HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU: Issue 27

Spring 2018

HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4You

What to do about digital addiction

Egoist people cannot see the future

More you smoke, More you stroke

How to beat anxiety for a better sleep

The difference between heart attack and cardiac arrest

Good parental communication helps kids to behave better More physical activity may help to reduce blood pressure

Health & Happiness 4 You: Serving community for the last seven years

Want to add an extra 12 years to your life?

According to a research published in the Time magazine, there are five behaviours that could extend a woman’s life expectancy at age 50 by 14 years and a man’s by 12 years. These behaviours are: Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, drinking only in moderation, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

The study was originally published in the journal Circulation. The researchers analyzed data from two large studies of the U.S. health professionals, using a sample of almost 79,000 women and more than 44,300 men.

Most of us are familiar with these lifestyle choices, yet many of us ignore them in our daily life. The aim of this study was to reinforce our belief in better health and wellbeing choices with the help of some solid evidence.

CONTENTS SPRING 2018, ISSUE 27 5. How to run correctly 7. Diabetes screening to reduce healthcare costs 8. Zero calorie sweeteners can lead to diabetes 9. How to beat anxiety for a better sleep 11. Junk food advertising attracts kids 11. Understanding heart attack and cardiac arrest 12. Egoist people can’t see the future 13. More you smoke, more you stroke 14. Eating yogurt improves bone health 15. Want to more exercise, join a group 17. Want to do about smartphone addiction 18. Better parental communication help kids to avoid harmful behaviour later

How to get in touch Vijay Rana Editor Health & Happiness 4 You

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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.

HOW TO RUN CORRECTLY Good running technique can help reduce your risk of injury and make your runs feel less tiring and more enjoyable.

Mitchell Phillips, director of running experts Stride UK, shares his basic tips to help you run relaxed and efficiently.

Keep your head straight Look straight ahead of you, about 30 to 40 metres out in front, and avoid looking down at your feet. Looking down will create tension in your neck and shoulders.

Keep your jaw and neck relaxed.

Don't hunch your shoulders Your shoulders should be back and down. Keep them relaxed and avoid tensing them. Don't hunch over as this restricts breathing, allowing less oxygen to get to the muscles.

Keep your hands relaxed Your hands should be relaxed, but don't let them flop. Tight hands can cause tension all the way up to the back and shoulders.

Keep your arms at 90 degrees Your arms should be bent at a 90-degree angle. Try to swing them forward and back, not across your body. The arm movement helps to propel you forward, so swinging them sideways is a waste of energy.

Lean forward while running Don't bend forward or backward from the waist as this places pressure on the hips. Some experts advise running in an upright position, but Phillips believes using your body weight to lean forward a bit while running can reduce heel strike and help you land on the middle of your foot.

Keep your hips stable

stick your bottom out or rock your hips from side to side.

Keeping this position in your hips can help prevent lower back and hip pain.

Don't lift your knees too high Land with a slight bend in the knee. This helps to absorb the impact of running on hard surfaces. Don't lift your knees too high and avoid bouncing up and down. Your knees should be lifting forwards rather than upwards.

Aim for a mid-foot strike Landing on the middle of your foot is the safest way to land for most recreational runners. Avoid striking the ground with your heel or your forefoot first. Your foot should land below your hips – not out in front of you.

Don't strike the ground heavily Aim for short light steps. Good running is light and quiet.

Whatever your weight, your feet should not slap loudly as they hit the ground. Light steps are more efficient and cause less stress to the body.

Breathe deeply and rhythmically Whether you breathe through your nose or mouth, try to breathe deeply and rhythmically. Avoid shallow and quick breaths. Try to aim for one breath for every two strides, but don't be afraid to try longer breathing.

Your hips should remain stable and forward-facing. Don't

86 million workdays are lost due to migraine each year And a close to one billion is spent on healthcare costs associated with the condition. It affects more than 23 per cent of adults with almost 200,000 attacks happening in the UK every day – making migraine the most common neurological reason for accident and emergency attendance. Society’s Headache, A report by Work Foundation

Diabetes screening can reduce the healthcare costs

A large study showed that for individuals diagnosed with diabetes, screening is associated with a reduction in healthcare costs due to fewer admissions and doctor's visits and a reduction in prescribed medication.

