Greg Nicholaides

By Annemarie Dooling – Health & Wellness

March 16, 2021

It’s gotten harder to create mental breaks as work and home have blurred. Here are ways to get your brain a rest. One secret to achieving more: Finding time to do nothing. Even brief timeouts help the brain reinforce long-term learning and productivity.

In our efforts to squeeze every second from the day, it seems counterintuitive to watch a pot of coffee boil or gaze out the window. But your brain uses those free periods for important cleanup work, neuroscience research indicates. And during the pandemic, as the boundaries between work and home have blurred, it has become harder to create mental breaks.

Even brief timeouts help the brain reinforce long-term learning and productivity. You come out of downtime able to learn more, and can access that learning faster. “When you take a break, you may want to do something mind-consuming to help with motivation, but technically your best way of taking a break is to do something mindless,” says Barbara Oakley, a professor of engineering at Oakland University in Michigan who teaches a popular online course on how to open your mind to learning.

To ease into allowing yourself to do nothing, start with something familiar. Here are some techniques.

Take a long shower

A natural place to start slowing down is a habit that’s already built into your schedule, such as taking a shower. Letting your mind wander here can be a stepping stone to quieting more hectic environments. Or try blocking off time to look out your window. In her book How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, writer Jenny Odell describes how bird-watching became her favorite slow-down activity: Exhausted after pulling an all-nighter, she had gazed out the window and noticed a cluster of yellow birds. “I burned out, and in that state of forced relaxation, that happened to be when I noticed,” she says.

Play a game without keeping score

Dr. Oakley points out that while our body’s dopamine reward system might encourage tasks, keeping score is labor. Instead of competing against your crossword best, find a puzzle game on your phone that requires simply swiping.

Take a solo walk

Leave the Fitbit at home, and free up an hour to absorb the scenery in silence. Being in nature has been linked to a multitude of physical and mental benefits. But be sure not to create a competition, which can take the relaxation out of the activity. “We get fixated on taking 10,000 steps,” Ms. Odell says. “Yes, it’s good to go for a walk, but this isn’t a job.” Enjoy the meandering, rather than the race, she suggests.

Cook a big meal

Borrowing from the downtime that the Italians call dolce far niente (the sweetness of doing nothing), the act of cooking a meal can encourage a wandering mind. It can be tempting to create a culinary masterpiece to make the time worth it, but fight the urge. Ms. Odell suggests trying to “see the non-work time as something other than the negative space left after work.” Try a simple recipe that requires slow preparation. Not only is the activity downtime, but bonus points for resting at the table between courses.

Just sit down

If you’re struggling to get enough rest at night, try a short nap. Simply find a comfortable chair, and breathe. While you’re napping, remember that your brain never is. Rest is one of the most important ways to enhance the neurological flexibility to build the kind of conceptual understanding that is related to identity and purpose, says Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a professor of education, psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California. Consider that a reason to lose the guilt over a daily rest.

Financial security is just one part of the equation when planning for a happy and productive retirement.

By: Norman Abeles, PhD, professor of psychology at Michigan State University

Everywhere one turns today there is information about the importance of saving enough money for a comfortable and secure retirement. Sufficient financial resources in retirement are important, but according to psychologists who study retirement, money is only one part of the equation for a happy and productive life after one stops working.

You also have to plan in terms of developing other interests and making a gradual transition in terms of where you derive your self-esteem.

For men and women who defined themselves by their careers, leaving that identify behind is often very difficult.  Some retirees might feel that working gave their life purpose and they have little to contribute to society in this new chapter in life. That simply isn’t true.  It’s important to find new ways to define oneself.  Taking on new responsibilities within the community or church can provide a new sense of purpose and self-worth.  Serving others is the best way to feel useful and engaged.

Isolation in retirement is a growing epidemic affecting over 8 million older adults across the country.  In addition to the emotional symptoms isolation brings on, such as sadness, loneliness, or depression, one study found that prolonged isolation resulted in an increased risk of early death. Avoiding isolation is particularly important if you aren’t married or don’t have a partner. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, single people age 65 and over spend an average of 10.1 waking hours alone each day in their free time.

The best way to avoid isolation is to take charge of your social calendar. Look for opportunities to socialize as part of your daily or weekly routine. Local options could include taking part in programs offered at your library, senior center, church, or the Y. Start or join a book club, cooking club, or music appreciation night, or pursue a favorite hobby, sport, or volunteer activity. And don’t limit yourself to social opportunities only with others in your age range. Spending time with people of all ages can be very enriching, pre-retirement and post-retirement.

Relationships with spouses and children often change during retirement as well. Couples who were used to saying goodbye in the morning and “how was your day?” in the evening are now suddenly together in the middle of the day as well. That’s an adjustment for both parties.

It’s not uncommon to hear about people who die within two years of retiring.  Studies have shown that a sudden drastic change in routine can be a shock to one’s system and can sometimes cause medical issues.

