One of the challenges that has been top of mind to us as we build this browser-based AI-driven product is how to make it as effective as possible as it provides information and advice to users.
The mistake public health officials, the media, employers, educators, and many other leaders have repeatedly made is to assume that their job ends when they convey information about how we should act to maximize health.
We know from our personal and social experiences that even when family, friends, and other social influences are urging us to do the right thing, we fail to do so.
]]>Over the last few blogs, we have talked about unhealthy food additives and preservatives, excessive food consumption because some of these additives, like added sugar, sodium and fats, are designed to be addictive and succeed in doing so.
We are going to take what, at first glance, will seem to be a detour, but is a powerful opportunity to use AI as a thought partner in helping manage our eating and drinking habits.
Although all of us intuitively would understand this, research scientists Dr. Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler published a book whose theme is described in its title: Connections: The Surprising Power of Social Networks and How They Change Our Lives in 2010.
They summarized and analyzed extensive research on the social influences on our health, particularly what and how much we eat. People who are overweight or obese will tend to associate with others who are also overweight or obese.
They patronize the same restaurants or cafes, shop in the same parts of stores, are mostly likely to go to movie theaters and consume the biggest popcorn bucket or 40-ounce sugary soda.
]]>As Americans, we are in a never-ending battle with those who try to make us dependent on and addicted to unhealthy foods and beverages. Last week, we discussed a small step to gain better control over our dietary habits: cutting back on unhealthy toppings, sauces, and dressings.
Today, we propose a completely different small step to help reduce unhealthy food and beverage consumption at the margins.
Unhealthy foods and beverages are more ubiquitous than ever. They are now available in places that didn’t carry them just a few decades ago—sporting goods stores, office supply stores, retail clothing stores, and even public libraries.
Fast food outlets like Starbucks have also realized their biggest unrealized revenue opportunity is to expand their drive-through and takeout services. That shift surprised me, particularly because Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ founder, modeled his stores on Italian cafes that served as “third places” for people to socialize, work, and engage in reading and writing.
Over the last 25 years, Starbucks—like many fast food outlets—became a quick stop, often a place where food and beverages are picked up en route to work, rather than a “third place” where customers linger for an hour or more.
What this means is that we need to build enjoyable and sustainable routines that wean us from unhealthy foods and beverages. We are most likely to eat when:
Driving
Sitting at a table or office desk
Lounging at home
Attending long, boring meetings with snacks provided
Everyone has a favorite activity that can replace sitting and eating. In my case, it’s listening to audiobooks. For others, it might be listening to music while walking, visiting a museum or art gallery, or hiking with a friend.
Social activity can either help or hurt our efforts to move away from unhealthy eating and drinking. One of the most important steps in redesigning daily routines is to assess how friends and family influence our habits.
My mom used to send us outside to play, especially since we lived next to a playground until I was 10 years old. At our summer cottage, we had a badminton net on the front lawn, which we used extensively.
When raising our own children, we lived in a private 20-home association where they could play safely outside. We’re grateful to our former next-door neighbors, whose daughter played highly competitive games of croquet with our children.
In contrast, some of my cousins lived in homes where their moms were constantly preparing food and putting it out between meals. When we entered their homes, eating felt inevitable—we felt we had to participate.
Some of our friends encourage physical activities that keep us away from food—pickleball, tennis, golf, long walks with dogs, impromptu hikes, and museum visits. Participating in charity sporting events, environmental cleanups, or helping someone who can't get out to run errands are all meaningful ways to stay active and engaged without snacking.
But we all have friends who steer us toward more sedentary, food-centered activities. My wife, for example, has friends who love to play bridge for 3–4 hours a day (my personal limit is one hour). Others invite us to buffets at their clubs, where the temptation to overeat is difficult to resist.
To replace an unhealthy process with a healthy one, we almost always need to assess two things:
How we allocate our time
With whom we spend our social time
With awareness and intention, we can choose to gradually phase out mindless eating habits and replace them with healthier, more fulfilling alternatives.
