Winter 2017
HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4You
Best sports for your heart
HELP OTHERS LIVE LONGER
How much daily protein do you need
‘Thin Slices of Joy’ Be body vigilant to fight against cancer
HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU: SERVING THE COMMUNITY FOR THE LAST SIX YEARS
How to spread Health & Happiness I wish you a very happy and healthy new year. We are now entering in the 6th year of our publication. It has been a remarkable journey. Publishing a free magazine has been tough. Encouraged by your love and supportive feedback, we successfully kept on crossing every hurdle that confronted us. We must also thank our advertisers. This journey could not have been possible without their generous support. I hugely appreciate Kulwant Sandhu, who one day stopped me in Osterley Park and made a voluntary contribution. He politely said, “You are doing so much for the community. I feel I should also make a small contribution from my side.” It really touched me. Of course, we need more advertisers, but we also need more people like Kulwant who could donate or make voluntary contributions. You can also ask your family members and friends to chip in to make a collective donation. If every one of our readers is prepared to make an annual voluntary contribution, we can print more copies and flood the community with the message of positive Health and Happiness.
Vijay Rana Editor, Health & Happiness 4 You
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CONTENTS Winter 2017, Issue 22 5 – Help others live longer 6 – Be body vigilant to fight cancer 6 – How much daily protein do you need 7 – Exercise for joint pain 9 – Bosses who serve their employees 11 –Yoga can reduce high blood pressure 12 – 8 out of 10 middle-aged are unhealthy 12 – Which sports are best for your heart 13 – Sleepless drivers double crash risk 14 – What is in your favourite beverages 16 – Gesturing boosts creative thinking in kids 17 – Kids drink bathtub full of sugary drinks 18 – Thin slices of joy
How to get in touch Editor: editor@ajivan.com Advertising enquiries: sales@ajivan.com Subscription enquiries: info@ajivan.com Tel: 07850 374 595 Website: www.healthandhappiness4you.com HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU is a voluntary group dedicated to spreading the message of positive health and wellbeing. Disclaimer: The information available in this magazine is for general awareness only. It is NOT a substitute for the knowledge and judgment of qualified medical experts. We make no warranty as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of this information. Should you have any medical condition, you are strongly advised to consult a qualified health care professional. Views expressed by our contributors are their own and we take no responsibility for their views.
Helping pays off People who care for others live longer Older people who help and support others live longer. These are the findings of a study published in the journal “Evolution and Human Behaviour”, conducted by researchers from the University of Basel, Edith Cowan University, the University of Western Australia, the Humboldt University of Berlin, and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. An international research team has found that grandparents who care for their grandchildren on average live longer than grandparents who do not. The researchers conducted survival analyses of over 500 people aged between 70 and 103 years, drawing on data from the Berlin Aging Study collected between 1990 and 2009. In contrast to most previous studies on the topic, the researchers deliberately did not include grandparents who were primary or custodial care givers. Instead, they compared grandparents who provided occasional childcare with grandparents who did not, as well as with older adults who did not have children or grandchildren but who provided care for others in their social network.
Emotional support The results of their analyses show that this kind of care giving can have a positive effect on the mortality of the carers. Half of the grandparents who took care of their grandchildren were still alive about ten years after the first interview in 1990. The same applied to participants who did not have grandchildren, but who supported their children – for example, by helping with housework. In contrast, about half of those who did not help others died within five years. The researchers were also able to show that this positive effect of care giving on mortality was not limited to help and care giving within the family. The data analysis showed that childless older adults who provided others with emotional support, for example, also benefited. Half of these helpers lived for another seven
years, whereas non-helpers on average lived for only another four years.
