Sure, it is a great way to stay active and spend time outdoors. Moreover, it provides opportunities for stress relief and relaxation. But do you think about gardening as promoting overall health and a tool for managing chronic conditions such as anxiety and depression?

Whether you have a large outdoor garden or a few potted plants, incorporating gardening into your routine can positively impact your health. First, let’s look at some famous gardeners.

The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, and the backyard. — Joel Salatin

Famous gardeners

There have been many famous gardeners throughout history, some of whom have significantly impacted horticulture. Here are a few examples:

• Gertrude Jekyll. A British horticulturist, garden designer, artist, and writer, Gertrude Jekyll is best known for her work in the Arts and Crafts movement. She designed over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe, and the United States, and her books on gardening are still widely read today.
• Andre Le Nôtre. A French landscape architect, Andre Le Nôtre, designed the gardens at the Palace of Versailles. His style, characterized by formal symmetry and elaborate water features, became the hallmark of French garden design.
• Vita Sackville-West. An English writer and gardener, Vita Sackville-West is known for her work at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, where she created one of the most famous English gardens of the 20th century. Her garden design incorporated a mix of formal and informal elements and has been widely emulated.
• Capability Brown. A prominent English landscape architect of the 18th century, Capability Brown is known for his naturalistic style, characterized by sweeping lawns, serpentine lakes, and artfully placed clumps of trees. He designed over 170 parks and gardens in England, many of which are still intact today.
• Piet Oudolf. A Dutch garden designer, Piet Oudolf is known for his innovative approach to planting design, which emphasizes using perennials and grasses. His work can be seen in public gardens and parks worldwide, including the High Line in New York City.

These are just a few examples of the many famous gardeners who have left their mark on horticulture.

Gardening can be a good physical activity.

Many of my patients find it difficult to embrace the idea of regular exercise. They know that physical activity is essential to optimizing physical and mental health.

My response? Committing to a workout routine can involve something other than heading to the neighborhood gym or running that upcoming 5K in your town. I offer gardening as an example of a popular hobby that can serve as a good workout.

The pastime is also a muscle-strengthening activity, according to the US Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and one of the physical activities with the lowest injury rates.

Gardening is good for mental health, too.

‌Gardening can improve several aspects of mental health and focus:

• Improves mood. Gardening helps me feel more content. It is a form of mindfulness. I focus on the immediate details of gardening, avoiding any negative thinking. Simply being around plants also reduces stress for me.
• Boosts self-esteem. Helping a plant to grow is an accomplishment, and you may feel a surge of pride.
• Improves attention span. Gardening can facilitate focus. The activity involves focusing on what is directly in front of you. Childcare Connection offers this about ADHD:

“A safe and calm garden helps soothe a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A child with ADHD functions better in a neat and orderly environment. A garden that exhibits order and structure will be beneficial.”

Moreover, communal gardening can provide social benefits associated with lower stress, less isolation, and a lower chance of suffering from dementia.

Mitigating Stress and Supporting Health in Deprived Urban Communities: The Importance of Green Spaces.

Environment-health research has shown significant relationships between the quantity of green space in deprived urban…

www.mdpi.com

Tips on gardening for mental health

WebMD offers some helpful tips on gardening for mental health. First, don’t ignore other mental health treatments. Medicines, psychotherapy, and other tools can help manage mental health problems. If you have signs of anxiety, depression, or other issues that interfere with your life (even while you garden), please see a medical professional.

Second, consider getting involved in a community garden. These are shared spaces where people grow plants in one large area or small individual plots. Search online to see if there is one near you. They often have experienced gardeners (useful if you have questions).

Third, decide what you want to grow. Do you have a favorite flower, vegetable, or fruit? Different plants have different care and financial requirements.

Finally, consider growing plants indoors. Pots, planters, soil, and a window (or artificial sunlight source) are all you need to start.

Physical activity benefits

Moving has numerous health benefits, including:

1. Cardiovascular health. Exercise helps improve the health of your heart and blood vessels. Regular exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.
2. Weight management. Exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight or even lose weight. It increases your metabolism and burns calories.
3. Mood improvement. Exercise releases endorphins, which are natural chemicals that help to reduce stress and anxiety and improve mood.
4. Muscle strength and endurance. Exercise can help build and maintain strong muscles and improve your physical endurance.
5. Lower risk of chronic diseases. Regular exercise can reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis.
6. Better flexibility and balance. Exercise helps improve your flexibility and balance, reducing the risk of falls and injuries.
7. An immune system boost. Regular exercise can help boost your immune system, reducing the risk of illness and disease.
8. Sleep improvement. Exercise can help improve the quality of your sleep, helping you feel more rested and alert during the day.

