Fear may be felt in the heart as well as in the head, according to a study that has found a link between the cycles of a beating heart and the chance of someone feeling fear.
Tests on healthy volunteers found that they were more likely to feel a sense of fear at the moment when their hearts are contracting(收缩) and pumping blood around their bodies, compared with the point when the heartbeat is relaxed. Scientists say the results suggest that the heart is able to influence how the brain responds to a fearful event, depending on which point it is at in its regular cycle of contraction and relaxation.
Sarah Garfinkel at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School said: “Our Study shows for the first time that the way in which we deal with fear is different depending on when we see fearful pictures in relation to our heart.”
The study tested 20 healthy volunteers on their reactions to fear as they were shown pictures of fearful faces. Dr Garfinkel said, “The study showed that fearful faces are better noticed when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxed. Thus our hearts can also affect what we see and what we don’t see一and guide whether we see fear.”
To further understand this relationship, the scientists also used a brain scanner(扫描仪) to show how the brain influences the way the heart changes a person's feeling of fear.
“We have found an important mechanism by which the heart and brain ‘speak’ to each other to change our feelings and reduce fear,” Dr Garfinkel said.
“We hope that by increasing our understanding about how fear is dealt with and ways that it could be reduced, we may be able to develop more successful treatments for anxiety disorders, and also for those who may be suffering from serious stress disorder.”
When we see well, we do not think about our eyes very often. It is only when we cannot see perfectly that we realize how important our eyes are.
People who are near-sighted can only see things that are very close to their eyes. Everything else seems blurry. Many people who do a lot of work, such as writing, reading and sewing become near-sighted. People who are far-sighted suffer from just the opposite problem. They can see things that are far away, but they have difficulty in reading a book unless they hold it at arm's length. If they want to do much reading, they must get glasses, too.
Other people do not see clearly because their eyes are not exactly the right shape. They have what is called astigmatism (散光). This, too, can be corrected by glasses. Some people's eyes become cloudy because of cataracts (白内障). Long ago these people often became blind. Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them.
Having two good eyes is important for judging distances. Each eye sees things from a slightly different angle. To prove this to yourself, look at an object out of one eye; then look at the same object out of your other eye. You will find the object's relation to the background and other things around it has changed. The difference between these two different eye views helps us to judge how far away an object is. People who have only one eye cannot judge distances as people with two eyes.
Flu easily spreads from one person to another. This is especially true to people who are weak. If you are weak, you are more likely to catch flu easily. Do you know how you can avoid flu?
Keep in good health
The best antidote (解药) to illness is good health. You can eat everything you want but make sure that your diet is healthy. The healthier you are, the better for you to avoid any type of illness around. Most doctors suggest plenty of fresh fruit juice and water in order that one can avoid flu.
Stay away from people with flu
If a member of the family or a friend has flu, stay away from them until they are well. Flu is very communicable and you can catch it by going with the person with flu. Wear a mask (面罩) and avoid using things that the person with flu is using.
Exercise
Exercising will make you stronger which means a stronger immune (免疫的) system too. Exercise often so that your body will keep healthy. It doesn't matter what kind of exercise.
What is important is you are making your body stronger to prevent illness from attacking you.
Be happy
Happy people are healthy people. Their life is stress-free, so they are more likely to be safe from illness. If you are unhappy, which affects your immune system, you will easily get sick.
Avoiding the flu is easy. Just boost (增强) your immune system and it will take care of the rest.
How Important Is Fashion?
Is looking fashionable more important than being comfortable? Many people seem to think so, judging by the things they wear. But fashion is not everything. It is more important to be a healthy and good person.
People go to great lengths to be fashionable. Some people think they have to have a certain body type, so they go on extreme, unhealthy diets in order to change their bodies. In addition, many women wear uncomfortable fashions, such as high-heeled shoes that create blisters(水泡), tight body shapers that limit blood flow, and sticky false eyelashes(假睫毛). Men and women alike spend time and money on produces that change their natural hair color and use hot irons and blow dryers to curl or straighten their hair. Some people spend several hours a day in front of a mirror. Is fashion important enough to spend so much time and effort on changing how you look like?
If the purpose of fashion is to make a person feel good, it does not make sense that he or she would go through so much discomfort to be fashionable. Fashion should not come first. People should prioritize(优先考虑)being healthy and positive. What people wear does not indicate anything about their personalities. Instead of going on strict diets and starving, why not eat some healthy foods and then exercise? By doing these things, you can keep a healthy lifestyle and truly grow as a person.
