Autumn 2018
HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 You
Stress busting through breath control
Happy older people live longer
Stomach soothing steps for heartburn How to avoid raising a materialistic child
Health & Happiness 4 You: Serving the community for the last seven years
What the NHS says about the flu vaccine The flu vaccine is available on the NHS for adults and children who are considered "at risk". A bad bout of flu is much worse than a heavy cold. Flu symptoms come on suddenly and sometimes severely. They include fever, chills, headaches and aching muscles, as well as a cough and sore throat. Flu can't be treated with antibiotics. Flu is caused by viruses – antibiotics only work against bacteria. You may be prescribed antiviral medicines to treat your flu. Antivirals do not cure flu, but they can make you less infectious to others and reduce the length of illness. You need to have the flu vaccine every year. Flu viruses can change every year, so you need a vaccination that matches the new viruses each year. If you are pregnant you should have the flu vaccine. You should have the vaccine no matter what stage of pregnancy you're at. If you're pregnant, you could get very ill if you get flu, which could also be bad for your baby. Having the vaccine can also protect your baby against flu after they're born. Children can have the flu vaccine: The flu vaccine is generally given as an injection to children aged 6 months to 2 years and as a nasal spray to children aged 2 to 17 years who have a long-term health condition. Vitamin C can't prevent flu: Many people think that taking daily vitamin C supplements will stop them getting flu, but there's no evidence to prove this.
Vijay Rana Editor Health & Happiness 4 You
CONTENTS AUTUMN 2018, ISSUE 29 5 - Artificial sweeteners toxic to gut microbes 6 - Global mental health disorders to cost £12 trillion 8 - Happy older people live longer 9 - Sleep deprivation could lead to car crash 10 - Stomach soothing steps for heartburn 12 - Intermittent fasting may help in reversing diabetes 13 - Stress busting through breath control 14 - Yoga music at bed time is good for heart 16 - Limiting kid’s screen time for better cognition 17 - Skipping breakfast leads to overeating and weigh gain 18 - How to avoid raising a materialistic child
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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.
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Artificial sweeteners have toxic effects on gut microbes
FDA-approved artificial sweeteners and sport supplements were found to be toxic to digestive gut microbes, according to a new paper published in Molecules by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The collaborative study indicated relative toxicity of six artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k) and 10 sport supplements containing these artificial sweeteners. The bacteria found in the digestive system became toxic when exposed to concentrations of only one mg./ml. of the artificial sweeteners. "We modified bioluminescent E. coli bacteria, which luminesce when they detect toxicants and act as a sensing model representative of the complex microbial system," says Prof. Ariel Kushmaro, John A. Ungar Chair in Biotechnology in the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, and member
of the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. "This is further evidence that consumption of artificial sweeteners adversely affects gut microbial activity which can cause a wide range of health issues." Artificial sweeteners are used in countless food products and soft drinks with reduced sugar content. Many people consume this added ingredient without their knowledge. Moreover, artificial sweeteners have been identified as emerging environmental pollutants, and can be found in drinking and surface water, and groundwater aquifers. "The results of this study might help in understanding the relative toxicity of artificial sweeteners and the potential of negative effects on the gut microbial community as well as the environment. Furthermore, the tested bioluminescent bacterial panel can potentially be used for detecting artificial sweeteners in the environment," says Prof. Kushmaro.
CONTINUOUS PARTIAL ATTENTION or CPA: This is a state of constant alertness by keeping smartphones always on anywhere, anytime and anyplace. Consequently, we only scan the world, never giving full attention to anything. We check smartphones every 12 minutes and 71% of us never turn them off, according to a new research. This always on behaviour is very harmful for our long-term health. Those distracted by phone calls and emails saw a 10-point fall in their IQ, twice the impact of smoking Marijuana. Source: The Guardian, 13 October 2018
Global mental health disorders will cost £12 trillion by 2030 Lancet report says 13.5 million lives could be saved every year if mental illness addressed. The World Health Organization estimates that 300 million people worldwide have depression and 50 million have dementia. Schizophrenia is estimated to affect 23 million people, and bipolar disorder around 60 million. Mental health disorders are on the rise in every country in the world and could cost the global economy up to £12 trillion between 2010 and 2030 if a collective failure to respond is not addressed, according to a recent expert report. The Lancet Commission report by 28 global specialists in psychiatry, public health and neuroscience, as well as mental health patients and advocacy groups, said the growing crisis could cause lasting harm to people, communities and economies worldwide. While some of the costs will be the direct costs of health care and medicines or other therapies, most are indirect — in the form of loss of productivity, and spending on social welfare, education and law and order, said the report's co-lead author, Vikram Patel, a professor at Harvard Medical School in the United States. The wide-ranging report did not give the breakdown of the potential £12 trillion economic impact it estimated by 2030. "The situation is extremely bleak," said Patel.
