Tag Archive for study

Cute Animals: Scientific Study

October 20, 2020 Comments Off on Cute Animals: Scientific Study

I read an interesting article I wanted to pass on to you. If you don’t like animals, take a pass on this one. The rest of us, well, it just proves what we’ve always known. Science shows watching cute animals is good for your health

You knew watching videos of puppies and kittens felt good but now there’s data to back that feeling.

A study conducted by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, in partnership with Western Australia Tourism, has found evidence to suggest that watching cute animals may contribute to a reduction in stress and anxiety.

The study examined how watching images and videos of cute animals for 30 minutes affects blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety.

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Dogs & Covid-19

August 4, 2020 Comments Off on Dogs & Covid-19

Studies are going on right now to see if dogs can sniff out the coronavirus in people. For a long time, dogs have sniffed out other diseases (e.g., diabetes and malaria), so scientists are confident that they’ll be able to do the same with covid-19. Imagine dogs screening people at airports and gatherings. They’re quicker than waiting for the results of a test. Of course, if you’re singled out by the dog you’ll still have to take the test to be sure. If not, though, you forego the anxiety of wondering if you should be tested. Watch this short video:

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Beware those Doggy Eyebrows

June 18, 2019 Comments Off on Beware those Doggy Eyebrows

Come on, now, dog-lovers. We all know that our furry friends manipulate us. Now science has proven it. It seems that dogs can move their eyebrows whenever they want to, making their eyes bigger and reaching into our hearts (really a hormonal reaction). In fact, they move their eyebrows more often when making eye contact with humans than they do when engaging in their all-time favorite activity–eating. They know it gets to us, and they have a deep need for eye contact with humans, a need that wolves, their relatives, don’t have.

Read about the study done by a team at University of Portsmouth’s Dog Cognition Centre, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, titled The Science of Puppy Dog Eyes.

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Screen Time–Report

December 17, 2018 Comments Off on Screen Time–Report

People (especially parents and their kids) go back and forth on how much screen time (including phones) is healthy for kids. The National Institute of Health followed 11,000 subjects age 9/10 into adulthood. It was a landmark study, costing $300 million and spanning many years.  Here is some of what they reported:

When the child has spent 7 or more hours a day of screen time, their cerebral cortex, which is the area of the brain that processes sensory information, shows premature thinning. With 2 or more hours a day they were less successful on thinking and language tests. In other words, it seems that screen time is changing our children’s brains.

Granted, this is only a preliminary study. They’re doing more research to determine a solid cause/effect relationship, if there is one, as data seems to indicate right now. Even so, I think it makes sense for us to be aware of it and be on the safe side by following guidelines set by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Academy suggests no screen time at all for 18 – 24 months. Then, for age 2 – 5, no more than an hour a day, but of high quality programming that you watch with your child. Sounds like a reasonable precaution to me.

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Are Household Cleaners Making Your Kids Fat?

October 13, 2018 Comments Off on Are Household Cleaners Making Your Kids Fat?

Come on, you’re kidding, right? Not according to Canadian researchers who studied the effects of household cleaners on children as young as 3-4 months. Granted, other scientists think the study is flawed. However, it’s something for parents to think about and maybe not take a chance with their little ones’ health.

Read the article Are Household Cleaners Making Your Kids Fat? and decide for yourself.

[Thanks to Tina Blease for this article.]

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“More Immigrants = LESS Crime”

August 22, 2018 Comments Off on “More Immigrants = LESS Crime”

The murder of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts by a Mexican undocumented man has brought another tirade against violent, crime-happy immigrants. Pres. Trump insists that immigrants–and he seldom limits his disdain only to those who are undocumented–must be kept out of our country because of all the dangerous crime they commit.

But the research data shows the opposite may actually be true.

Below is part of a report written after gathering data for 20 years. You can read the entire report at Fact check: Immigration doesn’t bring crime into U.S., data say.

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For the last decade, we have been studying how immigration to an area impacts crime.

Across our studies, one finding remains clear: Cities and neighborhoods with greater concentrations of immigrants have lower rates of crime and violence, all else being equal.