A blocked airway(呼吸道) can kill someone in three to four minutes, but it can take more than eight minutes for an ambulance to arrive. So a simple procedure such as opening someone's airway can save their life while they're waiting for emergency medical help. This means you're more likely to give first aid to someone you know than a stranger.
There are many misconceptions (误解) surrounding first aid. Below are the ‘most popular' ones with details of what you should do.
You should put butter or cream on a burn. The only thing you should put on a burn is cold water — keep the butter for cooking. Put the affected area under cold running water for at least ten minutes.
The best way to treat bleeding is to put the wound under a tap. If you put a bleeding wound under a tap you wash away the body's clotting agents(凝血剂) and make it bleed more. Instead put pressure on the wound with whatever is available to stop or slow down the flow of blood. As soon as possible call 999. Keep pressure on the wound until help arrives.
Nosebleeds are best treated by putting the head back. If you put the head back during a nosebleed, all the blood goes down the back of the airway. Instead advise them to tilt(倾斜) their head forwards and ask the person to pinch(捏) the end of their nose and breathe through their mouth.
You need lots of training to do first aid. You don't — what you mostly need is common sense. You can learn enough first aid in a few minutes to save someone's life — whether it's from a book, attending a course or watching videos online.
Remember: anyone can save a life
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word "diet" everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤)instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word "diet" in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.
At schools across the United States, students often sit down to cafeteria lunches made from processed foods that are high in fat, sodium, and sugar. But kids at Public School(P. S. )216 in Brooklyn have a different dining experience. Principal Donna Neglia reports that her students love eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
P. S. 216 participated in the Edible Schoolyard Project, a nonprofit program founded by Chef Alice Waters in 1995. The program that Waters created helps public schools across the country start on-site gardens and weave principles of healthy eating into the curriculum. Students grow and maintain crops, harvesting the fruits and vegetables for cafeteria meals.
Waters expressed her passion for the principles of the farm-to-table movement. She advised schools to connect with the farmers in their area and change their buying practices when planning meals for students.
Waters has long been inspiring people to care about where their food comes from. In 1993, she put forward the idea of a White House vegetable garden. It was not until 2009 that Michelle Obama started the garden in the backyard of the White House. She and members of the kitchen staff spent hours tending to the garden, often with help from local school children.
“That gave people a sense that she cared about children and cared about where our food comes from,” Waters said, praising the former First Lady's concern for young people's health. “We are just building this movement, and it is very exciting. ”
“Through the Edible Schoolyard Project, students also learn about the benefits of healthy eating in the classroom.” Neglia said. “P. S. 216 is teaching kids about careers in the food industry—such as farming and agriculture, nutrition, food safety, and the restaurant business.”
Similar classes are taking place around the country. So far, the Edible Schoolyard Project has reached more than 1 million students in more than 367 schools. “I'm thinking about the future of the planet,” Waters said. “I'm doing this for our generation.”
When I was small and my grandmother died, I couldn't understand why I had no tears. But that night when my dad tried to cheer me up, my laugh turned into crying.
So it came as no surprise to learn that researchers believe crying and laughing come from the same part of the brain. Just as laughing has many health advantages, scientists are discovering that so, too, does crying.
Whatever it takes for us to reduce pressure is important to our emotional health, and crying seems to work well. One study found that 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report feeling better after crying.
Besides, tears attract help from other people. Researchers agree that when we cry, people around us become kinder and friendlier and they are more ready to provide support and comfort. Tears also enable us to understand our emotions better; sometimes we don't even know we're very sad until we cry. We learn about our emotions through crying, and then we can deal with them.
Just as crying can be healthy, not crying - holding back tears of anger, pain or suffering - can be bad for physical health, Studies have shown that too much control of emotions can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and some other illnesses. If you have a health problem, doctors will certainly not ask you to cry. But when you feel like crying, don't fight it. It's a natural –and healthy-emotional response.
Organic food (有机食品) is very popular. It is also expensive. Some organic food costs twice as much as nonorganic food. Some parents and pet owners pay up to 200 percent more for organic food while some people think organic food is a waste of money.
There is one main difference between organic and nonorganic food. Organic farms do not use agricultural chemicals, such as pesticides (杀虫剂). This makes sure that the products are natural.