Health checks including diabetes risk assessment have been introduced in a number of countries. However, there are few population-based trials assessing the benefits, harms and costs of these screening programmes, and these have shown mixed results.

Between 2001 and 2006, a population-based cardiovascular and diabetes screening programme was introduced in five out of sixteen Danish counties. Over 150,000 individuals registered with 181 practices participating in the ADDITION-Denmark study were sent a diabetes risk score questionnaire, and if their score indicated moderate to high risk they were invited to attend for a diabetes test and cardiovascular risk assessment with their family doctor.

More than 27,000 attended for screening, and 1533 were diagnosed with diabetes during screening. A further 1,760,000 individuals were identified for a matched noscreening control group. Participants were followed for

approximately six years following diagnosis until 31 December 2012, when national registers were searched for healthcare usage and healthcare cost.

The researchers found that those individuals with clinically-diagnosed diabetes were identified on average 2.2 years later than individuals whose diabetes was detected in the screening practices. Healthcare costs were significantly lower in the screening group compared with the no-screening control group, with an average annual difference in healthcare costs of â‚Ź889 per individual with diabetes. The results have just been published in the scientific journal Diabetologia.

Lead author, Camilla Sortsø, says "While trials of population-based screening for type 2 diabetes have not demonstrated beneficial effects at the population level, we have previously shown that there are benefits for those found to have diabetes. This study contributes to our previous research by showing that early detection and treatment among individuals at high risk of type 2 diabetes has the potential to reduce costs."

7 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU

Zero-calorie sweeteners can also lead to diabetes and obesity Increased awareness of the health consequences of eating too much sugar has fuelled a dramatic rise in the consumption of zerocalorie artificial sweeteners in recent decades. However, new research finds sugar replacements can also cause health changes that are linked with diabetes and obesity, suggesting that switching from regular to diet soda may be a choice in vain.

Artificial sweeteners are one of the most common food additives worldwide, frequently consumed in diet and zero-calorie sodas and other products. While some previous studies have linked artificial sweeteners with negative health consequences, earlier research has been mixed and raised questions about potential bias related to study sponsorship.

This new study is the largest examination to date that tracks biochemical changes in the body -- using an approach known as unbiased high-throughput metabolomics -- after consumption of sugar or sugar substitutes. Researchers also looked at impacts on vascular health by studying how the substances affect the lining of blood vessels. The studies were conducted in rats and cell cultures.

"Despite the addition of these non-caloric artificial sweeteners to our everyday diets, there has still been a drastic rise in obesity and diabetes," said lead researcher Brian Hoffmann, PhD, assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University. "In our studies, both sugar and artificial sweeteners seem to exhibit negative effects linked to obesity and diabetes, albeit through very different mechanisms from each other."

The team fed different groups of rats diets high in glucose or fructose (kinds of sugar), or aspartame or

acesulfame potassium (common zero-calorie artificial sweeteners). After three weeks, the researchers saw significant differences in the concentrations of biochemicals, fats and amino acids in blood samples.

The results suggest artificial sweeteners change how the body processes fat and gets its energy. In addition, they found acesulfame potassium seemed to accumulate in the blood, with higher concentrations having a more harmful effect on the cells that line blood vessels.

"We observed that in moderation, your body has the machinery to handle sugar; it is when the system is overloaded over a long period of time that this machinery breaks down," Hoffmann said. "We also observed that replacing these sugars with non-caloric artificial sweeteners leads to negative changes in fat and energy metabolism."

So, which is worse, sugar or artificial sweeteners? It is well known that high dietary sugar is linked to negative health outcomes and the study suggests artificial sweeteners do, too. Hoffmann added. "If you chronically consume these foreign substances (as with sugar) the risk of negative health outcomes increases. As with other dietary components, I like to tell people moderation is the key if one finds it hard to completely cut something out of their diet."

8 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU

Trying to be perfect can cause anxiety No one is "perfect." Yet many people struggle to be, which can trigger a cascade of anxieties. Dr. Jeff Szymanski, the associate instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical Schoolm says, "The core of all perfectionism is the intention to do something well, if you can keep your eye on intention and desired outcome, adjusting your strategy when needed, you're fine.... But when you can't tolerate making a mistake, when your strategy is to make no mistake, that’s when perfectionism starts veering off in the wrong direction." In its most severe form, perfectionism can leave you unable to complete any task for fear of making a mistake.

