Welcome back to Green Smoothie!
A lot has changed in the last few years but our mission is still the same - to help you lead a better and healthier life ❤
We have had a few false starts but this time we are doing something a little differently and are here to stay!
When we sat down over the last few months to unpack exactly what our focus would be going forward we knew it wasn’t going to work if we just tried to do what we used to and not adapt to how the world has changed.
When Green Smoothie first started superfood mixes weren’t a thing but after pioneering the idea of single serve superfood mix sachets we’ve been seeing them online and in grocery stores everywhere and we don’t want to be just another product amongst the noise.
What we do want to do though is to make it easier to prioritise your health and wellness and we’ve decided the best way to do that is to help you carve out a little spot in your inbox amongst all the noise to learn and grow.
That's why every week we are going to write a note just for you that summarises the most important health and wellness content we can find from around the world to help make your life better and healthier.
Our goal is to hit an average reading time of ~3 minutes and provide you with a wealth of knowledge that you can use in your day to day life as well as provide you with daily affirmations and content that’ll uplift your week.
We look forward to bringing you on this journey as we bring wellness to your inbox.
Green Smoothie Team 💚
Hola!
We hope you enjoy our first edition of our weekly wellness summary - which should take 3:21 minutes to read.
Today’s food for thought:
🏃♂️ Exercise can effectively treat anxiety even when it is chronic.
😴 Getting to bed at 10pm linked to lower risk of heart disease.
🌽 If you can’t have gluten you might want to stop eating corn too.
🪑 A new app for Windows computers watches your posture.
✨ Daily Affirmation
💪 Pump it up: A study has shown that both moderate and strenuous exercise will alleviate symptoms of anxiety.
Summary:
Even before COVID-19 it was becoming clear that the prevalence of anxiety was on the rise. A recent study at the University of Gothenburg has found that undertaking moderate or strenuous exercise increased the chance of improvement of anxiety symptoms by a factor of 3.62-4.88.
Participants had 60-minute training sessions three times a week, including both cardio (aerobic) and strength training. A warmup was followed by circle training around 12 stations for 45 minutes, and sessions ended with cooldown and stretching.
What this means?
Whilst previous studies showed linkages between physical exercise and improvements in depression symptoms a clear picture of how people with anxiety are affected by exercise has been lacking up to now.
The ability to add a 12 week exercise program to treatment plans may alleviate the issues of standard treatments, such as long wait times and access issues for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and the common side effects of or lack of response to psychotropic drugs.
🛌 Sleepy time: Study participants that fell asleep at 10pm had a lower incidence of heart disease compared to early and late sleepers.
Summary:
In the study of over 88,000 participants of the UK Biobank researchers looked at the data of 3,172 specific participants who developed cardiovascular disease after the start of the study period.
Researchers explored the association between sleep times and other data points such as age, sex, smoking status, diabetes and sleep duration which indicated that those who went to sleep between 10pm and 10:59pm had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those that fell asleep earlier or later.
What this means?
An exact bed time is unable to be prescribed based on the study but it does point to the importance of sleep as a determinant of heart health rather than specific physiological factors.
This means that investing more time and energy into sleep hygiene is a worthwhile pursuit for those seeking to lead a healthier lifestyle.
🌽 Case against corn: Corn contains a type of protein that triggers an immune response similar to gluten.
Summary:
Whilst often used as an alternative for some gluten products corn actually contains a type of protein called zein that has been linked to gastrointestinal inflammation in patients with celiac disease.
What this means?
If you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance try staying away from corn to see if this helps alleviate lingering symptoms you might have.
💻 Sit up: New Windows application allows your computer to track and help improve your posture
Summary:
Sedentary lifestyles are known to cause a higher risk of premature death but even if you are active, sitting for long periods in the wrong way can affect your health.
SitYEA is a new application that is able to be installed on Windows 10 and linux devices that will use your webcam to alert you when your posture needs correcting or you need a break from sitting - and will even recommend exercises to do.
What this means?
With a shift to remote work the ability for organisations to ensure correct ergonomic workstation setup has been reduced so tools like this help people to take control of their own health.
SitYEA is a simple way to keep track of your software without the need for additional hardware devices. Importantly, moving just 2 minutes every hour can decrease the risk of premature death by 33%.
That’s it for this week!
Have feedback? Want to see more types of content? Hit reply
Green Smoothie Team 💚
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