Too intense involvement causes stress “But helping shouldn’t be misunderstood as a panacea for a longer life,” says Ralph Hertwig, Director of the Center for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. “A moderate level of care giving involvement does seem to have positive effects on health. But previous studies have shown that more intense involvement causes stress, which has negative effects on physical and mental health,” says Hertwig. As it is not customary for grandparents in Germany and Switzerland to take custodial care of their grandchildren, primary and custodial caregivers were not included in the analyses. The researchers think that pro-social behaviour was originally rooted in the family. “It seems plausible that the development of parents’ and grandparents’ pro-social behaviour toward their kin left its imprint on the human body in terms of a neural and hormonal system that subsequently laid the foundation for the evolution of cooperation and altruistic behaviour towards non-kin,” says first author Sonja Hilbrand, doctoral student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Basel. 5 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Public urged to be more body vigilant in fight against cancer A new study urges people to be more body vigilant to improve early cancer diagnosis rates. Over a quarter of patients in a recent study failed to contact medical professional with 'cancer alarm symptoms.' Nearly half of those diagnosed with cancer are at an advanced stage of the disease, the investigators report. New research published in BMC Public Health has found that increased body vigilance may contribute to early cancer diagnosis. In the first study of its kind, researchers from the University of Surrey who received funding from Cancer Research UK, found that people who are more body vigilant were more likely to seek professional medical help. Unlike previous research in this area which mainly focuses on the time from perceiving a reason to contact a healthcare professional to first consultation, this study examines patients' attentiveness to their bodies and their readiness to contact medical professionals. During the study, a sample group of over 2,000 people aged 50 and over were asked whether they had experienced one or more of 14 'cancer alarm symptoms' over the previous three months. Almost half the sample (46%) reported experiencing at last once cancer alarm symptom in this time period. The most commonly reported symptoms were: • • •
Persistent cough or hoarseness (23%) Changes in bowel habits (18%) Constant change in bladder habits (17%)
Only 63% of those who reported these frequently associated symptoms of cancer, sought help from a medical professional. The study found that those who were more body vigilant were significantly more likely to have sought help for at least one 'cancer alarm' symptom.
Unemployed and retired people were also more likely to have sought help. Cancer that is diagnosed at an early stage is more likely to be treated successfully saving lives. Research from Cancer Research UK has found that 46% of all patients with cancer in England have their disease diagnosed when it has already reached an advanced stage. Lead author of the report, Dr Katriina Whitaker from the University of Surrey said: "In order to prevent the number of deaths in England from cancer, we need people to identify and understand changes in their bodies and not delay seeking medical help. "Far too many cases of cancer are diagnosed at a late stage which severely reduces chances of survival. In this study 27% of those questioned had not yet sought medical advice on symptomatic signs of cancer which is very worrying." Dr Jana Witt, Cancer Research UK's health information officer, said: "There's no need to check yourself for cancer in a set way or at a set time, but it's important to pay attention to your body and get to know what's normal for you... If you notice any unusual or persistent changes, it's important to go and see your doctor. When cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, treatment is more likely to be successful."
How much protein should you have In the UK, adults are advised to eat 0.75g of protein for each kilogram they weigh, based on the Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI). So if you weigh 70kg (11 stone), you should eat about 52.5g of protein a day. On average, men should eat 55g and women 45g of protein daily. That’s about 2 palm-sized portions of meat, fish, tofu, nuts or pulses. But most people find it very easy to eat a lot more. Men and women in the UK eat about 45-55% more protein than they need each day, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Eating up to twice the current RNI for protein is generally thought to be safe, but nutritionist Dr Helen Crawley says: "There is certainly no benefit to having very high protein intakes.”
