies that rank countries across each of those areas, and the goal of this article is look across the individual rankings to arrive at the overall best of the best.

Happiness

The World Happiness Report is the ultimate authority on global happiness, ranking 156 countries by their happiness levels. Here are the Top 10 happiest countries in 2018, as determined by the latest study:

1. Finland
2. Norway
3. Denmark
4. Iceland
5. Switzerland
6. Netherlands
7. Canada
8. New Zealand
9. Sweden
10. Australia

In case you are wondering, the US came in at #18 in the latest Happiness rankings (one spot ahead of the UK).

Health

The Bloomberg Health Index ranks the healthiest countries in the world based on several factors including life expectancy, health risks, availability of clean water, malnutrition, and causes of death.

Here are the Top 10 healthiest countries in the world:

1. Italy
2. Iceland
3. Switzerland
4. Singapore
5. Australia
6. Spain
7. Japan
8. Sweden
9. Israel
10. Luxembourg

The US ranks as the #34 healthiest country, in large part due to its high levels of overweight and obese residents.

If you prefer to look at just life expectancy as the primary metric for health, here are the countries that come out on top:

1. Hong Kong (84.3 years)
2. Japan (83.8 years)
3. Italy (83.5 years)
4. Spain (83.4 years)
5. Switzerland (83.2 years)
6. Iceland (82.9 years)
7. France (82.7 years)
8. Singapore (82.6 years)
9. Sweden (82.6 years)
10. Australia (82.5 years)

The US ranks #37 in life expectancy with an average of 78.7 years.

Productivity/Success

On the productivity side, the World Competitiveness Ranking measures the world’s most competitive economies.

Here are the top countries from a business perspective in 2018:

1. United States
2. Hong Kong
3. Singapore
4. Netherlands
5. Switzerland
6. Denmark
7. UAE
8. Norway
9. Sweden
10. Canada

The World Economic Forum produces a similar report measuring each country’s competitiveness, productivity, and prosperity.

Here are the Top 10 from the latest report (2017):

1. Switzerland
2. United States
3. Singapore
4. Netherlands
5. Germany
6. Hong Kong
7. Sweden
8. UK
9. Japan
10. Finland

If you prefer to look at productivity and success from an innovation standpoint, here are the Top 10 countries, according to the 2018 Bloomberg Innovation Index (which scores countries using seven criteria, including research and development spending and concentration of high-tech public companies):

1. South Korea
2. Sweden
3. Singapore
4. Germany
5. Switzerland
6. Japan
7. Finland
8. Denmark
9. France
10. Israel

The US currently ranks #11 on the innovation index.

Any way you slice it, there are only two countries that rank among the Top 10 in each of the three categories (Happiness, Health, Productivity).

In fact, those two countries placed in the Top 10 in each of the six individual reports listed above.

Those two countries are Switzerland and Sweden.

In order to determine the ultimate winner, you need to look at where Switzerland and Sweden placed in each of the six individual rankings. Whichever country totaled the lowest overall score should be crowned the winner, as a result of ranking near the top of every list.

So which country is the best of the best — Switzerland or Sweden?

Here are the totals:

Switzerland: 24 (average rank of #4 on each individual list)

Sweden: 44 (average rank of #7 on each individual list)

So it really isn’t even close.

Photo by Dino Reichmuth on Unsplash

Switzerland ranked in the top 5 in every individual ranking listed above — the only country in the world to have that distinction.

Switzerland quite simply delivers the ultimate blend of happiness, health, productivity, and success.

Switzerland is the 2018 Greatest Country in the World.

How Does Switzerland Do It?

Switzerland has it all — wealth, beauty, culture, and stability.

One of the world’s wealthiest countries, Switzerland enjoys low unemployment and one of the highest gross domestic products per capita in the world.

The beautiful small country in Central Europe is made up of glacier-sculpted Alps, lakes, and valleys, and has enjoyed relative peace and tranquility since the mid 1800’s.

Well-known for its neutrality, Switzerland also prides itself on culture and diversity — German, French, Italian, and Romansh language all enjoy national status.

Additionally, Swiss citizens have won more Nobel Prizes and registered more patents per capita than most other nations.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

I suggest you add Switzerland to your travel list in order to truly find out what makes it the greatest country in the world.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

What Is Success, Anyway?

We are often told that if we aren’t hustling and grinding, then we won’t make it.

That if we aren’t outworking others, we’ll be left behind.

But what is the end goal? What does success really mean?

My definition of success is doing work that I love and living a long, happy, and healthy life.

And here are the facts to achieve that type of success:

Money can buy happiness, but only to a point

One often-cited study revealed that money stops producing happiness after you make $75,000 per year. More recent research clarifies those findings to show that the happiness gains from income starts to fall off around $70,000, becomes very low by $160,000, and then hits zero around $200,000. You undoubtedly want a comfortable standard of living to minimize financial stress, but chasing huge income as a means to happiness is not a proven strategy.

