
September 2021
Welcome to the September issue of WonderWell, a newsletter intended to gather the most groundbreaking research and insightful commentaries in evidence-based medicine, wellness, healthcare leadership, writing, and innovation to help you live and work in alignment with your purpose and well-being.
1. COVID and…
The impact on Pediatric Hospitals in the US: In Time, veteran health reporter takes us into a busy New Orleans children’s hospital, and the reality that has emerged: Delta is different. Children are not spared. Cases are rising, as are deaths. With vaccine approval pending, stronger mandates may be all we have left.
Vaccine incentives: Since consulting for Twitter’s health design team, and now serving on their incentives advisory board, I’ve gained a new appreciation for how to incentivize for healthier behavior both online, and offline. Offline, I specifically mean public health behavior. As reported by the CBC, it’s clear that mandating vaccines for social activities like eating at restaurants, is effective in incentivizing those who have held out from being vaccinated. It provides people with a choice: if socializing in private institutions is of value and can supercede any residual mistrust in public health, vaccine rates can increase.
Vaccines — they aren’t a panacea: In STATNews, an excellent explainer on the COVID19 vaccines, how they work, and the limits.
The brain and mind: From NatGeo, an incredible deep dive into how SARSCoV9 may impact the brain, even or especially in those who had mild respiratory symptoms.
Learning to live with COVID19: echoing the Atlantic, it’s here to stay (and a nice buffer for this poorly titled piece in the same outlet — can we do away with these sorts of forecasts once and for all? Have we not learned to take things one week at a time? 😔).
2. Podcasts (and shows) worth listening to/watching
It’s no surprise that most of us are facing trying times mentally and emotionally; this is a time of collective trauma as we face what appears to be a never-ending pandemic. A great podcast with Ezra Klein, interviewing The Body Keeps the Score author Bessel van der Kolk about trauma and the body. Follow this up with Gabby Bernstein’s discussion with the founder of Internal Family Systems Therapy founder, Richard Schwartz. An excellent PDF handout on IFS, as it could apply to *you*, by Canadian psychotherapist, Derek Cook is excellent and found here.
I also had a chance to watch the Susan Sontag documentary, Regarding Susan Sontag, on HBO — what an incredible life! She was a writer who spent time between NYC (West Village) and Paris, bucked the status quo (especially for women) and was insatiably curious. Definitely worth a watch.
3.On…Afghanistan through a renowned author and an inspiring athlete
The situation in Afghanistan is troubling to say the least. This is why both this article, featuring author (and doctor!) Khaled Hosseini in the NYT and another article, also in the NYT, about a ParaOlympian from Afghanistan named Abbas Karimi is timely and inspiring.
4.Sound (and wise) reflections
~What public health communication can learn from advertising and marketing, in Business Insider. (twitter thread here).
~A powerful essay, in the NYT, about being a full-time caregiver for a loved one during a pandemic
5.Miscellany
A frightening tragedy in the Bay area, which hit close to home after having recently spent time in SF/Oakland, which included hiking. Thankfully, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Matthias Gafni, of the SF Chronicle is on the case, hoping the mystery gets solved soon.
I learned a new term in August: “Japandi” — thanks to Better Homes and Gardens. Those who know me know my interest in all things design and design-thinking. For a long time I wondered if Japanese industrial design was more similar to Bauhaus (German) or Scandinavian. Perhaps this answers it, or simply suggests that there’s a different approach that melds it all together.
Shine Theory came up during a recent Op-Ed Project call. Worth reading (and ideally, integrating!).
6.Best tweets of the month goes to…
@White_Owly, referencing Oscar Wilde 😜.
“It is absurd to divide people into good or bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
@Saahil_Desai on diversity in newsrooms — not just reporters but the editors as well (though a quick look at the Atlantic’s masthead suggests it’s not much better — potentially actually less diverse editorially — than the WaPo) 🙃
“I know we’re all over the Indian Food Discourse, but fundamentally, this is a diversity in journalism problem. If for no other reason, hire nonwhite editors so they help ensure that your publication doesn’t clown itself”
And this clip from Jimmy Fallon/Kit Harrington, because it made me laugh extra hard.
7.Products/Services that have made a meaningful difference during the pandemic:
I’m trying something new this month — this newsletter is not sponsored, but I love sharing products/services (including books, workshops) that have made a meaningful difference in my day-to-day, i.e. things I’d share with my friends. So I thought I’d share one with you each month. This month, I’m sharing the Harmoni standing desk converter. The standing desk craze is a few years old now, and became more popular since work-from-home/WFH began 18 months ago. It’s a good craze overall: sitting for hours on end *isn’t* healthy for us!
That said, I’m a stickler for design, and I try not to buy things that seem too trendy (i.e. what we could get bored of, and what might end up collecting dust), tough to assemble, or bulky and not pleasant design-wise (think lots of metal, plastic etc). So when I heard about the Harmoni desk I knew I found something that would work. It even has a “Japandi” design! A quick search online (amazon, etsy) has a few others that are similar but either require more assembly, are more expensive, or the reviews suggest the wood might be a bit flimsy.
The Harmoni comes in 4 pieces that slot together, which follows the Japanese tradition of “kanawa tsugi,” which means wood joinery via slats. In other words: no tools, nails etc. It takes 15 sec to assemble and disassemble, and stores flat or vertically when you want to use your desk the ‘regular’ way. Best part is that it’s affordable: from approx $250 Cad ($200USD) and up, depending on the finish. Displayed below is the cork mat which I added on to ensure it doesn’t slip. Combine with an anti-fatigue mat to stand on (which you can purchase anywhere), and you have a great WFH setup!
Again, this isn’t sponsored, so I don’t have a discount code to share, but let me know if you’re using a standing desk or a converter or just improvising (for awhile I just used a lapdesk on top of books).
In My Own Words…
For STATNews, I wrote about a topic I’ve been a bit obsessed with since December 2020, after an offhand comment a friend made (about being ‘resistant’ to COVID19) caused me to wonder if there were, indeed, people out there that may have true genetic resistance to the virus that has killed millions, crippled economies, and has left the vast majority of us anxious/unwell/uncertain. Indeed, there are — but researchers are only beginning to understand it, and what role this knowledge might play in terms of therapeutics for this pandemic, and others in the future. The response to the article has been great — I continue to receive emails and letters from readers believing they could be resistant (classically: having been exposed to multiple family members, sharing a home, etc but never having a positive antibody or PCR test) and wanting to participate in a North American trial, if the Brazilian trial is replicated. The one question I have left is: now that vaccine rates are high, does this pose issues for discerning who may be resistant?
I also recently got invited to give a keynote talk at a major conference in November, and now my mind is busy imagining *what* I could talk about and *how* to make the topic compelling. Thankfully, I have time, and will likely build on a recent article I wrote!
A few weeks ago I read the late Susan Sontag’s beautiful New Yorker short story about the time of AIDS, “The Way We Live Now,” published in November 1986. It’s well worth a read as the themes certainly resonate today as well. And, September is National Yoga Month (more information about the evidence here) — try to get out, stretch and move if you can. Earning my yoga teacher training certification in 2016, was one of the best decisions I’ve made, for my body, mind, and spirit.
Have a healthy, joyful, and safe September (and upcoming labor day weekend),

Amitha Kalaichandran, M.D., M.H.S.