Exercise: An effective prescription for joint pain
Regular movement can help relieve ankle, knee, hip, or shoulder pain Joint pain can rob you of life's simple pleasures — you may no longer look forward to walking your dog, gardening, or chasing a tennis ball across the court. Even the basics of getting through your day, like getting into the car or carrying laundry to the basement, can become sharp reminders of your limitations. But the right exercises performed properly can be a longlasting way to subdue ankle, knee, hip, or shoulder pain. Although it might seem that exercise would aggravate aching joints, this is simply not the case. Exercise can actually help to relieve joint pain in multiple ways: -- It increases the strength and flexibility of the muscles and connective tissue surrounding the joints. When thigh muscles are stronger, for example, they can help support the knee, thus relieving some of the pressure on that joint. -- Exercise relieves stiffness, which itself can be painful. The body is made to move. When not exercised, the tendons, muscles, and ligaments quickly shorten and tense up. But exercise — and stretching afterward — can help reduce stiffness and preserve or extend your range
of motion. -- It boosts production of synovial fluid, the lubricant inside the joints. Synovial fluid helps to bring oxygen and nutrients into joints. Thus, exercise helps keep your joints "well-oiled." -- It increases production of natural compounds in the body that help tamp down pain. In other words, without exercise, you are more sensitive to every twinge. With it, you have a measure of natural pain protection. -- It helps you keep your weight under control, which can help relieve pressure in weight-bearing joints, such as your hips, knees, and ankles. If all this isn't enough, consider the following: exercise also enhances the production of natural chemicals in the brain that help boost your mood. You'll feel happier — in addition to feeling better. For more on mastering an exercise plan to combat joint pain, buy The Joint Pain Relief Workout, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School. 7 HELATH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
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When bosses 'serve' their employees, everything improves When managers create a culture where employees know the boss puts employees' needs over his or her own, measureable improvements in customer satisfaction, higher job performance by employees, and lower turnover are the result, according to research by Robert Liden, Sandy Wayne, Chenwei Liao, and Jeremy Meuser, that has just been published in the Academy of Management Journal. Employees feel the most valued, and in return give back to the company and its customers when their bosses create a culture of trust, caring, cooperation, fairness and empathy. According to Sandy Wayne one of the authors of the research, "The best business leadership style is far from, 'Do this. Don't do that.' A servant leader looks and sounds a lot more like, 'Is there anything I can do to help you?' Or, 'Let me help you....' Or, 'What do you need to...?' This approach helps employees reach their full potential." The corresponding admiration employees have for bosses who care about them manifests itself in teamwork, loyalty and dedication to the business and its customers. The leadership style trickles down. Wayne said, "It's contagious. The employees see their leaders as role models and often mimic those qualities, creating a culture of servant leadership. This serving culture drives the effectiveness of the business as a whole." The study was conducted at the Jason's Deli national restaurant chain, and the sample included:
• • •
961 employees 71 Jason's Deli restaurants 10 metropolitan areas.
The findings were based on data from surveys completed by managers, employees, and customers, and
data from corporate records. The University of Illinois at Chicago research project on Servant Leadership has provided a remarkable insight into the myriad of opportunities to enhance our greatest asset -- our culture. Professor Wayne says stores with servant leaders experienced the following positive outcomes: • • •
6 percent higher job performance 8 percent more customer service behaviors 50 percent less likely to leave the company
The study suggests this is an increasingly relevant form of leadership that offers promise to the premise that if businesses lead by caring for their people, the profits will take care of themselves. 9 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Yoga can reduce borderline high blood pressure
According to a small new study, people with prehypertension who practiced yoga for an hour a day for three months lowered both their average diastolic and arterial pressure. The study was presented at the Cardiological Society of India’s annual conference. “Both prehypertension and high blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure,” said lead author Ashutosh Angrish, MD, a cardiologist at Sir Gangaram Hospital in Delhi, India. Prehypertension is defined as a systolic reading (the first number in a blood pressure reading) of 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic reading (the second number) of 80 to 89 mm Hg, while full-blown hypertension requires a systolic reading greater than 140 mm Hg or diastolic reading greater than 90 mm Hg. People who have prehypertension will likely develop hypertension “unless
they improve their lifestyle,” Dr. Angrish says. Dr. Angrish and his colleagues recruited 60 such patients, average age 54, and prescribed all of them lifestyle strategies for lowering blood pressure. These included moderate aerobic exercise, a healthy diet, and quitting smoking. In the yoga group, however, both 24-hour diastolic blood pressure and night time diastolic blood pressure decreased by approximately 4.5 mmHg. Average arterial pressure decreased as well, by about 4.9 mmHg. “Although the reduction in blood pressure was modest, it could be clinically very meaningful,” Dr. Angrish said in a press release. Even a 2 mm Hg decrease in diastolic blood pressure has the potential to decrease the risk of coronary heart disease by 6%, and the risk of stroke by 15%, he added.