Working very long hours is not a recipe for productivity or happiness

Research shows that productivity falls sharply after 50 hours per week, and drops off a cliff after 55 hours. In the world’s happiest countries (primarily Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden), people work hard but rarely put in more than 37 hours per week. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t innovating — Sweden alone has produced world-shaping companies such as IKEA, Skype, and Spotify.

You also need to take real time off. Six weeks of vacation time per year has been shown to be optimal for happiness (unfortunately Americans take an average of only 11 days).

Social relationships are the best predictor of overall health and happiness

A Harvard study, conducted over 80 years, has revealed that close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives. And those findings hold true even when factoring in genes, social class, and IQ. In fact, of the thousands of people included in the study, those who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80. The study’s lead researcher concluded that “the key to healthy aging is relationships, relationships, relationships.” Social relationships are quite simply the most powerful tool you have to live a long and happy life.

Social interaction also boosts your mood on a day-to-day basis. The data shows that to have a great day, you should aim for six hours of social time. That might seem like a lot, but every hour of social time helps to reduce your chance of having a bad day. A little is good, a lot is better. Unfortunately, Americans socialize for an average of only 41 minutes per day. Maybe we should spend less time hustling, and more time socializing.

Happiness causes success, not the other way around

We often grind away in hopes of making it big, as a means to eventually become happy. But Shawn Achor, one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success, says that we have the formula backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. If you want to achieve success, you need to look after your own happiness first.

Here are five easy everyday habits to boost your happiness:

1. Write down three new things each day that you are grateful for
2. Journal about a recent positive experience you’ve had for 2 minutes per day
3. Engage in 15–30 minutes of cardio exercise such as brisk walking or jogging
4. Meditate — Simply focus on your breath going in and out for 2 minutes per day
5. Start your day by writing a 2-minute positive email thanking a friend or colleague, or complimenting someone you admire

Achor says that doing those five things every day for 21 days straight will produce profound (and lasting) happiness benefits.

The number 2 most common regret of the dying is, “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”

A palliative nurse recorded the most common regrets of the dying and put her findings into a book called The Top Five Regrets of The Dying. The reality is that at the end of their life, nobody wishes they had worked more.

Don’t wait until you are on your deathbed to make that realization.

Use the time that you have now — while you are still in good health — to focus on the things that really matter (like quality relationships with friends and family).

We need to slow down and savor life

Our busy, always-on-the-go lifestyle is stressful. And stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. While some stress is inevitable (and even beneficial), you must effectively manage it if you want to live well. Instead of always staying in overdrive, we need to consciously downshift, a common practice among the world’s longest-lived people.

Take a nap, enjoy a happy hour with friends, unplug after work hours, spend time outside, listen to live music, watch the sunset. Your time here is limited — make sure to slow down and enjoy it.

The happiest people discover their own nature and match their life to it

That is a direct quote from Ray Dalio, who is worth over $17 billion and one of the 100 wealthiest people in the world. But for him, the goal was never about making money. “Meaningful work and meaningful relationships were and still are my primary goals and everything I did was for them,” he says. “Making money was an incidental consequence of that.”

Ultimately, life and happiness boils down to finding the right fit for you. It is essential to know your own nature and operate consistently with it.

After all, the number one regret of the dying is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” Money won’t mean much if you aren’t living a life that is in line with what you want. And making money in a way that conflicts with your personality or values will just make you feel trapped. To live a truly fulfilling and happy life, Dalio says what you really need is “the courage to be true to your truest self, no matter what other people want you to be.”

It is these lessons that are most important to truly live well. Don’t feel the pressure to always hustle, grind it out, and get ahead. It is far more important to savor life, spend quality time with others, and pursue your own unique path.

If you do that, you will achieve the right kind of success.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

This Is How Many Hours You Should Really Be Working

Have you ever wondered about the optimal number of hours to work per week?

Perhaps you are one of those people who brags about your 70-hour workweek, or maybe you are on the other end of the spectrum chasing the 4-hour workweek dream.

Who really has it right, anyway?

It turns out that the number of hours you work affects not only your productivity, but also your happiness and perception of how much time you have.

And we currently have some room for improvement.

A recent Gallup poll in the US revealed that one in five full-time employees work more than 60 hours a week and nearly half of US workers regularly clock at least 50 hours.

But those people are doing themselves (and their employers) a disservice.

Research shows that productivity falls sharply after 50 hours per week, and drops off a cliff after 55 hours. Additionally, not taking at least one full day off per week (e.g. Sunday) leads to lower hourly output overall.

From a productivity standpoint you shouldn’t go above 50 hours, but to cut down on stress you’d be wise to work even less.