Many psychologists recommend retiring gradually, going to a part-time schedule or doing consulting work, before stopping work altogether. The new free time can be spent investigating new hobbies or rediscovering old ones.

Don’t be inflexible in planning for retirement and don’t put all your retirement eggs in one basket. For example, many retirees plan to spend a lot of time traveling but for some a physical aliment makes extensive traveling impossible. A balanced portfolio of activities is important—travel, hobbies, volunteer work, exercise, continuing education—are all activities that many retirees find rewarding.

One’s retirement years can be among the most satisfying and enriching in life.  However, it does take some preparation and patience to maximize the opportunities available in retirement.

By Mike Stobbe – Associated Press

E – In this Monday, April 6, 2020 file photo, cots and cribs are arranged at 

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report being released Wed., May 5.

The rate dropped for moms of every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group, falling to the lowest point since federal health officials started tracking it more than a century ago.  Births have been declining in younger women for years, as many postponed motherhood and had smaller families.  Birth rates for women in their late 30s and in their 40s have been inching up – but not last year.

“The fact that you saw declines in births even for older moms is quite striking,” said Brady Hamilton, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the lead author of the new report. The CDC report is based on a review of more than 99% of birth certificates issued last year. The findings echo a recent Associated Press analysis of 2020 data from 25 states showing that births had fallen during the coronavirus outbreak.

The pandemic no doubt contributed to last year’s big decline, experts say. Anxiety about COVID-19 and its impact on the economy likely caused many couples to think that having a baby right then was a bad idea. But many of the 2020 pregnancies began well before the U.S. epidemic. CDC researchers are working on a follow-up report to better parse out how the decline unfolded, Hamilton said.

Other highlights from the CDC report:

— About 3.6 million babies were born in the U.S. last year, down from about 3.75 million in 2019. When births were booming in 2007, the U.S. recorded 4.3 million births.

— The U.S. birth rate dropped to about 56 births per 1,000 women of child-bearing age, the lowest rate on record. The rate is half of what it was in the early 1960s.

— The birth rate for 15 to 19-year-olds dropped 8% from 2019. It’s fallen almost every year since 1991.

— Birth rates fell 8% for Asian American women; 3% for Hispanic women; 4% for Black and white women; and 6% for moms who were American Indians or Alaska Natives.

— The cesarean delivery rate rose, slightly, to about 32%. It had generally been declining since 2009.

— Some good news: The percentage of infants born small and premature — at less less than 37 weeks of gestation — fell slightly, to 10%, after rising five years in a row.

The current generation is getting further away from having enough children to replace itself.

The U.S. once was among only a few developed countries with a fertility rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace it. About a dozen years ago, the estimated rate was 2.1 kids per U.S. woman. But it’s been sliding, and last year dropped to about 1.6, the lowest rate on record.

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN

April 20, 2021

If you’re trying to get by on about six hours or less of sleep a night during the workweek, you’re setting up your brain for future failure, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. Sleeping less than six hours a night in middle age can increase your dementia risk, a long-term study has found.

After following nearly 8,000 people for 25 years, the study found a higher dementia risk with a “sleep duration of six hours or less at age 50 and 60” as compared to those who slept seven hours a night. In addition, persistent short sleep duration between the ages of 50, 60 and 70 was also associated with a “30% increased dementia risk,” independent of “sociodemographic, behavioural, cardiometabolic, and mental health factors,” including depression, the study said.

“Sleep is important for normal brain function and is also thought to be important for clearing toxic proteins that build up in dementias from the brain,” said Tara Spires-Jones, who is deputy director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at The University of Edinburgh in Scotland, in a statement. Spires-Jones was not involved in the study.

“What’s the message for us all? Evidence of sleep disturbance can occur a long time before the onset of other clinical evidence of dementia,” said Tom Dening, who heads the Centre for Dementia at the Institute of Mental Health at the University of Nottingham in the UK, in a statement.

“However, this study cannot establish cause and effect,” said Denning, who was not involved in the study. “Maybe it is simply a very early sign of the dementia that is to come, but it’s also quite likely that poor sleep is not good for the brain and leaves it vulnerable to neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.”

It’s well known that people with Alzheimer’s suffer sleep issues. In fact, insomnia, nighttime wandering and daytime sleepiness are common for people with Alzheimer’s, as well as other cognitive disorders such as Lewy body dementia and frontal lobe dementia.

But does poor sleep lead to dementia — and which comes first? This “chicken and egg” question has been explored in prior studies, with research pointing both ways, according to neuroscientist Jeffrey Iliff, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

“In experimental studies, there does seem to be evidence of both chicken and egg,” Iliff told CNN in a prior interview. “You can drive it in either direction.”

Some recent studies, however, have explored the damage sleep deprivation may cause.

People who get less REM, or dream-stage sleep, may be at higher risk for developing dementia, one 2017 study found. REM is the fifth stage of sleep, when the eyes move, the body heats up, breathing and pulse quicken and the mind dreams.