Lack of investment
"dramatically" worldwide in the past 25 years, partly because societies are aging and more children are surviving into adolescence, yet "no country is investing enough" to tackle the problem. "No other health condition in humankind has been neglected as much as mental health has," Patel said. The Lancet report found that in many countries, people with common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia routinely suffer gross human rights violations — including shackling, torture and imprisonment. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the medical journal The Lancet, which commissioned the report, said it highlighted the "shameful and shocking treatment of people with mental ill health around the world." It called for a human rights-based approach to ensure that people with mental health conditions are not denied fundamental human rights, including access to employment, education and other core life experiences. It also recommended a wholesale shift to communitybased care for mental health patients, with psychosocial treatments such as talking therapies being offered not just by medical professionals but also by community health workers, peers, teachers and the clergy. The report was published ahead of a first global ministerial mental health summit in London held in October 2018
He said the burden of mental illness had risen
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Happy older people live longer
Happy older people live longer, according to researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. In a study published today in Age and Ageing, the scientific journal of the British Geriatrics Society, the authors found that an increase in happiness is directly proportional with a reduction in mortality. The study utilised data for 4,478 participants of a nationally-representative survey to look at the association between happiness, assessed in the year 2009, and subsequent likelihood of dying due to any cause, until 31 December 2015. The survey was focused on individuals aged 60 years and older living in Singapore. Happiness was assessed by asking the survey participants how often in the past week they experienced the following: ‘I felt happy’, ‘I enjoyed life’ and ‘I felt hope about the future’. Their responses were considered in two distinct ways; a ‘happiness score’, and a ‘binary happiness variable – Happy/Unhappy’. A wide range of demographics, lifestyle choices, health and social factors were accounted for in the analysis. The researchers found that among happy older people, 15% passed away until 31 December 2015. In contrast, the corresponding proportion was higher, at 20%, among unhappy older people. Every increase of one point on the happiness score lowered the chance of dying due to any cause among participants by an additional nine percent. The likelihood of dying due to any cause was 19 percent lower for happy older people. “The findings indicate that even small increments in happiness may be beneficial to older people’s longevity,”
explained Assistant Professor Rahul Malhotra, Head of Research at Duke-NUS’ Centre for Ageing Research and Education and senior author of the paper. “Therefore individual-level activities as well as government policies and programs that maintain or improve happiness or psychological well-being may contribute to a longer life among older people.” June May-Ling Lee, a co-author, added: “The consistency of the inverse association of happiness with mortality across age groups and gender is insightful – men and women, the young-old and the old-old, all are likely to benefit from an increase in happiness.” Interest in the pursuit of happiness to improve the health of older people has been growing. While previous studies have linked happiness or positive emotions with a range of better health outcomes, the evidence on the effect of happiness on living longer has been inconclusive. Many of these studies do initially observe a greater extent of happiness to be associated with a lower likelihood of dying, but this link disappears once differences in demographic, lifestyle and health factors between those less and more happy are accounted for. This is one of the few Asian studies to have assessed the association between happiness and mortality among older people, while accounting for several social factors, such as loneliness and social network, therefore extending the generalisability of the findings to nonWestern populations. 8 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Sleep deprived people more likely to have car crashes A new study in SLEEP indicates that people who have slept for fewer than seven of the past 24 hours have higher odds of being involved in and responsible for car crashes. The risk is greatest for drivers who have slept fewer than four hours. Experts recommend that adults should sleep for seven to nine hours a night, yet government surveys indicate that one in five U.S. adults sleeps for fewer than seven hours on any given night, and one in three report usually sleeping for fewer than seven hours. An estimated seven percent of all motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. and 16 percent of fatal crashes involve driver drowsiness. The researchers here found that drivers who reported fewer than four hours of sleep had 15.1 times the odds of responsibility for car crashes, compared with drivers who slept for the recommended seven to nine hours in the preceding 24-hour period, comparable to U.S. Department of Transportation estimates of the crash risk of a driver with a blood alcohol concentration roughly 1.5 times the legal limit. Researchers involved in the study also discovered that drivers who reported six, five, and four hours of sleep in the past 24 hours had 1.3, 1.9 and 2.9 times the odds of responsibility for a crash, respectively, compared with a driver who slept for seven to nine hours. Drivers who reported less than four hours of sleep had particularly elevated risk of single-vehicle crashes, which are more likely to result in injury or death. Drivers who had changed their sleep or work schedule in the past week and drivers who had been driving for 3 hours or longer without a break were also found to be at increased risk. "Being awake isn't the same as being alert. Falling asleep isn't the only risk," said study author Brian Tefft. "Even if they manage to stay awake, sleep-deprived drivers are still at increased risk of making mistakes -- like failing to notice something important, or misjudging a gap in traffic -- which can have tragic consequences," he added.
