HEALTHY LIVING

Eating the right foods can make you smarter, having a cold bath can help you function better and… you know all that sex other people are having? They’re not.

❛The endorphin rush you get from extreme cold can really shift your mood for the better.

Cold baths – and we mean really cold: ice and water – can be extremely good for your health. The cold causes the blood vessels close to the surface of your skin to contract, forcing the blood that was in them into your internal organs and brain. When you get out, the reverse happens and the blood rushes back to your skin, pushing out waste products en route and leaving you feeling warm and vital.

The endorphin rush you get from extreme cold can also really shift your mood for the better. Called ‘thermal exercise’, scientists think that adjusting to extremely different temperatures is what our bodies need to function optimally, and that living in a constantly moderated environment prevents us from doing that naturally. Other people aren’t having as much sex as we think they are, and that’s down to the hyper-sexed – and yet strangely quiet about actual sex – world we live in. In their new book, The Perils of

Perception, market research company Ipsos asked people to guess how often those aged 18 to 29 in their country (the UK and the US) had had sex in the previous four weeks. The average guess was 14 times, but according to in-depth surveys of sexual behaviour, the real number is closer to five in the UK and four in the US. Origine 8, a powerful polyphenolrich green tea extract produced by the Senteeko Tea Estate in Mpumalanga, was voted one of the world’s top new products in the Judges Choice Awards category at the Natural & Organic Products Europe trade show in London.

Apparently one capsule is the equivalent of 25 cups of green tea – and we all know that the antioxidant effects of green tea have been shown to help slow the ageing process and improve overall health.

CAN FOOD MAKE YOU BETTER AT EXAMS?

Yes it can, says David Kennedy, professor of biological science and director of the Brain Performance and Nutrition Research Centre at Northumbria University. But you’ll need to start eating properly at least three months before.

Nitrates in beetroot, rhubarb and leafy greens improve blood flow to your brain, making you better at certain things. And, because of its high levels of polyphenols and small caffeine content, eating dark chocolate just before an exam can also help:

‘We saw that it wasn’t only the polyphenol plant compounds in cocoa that produced improvements, but that there seemed to be a synergistic effect of the ingredients and that the small amounts of caffeine played a role.’

Omega fats in oily fish are obviously also excellent, but they take three to six months to be properly effective. Best get to it!