Brandon Luu, MD

20% of global type 2 diabetes cases are estimated to be related to air pollution.

A 10 μg/m³ increase in long-term PM2.5 exposure was linked to a 15% higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

This Lancet review highlights how air pollution drives inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance

Cutting back on smartphone use improves mental health and life satisfaction

A study compared 7 days without a smartphone to reducing use by 1 hour/day:
🧠 Lower depressive & anxiety symptoms
📈 Greater life satisfaction
🏃‍♀️ Increased physical activity
📊 Decreased smartphone use intensity

Source:

Don’t ignore heart attack symptoms during the holidays ❤️‍🩹

Cardiac deaths peak on Christmas and New Year's Day, potentially from delays in seeking care

Forsure! Let me know what you think.

Thanks! Let me know what you think.

“Information is a beacon, a cudgel, an olive branch, a deterrent--all depending on who wields it and how.”

“You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.”

“A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”

“Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself"

“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”

“The paradox is that hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure for it's own sake, leads to anhedonia. Which is the inability to enjoy pleasure of any kind.”

“The more we remember, the better we are at processing the world. And the better we are at processing the world, the more we can remember about it.”

The first key to leadership was self-control, particularly the mastery of pride, which was something more difficult, he explained, to subdue than a wild lion and anger, which was more difficult to defeat than the greatest wrestler. He warned them that "if you can't swallow your pride, you can't lead

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”

“Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.”

📚 10 books that changed my life —shaping me as a doctor, athlete, and person.

The quotes that stood out to me the most 🧵

Exactly!

Source:
t.co/SP2QIL1dly

Building muscle and exercising regularly are crucial for metabolic health

Skeletal muscle regulates over 75% of insulin-mediated glucose disposal, helping control glucose and lipids while reducing the risk of metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes

Study source:
psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-...
Image source:
x.com/FerraroRober...

Having trouble coming up with new ideas? Try going for a walk.
A Stanford University Study found:
📈 Walking boosted creative output by ~60%
🌳 Outdoor walks sparked the most novel, high-quality analogies

Mindfulness has the potential to help transform many aspects of health and well-being.
This study shows its new potential to help us face the facts—and make the most of them 15/15

Ready to Get Started?
Try this:
📲 Download a mindfulness app or search for a script on YouTube
⏳ Commit to 15 minutes a day for 2 weeks.
🧠 Apply mindfulness to areas where you tend to avoid information.
14/15

Takeaway
Mindfulness isn’t just for relaxation—it can be a powerful tool for tackling life’s challenges head-on.
A simple 15-min daily practice can help you confront difficult but vital information, empowering better decisions and reducing worry 🕊️✅ 13/15

Broader Implications
This study highlighted a new potential benefit of mindfulness: reducing cognitive biases.
With more research, mindfulness could be integrated into public health and educational programs to promote better decision-making. 🌍🧘‍♂️ 12/15

Limitations to Note:
This is only one study, and more work is certainly needed. It’s possible some people were not completely compliant with the interventions and results were self reported. Additionally, follow up of 2 weeks may not have been long enough to see full effects 🧩 11/15

Why It Matters:
Information avoidance can have serious consequences:
🚫 Ignoring health risks.
💳 Delaying financial decisions.
🚪 Missing opportunities for growth and relationships with others 10/15

Mindfulness can be thought of as a tool that reduces the emotional “cost” of receiving negative information.
By managing anticipatory emotions like worry or regret, mindfulness lets you approach information with more clarity and focus 🔍💡9/15