It is no secret that we are busier and more connected than ever, often bouncing from one obligation to the next. This non-stop lifestyle has resulted in 48 percent of working adults feeling rushed for time, and 52 percent feeling significant stress as a result.

Time management expert Laura Vanderkam conducted a study to determine how the number of hours you work affects how much time you think you have.

Of the 900 people included in the study, the average person worked 8.3 hours per day. And the results showed that there was only a one hour difference between the people who felt like they had a lot of time and those who felt time-pressured. Those who felt like they had the least time overall worked 8.6 hours, whereas those who felt like they had the most time worked just one hour less (7.6 hours).

So to not feel starved for time, aim for a 7.6 hour work day. That would equate to a 38-hour workweek.

A 38-hour workweek is remarkably similar to the number of hours worked in Denmark, consistently one of the world’s happiest countries (Denmark has earned the top spot on the World Happiness Report in three of the past five years, and finished number two and three in the other years). People in Denmark work hard but rarely put in more than 37 hours a week, often leaving the office by 4 or 5pm. Other Scandinavian countries enjoy a similar work-life balance, and similar happiness rankings.

Happiness expert Dan Buettner takes it even a step further. Buettner has reviewed the research on more than 20 million people worldwide through the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index, and has conducted extensive on-the-ground research in the world’s happiest countries. “When it comes to your work, try to work part-time, 30–35 hours a week,” he concludes.

Buettner also recommends taking six weeks of vacation per year, which is the optimal amount for happiness. If that isn’t possible, he says at the very least you should use all of your allotted vacation time and keep negotiating for more until you’re getting 6 weeks.

Unfortunately Americans are not taking half of their vacation days, and two-thirds of Americans report working even when they are on vacation. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the US is down at #18 in the World Happiness Report.

Maybe 30 work hours per week and six weeks of vacation is not practical for you. But that’s okay.

If you want to achieve the perfect blend of productivity, happiness, and time affluence, a more realistic goal is to work slightly below 40 hours per week.

The research shows that even shaving an hour or two off of the standard 40-hour workweek can have huge benefits, both at work and at home.

Less than 10% of workers are able to achieve that schedule. A good goal is to be one of those people.

Here’s to the 38-hour workweek!

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

Why Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone Is Overrated

We are often told that we need to get out of our comfort zone to grow and achieve success.

That life doesn’t begin until things are scary and uncomfortable.

That the pathway to success needs to be risky, difficult, and riddled with failure along the way.

That you need to push yourself to the limit — and beyond — to realize your true potential.

But they have it wrong.

Getting out of your comfort zone is overrated.

In fact, understanding your comfort zone and leaning into it is where the real magic happens.

Your comfort zone is the sweet spot where you should be operating.

Tapping into your comfort zone is actually the route to greatness.

...

The problem is that for most people, comfort zone is only an abstract feeling. You might know it when you’re in it, but you aren’t able to articulate it or pursue it.

You think things need to be hard to be successful.

But what if easy is the way?

You see, when things are easy for you, that means you are probably good at them.

And when you discover things that are easy for you, and hard for most other people, that is a competitive advantage.

That is the comfort zone I’m talking about.

You can build your life and career around your comfort zone, instead of struggling unnecessarily.

Why fight through stress and pain, when you can focus on the things that are naturally easy for you?

...

Of course if your comfort zone only includes watching TV or playing video games, you’ll likely need to do a bit more self-discovery.

And if you have glaring weaknesses that are clearly holding you back, you should take necessary steps to address them.

But you should be spending the majority of your time on the things that are easy for you and hard for others.

It is important to know what those things are and to maximize them.

When you are operating from your unique comfort zone, you will be most happy, confident, and productive.

You probably have a sense for what you do uniquely well, but if not, a good place to start is by taking one or more of the following assessments:

• StrengthsFinder
• WingFinder
• VIA Character Strengths
• Enneagram
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

...

Yes, grit and perseverance will produce results.

But only up to a certain point.

Your unique comfort zone is the path to greatness.

Your comfort zone is your superpower.

Tim Ferriss changed his life by asking the question, “What would this look like if it were easy?”

Ask yourself the same question, and you could change your life, too.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

A Little Book of Life Lessons for Young Kids

It is graduation time for students across the country. 

That means that some of the world’s most notable figures are giving commencement speeches, imparting their wisdom upon students about to hit the real world. 

Here are just a few of the famous faces who are gracing college campuses this season for commencement addresses: 

• Oprah Winfrey at USC
• Apple CEO Tim Cook at Duke
• Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at MIT
• Hillary Clinton at Yale
• Queen Latifah at Rutgers
• Actress Mindy Kaling at Dartmouth
• Chance the Rapper at Dillard University
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at NYU

But why wait until your kids graduate college (or rely on a celebrity) to give them important life lessons?

