#Cognitive #Fitness

To paraphrase one of the most moving statements I have heard, this one is from Dr. Robert Klatz: The goal to anti-aging medicine isn’t simply to reach your 90s and beyond, rather to remain as healthy, independent, and mentally sharp as possible through the aging process, to have the time to enjoy spending it with family and friends doing things you like and want to do.

Keeping the brain healthy is a big part of being able to have a long healthspan, research is proving that there is a lot we can do to empower our brains to help keep them healthy and lessen the risk of brain disease to stay cognitively fit for a lifetime.

By integrating a few simple specific changes in diet, exercise, and lifestyle into daily routines it is possible to add years of mental stamina and vitality, which in turn serves the body well. By improving cognitive fitness you can strengthen your intellectual prowess, promote ability to recall, and protect brain based skill that are essential to a full, rewarding, independent lifespan.

There are six cornerstone factors to effective cognitive fitness that should be done together to reap the most benefits: Eating a plant based diet ( as much as possible); Maintaining a regular exercise program and physical activity; Getting enough sleep; Managing Stress; Nurturing social contacts (in real life vs online); and Continuing to challenge your brain.

There is no magic pill or superfood to prevent cognitive decline, but when combined these cornerstones of cognitive fitness can yield real results, and lead to changes in brain structure and function; these factors are equal parts to a cohesive plan and really won’t work in isolation. Just adding more fiber to the diet, or a walk to the daily routine will not be enough to halt mental decline, rather diet, sleep, exercise, social interaction, stress management, and mental stimulation will work in harmony to promote and yield positive results.

Nutrition is an important strategy, following a diet plan that includes a lot of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains can go a long way. Try to get most protein from plant sources, fish, and healthy fats such as olive oil. Omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and antioxidants are well known to support brain health, in an added benefit many of these foods also help to protect heart health.

Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, kale, and collards are rich in vitamin K, beta carotene, lutein, and folate which have been shown to help slow cognitive decline.

Fatty fish such as salmon, cod, pollack, and tuna are abundant in omega-3 fatty acids and unsaturated fats that are linked to lower blood levels of dangerous beta amyloids. Be sure to choose varieties that are low in mercury at least twice a week. If you are not a fish fan talk to a medical professional about a supplement or chooses terrestrial omega-3 sources such as walnuts, flaxseeds, and avocados.

Flavonoids give berries their brilliant hues and have been shown to help improve memory, one Harvard study found women who consumed two or more servings per week of blueberries and strawberries delayed memory decline by up to 2.5 years.

Provided there is not an allergy, nuts are great sources of protein and healthy fats, walnuts in particular may also help to improve memory. A UCLA study linked higher walnut intake to improved cognitive test scores. Walnuts are also in high alpha linolenic acid which helps to lower blood pressure and protect the arteries.

Swimming may just be the perfect exercise, water takes strain off the joints to help them move more fluidly, it’s less weight bearing, and it has been shown to improve mental states and elevates stress while it helps to burn calories, tone up, and improves focus, and coordination.

Tai chi combines movement and relaxation that is good for both the body and mind. The series of graceful movements are a good option for any age and is very helpful to improving concentration and balance while boosting thinking skills. Yoga and meditation are also a great options which will also help with stress management.

Walking is one of the most simple and effective powerful exercises that can be done anywhere, at anytime, without equipment for free. Not only will it help you to stay fit, it strengthens bones, keeps blood pressure in check, combats stress, and lifts moods. Several studies have shown walking to help improve memory and resist age related memory loss.

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week, which can be done in a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. Researchers from the University of British Columbia have found exercise to not only get the heart pumping and sweat glands going but also boost the size of the hippocampus which is the area of the brain involved in verbal memory and learning; as well as leading to the release of cellular growth factors that are important to neurogenesis. Exercise even helps to improve sleep, moods, and reduce stress and anxiety which can contribute to cognitive impairment.

Insufficient sleep is bad for the body and mind, overtime continued sleep deprivation can give rise to a number of chronic health problems. Experts suggest that we should get at least 6-7 hours of sleep each night, less than 6 can have serious health ramifications.

Cognitive and social engagement have been shown to be protective against cognitive decline; neuronal plasticity appears to challenge the brain, for example learning a new skill leads to changes in the adult brain such as creating new connections between brain cells by changing the balance of available neurotransmitters and how connections are made. Challenging the brain and staying socially connected can help to protect the brain and keep it more resilient against changes that promote and cause dementia.

