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Blue Zones Project Blog

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2 min read

Growth in the Face of Covid-19

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jul 31, 2020 9:49:00 AM

Friends and colleagues always inspire each other as thoughts and feelings are expressed. The following is a current example.
 
David Longfield-Smith, Retail Food Lead for Southwest Florida’s Blue Zones Project (BZP), shared these reflections after reviewing a recent Blue Zones Project Bulletin, focused on responding to COVID-19 with renewed purpose:
Topics: Bulletin
7 min read

Pandemics Cubed: Social Injustice and Chronic Disease Amplify COVID-19's Virulence

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jul 24, 2020 11:39:29 AM

America’s current response to COVID-19 ranges from “no worries” to struggling episodically to acutely overwhelmed. The uneven response has led to catastrophic disease spread and death. Setting the stage and amplifying COVID-19's virulence are two previous and insidious pandemics.
Topics: Bulletin Featured
2 min read

Setting Goals and Taking Charge of Your Day to Cope with Covid-19

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jul 17, 2020 11:45:00 AM

Taking control of your day-to-day life is always a worthwhile and admirable goal. The current acute worldwide threat of COVID-19 has created some opportunities for positive goal setting despite misery, morbidity, and mortality. The world is not going back to the past, and neither should smart people.
Topics: Bulletin Featured
3 min read

Forward-Thinking Southwest Florida Community Finds Success with Blue Zones Project

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jul 10, 2020 9:00:00 AM

It takes strength to stand up against the tyranny of the present and invest in imagination. Moments of uncertainty hold great entrepreneurial potential. Organizations [communities] don’t just prepare for the future. They make it.

The above excerpt is from the July-August issue of   Harvard Business Review  in the article “The Future: A Glossary” by J. Peter Scoblic. Blue Zones Project communities create their futures as shown below—one of over fifty examples. The perplexing question is: Why do many organizations and communities suffer with unchanging metrics for social determinants of health while others thrive?
Topics: Bulletin
2 min read

A Healthier Holiday with the Power 9

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jul 3, 2020 9:00:00 AM

Celebrating our heritage should bring back recollections of better times. Currently, the nation’s challenges seem overwhelming, thus making a trip down memory lane more important than before to improve mental health.
Topics: Bulletin
3 min read

Confronting America's Obesity Epidemic

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jun 26, 2020 8:00:00 AM

The average non-obese healthy adult gains about one pound per year, according to a study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) involving 120,877 people over a twenty-year period. Obesity is defined as 20% over one’s ideal body weight for a given height.
 
Topics: Bulletin
2 min read

The Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Laughter

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jun 18, 2020 6:00:00 PM

Connecting now is more important than ever for physical and emotional health in the face of “social distancing.” Laughing together is a great way to connect during the new normal in which meetings—professional and family—are convened via video connections. 
Topics: Bulletin Featured
8 min read

Wealth and Income Inequality as a Cause of Societal Inequity

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jun 11, 2020 3:36:07 PM

Wealth and income inequality have been defining issues in the United States. The added stress of Covid-19 has highlighted and exacerbated these imbalances not only regarding the economy and personal finances, but also for social injustice and civil unrest within communities.
 
Frighteningly, the most stressed communities have become the epicenters for additional tragic events. Multigenerational income inequality, geospatially identifiable within regions, facilitates further degradation of already fragile neighborhoods.
Topics: Bulletin
3 min read

Finding Ways to Connect Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on Jun 5, 2020 9:00:00 AM

Most everyone has spent more time in front of a computer screen lately than ever before. While many people worry that this behavior is harmful to all age groups, screen time is proving to enhance three Blue Zones Principles. 
Topics: Bulletin
4 min read

Delayed Gratification Could Saves Lives

By Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA on May 29, 2020 10:31:14 AM

As the nation sputters back to normalcy, individual behaviors may contribute to survival for oneself as well as family, friends, and strangers.
 
Delaying gratification—continuing to shelter in place, using face masks assiduously, conscientious hand washing, and practicing other validated actions to avoid getting or giving Covid-19—may confer better outcomes for individuals and society in general.
Topics: Bulletin Featured
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