HEALTHY living
Get dancing – or haul out the old chessboard! You’ll have plenty of time if you work for only four hours a day…
FOUR, SCORE!
How long do you spend really, properly, applying your mind every day? According to Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s book, Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, there is a definitive answer: four hours (not always consecutive). The idea of working 9–5 is outdated, he says, and no longer appropriate in a ‘knowledge’ economy. It doesn’t matter what work you do: studies across all disciplines give the same result. Pang says that not only will more rest make you happier, it will also make you more productive!
FRUIT LOOPY
A zoo in Melbourne is weaning its animals off fruit because of its high sugar content. ‘Cultivated fruits have been genetically modified to be much higher in sugar content than their natural, ancestral fruits,’ said the zoo’s head vet. Sugar levels in some fruit, like plums, have doubled, warns Dr Senaka Ranadheera, a food scientist at Melbourne University. It’s best to think of most fruit as a treat rather than a staple.
ON YOUR HOBBY HORSE!
Hobbies and exercise are a big part of keeping both mentally and physically healthy, say researchers in the UK Times. In some cases of depression and anxiety, they are as effective as medication. Here are a few of their recommendations:
Yoga for lower blood pressure: just 15 minutes a day can lower BP by as much as 10 percent, said Canadian researchers earlier this year. Dancing for memory and balance: when compared with groups doing other regular exercise, participants showed a bigger, more active hippocampus and better balance. Dancing has also been linked to an improvement in connective tissue (the breakdown of which is said to cause memory problems as we age).
Chess for smarts and creativity: the IQs of 4000 Venezuelan students showed significant improvement after four months of regular chess (it also really boosted their creativity and originality of thought).
Cycling for everything: cyclists age better than the rest of us, say scientists. They also have a stronger immune system – the T-cell-producing thymus stays as active in older cyclists as in younger people.
ASMR: A SOUND IDEA
Most of us have a sound that makes us wince (fingernails on a blackboard; a dentist’s drill), but there are also many who find specific sounds physically pleasurable or relaxing (whispering or quiet murmuring; the sound of someone slowly unwrapping a present). This pleasurable response is called ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), and it’s a proper business: there are about 13 million ASMR videos on YouTube. Like many online phenomena, ASMR has a sleazy sexual underbelly if you look for it, but the videos can also really help with relaxation and sleep issues. Research shows that those susceptible to ASMR (not everyone is) can lower their heart rate by just over three beats a minute. It’s thought that these specific sounds make your brain release endorphins, oxytocin, serotonin, and other neurotransmitters.