Think, read, paint/draw, learn something new, meet new people, listen to music, exercise, take up a new hobby or sport, ask questions and listen to stories in reply, or volunteer at a charity as these all require the brain to do some work, especially when encountering something it has not done before. The best activities are ones that you enjoy; just as it is important to stick to an exercise, diet, or meditation plan, it is also important to stick to a program of cognitive fitness to reap the benefits. Staying mentally sharp comes down to using your mind and body, no matter your age. Be well, and here’s to a long and happy healthspan.

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Remember, That Old #Adage "Health Is #Wealth"

"Salutem est divitiae"

Health is Wealth

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20 #Benefits of 30 Minutes of #Walking – Infographic

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£20 million to boost creative #industries across #England

Press release

Published 7 December 2018

From:

Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and Margot James MP

• Major new £14 million Creative Careers Programme will help attract more diverse talent
• Creative businesses in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and the West of England to benefit from new £4 million investment to help them grow
• Additional funding to support the games sector: Digital Schoolhouse and UK Games Fund

More than £20 million is being pumped into the UK’s thriving creative industries to help inspire and attract new talent, scale up existing businesses, boost skills and provide education.

The package of support announced by Creative Industries Minister Margot James during a visit to Dudley Technical College, will help to increase the diversity of the sector’s workforce and maintain the future pipeline of creative talent in an industry that now contributes more than £100 billion to the UK economy.

Improving the nation’s skills and boosting business opportunities is at the heart of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, which this week celebrates its one year anniversary. This new funding follows the publication of the Creative Industries Sector Deal earlier this year and includes:

• A new £14 million Creative Careers Programme led by industry that will see leading industry figures working with schools and colleges to raise awareness of employment opportunities in the sector, reaching more than 160,000 students by 2020. Around 2 million young people will be able to access better advice about pursuing a creative careers.
• A £4 million programme to help scale up creative enterprises in the West of England, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands - helping creative businesses to access finance and translate their ideas into investment.
• £2 million to continue the successful ‘Get it Right’ campaign with industry until 2021 - helping to educate consumers on the dangers of copyright infringement and direct them to legitimate sources of creative content online.
• £200,000 investment to upscale the Digital Schoolhouse programme being delivered by games trade body Ukie - inspiring the next generation of game creators, growing the programme to 50 schools by September 2019 and reaching an extra 7000 pupils next academic year.
• £190,000 to the UK Games Fund to build on the new Pitch Development Programme. This helps promising companies gain industry support to receive UK Games Fund grants of £25,000.
• 
  

Minister for the Creative Industries, Margot James, said:

Millions of people around the world enjoy our world-class creative and cultural output every day and we want to stay as a frontrunner in these vibrant sectors.

Our creative industries are a vital part of the economy, contributing over £100 billion to the economy so it is important we maintain the pipeline of talent. This package will take the sector from strength to strength by arming the next generation of creatives with the necessary skills and giving businesses in the sector the support they need to succeed.

The Creative Careers programme will see leaders of creative businesses inspire students through talks and work experience. Businesses will also be helped to develop more accessible routes into employment in the sector, this includes creating apprenticeship standards for a number of priority roles which will be identified by industry.

The initiative will also boost the number of apprenticeships to 3000 across the creative industries by 2025 and join the hundreds of apprentices already working across the sector with employers including Pinewood Studios, Royal Opera House, V&A Museum, McCann and Google.

Tim Davie, co-chair of the Creative Industries Council said:

One year on from the Government’s announcement of its industrial strategy, it’s excellent to see delivery of the commitments in the landmark Creative Industries Sector Deal.

Our world-class creative sector is a powerhouse built on brilliant ideas. It’s vital we ensure a healthy pipeline of diverse talent to continue building on our creative success, and that we ensure a strong business environment to maximise the potential of those ideas. These commitments will provide vital support in both areas, to help our industries thrive.

The Sector Deal implementation is now well under way and I look forward to working with colleagues on the Creative Industries Council and with others across industry and Government to keep up this momentum.

Alongside skills, the government is also prioritising access to finance for creative businesses. The new scale up programme will see coaches and mentors available for businesses in the West Midlands, the West of England and Greater Manchester to overcome specific barriers to growth such as marketing, strategy planning or improving their digital footprint and specialist help will be on hand to identify appropriate sources of finance through the British Business Bank. Participating regions will also work to increase the numbers of investors interested in investing in creative businesses.

