A positive perspective helps you live longer.

Another scientific study has been released that shows that a positive outlook on life significantly lengthens life expectancy.  Even controlling for other factors, being positive has a 10% to 15% beneficial impact.  A positive outlook on life has additional benefits because it tends to help a lifestyle of more exercise and better eating. BBC: Optimistic …
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Meagre market, massive munchies …

A report on the widening girth of America hit headlines today. The expanding waistline of America (and elsewhere no doubt) continues despite economic constraints. We continue the unnecessary and excessive calorie consumption even if we can’t afford it financially or even for the good of our health. For a very few people, obesity is physiologically …
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Vegetarians ‘avoid more cancers’

It’s been known for centuries that a low/non-meat diet is healthier for you, as well as better for the planet. Here’s another scientific study backing up the health claims reported by Cancer Research UK: Vegetarians less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters which reported the study Cancer incidence in British vegetarians from the British …
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Organic ‘mainstream agriculture in waiting’

We’ve known for a long time that organic agriculture is what the planet needs. A new report shows how much it has to offer and that it must become the mainstream. The new independent report by the University of Reading shows that organic farming has “much to offer” and “is, perhaps, mainstream agriculture in waiting.” …
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Being a “guy” can get you killed.

The reluctance of men to adopt a healthy lifestyle appears to be fuelling a gender gap in cancer cases and deaths. Among cancers which affect both genders, men are 60% more likely to develop the disease and 70% more likely to die from it, Cancer Research UK said.  There is no known biological reason for …
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UK’s NHS formally backs complimentary medicine.

The NHS will in future offer acupuncture to patients suffering back pain as part of new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). This is the first time NICE has formally backed the use of complementary therapies. NICE believes that using active therapies – such as acupuncture and spinal manipulation – …
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Don’t stress about swine flu.

The scare of a potential pandemic of swine flu is newsworthy, but you shouldn’t get too concerned.  While the rise in deaths (now ~150) makes headlines, these numbers are modest compared to historical pandemics and compared to other causes of death.  The resources available to maintain health and cure illness are far better than they …
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Get happy – get off the earnings ladder!

People who compare their earnings with others are damaging their health, becoming less happy, more depressed, and less satisfied with life overall, according to new research by Professors Andrew Clark and Claudia Senik from the Paris School of Economics, to be presented at the annual conference of the Royal Economic Society. (BBC report here.) This …
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GM rice to poison the world?

In a few days the EU will decide whether or not to allow GM rice to be imported to the the EU. Most countries have shied away from allowing risky experimentation with the world’s most important staple crop and at present, no GE rice is grown commercially anywhere in the world. But Bayer, the German …
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Stress promotes female births

Research reported in the Royal Society biology letters indicates that when a conceiving mother is under stress there is more chance that the foetus resulting will be female. The research focussed on statistics in tropical climates but the conclusion focusses on environmental stress conditions. Female foetuses are more resilient than male foetuses. This appears to …
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