Want to Save Money? Spend Cash
Plus: Weakness is power
Welcome back to your weekly dose of wisdom and wellness, helping you make tomorrow a little better than today. Below you’ll find several in-depth, actionable stories by Wise & Well’s team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals. First, this week’s newsletter-only tidbits…
WELL SAID: Weakness is Power
“Initially, I winced at having to ask friends for advice, and asking all of you to support me in my new endeavor. But in my saner moments, I see it as putting useful dents in my illusion of self-sufficiency. Real power isn’t artificial invincibility. Real power is clearly seeing how contingent your life is on the lives around you, having the courage to seek help, and cultivating a network of people who are willing to provide that support.”
— Dan Harris, founder of Ten Percent Happier, reflecting on his recent acrimonious breakup with his own meditation app.
VITAL STAT: 50
Milligrams of melatonin found in one of several supplement brands aimed at children. Even adults are advised to limit melatonin dosage to 5 milligrams or less — 50 is outrageous. A new test of 110 such products—including gummies and chocolates—found the amount of melatonin ranged from zero to 667% of what was claimed on labels. I wrote last year about The Great (and Risky) Melatonin Experiment on Children, a surge in use despite a total lack of research on the potential long-term side effects and evidence that some of these supplements contain hormones that aren’t even listed on the labels. Parents may be desperate, I get it. But if you have kids, read up before you give your children this potentially dangerous supplement.
BRIEFLY: Want to Save Money? Spend Cash
It’s no secret that forking over cash can have a more visceral feel than using a charge card. As society becomes increasingly cashless, more people are more easily parting with more of their money on a regular basis.
Cash carries with it a psychological sense of ownership that has its own inherent value, according to surveys and focus groups summarized in a new study published in the journal Qualitative Market Research.
“The visceral nature of cash — its smell, feel, and the act of counting it — creates an emotional connection that digital payments lack,” said the study’s lead author, Jashim Khan, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Surrey in England. “When we handle cash, we are not just spending money; we are parting with a piece of ourselves.”
How much currency you put in this unsurprising finding is up to you. But the message is clear: If you don’t carry cash these days, you probably spend more than you otherwise would.
“Our research shows that cash isn’t just money — it’s a way to stay connected to what we spend,” Khan said. “Moving to a cashless society means we need to understand how different payment choices affect us, not just financially but emotionally. Knowing this can help us make better financial decisions in a world where money often feels invisible.”
THIS WEEK’S FEATURES
A selection of this week’s informative, entertaining and actionable Wise & Well stories:
How Well Are You Aging? Try Standing on One Leg
We don’t all age at the same rate. Two people who are both 40 can have significantly different biological ages. For those who don’t take care of their bodies and minds, the divergence grows only wider with increasing years. So how old are you? This simple test will give you insight into at least one measure of aging, and if you don’t like the results, you’ll find great tips to get you feeling younger and more capable.
Equilibrium is important for many everyday activities, including toting bags of groceries, walking your dog, raking leaves, getting in and out of your car, and walking on uneven surfaces. It can even improve your athletic performance in many types of sports — from swimming and skateboarding to pickleball and paddle boarding — all leading to improved quality of life and healthy aging.
—Kathleen Murphy
Be Careful Who You Hang Out With
As a parent, I worried a lot about who our kids hung out with. Getting in with a good group of friends versus having bad influences was bound to have lifelong consequences, possibly even determine near-term success in school or lead to constant trips to the principal’s office. It never occurred to me that the genetics of their friends—not just behavioral factors—might play a role. But new science suggests it’s so.
The new field of “peer social genetic effects” indicates that who you hung out with as a teenager can influence your later likelihood of developing a substance use or mental health condition. Furthermore, the genetic makeup of the kids you associated with conveys this impact on your future mental health without those peers necessarily displaying any grossly aberrant behavior in high school.
—John Kruse MD, PhD
Common Cold Medicine is Bunk
The bogus drug is being pulled by the FDA and will soon no longer be an ingredient in several popular meds sold by NyQuil, Sudafed, Robitussin, Theraflu, and Tylenol. This is not the first time a popular over-the-counter cold medicine has been shown to be ineffective. A few years ago…
A Cochrane review of controlled trials (considered to be very high quality results) found that, in children, honey proved to be a better cough suppressant than diphenhydramine, and equal in effect to dextromethorphan.
