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Challenge 06 - Breathe to Lower Anxiety

How might breathing impact our physiology?

“The rate and depth we breathe at is a huge determinant of our mental state” 1

Today’s challenge is to breathe intentionally.

Breathing is so fundamental to our lives but largely goes unnoticed automatically happening in the background of our everyday lives. However, being conscious about those 25,000 daily breaths could help improve our mental wellbeing, lower anxiety, and be calmer.

So how might breathing impact our physiology? Our respiration rate influences our autonomic nervous system which is divided into two: the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) branches. In healthy subjects breathing techniques can promote parasympathetic dominance, increase calmness and relaxation. With practice, some of these hacks can induce the rest and restore branch in as little as 3-4 minutes.

There are a lot of breathing techniques available for people to try and explore what works best for them. Of course, everyone is different and obviously, this will not substitute for medical advice but I have found the following handy in reminding me to breath more intentionally:

· Close your mouth – breathing through the nose filters the air and helps us take deeper breaths directly to the belly or diaphragm. It also increases the intake of nitric oxide, which opens blood vessels, which improves circulation and oxygen to travel throughout the body.

· Deep breathing – breathe deeply into your belly or diaphragm, which reduces shallow breathing (chest breathing) and allows the lungs to increase the intake of oxygen.

· Slow-paced breathing – slowing breathing to 6 – 10 breaths per minute in healthy people has been shown to improve parasympathetic activity. 2

Being more intentional about your breathing is not just for adults. Research into breathing and stress in children has shown that just taking four slow deep breaths in an everyday setting can significantly affect child stress physiology. Understanding that deep breathing may not be intuitive to children SPARK Lab at Stanford developed a video to show how to pace breath inhale and exhale slowly. By measuring the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and changing pace of the heartbeat when a person inhales and exhales, the study suggests that paced breathing could reduce physiological arousal and be linked to children’s ability to regulate their emotions, focus their attention and engage in tasks. Watch the video here breath in like your smelling a flower and breath out like your blowing a candle

I, have observed the beneficial impact of breathing techniques on people’s lives. Over the past five years, 1,000 volunteers have worn a Firstbeat Bodyguard2 bio-feedback device measuring heart rate variability as part of the ‘Manage Your Energy Renewal Program’. It is incredible to think that learning simple breathing exercises would dramatically affect people's lives.

So what breathing practice might you try today? Tell us here

Reference

1. Professor Elissa Epel

2. How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M, et al. 2018

3. How to calm stressed kid one minute video can help according to Stanford researchers. J.Obradović. 2021

Further reading

Read: How calm stressed kid one minute video can help according to Stanford research. https://ed.stanford.edu

Read (long): Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. 2020. James Nestor

Listen: how-the-lost-art-of-breathing-can-impact-sleep-and-resilience www.npr.org

** Disclaimer – Fresh start effect & 30 Day challenge by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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Challenge 07 - Gratitude

Incorporating a practice of gratitude

Generosity moves us from hopeless to hopeful

Today’s challenge is to be more grateful.

Grateful feelings buffer us from psychological ill health and provide a bolstering effect to maintain mental health despite the crisis by lowering stress levels and increasing positive emotions, life satisfaction, and resilience. When we have been physically distanced from our friends, gratitude can also facilitate the development and maintenance of social relationships.1

In addition, gratitude practiced daily has been shown to predict life satisfaction strongly (aka happiness2) and improve your physical health. Practicing gratitude improves sleep, boosts immunity, and decreases the risk of disease.3

So how might you incorporate a practice of gratitude? There are multiple activities that can increase gratitude, including writing a gratitude diary, reflecting daily five things you are grateful for, or intentionally sharing how grateful you are with others, such as thank you cards or messages. Random acts of kindness, such as, helping someone with directions or someone who is struggling under a heavy shopping load or holding a door open for someone to cross through are all prosocial actions that express our thanks for others.I like that such small actions can make a difference to others. When I was in cafe queue ordering, my friend prepaid a coffee for a health worker in the queue behind us. Their delight and surprise were palpable as being acknowledged as essential services during the recent pandemic. So much joy for as little as $4.00.

So what is your favourite act of gratitude? Tell us here

Reference

1. A new perspective on the social functions of emotions: Gratitude and the witnessing effect. 2019. S. Algoe

2. Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building mental health. 2020. L. Walters, et all.

3. To improve your health practice gratitude. Mayoclinic.

Further reading

· Read: Scientifically proven benefits of gratitude www.forbes.com

· Listen: The gratitude chain www.npr.org

· Watch: Five Day gratitude challenge ideas.ted.com

** Disclaimer – Part of the Fresh Start Effect / Build Your Ideal Day Program by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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Challenge 08 - Finding Flow

Getting into ‘the zone’

When did you last experience flow?

Today's challenge is to build so flow in your life and get into ‘the zone’. Flow is a state of consciousness where people are completely absorbed in the activity they are doing. Whilst engaged in this ‘optimal experience they feel “strong, alert, in effortless control, unselfconscious, and at the peak of their abilities”1. Flow state can take many forms: during sports (runner-high), artistic pursuits (playing music or juggling), leisure activities (gardening) or education (learning a new language), in fact any activity where you lose time of the moment can be categorised in this way.