To protect your thinking skills avoid highly refined carbohydrates and sugary drinks High blood sugar, which often follows eating highly refined carbohydrates like a bagel or drinking sugarsweetened beverages, has been linked to memory loss and dementia. Choosing foods made with whole grains and exercising more can keep blood sugar in check and protect your brain. Source: Harvard Health
Eight out of 10 of UK’s middle-aged are unhealthy Take an official One You test to find out if you are one of them Eight out of 10 of the middle aged either weigh too much, drink too much or don’t exercise enough, as new analysis from Public Health England (PHE), out on 28 December 2016, shows modern life taking its toll on health. PHE’s One You campaign is reaching out to the 83% of 40 to 60 year olds (87% of men and 79% of women) who are either overweight or obese, exceed the Chief Medical Officer’s alcohol guidelines or are physically inactive, to provide free support and tools to help them live more healthily in 2017 and beyond. Modern life is harming the health of the nation: 77% of men and 63% of women in middle age are overweight or obese. Obesity in adults has shot up 16% in the last 20 years. Many also can’t identify what a ‘healthy’ body looks like, suggesting obesity has become the new normal. The diabetes rate among this age group also doubled in this period in England. Obese adults are more than 5 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who are a healthy weight (a body mass index between 18.5 and 25). Ninety per cent of adults with diabetes have Type 24. People are being urged to take a moment to consider their health and the simple steps they can take to improve it in the run up to the New Year, by taking the One You online quiz. People need to eat better, be more active, stop smoking and consider their drinking. The quiz, called ‘How Are You’, takes your lifestyle information, gives you a health score and then links to
free localised, personal information, apps and tools. More than 1.1 million people have taken the quiz so far and where appropriate, been directed to download apps like Couch to 5K, Alcohol Checker and Easy Meals. Nearly a quarter of a million people have subsequently downloaded Couch to 5K. These sit alongside PHE’s other online tools like the Heart Age tool which gives you your ‘heart age’ based on your age and lifestyle. PHE would also encourage people to take up their NHS Health Check invitation when they receive it. Professor Sir Muir Gray, Clinical Adviser for the One You campaign, said: “The demands of modern day living are taking their toll on the health of the nation, and it’s those in middle age that are suffering the consequences most, as their health reaches worrying new levels. Over 15 million Britons are living with a long term health condition, and busy lives and desk jobs make it difficult to live healthily. But just making a few small changes will have significant benefits to people’s health now and in later life.”
Which sports are best for your heart The researchers analyzed health and physical activity data on 80,306 adults (average age 52), including the frequency and intensity of their participation in various sports. In a span of about nine years, 8,790 people died, including 1,909 from cardiovascular disease. People who regularly swam, played racket sports (tennis, squash or badminton) or did aerobics (including dancing) were less likely to die for any reason, but especially from cardiovascular disease, than were people who did not participate in those sports. The reduced risk for cardiovascular death was 36 percent for aerobics, 41 percent for swimming and 56 percent for racket sports. Cycling and running did not reduce the odds of cardiovascular death. Source: British Journal of Sports Medicine
We drink way too much sugar
Missing 1-2 hours of sleep doubles crash risk Study reveals the dangers of getting less than 7 hours of sleep Drivers who miss between one to two hours of the recommended seven hours of sleep in a 24-hour period nearly double their risk for a crash, according to new research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says that 35 percent of U.S. drivers sleep less than the recommended seven hours daily. And with drowsy driving involved in more than one in five fatal crashes on U.S. roadways each year, AAA warns drivers that getting less than seven hours of sleep may have deadly consequences. "You cannot miss sleep and still expect to be able to safely function behind the wheel," said Dr. David Yang, executive director for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "Our new research shows that a driver who has slept for less than five hours has a crash risk comparable to someone driving drunk." The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety's report, Acute Sleep Deprivation and Risk of Motor Vehicle Crash Involvement, reveals that drivers missing 2-3 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period more than quadrupled their risk of a crash compared to drivers getting the recommended seven hours of sleep. This is the same crash risk the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration associates with driving over the legal limit for alcohol. The AAA Foundation report found that in a 24-hour period, crash risk for sleep-deprived drivers increased steadily when compared to drivers who slept the recommended seven hours or more: • •
Six to seven hours of sleep: 1.3 times the crash risk Five to six hours of sleep: 1.9 times the crash risk
• •
Four to five hours of sleep: 4.3 times the crash risk Less than four hours of sleep: 11.5 times the crash risk