Our research also points to the importance of city context for understanding the immigration-crime relationship. In one study, for example, we found that cities with historically high immigration levels are especially likely to enjoy reduced crime rates as a result of their immigrant populations….

Our analysis of the literature reveals that immigration has a weak crime-suppressing effect. In other words, more immigration equals less crime….

The upshot? We find no evidence to indicate that immigration leads to more crime and it may, in fact, suppress it.

 

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The Bacteria are Winning

August 3, 2018 Comments Off on The Bacteria are Winning

What good is that hand sanitizer we trust to keep germs away? Not as good as it used to be. It’s alcohol-based, and bacteria are adapting to alcohol. When sanitizers were put into use in hospitals, some infections decreased, but others (especially ones affecting the bladder, heart, and digestive tract–the enterococcal infections) actually increased.

Right now, increasing the amount of alcohol from the usual 60% in hand sanitizers to 70% helps, but bacteria are adjusting to the higher concentration, as well.  Read more about this at Some Bacteria Are Becoming ‘More Tolerant’ Of Hand Sanitizers, Study Finds.

And there are questions about how healthy such sanitizers are for humans.

The solution: Public health experts direct hospitals and us back to basics, which means frequent, adequate (20-30 seconds) washing of hands with plain soap that doesn’t contain anti-bacterial additives. Ignore the issue of hot vs. cold water, because they work the same, since your hands can’t stand water hot enough to kill bacteria.

Keep healthy, Friends!

 

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Anxious or Neurotic? You May be Healthier and Live Longer

September 13, 2017 4 comments

[I guess I’ll have to stop trying to calm down my anxious and neurotic friends. According to a London study, they’re healthier and will live longer than me! — Thanks to Linda Younts for sending this to me.]

 

From “Calling all Clean Freaks….”:

If you’ve always seen yourself as a Monica Geller, George Costanza, Miranda Hobbes, Sheldon Cooper or Danny Tanner, we have news for you: Science says you might live longer than your laid-back, Uncle Jesse and Phoebe-esque friends.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and University College London recently studied a group of 500,000 U.K. residents, paying attention to those who identified themselves as being exceptionally nervous or anxious. In general, these neurotic people tended to be healthier and have a longer life span, especially if they perceived their own health as being fair or poor.

The theory? Because neurotic people tend to think their health is poor even when it isn’t, they’re more likely to visit a doctor and be proactive if they notice any strange symptoms. A more laid-back person might postpone getting checked out, or ignore an illness altogether. But not you, neurotic folks. You’re running to get checked out as soon as the office opens.

Nice work, anxious friends. We’ll see you in the waiting room.

Read the report itself here.

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So, Cuddle Up Already!

April 25, 2017 Comments Off on So, Cuddle Up Already!

Old-school advice to new moms was not to hold the baby too much because you’ll spoil them, or they should just cry themselves to sleep, or they’ll become too dependent on us.  A new study, which is a follow-up of one done 20 years ago, was published in Pediatrics.  It says, well, HOGWASH! (A rough translation.)

It was found that cuddling babies, especially that skin-to-skin contact–helps them thrive both physically and intellectually as they grow.  Yes, intellectually.  The study saw higher IQs in kids who had been cuddled as infants.  Also, those cuddled kids were calmer and less aggressive and had fewer school absences.  As adults, they even earned higher wages.

Caveat: The study was done only on premature babies.  I don’t care, though.  I think the warmth of a human touch, with children or adults, is medicine for a less-than-warm world.

.                          Image result for cuddle baby emoticon          smiley gets a big hug emoticon

 

 

 

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Zombies vs. Humans: Science Doesn’t Lie

January 18, 2017 Comments Off on Zombies vs. Humans: Science Doesn’t Lie

[It’s weird-mood day for me–brain is getting soggy from all the rain I’m not used to here in CA– so I offer you this offbeat information.]

The zombie apocalypse won’t take long.

A new article in a peer-reviewed student journal finds that the zombie hordes would take Earth’s population down to a mere 273 survivors in 100 days.

READ MORE           READ MORE            READ MORE

 

 

 

 

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