You can deliver terrific life advice to your kids by reading them the highly-recommended children’s book Make It A Good Day by Jennifer Universe. 

I have two young kids (5 and 2) and have found that this little book has all of the practical tips to make each day a good one. 

And I believe that lots of good days add up to make a good life. 

Here are some of the simple lessons from the book for kids (and some back-up information for people of all ages!): 

Put a smile on your face

In fact, even faking or forcing a smile reduces stress and makes you happier.

Drink water and stay hydrated

Water is the number one healthiest beverage to drink, according to the world’s top nutrition experts.

Don’t feel the need to rush

Giving your attention only to the task at hand enables you to accomplish more while feeling less anxious and less scatterbrained.

Take a deep breath

This simple act can be a pathway to stress reduction, mental clarity, and creativity. 

Move your body

Exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.

Spend time in nature

Getting outside and connecting with nature is a powerful way to clear your mind and reduce stress.

Follow your imagination

Curiosity has been found to be just as important as intelligence in order to succeed and navigate our increasingly complex world.

Make sure to celebrate 

One of the main reasons celebrating is so important is because it reflects an overall attitude of gratitude and enjoying what you have, instead of focusing on what you don’t have or only on what you want in the future.

And perhaps the most important lesson of all… 

A good day is all in your head, you decide when you get out of bed

Attitude is a decision that we make every day, and choosing to have a good one builds relationships and opens doors like few other habits or behaviors can.

Make It A Good Day delivers all of these messages and more, in a fun and digestible way for young kids (complete with colorful illustrations and a playful rhyme). 

So get the life lessons started early and help your kids to make each day a good one.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

Proven Ways to Reduce Stress

It is no secret that stress wreaks havoc on the body.

High levels of chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, just to name a few of stress’ negative health effects.

While some stress is inevitable in all of our lives, you must effectively manage it if you want to live well.

I have previously written about some effective ways to control stress, from gaining financial security to exercising to eating and sleeping well.

Here are several other proven ways to reduce stress and increase your well-being:

Work fewer than 40 hours per week

Follow the example set in Denmark, where people work hard but rarely put in more than 37 hours a week. Denmark often ranks as the happiest country in the world, earning the top spot on the World Happiness Report in three of the past six years (and finishing number two and three in the other three years).

Take up to 6 weeks of vacation time per year

At the very least, use all of your vacation time per year and keep negotiating for more until you’re getting 6 weeks which is the optimal amount for happiness.

Shorten your commute

Research has shown that there is a direct link between commute time and well-being — People with the longest commutes have the lowest overall satisfaction with life. In fact, the daily car commute is the number 2 thing Americans hate the most on a day-to-day basis (behind only housework), and cutting out a one-hour commute has been shown to produce the happiness equivalent of a $40,000 raise.

The research shows that the very best commute you can have is a 15-minute walk each way. If that isn’t possible, at least limit your commute to no more than 30 minutes, ideally with some physical activity (walking or biking) built in along the way.

Unplug after work hours

I personally go offline for 12 hours each day — from about 8pm — 8am (this window can shift up or back by 30 minutes on any given day). I also try to avoid email and social media for one full day each weekend.

Keeping this schedule enables me to ‘down shift’ and prioritize my family and my health. I have found that balancing my online and offline time helps me to achieve balance in my life overall.

Meditate

Meditation improves physical health, including lowering blood pressure, boosting the immune system, and increasing our ability to cope with stress.

And meditation has been shown to bolster our minds — actually changing the brain in ways that lead to reduced levels of anxiety and depression, improved attention and concentration, better self-control, and greater overall psychological well-being.

Meditation is not complicated. Just sit in a quiet place (start with 5–10 minutes) and focus on your breath. When your mind wanders — and it will wander — just bring your attention back to focus on your breath and the physical sensations. Do that repeatedly during your meditation session — just observing your breath without trying to control or analyze it. That’s it. This habit alone can change your life over the long haul.

Get Outside

Getting outside and connecting with nature is a powerful way to clear your mind and reduce stress. Increasing your time outside (which could be as simple as taking a walk) will likely do wonders for your mood and outlook on life.

Add a daily dose of humor

Tell a joke, read the comics, watch a funny TV show, or go to a Comedy club. In fact, The simple act of smiling reduces stress and increases happiness, even if you’re faking or forcing the smile.

I also love to do yoga, listen to music, and play with my kids to reduce stress. Stress management can be unique to every individual, but the key is that you have your own go-to methods. That might mean getting a massage, taking a warm bath, drinking soothing tea, or simply hugging a loved one.

Focus on applying the above stress-management techniques, along with your own tactics, in order to manage the stress in your life.

If you have other highly effective ways to reduce stress, please let me know in the comments below!

Why Racket Sports Are So Healthy

Exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.

That is according to John Ratey, MD, an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry.