]]>Far more of us know what we have to do to be healthy than actually live healthy lives. Does that mean we lack the strength of will, discipline, or character needed to be healthy?
Fortunately, that is not why we fall short. Professor Wendy Wood of the University of Southern California presented voluminous research in her book Good Habits, Bad Habits, offering a different perspective. People who succeed in living healthier lives focus on incorporating healthy habits—not on mustering more willpower. They organize their lives in ways that make healthy actions easy and automatic.
In recent blog posts, we’ve discussed the health risks of food and beverage additives, especially added sugars, sodium, and fats that trigger cravings. The most effective way to address this is by kicking the habit of buying and consuming ultra-processed foods.
To change this habit, keep the following in mind:
Understand your behavior. Replace unhealthy routines with healthy alternatives that are equally convenient, appealing, and affordable.
Focus on one habit at a time. Quick wins build confidence. Trying to change everything at once is often a recipe for failure.
Be prepared for peer pressure. When others notice your change in behavior, have a ready response to end the discomfort and stay on track.
We often think of ultra-processed foods as packaged snacks like chips. But many items cooked or baked for us—especially at restaurants—are loaded with processed ingredients.
Take pizza: while you could prepare one at home or enjoy an artisan version with fresh ingredients, what you’re more likely to get from a fast-food chain includes:
Refined white flour crust
Pre-shredded cheese with anti-caking agents and preservatives
Commercial sauces high in added sugars and sodium
Processed meats like pepperoni, sausage, or bacon
Additives like emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, and preservatives
Even salads can be deceptive. A Caesar salad made with fresh lettuce, celery, carrots, and radishes may seem healthy—until it’s topped with croutons, ranch dressing, and processed cheese. These additions drastically increase calorie content and introduce ultra-processed ingredients.
Similarly, Americans often top a lean piece of beef with a sauce labeled Bearnaise, which in its traditional French form contains egg yolks, shallots, clarified butter, and white wine vinegar. In the U.S., we’re more likely consuming a sauce made with stabilizers, preservatives, and hydrogenated oils—ingredients designed to make us crave more.
A good place to start reversing these behaviors is by paying closer attention to the toppings and sauces offered at restaurants, particularly fast-food ones.
A little vinegar and oil with spicy condiments makes a tasty, healthier alternative to heavy dressings. Lemon juice can replace ranch dressing. Nuts and seeds can take the place of croutons, offering both crunch and flavor without the additives.
These small adjustments can reduce calorie intake by 250–300 calories per meal.
Spices are also helpful substitutes. For example, cinnamon is a great way to flavor fruit or oatmeal without added sugar. I routinely add cinnamon to fruit instead of sugar, and it works well on plain oatmeal too.
These small steps may seem minor, but the math is compelling. If you eat a Caesar salad three times per week and make these changes, you could reduce your calorie intake by 750 calories each week. Over a year, that adds up to a 10-pound weight loss—without changing anything else.
These small, manageable steps are a great start on the path to healthier living. As we’ll explore in future blog posts, consistently taking small actions like these is surprisingly effective in supporting weight management and improving overall health.
We've talked about why we should pay attention to the harmful effects of additives and preservatives. But what exactly makes them so dangerous? And if they're truly harmful, why isn't our government protecting us?
Additives and preservatives are harmful because they work together to flood our bodies with chemicals that hijack our natural systems. Food companies — from manufacturers to restaurants to convenience stores — have one goal: get us to buy and consume more of their products.
The most powerful weapons in their arsenal are three simple additives: sugar, sodium, and fat. These ingredients trigger our brains to release dopamine, the same neurotransmitter linked to pleasure and reward that makes drugs and gambling addictive.
When foods combine all three — sugar, salt, and fat — they create a hyper-stimulating effect on the brain. Over time, our brains become conditioned to crave these foods. We literally become addicted.
]]>As we prepare to launch our innovative browser-based tool designed to alert you about harmful food additives and preservatives, it's important to first understand why these substances are so prevalent in today's food supply. Producers, retailers, restaurants, and bakeries all incorporate additives into their products—but why?