While 97 percent of drivers told the AAA Foundation they view drowsy driving as a completely unacceptable behaviour that is a serious threat to their safety, nearly one in three admit that at least once in the past month they drove when they were so tired they had a hard time keeping their eyes open. Symptoms of drowsy driving can include having trouble keeping eyes open, drifting from lanes or not remembering the last few miles driven. However, more than half of drivers involved in fatiguerelated crashes experienced no symptoms before falling asleep behind the wheel. AAA urges drivers to not rely on their bodies to provide warning signs of fatigue and should instead prioritize getting plenty of sleep (at least seven hours) in their daily schedules. For longer trips, drivers should also: • • • • •
Travel at times when normally awake Schedule a break every two hours or every 100 miles Avoid heavy foods Travel with an alert passenger and take turns driving Avoid medications that cause drowsiness or other impairment
The AAA Foundation report is based on the analysis of a representative sample of 7,234 drivers involved in 4,571 crashes. 13 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Here’s what to know about your favourite beverages Nearly 50 percent of our added sugar is from sugar-sweetened beverages, according to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. It would be a sad state if the only solution to optimal health were to cut out all sugar. To avoid the birthday cake, milkshake, ice cream and the ohso-perfect chocolate chip cookie would be a true shame. Yet we hear so much about the need to decrease added sugars. Research strongly indicates that sugar consumption is associated with excess body weight and Type 2 diabetes. The 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recommended that Americans consume no more than 10 percent of total calories in the form of added sugars. At 2,000 calories a day, that’s 200 calories from added sugar. There are 16 calories in one teaspoon of sugar, so that works out to 12 teaspoons a day. Let’s be clear what we’re talking about: According to the Food and Drug Administration, “Added sugars are sugars added during the processing of foods, including sugars, syrups, caloric sweeteners and naturally occurring sugars that are isolated from a whole food and concentrated so that sugar is the primary component (e.g., fruit juice concentrates).” And, according to the advisory committee, nearly 50 percent of our added sugar is from sugar-sweetened beverages: soda, fruit punch, sports and energy drinks, or souped-up coffees and teas. There’s another reason to focus on beverages. You can chug some soda or juice a lot more quickly than you can eat a cookie or candy. Also, when you drink something, it’s absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream. If you drink something with a high sugar content, blood sugar will spike quickly. A simple glass of juice can cause the body to go into a quite a metabolic whirl. I encourage taking ownership of the sugar you consume. You should be aware of what foods have added sugar so you can make informed decisions. If you are mindful of the sugar in beverages and make an effort to decrease intake, you will be able to enjoy sweets and treats when you want them without seriously causing risk to your health. Let’s take a look at some common beverages and their sugar content.
Soda One 12-ounce can has nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar. If you crave soda, I suggest pouring a small serving (two to four ounces) on occasion, and savouring each sip. Really, sip it. Many people have switched to diet soda, but there’s a catch: Scientific studies are finding that artificial “sugarfree” sweeteners seem to have damaging effects on the body, such as promoting abdominal fat and obesity. So whether you’re drinking regular or diet, watch the portion size and view soda as a dessert to enjoy occasionally.
Juice Just 12 ounces of orange juice, even if it’s from 100 percent fruit, has just over eight teaspoons of sugar. That’s a lot of sugar in one glass. So try to drink less of it. If you buy smaller containers or simply buy juice less often, you will drink less. Out of sight, out of mind! Start watering it down. Pour three-quarters of the glass and fill the rest with water or bubbly water. Put slices of fruit in the mix to add flavour.
Sports drinks These drinks were created for a specific reason: to support athletes performing sustained aerobic exercise who need to replenish salt, water and sugar for peak performance. But many people drink sports drinks all day long, and it has nothing to do with their athletic performance. For the athletes out there, decide whether the drink meets your needs. Measure sweat rate, notice
your urine color, and decide if you need more or less sugar, salt and water. It can take an athlete an entire season to find the right mix, but it’s worth it, as proper hydration and electrolytes are essential to performance. Twelve ounces of traditional sports drink contains just over five teaspoons of sugar.
Tea There are countless fantastic teas out there that are full of flavor — some naturally sweet, without any added sugar. There are herbal teas that are berry-, citrus-, mintor fruit-flavored, and many black teas with a sweet and flavorful twist. If you are a traditional tea-drinker and you put several spoonfuls of sugar in the cup, notice how many teaspoons you use. Then consider adding less. Keep decreasing the content over time (perhaps months). You will notice how your palate shifts and the body adjusts to less sweetness. And if you are drinking tea products in cans and bottles, read the ingredients! Choose tea without any added sugar; then, if you must, add some sugar yourself. Take ownership of how much sugar you drink.
