I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the promises and pitfalls of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of big data. As a data scientist who works with employers, providers, and others trying to improve employee health and well-being, I’ve worked with my fair share of “big data” and have heard a myriad of complaints from human resource staff, medical directors, and others about being “buried” in data. In the health and wellness...
One of my classes is tech-free: phones, laptops, tablets, smart-watches, and all other digital devices are banned during class time. Although the professors cited evidence suggesting handwritten notes are superior to electronic ones, their main concern was digital media “addiction” and its negative impact on attention. I’ve seen this phenomenon both inside and outside the classroom, including compulsive email checking and...
I get a lot of articles sent my way about health and wellness at work—by colleagues, friends, and family members. There are few articles that do a decent job of putting general advice on workplace interventions into context, which is why I was pleased to read the recent BBC article on Boring office wellness alternatives that actually work
Primary Author: Caitlin DeClercq, Victor Villalobos
Revised July 12, 2018
A library on campus recently advertised their new standing-height workstations with a catchy sign proclaiming that “sitting is the new sugar.” Like sugar, sitting may not be bad for your health in small doses, but too much can be a bad thing. The sentiment this example conveys points to a burgeoning literature linking prolonged sitting to a range of deleterious health outcomes and the need to promote movement and change in posture. In fact, recent studies have linked prolonged total sedentary time with...