So why is flow important right now? It turns out that those who engage in flow activities whilst being in COVID19 quarantine reported more positive emotion, less severe depressive symptoms, less loneliness, more healthy behaviours, and fewer unhealthy behaviours. Not surprisingly the benefits became greater as the quarantine length extended in the study group of more than 5,000 people. This could also help those not in quarantine but with disrupted routines, remote working or work tasks that demand full concentration.

The ‘grandfather of flow’ Csikszentmihalyi insists that happiness does not simply happen. It must be prepared for and cultivated by each person, by setting challenges that are neither too demanding nor too simple for one’s abilities. So how can you plan more flow into our everyday? Some suggestions are listed below with juggling as an example:

1. Turn off distractions, in particular, your smart phone (although its handy to set an alarm to mark the end of your session)

2. Match your skills to the task (juggle 3 balls not 5)

3. Have a clear goal (juggle without dropping ball for 2 minutes)

4. Focus on the present (watch the ball)

5. Repeat and fine tune process until you establish the right balance.

In my case marathon ocean swimming evokes a state of flow when all of my usual worries leave my head for a time you are submerged, and you become away only of your swimming stroke and rhythmic breathing.

So has anyone else experienced flow recently? Tell us here

Reference

1. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. 1990.

2. “Flow seems to mitigate the negative effects of quarantine.” Kate Sweeney. www.universityofcalifornia.edu

Further reading

Read: Flow State. Headspace. www.headspace.com

Watch: How to stop languishing and start finding flow. Adam Grant. www.ted.com

Watch: Flow: The secret to happiness. mihaly_csikszentmihalyi

Listen: Achieving a flow state at work. Can Newport. www.npr.org

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Challenge 09 - Social Connection

How many friends do you need?

Humans have always gained sustenance from each other and this capacity to act collectively and build collaboratively has been at the heart of our success. P.Seabright

The strongest predictor of life satisfaction, aka happiness, is determined by the strength of your social connections, according to research from both The World Happiness Report and the Grant Study. Our relationships and how well you are integrated into your local network also influence your chance of surviving a major illness, especially after heart attacks and stroke but up to 50%. More recently, pandemic research has shown high-quality connections are highly beneficial and as a buffer and reduce negative outcomes.

Interestingly the optimal number of friends you need to flourish differs by personality type. Dunbar’s number of 150 developed by evolutionary psychologist and anthropologist Robin Dunbar claims that it typically ranges from 100 to 250. This variance is due to the difference between introverts and extroverts, with introverts preferring fewer, stronger friendships, while extroverts prefer more, weaker ones and spread themselves more thinly. We all have limited time and the strength of a friendship is completely dependent on how much time you invest in each person.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges to stay connected. Most of us need other people to live long and healthy lives, help us get up when we are down & connect us to opportunities. Developing social connections is a learnt skill we all need to continually work on. Some ideas below to get started or restarted:

· Inconsequential connections matter. According to researchers Sandstrom & Dunn, a seemingly inconsequential conversation with your barista, another parent at the school drop-off, or on the dog walk could lift your mood by 17%.

· Use informal communication. Reach out to an old friend with a simple text, email, or call. A shared history with old friends makes it easier to reconnect and pick up where you left off.

· Join a local fitness group (Parkrun) or volunteer something with a higher purpose (Bushcare group). The collective group purpose makes it easier to find common ground.

So how might you build or strengthen a relationship today? Tell us here

Reference

1. The World happiness report.

2. Framingham heart study. 1971- 2003. https://framinghamheartstudy.org/

3. Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships 2021. Robin Dunbar

4. Gillian Sandstrom

Further reading

Read: Dunbar’s number theconversation.com

Watch: The Secret to living longer maybe your social life www.ted.com

Listen: The science of friendships. Robin Dunbar. RSA

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Challenge 10 - Finding Strength

Put your strengths to work everyday

Focusing on what works, works. Tal Ben-Shahar

Today's challenge is to put your strengths to work every day.

Positive psychology is a field of science, developed in the late 1990's as a way to counterbalance the intense focus on psychopathology. Positive psychology emphasizes what is good about people and is described as 'the scientific study of what goes right in life'1.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but it can be easier to achieve success using your strength than focusing on your weakness. Gallup research of 1.1 million people and 63 countries confirms that people and organisations who reported using their strengths daily were part of teams and or businesses that were the highest performing.

It takes more effort to build performance by focusing on weakness, so instead, let's focus on the things that work. Ask yourself these two questions: firstly, what are your strengths? (i.e. what are you good at?) followed by a second question, what gives you strength (i.e. what are you energised by or passionate about)

On a personal note, I have found strength research invaluable over the years. Two consistent strengths that have guided my work career are grit and curiosity. Grit has helped me navigate the highs and lows of my 27-year career at Lendlease across multiple businesses and regions. My curiosity about nature and human performance has opened new career streams, namely head of sustainability for UK Retail in 2007 and head of workplace wellbeing in 2016.