Some people think "organic" means "locally grown". At the beginning, this was true. Over time organic farming became more difficult. The demand for organic food grew larger than the supply. Small companies had to sell out to large companies. There weren't enough organic materials. This made it difficult for many organic companies to stay in business. Today, many large companies have an organic line of products.
Is organic food more nutritious (有营养的)? This is part of the debate. Many farmers and consumers (消费者) believe it is. They think agricultural chemicals cause health problems, such as cancer. Many health experts disagree. Few studies prove that organic food prevents health problems. Health experts worry more about bacteria (细菌). These can come into contact with organic and nonorganic food. Doctors recommend washing produce very carefully.
Most people agree that naturally grown food tastes better. Is tastier food worth the extra money? This is a matter of opinion. Whether it is healthier or not may require more research. However, organic consumers argue it is better to be safe than sorry.
Many facts suggest that children are overweight and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.
Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children would buy less take-away food.
There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, and this will carry on throughout their lives.
There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime （消遣）, it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.
The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steering them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.
Hundreds of children are being treated for sleep problems in Wales every year. In some cases, babies, infants (婴儿)and teenagers have been admitted to hospital in north Wales alone.
The Children's Sleep Charity said many children were suffering from lack of sleep mainly because of technology use. Public Health Wales said sleep was as important to a child's health as healthy eating andexercise, andchildren with poor sleep patterns were more likely to be fat.
Statistics obtained (获得) under the Freedom of Information Act by BBC Wales foundat least 408 children have been admitted to hospitals across Wales suffering from sleep disorders since March 2013.
Children agedbetween 0 and 4 made up the highest number of inpatients (住院病人), with some newborns being treated for sleep-related problems from the day of birth.
Vicki Dawson, who set up the Children's Sleep Charity (CSC), said sleepless nights were putting both children and parents in anxiety. "Their weight and growth may also be affectedas well as their mental health, "she said.
Teachers said children showing signs of sleep shortage and tiredness in class were a concern as they couldn't concentrate for long periods.
Psychologist Amy McClelland, of Sleep Wales, saida common problem was that children were "over excited"before bed and that families should get back to basics. "Think 1950s family home. Dinner as a family, read, chat, a film maybe, lights off and then bed. "She added.
There are many ways to travel within a city. We can walk, cycle, or take a bus. But no matter which way we travel, we have to stick to the route(线路) the city planners laid down for us.
Parkour practitioners (跑酷爱好者), however, see the city in a completely different way. To them, there are no fixed routes. There are no walls and no stairs—since they jump, climb, roll and crawl to move across, through, over and under anything that they find in their path. The city is their playground.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has noticed that this activity is drawing more and more people to it—there are 100,000 people taking part in parkour today in the UK alone, according to the Guardian—and how it is helpful for people to be much stronger: It trains coordination and balance. So the organization is thinking about recognizing parkour as a new sport and adding it to the Olympics by 2024.
But parkour practitioners themselves don't seem to be happy with the idea. They see parkour as "a lifestyle", wrote the website NextSportStar. "It's a competition against the conditions rather than just a sport."
Indeed, many do parkour just to "escape the daily routine and experience the city in different ways", wrote reporter Oli Mould on The Conversation. They see parkour as a way to express themselves through relaxing moves and creative routes while freeing themselves from the pressure.
It's great that the FIG wants to develop new sport and stay close to a new cultural form. But it would be greater if they knew that not everything in life is a competition.
Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Do you want to live never to die? Some experts say, it will be not a dream one day. Modern technology will make it come true. Man will live more years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life.
"I think we are knocking at the door of immortality" said Michael, a professor and author of two books on human life expectancy. "I think by 2075 we will see it and it's no longer a dream. Human's life expectancy may have not limit."
At the meeting in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School said advances in using genes as well as other technology make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. "There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years," he said. "Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 300 or 500 years."
However, many scientists are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last more than about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and other parts of the body will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also hold different opinions on what kind of life man might live. "If you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life? It's a big question." said Leonard Poon, director of the university center. "At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all."
It would be nice if eating a particular food could magically protect you against all the boring illnesses. It's not that simple, of course. Hand washing remains your best defense against picking up illnesses, and sleep is a strong defense too. But what you eat does play an important part. Though it isn't because of just one or two foods, what you eat in your daily diet have an effect on how weak or strong your immunity is.
We'd better eat fruits and vegetables every day. They contain key vitamins needed in the immune system. For example, Vitamin C and Ain foods help immune system work well to keep us healthy. Remember that eating the actual fruit or veggie is better than eating single-vitamin supplements.
