Wellness—the kind that actually works

Brad Stulberg writes for Outside Online, “We’ve Reached Peak Wellness. Most of It Is Nonsense.” It is a very good add for our Sunday Mālama, and a timely follow-up to this: Skills for a Lifetime of Work.

Excerpt;

“Across the country, everyone is looking for a cure for what ails them, which has led to a booming billion-dollar industry—what I’ve come to call the Wellness Industrial Complex.”

“The problem is that so much of what’s sold in the name of modern-day wellness has little to no evidence of working. Which doesn’t mean that wellness isn’t a real thing. According to decades of research, wellness is a lifestyle or state of being that goes beyond merely the absence of disease and into the realm of maximizing human potential. Once someone’s basic needs are met (e.g., food and shelter), scientists say that wellness emerges from nourishing six dimensions of your health: physical, emotional, cognitive, social, spiritual, and environmental. According to research published in 1997 in The American Journal of Health Promotion, these dimensions are closely intertwined. Evidence suggests that they work together to create a sum that is greater than its parts.”

“Nourishing these interrelated dimensions of health, however, does not require that you buy any lotions, potions, or pills. Wellness—the kind that actually works—is simple: it’s about committing to basic practices, day in and day out, as individuals and communities.”

His coaching: Stop obsessing over hacks, and focus instead on evidence-based stuff that works. He offers a “how to get started.”

What he targets, syncs nicely with those areas we speak of as our ‘capacities for growth’ in Palena ‘ole, the 9th Key Concept of Managing with Aloha:

Palena ‘ole is the Hawaiian concept of unlimited capacity. This is your exponential growth stage, and about seeing your bigger and better leadership dreams come to fruition. Think “Legacy” and “Abundance” and welcome the coaching of PONO into your life as the value it is. We create our abundance by honoring human capacity; physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. When we seek inclusive, full engagement and optimal productivity, any scarcity will be banished. Growth is welcomed and change is never feared; enthusiasm flourishes. PALENA ‘OLE is an everyday attitude in an ‘Ohana in Business, assuming that growth and abundance is always present as an opportunity. Given voice, Palena ‘ole sounds like this: “Don’t limit yourself! Why settle for ‘either/or’ when we can go for the ‘and’ and be better?”
—Site category for Key 9: Palena ‘ole

Stulberg cites ‘cognition’ in the place of our ‘intellectual capacity’ and adds a ‘social’ dimension of health. He also adds ‘environmental’ comparable to our talks within Managing with Aloha in regard to sense of place: A Sense of Place Delivers True Wealth.

I like his advice;

PHYSICAL: Move Your Body and Don’t Eat Crap—but Don’t Diet Either
“Decades of research shows that just 30 minutes of moderate to intense daily physical activity lowers your risk for [illness.] Basically, anything that makes your breathing labored for a sustained period does the trick.”
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“Try to do at least some of it outside. Researchers have found that people who spend at least two hours outdoors in green spaces every week have better mental and physical health than those who don’t.”
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“The other aspect of physical health is nutrition. Here again, the best advice is the simplest: ignore diets and supplements and, instead, just aim to cut out junk like processed and fried foods.”

EMOTIONAL: Don’t Hide Your Feelings, Get Help When You Need It
“Another big issue with what passes for modern-day wellness is that it creates the impression that everyone is happy all the time and that you should be, too. But like selective sharing on social media, this is not the reality of being human.”
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“People get sad. Psychologists tell us that hiding and repressing that only makes it worse. Studies show that the more you hold something back or try to force it away, the stronger it becomes. On the contrary, the more vulnerable you are—both with yourself and others—the better. Researchers at the University of Mannheim, in Germany, call this the “beautiful mess effect.” Through multiple experiments, they’ve found that even though sharing your feelings may seem like a weakness to you, to others it seems courageous and builds trust and connection. In other words: stop trying so damn hard to be invincible, and just be yourself. Most people will be receptive and caring. And those who aren’t? Screw ’em.”
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“If something feels way off, don’t be scared to get help.”

SOCIAL: It’s Not All About Productivity; Relationships Matter, Too
Love this!—“The roots of a redwood tree only run six to twelve feet deep. Instead of growing downward, they grow out, extending hundreds of feet laterally and wrapping themselves around the roots of other trees. When rough weather comes, it’s the network of closely intertwined roots that allows the trees to stand strong. We are the same.”
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“The mortality risks associated with loneliness [exceed] those associated with obesity and physical inactivity and [are] comparable to the risks of smoking. More recent research shows that digital connections can be beneficial in certain circumstances (e.g., to stay in touch with geographically distant friends and family), but they cannot replace in-person ones and the value of physical presence and touch.”
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“An increased focus on ‘productivity’ and the ‘cult of busyness’ is crowding out time for developing meaningful relationships. This may be especially true among millennials. A recent poll from the market research company YouGov found that 30 percent of millennials say they feel lonely and 22 percent said they have zero friends. This is hugely problematic, and a trend we all, together, must work to reverse.”