So a question for you. What is your strength, and what gives your strength? survey

Reference

1. Tal Ben-Shahar

Further reading

Read: Why Leaders Should Focus On Strengths, Not Weaknesses www.forbes.com

Watch: Tal Ben Shahar Strengths

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Challenge 11 - Nature Walk

Benefits of immersing yourself in nature

The more nature, the better you feel. Florence Williams

Today’s challenge is to get outside and take some fresh air.

Increasing urbanisation has more people living in cities than in rural areas. However, our connection to nature is hardwired, and without regular exposure, it can impact our wellbeing, this disconnection, and its impact, has been named ‘nature deficit disorder’.

Research confirms the benefits of immersing yourself in nature but even a view of nature helps. Hospital patients with views over green roofs show improved recovery post-surgery1, prison inmates with views of trees (versus brick walls) experience lower physical and mental illness2 and ‘forest bathing’ has been shown to have a positive effect on the mental and cardiovascular health as well as the activation of immunity supporting cells.

The good news is that you don’t need to be in prison, hospital or deep in a forest to experience benefits, and it may help your productivity, especially if you need to disconnect or be creative. A simple walk from your home or work to a park with greenery can make an impact in as little as 15 minutes.

Where might you go outside to improve your wellbeing today? Share your ideas

Reference

1. Green roofs and hospitals. Roger Ulrich. 1984

2. Inmates with views of trees 24% less likely to have physical or mental illness. State prison of Southern Michigan

Further reading

Read: The Nature Fix: Why nature makes us happier, healthier, and more creative. 2017. Florence Williams
Listen: Outside Podcast: Florence Williams on the Nature fix
Watch: Why bother leaving the house. Ben Saunders www.ted.com

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Challenge 12 - Focus & Attention

Adopting the sterile cockpit rule

Sterile cockpits: when pilots are below 10,000 feet only conversations that directly relate to flying the aircraft are possible.

Today's challenge is to create time and space for focus and concentration on the things that matter most without disruption. Ideally, you will create your own cockpit without leaving the tarmac.

So what is the sterile cockpit rule? Several aviation accidents occurred when crew attention was diverted with items unrelated to flying. The aviation regulator instituted a rule that forbids any unnecessary actions or conversations in the aircraft cockpit during the most critical parts of the flights. This usually occurs under 10,000 feet of altitude for activities such as the taxi, take-off and approach and landing phases.

According to Cal Newport our ability to focus is declining, and although most of us are not flight crew, the world is increasing in complexity, and those who can develop the skill of focusing are more likely to succeed. The impact of distraction is evident across multiple industries, including the hospital, where nurses who can use 'do-not-disturb vests' to work distraction-free reduce errors in medication distribution dropped by 47%.

So how might we build your own deep work muscle and create environments for distraction-free work?

Invest in your wellbeing – sleep, nutrition, physical activity, etc all help us focus.
Create a focus cacoon – this could be as simple as a room free of distractions or as elaborate as your own 'writers cabin.'
Create a regular time for focus – understand your chronotype and peak focus times.
Electronically disconnect – silence all devices and set the alarm if needed to signal the end of the session.

So how might you turn off the autopilot and start flying your own plane in a focused manner? Tell us here

Reference

1. Federal Aviation Authority rules - FAR 121.542 and 135.100

2. Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco nurse

Further reading

Read: The Benefits of a Productive Cocoon. Daniel Goldman www.huffpost.com

Listen: The Hidden Brain Cal Newport

Watch: Deep Work Cal Newport

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Challenge 13 - Progress Principle

Making progress with small wins

Small wins have transformational power.1

Today's challenge is to use small wins to supercharge your wellbeing.

The impact of the pandemic has many people uncertain about the future. Some days it feels like nothing can go right, that there is an obstacle at every turn, and it's simply just too hard to make progress. Any time spent listening to the news cycles reinforces that not everything is well, and it's easy to adopt a negative outlook.

In times of extraordinary change, the temptation is to go large and make radical plans, but this is where the achievable plans are key. Professor Robert Sutton from Stanford Engineering School suggests, "Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. Our job is to focus on the small wins that enable people to make a little progress every day." 2

Research into the psychology of action and the pursuit of meaningful goals plays a vital role in our psychological wellbeing. Pursuing goals reveals an interesting cycle between progress on our goals and our reported happiness and subjective wellbeing.3 Making progress makes us happier and creates positive emotions. It encourages goal-directed behaviours and helps us complete the tasks, i.e. by making progress on a goal enhances further action and progress.

So how might this virtuous progress loop work?

Identify a goal that you care about or is meaningful to you.
Create a diary breaking the goal into small actionable steps. These may be so small that on their own seem inconsequential.
Celebrate the completion of each micro activity which represents a small win and helps build progress.
Identify areas to accelerate your goals (catalysts) and those that are barriers.
Acknowledge failed activities. When things go bad, as they often do, failure leads to modest disappointments rather than catastrophic setbacks
Observe how these small wins feed into the success of more significant events.

My insight about using the progress principle is evident in this challenge. Each year I try to develop a legacy piece of work to help people enhance their wellbeing. I believe that online challenges, such as The Fresh Start Effect, to be meaningful. Each challenge is designed to foster curiosity during a calendar month, so 20 days of content must be created. The beginning is always daunting and can be a little overwhelming, but breaking down each challenge day into manageable actions ie topic, background research, image selection, words, references, survey & upload all help track progress and celebrate progress. The image above shows the completion of the first 16 challenges. It is denoted by a large 'X', which is satisfying and provides momentum to finish the challenge set.