In Ratey’s bestselling book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, he details the scientifically-proven health benefits of exercise, including:

• Improves learning ability and grows brain cells
• Reduces stress, anger, anxiety, and depression
• Increases focus, attention, and alertness
• Reduces risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other forms of Dementia
• Lowers blood pressure

And that’s just to name a few.

Any exercise is better than none, but to see these results, you should aim for at least some type of moderate-intensity aerobic activity for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week. That is in line with the Public Health guidelines for physical activity. Examples of moderate-intensity aerobic activity include brisk walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming.

Adding strength or resistance training will help you build muscles, strengthen bones, and protect joints.

And including more complex activities — such as yoga, rock climbing, gymnastics, and martial arts — will help to build skills and stay agile.

But what if there was one type of activity that could achieve all of these benefits at once?

It turns out that all sports are not created equal.  Racket sports stand above the rest in terms of health benefits.

Racket sports are especially great because they simultaneously tax the cardiovascular system and the brain.

According to Ratey, “The combination of challenging the brain and body has a greater positive impact than aerobic exercise alone.”

Sports such as tennis, squash, badminton, and racketball build up your fitness levels, while also requiring complex movements (front to back, and side to side) and quick strategic thinking.

That combination of aerobic activity, strength building, flexibility, and mental fortitude is incredibly rare among other sports.

Additionally, racket sports can be played at any age, and they bring you together with other people for social connection (which we know is fantastic for health).

It should therefore come as no surprise that Forbes has ranked squash as the world’s healthiest sport.

And a large study published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that racket sports help you live longer as well.

The study looked at the link between six different types of exercise (racket sports, swimming, aerobics, cycling, running, soccer) and the risk of early death. Over 80,000 people were included, ranging in age from 30 to 98. The study — which spanned nine years — showed that people who regularly played racket sports were 47% less likely to die (nearly 20 percentage points better than swimming, which came in 2nd with a 28% lower risk of dying).

Racket sports are simply the ultimate mind and body activity.

Racket sports produce the perfect blend of high-intensity interval workouts, balance drills, resistance training, and mental exercises.

So if you are short on time and want to maximize your health, pick up a racket and hit the court.

A Toolkit for a Great Night's Sleep

It is no secret that sleep is one of the most essential habits for health, happiness, and productivity.

Sleep has been shown to do all of the following:

• Improve learning, creativity, and memory
• Boost alertness and mood
• Support a healthy body weight
• Reduce the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia

And while these benefits of sleep likely don’t surprise you, it could be eye-opening to learn that we are sleeping an hour less per night now than we did just a generation ago.

In fact, a recent survey showed that Americans average just 6.5 hours of sleep per weeknight, which is less than all but one of the other countries included in the study (only Japanese slept less). And according to the CDC, 83.6 million American adults sleep less than 7 hours per night.

If those sleep stats don’t seem like a problem, think again.

Dr. Mike Dow, New York Times best-selling author of The Brain-Fog Fix and Heal Your Drained Brain, asserts that we need to be getting about 8 hours of sleep per night. Anything less just won’t suffice.

If you’ve read this far, you probably want to establish a healthy relationship with sleep. But how do you do it?

A good first step is to prioritize sleep in your life instead of always staying in overdrive. You’ll also want to eat a diet centered around fruits and vegetables to help regulate cortisol levels (and minimize sugar and refined flours that negatively affect the quality of your sleep). Reduce or eliminate caffeine after lunch (choose green tea if you need a small boost), and limit alcohol to one serving per night (red wine is best if you need a little nightcap).

You should also aim to regulate your wake and sleep cycles by exposing yourself to as much light as possible during the day, and limit exposure to light in the evenings. Open your blinds and turn on lights immediately upon waking, go outside for a walk or a run in the morning to get some sunlight (and some exercise), and position your desk at work to face a window. And then start dimming the lights as the sun goes down.

All of that should help.

But what if you still just can’t fall asleep at night?

Here are some tips from Dr. Dow for a good night’s sleep:

Set a consistent sleep schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same time every day (including weekends)

• Your target bedtime and wake time should be about 8.5 hours apart to allow for 8 hours of sleep plus about 30 minutes to actually fall asleep. Pick times that you can stick to, 7 days a week (for example, my bedtime is 10pm and wake time is 6:30pm).
• Even when you don’t sleep well, it is critical to always get out of bed at your target wake time. This will train your body for this new schedule.
• Limit naps unless absolutely necessary. If you do need to nap, keep it short to about 20–30 minutes shortly after lunch, when your sleep-wake cycle experiences a small dip.

