Have you thought about a New Year's Resolution?

—to get more fit, eat healthier, quit smoking? Big changes are hard to make and harder to keep. By the end of the year, over 90% of people have not kept their New Year’s Resolutions.

However, if our goal is to prioritize our mental health, that can change everything. Daily stress degrades our social connections, prevents intimacy, and lessens feelings of joy for simply being and appreciating the ordinary miracles that surround us each day. Less stress and more sleep can change our day, making us happier, and more efficient, and give us more time and energy to be active and eat better too!

Do less work more often. Create some more space for rejuvenation, sleep, and connection. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, doing less really is more. Read more on how Embodying "Less Is More" Is The Most Potent Way To Boost Well-Being In 2023.

We have recently published findings that help us understand family stress and how to live more harmoniously: 

• Our extended research team has found that stress during pregnancy leads to poorer self-regulation and indices of greater cell aging in offspring and worse health.  
• The exciting news is a mindfulness intervention can improve maternal well-being in the long run!
• We also recently published a study on sleep disorders and the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Finding those pregnant women with a diagnosis of sleep apnea or insomnia, were significantly more likely to have babies who experienced a range of adverse birth outcomes including low APGAR scores, respiratory distress, and NICU admission, compared to pregnant women without sleep disorders.

The Big Joy Project

Be part of our global study on Joy!

Elissa and the Emotional Well-Being network, including the University of California Berkeley and The Greater Good Center, launched the Big Joy project, so you can learn which practices bring joy to your day.

Join the largest citizen science project ever! Scholarships are available.

Cultivating Vitality in Body, Mind, and Spirit: The Ecosystem of Mental Well-Being

May 26-29, 2023.

Learn about an Esalen retreat for improving mental health and well-being led by Elissa Epel & Cassi Vieten.