So how might you progress your wellbeing today with small wins? Tell us here

Reference

1. How to make small wins work for you. 2018 Mehrnaz Bassiri.

2. HBR - Hey Boss - Enough with the Big, Hairy Goals HBR. 2010. Robert I. Sutton

3. Goal Progress and Happiness. How to decrease procrastination and increase happiness. 2008. Psychology today.

Further reading

Read: To Solve Big Problems, Look for Small Wins. 2020. Harvard Business Review.

Watch: Teresa Amabile - The Progress Principle TEDxAtlanta

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Challenge 14 - Create a ‘To-Don’t’ List

Complete the work that matters

Not every problem needs to be overcome, just the ones stopping you from where you want to be. 1

Today's challenge is to create a to-don't-list to help you be intentional with your time, complete the work that matters and avoid going down rabbit holes.

For many, the pandemic has changed our working lives and the familiar cadence of our daily work. So to address the routine disruption and best allocate our time, the simple answer it seemed was to write a to-do list. The list of all the actions that showed progress toward a known goal, a things to-do list if you would like, but if your list is anything like mine, we need a complementary list called the 'to-don't-list.'

When it comes to work, I often wonder where the time goes. Yet, we know from Parkinson's law that work expands to fill the time available for its completion, so to focus our finite energy on what matters and avoid the things that either sap our energy or distract us from achieving our goals.

In a recent article, the phenomenally productive organizational psychologist Wharton Professor Adam Grant shared his to-don't list:

1. Helping everyone who asks – with only limited time, he helps only those to who he can make a 'unique contribution'.

2. Mindlessly engaging with screens – he avoids getting on his phone or computer unless he has a specific plan for what he's going to do with them.

3. Putting work ahead of family time – he quarantines 3.00–7.00 PM on weekdays as a solid block of family time to spend with his three kids.

4. Playing online Scrabble – games play to his curious nature but he knows when strength becomes a weakness. The solution was to play Scrabble only at certain times and delete the Scrabble app from his phone.

So if you find you aren't completing your to-do list then the solution may not be to work more, but instead, consider what tasks you might stop doing. It sounds simple, but how? Firstly take a piece of paper, identify the goal you want to achieve. Secondly, write the actions required to achieve the goal on the left-hand side (the to-do list) and the right-hand side all the actions that might sap your energy or time (not-to-do list). At the end of the day, savour the success while you cross off all the actions you have achieved and acknowledge the ones you have been able to avoid.

What's on your to-don't list? Tell us here

Source: This tip is adapted from “Want to Be More Productive? Try Doing Less,” by Kate Northrup

Reference

1. Ann Hill

Further reading

Read: Is you to do list making you nuts? Ideas TED Adam Grant

Make a to-don’t list. hbr.org

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Challenge 15 - Optimism

Can we change our outlook?

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”1

Today's challenge is to become more optimistic.

Did you know that how we see the world and our level of optimism significantly impact our quality of life?

Optimism, by definition, is a positive expectation for the future, a glass half full if you like, and may impact both physical and mental health. It also provides stress-buffering that helps people remain happy in the wake of adverse events, and recent studies have found an inverse correlation between optimism and depressive symptoms, which is handy right now.2

Can we change our outlook? Even if you are not born an optimist, we can change our default setting. Of course, heretics, environment, and socio-economics status influence our optimism levels you are. Still, according to Martin Seligman, positive psychology's founding father, we can cultivate a positive perspective that believes that optimism is modifiable and can be learned with practice.

Like all things, how you view the world is unlikely to change overnight, but some of the below ideas might help create a mindset to make positive progress in your life:

Visualize the best possible self. What might your life look like everything went as well as expected?
Look to the positive in things and keep the negative self-reflection in check.
Review your social environment and surround yourself with more positive people.
Stay informed but don't constantly watch the news cycle, reinforcing negative thoughts.
Start a diary noting the positive occurrences.
Acknowledge what you can and let go of what you can't control
Put things in perspective - counteract your extremely negative predictions with highly positive ones.
Acknowledge that negative things happen – life well lived will include some disappointments.

How might you build more optimism into your day? Tell us here

Reference

1. Winston Churchill

2. Optimism and Its Impact on Mental and Physical Well-Being. 2010. C.Conversano

Further reading

· Read: Train your brain to be more optimistic www.nbcnews.com

· Listen: Optimism and hope - All in the mind www.abc.net.au

· Watch: How to calculate a positive perspective - Learned optimism Martin Seligman

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Challenge 16 - Anti-fragility

Learn to bounce back or bounce beyond

"Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better." 1

Today's challenge moves beyond simply being robust and learning to bounce back or bounce beyond.

The recent pandemics: SARS and COVID-19 have provided insights into how people cope with stress and uncertainty. Not surprisingly, they found that in 2020 mental health problems were twice as prevalent as in non-pandemic times. There is, however, cause for optimism as anxiety, isolation, sleep problems co-exist with social growth, personal growth, and gratitude.