To help you prioritize the projects and activities that mean the most to you and keep your personal strategy in line, Dr. Szymanski has shared the following exercise: What do you find valuable in life? What would you want 50 years of your life to represent? If that seems overwhelming, think about where you want to put your energies for the next five years. Think about your current goals and projects, and assign them priorities. Use the letters "ABCF" to help you decide where you want to excel (A), be above average (B), or be average (C), and what you can let go of (F). For example: •

A (100% effort): This is reserved for what's most important to you. For example, if your career is most valuable, your goals might be to impress the boss, make sure clients are happy, put out good products at work.

•

B (above average, maybe 80% effort): Perhaps you like playing golf or tennis or want to learn a new language. You enjoy these activities, but have no plans to go pro.

•

C (average effort): Perhaps having a clean home is important, too. But how often does your home need to be cleaned? People aren't coming to see it every day. Could you just clean up on the weekends? Or focus on a few rooms that get the most traffic?

•

F (no effort): Time-consumers that don't advance your values or bring you pleasure — for example, lining up all your hangers or folding all your clothes in a specific way. Do you have any tasks that, upon reflection, don't really matter — you've just done them one way for so long that you're on autopilot? These deserve to be pruned.

How to beat anxiety to get a better sleep •

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends.

•

Daylight helps set sleep patterns, so try to be outdoors while it's light out for 30 minutes a day.

•

Exercise regularly (but not too close to bedtime). An afternoon workout is ideal.

•

Keep naps short — less than an hour — and forgo napping after 3 p.m.

•

Avoid caffeine (found in coffee, many teas, chocolate, and many soft drinks), which can take up to eight hours to wear off. You may need to avoid caffeine entirely if you have panic attacks; many people who experience panic attacks are extra-sensitive to caffeine.

•

Review your medications with a doctor to see if you are taking any stimulants, which are a common culprit in keeping people up at night. Sometimes it's possible to switch medicines.

•

Avoid alcohol, large meals, foods that induce heartburn, and drinking a lot of fluid for several hours before bedtime.

•

If you smoke, quit. Smoking causes many health problems, including compromising sleep in a variety of ways.

•

Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet, without distractions like TV or a computer. Avoid using an electronic device to read in bed; the light from the screen can trick your brain into thinking it is daytime. If your mattress is uncomfortable, replace it.

•

Reading, listening to music, or relaxing before bed with a hot bath or deep breathing can help you get to sleep.

•

If you don't fall asleep within 20 minutes of turning in (or if you wake up and can't fall back to sleep in 20 minutes), get out of bed and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy.

For more tips on anxiety, buy Anxiety and Stress Disorders, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

KIDS HIT HARD BY JUNK FOOD ADVERTISING Junk food ads are shown more frequently on TV at times when many children are watching, new Heart Foundation-funded research shows.

The research, led by Associate Professor Lisa Smithers from the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute and published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, shows that children were exposed to twice as much unhealthy food advertising as healthy food advertising.

The research found that children would view more than 800 junk food ads each year, if they watched 80 minutes of television per day.

By building a bespoke TV monitoring system, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, Professor Smithers’ team was able to capture an entire year’s worth of television and ads from one free-to-air commercial TV network in South Australia.

Thirty thousand hours of television containing more than 500 hours of food advertisements (almost 100,000 food ads) were logged during 2016. Snack foods, crumbed/battered meats, takeaway/fast food and sugary drinks were among the most frequently advertised foods.

During children’s peak viewing times, the frequency and duration of "discretionary" (i.e., junk) food advertising was 2.3 times higher each hour than for healthy foods. Across the year, discretionary food advertising peaked at 71 per cent of all food advertising in January, dropping to a low of 41 per cent in August.

“Diet-related problems are the leading cause of disease in Australia, and the World Health Organization has concluded that food marketing influences the types of foods that children prefer to eat, ask their parents for, and ultimately consume,” Professor Smithers said.

Some countries and regions have implemented children’s television advertising bans (Quebec, Canada), junk food advertising bans (Norway), and requirements to publish healthy eating messages when unhealthy foods are advertised (France).

“I would love to see the results of our research play a role in protecting children from the effects of junk food advertising,” Prof Smithers said. To monitor the junk food advertising, she proposed a specially designed system, using a digital television tuner attached to a computer.