In summary, regular exercise is an important component of a healthy lifestyle and has numerous health benefits for physical and mental well-being. Gardening can be accessible and useful as a workout.

Oh, one more thing: If you are working in your garden or yard, please bend at the knees to lift heavier objects and pace yourself. Start with a short session, progressively increasing your gardening time and intensity. Finally, warm up by taking a short stroll.

There are few things more satisfying than eating something that you have grown.

The post You Can Use Gardening As Exercise appeared first on Medika Life.

This expert guidance on physical activity translates to an average of 22 minutes daily on the low and 45 minutes on the high end.

Move More; Sit Less

Physical activity is anything that gets your body moving.

Visit: www.cdc.gov

You must be at the higher end of the physical activity recommendations for weight loss and maintenance. But how many steps does that mean? That is our question for today.

Our bodies are our gardens — our wills are our gardeners. — Shakespeare

Tracking steps facilitate weight loss

I wear a Fitbit, in part to monitor my sleep and also to track my steps. The device helps me with goal-setting.

Wearable fitness trackers and step counters help individuals who are overweight or have weight-related health conditions to lose weight, according to a pooled data analysis published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2021.

Researchers gathered data from 31 studies, including more than 2,200 people. The studies required subjects to wear fitness trackers (various types) and to set and meet weekly goals based on daily steps or minutes walked.

The most effective programs lasted at least 12 weeks. Those wearing research-grade fitness trackers lost the most weight (10 pounds) compared with those not using fitness tracers. Subjects wearing commercially available fitness trackers (such as my Fitbit) lost an average of six pounds and two BMI points.

The researchers observe that wearing a fitness tracker is a constant reminder to pursue health-related goals and remain active.

10,000 steps

“10,000 steps” is a common fitness goal that refers to the number of steps a person should aim to take in a day to maintain a healthy level of physical activity. It is believed to have originated from a marketing campaign for pedometer devices in Japan, where the goal of 10,000 steps was popularized as a way to encourage people to be more active.

Walking 10,000 steps a day can help you achieve several health benefits, such as improved cardiovascular health, increased energy levels, and weight management. It can also help reduce the risk of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.

It’s important to remember that 10,000 steps may not be the right goal for everyone, as it can vary depending on factors such as age, fitness level, and health conditions. Consulting with a doctor or a healthcare professional can help you determine the right number of steps.

How many steps do you need to improve your health?

A study published in Obesity reports this important finding:

Getting 10,000 steps daily (with approximately 3,500 of those as moderate to vigorous activity for a minimum of ten minutes at a time) appeared to be associated with enhanced weight loss. This change occurred in the context of a calorie-restricted diet.

The results are not surprising: Cut calories and move, and you will achieve weight loss. I burn about 100 calories for every mile that I walk. But what about the relationship between the number of steps taken and other health measures?

A separate JAMA Internal Medicine story reported that for every 2,000 steps, the risk of early death dropped by about one-tenth (8 to 11 percent), up to 10,000 steps. Investigators also discovered that taking 9,800 steps per day was linked to the most benefit.

Can walking (or similar activity) reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and dementia? The answer is yes. Writing in Nature Medicine, researchers made the following observations:

A daily walk totaling 10,000 steps was associated with a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and dementia.

Physical activity has so many health benefits. We need to rethink what constitutes “exercise.” Very little movement can improve health.

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However, I’ve been battling a seemingly endless war with my wisdom teeth. I heard horror stories about other people and their painful teeth, and for a few months now, I have struggled with this excruciating pain. Surprisingly, I also listened to an equal number of stories that ended with, “I had no problem with my wisdom teeth because they grew in perfectly fine.”

Holding on to the hope that my battle would reach a more peaceful conclusion, I prolonged getting my teeth checked. I prayed my story would end with “I had no pain at all.”

This was not the case.