So what is antifragility, and how might it help us in these uncertain times. Firstly, anti-fragility is not the same at post-traumatic growth, which involves some sort of trauma, whereas anti-fragility is the interplay of your perception of the level of disruption in your world right now and your perception of the capacity to thrive.

According to Dr Paige Williams, it is defined as being three things: the confidence of your ability, skills, and knowledge. There is sometimes a big gap between the perceived disruption you see in your world and your perceived capacity to thrive; the bigger that gap is, the more fragile you're going to feel.

So how might we build these principles into our everyday:

Break the negative – let go of what you can't control and stop worrying about it. (I acknowledge this is not easy)
Reframe the struggle from being a sign of failure to an opportunity to learn and grow.
Learn forwards – use learning loops to accelerate your growth (what did you try, where did you struggle & what might you try next)

Want to find out about your fragility? Take the survey theantifragilesurvey.com

How might you build an antifragility mindset into your day? Tell us here Tell us here

Reference

1. Nassim Nicholas Taleb in ‘Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder’ (2012)

Further reading

Long Read: becoming anti-fragile. Learning to thrive through disruption, challenge and change. Dr Paige Williams. 2020

Listen: Dr Paige Williams – How anti-fragile are you? how-anti-fragile-are-you

Short read: Prove your antifragility https://medium.com

** Disclaimer – Part of the Build Your Ideal Day Program – 30 Day challenge by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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Challenge 17 - Unplug

Become smarter with your smartphone

The Average Australian spends almost 17 years of their life on their phone.1

Today's challenge is to become smarter with your smartphone.

Technology has many advantages, but it also has some downside and can absorb our time. We all can be too connected 24 hours a day, but this might not be best for us.

Increasingly, we are spending more time engaged with our screens, leading to a significant rise in the share of Australians who agree with this statement: "I find myself occupied on my mobile phone when I should be doing other things and it causes me problems". 2

Our always-available culture may have some of us thinking that it's more productive and less stressful to be connected, but recent research suggests otherwise—a randomized study of 124 busy professionals was assigned into two groups over two weeks. The first group of participants was required to switch off all alerts and notifications and check emails only three times a day for a week. The second group had free email checking up to fifteen times per day. Surprisingly, the restricted email group reported lower stress levels, more productivity, and better sleep. The experiment was repeated by flipping the group with the same participants, and the results were the same. Also noted is that both groups sent and received roughly the same number of emails. Still, the restricted email group reported doing so in 20 percent less time.3

So could you 'go dark' for a day given the perceived productivity and well-being benefits? No phones, screens or computers? What about scheduling technology-free day per week? The upsides of this are recorded in 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week by Tiffany Shlain. 4

Although a digital sabbath may not work for everyone, we can also look for opportunities to reduce our screen time during the day:

· Morning – awake refreshed with an old school alarm clock. Resist the temptation to collect the phone and leave it in the charging station until after the morning routine is complete, i.e. teeth, toilet, shower, smoothie, and dog walk.

· Focus time. Tackle the most critical task of the day while in deep focus. Activate the 'do not disturb' to switch off all incoming notifications allowing your best work to happen in flow-state. Remember that it can take 23 minutes to recover from disruptions.

· Lunch time – Lunch breaks are critical recovery settling for employees in cognitively or emotionally demanding jobs. Detachment both physically and psychologically is key and even using ones phone for social media can intensify fatigue.5

· Driving – Using your phone while driving a vehicle is illegal so another great opportunity to rack up tech-free minutes. Even talking on a phone (hands-free) draws nearly 40% of mental resources away from the task of driving. 6

· Outside time – take some time outside to be present and allow your brain to engage its default mode network. Some of you best ideas may happen whilst dish-washing, showering or walking and it's because your mind is able to kind of make an unusual connection. But right now we're living in a way where we're stuffing so much new information into our minds all the time. If you want to take your phone for photography, then make sure it's in-flight mode to minimise distractions.

· Mealtime – no phones at the table is an easy fix as the mere presence can make people feel more distracted and less socially engaged. If tech is present at the table, they should be face down, and the first person to glace at and or touch receives a penalty such as washing up. Phone checking for the benefit of the group may be permitted: checking google fact, etc, etc

· Evening unwind - Great opportunity to calm the mind and positively reflect the day that has just passed. For many, this may be simply reading a book, taking a hot bath or watching TV (without checking your phone during the advertising breaks)

· Bedtime – Bedrooms should be tech-free full stop (unless you have a kindle).

So what action might you take today to reduce your screentime? Tell us here

Reference

1. Aussie screen time in a lifetime www.reviews.org

2. Problematic use of mobile phones in Australia...Is it getting worse?2019. Frontiers in Psychiatry

3. Checking email less frequently reduces stress. 2015. K.Kushlev & Elizabeth.W.Dunn

4. 24/6 the power of unplugging one day per week. Tiffany Shlain

5. When the science of perfect timing. 2018. Daniel H Pink. pp65

6. Road safety distractions www.rse.org.au

Further reading

· Read: 8 reasons why you should unplug one day a week. www.forbes.com

Listen: Why our screens make us less happy? www.ted.com
Watch: Tiffany Shlain and Ken Goldberg www.wired.com

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Challenge 18 - Boost Immunity

8 hours per night is not universally adopted

“Sleep is perhaps the greatest legal performance-enhancing 'drug' that few people are taking advantage of”

– Matthew Walker

We all know that recovery during sleep is fundamental to wellness and performance. So why is it that rest is declining globally at the same time we need more of it, especially given its immune system benefits?

