As we say goodbye to a decade in time, Natural Awakenings San Diego celebrates a decade of publishing content that educates and inspires our readers to live out our “Healthy Living, Healthy Planet” tagline. We do this by providing current research, necessary tips and tricks, as well as a directory of practitioners to help you along your path to a healthier and happier you. January 2020 marks our Annual Health & Wellness Guide & Directory, giving you all the tools and support you need to make the New Year a success—including ways to avoid January 17th’s infamous “Quitter’s Day,” in an article written by coach Elisabeth Hancock, on page 23.

This issue contains a wealth of knowledge about immune health and age-defying habits, but if there is one thing we know works best, it’s consistency. We say this to our advertisers as well…because consistency is key when we want to affect change—whether it be for the health of our body or our business.

Immune health can also be considered brain and gut health. As you may remember from our March 2019 issue, 70 percent of our immune system resides in the lining of our gut. With an extensive network of neurons lining our guts, some scientists have nicknamed it our “second brain”.

In "Living Long & Well" on page 18, Dorothy Sears, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at the Arizona State University College of Health Solutions, makes recommendations for longevity and anti-aging by both improving diet quality and restricting calories which appears to help slow the rate of aging at the genetic level. And Michael Grandner, Ph.D., director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, emphasizes that sleep is one of the three pillars of health, along with good nutrition and exercise. Even though sleep is a necessary biological requirement, many see it as a waste of time and their health suffers because of that belief. Check our Elaine’s Publisher’s Pick, on page 23, to find out how we recommend gaining the healthiest night’s sleep.

As someone who avoids traditional news like the plague, being a part of the #NASDMag team has given me access to news that seems so much more important than what we can see on TV every morning or evening. And with the launch of our new website last year, we now have endless space to educate you, our readers, with local articles, videos and events!  2020 is expected to be an exciting year of events such as the Mars Mission, the opening of the Yahoo! Time Capsule, the Great South American Eclipse, and EXPO 2020 in Dubai, which is like the World’s Fair, with 192 countries showcasing the newest in art, technology, science and countless other spheres, with themes including happiness and environmental stability. We invite you to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media to find our where we are and what we are getting into around America’s Finest City and beyond.

Vanessa