Part One: The Introduction to Pain

The first part of my fight started with minor pain, which worsened over months and evolved into a constant, aching, throbbing sensation. I’ve been trying to find the words to describe this feeling. However, there’s nothing worse than dental pain. It resides in the corner of agony all by itself.

Part Two: The Impossible Solution

You’ve probably figured out how this fight ended—with my wisdom teeth once again winning. The second part of my fight entailed trying to find the perfect over-the-counter medicine to ease my discomfort. There is nothing in this world that can ease these aches. You’re probably listing medications you’re certain would work: Tylenol, Excedrin, Ibuprofen, Motrin, etc. Trust me, I tried them all and without fail, the pain persisted. Even two doses of Motrin combined with two doses of Tylenol every 4 to 6 hours wasn’t enough to give me relief.

Part Three: The Wisdom Teeth Win

The third part of the fight ended up just as you probably predicted— I had to see an orthodontist, who told me that my wisdom teeth were severely impacted and I would need oral surgery to remove them.  Therefore, I was referred to a specialist—an oral surgeon.

Thinking my fight couldn’t get any worse, the surgeon told me that my wisdom teeth were infected, and I was instructed to take oral Penicillin.

That brings me to where I am now. I look back at where I first started – hoping my story would have a joyful ending – and question if there is any way to change the narrative. I’ve shed an endless supply of tears, become accustomed to daily headaches, and returned to my dietary roots: eating baby food—all because of my wisdom teeth.

The Remedy to It All:

As I write about the worst fight of my life and prepare for oral surgery, there are a few things I’ve found that have made my battle a BIT easier:

• Drinking hot liquids: Cold liquids usually made my pain worse. However, tea, coffee, and hot drinks offered my teeth a calming sensation.
• BC Powder: At one point, the pain was so bad that I pulled over to the nearest gas station and stumbled upon this powder and have used it ever since! Applying the powder directly on my teeth and drinking water with the powdered medication helped with my intense pain.
• Getting rest: There were times NOTHING worked, and I had no choice but to sleep. Sleeping in a position where I wasn’t laying on my teeth helped a whole lot!
• Seeking professional help: Yes, I hesitated in getting help from a professional. However, I wouldn’t recommend that you follow my example. It pays to tackle your teeth head-on and immediately, so you won’t end up in a battle similar to mine! 

The post “Going One On One With My Wisdom Teeth” appeared first on Medika Life.

Dementia has many causes, and if we want to optimize our chances of avoiding it, we need to re-consider what we might do to achieve that goal. There is also decreased cognition in persons with MS, and they have been included in trials of exercise and cognition, Graded Exercise Training (GET) Smart trial.

Healthy aging may aid us in our determination to maintain our cognitive (thinking processes) activities, but there remains a verified relationship between decreased cognition and normal aging. Neuroimaging studies of the brain have indicated that changes in brain size occur in mid-adulthood and may start as early as the 20s, with increased advances at about 5% per decade beginning at age 40.

Biochemically, outlined in much of the research, there seems to be a change in the potential for our body’s neurotransmitters to assist in our body’s retaining brain cell functioning, which may be directly related to our body’s exercise practices. In fact our body may benefit from what is known as brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF) as well as neurotransmitters and that can benefit from a regular course of exercise. Why are we interested in BDNF?

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of the…factors that support differentiation , maturation, and survival of neurons in the nervous system and shows a neuroprotective effect under adverse conditions. If we can retain our ability to produce this vital factor, we are ahead of the game when it comes to a variety of negative events affecting our brain’s ability to remain active and to repair itself when needed.

A review of aerobic exercise has indicated that exercise may slow down age-related cognitive decline. Further exploration of 68 studies related to cognitive decline and exercise produced evidence that not only does physical exercise provide added cardiovascular and fitness benefits, it also may have potential to slow the progression of cognitive decline in any persons with mild cognitive impairments.

Increasing numbers of persons will continue to experience cognitive decline not merely by advancing age, but brain injury or disease which can lead to dementia as well as a progressive cognitive global decline in memory and executive functioning due to illness. Might Covid-19 brain fog patients derive benefit from an exercise program? I haven’t seen literature on that yet.

Currently, although over 400 clinical trials have been initiated in the area of cognitive decline, specifically Alzheimer’s disease, the results have not yet proven to be what we would wish. In addition, the yearly cost of pharmaceutical products that promise some improvement or suppression of cognitive decline has been disappointing and hugely expensive with one drug being priced over $100K/yr. The expense would place these medication’s beyond the reach of the millions worldwide who will require them in the coming decades.