World Health Organisation and National sleep Foundation’s guidance of 8 hours per night is not universally adopted. Countries like Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, the UK, and Belgium all rank highly for sleep but not all developed economies rest well; South Korea and Japan are the world’s worst countries for getting a good night’s sleep. The issue has caught World Health Organisation's attention and has declared a sleep-loss epidemic through industrialised nations.

Researchers suggest that sleeping routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night impacts your physical and mental health, with sleep a likely lifestyle factor associated with cancer, coronary artery disease, diabetes & mental ill-health, but given the current circumstances, the most crucial element related to sleep loss is the impact on the immunity system. A 2002 experiment compared the immune response of two groups to the flu vaccine. The control group was allowed seven and a half to eight and a half hours sleep while sleep-restricted group allowed only four hours for the 6-day experiment. Even with this temporary restriction for just one week, the sleep-restricted group produces less than 50% of the immune reaction to the flu shot. Even after twelve months they never developed a full reaction to the vaccine. Similar consequences hepatitis A and B vaccines, could this also hold for COVID-19 vaccinations?

Not all sleep problems can be solved just by simply getting more sleep, as 10-20% of the population have sleep diseases requiring medical interventions. However, many others can benefit from investing in sleep hygiene and applying the tips for getting a good night sleep which includes:

· Maintaining a sleep schedule – our body likes regularity

· Regular daily exercise – ideal in the mornings to optimize cardiovascular health.

· Exposure to daylight to reset our circadian rhythm

· Limiting caffeine after midday – caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours.

· Limiting alcohol intake before bed – alcohol is a sedative but doesn’t mimic a natural sleep cycle

· Understanding the power of napping to be employed if main sleep is not sufficient

· Create sleep environment that promotes sleep – think quiet, cold & dark!

My personal favourite for adequate recovery is my regular sleep schedule. Maintaining an early to bed philosophy (by 9.30 PM) allows me get up for a swim at 6.00 AM swim each day.

So what might you try to improve your sleep and learning today? tell us here

Reference

1. Dr. Thomas Roth, of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit

2. Dramatic deficits in their ability to learn new information www.ncbi.nih.gov.

3. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/which-countries-get-the-most-sleep-and-how-much-do-we-really-need/

4. Effect of sleep deprivation on response to immunization. K.Spiegel. 2002

Further reading

Read: why are we so sleep deprived and why does it matter theconversation.com
Watch: Sleep is your superpower. Matthew Walker. TED

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Challenge 19 - You Feel What You Eat

Diet has an major influence on your mental wellbeing

Everyone knows the adage ‘you are what you eat‘ but did you know that diet quality impacts more than you’re your physical health? Diet along with physical exercise and smoking are known as modifiable lifestyle factors and have a significant impact on your long-term wellbeing including, cardiovascular disease1 and other chronic physical health conditions, but also has an major influence on your mental wellbeing?2

The quality of the food we eat is linked with risk factors for the common mental disorders, such as, depression and anxiety with studies highlighting regions that follow traditional diets (vs western diets) have lower rates of mental illness. So, this means that dietary intervention hold promise as a novel intervention for reducing mental illness symptoms across the population.3

As with all successful change it is only works if you can maintain the change over the longer term, in other words a good diet is a sustainable diet. Below are some ideas to create a healthy diet rich in fruit, vegetables, fish and lean meats.

Try and follow a dietary pattern based on wholefoods and enjoy a variety of plant food: fruits, vegetables, legumes, wholegrain cereals, nuts, and seeds
Plan your meals – Plan five meals and take a written shopping list to the shops (avoid confectionary isle)

· Shape your environment – stock pantry and fridge with healthy whole foods you like to eat

· Prepare for hunger in advance – prep healthy snacks for when you are likely to be hungry (hummus & carrots or chia pudding fruit are great source of fibre and keep hunger at bay)

· Increase fruit intake. Add fruit to existing meals (muesli, smoothies, sliced apples with yogurt)

· Pro & pre-biotic foods. Add food with healthy bacteria (yogurt, kimchi, fermented food) plus food for your gut microbiota (oats, wholegrains, raw nuts and seeds)

· Break bread together. Buddy up with a friend to either cook in bulk or share recipes.

· Save money. Average western diet cost $134/week versus the modified Mediterranean diet $112/week

Everyone has different dietary and nutritional needs so make sure you see a registered dietitian before changing your diet.

So, has anyone else found ways to enhance the quality of their diet?

Reference

1. Mediterranean Diet and Cardiovascular Health: Teachings of the PREDIMED Study. 2014 E.Ros.

2. The Effects of Dietary Improvement on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety. 2019. J.Firth

3. Traditional diets nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food

Further reading

Read: Nutritional psychiatry: can you eat yourself happier? www.theguardian.com
Watch: Diet as a Prevention Strategy in Mental Health PsychScene Hub
Listen: Can food make you happier? Build Your Ideal Day podcast series

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Challenge 20 - Planning Your Holidays

Revisiting the upside of vacations (or time away from work)

My main purpose for a vacation is to change pace and environment to refresh perspectives and energies. Getting things done. David Allen.