Build in a one hour wind down period before your target bedtime

• This means you should start preparing for sleep an hour before the bedtime established in step one (I start prepping for bed at 9pm, before my 10pm target bedtime).
• During this one hour period, you want to turn your thermostat down a few degrees (66–68 degrees is good for sleep), turn off all electronics (including TV, phone, and computer), and get into relaxation mode.
• Drink a cup of soothing tea, light a candle, read a book, meditate, take a hot shower or warm bath, or incorporate any other calming ritual that suits you before bed. You can take melatonin before bed to improve sleep and wake more refreshed (ideally only 0.3–0.5mg, which is comparable to what the brain produces, but up to 20mg is fine).
• I also like to keep a notepad next to my bed to get my thoughts out of my head. An effective ritual is to write down the 3 things you are most grateful for, and the 3 things you need to accomplish the next day (but no more than 3).

Make sure your bedroom is dark, quiet, and set for sleep

• Your bed should really only be used for two things: sleep and sex. The only exception to this is reading a real book under dim lighting.
• If natural light in your bedroom is an issue, invest in blackout shades or a good eye mask. If outside noise is a disturbance, try earplugs or a sound machine.

Expect that it will take about 30 minutes to fall asleep

• It is rare to fall asleep in less than 10 minutes, so don’t set unrealistic expectations. The more you ‘try’ to fall asleep, the harder it will be to do so. Instead, aim to turn your brain off and shift from a ‘doing’ mind to a ‘being’ mind.
• If it seems like you’ve been lying in bed for well over 30 minutes (your brain often overestimates this amount), simply get out of bed and do a light activity under low light in a nearby room. Read or do some cleaning until you feel tired again. Then head back to bed.
• Whatever you do, don’t watch the clock. Checking the time will only stress you out and lead to more insomnia. If you’re worried about waking up on time, get a loud alarm clock (or multiple loud alarm clocks) so you can rest easy without anxiously checking the time.

The bottom line is that adequate sleep is critical, and yet it can be so elusive.

Hopefully these tips help you establish and maintain a healthy sleep routine.

If you have any other great sleep advice, let me know in the comments below!

The Health Benefits of Reading

We already know that reading is a key to success for some of today’s top business leaders and entrepreneurs. 

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk are all voracious readers, just to name a few. 

But does reading have important health benefits as well? 

The answer is an emphatic YES. 

Reading has been shown to do all of the following: 

• Reduce stress levels (by 68 percent!)
• Preserve brain health and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s and Dementia
• Alleviate anxiety and depression
• Help you fall asleep
• Increase life expectancy
• Boost happiness and overall life satisfaction

Reading accomplishes all of this by activating your mind, providing an escape from day-to-day life, and offering refreshed perspective for life’s challenges. 

How much reading is needed to see these profound benefits? 

It turns out that reading silently for only six minutes has been shown to reduce heart rate and ease muscle tension. 

In fact, that small amount of reading worked better for relaxation than other proven methods such as listening to music, going for a walk, or sipping a cup of tea. 

Regularly reading just a bit more than that — only 30 minutes a day—has been shown to add two years to your life. 

That’s right — developing a habit of reading for just a half hour per day can make you live years longer. 

So what types of books should you read? 

We know that the wealthiest, most successful people tend to read non-fiction books (and in particular biographies and autobiographies of other successful people), opting to be educated over being entertained. 

But the health benefits of reading are produced from all types of books — fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose. And reading literary fiction specifically has the power to make you more empathetic and increase emotional intelligence.  

The bottom line is reading can dramatically change your life, so you should read about whatever interests you most. 

Just make sure to do it. 

If you are looking for some inspiration, here are some book lists to check out:

• 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon)
• 20 Books You Should Have Read By Now (Reader’s Digest)
• 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time (The Guardian)
• 100 Best Novels of All Time (The Guardian)
• 10 Best New Books of 2018 (Harper’s Bazaar)
• 6 Great Business Books to Read in 2018 (Inc.)
• 23 Highly Anticipated Books of 2018 (Good Reads)

Here is more on my personal reading habits and favorite books. 

Happy (and healthy) reading!

Get Happy Like the Danes: A Practical Guide to More Hygge In Your Life

The Danish have figured out happiness. 

Denmark often ranks as the happiest country in the world, earning the top spot on the World Happiness Report in three of the past five years (and finishing number two and three in the other years).

This can partially be explained by the fact that the Danes receive free health care and university education, five weeks of paid vacation each year, and substantial unemployment benefits, and they routinely leave the office by 4 or 5 p.m.

Denmark does a fantastic job of reducing many of life’s stresses for its inhabitants. But that doesn’t necessarily separate Denmark from other Nordic countries, such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, the residents of which all enjoy a similar quality of life.

The secret ingredient for the Danes’ happiness is their obsession with “hygge.”

Hygge (pronounced HOO-gah) roughly translates to a sense of coziness, togetherness, and well-being. It is warmth, comfort, slowness, intimacy, rusticity, and simplicity. The Danes spend their days and nights pursuing it.

