Professional Well-Being Newsletter
A weekly nudge designed to help professionals enhance their brain health and mental strength.
Well-being is a journey, not a quick fix
View past newsletters below.
Impact of Childhood Stress
If you, or a child you know, has suffered from an adverse childhood experience, mental health treatments can help heal the impacts on brain and mental health.
The Caffeine/Alcohol Cycle Impairs Sleep
If you regularly use alcohol in the evening and caffeine in the daytime, you may be experiencing an interaction of these substances that negatively impacts the number of hours you sleep and that harms the quality of your REM sleep cycles.
Reduce Sugar to Protect Brain Health
Because neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease feature the failure to clear debris and toxins from the brain, and high-sugar diets can cause the same malfunction, reducing sugar intake is likely to protect brain health.
Gratitude is Protective Against Stress
A regular gratitude practice can reduce reactions to stressful events and hasten recovery from them.
Reframing Negative Events – Find Silver Linings
With practice, we can use reframing to disempower the challenges life throws at us.
Cognitive Benefits of Coffee
If you enjoy coffee, research indicates that it helps you transition from rest to activity by disengaging your automated default mode network and activating the parts of your brain that help you set and achieve goals.
Eustress v. Distress
Chronic stress causes digestive problems, compromises the immune system, raises blood pressure, and reduces cognitive function.
Magnesium & Brain Health
Magnesium in food can improve brain health and protect cognitive fitness as we age.
Exercise Intensity and Depression
Moderate intensity exercise promotes mental health by decreasing depression symptoms, and it promotes physical health by reducing inflammation in the body.
Sugar Harms the Brain
Consumption of foods that are high in sugar: rewires the brain to prefer and consume high sugar food; has a negative impact on hippocampus functioning, and a health hippocampus is important to memory and learning; and may also contribute to mental health challenges.
Cognitive Load Impacts Exercise
Mentally challenging work is likely to make it more difficult to exercise and may reduce your exercise performance. You may want to consider this when planning what days and times to exercise.
Mediterranean Diet Lowers Dementia Risk
Foods that are likely to lower your risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease include: green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains, fish, and olive oil.
Exercise Improves Mental Health
Physical activity improves mood, stress resilience, and brain health.
Optimal Well-being is Attainable
Thriving is a realistic goal, even if you suffer from anxiety, depression, or substance use disorder.
Alcohol & Alzheimer’s Disease
Moderate amounts of alcohol can increase the risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Fructose & Alzheimer’s Disease
Consuming foods high in sugar and salt, processed meats, and alcohol cause a vicious cycle of craving for more of these same foods. Stress also increases our desire to consume these types of foods. And these foods increase our risk of developing AD.
Brain Benefits of Cinnamon
Ceylon Cinnamon or True Cinnamon has properties that can improve cognitive function and lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Chronic Stress and Brain Health
Changes in the brain result in fluctuations in our mental health. Exposure to 10 days of stress causes repeated firing of brain cells in the hypothalamus, and heightened risk of mental health problems. The good news is that activation of POMC neurons is reversable.
Slow Down, You Move Too Fast
Make mental space for the good things you have and the positive things you want in your life by practicing: Let Be. Let Go. Let In.
Enhance Creativity
Creative thinking is a skill that can be strengthened. Reinterpreting an obstacle or frustrating situation can enhance creative thinking and problem-solving. Try challenging your perspective on a hardship, reframing the narrative, or viewing a setback through a different lens to enhance creativity.