Lowell Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Dudley College of Technology / Chair of the Board of Dudley Academies Trust, said:

With the creative industry in the West Midlands generating nearly £4 billion a year to the regional economy, Dudley College of Technology is proud to be developing new talent across a range of disciplines including film and TV, fashion, games design and crafts. We recognise the huge contribution the creative industries play, not only in economic terms but in providing a rich, vibrant culture and we are keen to train the creatives of the future. The announcement today will help support the skills agenda and also provide a boost for entrepreneurs and small businesses who have the potential for growth.

The cash injection follows the publication of new figures which reveal the value of the creative industries to the UK is up from £94.8 billion in 2016 to £101.5 billion, growing at nearly twice the rate of the economy since 2010.

The Government is committed to making sure creative businesses around the UK are supported. The creation of nine new Creative Clusters, the Government will support innovation by part-funding research partnerships between universities and industry. They will explore how digital technologies can improve the use of digital technologies to improve audience experience in the screen and performance industries, and shorten production times in the design industry.

Notes to editors

For media enquiries please contact DCMS News and Communications team on 020 7211 2210

Creative Scale Up programme

The new Creative Scale Up programme will be available for businesses in the West Midlands, the West of England and Greater Manchester to overcome specific barriers to growth such as marketing, strategy planning or improving their digital footprint and specialist help will be on hand to identify appropriate sources of finance through the British Business Bank.

West Midlands

Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street said:

The creative and digital industries are hugely important to the West Midlands, contributing almost £4 billion to our economy.

We know we have creative strengths in the region. More than 10,000 creative businesses are based here, and we’re working to support the rapid growth in this sector, with the ambition that the digital and creative industry will employ more than 100,000 people in the West Midlands by 2030.

We want to continue the momentum we’ve built in recent months. This DCMS funding will allow us to provide dedicated support to our creative industries, match businesses with investors, and sustain the growth of this industry into 2030 and beyond.

Greater Manchester

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham said:

Greater Manchester is a proud city-region of innovation and our creative businesses are truly thriving. With almost 9,000 businesses, our Creative sector is the fastest growing part of the Greater Manchester economy. With more than 82,300 people and generating £4.1 billion of economic growth annually we are already home to the largest digital and creative cluster outside London.

This new programme will help us accelerate our creative businesses with ambitions to grow. We are going to work with creative businesses at scale here in our city-region to help them become investment ready and linked with the wide range of excellent business support that is on offer across Greater Manchester.

West of England

Mayor of the West of England, Tim Bowles, said:

This is terrific news; our region is recognised for its thriving creative sector and Bristol is soon to be home to one of Channel 4’s new creative hubs.

This investment will support the work we are doing on the Local Industrial Strategy, which recognises the importance of the creative industries. We are perfectly placed to drive innovation and growth here in the region, setting the direction for our economy and pushing for future growth for the UK and the world.

Caroline Norbury, MBE, Chair of the Creative Industries Council Investment Group, said:

Creative industry businesses have the potential to deliver even greater growth, but too many lack the skills to secure the investment they need to take their business to the next level. The creative scale-up programme gives us a fantastic opportunity to test how much more these companies can contribute to regional economies when they have access to the right expert advice and investor networks.

Creative Careers Programme

Of the funding for the £14 million Creative Careers Programme, £2 million is allocated for a specific programme to improve careers advice and to develop new apprenticeship standards which will be delivered jointly by ScreenSkills, Creative & Cultural Skills and the Creative Industries Federation. Government will provide £2 million funding to kick-start the programme and £12 million in-kind support has been secured from industry to-date.

Those organisations delivering the programme intend to partner with the devolved nations and industry working across them in order to ensure that it ultimately becomes UK-wide.

Quotes from partners delivering the programme:

Creative & Cultural Skills chief executive, Simon Dancey, said:

Creative & Cultural Skills is delighted to be working with ScreenSkills and the Creative Industries Federation on the development and delivery of the Creative Careers Programme. In partnership with key stakeholders and our world leading creative and cultural industries, we will together support careers advisers, teachers, parents and guardians, and thousands of young people to better understand the sector and the range of careers within it. This ambitious programme will encourage the industry to open its doors, ensuring we are accessible to all so the next generation of talent can join us and help us thrive for years to come.

Creative Industries Federation chief executive, Alan Bishop, said:

The quality and diversity of talent working in our creative industries has been central to its growth and world-leading success. We are hugely excited about our role mobilising industry’s engagement in this programme, inspiring young people to consider careers across the creative economy and helping the next generation of talent to discover the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

Seetha Kumar, CEO of ScreenSkills, the skills body for the UK’s screen industries, said:

It is really important to attract bright young talent into creative industries such as film, TV and video games so we are really pleased to be taking the lead in transforming online careers information for hundreds of thousands of school, college and university students across the country.

