Tag: bodymind

Self-Care Pearls

A survey of employees in the region of Delhi, India found that cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, anxiety, and sleep disorders are increasingly the norm in the population of 30–40-year-olds. The health of this age group in the U.S. also is remarkable for chronic issues, especially obesity, depression, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure; in 2023, 6 in 10 young adults and 8 in 10 midlife adults reported 1 or more chronic conditions.  A steady rise in prevalence of early health concerns over the past 20 years in the U.S. is a canary in the coal mine for what may lie ahead for these individuals as they age.

While we have just “finished” World Health Organization’s Self-Care Month (June 24 – July 24), support for self-care needs continual daily recognition if we want to change the trajectory of overall world-wide wellness. This was the intention of the International Self-Care Foundation in naming July 24th for special emphasis: the date was selected for the 24/7 nature of self-care. Yes, how one sleeps is one critical support in wellness (including productive, longer, and happier lives).

The Global Self-Care Federation based in Geneva, Switzerland, suggests that the self-care focus ought to be on resilience. Recalling lessons you learned from COVID-19 might apply here. Perhaps you discovered resilience in new dimensions. COVID was a world-wide epidemic. We learned from many countries how to create community-building in new ways. When everyone makes a commitment in support of global self-care, everyone will be better off. The skyrocketing costs of health care are not sustainable. But the real reason for supporting better wellness globally is about the quality of life for everyone.

International Self-Care Day 2026 (observed 7-24) lists their theme as “Self-Care Puts Your Health in Your Hands: Test. Track. Thrive.” Here is a simple way to show compassion and self-care for yourself: pick 1 thing for your resilient attention – your sleep routine, your diet, your emotional status, your exercise – and track it for 7 days. Notice what needs support. Resolve to work on one wellness promise.

Peggy Swarbrick, occupational therapist and researcher, defines wellness as “a conscious, deliberate process that requires being aware of and making choices for a more satisfying lifestyle.” She identifies 8 interconnected dimensions of wellness: emotional, physical, intellectual, environmental, social, spiritual, financial, and occupational. From setting aside time for a meditation practice to developing a new hobby (perhaps finding a pen pal for snail mail), you will chart your own course.

Indian yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar uses the musical word, “harmony” in defining health: “Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind, and spirit.” I call the resiliency process to achieve this complete harmony “rewiring.” Do not leave your rewiring actions up to chance! Consciously rewire your personality and ability skill set to evolve as you make day-to-day choices with self-care in mind.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

518. What does your self-care promise look like?

519. How will you gain more wellness this week?

Brain Inventories

June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. Do you need help checking your brain’s inventory? I recently met “Tally” making cooing noises while she gracefully glided down the paint aisle at Lowe’s; she was checking shelf inventory. My curiosity ever present, I inquired if Tally might replace a worker. The answer was yes.

How long will it be before the Tally’s of the world (or out of this world) are AI responsible caretakers for all the individuals who need careful checking just to make it through a day? Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is spreading unchecked. According to the World Health Organization, the world-wide number of people expected to have an AD diagnosis is 82 million by 2030. Alzheimer’s Association reports 7.4 million Americans have AD currently; U.S. AD deaths doubled since 2000.

While AD symptoms can vary, personality and behavior changes often include apathy, disorientation, memory loss, and cognitive impairment. Brain confusion and/or physical decline can make it impossible for living independently. The caretaker role for a loved one with AD is a major time commitment. As a person journeys through the 7 stages of AD, increasing close attention is required.

Early memory loss may indicate Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) which may not be a sign of later dementia, as there are various causes for MCI. An individual can be aware of their MCI which often includes exhaustion in addition to mild memory loss. Moderately severe cognitive decline involves a drop-off of abilities to handle finances and other tasks of daily living. Agitation and aggression may show up when previously these emotions were not frequent. Perhaps having a blinking Tally, murmuring close by, would be a blessing.

Most people are not educated in dealing with AD and/or challenging personalities. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of gerontologists; geriatric medicine is one of the least popular specialties among new physicians.

Proactive educational help is developing. The Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University (GW in D.C.) has established an “Expanding the Pipeline to Graduate Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (EPGRAD) Program” as a fully funded 8-week summer education and research training program for undergraduates. The goal is to encourage students in the majors of medicine, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to consider careers in AD and related dementias. New GW projects include a “Black Male Dementia Caregiver Burden Study” and a “Brain Health and Microbiome Study.”

What might you do to improve your own brain health? One health tip stands out for psychiatrist Drew Ramsey, MD (author of both Healing the Modern Brain and Eat Complete), who finds that many individuals in his practice are undernourished when considering brain health and mental health: eat a handful of leafy greens in one of your daily meals.

Multiple rabbits in my yard munch on greens all day. They are unlikely to need Tally.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

504. How might you educate yourself about your brain health? 505. Have you considered how your own diet contributes to brain health?  

