A fascinating book that I read recently was The Status Game by Will Storr. I have enjoyed reading a few of his prior books too, including Selfie and The Science of Storytelling. In it, Storr says that it is impossible to not be part of some hierarchies. In other words, we can’t go through lifeContinue reading “Are You Playing the Right Games in Your Life?”
Category Archives: health & wellness
What Are the Secrets to Living Longer?
During my summer holidays, I read an interesting book called The Blue Zones: 9 lessons for living longer from the people who’ve lived the longest by Dan Buettner. Buettner travelled to five geographical areas around the world where people lived healthy lives for the longest time. These five areas included Sardinia in Italy, Okinawa inContinue reading “What Are the Secrets to Living Longer?”
Five Lessons I Learned After Being Fired
When I was 18, I graduated from high school in Virginia in mid-2004. After a fantastic road trip across the USA, I returned to Australia and needed to find some work until I could attend University in February 2005. My first job after I returned was walking around and doorknocking at people’s houses, trying toContinue reading “Five Lessons I Learned After Being Fired”
Which Activities Make Us the Happiest?
The app Mappiness pings people twice a day and asks them what they have just been doing, who they are with, and where they are. It can also tell what the temperature and weather are. It then asks people three questions: People can answer anywhere on a scale from “not at all” at one endContinue reading “Which Activities Make Us the Happiest?”
What difference can hearing difficulties make in your life, and can improving them help you to live a better quality of life?
I recently interviewed my brother, Kurt Ashworth, who is an Audiologist in Ballarat, Australia. Here are his answers to some of the main questions I asked him: 1. What does an audiologist do? Audiologists are communication experts. We specialise in testing and diagnosing hearing loss and can also specialise in testing balance function. Audiologists canContinue reading “What difference can hearing difficulties make in your life, and can improving them help you to live a better quality of life?”
Exercise is Not Essential for Weight Loss. It is Vital for Your Health
Alongside nutrition and sleep, exercise is one of the three pillars of our health. Before coming up with a realistic and sustainable plan, let’s see what types of exercise are most recommended and how much we should try to do each day or each week. Walking – is there anything to the 10,000 steps recommendation?Continue reading “Exercise is Not Essential for Weight Loss. It is Vital for Your Health”
Is Your Screen Time Eating Up Your Free Time?
How Did We Get Here? In the classic Sociology book ‘Bowling Alone’, Robert Putnam argues that social capital (reciprocal connections among people) has been in a steady decline ever since its peak in 1964. By 2000, the average American was 58% less likely to attend a club meeting than an individual only 25 years earlier.Continue reading “Is Your Screen Time Eating Up Your Free Time?”
Why Do We Not Celebrate the Positives?
Recently, an article released in The Age newspaper was titled “Dip in thefts, drugs and family violence but police say drop in crime may not last”. In 2021, the number of recorded offences in Victoria, Australia, dropped by 12.6% over the previous year. As a result, the police recorded 70,000 fewer offences. It was theContinue reading “Why Do We Not Celebrate the Positives?”
Are You Looking After Both of Your Selves?
Imagine that you could go on a holiday to anywhere that you want to go in the world. However, you couldn’t take any pictures or tell anyone what you got up to while you were away or afterwards? Furthermore, you can only experience the holiday while away and feel all the emotions you do inContinue reading “Are You Looking After Both of Your Selves?”
A Stroke of Insight
Back on the 2nd of January, 2021, I suffered a stroke. I was in the sauna at the time, and I felt something “go wrong” in my brain. All of a sudden, I experienced severe balance issues and felt nauseous. I hopped out of the sauna and went outside to lie down, but it didn’tContinue reading “A Stroke of Insight”