Today’s challenge is to plan a vacation.

Our lifespans are elongating, and so too our working careers, with recent predictions that 80,000-hour careers will not be uncommon. Our work is becoming more like a marathon with breaks and refueling needed for high performance over the long term.

Taking a vacations is good for your physical and mental health can boost productivity, allowing us to recharge and psychologically detach from work. However, the pandemic has prevented many of us from taking our usual breaks, and annual leave balances have increased more than 30 percent over last year. So maybe in 2022, we should revisit the upside of vacations (or time away from work), and here are some reasons why:

Boost wellbeing. Even the simple act of planning a trip and its anticipation can positively impact people's well-being.
Increase happiness by making the vacation into an experience. Experiential purchases, money spent on doing, tend to provide more enduring happiness than material purchases, money spent on having.
Increase sleep quality. Air New Zealand study showed three times increase in regenerative sleep after a 10-day vacation.
Live longer. Not taking any vacations increased the risk of dying early by 21% and reduced heart disease.
Improve productivity. Detachment from work buffers us from stress, makes us more engaged at work. Burnout is associated with not being able to detach from work.
Enhance creativity. A change of pace and exposure to new and different experiences can boost creativity.

Many of us delay holidays due to being busy or having an important deadline, but a new study shows that you have fun holidays no matter what, and we enjoy them just as much whether they come before or after hard work.

I have always felt refreshed after time out on long-distance walking trails. However, supported by new research, hiking in nature disconnected from all devices for four days led to a 50 percent spike in creativity. I've known this intuitively and yet have not been walking recently, so maybe it's time to lace up the boots and enjoy a dose of creativity and inspiration.

So what might you do on your next break? Tell us here

Reference

1. David Alllen. Author of getting things done

2. Annual leave balances built up during the pandemic, 2021/12/17

3. A study of the impact of the expectation of a holiday on an individual's sense of well-being. 2002. D.Gilbert & J.Abdullah

4. Take a vacation, for your health's sake. 2008. New York Times

5. Waiting for Merlot: Anticipatory Consumption of Experiential and Material Purchases.2014. Kumar, Killingsworth & Gilovich

6. Sabine Sonnentag, Professor of organizational psychology at the University of Mannheim in Germany,

7. Dr Mark Rosekind. Chief scientist at alertness solutions

Further reading

· Read: Lockdown leave why you should still take a holiday even if you cant go anywhere

· www.theguardian.com

Listen: Why we need to take more breaks than ever. hbr.org/podcast/2021
Watch: Why we all need to become vacation superheros https://www.ted.com

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Challenge 02 - Purpose

What is your Ikigai?

What is your Ikigai?

Having a sense of purpose in life is associated with both enhanced wellbeing and overall quality of life. A recent study on life purpose found it is not just a powerful motivator but could help you live longer. A meta-analysis involving more than 136,000 participants possessing a high sense of purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events.1

So, what is purpose? A purposeful life can be defined as "a self-organizing life aim that stimulates goals, promotes healthy behaviours, and gives meaning to life" 2. The Japanese call it "Ikigai' and translates to "a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living."

During the recent pandemic, purpose has not only served to protect during stressful times, but it can also be an enhanced experience. This is supported by research showing that despite spikes in acute stress, depression, and anxiety among front-line healthcare workers, an astonishing 61% of them said they had found increased meaning and purpose in life3.

As uncertainty and volatility continue to increase in our world, finding purpose can help us buffer and build our mental health reserves. My career purpose is to 'use wellbeing science to help people be the best version of themselves,' and this has definitely guided me through the challenges of the past twelve months.

What activities help you or other create purpose? survey

Reference

1. Purpose in life and its relationship to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events: a meta-analysis. 2016. Cohen R, Bavishi C, Rozanski A.

2. Origins of Purpose in Life: Refining our Understanding of a Life Well Lived. 2009. Kashdan and McKnight.

3. Positive psychology in a pandemic: buffering, bolstering, and building mental health. 2021. Prof L. Waters (ref Shechter et al., 2020).

Further reading

Read: Three simple steps to identify your life purpose. www.forbes.com
Watch: Why we do what we do. TED. Daniel Pink
Listen: Daniel Pink podcast www.super-soul.simplecast.com

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Challenge 03 - Coping with Stress

To be stressed is to be human!

"You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." Marcus Aurelius

To be stressed is to be human!

Stress is a natural response to stimuli. Most of us experience stress at some point in our lives, and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased my levels of stress and anxiety, and some of you may have experienced the same. We know that not all stress is bad, but long-term can lead to a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress known as burnout.

