Health
Happier and healthier people do these 6 things every day, says wellness expert
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The goal for most people is to live a long and happy life.
There are several habits that happy and healthy people observe as they age, according to behavioral scientist and happiness expert Arthur Brooks, professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School in Boston.
In a recent appearance on Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s FoundMyFitness podcast, Brooks referenced data from the Harvard Study of Adult Development – an 85-year longitudinal study of adult life – which identified six typical habits of people who are happier and healthier.
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While the first three habits are “obvious,” Brooks said, the other three are often overlooked.
No. 1: Follow a healthy diet
Research shows that a nutritious, balanced diet supports both physical health and mental well-being over time.
No. 2: Exercise frequently
For exercise, Brooks noted that doing too much can backfire. Those who are “exercise maniacs” could run the risk of doing “mechanical ill” to the body, he warned.
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No. 3: Abstain from smoking and drinking
“They’re very moderate on substances, none of them were addicts,” Brooks said. “Or if they had trouble with it, they quit.”
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“Lifelong smokers have a seven in 10 chance of dying of a smoking-related illness – and that’s an unhappy way to go.”
“And actually, you’re probably not happy and there’s a lot of compensation that’s going on,” he continued. “That’s how a lot of former alcoholics re-sample: They become addicted.”
Balanced exercise is a strong, foundation habit for health and happiness. (iStock)
No. 4: Never stop learning
People who are lifelong learners tend to be healthier and happier, according to the expert.
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“That’s usually a lot of reading, but it’s just curiosity is how that comes about, which is really, really important,” he said on the podcast.
Lifelong learning can boost happiness and overall health, according to the expert. (iStock)
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No. 5: Become a skilled problem-solver
Brooks described this concept as “your technique for dealing with life’s problems.”
“You’ve got to get good at it,” he said. “You need skill at dealing with life’s problems. If you don’t get good at it, you’re going to be bad when things actually crop up.”
People who have the best lives have a strong marriage and/or close friendships, Brooks said. (iStock)
“All the happy and well people have their way [of dealing] with it, and they’re highly skilled in doing it.”
Some healthy ways to cope include therapy, meditation, prayer and journaling, according to Brooks.
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No. 6: Love
“People who have the best lives, who are happy and well when they’re older, have a strong marriage and/or close friendships,” Brooks said.
“That’s it. There’s no substitute for love. Happiness is love – full stop.”
Health
LeAnn Rimes’ emotional reaction to jaw release therapy sparks widespread buzz
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Singer LeAnn Rimes has gone viral for her reaction while receiving jaw release therapy.
In a session with Garry Lineham, co-founder of Human Garage in California — a resource for self-healing practices — Rimes received an intra-oral massage, releasing the tension in her jaw. She seemed to instantly feel relief, sobbing on the table.
Jaw release therapy, which involves the massaging or stretching of muscles in the face, is popular for relieving TMJ pain, headaches and jaw clicking, according to experts.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Lineham shared that stress has an immense impact on human health, especially on muscle tension and pain.
“We hold emotions in our body,” he said. “Emotions cause a sympathetic response or a stress response in the body.”
“When you release the jaw, instantaneously you come out of that fight or flight mode,” Lineham said. (iStock)
“Stress is one thing that impacts every disease, whether it’s emotional or physical, whether it is genetic,” he went on. “Stress is the thing that makes genetics pop. If you take away stress, those genetic markers no longer express themselves.”
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Clenching the jaw can create stress, which happens naturally with physical and emotional exertion, according to Lineham.
“If you clench your jaw and hold it there for three to five minutes … you’ll actually fire adrenaline and norepinephrine (hormones and neurotransmitters),” he said.
This sends a message to the body that you’re bracing for an “attack,” releasing hormones like stress, Lineham added.
“When you release the jaw, then instantaneously you come out of fight or flight mode.”
How jaw release works
Jaw release therapy targets the fascia, or the connective tissue that supports the body’s muscles, organs and joints. Stretching the fascia also allows the muscle to stretch, providing relief, Lineham said.
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“When you release the jaw, then instantaneously you come out of that fight or flight mode,” he said. “And if you’ve been there for a long time, like most people have, it instantaneously shocks the nervous system in a good way.”
