This year, my wife and I celebrated our 30th anniversary. Around the same time, I read a blog post called “8 Traits of a Happy Marriage, According to a Couples Therapist.” I agree with all eight of the defining characteristics of long-lasting, happy marriages. I am particularly drawn to these…
With dementia (and specifically Alzheimer’s disease) a part of my family history, an article in The Atlantic, “The Startling Link Between Sugar and Alzheimer's,” caught my attention. Its sub-title, “A high-carb diet, and the attendant high blood sugar, are associated with cognitive decline,” reinforced my commitment to the way I…
I’ve written before about things I learned from Daniel Kahneman’s wonderfully interesting book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow". In a section on availability bias, Kahneman shared useful information for couples. Availability bias is the way we judge situations by relying on immediate examples that come mind. For example, as Kahneman points…
Early this summer, the New York Times published “How Long Can We Live? The Limit Hasn’t Been Reached”. The piece explains, “The mortality rate flattens among the oldest of the old, a study of elderly Italians concludes, suggesting that the oldest humans have not yet reached the limits of life…
I’ve written a lot about the way willpower impacts our ability to make changes that stick. The bottom line: we have a limited stock of willpower. It’s been studied. It’s a fact. Because of this, the key to making changes that stick is to go slow; to break down your…
I have learned the best way to visualize the about the amount of sugar in anything is to look at the nutrition label and divide the number of grams of sugar by four. That will tell you how many teaspoons of sugar are in one serving of that item. Every…
I was at a conference where I had the good fortune to hear Catherine Sanderson speak on The Science of Happiness. Sanderson is a professor at Amherst College where she studies and teaches the subject of happiness. Her speech was fantastic. Here are some of my takeaways: Why do we…
Earlier this year, the New York Times published an article regarding weight loss—specifically, the best way to lose weight. One conclusion: The best diet is the one you can stick to. I have written and spoken frequently about the way I eat. I don’t push a particular diet and I…
Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s Fitness and Health e-Zine is one of my go-to places for keeping up with the latest suggestions for my health. In a recent article entitled, “What You Eat, Not Your Genes, Determines Your Microbiome,” Dr. Mirkin wrote, “The hottest area of medical research today may well be…
One of my friends passed away this year. She was only 60. She died from cancer. She was a smoker. And she knew smoking is what did her in. Another of my friends, also age 60, has a different story to tell. A number of years ago, she had bronchitis.…
In the mid-1990s, I had the good fortune of participating in the Strategic Coach® program. Its quarterly, all-day sessions helped me focus on creating the life I wanted, personally and professionally. One of the first things I learned in the program was their time management system, the most important aspect…
In a Harvard Business Review article, the former U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, was quoted as saying, "Loneliness and weak social connections are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity. But we haven't…