That Book Club Might Save Your Life

library-108544_960_720Interestingly, it might be more important for you to chat about your latest book than to get your body moving, say researchers looking at retirement needs. Scientists have found that maintaining social links in old age may help you to live longer.

Tracking a group of 424 English men and women during their first six years of retirement, the scientists found a six-fold difference in mortality rates between the people who were members of at least two social groups from before their retirement and those who stopped attending clubs. The researchers, from the University of Queensland in Australia published their findings in BMJ Open, a UK medical journal.

As they explained, “Retiring from work constitutes a major life transition that most people experience at some point in the course of their life, posing significant challenges to health and wellbeing.”


They found that the number of social relationships that people maintain during their retirement can have more of an impact on life expectancy than exercise, smoking or drinking.

The overall take-away, as explained by the researchers was that: “Practical interventions should focus on helping retirees to maintain their sense of purpose and belonging by assisting them to connect to groups and communities that are meaningful to them.”

Doctor Cycling Around the World

bike-1080079_960_720It is awe-inspiring to read about people who have changed their own lives in order to change the lives of others. Dr. Steven Fabes is one of those. He has cycled 53,285 miles in the last six years to help and empower others. In 2010, the doctor left London to get on a bicycle and he has, so far, cycled across Europe, Africa, South America, Central and North America, Australia and Asia. His travel blog, Cycling the 6, shares stories of his experiences.

He wanted, at first, to exist on $10 a day, but he ran out of money after three years. Since then, he has been making money as a public speaker and freelance writer and with the sponsors he has for his gear. As he said, “I’ve honestly never considered giving up. The hardest times have been during a winter crossing of Mongolia – a lonely, difficult place, especially when it’s minus 35 at night!”

During the six years, he has raised more than £20,000 for the medical NGO Merlin(before they merged with another NGO in 2013) and he has shared his skills with many in need. He is now nearing the end of his adventure and plans to return to the UK soon to write a book about his adventures.

 

Does Poverty Cause Overeating?

cake-pops-693645_960_720Researchers at the Texas Christian University have found that the amount that we eat when we aren’t hungry as adults is directly linked to our family’s income when we were kids.

As researcher Sarah Hill explained, “Our research suggests that people who grew up in relatively impoverished environments may have a harder time controlling food intake and managing their body weight than those who grew up in wealthier environments.”

Published in the journal Psychological Science, the article explains that the researchers did a number of experiments to come to their conclusion. First, 31 non-obese women each received a bowl of chocolate chip cookies and one of pretzels and were told to sample and rate the products. Then, when they finished their ratings, they were told that they could eat as much as they wanted to while waiting for part two. They were then asked to describe their economic situation growing up. Researchers found that women from poorer backgrounds ate more of the goodies than those who came from wealthier homes.

Two more experiments replicated the findings and leave room to ask more questions about need versus desire and the way that our background forms our impulsivity and needs.

Eat Your Ice Cream for Breakfast Today

ice-cream-770994_640Today is International Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Yes, you read that correctly. So, if you haven’t had breakfast yet, you should run out to the store and buy your favorite ice cream. And if you’ve already eaten that most important first meal of the day – then you can use this excuse to have ice cream for another meal.

So, where did this idea come from and is it just an invention of the ice cream or dairy industries? Surprisingly, it’s not. The holiday was invented in the 1960s by Florence Rappaport in Rochester, New York. A mother to six, she declared one day in February that it was Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. As she said on Wikipedia, “It was cold and snowy and the kids were complaining that it was too cold to do anything. So I just said, ‘Let’s have ice cream for breakfast.'” The tradition spread through the years and has actually spread across the world in part because of Florence’s grandchildren who have traveled extensively.

There have been celebrations recorded in Nepal, Namibia, Germany, New Zealand and Honduras. It has been celebrated in China since 2003 and has had particular popularity in Israel since 2013.

Google.com Available for $12?

google-1015751_960_720It definitely pays to be computer savvy, as Boston-area business student Sanway Ved proved recently. He was apparently playing around on Google Domains trying to learn more about Google’s URL-selling service, when he searched for Google.com and found that it was up for the taking! He put the ULR in his cart and bought it for $12, only to see one minute after the purchase went through that Google canceled the sale and refunded the order. Ved reported the vulnerability as a courtesy to Google (not trying to get rich off of the glitch).

Google rewarded him with $6006.13, which they claim spellings out “Google” although you probably have to squint to see it. When Google learned that Ved was giving the money to the Art of Living India foundation, a nonprofit that runs free schools in India, they matched the amount for a total of $12,012.26.

As Ved said to Business Insider after Google offered him the reward, “I don’t care about the money. It was never about the money. I also want to set an example that it’s people who want to find bugs that it’s not always about the money.”


Interestingly, in 2015 alone, Google paid out more than $2 million in rewards to researchers around the world who found glitches.

Caffeine Just Might be Good for Your Health

chocolate-183543_960_720Those of you who love coffee will love this news. Scientists have found that regular caffeine consumption doesn’t trigger heart palpitations and that it can actually be good for your heart health.

The scientists at the University of California, San Francisco say that people should enjoy their caffeinated drinks and chocolate. As Dr. Gregory Marcus explained,

“Clinical recommendations advising against the regular consumption of caffeinated products to prevent disturbances of the heart’s cardiac rhythm should be reconsidered, as we may unnecessarily be discouraging consumption of items like chocolate, coffee and tea that might actually have cardiovascular benefits. Given our recent work demonstrating that extra heartbeats can be dangerous, this finding is especially relevant.”

This new study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, analyzed coffee, tea and chocolate consumption of 1,388 randomly selected people and excluding those with persistent extra heartbeats. 61% of the participants had more than one caffeinated product a day. The researchers didn’t find any differences in the heart beats of those who had caffeine and those who didn’t; and this was true even with more frequent consumption of these products.

As lead author Shalini Dixit said, “This was the first community-based sample to look at the impact of caffeine on extra heartbeats, as previous studies looked at people with known arrhythmias. Whether acute consumption of these caffeinated products affects extra heartbeats requires further study.”

So for now, drink up and eat chocolate in moderation – and enjoy.