Healthy middle-aged adults who slept badly for just one night produced an abundance of beta amyloid plaques — one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, another study published in 2017 revealed. Beta amyloid is a sticky protein compound that disrupts communication between brain cells, eventually killing the cells as it accumulates in the brain.

A week of disrupted sleep increased the amount of tau, another protein responsible for the tangles associated with Alzheimer’s, frontal lobe dementia and Lewy body disease, the study found.

Yet another 2017 study compared dementia markers in spinal fluid against self-reported sleep problems, and found subjects who had sleep issues were more likely to show evidence of tau pathology, brain cell damage and inflammation, even when other factors like depression, body mass, cardiovascular disease and sleep medications were taken into account.

“Our findings align with the idea that worse sleep may contribute to the accumulation of Alzheimer’s-related proteins in the brain,” Barbara Bendlin of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center told CNN in a prior interview about the 2017 study.

“The fact that we can find these effects in people who are cognitively healthy and close to middle age suggest that these relationships appear early, perhaps providing a window of opportunity for intervention,” Bendlin said.

Because the new study followed a large population over an extended period of time, it adds “new information to the emerging picture” on the link between sleep deprivation and dementia, said Elizabeth Coulthard, an associate professor in dementia neurology at the University of Bristol in the UK, in a statement.

“This means that at least some of the people who went on to develop dementia probably did not already have it at the start of the study when their sleep was first assessed,” said Coulthard, who was not involved in the study.

“It strengthens the evidence that poor sleep in middle age could cause or worsen dementia in later life,” she said.

At this time, science has no “sure-fire way to prevent dementia,” but people can change certain behavior to reduce their risk, said Sara Imarisio, who heads strategic initiatives at Alzheimer’s Research UK, in a statement. Imarisio was not involved in the study.

“The best evidence suggests that not smoking, only drinking in moderation, staying mentally and physically active, eating a balanced diet, and keeping cholesterol and blood pressure levels in check can all help to keep our brains healthy as we age.”

If you have ever tapped on your back pocket or fished through your purse and come up empty, you know how it feels to find yourself without your wallet. Losing your wallet is frustrating. Having it stolen is downright stressful and violating.

If you lose your wallet, you don’t have to lose your cool. By following a simple checklist, you can limit your liability and protect your identity from further danger. If your wallet is lost or stolen, you don’t have to worry because, as an Experian ProtectMyID member, our Lost Wallet feature is part of your plan. Below are some of the steps our specialists will perform on your behalf to restore your wallet contents and tips you can use to respond.

1. Report Your Debit Card as Stolen With Your Financial Institution

Generally, the faster you report your debit card stolen, the less unauthorized charges that you’ll be responsible for paying. If you report a debit card missing within two business days, you’ll only be liable for up to $50 in unauthorized purchases. Waiting longer (less than 60 days) could cost you $500 in unauthorized charges. If you go past 60 days without reporting your card stolen, you could be on the hook for all unauthorized charges.

Along with reporting your debit card stolen, you can request that your bank freeze your checking account, so if you had checks in your wallet, the purchases would not be approved. You’ll also want to close your account and get a new one with another account number.

2. Contact Your Credit Card Issuers

After reporting your card as lost or stolen, the card issuer will cancel your credit card numbers and mail you new ones. Also, they will credit your account for fraudulent charges. When you cancel the cards, update your automatic recurring payments with your new card information.

If you’re not sure what cards were in your wallet, it may be wise to either cancel all of your credit cards, including retail cards, to avoid confusion and potential future fraud. Reviewing your credit report can ensure you’ve remembered all of your accounts.

3. File a Police Report

Filing a police report is an important step in safeguarding your identity if your wallet is lost or stolen. If you become a victim of fraud or identity theft, a police report can serve as evidence that you were a crime victim.

When you file a police report, be prepared to provide key details, including what was in your wallet, when, how, and where it was stolen or lost and any other details about the wallet.

Once you’ve completed the report, get the case number and keep a copy of the report for your records.

4. Keep a ‘Copy’ of Your Wallet Contents

As a general guide, it’s a good idea to make a copy of your wallet contents in case it’s lost or stolen. Medical identity theft is a growing crime, so if you had insurance cards in your wallet, be sure to contact your insurer to cancel your old card and get a replacement. If not, your card information could be at risk of someone using it to pay for their medical expenses.

5. Place a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Report

Monitoring your credit reports is an important part of protecting your identity. When you place a fraud alert on one of your credit reports, the other two major bureaus must be notified of your request.

If you want even more protection, you should freeze your credit to prevent lenders from issuing new credit in your name, which can impact your credit score in the long run.

6. Replace Your Driver’s License

Each state has its own rules for driver’s license replacement, so visit your state’s DMV website or office for details. Some states may request a police report number.

7. Report Your Social Security Number Stolen

Carrying your Social Security card in your wallet is a general no-no, but if it’s lost or stolen, you’ll need to contact the Social Security Administration so a new card can be issued. Keep in mind that you will not receive a new Social Security number (SSN), just a new card.