Dear Residents, Families, and Friends,
Has spring sprung? Yes, it certainly has! And as we look forward to another season change, I would like to remind you of our upcoming Kensington Park Lecture Series which will feature a Blue Zones presentation. You may recall that I introduced readers to the Blue Zones Project, which seeks to transform communities into thriving places to live, work, eat and play, in a previous column.
According to Blue Zones, the following are some ways in which you can help create a healthy community. These “life hacks,” are creative tricks that will improve your life and/or increase your productivity.
- Volunteer for one new organization this month — Volunteers have lower health care costs, lower rates of heart disease, and report higher levels of well-being. Also new studies find that altruism is as addictive as sugar. Try it once and you’ll be hooked.
- Make one new happy friend this month — Each new happy friend you add to your life increases your happiness by 15 percent. Having a good friend at work is directly correlated to job satisfaction.
- Get down to one TV screen in your home — We watch an average of five hours of TV per day, but studies show the happiest people are only watching an hour.
- Weigh yourself daily — Research shows that people who weigh themselves daily weigh about 17 pounds less over the course of two years than people who never weigh themselves.
Will you join us in creating our own Blue Zone here at Kensington Park? Our activities department offers many opportunities for volunteering, we have a wealth of happy residents, family members and team members who would be glad to make a new friend, with so much happening, our TVs are usually dark, and our beautiful campus provides the perfect setting for walking off that extra pound or two.
Our team at Kensington Park is part of your family and we are looking forward to spending more time with you during this warmer season. Please refer to our activities calendars, our website, our email notifications, and internal postings so we don’t miss seeing you, our happy friends!
Warmly,
Mary Mell, Executive Director