COGNITIVE: Follow Your Interests, Do Deep-Focused Work
This phrase of “a fit mindset of passion is new to me—it does sync well with our recent discussion here: Self-development hits home.
“‘Find your passion’ is one of the most popular self-help phrases, but it’s quite misleading and sometimes even harmful. Researchers call this a fit mindset of passion, or the belief that you’ll find an activity or pursuit about which you are immediately passionate from the get-go. Although over 75 percent of people hold this mindset, it rarely leads to lasting passion. People with fit mindsets tend to overemphasize their initial feelings, search for perfection, and quit when the going gets tough.”
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“Better than a fit mindset is a development mindset, in which you understand that passion takes time to emerge, thus lowering the bar for further engagement in something from ‘this is perfect’ to ‘this is interesting.’ Studies show that those who have development mindsets are more likely to end up with sustainable and energizing passions.”
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He also talks about attention (our 2019 theme of Alonui):
“When you are working on something, regardless of what it is, eliminate distractions so you can give it your full attention: the more present and fully engaged you are with what’s in front of you, the happier you’ll be. It’s amazing how much just one or two blocks of undistracted work per day can do to improve your mood.”

SPIRITUAL: Cultivate Purpose, Be Open to Awe
“Organized religion is on the decline in America, especially for younger people… ‘for millennials and GenXers, the most common religion is no religion at all.’ This may not be problematic in itself, but for centuries, religion served as a driving purpose for many people. When nothing fills this vacuum, the effect can be a negative one.”
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“People without a strong life purpose—defined as a sense of feeling rooted in your life and taking actions toward meaningful goals—were more than twice as likely to die between the years of the study (2006 to 2010) compared with people who had one, even after controlling for things like gender, race, wealth, and education level… Purpose may be the deepest driver of well-being there is.”
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“Though purpose need not be based on organized religion, cultivating a cohesive sense of direction, core values, and connection with something beyond yourself is important. For some this takes the form of going to church, synagogue, mosque, or sangha. For others it’s about feeling connected to evolution, being a part of nature. … [researce] has shown time and time again that experiencing awe—watching a beautiful sunset, listening to moving music, witnessing a master at their craft—leads to self-transcendence and feelings of spiritual connection.”
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“What won’t lead to spirituality and true well-being? Trying to find meaning in all the stuff that modern-day wellness implicitly and explicitly promotes, such as beauty, wealth, antiaging, and sex appeal.”

ENVIRONMENTAL: Care for Your Space
“Our surroundings shape us in so many ways. Yet we’re rarely intentional about them.”
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“On a micro level, think about your acute environment daily. Is your phone always on? Are you constantly being interrupted by notifications? Are you in a space conducive to the goal you want to accomplish? Do you keep lots of junk food in the house? Do you surround yourself with junk content? The goal is to design your environment to support the behaviors you desire.”
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“On a macro level, ask yourself these questions: Do I live in a place that feels unlivable? Does my commute totally suck my soul? I’m aware that I’ve got a lot of privilege to suggest moving geographically, but the kind of move I’m suggesting is one away from crazily expensive, competitive, and congested cities. I can’t tell you how many people I know who feel ‘trapped’ in big cities like New York or San Francisco. Move! There are plenty of places with lower costs of living, more access to nature, and good jobs. And wherever you are, take care of the planet. If we don’t, everything else in this article will eventually be moot.”

Here’s a bit of related reading on Derek Siver’s blog, in regard to your environmental sense of place:
—Moving for good “You are the way you are because of what you’ve experienced. Your country, family, town, random circumstances, and friends have shaped the way you think. If you had grown up on the other side of the world, you would have a different set of values and thought patterns.”
—I’ve moved from New Zealand to Oxford England “I rarely cry, but I cried a lot last month, leaving New Zealand. I’ve never loved and felt so connected to a place before. It wasn’t simple sadness that made me cry, but overflowing appreciation. I’d been feeling it for years, almost every day, amazed at not just the nature but the people and way of life.” —So why did he move?
—You don’t have to be local “You can focus your time locally or globally. If you’re local, you focus on your community, doing things in-person. But this means you have less time to focus on the rest of the world. If you’re global, you make things for the whole world. But this means you have less time to be part of your local community. Neither approach is right or wrong, but you need to be aware of the trade-off.”