Peace One Plant at a Time

May is a wonderful month! If you are living in the Northern Hemisphere, you might welcome a reset from cold temperatures, a warming up in body comfort. Let’s also warm up peace in our hearts. I am a gardener at heart. I find much peace in gardening. Literally, gardening is grounding. I love the whiff of earthy soil turning over when I dig a hole to plant a new perennial in my garden.

A sweet inhale comes from the many scented blossoms that begin their seasonal run every spring. Angela Haupt (health and wellness editor at TIME) writes about holding a flower’s inhale for just 30 seconds to realize measurable body changes! Not only does your mood smile, but your heart rate slows and your nervous system switches on a calming state.

Cognitive psychologist Pamela Dalton is a researcher of taste and smell at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. She explains the science of smell. Our olfaction is so dominant that it evolves before the brain’s cortex, our thinking tool. A sense of smell helps define what we feel and may even be responsible for our survival — as in the case of smelling smoke before a life-threatening fire erupts. Although difficult to believe, the human nose can detect about 1 trillion different scents!

When you inhale a pleasant scent, you do breathe more deeply in the present moment. That deeper breath affects your entire body, including the releasing of muscle tension. Different from touch, hearing, or vision which have to pass through the brain’s thalamus before there is conscious awareness, smell travels directly to your amygdala and the hippocampus. The hippocampus holds your memories, so scent can trigger past emotions you experienced in some memory. Imagine a smell of a special food from childhood. Just a whiff of chocolate contains hundreds of different odor molecules.

Dalton suggests that such scented experiences form very early. Some compounds found in breast milk are linked with chemical properties in vanilla and may be responsible for why vanilla seems universally pleasant to nearly everyone across cultures.

I visited a lilac farm recently and experienced many inhalations of lilacs. While every person responds to scent in unique ways, this is a pleasing scent for me. Some think of lilacs with nostalgia. Seeing graceful lilac blooms swaying in the breeze brought back memories of my childhood home with a white lilac tree.

Lilacs represent peaceful vibes of tranquility with a sense (and scent) of renewal. The delicate blossoms are an early food source of nectar for bees and butterflies. Lilacs of various colors are associated with various representations.

Purple lilacs: Emotions of love and passion; White lilacs: Purity, humility, and innocence; Magenta/pink lilacs: Strong friendships and affection; Blue lilacs: Serenity and happiness; Violent lilacs: Reflection and wisdom.

Let’s embrace the symbolism of peace-enhancing lilacs.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

494. What pleasant scents linger for you from your childhood?

495. What plant or flower gives you bodymind serenity

Olympics & Mental Health

Eiffel Tower in Moonlight (Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images)

Vincent Van Gogh captured the essence of one’s ability potential in a letter that he wrote to his brother: “…principles are good and worth the effort only when they develop into deeds…it’s good to reflect and to try to be conscientious, because that makes a person’s will to work more resolute and turns the various actions into a whole…for the great doesn’t happen through impulse alone and is a succession of little things that are brought together…it’s the same with other things as it is with artistic matters…the great isn’t something accidental; it must be willed.” 

What does it take to make a winning Olympian? Details may vary among different individuals, but I agree that greatness takes willpower which I define as grit. Research psychologist Angela Duckworth defines grit as “the power of passion plus persistence.” Grit is exercising discipline, a basic human need.

However, grit is not the only consideration in a person’s successful outcomes. One’s mental health is the secret sauce of success.

We can thank Simone Biles for educating folks about the importance of one’s mentally healthy approach to her dangerous-but-oh-so-beautiful sport. When she needed to drop out of most of the Olympic competition in Tokyo, many treated her decision harshly; she was expected to “push through,” and deny her doubts. Unfortunately, those who critiqued Biles misunderstood the situation.

Betty Okino, a 1992 Olympic medalist, explained that a gymnast can die if one cannot land on their feet (and end up landing on their head). Gymnasts call their doubts “the twisties,” a mental block where one has difficulty grasping their acute spatial ability to sense and control airborne moves. It feels as if their body and brain have a disconnect.

Biles did push through calf pain in the Paris Olympic qualification round this weekend, aiding her team in climbing to the top of the leaderboard. Biles told Hoda Kotb that she used to think of psychotherapy as a weakness. Now she has learned to speak about trauma.

Biles is not alone in addressing her mental health needs as an elite athlete. The comeback swimmer Caeleb Dressel made a decision to take 8 months off after the Tokyo Olympics to regroup in meeting his mental health needs; he has worked with a therapist weekly for 2 years.

According to Jess Bartley, senior director of psychological services for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, 15 psychological service providers worked with 1,200 athletes last year. Athletes grapple with such questions:

  • What is the place that sport has in your life?
  • How is your identity tied up in this?
  • What does it mean to make, or not make, the Olympic Games?

The Paris Olympics has a 24/7 hotline with mental health counselors who speak 70+ languages. This year athletes may seek services until 4 years post-Olympic week. Elite athletes are role models in caretaking one’s bodymind without shame.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz 

311. How do you define your own identity?

312. When do you need extra willpower or grit in your life?