In light of these disappointing research explorations, we must begin to consider low cost, side-effect free methods that, when applied on a regular basis, may either delay or slow cognitive decline. The current non-pharmaceutical interventions include cognitive and behavioral training, diet, socialization, music therapy and physical exercise.

The literature has found that not only is physical exercise (PA) exercise beneficial in early life, it has obvious advantages later in life.

PA in early- and mid-adulthood independently predicted higher initial memory level and slower memory decline in later life, respectively. Early-adulthood PA was indirectly associated with later-life memory level through higher mid-adulthood PA and lower rates of later-life hypertension, as well as with subsequent memory decline through higher mid-adulthood PA.

The conclusion, therefore, is that exercising in early or mid-adulthood provides us with a degree of protection for our later life cognitive health in addition to other health factors.

Which types of training might prove to be most effective in retaining cognitive processing or slowing down the age-related decline? A number of psychological tests have been included in the research to evaluate changes in cognition in several different physical exercise groups including resistance training, high intensity aerobic interval training, and moderate continuous aerobic training.

In one study the high intensive aerobic interval training group showed significant improvement in both reaction time and information processing. Also, the moderate continuous aerobic training group, likewise, showed significant improvement in executive cognitive tasks but the high intensity of group had the largest significant increase in terms of physical functioning.

Overall, the researchers found that moderate continuous aerobic training and resistance training proved to be superior to the high intensity training regime for older individuals in terms of their cognitive executive functioning.

The path forward is clear, physical exercise in any form that is comfortable, is beneficial later in life or currently. PA not only helps us maintain our physical mobility and health, it aids in forestalling cognitive decline and keeping that BDNF available to us when we need it.

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Even though you feel healthy now, it turns out that this habit of staying up late has a negative impact on your health latter.

Get to know early birds and night owls

In general, there are two types of groups regarding sleep time. The first group is the night owl, which is when you have full energy until the night and have a tendency to sleep late. While others are early birds, that is, you who have a tendency to wake up early and go to bed early at night. If you are a night owl, you are not alone. Keck Medicine of USC said about 20 percent of the world’s population are night owls.

Scientists use the term chronotype to describe an individual’s tendency toward daily activity and rest times. Both night owls and early birds are shaped by biological and genetic forces, lifestyles, moods, and ways of thinking and sleeping.

A study published in the journal Nature Communications, took a sample of 700,000 individuals. The result, obtained 351 genetic factors that influence a person to become an early bird or night owl.

According to research, genetic factors also affect when a person sleeps and wakes up. But it should be noted, although it affects sleep time, genes do not affect the quality or duration of sleep.

The identification of 351 genetic factors includes genes that involve circadian rhythms, namely the human sleep and wake cycle. This gene is associated with the brain, as well as the retinal tissue of the eye. Allegedly, the presence of this gene in the eye helps early birds detect light to wake up in the morning.

Night Owls Healthy Risks

Based on Harvard Edu, various studies investigating sleep habits and health risks show a pattern in which certain sleep patterns or body clocks and health conditions go hand in hand. Here are some health risks that haunt you and other night owls:

1. Poor sleep quality
Night owls tend to have low sleep duration and quality. Especially for night owls who stay up late and still have to get up in the morning to work even harder.

They tend to make up for some of the loss of sleep on the weekends when they have time. But research shows that the practice of this sleep debt can actually change the sleep schedule in the future.

2. High blood pressure
Based on Health, a 2013 study showed that 30 percent of night owls had higher blood pressure than those of early birds.

Andrew Varga, MD, a sleep medicine expert at the Icahn School of Medicine, says that lifestyle patterns such as unhealthy eating or lack of exercise can contribute to a high likelihood of developing hypertension.

3. Diabetes risk
Night owls also have a risk of developing type 2 diabetes. If you already have it, this habit of staying up late can also complicate its treatment.

A 2013 study in Diabetes Care found that, for people with type 2 diabetes, having longer sleep was associated with poorer glycemic control, even after researchers controlled for total sleep duration.

4. Weight gain
When you stay up late, you must have felt hungry and ended up eating a snack or even a heavy meal in the middle of the night.