Getting too little protein can weaken your immune system. Protein-rich foods supply the amino acids(氨基酸) you need to build important proteins in the body. Animal foods like beef and pork also contain zinc(锌), which your body uses to make t-cells.
Fermented foods are foods that are naturally protected by bacteria, and they're good for the micro biome. That's the name for the bacteria that live in your stomach, where a lot of cells in immunity actually live. Fermented foods like yogurt help beneficial bacteria develop fast in the stomach, leaving less room for harmful bacteria.
We already know that salt can lead to heart disease. But could it also affect our mind? Scientists found that a high-salt diet caused cognitive impairments in mice» and it could produce the same effect on humans.
Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research the Institute, said they fed the mice eight to sixteen times their normal salt intake and then tested the mice. After about three months, the mice had a big change in their behavior. Mice are very curious, and they like to look for new things. However, the tested mice lost the ability to identify a normal object. When the mice were put in their cage and asked to find a quiet spot, they did not remember where the quiet spot was. Then when the mice were building a nest, which is something the mice do daily, they, were unable to do so. The research suggested humans would experience a similar response.
Studies have shown Australians eat around double the recommended amount of salt each day, most of it coming from processed food. Dr. Ladecola said the estimated two teaspoons of salt the average Australian eats each day could affect the brain function in the long term. However, the decline might not be as obvious as in the mice, who were given extremely high levels of salt. "But probably over years and perhaps decades—as opposed to a few months for the mouse—even lower levels of salt may have a terrible effect," Dr ladecola said.
"High levels of salt cause serious immune changes in the organs in and around the stomach, resulting in an almost autoimmune effect on the brain. It is part of a growing body of evidence that we really are what we eat," Bryce Vissel, director of the Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Technology Sydney, said. "Those changes in turn cause all sorts of responses in the body, which over time certainly contribute to cognitive impairments. "
Being a teenager can be hard, for you have to face a lot of difficult problems, but a new program called Nfusion is working hard to help teens with mental(精神的)health needs. Nfusion gives teenagers classes where they study or discuss some troubling subjects. Drugs and bullying(欺凌)are just a few of the topics discussed during the class on Saturday.
"I had a bad attitude," said 17-year-old Titeana Davis. Davis went through the Nfusion Program last year. The teen, who once had trouble with her attitude towards others, says the program has changed her life. "They taught me a bad attitude is not going to get you anywhere, "said Davis.
Nfusion is a new program that meets teens mental health needs and provides help for their families. The program is designed to help teens aged 14—21 live through a difficult period.
"They're still growing, still developing and still there are a lot of things they don't know how to address. So this is a good program for them to be a part of," said Lakicha Jemigan, who worked for the Nfusion Program.
Teens like Davis are just a few who have come through the program successfully. Now thanks to Nfusion, Davis says she's looking forward to a bright future. "After I graduate from college, I want to work at a primary school and I want to be a second grade teacher," added Davis.
A new study suggests that some homemade soups — made of chicken, beef or vegetables — might help fight malaria.
Jake Baum of the Imperial College London led the research. He asked children at a London school to bring in homemade clear soups that their families would make to treat a fever. The soups were then exposed to the parasite (寄生虫) that creates 99.7 percent of malaria cases in Africa, the World Health Organization explained.
Of the 56 soups tested five were more than 50 percent effective in containing the growth of the parasite. Two were as effective as one drug now used to treat malaria. And four soups were more than 50 percent effective at preventing parasites from aging to the point that they could infect mosquitoes that spread the disease. Baum also noted that it was unclear which foods made the soups effective against malaria.
The soups came from families from different ethnic histories, including Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. They had several main ingredients, including chicken, beef and green vegetables. Baum said the vegetarian soups showed similar results to the soups with meat.
Baum said his aim was in part to show children that scientific research can turn a herbal (草本的) cure into a man-made medicine. He noted the research of Dr. Tu Youyou from China. In the 1970s, she found that the herb quinhao was an effective antimalarial (抗疟疾的) treatment. The herb has been used in Eastern medicine for two thousand years. Tu's research led to the man-made drug artemisinin (青蒿素), a drug now widely used to treat malaria.
More and more people are becoming resistant (耐受的) to the drugs that treat the disease, which kills nearly 400,000 people a year. That means scientists will have to "look beyond chemistry" and find new drugs, Baum adds.
According to a recent study, a new genetically modified(转基因的 ) rice can prevent infections of HIV, the virus responsible for the disease AIDS.