A century ago, shopping for food was a daily activity, driven largely by seasonal availability. Advances like frozen vegetables were groundbreaking during my childhood, allowing food choices to become less seasonal. Today, this innovation has significantly expanded—but it has also introduced a range of artificial additives and preservatives to our diets.
Food producers use additives for several reasons:
Preservation and Shelf Life: Additives prevent spoilage caused by bacteria, mold, and oxidation. Without them, food would need more frequent replenishment, increasing costs and reducing supermarket shelf space.
Visual Appeal: Artificial colors make foods appear fresh, vibrant, and consistently appealing, capitalizing on consumer preferences.
]]>Many of us know about obvious food allergies and intolerances - peanuts, shellfish, the lactose intolerance I discovered on my honeymoon. But what about the hidden dietary triggers behind your chronic headaches, seasonal allergies, or heart palpitations?
Beyond these obvious food issues, there are broader, less obvious connections with commonly-occurring medical conditions. AI large language models cannot replace licensed healthcare professionals, but they can be an extremely useful complementary tool to help zero in on root causes that healthcare professionals are unlikely to uncover.
Here's the reality: Medicare and commercial insurance pay healthcare providers to diagnose and treat diseases, not to identify root causes. AI can scan a broader landscape of food triggers faster and more reliably than time-constrained clinicians.
The Racing Heart Mystery
Twice in my 20s in Chicago, and again at age 61 in Connecticut, my heartbeat spontaneously sped up to 180 beats per minute while at rest. Cardiologists diagnosed "spontaneous SVT of unknown origin" and prescribed Inderal.
In May 2010, another SVT episode sent me to Dr. Edward Schuster of the Stamford Health System. He didn't seem alarmed and said he thought he knew what was happening. When I arrived, he asked two simple questions:
Did you take a Sudafed decongestant pill today?
How many cups of coffee did you drink today?
I had taken Sudafed for severe spring hay fever and had unusually high coffee consumption because a restaurant server kept refilling my cup.
I gave up decongestants and strictly controlled caffeine. Dr. Schuster commented that I had just passed a free stress test with flying colors. The combination may have triggered all my episodes.
The Wine Connection
In 2004, two glasses of California white wine at a Los Angeles restaurant left me with excruciating abdominal pain for two days. Multiple specialists, countless tests—no answers.
Three years later, my sister mentioned she'd stopped drinking white wine for the same reason. Her doctor identified sensitivity to the sulfites used as wine preservatives. Sulfite sensitivity is linked to abdominal pain and many other symptoms. A simple connection that could have saved me years of wondering.
The Sugar-Allergy Link
I've had seasonal allergies since childhood. Antihistamine sprays, decongestants, allergy shots, and even deviated septum surgery at age 38—nothing worked.
In June 2019, Dr. Thomas Brunoski recommended changing my diet to reduce a high A1c level. He prescribed something resembling the Atkins diet: heavy on protein, low on sugar and simple carbohydrates.
By April 2020, I had lost 25 pounds and my A1c dropped to normal. But I also noticed something unexpected: my brutal spring allergies had virtually disappeared. My daughter Katie connected the dots—added sugars increased inflammatory reactions that had accentuated my allergic predisposition.
When I query AI large language models about dietary connections, they reveal links between food practices and medical issues that don't appear food-related—musculoskeletal pain, headaches, seasonal allergies, respiratory infections.
Added sugars, food and beverage preservatives like sulfites, processed foods, and sodium in packaged foods can trigger or worsen a wide range of conditions. The recent FDA reversal on Red Dye #3 being "generally regarded as safe" shows how food additives can even trigger childhood hyperactivity.
Healthcare providers have 15-minute appointments and insurance pressures. AI can provide a much larger checklist of possible root causes that providers may not have time to identify.
Recent research reveals connections we didn't know five years ago. For example, people with diets high in ultra-processed foods or added sugars were more at risk of COVID hospitalization. A 2022 UK Biobank study entitled "Consumption of ultra-processed foods increases risk of COVID-19" is one of many suggesting this link.