Eating late at night can cause problems with how your body handles and metabolizes food. Some experts believe that eating after dark interferes with the body’s natural overnight fast, which can impair its ability to burn fat.

In addition, another study found that night owls also consumed more calories per day than early birds. This may be because willpower is lower when you are tired and we tend to crave unhealthy food late at night.

5. Depression
A study published in Depression and Anxiety found that night owls were more likely to experience depression and anxiety disorders, compared to early birds. People who stayed up late were more likely to report significant mood variations throughout the day, with worse moods occurring in the morning.

Researchers said that night owls may have more difficulty regulating their emotions. Night owls are more likely to suppress their feelings and less likely to practice cognitive reassessment.

In a study at the University of Aachen, Germany, researchers used brain scans to identify night owls and early birds in groups of men and women. Scans found that night owls had less white matter, a type of fatty tissue in the brain. This network increases the risk of depression and impairs cognitive function.

6. Asthma and allergies
Teenagers who are night owls are more likely to have asthma and allergies than others who are early birds. Based on Prevalence and Risk Factors of Asthma and Allergy-Related Diseases among Adolescents Study, compared with teenagers who were early birds, night owls were almost twice as likely to report having wheeze in the past 12 months.

What can a night owl do?

According to the federal government, more than one-third of adults routinely fail to get a healthy amount of sleep, defined as a minimum of seven hours a night.

Transforming yourself from a night owl to an early bird requires changing your body’s circadian rhythm, it may be hard but it’s not impossible.

“Resetting your circadian rhythm really means resetting the timing of when you sleep and when you wake up,” says Dr. Roth, a behavioral sleep medicine psychologist. “It has to do more with the schedule of your sleep, rather than how well you fall asleep.”

The following tips from Dr. Roth can help reset your circadian rhythm.

1. Sleep early, get up early
One of the reasons why night owls stay up late is because they are not tired. You need to make sure that you feel sleepy earlier in the night. To do that, you have to wake up earlier than usual.

It’s going to be tough for a few days as you make these adjustments, but stay consistent: After a few days of setting your alarm at 6am, there’s a good chance you’ll be tired by 10pm.

Exercise also helps with melatonin production, which can help you sleep. IT makes you tired and lead you to sleep earlier.

2. No need to rush
If getting up at 6am is too much to do, start by moving your alarm forward in 15-minute chunks every morning for a week until you get to your new wake-up time.

If you currently go to sleep at 1 a.m. and wake up at 9 a.m., focus on going to bed at 12:30 p.m. and waking up at 8:30 a.m. for a week, and then shift those times back another half-hour the following week.

3. Set your evening schedule
If your schedule is flexible, change the time to do your usual activities whether it’s going to the gym, having dinner, watching TV, or socializing with friends finished an hour early.

If it’s impossible to finish early, consider which activities can be shortened or done on alternate days to help you advance your bedtime by the same number of minutes to your new wake-up time.

4. Limit screen time
If you have a habit of surfing on internet and using social media before bed, stop it. Blue light from phones and tablets inhibits melatonin production and disrupts your circadian rhythm.

Avoid screens 30 minutes before bed.

5. Avoid naps
While you may love taking an afternoon nap, that hourlong (or more) snooze can harm your circadian rhythm by making it harder to fall asleep at night.

If you do need to take a nap, limit it to 30 minutes or less and aim to nap before 3 p.m.

6. Avoid caffeine in the evening
Note the time of the last cup of coffee. Caffeine, a stimulant, keeps you awake when you want to relax late at night.

7. Be consistent!
The quickest way to put your sleep on a new schedule is to stick to it on the weekends.

So try to consistently go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.

Let me know if you have your own powerful tips to be an early bird. Good luck trying!

The post Sorry Night Owl, Early Bird are Healthier appeared first on Medika Life.

Throughout the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Burt remained engaged with students and colleagues. He taught by Zoom and held a Springfield College ID that was current through the last year of his life.  When a department colleague mentioned their impending retirement, My father-in-law at age 97, said he might retire in May 2022. Although Burt did not make it to his target retirement date, he dedicated much of his life to enjoying close relationships with his students – future therapists dedicated to supporting competitive athletes to achieve their fullest potential. 

