Today’s Solutions: May 01, 2024

Lifestyle

Alongside taking care of other people and the planet, make sure you take good care of yourself. The Lifestyle section at the Optimist Daily has solutions for everyday wellbeing on topics like food, beauty, fashion, and the latest trends. Curious about caring for houseplants, eating plant-based, or parenting tips? It’s all in there.

woman working from home stretches arms and looks out window

How to correct your achy breaky WFH posture

Last week we published an article sharing a massage therapist’s advice on how to work from home without hurting your back—but let’s be frank. We’re already two years into the pandemic. We’ve probably already spent our fair share of time hunched over laptops while sitting Read More...

woman with braided hair enthusiastically plays video game

Can video games treat health conditions? This start-up thinks so

Video games tend to have a bad rep of fostering addiction and encouraging people to waste time—however, as gamification proves a handy tool in conservation, humanitarian initiatives, and in combatting climate change, video games may also become a rising star in another arena: health. Video games Read More...

Burkina Institute of Technology.

Architecture’s top award has its first Black winner

At The Optimist Daily we like to highlight milestones in the movement for equality, like when Maya Angelou became the first Black woman to be featured on a US coin or when St.Louis elected Tishaura Jones their first black female mayor. The latest triumph comes from the world of architecture, Read More...

Overworked tired businesswoman sleeping on table in office suffering from fatigue with coffee in front of her.

Feeling fatigued? Try these energizing lifestyle changes

Fatigue is an enemy of productivity and potentially having a fulfilling life. It has long been thought that fatigue is something that comes about with age, but experts are starting to rethink the idea that fatigue is, in fact, not an expected part of aging at all. A closer look into our own Read More...

Young black woman gesturing STOP on pink studio background.

4 signs you need to say NO from time to time

Saying “no” to a request is understandably difficult. Professionally or personally, we either want to help, accommodate a friend, or fear we may upset someone we care about. That’s why we can be inclined to say yes to those we're close to. If your schedule is already filled with work, Read More...

person grates apple with box grater

How to use all four sides of your box grater

Think about the box grater sitting somewhere in your kitchen. Are you maximizing its uses? Chances are you only use that one side to do that one thing: shred cheese. Some seem to forget that this handy metal contraption has four sides, most of which are sadly ignored—truly a disservice to the box Read More...

Boy giving white and yellow flowers to elderly woman.

Findings from largest public study on kindness

Kindness can turn a bad day into a great one in a matter of seconds. We all hold the power to give the gift of kindness within us, whether that's giving someone your full attention in a conversation or just simply smiling at a stranger on the street, these little gestures can mean a lot. As a Read More...

woman looks at troubling news on her phone

Expert-approved ways of dealing with bad news (part 2)

Welcome to the second half of a two-part series that shares expert advice on how to deal with all the bad news that fills our social media feeds and news outlets. If you haven't read it yet, click to check out part I. Mindfulness over matter According to former NHS general practitioner Nicola Read More...

elderly Indigenous Bolivian amazonian woman

Remote Bolivian tribe has lowest dementia rates worldwide

A remote and unique indigenous population in the Bolivian Amazon called the Tsimane (pronounced chee-MAH-nay) sparked the interest of scientists when they were found to show almost no cases of age-related heart disease.  Since then, scientists have carried out various studies into the Tsimane Read More...

young man sits in chair with laptop on lap and rubs neck in pain

A massage therapist's advice on WFH without hurting your back

When more people started working remotely, licensed massage therapist and treatment trainer Polly Brasch reported seeing “more postural problems among [her] clients.” She “noticed a big swing in clients having pain in their middle and upper backs,” which is certainly an outcome of the Read More...