“This is the kind of thing that would be fairly easy to set up to monitor change over time and to evaluate the impact of different policies,” she said.

The Australian National Heart Foundation CEO Adjunct Professor John G Kelly said the research findings were disturbing. He said the Heart Foundation was very proud to be supporting emerging leaders such as Professor Lisa Smithers, whose research was funded through a 2015 Vanguard grant.

Heart attack vs. cardiac arrest Perhaps the most common source of confusion is the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest. A heart attack (what doctors call a myocardial infarction or MI) is defined as damage to part of the heart muscle caused by inadequate blood flow to that area. Most of the time, this happens due to a blockage in one of the heart’s arteries. Such blockages typically occur when cholesterol-laden plaque lining an artery ruptures. A clot forms, obstructing the vessel.

While a heart attack is a plumbing problem, a cardiac arrest is an electrical problem. Cardiac arrest happens when the heart’s electrical system malfunctions, causing it to beat rapidly and chaotically — or to stop beating altogether. Without blood circulating to the brain, lungs, and other organs, the person gasps or stops breathing and becomes unresponsive within seconds.

A heart attack is a common cause of cardiac arrest, but most heart attacks do not lead to cardiac arrest. Other possible causes of cardiac arrest include heart failure, a clot in the lungs, a serious imbalance of potassium, magnesium, or other minerals in the blood, a drug overdose, or a blow to the chest.

Julie Corliss, Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter

Egoist people cannot perceive future Selfishness makes their brain lazy Some people are worried about the future consequences of climate change, while others consider them too remote to have an impact on their well-being. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, examined how these differences are reflected in our brains.

With the help of neuro-imaging, the scientists found that people deemed "egotistical" do not use the area of the brain that enables us to look into and imagine the distant future. In "altruistic" individuals, on the other hand, the same area is alive with activity. The research results, published in the journal Cognitive, Affective & Behavioural Neuroscience, may help psychologists devise exercises that put this specific area of the brain to work. These could be used to improve people's ability to project themselves into the future and raise their awareness of, for example, the effects of climate change.

The concerns experienced by human beings are built on their values, which determine whether individuals prioritize their personal well-being or put themselves on an equal footing with their peers. In order to encourage as many people as possible to adopt "sustainable" behaviour, it is thus necessary that they feel the consequences of climate change are relevant to them. Some individuals -who are more self-centred -- do not worry about the consequences, believing that these potential disasters are too far off.

Are egoists only afraid of what directly concerns them?

The UNIGE psychologists turned to the report drawn up by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, where they identified predictions about the outcomes of climate change, such as a reduction in drinking water supplies, an increase in border conflicts and a spike in natural disasters. They then assigned a year in the future to each of these effects, stating when it would come to pass.

Tobias Brosch, professor in the Psychology Section at UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPSE) invited a panel of participants to complete a standardized questionnaire to measure the value hierarchies, marking the selfish or altruistic tendencies of each individual. One by one, the participants underwent an MRI before being shown the dated consequences of the events; they then had to

answer two questions on a scale of 1 to 8: Is it serious?

Are you afraid?

"The first result we obtained was that for people with egotistical tendencies, the near future is much more worrying than the distant future, which will only come about after they are dead. In altruistic people, this difference disappears, since they see the seriousness as being the same," explains Brosch.

Selfishness makes the brain lazy The psychologists then focused on the activity in the ventromedial pre-frontal cortex (vmPFC), an area of the brain above the eyes that is used when thinking about the future and trying to visualize it. "We found that with altruistic people, this cerebral zone is activated more forcefully when the subject is confronted with the consequences of a distant future as compared to the near future. By contrast, in an egotistical person, there is no increase in activity between a consequence in the near future and one in the distant future," says Brosch.

This particular region of the brain is mainly used for projecting oneself into the distant future. The absence of heightened activity in a self-centred person indicates the absence of projection and the fact that the individual does not feel concerned by what will happen after his or her death. Why, then, should such people adopt sustainable forms of behaviour? These outcomes, which can be applied to areas other than climate change, demonstrate the importance of being able to think about the distant future in order to adapt one's behaviour to the future constraints of the world.

12 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU

Men younger than 50: The more you smoke, the more you stroke Men under 50 who smoked were more likely to have a stroke, and their risk increased with the number of cigarettes they smoked, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke.

