Archive for category Wellness
Prize-winning research only scratches the surface
Just in time for the super-dry, winter season, when us Minnesotans become terribly itchy if we do not diligently apply moisturizer, the Annals of Improbable Research awarded their 2019 Ig Nobel Peace (ha ha) Prize to researchers who discovered that people enjoy scratching their ankles. While one might get pleasure initially from giving in to an itch elsewhere, the satisfaction soon fades. But ankles do not rankle when it comes to scratching.
For all the details from the team of authors, including the Director of the Miami Itch Center, Gil Yoispovitch (italics mine), click this NIH Public Access posting of The Pleasurability of Scratching an Itch: A Psychophysical and Topographical Assessment.
Money buys happiness unless you get caught up in the Easterlin paradox
Posted by mark in Uncategorized, Wellness on April 23, 2019
The March 23rd issue of The Economist provides an interesting graphic on GDP per person—a measure of wealth—versus self-reported happiness. Overall it shows an upward trend that increases life satisfaction by 0.7 points (on a 10-point scale) as GDP doubles.
China is a prime example of money buying more happiness. Sadly, us citizens of the USA (and many European countries) are subject to the Easterlin paradox, which puts a limit on how satisfied people get as their income rises, beyond which money cannot buy more happiness.
Check out this interactive online version of the happiness vs wealth posted by The Economist. There, if American, you will see with some satisfaction (misery liking company) that Netherlands and several other wealthy countries share our downward trend. However, Germany and Britain remain on the upswing. (I wonder with Britain now in the throes of Brexit if their GDP will shrink and, if so, suspect that their happiness will also fall off.)
So, bottom line, for those of us stuck in the paradox, would you rather be richer or happier? That is a tough question!
A blog about blob
“Americans are getting fatter…and shorter” said the headline in the Venice Florida Gondolier Sun last month. The fatter bit was easy to swallow (ha ha), but the second part of this news–the lessening heights–caught me short (yeah, another bad pun).
Here are the average body measures for 2016 gleaned by the Gondolier Sun (Bob Mudge) from this just-released survey by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS):
- Men 5 feet 9 inches, 197.8 pounds, 40.3 inch waist
- Women 5 feet 3.6 inches, 170.5 pounds, 38.7 inch waist
Mudge reported that the average man is four-tenths of an inch shorter than in 2006. At this rate I figure that men will be reduced to the size of a mouse by the year 3716.
Meanwhile, the New York Times (Nicholas Bakalar) noted that men have gained 8 pounds since 2002. Doing my math on weights projected to 3716 I calculate a massive 1170 pounds for these future mouse-sized men. That is dense (as are my projections)!
My frivolous extrapolations notwithstanding, the realities of actual measurements by HHS are harsh. Is it too late for New Year’s resolutions? If not, I am working on increasing my height in 2019.
“People tend to overreport their height and underreport their weight.”
– Cynthia L Ogden, epidemiologist and senior author of HHS’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Dream come true: Homework banned and school days delayed
The Wall Street Journal this week reports that, for the sake of “student wellness”, school districts across the USA are now banning homework [1].
The U.S. Department of Education figures that, on average, high-school students (those without the “get of jail free” card) spend about 8 hours per week on extracurricular assignments. Girls spend an hour more than the norm and boys an hour less, thus there’s a two-hour gender gap on homework. (You be the judge as to what this implies on relative intelligence. I don’t dare!)
Naturally, parents with ambitions for their son or daughter do not favor this trend to relieve academic pressure. Many evidently move their child to private schools that load on several more hours of homework every week. That would be a blow—being yanked away from all your friends at Easy Street High.
It would be worth it if more homework leads to a significantly better education. WSJ suggests that this may not be so for elementary students. That seems sensible. But what about high school? The author of The Battle Over Homework, Duke professor Harris Cooper, says that studies show a positive correlation of homework with achievement [2]. He advises that high-schoolers put in at least 90 minutes a night but beyond 2.5 hours the returns diminish (and any chance of a social life).
Meantime, other school districts, perhaps some that ban homework (that would be double dope!), have moved back their start times to provide more sleep for students. For the heads up, see these Shots from the December 12th NPR Health News on Sleepless No More In Seattle.
I can only say that my quarter of 8 am organic chemistry as a freshman at university did not go well. My notes provided a record of frequent nodding off by my pen trailing off every few lines. That was before I discovered coffee and became addicted to rising early.
Are you seeing red sorting out how much sunscreen to apply and at what strength?
As pointed out in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal, this is the burning question for those of us in the northern hemisphere as we enjoy our brightest days of the year. According to The Numbers columnist Jo Craven McGinty, the answers are:
- At least 2 milligrams per square centimeter—about one-fifth the depth of a piece of paper. Although this seems very thin, most people only put on about half that amount, so you’d best apply your sunscreen twice.
- Go for at least an SPF of 50. However, do not sweat it if all you have on hand is SPF 30, or the level 50 costs more than you care to pay—the difference is minor as you can see in the graph I made by fitting the FDA data WSJ
provided to a curve (using Design-Expert® software).
It seems to me it would be best to stay out of the sun as much as possible, and, when you do, cover up, but seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider, such as a dermatologist. Be careful out there!