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Eleven stomach-soothing steps for heartburn or acidity
Heartburn, that uncomfortable burning sensation that radiates up the middle of the chest, is the most common digestive malady. It's the result of a condition known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), often called acid reflux, in which stomach acid leaks upward from the stomach into the esophagus.While heartburn should not be ignored, there are many stomach-soothing steps you can try before going to a doctor. These can help cool your symptoms and prevent bigger problems later on. 1. Eat smaller meals, but more often. A full stomach puts pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), a valve-like muscle that keeps stomach acid from backing up into the esophagus. 2. Eat in a slow, relaxed manner. Wolfing down your food fills your stomach faster, putting more pressure on the LES. 3. Remain upright after meals. Lying down increases pressure on the LES, which makes acid reflux more likely. 4. Avoid late-night eating. Eating a meal or snack within three hours of lying down to sleep can worsen reflux and heartburn symptoms. Leave enough time for the stomach to clear out. 5. Don't exercise immediately after meals. Give your stomach time to empty; wait a couple of hours after eating before exercising. 6. Tilt your torso with a bed wedge. Raising your torso up a bit with a wedge-shaped cushion
reduces the pressure on the LES and may ease nighttime heartburn. 7. Stay away from carbonated beverages. They cause belching, which promotes reflux of stomach acid. 8. Find the foods that trigger your symptoms and avoid them. Some foods and drinks increase acid secretion, delay stomach emptying, or loosen the LES — conditions that set the stage for heartburn. Common offenders include fatty foods, spicy foods, tomatoes, garlic, milk, coffee, tea, cola, peppermint, and chocolate. 9. Chew sugarless gum after a meal. Chewing gum promotes salivation, which neutralizes acid, soothes the esophagus, and washes acid back down to the stomach. Avoid peppermint flavors, which may trigger heartburn. 10. Check your medications. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if any of the medications you take could worsen acid reflux or inflame the esophagus. 11. Lose weight if you need to. Being overweight puts more pressure on the stomach (and the LES). If changing your eating habits and other preventive steps don't get heartburn under control, talk with your doctor. For more on relieving heartburn and treating a sensitive gut, check out The Sensitive Gut, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.
Planned intermittent fasting may help reverse type 2 diabetes
Around one in 10 people in the US and Canada have type 2 diabetes, which is associated with other serious illness and early death. It is thought to cost the US economy alone US$245 billion a year. Lifestyle changes are key to managing the disease, but by themselves can't always control blood glucose levels, and while bariatric surgery (a gastric band) is effective, it is not without risk, say the authors. Drugs can manage the symptoms, and help to stave off complications, but can't stop the disease in its tracks, they add. Three men, aged between 40 and 67, tried out planned intermittent fasting to see if it might ease their symptoms. They were taking various drugs to control their disease as well as daily units of insulin. In addition to type 2 diabetes, they all had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Two of the men fasted on alternate days for a full 24 hours, while the third fasted for three days a week. On fast days they were allowed to drink very low calorie drinks, such as tea/coffee, water or broth, and to eat one very low calorie meal in the evening. Before embarking on their fasting regime, they all attended a 6-hour long nutritional training seminar, which included information on how diabetes develops and its impact on the body; insulin resistance; healthy eating; and how to
manage diabetes through diet, including therapeutic fasting. They stuck to this pattern for around 10 months after which fasting blood glucose, average blood glucose (HbA1c), weight, and waist circumference were re-measured. All three men were able to stop injecting themselves with insulin within a month of starting their fasting schedule. In one case this took only five days. Two of the men were able to stop taking all their other diabetic drugs, while the third discontinued three out of the four drugs he was taking. They all lost weight (by 10-18%) as well as reducing their fasting and average blood glucose readings, which may help lower the risk of future complications, say the authors. Feedback was positive, with all three men managing to stick to their dietary schedule without too much difficulty. This is an observational study, and refers to just three cases-all in men. As such, it isn't possible to draw firm conclusions about the wider success or otherwise of this approach for treating type 2 diabetes. "The use of a therapeutic fasting regimen for treatment of [type 2 diabetes] is virtually unheard of," write the authors. "This present case series showed that 24-hour fasting regimens can significantly reverse or eliminate the need for diabetic medication," they conclude.