Milk Cow’s milk has naturally occurring sugar (lactose). Where things get tricky is when sugar is added to milk, which happens, especially to nondairy milk. If you go to the market and look for the “original” flavor of most nondairy milks, you will find added sugar in their ingredients and added sugars on their labels. Most products offer an “unsweetened” option. Choose that, and then decide if it needs sweetener. Also, watch out for all the flavored milks out there — vanilla, pumpkin spice, chocolate, coffee — as most of those have additional sugar.
Alcohol
Again, are you drinking the alcohol for the alcohol, or for the sugar boost? Some cocktails have so much sugar that they are like liquid candy. My suggestion: Enjoy alcohol for the taste, buzz, social experience and not the sugar high. Separate them. Wine and beer have no added sugar; neither does hard alcohol on the rocks or neat. Cocktails can add a fruit squeeze, a twist or some bitters for some healthy flavour. You may be amazed at how much less alcohol you drink when you decrease the sugar content! I love my coffee and happily imbibe it daily. But there’s Take a moment and start to notice how many teaspoons nothing in my cup but coffee. No sugar. Many of us love of sugar you have in a day. Read the ingredients in coffee not for the taste, the ritual or the caffeine kick, but addition to the label to see whether sugar is added to the for the sugar rush that comes with it. Either we are adding drinks and foods you are consuming. Then decide if you several spoons of sugar on our own, or we are frequenting want to make a change and decrease your total intake. coffee shops that add loads of syrups and sweeteners. Take ownership of your decisions and choices rather than Much mocha, flavored lattes and other coffee drinks have mindlessly consuming sugar. at least five teaspoons of added sugar. Step one, as Jae Berman is a registered dietician, a personal always, is to be aware. How much sugar is in those coffee trainer and owner of Jae Berman Nutrition. He drinks? How much sugar do you add yourself? If you’re regularly writes for the Washington Post. drinking your coffee only for the sugar, then you might be better off having a dessert instead.
Coffee
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Gesturing can boost children’s creative thinking Encouraging children to use gestures as they think can help them come up with more creative ideas, according to research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. "Our findings show that children naturally gesture when they think of novel ways to use everyday items, and the more they gesture the more ideas they come up with," say psychological scientist Elizabeth Kirk of the University of York. "When we then asked children to move their hands, children were able to come up with even more creative ideas." Existing research has shown that gesture can help with some kinds of problemsolving. Kirk and colleague Carine Lewis of the University of Hertfordshire hypothesized that it might specifically help us come up with creative or alternative uses for everyday items. "Gesturing may allow us to explore the properties of the items -- for example, how the item could be held, its size, its shape, etc. -- and doing so can trigger ideas for creative uses," Kirk explains. In their first study, the researchers compared the creativity of children who spontaneously gestured with those who either did not or could not gesture. A total of 78 children, ranging from 9 to 11 years old, saw a series of images depicting ordinary household items, including a newspaper, a tin can, and a kettle. The researchers asked the children to look at each image and list as many novel uses as they could think of. The children could take as much time as they needed; when they paused, the researchers prompted them by saying "What else could you do with it?" A subset of participants completed the task twice -- on one version of the task, they wore mittens that limited their ability to gesture. The researchers transcribed and coded each session, measuring the number of valid novel uses generated by each participant, as well as the originality of those responses and the diversity of categories that the
responses fell under. The data showed that children spontaneously gestured and that greater gesturing was associated with a greater number of creative ideas. Restricting children's ability to gesture did not impact their ability to come up with creative uses for the objects: Children who were free to gesture produced about the same number of ideas as those who wore the mittens and could not gesture. This may be because children still had many other ideagenerating strategies at their disposal when their hands were restricted. These findings led Kirk and Lewis to wonder: Could encouraging children to gesture actually boost creativity? In a second experiment, 54 children, ranging from 8 to 11 years old, completed the same alternative uses task. In some cases, children gestured normally; in other cases, the researchers instructed the children to "use your hands to show me how you could use the object in different ways." The data indicated that the encouragement worked: Children who gestured normally produced 13 gestures, on average, while those who were specifically prompted to gesture produced about 53 gestures, on average. And encouraging gesture in this way boosted creativity. Children who were encouraged to gesture generated a greater number of novel uses for the everyday objects than did the children who were not given any special instruction. Kirk and Lewis conclude in their paper. "Asking children to move their hands while they think can help them tap into novel ideas. Children should be encouraged to think with their hands." Ravneet Sawhney is the Director/Proprietor of Little Cherubs Day Nursery 16 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
New figures from Cancer Research UK suggest those aged 11 to 18 each drink just over 234 cans of soft drink a year – or one bathtub full. Even toddlers aged between 1.5 and three drink the equivalent of 1.34 cans of fizzy drink every week – or 69.68 in a year, the analysis showed. Meanwhile, those aged four to 10 drink 110.61 cans of fizzy drink per year on average – almost half a bathtub. The new Cancer Research UK data was based on data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. It found that adults and young children currently consume twice the maximum recommended amount of added sugar. And 11 to 18-year-olds eat and drink three times the recommended limit, with sugary drinks being their main source of added sugar.