Digital Schoolhouse

The Digital Schoolhouse programme has already upskilled over 5000 teachers in the new computing curriculum and improved the digital skills of over 31,000 students since 2014.

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment) said:

It’s critical that we solve the creative and digital skills gap in the UK. Digital Schoolhouse is an inclusive and essential programme that gives inspiring training and accessible tools as well as confidence to educators. Crucially, it helps equip the next generation with creative computing literacy and valuable transferable skills to become part of the digital creative workforce of the future. With this valuable support, the programme can extend its reach and impact.

Shahneila Saeed, Director of Digital Schoolhouse and Head of Education at Ukie said:

Digital Schoolhouse aims to revolutionise computing in schools by bridging the gap between industry and education in order to inspire and engage the next generation. We’re thrilled that DCMS have recognised the programme’s impact by injecting vital funds to accelerate the growth of the programme. The new funding will help us to grow the programme to 50 schools across the country, providing crucial training for 3000 teachers and providing inspiring lessons and workshops for 25,000 children next year – improving their knowledge and giving them all the confidence to use the digital skills that they and the country need.

Sam, Yr 7 pupil and participant in Digital Schoolhouse workshop at St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy said:

I remember Mr Ward coming to my school last year to run a computer science class using the Micro:bit devices. I’d never used anything like that before and it made me want to find out more. I asked my mum if I could buy a Micro:bit so that I could carry on at home. Having Mr Ward explain about computer science using magic made it much easier to understand. I would recommend that all primary school pupils (and their teachers!) get involved in the Digital Schoolhouse project if they can – you learn lots and it’s so much fun!

The ‘Get it Right’ campaign will be supported by leading industry organisations including Motion Picture Association, British Phonographic Industry, PRS for Music.

Ian Moss, Director of Public Affairs, British Phonographic Industry said:

Get it Right from a Genuine Site is a great example of partnership between the creative industries, Government and the Internet Service Providers. The research into the campaign has shown it really makes a difference and that a positive campaign that is relevant to fans can help change the way people think about accessing content online. With fantastic music services providing the whole history of recorded music, fans know that by choosing a legal service over illegal sites, the artists they are passionate about are rewarded for their art and creativity. The Government’s continuing commitment to the successful campaign is warmly welcomed.

Stan McCoy, President & Managing Director, Motion Picture Association EMEA said:

The Motion Picture Association thanks the UK Government for deciding to continue to support the Get It Right campaign as part of the Sector Deal. This investment will support creative sector jobs by reminding young people of the value of accessing the films and television programmes they love in a way that respects the hard work of those who made them. We look forward to the new materials that will be developed for the next stage of this important initiative to highlight opportunities in the creative industry, signpost where consumers can access legitimate forms of content of all types, and support them in making the right choice.

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There’s a Proven Link Between Effective #Leadership and Getting Enough #Sleep

By Nick van Dam and Els van der Helm

 In our hyper-connected, 24/7 world, many of us are losing sleep — literally. Our own survey of more than 180 business leaders found that four out of 10 (43%) say they do not get enough sleep at least four nights a week. Such sleep deficiencies can undermine important forms of leadership behavior and eventually hurt financial performance. This article will explore the link between sleep and leadership before discussing solutions that can improve both individual well-being and organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

The link between sleep and organizational leadership

The last part of our brain to evolve was the neocortex, responsible for functions such as sensory perception, motor commands, and language. The frontal part of the neocortex, the prefrontal cortex, directs what psychologists call executive functioning, including all the higher-order cognitive processes, such as problem solving, reasoning, organizing, inhibition, planning, and executing plans. These processes help us get things done.

It’s long been known that all leadership behavior relies on at least one (and often more than one) of these executive functions, and therefore, in particular, on the prefrontal cortex. Neuroscientists know that although other brain areas can cope relatively well with too little sleep, the prefrontal cortex cannot. Basic visual and motor skills deteriorate when people are deprived of sleep, but not nearly to the same extent as higher-order mental skills.

Previous McKinsey research has highlighted a strong correlation between leadership performance and organizational health, itself a strong predictor of a robust bottom line. In a separate study of 81 organizations and 189,000 people around the world, we found that four types of leadership behavior are most commonly associated with high-quality executive teams: operating with a strong orientation to results, solving problems effectively, seeking out different perspectives, and supporting others. What’s striking in all four cases is the proven link between sleep and effective leadership.