8 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Stress busting through breath control The term "fight or flight" is also known as the stress response. It's what the body does as it prepares to confront or avoid danger. But trouble starts when this response is constantly provoked by less momentous, day-to-day events, such as money woes, traffic jams, job worries, or relationship problems. Health problems are one result. A prime example is high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease. The stress response also suppresses the immune system, increasing susceptibility to colds and other illnesses. Moreover, the buildup of stress can contribute to anxiety and depression. We can't avoid all sources of stress in our lives, nor would we want to. But we can develop healthier ways of responding to them. One way is to invoke the relaxation response, through a technique first developed in the 1970s at Harvard Medical School by cardiologist Dr. Herbert Benson. The relaxation response is a state of profound rest that can be elicited in many ways, including meditation, yoga, and progressive muscle relaxation. Breath focus is a common feature of several techniques that evoke the relaxation response. The first step is learning to breathe deeply.
Deep breathing benefits Deep breathing also goes by the names of diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing, and paced respiration. When you breathe deeply, the air coming in through your nose fully fills your lungs, and the lower belly rises. For many of us, deep breathing seems unnatural. There are several reasons for this. For one, body image has a negative impact on respiration in our culture. A flat stomach is considered attractive, so women (and men) tend to hold in their stomach muscles. This interferes with deep breathing and gradually makes shallow "chest breathing" seem normal, which increases tension and anxiety. Shallow breathing limits the diaphragm's range of motion. The lowest part of the lungs doesn't get a full share of oxygenated air. That can make you feel short of breath and anxious. Deep abdominal breathing encourages full oxygen exchange — that is, the beneficial trade of incoming oxygen for outgoing carbon dioxide. Not surprisingly, it can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure.
Practicing breath focus Breath focus helps you concentrate on slow, deep breathing and aids you in disengaging from distracting thoughts and sensations. It's especially helpful if you tend to hold in your stomach. First steps Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit or lie down. First, take a normal breath. Then try a deep breath: Breathe in slowly through your nose, allowing your chest and lower belly to rise as you fill your lungs. Let your abdomen expand fully. Now breathe out slowly through your mouth (or your nose, if that feels more natural). Breath focus in practice Once you've taken the steps above, you can move on to regular practice of controlled breathing. As you sit comfortably with your eyes closed, blend deep breathing with helpful imagery and perhaps a focus word or phrase that helps you relax.
Creating a routine You may want to try several different relaxation techniques such as mindfulness meditation, yoga, tai chi, repetitive prayer and guided imagery, to see which one works best for you. And if your favorite approach fails to engage you, or you want some variety, you'll have alternatives. You may also find the following tips helpful: - Choose a special place where you can sit (or lie down) comfortably and quietly. - Don't try too hard. That may just cause you to tense up. - Don't be too passive, either. The key to eliciting the relaxation response lies in shifting your focus from stressors to - deeper, calmer rhythms — and having a focal point is essential. - Try to practice once or twice a day, always at the same time, in order to enhance the sense of ritual and establish a habit. - Try to practice at least 10–20 minutes each day.