An increasing number of young adults are suffering ischemic stroke, which is the most common stroke type.

Tobacco use is on the rise among young adults. It is already established that the more young women smoke the greater their stroke risk; however, little is known about young men's stroke risk from smoking.

"The key takeaway from our study on men younger than 50 is 'the more you smoke, the more you stroke,'" said lead study author Janina Markidan, B.A., a medical student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Researchers studied 615 young men (age 15-49) who had a stroke in the prior three years. Researchers compared the men with stroke to 530 healthy men in the same age range. They also categorized participants as never smokers, former smokers and current smokers.

Current smokers were divided into groups based on the number of cigarettes smoked daily, 1 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 39 or 40 or more. Researchers found:

• •

•

Men who smoked were 88 percent more likely to have a stroke than men who never smoked.

Among current smokers, men who smoked fewer than 11 cigarettes daily were 46 percent more likely to have a stroke than those who never smoked.

But the heavier smokers, smoking at least two packs a day, were nearly 5 times, more likely to have a stroke than those who never smoked.

"The goal is to get these young men to stop smoking, however if they can smoke fewer cigarettes it could help reduce their stroke risk," Markidan said. Researchers did not record the concurrent use of other tobacco products which could have affected results. They also did not control for factors such as alcohol consumption, physical activity or recall bias. However, similar findings in a Swedish study, suggested that there was not a major effect from recall bias.

Sitting is bad for your brain Sitting too much is linked to changes in a section of the brain that is critical for memory, according to a preliminary study by UCLA researchers of middle-aged and older adults.

Studies show that too much sitting, like smoking, increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and premature death.

Researchers at UCLA wanted to see how sedentary behaviour influences brain health, especially regions of the brain that are critical to memory formation.

UCLA researchers recruited 35 people ages 45 to 75 and asked about their physical activity levels and the average number of hours per day they spent sitting over the previous week. Each person had a high-resolution MRI scan, which provides a detailed look at the medial temporal lobe, or MTL, a brain region involved in the

formation of new memories.

The researchers found that sedentary behaviour is a significant predictor of thinning of the MTL and that physical activity, even at high levels, is insufficient to offset the harmful effects of sitting for extended periods.

The researchers next hope to follow a group of people for a longer duration to determine if sitting causes the thinning and what role gender, race, and weight might play in brain health related to sitting.

MTL thinning can be a precursor to cognitive decline and dementia in middle-aged and older adults. Reducing sedentary behaviour may be a possible target for interventions designed to improve brain health in people at risk for Alzheimer's disease, researchers said.

13 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU

Eating yogurt may improve bone health of older adults The largest observational study to date of dairy intakes and bone and frailty measurements in older adults has found that increased yogurt consumption was associated with a higher hip bone density and a significantly reduced risk of osteoporosis in older women and men on the island of Ireland, after taking into account traditional risk factors.

The study was led

by Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, in collaboration with St James's Hospital Dublin and coinvestigators from Nutrition at Ulster University, Coleraine investigated participants from the Trinity Ulster Department of Agriculture.

Total hip and femoral neck bone mineral density measures in females were 3.1-3.9% higher among those with the highest yogurt intakes compared to the lowest and improvements were observed in some of the physical function measures (6.7% better). In men, the biomarker of bone breakdown was 9.5% lower in those with the highest yogurt intakes compared to the lowest. This is an indication of reduced bone turnover.

To determine risk factors for being diagnosed as osteoporotic, the research team analysed a wide range of factors such as BMI, kidney function, physical activity, servings of milk or cheese, and calcium or vitamin D supplements as well as traditional risk factors for bone health (e.g. smoking, inactivity, alcohol etc.). After adjusting for all these factors, each unit increase in yogurt intake in women was associated with a 31% lower risk of osteopenia and a 39% lower risk of osteoporosis. In men, a 52% lower risk of osteoporosis was found. Vitamin D supplements were also associated with significantly reduced risks both in men and women.

Osteoporosis is a chronic condition associated with a reduction in bone strength and an increased risk of bone

fracture. The associated costs of osteoporotic fractures are estimated to be over â‚Ź650 million annually in Europe.