Among Burt’s papers, this typed note to his graduate students was found focusing on “self-care.” Burt, a dual-board certified internist (infectious disease specialist) and psychiatrist, author and gifted speaker, was interested in why illness – mental or physical – exists and how people can intervene to prevent despair and disease.  Here are his wise words left to us:

Self-Care

“Graduate students have many calls for their attention and energy.  When self-care is viewed as an alternative to working, a dichotomy is created that presents the dilemma.  ‘Either I attend to myself or I attend to work.”  If the concept of self-care were broadened to include devoting my energy to attend to all my needs, wants, thoughts and feelings, the either/or dilemma might recede.

“Here’s how that would work:

“in my daily life, it is important to me to take care of my physical needs (exercise, nutrition, relaxation), psychological needs (self-worth, self-acceptance, autonomy, etc.), and social needs (relationships).  It is also important to me to have enjoyment and fun, as well as to feel good about myself and satisfied with the work that I do.

“When I devote time and effort to any of these elements, it counts as taking care of myself. Therefore, when I decide to work, I am taking care of myself by feeling the satisfaction of work well done.

“How much time and energy are devoted to each element is a decision that will vary with the circumstances.  Choosing an activity that is fun is not self-sacrificing the quality of work; it is attending to another need.  Allowing your choice to attend to any of the needs or wants is an important aspect of healthy adjustment.  It does require a non-judgmental perspective to enable free movement from one choice to the next.

“So my advice to students is to include them all.  Then, all you need to do is decide how much of each is enough for now.”

(signed) Burt Giges

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Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. — Albert Schweitzer

Truth is often found in places we might not think to look. But some simple poems we teach to children can offer what we need to hear. This phrase is from “Little Things”:

Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Help to make earth happy
Like the heaven above — Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney

Kindness is often viewed as acts of charity derived from our sense of goodness or obligation toward others. But compassion and charity have benefits we haven’t heard about, and they re significant. Yes, altruism, but we receive a benefit from it.

Researchers know that anything we do can be quantified and modified with the right design, even kindness, and they’ve provided evidence of its effectiveness in our health.

Social relationships, such as charity and kindness, provide the recipient and the giver benefit. We know “that social relationship…moderates or buffers the deleterious influence of stressors.” Where is the benefit of modifying stressors?

Stress buffering (aka support) through “social relationships affect health through behavioral, psychosocial, and physiological pathways.” What pathways might kindness or social support affect?

Several recent review articles provide consistent and compelling evidence linking a low quantity or quality of social ties with a host of conditions, including development and progression of cardiovascular disease, recurrent myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, autonomic dysregulation, high blood pressure, cancer and delayed cancer recovery, and slower wound healing.

Lack of human contact predicted mortality. The medical profession was stunned to learn that infants would die without social interaction. Seemingly this new evidence provided that what was expected for human health wasn’t sufficient. They found nurturing and physical touch to be vital to an infant’s mortality.

Those who wish to read the work of Rene Spitz on this topic and hospitalism, can find it here.

Video footage of Dr. Spitz’ research is here. A number of videos are available on that site. Ethics are of prime importance and should be questioned by anyone who watchs these videos. They bear a similar lack of ethical consideration as those of Little Albert.

Kindness Knows No Color

Today, there was a New York Times obituary for Dr. Renee C. Fox, someone I’d never known or read about. She had created the field of bioethics in her writings and one of her books, Experiment Perilous: Physicians and Patients Facing the Unknown.

I was intrigued, and a few lines of her obituary caught my attention. I knew it had to be passed on in a Medium article. The subject was kindness and how someone had provided something no hospital can prescribe, kindness.

Diagnosed with polio as a college student, Dr. Fox was admitted to Sydenham Hospital in Harlem, which usually treated Black patients. It was here that she got the one treatment that mattered most.

In her memoir, Professor Fox paid tribute to a Black nurse who got her through the first night. “I do not know her name,” she wrote. “But I do know that I survived that night because she put her head beside mine on the pillow where I lay, and breathed every breath with me.”

My Own Experience with Kindness

Working in an office as a young girl at my first job, I became very ill, and my supervisor decided that I should go home. I had to take the subway by myself since there was no one to accompany me. The train ride would take at least 45 minutes to an hour.

While on the train, I became so ill that I could barely sit up in the seat, and I had to get off at a stop where I needed to change trains. I didn’t know if I’d make it.