Listening to meditative music at bedtime is good for the heart
Dr Naresh Sen, study author, Consultant Cardiologist at HG SMS Hospital, Jaipur, India, said: "We used music therapy in our hospital and in this study we showed that yoga music has a beneficial impact on heart rate variability before sleeping." Previous research has shown that music can reduce anxiety in patients with heart disease. However, studies on the effects of music on the heart in patients and healthy individuals have produced inconsistent results, partly because they did not state what style of music was used. This study investigated the impact of listening to yoga and meditative music, which is a type of soothing or meditative music, before bedtime on heart rate variability. The study included 149 healthy people who participated in three sessions on separate nights: (1) yoga music before sleep at night; (2) pop music with steady beats before sleep at night; and (3) no music or silence before sleep at night. At each session, heart rate variability was measured4 for five minutes before the music or silence started, for ten minutes during the music/silence, and five minutes after it had stopped. In addition, anxiety levels were
assessed before and after each session using the Goldberg Anxiety Scale. The level of positive feeling was subjectively measured after each session using a visual analogue scale. The average age of participants was 26 years. The researchers found that heart rate variability increased during the yoga music, decreased during the pop music, and did not significantly change during the silence. The body's heart rate changes as a normal response to being in "fight or flight" or "rest and digest" mode. High heart rate variability shows that the heart is able to adapt to these changes. Conversely, low heart rate variability indicates a less adaptive autonomic nervous system. Low heart rate variability is associated with a 32-45% higher risk of a first cardiovascular event. Anxiety levels fell significantly after the yoga music, rose significantly post the pop music, and increased after the no music session. Participants felt significantly more positive after the yoga music than they did after the pop music. Dr Sen noted that holistic therapies such as music cannot replace evidence-based drugs and interventions, and should only be used as an add-on.
SITTING FOR LONG stretches of time increases the odds of illness and untimely death. Here are some simple tricks to get yourself out of your chair: While you are on the phone, stand up and walk around. When watching TV, stand and pace during commercials. Instead of sitting at your makeup table, stand up. In general, try to get on your feet every 30 minutes.
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Limiting children's screen time to two hours a day for better cognition Limiting recreational screen time to less than two hours a day, and having sufficient sleep and physical activity is associated with improved cognition, compared with not meeting any recommendations, according to an observational study of more than 4,500 US children aged 8-11 years old published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal. Taken individually, limited screen time and improved sleep were associated with the strongest links to improved cognition, while physical activity may be more important for physical health. However, only one in 20 US children aged between 8-11 years meet the three recommendations advised by the Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines to ensure good cognitive development -- 9-11 hours of sleep, less than two hours of recreational screen time, and at least an hour of physical activity every day. The study found that US children spend an average of 3.6 hours a day engaged in recreational screen time. The authors say that their findings indicate that adhering to the guidelines during childhood and adolescence, particularly for screen time, is important for cognitive development. "Behaviours and day-to-day activities contribute to brain and cognitive development in children, and physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep might independently and collectively affect cognition," says Dr Jeremy Walsh, CHEO Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada. "Evidence suggests that good sleep and physical activity are associated with improved academic performance, while physical activity is also linked to better reaction time, attention, memory, and inhibition. The link between sedentary behaviours, like recreational screen time, is unclear as this research is in the early
stages and it appears to vary depending on the types of screen-based activity." In the study, data was analysed from 4,520 children from 20 sites across the USA. Children and parents completed questionnaires and measures at the outset of the trial to estimate the child's physical activity, sleep and screen time. Children also completed a cognition test, which assessed language abilities, episodic memory, executive function, attention, working memory and processing speed. The study controlled for household income, parental and child education, ethnicity, pubertal development, body mass index and whether the child had had a traumatic brain injury. The more individual recommendations the child met, the better their cognition. In addition, meeting only the screen time recommendation or both the screen time and sleep recommendations had the strongest associations with cognitive development. Dr Walsh concludes: "We found that more than two hours of recreational screen time in children was associated with poorer cognitive development. More research into the links between screen time and cognition is now needed, including studying the effect of different types of screen time, whether content is educational or entertainment, and whether it requires focus or involves multitasking. Based on our findings, paediatricians, parents, educators, and policymakers should promote limiting recreational screen time and prioritising healthy sleep routines throughout childhood and adolescence."