Operating with a strong orientation to results. To do this well, it’s important to focus and avoid distractions while at the same time seeing the bigger picture — that is, whether your company is heading in the right direction. Sleep deprivation impairs the ability to focus attention selectively: Research shows that after roughly 17 to 19 hours of wakefulness (say, at 11 PM or 1 AM for someone who got up at 6 AM), individual performance on a range of tasks is equivalent to that of a person with a blood alcohol level of 0.05%. That’s the legal drinking limit in many countries. After roughly 20 hours of wakefulness (2 AM), this same person’s performance equals that of someone with a blood alcohol level of 0.1%, which meets the legal definition of drunk in the United States.

Solving problems effectively. Sleep is beneficial for a host of cognitive functions that help us solve problems effectively, including insight, pattern recognition, and the ability to come up with innovative and creative ideas. One study has shown that a good night’s sleep leads to new insights: participants who enjoyed one were twice as likely to discover a hidden shortcut in a task as those who didn’t. Likewise, an afternoon nap has been found to aid creative problem solving: subjects who took a nap after struggling on a video game problem were almost twice as likely to solve it as subjects who had remained awake. Other research has established that creative thinking is especially likely to take place during dream sleep, enhancing the integration of unassociated information and promoting creative solutions.

Seeking out different perspectives. A wealth of scientific studies have highlighted the impact of sleep on all three stages of the learning process: before learning, to encode new information; after learning, in the consolidation stage, when the brain forms new connections; and before remembering, to retrieve information from memory. These processes are critical to the ability to seek, encode, and consolidate different perspectives. Another important consideration is the ability to weigh the relative significance of different inputs accurately, to avoid tunnel vision, and to reduce cognitive bias. Sleep has been shown to improve decision making in such situations — in tasks that mimic real life, for instance, which require integrating multiple emotional responses. Science supports the commonly heard advice that rather than making an important decision or sending a sensitive email late at night, you should sleep on it.

Supporting others. To help other people, you must first understand them. Doing so may require interpreting the emotions on their faces or their tone of voice. But in a sleep-deprived state, your brain is more likely to misinterpret these cues and overreact to emotional events, and you tend to express your feelings in a more negative manner and tone of voice. Recent studies have shown that people who have not had enough sleep are less likely to fully trust someone else. Another experiment has demonstrated that employees feel less engaged with their work when their leaders have had a bad night of sleep.

What organizations can do

How can organizations improve the quality and efficiency of sleep to ensure that their leaders attain — or recapture — the highest performance levels? At McKinsey, we’ve been working on this issue with our own colleagues as well as with business leaders (look here for a deeper examination of the problem and solutions). Among our recommendations are these two:

• Develop training programs focused on increasing awareness and creating long-lasting behavioral change. Our experience is that blended learning programs on the importance of sleep can have a positive effect on well-being.
• Evaluate and rework company policies to ensure that they encourage — or at least don’t discourage — a good night’s sleep. Look at policies covering travel, email (e.g., blackout time on email, after which no emails can be sent), team working (creating tag teams that enable employees to hand work to each other across time zones), work-time limits (setting limits on hours or creating blackout periods), mandatory work-free vacations, predictable time off, napping rooms, and smart technology that improves sleep management.

As we are the first to admit, our own people do not always practice what we preach. In any case, certain types of organizations cannot implement these ideas without an accompanying change in the underlying culture.

Beyond having more rested and therefore more effective leaders, another argument for focusing on sleep is that it prevents burnout in leaders. A recent Harvard Medical School study of senior leaders found that 96% percent reported experiencing at least some degree of burnout. One-third described their condition as extreme. There is now a large body of evidence on the bi-directional relationship between sleep and stress: a lack of sleep creates heightened emotional reactivity, and the experience of stress results in worse quality of sleep. In addition, poor sleep has been found to be a major predictor of reduced engagement at work. It’s time for organizations to find ways of countering the employee churn, lost productivity, and increased health care costs resulting from insufficient sleep.

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Nick van Dam is McKinsey’s global chief learning officer, a principal in its Amsterdam office, and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Nyenrode Business University. He’s also the author of You! The positive force in change. 

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Els van der Helm is a sleep expert and founder of Shleep, the sleep company. Shleep serves corporate clients around the world and helps improve their health, performance, and happiness through digital training, personalized assessments, sleep education through tailored workshops, sleep coaching, and policy recommendations. Prior to founding Shleep, Els worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She has authored peer-reviewed articles and book chapters based on her sleep research at both Harvard Medical School and the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her doctorate in psychology. Follow her on Twitter: @elsonsleep

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