Our bodies and brains are integrated systems. In the Back to Basics blog series, Sheila Ohlsson Walker, Ph.D. illuminates how and why a handful of synergistic, simple, and scientifically grounded lifestyle choices offer protection from the novel coronavirus and fortify mental and physical health for life. Follow Dr. Ohlsson Walker on Twitter.
Built-in habits and mindsets that foster health, resilience and creativity Crises, while extraordinarily disruptive, also present opportunities for growth, agency, and transformation. While COVID-19 has uprooted our sense of stability, distanced us… Read More »Mother Nature’s Oxygen Mask: Reduce Stress and Boost Health
How envisioning goals can transform aspiration to reality. “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic within it.” —Goethe Science tells us that by linking… Read More »Visualize Success: Start With Your Now to Create Your Future
Why high-quality relationships are as important as food and water. In 1938, in the middle of the Great Depression, one of the longest-running studies examining adult life began at Harvard University. Some 80… Read More »Stay Close to People Who Feel Like Sunlight
Start with self-care to optimize the gift of time with those you love. We social animals operate not in isolation but in the context of relationships with others—where emotions are contagious. Hunkered down during… Read More »Reaching for Quality Time
Stronger together: How being a light to others cultivates health & joy for all. Stronger together than apart is a phenomenon called collective efficacy. Look no further than the extraordinary altruism in support of our country’s health… Read More »The Neurobiology of Service: How 1+1 Can Equal 3
How gratitude catalyzes “upward spiral” biochemistry that boosts mood and health Grappling with the horrors of global racial injustice in the midst of the COVID-19 quarantine, we are living a paradox. What we… Read More »Setting Gratitude as Your Magnetic North
How meditation helps us be our own first responders. “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” —… Read More »Meditation Is a Medically Proven Antidote to Chronic Stress
How smart nutritional choices can supercharge the immune system. Long before we knew that chicken soup contained anti-inflammatory properties, we’ve understood intuitively that certain foods are healing and play an essential role in… Read More »Use Your Fork Wisely to Clean Up Your Immune System
To boost mood, mental wellness and physical health, make sure to get your zzz’s! Although our brains comprise only 2 percent of our overall body weight, they consume roughly 20 percent of our… Read More »Why Sleep Is the Clean-Up Crew for Your Brain
It’s time to put science into action. How do we take the extraordinarily powerful, scientifically grounded lifestyle choices we’ve learned about over the past nine weeks and set them into motion, optimizing… Read More »Visualize Success – Start with Your Now to Create Your Future