Alison Cox, director of prevention at Cancer Research UK, said: “It’s shocking that teenagers are drinking the equivalent of a bathtub of sugary drinks a year. We urgently need to stop this happening and the good news is that the Government’s sugar tax will play a crucial role in helping to curb this behaviour. The ripple effect of a small tax on sugary drinks is enormous, and it will give soft drinks companies a clear incentive to reduce the amount of sugar in drinks.” In March, the Government announced it will introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks with added sugar. Drinks with 5g of sugar per 100ml will face a lower rate of tax, while those with more than 8g per 100ml will face a higher rate. The ripple effect of a small tax on sugary drinks is enormous, and it will give soft drinks companies a clear incentive to reduce the amount of sugar in drinks.
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Thin Slices of Joy 3-second secret to fill your life with joy Chade-Meng Tan is an award-winning engineer who joined the team at Google in its early stages. In tech circles, he's known for his role in developing Google's mobile search function, but inside the search giant, he's probably better known for his hugely popular mindfulness classes he began teaching to other employees. In his most recent move, Tan left Google to head a mindfulness institute aimed at helping corporate types lose the stress and find the joy in life. In his new book, "Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within," Tan wants to show others how he moved from a life in which he was "constantly miserable" to a life filled with happiness. And to change his mindset, all he needed was this simple three-second trick: Notice the little things that bring you joy. This might sound a little simplistic, but Tan argues that when we begin to notice the little things throughout our day that make us happy — whether it's a cool sip of water when we're feeling thirsty or a warm feeling of sun on a cool day — those things start to add up, and before we know it, we have a whole new perspective through which we seek out and notice the joy already present in our lives. Tan calls these moments of happiness "thin slices of joy" because they are just a few seconds each — tasting that first sip of coffee in the morning, hearing your daughter belly laugh when the dog does something silly, stepping from a cold blustery day and into a toasty-warm room. And when you start to notice those moments more thoroughly and string them together, you realize your day
is much more joyful than when you let those moments pass you by. "Thin slices of joy occur in life everywhere… and once you start noticing it, something happens, you find it’s always there. Joy becomes something you can count on," Tan says in the book. It may sound like a bunch of fluff, but Tan's secret to joy is actually based on neurological research about how we develop habits. His three-second trick is based on a trigger (the thin slice of joy), a routine (the moment we notice that joy) and a reward (the time we spend savoring the joy). “Noticing sounds trivial, but it is an important meditative practice in its own right," Tan writes. "Noticing is the prerequisite of seeing. What we do not notice, we cannot see." Three seconds to a happier, more joy-filled life? Now you cannot complain about the lack of time. Everybody has time for that.
When our brain feels happy, we smile; when we smile, our brain feels happier Imagine we are in a pleasant situation, like bumping into an old friend on the metro. When our brains feel happy, endorphins are produced and neuronal signals are transmitted to your facial muscles to trigger a smile. Endorphins are neurotransmitters, chemicals that pass along signals from one neuron to the next. Neurotransmitters play a key role in the function of the central nervous system. This is the start of the positive feedback loop of happiness. When our smiling muscles contract, they fire a signal back to the brain, stimulating our reward system, and further increasing our level of happy hormones, or endorphins. In short, when our brain feels happy, we smile; when we smile, our brain feels happier. Fake it till you make it! Yes, if you want to be happy, just smile. Thanks to the positive feedback loop of smiling, we can alter our brain's emotional processing pathway to feel happier with a simple smile.