Remember Blue Zones--those special geographical areas of the world where people regularly live into their 100's? A National Geographic
fellow named Dan Buettner identified a total of five Blue Zones around
the world, each with more than the usual number of long-lived, happy,
and healthy older residents. Buettner further identified nine factors
that each area had in common.
Among those factors: Residents stop eating when their bellies are 80%
full, they enjoy a glass of wine with friends, their days are peppered
with natural reasons to be physical, and they partake of daily stress
reliving activities, such as prayer or yoga.
But it's almost impossible to create all nine of those conditions in our
ordinary non-blue zone lives. According to Buettner, "People in Blue
Zones don't have better discipline than those
outside of Blue Zones. They're living in an environment where the
healthy choice is unavoidable, or at lest a lot easier." For those of us
without the right subtle pressures from our environment, is there any
way to create a kind of "personal blue zone?"
Only if you're able to mimic the external structures and pressures that
make living a blue zone lifestyle automatic. Build a circle of friends
who agree to make it a goal. Change your diet. Create a structural
reason to move a lot all day. And so on. See all nine of the blue zone factors here. Any adjustments you make will benefit your life, even if you can't do them all.
Sextilis, the original name for August, refers to what number in Latin?
Win a $5 Coffee Card!
It's easy to play...just send me your answer to the trivia question for a chance to win. Last month's Q&A: What gives you the power to walk through walls? A door! Congratulations to last month's winner!
Owning
a rental property can be fun, but is also full of pitfalls. Why not buy
a REIT instead? Real Estate Investment Trusts have proven to be as much
(or more) profitable than rentals, with 99% less work. Of course, if
you like having your hands on a physical, tangible asset, then rentals
beat REITs. But there's more to it than that. For a run-down of all the
pros and cons of each investment type, see this article from Seeking Alpha.
“If You Are Working On Something You Really Care About, You Don’t Have To Be Pushed. The Vision Pulls You.” – Steve Jobs
WHAT IS AN ESTATE PLAN?
Once
you start a family or begin owning titled assets like real estate, you
should also think about estate planning. Estate planning isn't simply
figuring out who inherits what. It also protects living family members
from liens and tax complications, and directs your relatives in case
you're incapacitated. Learn the basics of wills, living wills, and trusts: Canadian version / US version.
WHAT DOES "SPF" REALLY MEAN?
Bought any sunscreen lately? Did you choose based on the SPF or the UVA
rating? Or the UVB? Do you have a clue? I didn't, so I looked it up.
Here's the scoop.
There are two types of ultraviolet light we need to filter out. UVA is
the type that causes skin aging and skin cancer. It's sneaky--it
doesn't feel like it's burning you, but it's penetrating deep, causing
more damage. The other type is UVB. It's the painful one that literally burns the topmost layers of skin.
SPF (Sun Protection Factor) tells us how much UVB
light is being filtered out. The marketing purpose of the SPF number is
to tell us how long we can stay out in the sun before we burn. For
instance, SPF-30 means we can stay out 30 times longer than if we had no
sunscreen on. Not 30 minutes...30 times,
which is a meaningless number, since most of us don't know how long we
can stay out with no sunscreen in the first place. Furthermore, the SPF
factor only protects against the burning kind of UV, not the
cancer-causing kind.
So instead of trying to parse it all out, just go with what dermatologists recommend: Use a broad spectrum UVA/UVB sunscreen to protect against both types of ultraviolet light. Reapply it every 2 hours.
Just for Fun
FUNKY WALLPAPER
I'm not including this site as an endorsement or suggesting that you buy
from this company. But I wanted to share the images, because I thought
the wallpapers were so creative, weird, and wacky. Maybe you'll
redecorate your living room with vintage dresses:) See the wallpaper designs here. Also google "funky wallpaper" for more options.
