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Category Archives: News and Science

Personalized look at a wide range of news and research related to stress, relaxation and health issues of interest to us and our readers.

America Number 16 In Happiness

July 4, 2008 – 2:40 pm
Read More By Rena

fireworksOn this day of America’s "birth", amidst the explosions and the scarfing down of high calorie consumables, you wonder if it all was worth it.  Are we really any happier than the rest of the world?  Well, according to a recent study by the University of Michigan’s World Values Survey, Americans are happier than over 80 countries, but only in 16th place overall in terms of feeling "happy".  But, no matter where you live, for the most part, people around the world have been getting happier in the years 1981 - 2007, the years the survey was conducted. 

Either that, or we know which countries lie the most on surveys about how happy they are.

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Study Claims Road Rage Related to Bumper Stickers

June 19, 2008 – 9:11 am
Read More By Rena

scanner nightmareCome to the Dark Side.  We have cookies.   — Bumper sticker

Nature recently printed a Colorado State University study about how to identify a driver more likely to have road rage.  Don’t look at their hand gestures — look at their bumpers.  If there is even one sticker on the back of that car, then this driver is far more likely to get into a road rage incident than a driver who does not have a bumper sticker.  The study went on to say that it doesn’t matter what the bumper sticker is about. So, potentially, even a "Peace Now" or "Jesus Saves" driver is just as dangerous as "NRA Forever" or "I Hate You" driver. 

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The Older, The Happier?

April 29, 2008 – 7:37 am
Read More By Rena

old happyStudies show that the oldest people are often the happiest.

Lots of things get better with age — cheese, wine and, as two new University of Chicago studies shows, your life.  University of Chicago sociologist Yang Yang interviewed 28,000 Americans to find out their thoughts on life and how satisfied they were with their lives.  These were long interviews — they took him 1972 to 2004.  He concluded that the older you are, the happier you are, no matter what your race or tax bracket.  One of the reasons seniors were happy is being social.  The other University of Chicago study found that 75% of seniors aged 57 to 85 participated in some sort of social activity at least once a week.

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America’s Oldest People Dwell Less On Stress

April 28, 2008 – 8:53 am
Read More By Rena

elderly handsOne common factor people over 100 have is that they dwell less on stress.

The world’s oldest person, 115 year old Edna Parker, is now constantly asked the secret to long life.  One of the tips she gives is not to worry too much.  This tip is backed up by the New England Centarian Study, which reports that one of the common factors people 100 and over have is that they don’t dwell on stressful events in their long lives.  You still have to exercise regularly and eat a sensible diet (you get avoid that), but knowing that you can have a longer life by not stewing in your worries will hopefully encourage you to not stew in your worries.

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Smells Like Stress

March 28, 2008 – 2:13 pm
Read More By Rena

jumboOur sense of smell increases when we’re stressed out.

In humans, the sense of smell is nowhere near as sharp as in most other animal species, like the domestic dog.  However, it still works well enough to greatly effect our emotions, our stress levels and thus, our health.  This is something practitioners of aromatherapy have been saying for ages, but they never really had any modern clinical study to back up their claims. 

Until now.

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