Lead author of the study and research fellow at the Centre for Medical Gerontology, Trinity, Dr Eamon Laird said: "Yogurt is a rich source of different bone promoting nutrients and thus our findings in some ways are not surprising. The data suggest that improving yogurt intakes could be a strategy for maintaining bone health but it needs verification through future research as it is observational."

Dr Miriam Casey, senior investigator of this study and Consultant Physician at St James's Hospital Dublin said: "The results demonstrate a significant association of bone health and frailty with a relatively simple and cheap food product. What is now needed is verification of these observations from randomized controlled trials as we still don't understand the exact mechanisms which could be due to the benefits of micro-biota or the macro and micro nutrient composition of the yogurt."

The study included 1,057 women and 763 men who underwent a bone-mineral-density (BMD) assessment and 2,624 women and 1,290 men who had their physical function measured. Yogurt consumption information was obtained from a questionnaire and categorized as never, 2-3 times per week and more than one serving per day.

Other factors examined included daily intakes of other dairy products, meat, fish, smoking and alcohol and other traditional risk factors that affect bone health.

Some of the traditional risk factors for bone health are: smoking, inactivity and alcohol.

Seniors stick with fitness routines when they exercise in a group Older adults are more likely to stick with a group exercise program if they can do it with people their own age, a new University of British Columbia study has found.

“This study points to the importance of age-targeting, but perhaps not gendertargeting, when developing these programs,” says UBC kinesiology professor Mark Beauchamp, the study’s lead author.

Older adults worldwide are less active than they should be, with activity levels lowest in the Americas. In Canada, fewer than 15 per cent of people past age 59 meet international physical activity guidelines. Beauchamp and his international team of researchers have been looking for ways to keep people active into old age, because inactivity has been shown to increase risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and arthritis. It can also lead to physical limitations that affect overall quality of life.

The researchers knew from earlier studies that older adults prefer to exercise within their own age group.

The study recruited 627 adults, averaging 72 years in age, for 12-week exercise classes at YMCA locations in Metro Vancouver. Participants had the option to extend participation for another 12 weeks afterward. Researchers divided participants into three workout groups. One group was consistent in age and gender, while another was consistent in age but not gender. Those groups were led by older adult instructors recruited and trained for the study. The third group worked out in a typical YMCA class that was open to all ages and genders, led by a

YMCA instructor.

Over the 24-week period, participants who worked out with people their own age attended an average of 9.5 more classes than counterparts in the mixed-age group.

Participants in the mixed-age group averaged 24.3 classes.

Participants in the same-age, mixedgender group averaged 33.8 classes, and participants in the same-age, same-gender group averaged 30.7 classes.

The researchers’ prediction that same-gender classes would lead to even greater adherence wasn’t borne out by the results. This is significant, as it could free facilitators from the cost of providing separate classes for each gender unnecessarily.

Age and gender groupings weren’t the only strategies researchers used to try to strengthen participants’ commitment. Participants also received custom T-shirts that identified them as members of a group, and were given opportunities to socialize over coffee following class.

“All of this together points to the power of social connections,” Beauchamp said. “If you set the environment up so participants feel a sense of connection or belonging with these other people, then they’re more likely to stick with it.”

In this case, study participants didn’t want the classes to end. Rather than continue their workouts in regular classes, they successfully lobbied the YMCA to continue age-specific sessions after the experiment was over. The study appears in the May issue of Health Psychology.

As physical activity level rises, blood pressure may drop The more physically active you are, the lower your risk of high blood pressure, a by metabolic equivalents (METs). study in the April 2017 issue of Hypertension suggests. Researchers pooled data from 29 studies involving a total of more than 330,000 people, about 20% of whom had high blood pressure. They examined the association between high blood pressure and leisure-time physical activity (walking, dancing, or gardening, for example) as measured METs measure your level of exertion and are based on how much oxygen your body uses during a particular activity.

The recommended minimum amount of weekly exercise (150 minutes) is equivalent to about 10 MET hours per week. Compared with inactive people, those who got 10 MET hours per week of leisure-time physical activity had a 6% lower risk of high blood pressure. People who were twice as active (20 MET hours per week) had a 12% lower risk. Very active people, who logged 60 MET hours per week, were 33% less likely to have high blood pressure.

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What to do about smartphone addiction

People stare at small technological devices at bus stations, in trains, bars, or even when having a romantic candlelight dinner. Due to smartphones and Internet, we stop communicating with our immediate environment and we stop experiencing the current moment. In general, we forget what life really is all about.