Contrast that with the United States — down at number 14 in the World Happiness rankings — where we spend many of our days feeling busy, rushed, and stressed. We would be well served to take a page from the Danes’ book — slow it down, and take time to really enjoy life.

Whether it’s curling up with a blanket and a good book, making a fire, organizing a potluck dinner with close friends, or savoring a hot cup of coffee, we can all benefit from a little more hygge in our lives.

Here’s a guide to making hygge a central part of your daily life. Much of this wisdom comes from the highly recommended bestseller The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

Get Together (With Just a Few Close Friends)

Social connection is the best predictor of our overall happiness. Togetherness is a central tenet of hygge and the foundation upon which many other hygge principles and activities are based. But hygge socializing isn’t about big, lavish parties. Rather, it is being in the company of a few close friends in an environment of trust, comfort, and security. According to Wiking, nearly 60 percent of Danes believe that the ideal number of people to experience hygge with is three to four (Only 1 percent of Danes believe hygge is best achieved with 10 or more people). Getting together with a small circle of close friends or loved ones is a hallmark of hygge.

Build this into your routine with a standing happy hour every Friday to celebrate the end of the workweek, a Sunday brunch with friends at your local bakery, a rotating dinner club that meets at a different house each month, or a book club that regularly gathers over tea and coffee. You could make a plan to watch a TV show with friends each week on the day and time it actually airs, or build your outings around restaurant theme nights (e.g., Pizza and Wine Wednesdays). The point is to make it a recurring commitment with close friends and to minimize the hassle of coordinating everyone’s schedule on a weekly basis.

Enjoy Good Food and Drink

A hygge food experience is comfortable and warm. It is casual, rustic, and slow. This experience can be enjoyed at home or at your favorite cafe, coffeehouse, or pub (or any other establishment where the atmosphere is cozy and the music isn’t too loud for conversation).

Hygge food is a hearty stew, fresh-baked bread, a warm grilled cheese with soup, or a shared bowl of popcorn. The Danes also love their sweets, especially baking and eating cakes, cookies, and pastries. Anything home-cooked is much more hygge than something store-bought.

Hygge drinks are best served warm. Tea, hot chocolate, and mulled wine all have a high hygge factor. Especially on a cold winter night. But the Danes’ favorite hygge drink is hot coffee. According to The Little Book of Hygge, the Danes are the fourth-biggest coffee drinkers in the world and take in 33 percent more coffee per capita than Americans.

Slowly sipping alcohol is also associated with hygge. This could be drinking a glass of red wine while a storm rages outside or enjoying a glass of whiskey or Irish coffee around the campfire. Meeting up with friends at a comfortable lounge or speakeasy gets the hygge going as well. Go for the vibe found at theLibrary Bar in Copenhagen.

Disconnect and Savor the Moment

You cannot achieve hygge while checking your phone or email. Hygge is all about disconnecting and enjoying the present moment. It is shared experiences right here and now, taking it all in without imagining being somewhere else. Follow the Danes’ lead by leaving work on time and going home to eat and play together with your family. Turn off your email and social media on the weekend (and definitely when you’re on vacation). Hygge life is simple and slow. Go offline to turn the hygge on.

Credit: Jovi Waqa / Unsplash

Turn the Lights Down Low

A hygge atmosphere is dimmed and low, not light and bright. The optimal hygge lighting is achieved by making a fire, turning on low-temperature lamps, or lighting a few candles. In fact, Wiking notes that nearly 75 percent of Danes light candles at least once per week, and 28 percent do so every day—often lighting more than five candles at a time. Hygge light is the first hour of sunrise or the last hour of sunset. Go outside for that magical experience, or try to recreate that level of lighting indoors. In general, you’re aiming for the light of flames, not fluorescents.

Dress Comfortably

When choosing your outfit, keep it comfortable and casual. Layers are important so you’re never cold (remember, hygge is all about warmth). Dial up the hygge with a warm sweater, wool socks, and scarf. Feel free to bring out your own personal style, but keep it classy and cozy. And always have a warm blanket nearby.

Make Your Home a Hygge Hot Spot

Seventy-one percent of Danes report experiencing the most hygge at home, according to Wiking. Make your home a hygge hot spot with a library of books, a fireplace, and lit candles. Wiking says that every house needs a “hyggekrog,” essentially a nook where you can curl up with a good book and a warm drink. Accessorize the space with a blanket and plenty of cushions.

The Danes also adorn their homes with rustic and vintage items, such as wooden tables and chairs, old lamps, or a worn-in leather chair. Anything handcrafted is much more hygge than a mass-produced item. Dress up your sitting areas with sheepskin or other animal skins. And, of course, make sure your favorite teapot and coffee mug are nearby. Overall, you want your home to feel warm and safe, not sleek and sterile.