—Sam Westreich, PhD
There’s a lesson in here for all of us, and Sam delivers it.
Enhancing Your Healthspan: Pills vs. Lifestyle Medicine
We pine for pills and potions to make us feel better and live longer, instead of doing what we know works. Exercising throughout life — even if one starts in their 60s, 70s or beyond — offers big health benefits, from lowering risk of dementia and chronic physical diseases to improving mood and general mental and physical capability. But don’t listen to me; take it from this octogenarian MD:
It’s all about living your life daily with adequate exercise, a healthy eating plan, managing your stresses, obtaining a good night’s sleep, avoiding tobacco, keeping alcohol consumption to a modest level, challenging your brain, and interacting regularly with friends and family. I call these the seven keys to healthy aging. You have heard this before, but the fact is, it’s effective.
—Stephen Schimpff MD, MACP
Emotions are Contagious, and Some People are More Susceptible
Go ahead and test this: Smile at someone, and see what happens. Odds are pretty good they’ll smile back, but it depends on how susceptible they are to the emotions of others. Unfortunately, negative emotions spread like viruses, too, and the most susceptible individuals are more likely to suffer negative mental health consequences, new research reveals.
Understanding how emotional contagion works can help us all navigate life more successfully. It might encourage you to smile more and spread some happiness, or perhaps it’ll help you avoid letting others drag you down with a case of anxiety or depression.
—Robert Roy Britt
Turning His Pain Into His Profession
Inspiration for finding one’s purpose in life often comes from places we might not expect. Take Jacob Kendall, for example. His chronic pain and the related disability barriers erected by society and the healthcare system spawned his new career as a self-proclaimed metagerontologist, in which he helps people with age-related health challenges navigate the byzantine healthcare system and seek relief for their chronic conditions. Here’s a hint at his frustrations, related to doctors not looking at his situation holistically:
Kendall is adamant that his health problems are all related. “No single health issue exists in a vacuum,” he says, “no matter how much our medical system insists upon remaining inefficiently siloed. My heart disease and everything else are related to one another in some kind of way, not the least of which is that I’m on blood thinners. This isn’t some metaphysical conclusion of mine ; the science backs me up.”
—Randall H. Duckett
When Healthy Self-Interest Morphs into Harmful Selfishness
We all need to tend to our own needs, so we’re in better shape to look out for others. Donning your own oxygen mask before helping your child breathe is the epitome of unselfish self-interest. But in taking care of ourselves, we’re bound to brush up against the gray area of outright selfishness—and sometimes later regret our actions. As this psychologist explains, selfishness rarely leads to positive outcomes.
We label others (and occasionally ourselves) as selfish based on assumptions about motivations and what is expected within a specific situation. We feel anger or hurt when we witness selfishness in others, but most of us also feel guilt and embarrassment when we view our own behaviors as selfish.
—Gail Post, Ph.D.
Brain Study Reveals Why ‘Sleep on It’ is Great Advice
When a big decision or an important conversation looms, we’re advised to sleep on it. New research reveals why this is such important advice. Turns out cognitive effort fatigues the brain, and parts of your brain can actually fall asleep, even while you’re wide awake. The parts in question are crucial for rational thought.
This “local sleep,” as the scientists call it, happens in areas of the frontal cortex involved in emotions and decision-making. The result: You lose self-control, making you more impulsive, more aggressive, less able to make wise decisions and more apt to lash out rashly to a romantic partner, a colleague, or anyone else who, while in your right mind, you might not wish to piss off.
—Robert Roy Britt
And finally this week, after you close this newsletter, try this…
How to Manage a Successful Digital Detox
Whether you buy the idea that phones or social media can be addicting, It’s clear there’s a fuzzy line between healthy and unhealthy digital consumption. So now and then, it can be useful to put your phone down and fully disconnect from the digital world for a bit, in order to gain a greater understanding of its effects. These practical steps will help you get give it a go.
I hope we’ve helped make your tomorrow a little better than today.
Cheers,
Rob