Our MoveFlux business is developing a browser-based solution to help patients with this root cause analysis. We're building tools that don't replace doctors, but arm both patients and providers with better data for more targeted treatment.
Imagine walking into your next appointment not just with symptoms, but with AI-identified patterns linking your migraines to specific preservatives, or your joint pain to particular food combinations.
We can experiment with dietary changes to isolate root causes tailored to our individual metabolism. Healthcare professionals we consult also need the best available information to diagnose and treat whatever issues we present.
Drawing these links could transform how we think about our health and the partnerships we establish with our healthcare providers. That's personalized medicine powered by data—and it's what we're building now.
In the mid 2000s, as Pitney Bowes’ CEO, I embarked on an initiative to improve how our employees ate when at work or when commuting to and from work. I was influenced by research summarized by Prof. Brian Wansick, then at Cornell, in a book called Mindless Eating. His research demonstrated that much of our excess food and beverage consumption was driven by environmental factors unrelated to our craving for food.
That made complete sense to me for several reasons:
Grocery retailers charge consumer packaged goods companies far more for placement of foods and beverages at certain places in the store. They specifically recognized that if a food or beverage item was on a shelf between an adult’s waist and eye level, it was far more likely to be purchased. Retailers initiated “shelf placement fees” to capture additional revenue. In retail grocery stores, candy and junk food at the checkout counter are both highly profitable and easily accessible. It was often an impulse purchase, especially for parents with impatient children. Think of these fees as the equivalent of a first class airplane seat.
]]>Dr. Patrick Leahy isn’t just leading a university. He’s keeping something sacred alive.
At Monmouth, through the Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, he’s helping us hold on to the sounds that shape who we are. This isn’t just about records in boxes. It’s about the music that lives in our bones.
Think about when John Fogerty sings “Put me in, coach!” in Centerfield. It hits something deeper than the ears. It taps into our collective consciousness. The part of us that remembers backyard games, big dreams, and second chances. That’s the power Dr. Leahy is helping preserve.
Abir, chairman of MakeUsWell, has gotten to know Dr. Leahy over time. He speaks of him with respect—as a brilliant mind and a pragmatic builder. Someone who sees the long game, but never loses the human note.
Under Dr. Leahy’s watch, Monmouth has become more than a school. It’s a place where music, history, and identity are treated with care. A place where the soul of American sound is archived, explored, and honored.
At MakeUsWell, we believe in what brings people together. Sometimes it’s health. Sometimes it’s data. And sometimes—it’s a song that makes you remember who you are.
That’s what Dr. Leahy is keeping alive. And we’re all better for it.
Last year, Dr. Gary Welch and Colleen McGuire of Silver Fern Healthcare joined our MakeUsWell Network. Their tag line is “Human Understanding Unlocked.” Their business is focused on addressing a fundamental issue we must address if we are to have viable healthcare and health insurance systems and to have global competitiveness across a variety of fronts.
The United States throws more money at health and healthcare than any other nation in the world, and achieves horrible outcomes. We have the same pathology in our public education system as well, but this blog will just focus on the issue of health improvement.
When I was growing up, the way we thought about health was that we “got sick” through no fault of our own, either because of an infectious disease like pneumonia or a gastrointestinal condition from eating contaminated food. One of my grandmothers had diabetes and had one leg amputated below the knee, but I did not understand what caused it. At the time, we thought about diseases and illnesses as conditions that happened to us and over which we had little or no control.
There were exceptions. We knew about alcoholism, drug addiction, and lung diseases from excessive smoking. I had uncles, aunts and cousins who had alcohol dependency or died of lung cancer. But we did not focus on obesity or the metabolic disorders to which it contributed. Hypertension, coronary artery disease, Type 2 diabetes, and cancers of our gastro-intestinal tract were not as common as they are today.
