Druthers

A blog I read, BrewNSpew issued a challenge in October. Sometimes, I love to procrastinate so I took time to reflect and to think about this challenge. Finally I decided to take on the challenge. I did not do well but I enjoyed the process :-)

The challenge was to write a story or a poem of 5 lines or less, using the word druthers. For those that are not aware of the word, druthers is a defined as a noun, informal; one’s own way, choice, or preference and a noun, slang; wishes, desires, preferred alternatives. So here is my five line poem:

As my life moves on, I discover

That if I could have my druthers

Life would be enjoying the sunset, 

While walking along the Inlet

 With my Brothers

.

The benefits of walking

The following is from a Harvard Health Report, and it shows the benefits of walking. The next time you have a check-up, don't be surprised if your doctor hands you a prescription to walk. Yes, this simple activity that you've been doing since you were about a year old is now being touted as "the closest thing we have to a wonder drug," in the words of Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of course, you probably know that any physical activity, including walking, is a boon to your overall health. But walking in particular comes with a host of benefits. Here's a list of five that may surprise you.

1. It counteracts the effects of weight-promoting genes. Harvard researchers looked at 32 obesity-promoting genes in over 12,000 people to determine how much these genes actually contribute to body weight. They then discovered that, among the study participants who walked briskly for about an hour a day, the effects of those genes were cut in half.

2. It helps tame a sweet tooth. A pair of studies from the University of Exeter found that a 15-minute walk can curb cravings for chocolate and even reduce the amount of chocolate you eat in stressful situations. And the latest research confirms that walking can reduce cravings and intake of a variety of sugary snacks.

3. It reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. Researchers already know that any kind of physical activity blunts the risk of breast cancer. But an American Cancer Society study that zeroed in on walking found that women who walked seven or more hours a week had a 14% lower risk of breast cancer than those who walked three hours or fewer per week. And walking provided this protection even for the women with breast cancer risk factors, such as being overweight or using supplemental hormones.

4. It eases joint pain. Several studies have found that walking reduces arthritis-related pain, and that walking five to six miles a week can even prevent arthritis from forming in the first place. Walking protects the joints — especially the knees and hips, which are most susceptible to osteoarthritis — by lubricating them and strengthening the muscles that support them.

5. It boosts immune function. Walking can help protect you during cold and flu season. A study of over 1,000 men and women found that those who walked at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised once a week or less. And if they did get sick, it was for a shorter duration, and their symptoms were milder.

To learn more about the numerous benefits of walking, as well as easy ways to incorporate a walk into your daily routine, buy Walking for Health, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

The speed of life

Our lives move so quickly that we sometimes forget what the real speed of life is.

Life moves deceptively quickly. Watch a sunrise. The sky gradually gets lighter and lighter, yet you wait and wait for the sun to peek above the horizon. Then you blink and it's already cleared the horizon and jumped up into the sky. It's easy to forget that the earth is spinning at around 1,600 km/hr (1,000 miles/hr).

Now I don't usually get up early enough to watch the sunrise, so I look for other things to remind me of the speed of life. 

If you sit and observe it, a garden seems to be completely static. But in reality, the growth is constant and deceptively quick.

It's the same with choosing the life you want. When you plant the seeds of conscious choice, it seems like nothing is happening. But their growth is constant and deceptively quick. And completely invisible if you just sit and wait.

So plant the garden of your life. Weed it and water it and let nature do its thing. You'll have a bountiful harvest before you know it.

Nature or Nurture, which determines how you save?

There is an interesting study by Henrik Cronqvist and Stephan Siegel that used data on identical and fraternal twins matched with data on their savings behaviour. The authors found that an individual's savings propensity is governed by both genetic predispositions, social transmission from parents to their children, and gene-environment interplay where certain environments moderate genetic influences.

Genetic variation explains about 35 percent of the variation in savings rates across individuals, and this genetic effect is stronger in less constraining, high socioeconomic status environments. Parent-child transmission influences savings for young individuals and those who grew up in a family environment with less competition for parental resources.

As an example, if you pulled two pairs of identical twins out of the population, you might find that Alice and Agnes saved 15% and 18% of their income, while Bob and Bubba saved 10% and 11%, respectively. About one-third of the difference in average savings (17.5% versus 10.5%) is due to genetic differences between the A girls and the B-boys. The A family presumably has alleles that code to more patience on the “savings gene”, while the B family has alleles that code to less patience.

Maybe as interesting as the 1/3 number is that the share attributed to common family experience is essentially zero. Their paper supports a “nature” over “nurture” view on savings behaviour.

 The authors argued in their article that people born impatient or lacking self-control might find that these traits have a consequence on their savings, and on some health issues. However, individual-specific life experiences is a very important explanation for behaviour in the savings domain, and strongest in urban communities. In a world progressing rapidly towards individual retirement savings autonomy, understanding the origins of individuals' savings behaviour are of key importance to economists as well as policy makers.

Regarding this article and some other research that indicates the influence of genes on savings behaviour, policy planners may have to reassess current public policies to see whether they are effective enough to encourage savings or to change savings behaviour.