I was barely able to walk off the train. Although many people were walking around the station platform and on the train, no one stopped.

But one woman saw my distress. A Black older woman came up to me to ask if I was feeling sick. “Yes, I feel like I’m going to faint.” She helped me sit down on a bench, put her arm around me, and said, “Can you call your mother?” I told her I had her phone number, which she took to make the call for me.

A few minutes later she returned and told me, “Don’t worry, baby, your mother’s coming and I’ll wait with you until she gets here.”

As we waited for my mother to come, I suspect it must have been at least 45 minutes, the woman put her arm around me and continued to tell me that it would be okay and that she wouldn’t leave until my mother arrived.

Once my mother appeared on the platform to take me home, the woman greeted her, indicated she hoped I’d be okay, and left without another word. I never knew her name, I can’t remember what she looked like, but I will always remember what she did.

The woman had probably been subjected to incredible racism by white people in her life, but she helped a white stranger in distress and asked nothing for it. It was the right thing to do, and she showed incredible kindness. I will never forget her.

One Day a Year

Each year on February 17th, National Random Acts of Kindness Day grows in popularity. It is celebrated by individuals, groups and organizations nationwide to encourage acts of kindness.

The movement of Random Acts of Kindness inspires people every day. As a favorite celebration for many, people everywhere are enjoying doing these acts of kindness. Not only do the acts of kindness bring joy to the receiver, but they spread positive reactions to the giver, too!

There are many ways to practice random acts of kindness, as I experienced. And the group that helps us reflect and celebrate kindness toward others has plenty of suggestions. Here’s a list the group provided to get you started on a new way of living and, perhaps in the process, improving your health:

Pay for the coffee or meal of the person in front of you in line.

Leave a kind note for someone, no explanation needed.

Share words of encouragement. You never know who might need them.

Put your skills to work for someone in need. For example, offer to create a résumé for someone seeking a new job.

Drop off a load of groceries at the local food pantry.

Mail a “thinking of you” card to someone you’ve not to talk to in a while.

Order a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to anyone in the hospital. That means, call the florist and tell them to pick a hospital or nursing home and deliver flowers to the person the front desk thinks needs it the most. It could be a sick child, an elderly person with no family, or a college student down on their luck.

Send a thank-you note to the local fire department, police departments, or any military personnel.

Just smile.

The Physical and Mental Benefits of Kindness

Being altruistic and practicing acts of kindness, no matter how small or insignificant you think they are, can lengthen your life, some researchers believe.

Biogerontologists are studying the molecular and cellular science of aging with the goal of its eventual deceleration. One plausible hypothesis that should be simultaneously investigated is longevity enhancement through the cultivation of generous emotions and helping behaviors. The research is quite extensive at this point, but they’re extending it even more.

Volunteering for as little as 40 hours a year or less has a positive effect on those who engage in this activity because, it is believed, of a combination of factors including self-identity, social role, and meaningfulness.

Any volunteering appears to have a protective effect on mortality among everyone and is seen as a two-way street for giving and receiving. But the receiving is done on an invisible, individual basis by the volunteer in terms of health, self-satisfaction, and longevity.

A 12-week study researched a twice-weekly recycling program where volunteer in a community-based care center recycled paper products, plastics, and metals and disposing of electronic products and sorting clothes. Participants had significantly improved in terms of their gate speed compared to baseline.

The average range of the persons in the groups was 65 to 75. It was decided that civic engagement is an essential means of maintaining good health in later years, as shown in multiple studies.

Several of the significant factors would appear to be that older individuals need a sense of purpose and involvement in economic life and social value, enabling them to perceive themselves in a healthier manner. Doing volunteer work also has a positive effect on retired individuals and can combat feelings of depression and self-worth.

Another study of volunteers for older adults found “significantly increased physical activity, improved self-rated health, and reduced depression symptoms over 20 years.”

Kindness is its own reward we hear, but research has shown that kindness has rewards for everyone and should be highly encouraged.

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However, a new study from economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) reminds us that we may be thinking about sleep too simplistically. Sleep volume, by itself, does not appear sufficient to yield these health benefits.

Let’s explore this exciting field experiment of low-income workers in Chennai (India). Researchers examined outcomes associated with increasing study participants’ sleep by half an hour per night.