]]>Zoonotic diseases are infections transmitted from animals to humans. These diseases pose a significant global health threat, as evidenced by past outbreaks such as the Ebola virus, SARS, and bird flu outbreaks. With rapid globalization and increased human-animal interactions affecting disease transmission patterns, innovative solutions to detect and prevent zoonotic diseases are urgently needed.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool that can help monitor, predict, and mitigate the spread of zoonotic infections through advanced data analytics, machine learning, and automation. AI can be leveraged in the early detection, monitoring, and prevention of zoonotic disease transmission.
One critical aspect of controlling zoonotic diseases is early detection. AI plays a pivotal role in analyzing vast amounts of data to identify patterns and predict potential outbreaks before they escalate. Several approaches illustrate how AI contributes to early detection:
]]>At MakeUsWell, we strive to educate users on how to improve their ability to self-manage their health and more intelligently partner with health professionals. We emphasize partnering with knowledgeable professionals, not replacing them.
Artificial intelligence can help us manage our health, when we assess food additives, over-the-counter medications, supplements, and adverse interactions among them. We inevitably have to address how to evaluate the underlying research.
Identifying peer-reviewed research from authoritative sources in reputable journals is not enough. Research can fail at several levels—even with the elaborate peer review processes.
]]>Today, we are discussing one big health management issue. As consumers of foods, beverages, over-the-counter medications, and a wide range of supplements, how can AI aid in the process of ensuring that we are putting the right things into our bodies at the right time and in the right ways?
The first priority is to make sure that, whether we are using human intelligence, AI, or a combination of both, we are using authoritative sources. Any AI platform focused on health-related advice also has to be based firmly on authoritative, unassailable sources. Uncontrolled use of, or faith in, AI can easily lead users to sources with credible, but wrong or unsupported, information. Researchers are held to a high standard in peer-reviewed articles. AI’s output must draw on the same sources and be held to the same standards as humans.
]]>Over the past month, the MakeUsWell Network has welcomed Dr. Garry Welch and Colleen McGuire, a married couple who have formed a company called Silver Fern Healthcare. Silver Fern’s mission is to use the best available evidence to identify the psychological and sociological factors that prevent patients from effectively managing their chronic diseases.
They have particularly focused more recently in addressing the root cause of many chronic diseases, the obesity crisis. Obesity not only contributes to chronic diseases, but, as research has demonstrated, it made those with the SARS Cov-2 virus more likely to be hospitalized or die. The inflammation caused by obesity has also been linked to cancer by the CDC because of the faster cell growth required to compensate for insulin resistance.
]]>Recently, I was honored to meet an exceptionally inspirational person, Jennifer Dickenson. Jennifer is part of a very select group, individuals who have defied the odds and survived a stage 4 metastatic cancer. In 2011, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a brain cancer that few people survive for one year and almost none survive five years. She wrote a book that is both inspirational and broadly insightful about what she believes accounts for her success.
She refused to accept the medical consensus that she would die and should “put her affairs in order.” Her logic was simple: if even a few people survive a stage 4 cancer, she wanted to try as much as possible what might work to give her a chance to be an outlier as a long-term survivor. We invited her to join the MakeUsWell Network and give all of you the opportunity to get to know her better. You may be inspired to buy her book, "the Case For Hope," available on Amazon.com.
]]>This article embarks on an exploration of the intricate relationship between leadership, the COVID-19 crisis, and the burgeoning influence of AI
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the emergence of AI, it's evident that our traditional leadership approaches have fallen short.
Over the past four years, governmental responses to the pandemic have often exacerbated the crisis rather than mitigating it. Similarly, in grappling with the potential impacts of AI, we risk repeating the same mistakes due to outdated leadership behaviors.
]]>Hi MakeUsWell Community,
When I started MakeUsWell, my specific initial goal was to help us and the U.S. heal and recover from the pandemic.
Today we are at an inflection point with the two letter acronym, A.I.
I wholeheartedly believe in the power of A.I. to make us well, and to accelerate American society’s overall goodness and greatness.
The only way to get there is through a pragmatic, non-partisan, and rational approach to A.I. We must concurrently consider A.I.’s human factors dispassionately. And with honesty and intellectual rigor.