Due to our constant interaction with smartphones and the Internet, we lose the skill of finding beauty in the simple things in life: the sunset, the first days of spring, or the sound of the wind and freshness of the air when autumn comes. Unfortunately, we are increasingly becoming distracted by technology everywhere and at every given time point in our lives. The old Roman saying ‚ “Carpe Diem” should be more in fashion than ever; we simply do not live it. Even worse is the fact that our social lives suffer significantly, ultimately damaging that part of us which is “inherently human.”

Although Internet and smartphone addiction cannot yet be diagnosed, this overuse is very prevalent in today’s society. Deriving from the literature and our present thoughts, we would like to provide the reader with some ideas on how to cut down smartphone overuse: 1. Wear an analog wristwatch and use an analog alarm clock in the bedroom. Otherwise, you become distracted by your phone, even when you only want to check the time.

2. Ban your smartphone from your bedroom, otherwise your first and last interaction of the day will likely be

related to the online world . We need to find some rest.

Overuse of smartphones is also associated with poor sleep and less work engagement the next day at work. The latter effect is further influenced by your control over work.

3. Close your mail program when you need to write something. Please also shut down your smartphone.

Otherwise, you will be constantly distracted by incoming messages and never enter a state of flow.

4. Answer your emails at stable and only a few time points. Do not answer all your mails immediately.

Otherwise, your work flow will be fragmented. Moreover, less checking on mails (or at stable times) is associated with less stress and more well-being. The implementation of this advice clearly depends on the organizational structure a person works in. More research is needed to better adjust this advice to different environments.

5. Humans have an intrinsic need for social interaction.

That is also one of the reasons why people spend lots of time in bars or other places to meet and communicate.

Make sure for yourself that this is quality time and shut down your phones when meeting friends or family.

6. When commuting by train from work, find some happiness and calm by looking out of the window. We all need some spare time, where our minds can wander because this is where we can get creative.

Opinion piece by Christian Montag and Peter Walla, published in Cogent Psychology, 2016 17 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU

Greater parent communication protects children from harmful behaviour later in life Children with greater parent communication in early adolescence have less harmful alcohol use and emotional eating in young adulthood, according to a new study in Biological Psychiatry.

their parents, including the frequency of discussions and arguing.

When the participants reached 25 years of age, a subsample of 91 participants was recruited from the larger study to take part in a neuroimaging session that The 14-year study, which followed participants from 11 measured brain activity using functional magnetic to 25 years old, identified that the extent of resonance imaging (fMRI). Specifically, the researchers communication between parents and children promotes used fMRI to study a network of brain connections called the development of a brain network involved in the the anterior salience network (ASN). The participants also processing of rewards and other stimuli that, in turn, answered questions about harmful alcohol use and protects against emotional eating at the age 25. overconsumption of food, alcohol Greater parentand drugs. In this child communication way, robust in early adolescence parent-child predicted greater communication connectivity of the has an impact on ASN at age 25, health behaviours supporting the idea in adulthood. that high-quality parenting is "It might mean important for longthat social term brain interactions development. Greater actually influence ASN connectivity the wiring patterns was, in turn, of the brain in the associated with lower teenage years," harmful alcohol use said John Krystal, and emotional eating MD, Editor at age 25. The of Biological findings point to the Psychiatry. "It ASN as a brain points to an mechanism for how important parenting in potential role of childhood affects family health behaviours in interactions in early adulthood. brain development and the emergence of maladaptive behaviours in adulthood," he added.

"These findings highlight the value of prevention and intervention efforts targeting parenting skills in childhood The study, led by Christopher Holmes, PhD and as a means to foster long-term, adaptive neurocognitive colleagues from the University of Georgia's Center for development," said Allen Barton, PhD, corresponding Family Research, focused on rural African Americans, an author of the study. understudied population that may be disproportionately at risk for these harmful health behaviours in young Ravneet Sawhney is the Director/Proprietor of Modern adulthood. In 2001, the research team began a Day Nursery with Branches in Chiswick and Hounslow. longitudinal study involving rural African American For more information visit: www.moderndaynursery.com families with a child 11 years of age. Between the ages of 18 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU 11 and 13 years, participants reported on interactions with