Three ways to start 2025 with more intention
It’s a new year, and a brand new you!
But it’s the same old me, unfortunately.
Rob Archer
Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation: Insights from Neurobiological, Psychological, and Clinical Studies
Functional MRI scans show that mindfulness meditation increases activity in brain regions associated with attention and emotional control, such as the prefrontal cortex.
Simultaneously, it decreases activity in areas linked to stress and anxiety, like the amygdala.
Perils of the nighttime: Impact of behavioral timing and preference on mental health in 73,888 community-dwelling adults
Going to bed early and rising early is associated with better mental health than going to bed late and rising late.
Daily Engagement and Productivity: The Importance of the Speed of Engagement
Simple preparation rituals help achieve a quicker work transition, which translates into better work engagement and performance.
The interaction of occupational stress and job burnout on depressive symptoms in railway workers in Fuzhou city
Occupational stress and job burnout are risk factors for depressive symptoms.
Cognitive Priming and Cognitive Training: Immediate and Far Transfer to Academic Skills in Children
Warming up, or ‘priming’ your brain for as little as 5 minutes before a task shows immediate performance improvement, and significant lasting improvement of overall performance following a 4 month course.
The effects of prior light history on the suppression of melatonin by light in humans
When u expose yourself to daily low light intensity, like the kind of dim lighting in most indoor environments, it significantly INCREASES MELATONIN SUPPRESSION at night if u are exposed to night time artificial lighting. The test group who got outside and was exposed to bright sunlight many times during the day did not have nearly as much melatonin suppression at night.
The sleep-circadian interface: A window into mental disorders
Disruptions in sleep quality, continuity, and timing can trigger or worsen psychiatric symptoms, and vice versa.
The performance and psychological effects of goal setting in sport: A systematic review and meta-analysis
High-performing athletes consistently ask themselves one thing before practice:
What can I do to get better today?
And one thing after practice:
What did I get better at today?
This focus on the process leads to the largest boost in performance.
The relationship between leisure activities and psychological resources that support a sustainable career: The role of leisure seriousness and work-leisure similarity
What they found: There’s a reason that research finds that Nobel prize winning scientists tend to have more hobbies than those who are good but not quite great scientists. In this study, they researchers looked at how leisure activity impacts our work. What they found is that leisure activity boosts work self-efficacy, potentially helping us perform better in our day jobs. But there was an important caveat. It wasn’t just about having a hobby, the impact of workplace self-efficacy was highest when people took their hobby serious and it was different enough from their actual work. In other words, if their hobby was too similar to their work, it actually hurt work self-efficacy.
What it means: Common advice tells us to get obsessed about something to be great at it. Be the football coach who only loves all things football. Well…research might point us in another direction. In this case, we need activities and hobbies that are different. Activities that allow us to turn our brains away from whatever it is we do during our day job. Diversify your experiences and pursuits.