With that focus in mind, we are introducing Raghavan Muthuregunathan, who is joining our MakeUsWell Network.
]]>Multiple events remind us about the fragility of peace and safe travels, the risks in our economic environment, and the chronic concerns about extreme weather events during summer months. These combinations create multiple sources of stress.
On top of all these events, which are reported endlessly because they draw in and retain readers or viewers, is the perceived risk that artificial intelligence will cause many jobs perceived as secure to become obsolete.
]]>We live in an era of excessive fear. Economic challenges, political divisions, and an obsessive media focus on everything that could possibly go wrong, are contributing to this. The pandemic, moreover, amplified this environment of fear.
Chronic fear, in particular, is extremely unhealthy.The research on its physical and mental health effects are undisputed and well-documented.
Fear weakens our immune system.
It leads to accelerated aging.
It can cause damage to certain parts of the brain and make us even more fearful.
It triggers fatigue, clinical depression, and PTSD.
]]>MakeUsWell Network’s founders feared that the single-minded focus on virus containment would cause all other necessary health improvement initiatives to be delayed or abandoned.
Americans have more healthcare, wellness programs, and medications available than ever, and a reasonably good health improvement blueprint on how to improve health. For many life-threatening conditions like cancer, we have the world’s best care.
But our results are terrible. Our life expectancy has dropped back to 1996 levels. Why?
Americans always underutilize preventive care, fail to manage chronic diseases, and delay treatment for more acute conditions. The pandemic made overall health worse.
Self-insured employers spend significant money for healthcare and wellness programs, but do not realize their intended benefits. Timely usage of available programs is disappointing.
]]>We created the MakeUsWell Network three years ago because we are deeply committed to critical thinking. We want to follow the facts wherever they may lead us.
One tragic consequence of the pandemic has been the abandonment of scientific principles by authority figures. We cannot let inconvenient or negative consequences from following scientific research divert us from getting the facts.
Three years ago, when President Trump called Covid-19 the "China virus," he was widely criticized for the xenophobic implications of the label. His careless and inflammatory language was especially concerning coming from the President of the United States.
]]>Katie Critelli writes about health and wellness, with a focus on healing and re-framing the experience of chronic illness. She is also a Product Manager at BetterDoc, a company that helps patients with complex conditions find the right doctors, and is studying nutritional therapy through the NTA program. In her free time, Katie enjoys music, exercise, and exploring her new home of Berlin, Germany.
Over the past five years of healing chronic Lyme disease and arthritis, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that managing and overcoming chronic health challenges requires a massive mindset shift. It’s not possible to emerge healthy and stronger from the experience with the same beliefs and approaches to life you started with.
In recent years, advances in technology and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a significant increase in remote work, also known as telecommuting or working from home. While many may assume that working “in the comfort of home” is healthier and more conducive to wellbeing, this assumption is flawed for at least three reasons.
Most homes are not set up with a focus on creating an environment for office work. Lacking the ergonomic setup available in an office setting can lead to poor posture, strain on the back, and an increase in musculoskeletal issues for workers.
Additionally, remote workers may not have the opportunity to move around and stretch as much as they would in an office setting. This can lead to muscle tension and stiffness, which can also contribute to back pain.
]]>Don Jones is a renowned retail executive and advisor with nearly five decades of experience and achievement in the fashion, consumer products, food service, management and entertainment industries.
Don also serves on the Board of Trustees at Felician University and the boards of several public and private companies, including the New York City Investment Fund and the Trinity High School Foundation. He is the recipient of the Massachusetts Black Achiever Award and the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association Retailer of the Year, among many other accolades.
I am the poster child for the American dream… creating a great life for myself, my lovely wife, and our five children.
Raised by a single mother, along with his seven siblings, Don’s Kentucky origins are humble. In 1969, at the age of thirteen, he began working as a janitor at Fischer’s Men’s Shoes in Louisville. From there, he rose through the ranks of retailers such as Macy’s, Marshall Fields, IKEA, GAP, and Target to serve in chief executive positions in nearly a dozen major retail organizations.