PS. McGinty detailed a study that found a significant advantage to increasing SPF from 50 to 100. It being done via a randomized split on 199 snow skiers bodes well. However, the research was sponsored by a sunscreen maker. An independent, contrary view of 100 SPF pros and cons is laid out here.
Ear, ear: 7-year-olds hear 70% from right versus only 55% of speech to left
Jo Craven McGinty, the Wall Street Journal “Numbers” columnist, provided in the February 3rd issue the surprising ‘heads-up’ that children understand much less of when spoken to from the left than from the right. The difference in comprehension stems from a discrepancy in lengths to which speech must travel through the brain. This had been thought to become moot as nerves develop—the “right-ear-advantage” (REA) becoming clinically insignificant by adulthood. However, as reported by WSJ, new findings presented by Auburn University researchers in December to the Acoustical Society of America, indicate that even at ages 19 to 28, a challenging communication may be understood at a rate of 40% more when delivered to the right ear.
The Remarkable History of Right-Ear Advantage published in the January 2018 Hearing Review reveals that REA returns with a vengeance at age 60 and beyond. Perhaps a podcast will be produced to speak on this phenomenon. If so, I plan to put the sound bud into my right ear.
No reason to worry yourself to death over downturn in USA life expectancy
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) researchers announced this week that life expectancy for a baby born in 2016 fell 0.1 percent to 78.6 years. First off, this reduction is so miniscule that it cannot be significant. It definitely is of no importance per se. I do, however, concur with those who cite this statistic as a call for alarm by it being driven down by the epidemic of opioid deaths.
The trick to interpreting statistics on life expectancy is to keep in mind it has a mathematical value that changes as an individual gets older. For example, men like me at age 65 can expect to live to age 84, primarily because we made it through high-mortality childhood and the perils of being a young adult. Look up your expectancy at this Life Table from the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of the Chief Actuary and give yourself a year or two extra by it being a bit dated (me being optimistic in the continuing advancement of medical care).
If you want to be more precise than the SSA tables, check out the calculators posted here. One to avoid is the “How Long Have You Got?” calculator, which comes with the caveat that “each time we’ve tested this calculator we are expected to pass away on the same day”. On the other hand, I think you will like the results from the Easy Surf life-expectancy calculator*.
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
– Marcus Aurelius
* Evidently by the domain “.cc” this comes from someone living in Australia’s Cocos Keeling Islands—a paradise on earth where one might live long and happy as you can see here .
Costa Rica — the happiest place on Earth
Posted by mark in Uncategorized, Wellness on November 6, 2017
Life-sustaining Costa Rican “broccoli” tree towering over rain-forest trail on the slopes of the Arenal Volcano.
The latest issue of National Geographic awaited me upon my return from a wonderful vacation in Costa Rica. Based on my pleasant encounters, it was no surprise to me that this Central American country came first on the feature article about “Happiest Places”. Costa Rica also ranked #1 on the Happy Planet Index (HPI). See the Today.Com video here for the heads-up on what distinguishes Costa Rica and other joyful places around the world.
It seems to me that the recipe for happiness varies quite a lot, but one aspect of Costa Ricans that I like is them living “pura vida”—the pure, or simple, life.
“What I argue for are statistically driven things you can do to optimize your environment so you’re more likely to be happy for the long term.”
– Dan Buettner, Minnesotan author of The Blue Zones of Happiness (Source: The Atlantic.com “A Lazy Person’s Guide to Happiness”
P.S. The top 25 happiest USA cities are ranked here — the hometown for Stat-Ease came in at #22. 😊
Buttered toast lands butter up for once
I cannot recall this happening before today, but when I dropped half a bagel, it landed on the dry side. This allowed me to apply the 5-second rule and swoop it up for breakfast. That led me to this research from Manchester MET University reported by London’s Daily Mail that this (a fortuitous landing) occurs less than 20 percent of the time. These boffins of butter found that the height from which the bread is dropped makes all the difference.
“If you want to ensure your toast lands butter side up then you should invest in a higher table approximately 8ft high that allows the toast to rotate a full 360 degrees. Failing that – try not to drop the toast.”
– Chris Smith, Professor of Food Science and Technology
More good news from the UK food-science front came in March of this year when germ expert Professor Anthony Hilton of Aston University approved the 5-second rule. However, I am not going along with the photo of toast being jelly-side down in this report by The Independent. Eating that would be really gross.
54 billion bacterial cells per cubic centimeter
That’s the density of microbial growth—laden with pathogens—in a typical kitchen sponge. For all the disgusting details, see this Nature report by German (emphasis on “germ”) researchers at the Institute of Applied Microbiology in Geissen.
I came across this while searching internet for advice on what to do about the off-putting sponges laying about the sink in our office, which no one will clean—the tragedy of the commons. The study says that sanitation by boiling or microwave kills most of the bacteria. However, because that bad actors are more hardy, the end result over time may be a more sickening microbiome. The only solution is to replace sponges regularly—at least every week according to this Today show guidance. They suggest that between times you wash your sponges in hot, soapy water, microwave them for one minute, or put them in the dishwasher. After reading the Nature report I am tempted to do all three sanitation procedures, or just quit using sponges.