There is no one size fits all but research into positive psychology provides insights into some positive psychology interventions1 that can help with stress, such as noticing positive events, savouring, gratitude, mindful awareness, positive reappraisal, personal strengths, acts of kindness, and self-compassion.2

Another thing I have found useful during the last twelve months is to focus on the things we can change and to accept or ignore of the things we cannot change, based on the “Circle of Concern, Circle of Influence” model, which looks at where we spend our time and energy.3 From a personal perspective, it has been easy to absorb excessive negative news through either doom scrolling or radio news cycles lately, and I have found the concern, influence, and control model helpful in moderating some of this. Below is a simple example:

1. Concern – Be ‘news’ aware but don’t obsess about the COVID-19 numbers around the globe.

2. Influence – Don’t worry about other people's choices around vaccine take up or otherwise.

3. Control – Practice a positive mindset and activities that promote wellbeing and protection again COVID-19.

What activities help you deal with or think differently about stress? Click here survey

Reference

1. Positive psychology intervention. Cheung et al., 2018; J. Moskowitz et al., 2014; Verstaen et al., 2018

2. “Faced with uncertainty, it is common for people to seek positive solutions”. 2020. L.Waters, J.Dutton, R.Emmons, B. Fredrickson & E.Heaphy.

3. The Seven habits of highly effective people. Circle of Control and Influence. 1989. S. Covey

Further reading

Read: Seven habits of highly effective people. Circle of Control and Influence.1989. S.Covey
Watch: How to make stress your friend. Kelly McGonigal www.ted.com
Listen: Can we reframe how we think about stress www.npr.org

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Challenge 04 - Walk with Me

Today’s challenge is to simply walk somewhere.

“Walking is man’s best medicine.” Hippocrates

Today’s challenge is to simply walk somewhere.

With so many wellbeing choices these days, simple things are often overlooked. Imagine if we designed a drug that enhanced physical health, lifted our mood, helped us sleep, made us more creative, increased our happiness and reduced our risks for anxiety, depression as well as other mental ills. ‘If walking was a pill, it would be a called a wonder drug! Did I mention it was virtually free and needed only basic equipment?

Okay I am sure you are now convinced, so here are some ideas to get you moving:

Morning walking. It occurs when willpower is high and more likely to happen
Purposeful walking. Paced so you can hear your breath but still hold a conversation, ideal for cardio-vascular fitness.
Opportunistic walking. Substitute all or part of car trip, step off the train one stop earlier or park your car at the furthest end of the car parki in order to increase incidental steps.
Work walking. Walk between meeting locations, organise a daily walking meeting or walk on a virtual call.
Social walking – walk locally to promote social interactions in your neighbourhood or office. Or walk rhythmically together with a friend and strengthen bonds with a shared purpose.
Creative walking. Take your problems outside walking and create up to 60% more divergent thinking outcomes.
Neurogenesis walking. Walk anywhere to connect and support the growth of white-brain cells.
Awe walking. Walk to pay attention to detail and look at everything with fresh, childlike eyes to improve mood and amplify awe.

Whether you want to improve your mood, physical health, or simply take a break, consider walking somewhere.

So, where might you walk today? (survey)

Reference

1. White matter plasticity in healthy older adults: The effects of aerobic exercise. Colmenaress. 2021

2. Big smile, small self: Awe walks promote prosocial positive emotions in older adults. V. Strem. 2020

3. In Praise of Walking: The new science of how we walk and why it’s good for us. S.O'Mara. 2019

Further reading

Read: It’s a superpower – how walking makes us healthier happier and brainier. www.theguardian.com.
Listen: scientific benefits of walking podcasts.apple.com
Watch: Want to be more creative go for a walk www.ted.com/talks

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Challenge 05 - Grit

Could grit enhance your wellbeing?

Could grit enhance your wellbeing?

Today's challenge is to understand how grit might enhance your wellbeing.

So what is grit? Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals in the face of challenges and failures1. You may know already that grit predicts greater success in Ivy League undergraduates, West Point cadets, and US National spelling bee winners, but it turns out that grit is good for your wellbeing also.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, grit was shown to buffer against psychological distress during Pandemics with research examining grit and gratitude before the pandemic found that grit predicted significantly greater pandemic resilience2. A cross-cultural study of grit in college students labeled three distinct characteristics of grit: perseverance of effort, adaptability to situations, and consistency of interest. Of the three domains, perseverance and adaptability positively predicted flourishing and reported a strong negative association between grit and mental health issues, including depression and anxiety.

So grit & interest consistency are capable of buffering psychological distress; therefore, gritty individuals are predicted to better adapt to the pandemic3.

So how can we build more grit? Five areas to consider:

Foster your curiosity. Find the things that fascinates you the most.
Keep turning up, even if things get tricky.
Align your passion to a greater purpose or rolled-up goal.
Cultivate hope and self-belief that you can learn new things.
Shape your environment and surround yourself with gritty peers.

Have you ever wondered how gritty you are? Take the grit scale test grit-scale

Question - Can you think of ways to develop your grit today?

Reference

1. Grit. Duckworth et al., 2007.

2. Stress and wellbeing in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Can grit and gratitude help? 2020. Bono, G., Reil, K., & Hescox, J. (2020).

3. Interest Consistency Can Buffer the Effect of COVID-19 Fear on Psychological Distress. 2021. A.Masuyama, T. Kubo, D.Sugawara & Y.Chishima )

Further reading

Read: Signs you have grit www.time.com
Watch: 5 ways to develop grit positive psychology
Listen: Angela Ductworth www.michellemcquaid.com