Ravneet Sawhney is the Director/Proprietor of Modern Day Nursery in Hounslow. For more information visit: www.moderndaynursery.com 16 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
Skipping breakfast leads to overeating and weight gain
Eating breakfast may reduce food cravings and overeating later in the day According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), many teens skip breakfast, which increases their likelihood of overeating and eventual weight gain. Statistics show that the number of adolescents struggling with obesity, which elevates the risk for chronic health problems, has quadrupled in the past three decades. Now researchers have found that eating breakfast, particularly meals rich in protein, increases young adults' levels of a brain chemical associated with feelings of reward, which may reduce food cravings and overeating later in the day. Understanding the brain chemical and its role in food cravings could lead to improvements in obesity prevention and treatment. "Our research showed that people experience a dramatic decline in cravings for sweet foods when they eat breakfast," said Heather Leidy, an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology. "However, breakfasts that are high in protein also reduced cravings for savoury -- or high-fat -- foods. On the other hand, if breakfast is skipped, these cravings continue to rise throughout the day." Leidy studied the effects of different breakfasts on participants' levels of dopamine, a brain chemical
involved in moderating impulses and reward, including food cravings. Eating initiates a release of dopamine, which stimulates feelings of food reward. "Dopamine levels are blunted in individuals who are overweight or obese, which means that it takes much more stimulation - or food -- to elicit feelings of reward; we saw similar responses within breakfast-skippers," Leidy said. "To counteract the tendencies to overeat and to prevent weight gain that occurs as a result of overeating, we tried to identify dietary behaviours that provide these feelings of reward while reducing cravings for high-fat foods. Eating breakfast, particularly a breakfast high in protein, seems to do that." Participants in the study were young women with an average age of 19; however, Leidy said the findings may be generalized to a larger population of adults. "In the U.S., people are skipping breakfast more frequently, which is associated with food cravings, overeating and obesity," Leidy said. "It used to be that nearly 100 percent of American adults, kids and teens were eating breakfast, but over the last 50 years, we have seen a decrease in eating frequency and an increase in obesity." Leidy's research was published in the Nutrition Journal. 17 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU
How to avoid raising a materialistic child If you're a parent, you may be concerned that materialism among children has been on the rise. According to research, materialism has been linked to a variety of mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, as well as selfish attitudes and behaviours. But there's some good news. A new study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology suggests that some parenting tactics can curb kids' materialistic tendencies. "Our findings show that it is possible to reduce materialism among young consumers, as well as one of its most common negative consequences (non-generosity) using a simple strategy -- fostering gratitude for the things and people in their lives," writes researcher Lan Nguyen Chaplin, associate professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of the study. After studying a nationwide sample of more than 900 adolescents ages 11 to 17, Chaplin's team found a link between fostering gratitude and its effects on materialism, suggesting that having and expressing gratitude may possibly decrease materialism and increase generosity among adolescents. The team surveyed 870 adolescents and asked them to complete an online eight-item measure of materialism assessing the value placed on money and material goods, and a four-item measure of gratitude assessing how thankful they are for people and possessions in their lives. The researchers then conducted an experiment among 61 adolescents and asked them to complete the same four-item gratitude measure from the first study and an eight-item materialism measure. The adolescents were randomly assigned to keep a daily journal for two weeks. One group was asked to record who and what they were thankful for each day by keeping a gratitude journal, and the control group was asked to record their daily activities. After two weeks, the journals were collected and the participants completed the same gratitude and
materialism measures as before. The kids were then given 10 $1 bills for participating and told they could keep all the money or donate some or all of it to charity. Results showed that participants who were encouraged to keep a gratitude journal showed a significant decrease in materialism and increase in gratitude. The control group, which kept the daily activity journal, retained their prejournal levels of gratitude and materialism. In addition, the group that kept a gratitude journal was more generous than the control group. Adolescents, who were in the experimental group, wrote about who and what they were thankful for and donated more than twothirds of their earnings. Those who were in the control group and simply wrote about their daily activities donated less than half of their earnings. "The results of this survey study indicate that higher levels of gratitude are associated with lower levels of materialism in adolescents across a wide range of demographic groups," Chaplin noted. The authors also suggest that materialism can be curbed and feelings of gratitude can be enhanced by a daily gratitude reflection around the dinner table, having children and adolescents make posters of what they are grateful for, or keeping a "gratitude journal" where children and teens write down something they are grateful for each week, while countering materialism. 18 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 4 YOU