Sleep: Increasing quantity

The MIT researchers studied low-income residents at home and intervened to increase participants’ sleep by approximately 30 minutes per night.

Let’s back up a bit, as I want to provide some context. Low-income adults in Chennai sleep only 5.5 hours per night on average. This low amount of sleep is despite individuals spending as much as eight hours in bed.

The residents’ sleep is highly interrupted; sleep efficiency — sleep per time in bed — is similar to someone with a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea.

Researchers provided each subject with a data-entry job with flexible hours. This assignment allowed the investigators to monitor the effects of sleep on worker output and earnings.

Some members of each group took daytime naps, as the researchers wanted to understand the effects of napping better.

Each subject was given data-entry jobs with flexible hours. This allowed the investigators to monitor the effects of sleep on worker output and earnings.

Sleeping more: Study results

Publishing in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, the economists reported some surprising results:

Sleeping more at night did not improve work productivity, financial choices, earnings, sense of well-being, or blood pressure. The only upside seemed to be that the participants worked fewer hours.

An interesting result: Short naptime naps appeared to improve productivity and well-being.

The researchers note that the participants tended to sleep at night in challenging circumstances, with numerous interruptions. This observation leaves open the possibility that helping people sleep more soundly (rather than simply increasing the total volume of low-quality sleep) might be helpful.

I am not sure we would sleep well if four or five others were sleeping in the same hot and noisy room. The mosquitos can’t help.

The Chennai study subjects increased their sleep from 5.5 hours pre-study, adding an average of 27 minutes of sleep per night. To get those extra hours of sleep, each subject was in bed for an extra 338 minutes. The subjects awoke an average of 31 times per night.

During their data-entry job hours, those who took naps did better in several outcomes, including cognitive function, productivity, psychological well-being, and productivity.

The increased productivity did not translate to higher overall earnings, as the workers did not stay later at work (to make up for the nap time).

Sleep: My take

I would like to see researchers change the sleep circumstances of workers to see the impact of sleep quality (and not only increased quantity) on productivity and other measures.

Devices such as smartwatches should facilitate learning about people’s sleep patterns in their natural home environments. I hope there is an increasing focus on the value of adequate sleep in health and economic outcomes.

Thank you for joining me today.

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Now, back to the question my patients are asking. The best thing you can do for your health is something that you won’t find on a magazine cover: it’s simply to think deeply about it. Look at your life — your values, your purpose — and see what you need your health for. Sink your teeth into that. Sit with it for a while. Think about it, talk about it, write about it. What are you really looking for? Channel your inner toddler and ask “why” until you hear yourself answer something deeply true. This process doesn’t yield immediate, jaw-dropping before and after pictures, but it does help to establish a meaningful, sustainable relationship with your health and goals.

Step away from your smartphone

Now, stop googling for health hacks (or double-tapping them on your feed). Hacks are solutions in search of problems. They are created to capture your attention. Hacks are things you can do with as little effort as possible. If you are looking for ways to exert no effort, though, I wonder why you are trying to improve your health at all. Is your health not worth doing well? Is it less important than other things you’ve chosen to spend your energy and resources on? Don’t shortchange your commitment to your health. Dream bigger! Once you’ve established your own internal reasons for pursuing health, you can work on identifying goals and steps to meet them. You might find it helpful to work with a healthcare provider, coach, or even a like-minded friend to build informed, manageable steps that are appropriate for your life.

The problem with hacks

I get it, hacks are fun. They’re immediate and full of promises. You can start something, buy something, sign up for something, and it feels like you’re going somewhere. But. . . where? Whose road are you walking down, and why was it built? Where does it lead? Who is it designed to serve, and whose values is it based on? Maybe, there’s something for sale, and the purpose is to make money for another person. Maybe there are embedded assumptions of white supremacy, misogyny, transphobia, or fatphobia, and the purpose is to perpetuate a power imbalance. Maybe there are other values underlying the hack that are not in line with the reasons you need your health. Woah. Suddenly those ten weird tips don’t seem so cool.

So slow down, step back, and take a deep breath. You can find small actions that will improve your health, but they won’t come from clickbait, they’ll come from within. Stop hacking. Start healing.

Elizabeth Knight is a scientist, nurse practitioner, educator, and coach. You can find her at www.flowerpower.health.

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