Happiness Comes Cheap

It turns out that the road to happiness isn’t paved by a lottery jackpot, flashy sports car or lucrative promotion, according to a new study published by the University of Nottingham. On the contrary, researchers say that it’s the simple pleasures in life that have the most impact on one’s sense of well-being. Pure happiness might entail, for example, enjoying a chocolate truffle, afternoon snooze or leisurely bubble bath.

Using a Satisfaction with Life Scale developed by the University of Illinois, the study compared happiness levels of lottery jackpot winners with a control group. Respondents were asked about different elements of happiness in their life and their moods, as well as how often they treated themselves and in what form. The surprising findings revealed that it wasn’t the sports cars, diamond jewelry or big new house that enriched the winning ticket holder’s happiness quotient. Rather, it was listening to music, reading a book or strolling in a nearby park. In other words, happiness amounts to the simple things in life, most of which are free.

Honey Soothes Children’s Cough

Parents looking for a safe, effective alternative to over-the-counter cough medicine should give honey a try, says a new study by Penn State College of Medicine. The researchers enrolled 105 children between the ages of 2 and 18, giving them a small dose of buckwheat honey just before bedtime. They found that buckwheat honey provided better relief of nighttime cough and sleep interruptions than dextromethorphan (DM), a cough suppressant commonly found in over-the-counter children’s cold medications.

These findings are notable because a Food and Drug Administration advisory board has recommended against giving over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to children under the age of 6, citing their lack of effectiveness and risk of side effects. Honey, to the contrary, has a well-established healthful antioxidant and antimicrobial effect. In some cultures, this sweet solution has been used for centuries to treat upper respiratory infection symptoms such as cough. Honey soothes on contact and is considered safe for children once they’ve passed their first birthday.

Avoiding Sugar Shock

Rather than cutting out starchy foods, dieters will do better to limit the amount of table sugar and corn syrup that they eat, suggests a new University of Florida study. Starch-based foods don’t cause weight gain like sugar-based foods, the researchers say, and don’t have the same shock effect on body metabolism.

Relief after Surgery

A new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that a 20-minute evening back massage can help relieve pain and reduce anxiety following major surgery when given in addition to pain medications.

Defining the Neti Pot

It looks like a funky miniature teapot, but looks can be deceiving. The neti pot (or netti pot) is an ancient yogic tool used to cleanse the nasal passages of mucus and pollutants. Nasal irrigation is a fast, inexpensive and highly effective way to soothe dry nasal passages and get relief from allergies, congestion, colds and sinusitis, especially when drugs aren’t an option. The use of a neti pot also has proved helpful in easing other respiratory tract illnesses and migraine headaches.

Here’s how it works. Fill the neti pot with warm water with a bit of sea salt or kosher salt to create a saline solution. Bending over a sink or large bowl, pour the liquid into one nostril and then the other to wash them out. If a slight burning sensation occurs, add more salt.

Talk to Improve Memory

Who couldn’t do with a little help in the memory department? Here’s a simple trick offered by researchers at the University of Michigan: Simply talk for 10 minutes. It’s been shown to improve memory and performance on tests. 

Study participants from many demographic groups were asked how often they talked each week on the phone to friends, neighbors and relatives and how often they got together. After accounting for variables, such as health, education, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, income and physical and mental health, researchers discovered that the higher the level of participants’ social interaction, the better their cognitive functioning, regardless of age group.

Source: Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin, 2008

Healing Sunlight

According to a research team from the Northern California Cancer Center, University of Southern California and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, increased exposure to sunlight – which increases levels of vitamin D – may decrease the risk of advanced breast cancer.

Source: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center