Play sports for a healthier brain
“A serious commitment to physical activity seems to track with a quieter nervous system. And perhaps, if you have a healthier nervous system, you may be able to better handle injury or other health problems.”
New Year’s Resolutions
Innovative ideas to make you better in 2020, by Northwestern research
It's that time of year when people think of New Year’s resolutions. How can we be better in 2020?
This year, Northwestern experts showed us the benefits of a number of innovative resolution ideas, from playing sports to focusing on failure to talking with children.
These and other research-based ideas can make a big difference in our health, careers and relationships. Take a look for yourself, get inspired and see what makes sense in your own life.
Health
Watch your activity, mindset and eating
Skip the hand sanitizer
“The vast majority of microbes around us aren’t bad and may even be good. Wipe down gym equipment with a towel. Wash your hands with plain soap and water. There is absolutely no reason to use antibacterial cleansers and hand soaps.”
Incorporate mindset into your fitness plan
“Each person and situation is inherently unique, which is why one-size-fits-all diets consistently fail. You need to address one’s lifestyle challenges and understand which of the many barriers — behavioral, psychological and physical – need to be overcome.”
Avoid packaged foods
“To say that our food supply is highly processed won’t shock anyone, but it’s important that we hold food and beverage manufacturers accountable by continually documenting how they’re doing in terms of providing healthy foods for consumers. The verdict is they can and should be doing a whole lot better.”
Career
There are many way to find success
Women: Build a close network with other women
“Such an inner circle can provide trustworthy, gender-relevant information about job cultures and social support, which are very important to women in male-dominated settings.”
Have a problem? Sleep on it
“If you want to solve problems or make the best decisions, it’s better to sleep on it than to be on Twitter at 3a.m. This study provides yet more evidence that brain processing during sleep is helpful to daytime cognition.”
For success, focus on failure
“A key characteristic of failure is that no one is immune to it. And when that happens, we hope these results give you reasons to be optimistic, as they highlight the importance of perseverance and suggest that good things may await those who stay the course.”
Relationships
How do we treat the ones closest to us?
Talk to your kids about racial bias
“This strategy impacts racial attitudes when children are still in the process of developing, which has been referred to as an optimal time for intervention.”
Caring for a depressed teen? Don’t lose focus on the family
“Families are interactive, fragile ecosystems, and a shift in a teenager’s mood can undoubtedly alter the family’s balance — negatively or positively.”
Watch your body language
“...when we see people being less friendly toward one individual, we often attribute the unfriendliness to the target, believing that we like them less because they are not friendly, when in fact, it is others who were not friendly to them.”
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Published: December 23, 2019. Updated: December 23, 2019.
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