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Dr. Justin Richer, oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Riverside Oral Surgery in New Jersey, shared the benefits and risks of jaw release treatment with Fox News Digital.
Jaw release therapy can help with facial pain and muscle tightness. (iStock)
Certain muscles in the body, such as the shoulder or back, can tense up and “overreact to problems that are going on within them,” said the doctor, who did not treat Rimes.
“Jaw release is almost like a massage or similar technique, to put pressure on the muscles and let the tension that’s built up just kind of relax away,” he said. “It’s not something that a lot of people do.”
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The procedure is most beneficial for those with symptoms of TMJ, facial and muscle pain, and tightness, according to Richer.
Some physical therapists and massage therapists offer this treatment, but Richer recommends seeking help from an oral-facial pain specialist or surgeon who “really understands the anatomy of the jaw joint.”
Dr. Richer recommends seeing an oral surgeon or specialist before seeking the procedure. (iStock)
“If it’s done properly, there’s very minimal risk,” he said. “What we get concerned about is undue manipulation of the joint, so either cracking or distorting or trying to forcefully move the joint . . . that can actually cause undue harm from an orthopedic perspective.”
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Despite the benefits, Richer stressed that this kind of therapy may be a temporary fix, as it could be treating only the symptoms of an underlying problem.
“Get a diagnosis first before you go ahead and start manipulating things,” he advised.
Health
Study reveals one simple eating habit that may help boost weight loss
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Losing weight might be as simple as sticking to the meals you know, a new study found.
People who ate the same meals more often lost more weight during a 12-week weight-loss program, according to a new study published in Health Psychology.
“Maintaining a healthy diet in today’s food environment requires constant effort and self-control,” lead author Charlotte Hagerman of the Oregon Research Institute said in a statement.
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“Creating routines around eating may reduce that burden and make healthy choices feel more automatic.”
Experts say maintaining muscle after 50 may require more protein than the minimum federal guideline. (iStock)
Hagerman and fellow researchers from Drexel University and the Oregon Research Institute analyzed food logs from 112 adults who were overweight or obese who tracked their meals in an app and weighed themselves daily, according to the study.
The researchers measured “routinized” eating in two main ways —how much participants’ daily calorie intake fluctuated and how often they repeated the same meals and snacks over time, according to the paper.
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Those whose diets included more repeated foods lost an average of 5.9% of their body weight compared to 4.3% for those whose eating patterns were more varied, according to a press release from the American Psychological Association.
A man shows how much weight he has lost by holding out the waist of his jeans, symbolizing his successful diet. (iStock)
People who kept their daily calorie intake more consistent also lost more weight, according to the researchers.
Liza Baker, a Vermont-based nutrition expert and founder of Simply: Health Coaching, said the findings line up with what she has seen firsthand in more than a decade of working with clients.
“Removing the mental load of ‘What’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner?’ can make the wellness journey much more sustainable,” Baker told Fox News Digital.
A breakfast of oatmeal porridge with summer berries. (iStock)
She said repeat meals can reduce decision fatigue and make it easier for people to stick to healthier habits, especially when they are packing lunches, cooking at home and following a simple routine.
Baker said people do not necessarily have to repeat every meal to see benefits.
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“One can start by eating one meal that is repetitive, usually breakfast or lunch,” she said. “As results start to show, it’s then more conducive to increasing to two to three repetitive meals a day.”
At the same time, experts cautioned that the findings do not prove cause and effect. The study was observational, meaning it found an association between routine eating and greater weight loss but could not show that repetition alone caused the better results, according to the researchers.
Consistency — not variety — may be key when it comes to weight loss, researchers found. (iStock)
Baker also warned that repeat meal plans can backfire if they are not nutritionally balanced or if they trigger perfectionism.
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“Unless someone is well-versed in nutrition, setting up a repeat meal plan can quickly become a nutritional nightmare that leads to becoming deficient in one or more nutrients,” she said.
The study authors similarly noted that too little variety could come with trade-offs. Future research is needed to determine whether a more repetitive diet should be actively recommended as a weight-loss strategy, they said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the study’s authors for comment.
Health
Prayer for Weight Loss Works: How Faith Can Help You Shed Weight Faster
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