The study reports the newly-developed rice produces proteins(蛋白质) that attach directly to the HIV virus. This process keeps the virus from mixing with human cells. The scientists say it can remove the effect of the virus and block its spreading.
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS reports that worldwide nearly 37 million people were living with HIV in 2017. The organization says the largest number of those are in developing countries. Nearly two-thirds ofHIV cases are in Africa. Now there is no cure for HIV/AIDS though there have been developments in oral drug treatments to slow the progression of the disease.
The new study predicts the rice-based method will lead to long-term use of the anti-HIV treatment across the developing world. Researchers said the "groundbreaking" discovery is "realistically the only way" that anti-HIV combination treatments can be produced at a cost low enough for the developing world.
They say the easiest and most cost-effective way to use the rice will be to make it into a cream to be put on the skin. The HIV-fighting proteins can then enter the body through the skin. People all over the world could grow the rice and make the cream themselves. This would prevent the cost and travel required for many patients to receive treatments and medicine.
The process of changing the genetic structure of food crops has been debated for some time. Critics of genetically engineered crops believe they can harm people. The scientific team says further testing is needed to ensure that the genetic engineering process does not produce any additional chemicals that could be dangerous to people.
It's increasingly becoming clear that depression and insomnia (失眠) are often linked as interrelated disorders, and that they are often related in a variety of ways. In fact, some scientists have gone so far as to suggest that medical practitioners should be wary of diagnosing depression without evidence of sleep complaints by the individual.
According to a study from Harvard Health, as many as 75% of individuals with depression suffered from insomnia while 69% of people with insomnia also struggled with depression later on suggesting that the two disorders often go hand in hand. Issues with sleep due to depression can happen in various ways, including changes to sleep regulation processes or side effects of prescription medicine. This, in turn, may worsen symptoms of depression, but experts note that depressive disorders without insomnia or other sleep disorders are increasingly rare.
Both depression and insomnia are common disorders that cause people some disturbance worldwide. When dealing with either of these issues, the person can have difficulty maintaining a good quality of life. Scientists estimate that 40% of Americans will struggle with insomnia at one point in their life, while an estimated 17.3 million U.S. adults will deal with the symptoms of a major depression episode at least once per year.
But the good news is that treating one condition may improve symptoms of both. "You don't need to rush off to see a specialist; but there are other things we can do to take care of ourselves/' says Dr. Chisholm." Physical exercise is very important lor good sleep and protective against depression, as are healthy eating habits and staying off alcohol. Make sure you stay active and go back to the things that interest you and give you pleasure. Opening up to a trusted friend about your struggles with insomnia or a depressed mood may also help. And sleeping pills should be taken only for a short time, if at all, because you may develop a dependence. Plus, the medicine won't address underlying causes of your insomnia/'
The vaccine (疫苗) news continues to seem very encouraging. Britain started its mass vaccination effort and the U.S. isn't far behind.
But there is still one dark cloud hanging over the vaccines that many people don't yet understand.
The vaccines will be much less effective at preventing death and illness in 2021 if they are introduced into a population where the coronavirus is still severe—as is now the case in the U.S.
A vaccine is like a fire hose (消防龙头). A vaccine that's 95 percent effective, as Moderna's and Pfizer's versions appear to be, is a powerful fire hose. But the size of a fire is still a bigger determinant of how much destruction occurs.
At the current level of infection in the U.S. (about 200,000 confirmed new infections per day), a vaccine that is 95 percent effective—distributed at the expected pace—would still leave a terrible toll (伤亡人数) in the six months after it was introduced. Almost 10 million or so Americans would catch the virus, and more than 160,000 would die.
This is far worse than the toll in a different situation where the vaccine was only 50 percent effective but the U.S. had reduced the infection rate to its level in early September (about 35,000 new daily cases). In that case, the death toll in the next six months would be kept to about 60,000.
It's worth pausing for a moment on this comparison. If the U.S. had maintained its infection rate from September and Moderna and Pfizer had announced this fall that their vaccines were only 50 percent effective, a lot of people would have panicked.
But the reality we have is actually worse.
How could this be? No vaccine can get rid of a pandemic immediately, just as .no fire hose can put out a forest fire. While the vaccine is being distributed, the virus continues to do damage.
There is one positive way to look at this: Measures that reduce the virus's spread—like mask-wearing, social distancing and rapid-result testing—can still have great consequences. They can save more than 100,000 lives in coming months.
