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Boost Your Immune System with Hugs
Big Think: Hugs may have healing properties (beyond making you feel warm and fuzzy). This flu season add a hug a day to your regimen--it may help lessen your symptoms should you fall ill, according to one study. The find was published in Psychological Science and highlighted in Carnegie Mellon University's news by Shilo Rea. Researchers wanted to assess what social support and hugs had on illness. The study singled-out participants that may be more susceptible to a cold's symptoms because of their heightened level of stress in their lives. The team took 404 adult participants and assessed their perceived level of social support through a questionnaire.
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Even for the Person Who Has Everything, Gifts Matter
The New York Times: R. COURI HAY, a society figure in Manhattan, is not one to think small when it comes to holiday presents. He gave a former partner two Andy Warhol prints of Marilyn Monroe, because by that point in their relationship he had given him every other Monroe-inspired item he could think of, from kitschy items to trips to places linked to her. He once presented Cornelia Guest, a socialite and animal rights activist, with a plate of jewels. He told her she could pick whichever one she wanted but that only one of them was real. (“I knew the real one,” Ms. Guest said.
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Some Early Childhood Experiences Shape Adult Life, But Which Ones?
NPR: Most of us don't remember our first two or three years of life — but our earliest experiences may stick with us for years and continue to influence us well into adulthood. Just how they influence us and how much is a question that researchers are still trying to answer. Two studies look at how parents' behavior in those first years affects life decades later, and how differences in children's temperament play a role. The first study, published Thursday in Child Development, found that the type of emotional support that a child receives during the first three and a half years has an effect on education, social life and romantic relationships even 20 or 30 years later.
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To refresh your own memory, hit save
The Boston Globe: WHEN YOU SAVE a document on your computer, do you find yourself breathing a sigh of relief? In several experiments, researchers asked students to memorize a list of words in one computer file and then memorize a second list of words in another computer file. Those students who were allowed to save the first file for later restudying—as opposed to simply closing it—subsequently did a better job of memorizing the second list of words. In other words, being able to save data made it easier to learn new data. This effect was nullified if participants expected the computer to lose the saved data, or if the list of data was very short (and thus easy to memorize either way).
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The Best Last-Minute Holiday Gifts Don’t Need Wrapping!
Money: Scrambling frantically to buy meaningful gifts for Christmas or Hanukah? Well, you can relax (a little). Pleasing those near and dear to you this holiday season need not involve any last-minute shopping mall runs or late-night web crawls. All you need is a reasonable sense of what your intended gift recipients like (or might like) to do with their time. That’s because, according to a growing body of social science research, the best way to increase the enjoyment, satisfaction and general happiness of your loved ones (not to mention office mates) is to give them real-life experiences. What does that mean, exactly?
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A hug a day may keep the sniffles away, new study suggests
Today: If you're worried about catching a cold, there's a simple act that may protect you against the virus and help you feel better right away: hug someone. Hugging can help prevent a cold virus or lessen symptoms in people who are already sick, according to a recent study published in Psychological Science. We're told to avoid sweaty, germy handshakes during cold and flu season, but the warm embrace of a close friend or loved one may actually improve immune system functioning, says Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and lead author of the study. Stress lowers the body’s defenses against viruses and other pathogens, research has shown.
