Category: Body & Mind

Get Cultured for a Happier Life

People who play an instrument, go to museums, or are otherwise involved in culture are happier than those who don’t according to a new study. This is great news for people who want to feel happier or generally improve your life because all you have to do is essentially go and be entertained!

Researchers led by Koenraad Cuypers of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology analysed information culled from 50,797 adults living in Norway’s Nord-Trondelag County.

The participants were asked detailed questions about their leisure habits and how they perceived their own state of health, satisfaction with life and levels of depression and anxiety.

The results were unambiguous and somewhat unexpected: not only was the correlation strong between cultural activities and happiness, but men felt better when they were spectators while women clearly preferred doing rather than watching.

Even more surprising was that wealth and education were not an issue.

Read the full article at MNN.

Bike Sharing at a Women’s Shelter

Despite the local mayors attempts to stop cycling in Toronto, Torontonians are all about bicycling into the future. Now a local women’s shelter has stepped up to help women of Toronto in a related way: by providing the women they help with wheels.

The idea, the shelter said in a news release is to “provide women with access to bikes that will not only increase their mobility and physical wellness, but most importantly allow them to connect with their community, access support, and have some fun in the process.”

Kiki Iverson has already donated a bike and she posted a call for others to join her on her Facebook page.

The women who use the shelter need bikes, said Iverson, but they also “need friends. They need family. They need community. They need help for sure.”
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“One of the primary things we’ve heard from women is the sense of freedom and being able to get around,” said Hogg. “Being able to get out of the house and the confidence that comes from being active.”

Read the full article here

Also the CBC has an interactive element dedicated to bicycle infrastructure in Canada.

More News for Optimists

This summer I’ve been doing a lot of travelling and haven’t been updating as frequently as I usually do (sorry, but vacations are fun in the summer), in the meantime I encourage people to check out another positive source for good news: Odewire.

OdeWire presents news to inspire intelligent optimists. Our unique wire is constantly refreshed by an automated system that combines advanced semantic technology with the guidance of our editorial staff. Around the clock and around the world, OdeWire is always looking at the most authoritative news sources for stories that focus on solutions rather than problems, and on positive changes rather than negative ones. Unlike other news sources that are over-weighted with negativity, OdeWire contributes to a more balanced media diet.

Check out Odewire!

Better Primary Health Care

Health care is expensive no matter where you are and places like Uganda and the USA health care is even more expensive because they don’t have universal health care for their citizens. A company in California, MedLion, is looking to bring effective primary health care to the masses because some governments can’t afford (or refuse) to provide basic health care for their citizens.

This model of delivery that MedLion is using can be applied to countries large and small, rich or poor.

Fortunately, pioneers such as Dr. Qamar have shown there’s a better way. Dr. Qamar originally setup a concierge medicine practice catering to the well-healed. He remains the House Doctor for the world famous Pebble Beach Resorts. As much as he has enjoyed his Pebble Beach practice, Dr. Qamar wanted to serve a broader population so he opened a practice with a dramatically lower price point. For only $49 per month and $10 per visit, MedLion is able to provide high quality medicine at a price point nearly any family can afford.

In fact, MedLion has plans to open another clinic in 2011 in a farming community in California catering to migrant workers who can have difficulty finding a family physician. Dr. Qamar states, “For the same amount they may pay in co-pays with an insurance policy, we can offer complete primary care without the added cost burden of insurance. We believe that a farm worker deserves access to primary care just as much as an executive at Pebble Beach.”
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Dr. Qamar sees a resurgence of the primary care physician where the primary care physician can make a healthy living while not being shackled by insurance bureaucracy. “The gratifying part of being in a practice like ours is we can practice medicine the way we were trained while saving our patients a considerable amount. Many of my brethren in insurance-centric primary care share with me they believe they are only using 40% of their medical training when they are forced to have what I call ‘drive by’ interactions with patients. When they learn about how we practice, they are eager to transition their practices to our model.”

Read the full article here.

Thanks Liz!

Haydn Makes You Healthy

Well not just Haydn, or classical music for that matter – a recent study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has shown that the greater an individual’s engagement in cultural activities, the greater the benefit to their personal health. This trend exists across many different artistic and creative pursuits, and affects both men and women. The participants in the study were asked questions concerning their health, satisfaction in life, and levels of anxiety and depression, as well as questions pertaining to their involvement in participatory (playing an instrument, painting, singing, etc.) or receptive (going to a concert or play) culture.

Both types of cultural activity were linked with good health, wellbeing, low stress and low depression even when other factors, such as social background and wealth, were taken into account. In men the effect was most pronounced in those who preferred to get their dose of culture as an observer rather than doing something more hands on.

So next time you’re feeling down or under the weather, get out there and indulge your creative side!

Read the full article at the BBC.