We can follow the Danes’ lead by prioritizing simplicity, modesty, and functionality when decorating our homes. Hygge could be considered a form of cozy minimalism—every item should serve a purpose to increase feelings of warmth, comfort, and security for you and your guests.

Credit: Alisa Anton / Unsplash

Get Out in Nature

Although home is often where the hygge is, it is abundant outside as well. Hygge is natural, simple, and rustic, just like the great outdoors. Get close to nature and you will experience hygge.

It could be a ski trip with friends, a long hike in the woods, a camping trip, or even just a walk around the block. Surround yourself with nature — on a boat, at a friend’s cabin, watching the sunset, or looking up at the stars — and let the hygge wash over you.

If you live in an urban environment, you can seek out a public park, river, or community garden to get closer to nature. Walk or bike to work if that’s an option, or go for a walk every day on your lunch break. Having a dog will also lead to plenty of walks outside (not to mention companionship).

Play Games and Get Creative

Think about fun traditions that you can start with friends and family. There are plenty of easy and inexpensive ways to hygge if you’re willing to try new things. Maybe it’s family game night every Friday or inviting friends over once a month for movie and popcorn night. Or perhaps just a routine of relaxing on the couch and watching your favorite TV show at the end of a long week.

Instead of dining out, try having friends over for a potluck dinner where everyone brings a dish (find your signature dish here), or consider starting a cooking or wine-tasting club that meets regularly. Of course, you could also just have a close friend over for coffee or tea on a regular basis — if there’s a warm fire and soft music in the background, all the better.

Celebrate the Seasons

It should come as no surprise that winter is the most hygge time of year, and Christmas is the most hygge holiday of all. Embrace it by being with close family and friends, watching holiday movies, putting up decorations, and indulging in good food and drink. Go ice skating or sledding, and warm up with hot chocolate by the fire. Sit by the window and watch the snow fall outside.

Although it’s easiest to visualize hygge in winter, you can certainly hygge year-round. When the weather is nice, visit your local farmers market and have a picnic in the park. Have friends over for a backyard summer barbecue, take the kids apple picking, or sit in the shade of a tree and read a good book. Go for a walk on the beach, take a dip in the saltwater, or enjoy a leisurely bike ride through town. Take what the season gives you and lean into it.

Boiling it all down, hygge is about the simple pleasures in life. It is being surrounded by good food and good friends. It is taking it all in and enjoying the moment.

It is everyday happiness.

It is working wonders for the Danes, and I hope it works for you, too.

The Happiest and Healthiest Places to Live in the US

The Top Communities Help You Achieve Overall Well-Being

There are five key elements of well-being, and you need to score high across all of them if you want to achieve overall health and happiness:

• Purpose: Liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
• Social: Having supportive relationships and love in your life
• Financial: Managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
• Community: Liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community
• Physical: Having good health and enough energy to get things done daily

That is according to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-being Index, an ongoing measurement of well-being with more than 2.5 million surveys recorded to date.

Unfortunately, in 2017 the national US well-being had the largest year-over-year decline in the 10-year history of the Well-Being Index. And there were two key elements of well-being that declined most sharply: Purpose and Social.

You simply must like what you do and have strong relationships if you want to live well.

In fact, research has shown that knowing your sense of purpose adds up to 7 years of extra life expectancy and social connection is the greatest predictor of overall happiness.

While traditional metrics of health, such as exercise (30+ minutes at least 3 days per week) and smoking, have continued to improve in the US, they are not enough to offset our deeper emotional needs.

However, there are some communities that are getting it right.

For the third straight year, Naples, FL, topped the charts as the healthiest and happiest community in America. Naples placed among the top two communities in the nation across all five elements of well-being, including #1 in purpose, social, and financial.

And it didn’t get there by accident.

Naples has been part of a well-being initiative known as the Blue Zones Project, which mobilizes local workplaces, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, and faith-based organizations to optimize environments for healthy living. Over a sustained period of time, the Blue Zones Project led purpose workshops, got the community active, improved the food options, and created healthier workplaces.

Other standout places to live, rounding out the top 5 in well-being, include Barnstable, MA, Boulder, CO, Santa Cruz, CA, and Charlottesville, VA.

On the other end of the spectrum, Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma, was at the bottom of the list. Communities with the lowest scores were mostly located in the Midwest and South.

Overall well-being does tend to improve with higher income, but that isn’t always the case. For example, McAllen, TX had the lowest median income on the list, and yet ranked 27th overall because they feel such a strong sense of purpose. Whereas San Jose had the highest median income on the list (over $100,000 annually), but finished 32nd on the list. Making a lot of money helps, but you need more.

My key takeaways are that financial security and physical health are basic needs — without them, you will most likely struggle.

But loving what you do, having close relationships, and feeling close to your community creates the special sauce to truly live well.