]]>Cancer Screening for All Through the Power of Tears.
This is the elegantly simple mission statement of Namida Lab, Inc., founded by CEO Omid Moghadam, a new member of the MakeUsWell Network.
Namida Lab's approach to biometric samples promises to revolutionize cancer screening by utilizing a non-invasive method—tears—to identify a wide range of pathologies earlier and at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods.
The potential for human tears as a diagnostic tool is rooted in the vast array of proteins present in them. As per a 2017 edition of the Expert Review of Proteomics, a peer-reviewed technical journal, over 2,000 proteins have been identified in human tears.
]]>Recently, I had the opportunity to interview an exceptionally inspiring high school classmate of mine, Sister Mary Foley, for a newsletter that our Pioneer Class Committee publishes. As a member of the first graduating class of Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester, NY, in 1966, we proudly referred to ourselves as the "pioneer class." Coincidentally, the co-principals of our school had the surnames "Lewis," (Sister Mary Lewis), and "Clark," (Brother Joseph Clark,) which only reinforced the appropriateness of the "pioneer" metaphor.
Sister Mary Foley's career has been nothing short of outstanding. She has been a teacher, missionary, community leader, and licensed clinical social service worker, both in the US and abroad, with a three-year stint in Liberia. However, the part of her life that most deeply intrigued me was her transformation of Luke, a border collie entrusted to her care at the Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest, NJ, in 2004. Initially, Luke was acquired to help nuns living on the campus discourage and deter geese from doing too much property damage. But Sister Mary Foley, who was passionate about helping individuals and populations who had undergone traumas, had Luke trained as a disaster stress relief dog through Therapy Dogs International.
]]>When we formed the MakeUsWell Network 2½ years ago, we expected collateral damage from the single-minded focus on virus containment that dominated public policy and responses of employers. But many unintended consequences occurred that we would not have predicted.
One of these is “Zoom Dysmorphia,” a condition in which a person becomes overly concerned with their appearance on video calls, often resulting in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and other mental health issues. Symptoms may include excessive grooming and styling, constantly checking one's appearance on video calls, and avoiding video calls altogether due to fears about how one looks.
Remote work, the explosive growth of Zoom meetings and the comparably explosive growth of sites like TikTok, Snap, and Instagram, have also contributed to a significant increase in plastic surgery demand.
]]>The changes in daily work routines that Covid directives abruptly introduced into employer-employee relationships were not planned in advance and were not done with consideration of whether they would contribute to emotional, career, social, or spiritual well-being. They were done for the sole purpose of virus containment.
Others can debate their effectiveness, but we are indisputably dealing with the wreckage they created in so many employment environments.
The pandemic moreover uncovered and amplified structural and emerging workplace issues, giving employers and employees the opportunity now to reflect on what needs to change.
Reflections and recommendations, offered here, are informed by our own software-driven augmented analytics.
]]>Many people today have wearable devices to monitor their exercise and heart rate such as FitBits and SmartWatches. Last spring, as I was traveling in Ireland, I developed a “chest cold” for two days and tested positive (lateral flow antigen test) for COVID-19. It was only a mild case, for which I gave credit to my COVID vaccinations.
My 10-day hotel quarantine provided time for personal reflection and research. I was interested to see on my FitBit that my normally low baseline heart rate was climbing daily on April 5 (first positive), April 6 (no test), April 7 (positive), and April 8 (positive) after which it declined from April 9 to April 13 as I tested positive daily and recovered. Having returned to baseline heart rate for a couple of days, I tested COVID negative on April 15th.
]]>I’ve seen a couple of recent articles about the proper way to describe one’s current COVID vaccination status as the number of available COVID vaccination options expands. I disagree with the recommendation that people who received the original and follow-up (Pfizer or Moderna are most common) vaccinations call themselves “fully vaccinated.”
I received my original Pfizer COVID vaccines in December 2020 and January 2021 as an employee of Veterans Affairs Healthcare.
]]>