“There will not be a happy Guangdong without local residents having happy sex lives,” the state-run China Daily quoted Zhang Feng, deputy secretary-general of the Guangdong provincial government, as saying on the eve of national Singles Day on Friday (so designated because the date is 11/11/11).

More than 20% of single people suffered from a feeling of sexual repression in Guangdong — China’s richest and most populous province — according to Mr. Zhang,

In a previous issue of Easy Health Options™, I discussed how staying in tune with your innate emotional guidance can make you happy and, therefore, healthy. In particular, you can get motivated to discover new passions in your life by letting your emotional connection to thought be your guide, rather than being enslaved to your beliefs about that thought. Misguided beliefs are simply thoughts you keep thinking. When they are not valid, they obstruct your health and satisfaction.

Relationship Test

In a study of 225 coronary bypass patients, a team of scientists found that being in a healthy marital union significantly increased an individual’s chances of survival 15 years after the operation.

Women who were happily married had an 83 percent chance of being alive 15 years after their bypass surgery, compared to 28 percent of females in unhappy marriages and 27 percent of single women. The survival rate for men in satisfying relationships was 83 percent, compared to 60 percent in men that were married but not happy and 36 percent of single men.

“Coronary bypass surgery was once seen as a miracle cure for heart disease,” said lead author Kathleen King. “But now we know that for most patients, grafts are a temporary patch, even more susceptible to clogging and disease than native arteries. So, it’s important to look

Geomancy, however in the 19th century began to be applied to the Chinese practice of feng shui, which literally means “wind and water”.  This is an ancient Chinese system of creating harmonious surroundings in order to ensure health, happiness and prosperity. The way in which this was done involved the geomantic or the feng shui master employing ‘a circular magnetic compass, called a luopan, which was marked off in rings containing data relating to astrology, directions, the elements, landscape forms, times of day, and so on. The aim was to locate a site where the energies or chi of the land and sky were brought 

1. Love = a Healthy Heart

Many studies have shown that relationships play a role in heart health. A study from the University of Texas Research, conducted with rabbits, found that love can reduce plaque buildup in your arteries, helping reduce overall risk of heart attack. In this study, rabbits were fed an artery-blocking diet, and some of the rabbits received love and affection while the others received none. The surprising results revealed that the rabbits given tender loving care had 60% less plaque buildup than their counterparts.

2. Get an Immune Boost with Love

Love in your life might just save you from the flu. One study showed that a five-minute episode of feeling genuine care or compassion enhanced the whole immune system, causing a gradual climb in secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA), your body’s natural antibody against colds, flu, and other invading germs. Even watching movies about love or altruism, petting a fluffy animal pal, and practicing selfless service for others has been shown to increase levels of IgA.

3. Keep in Touch with Your Loved Ones

Human touch, long recognized as a powerful healing technique, increases your body’s production of endorphins, growth hormone, and DHEA, all of which lengthen your life span and lower the negative impact of stress. In fact, studies have found that unconscious patients who are regularly touched recover faster than those who are not touched. Researchers have also observed that orphaned babies stop growing and even die from the lack of touch and love. So hug, cuddle, and massage your loved ones to live longer.

4. Connect with Friends to Increase Your Lifespan

Humans have depended on one another for survival since time immemorial, and indeed, many studies have found that even today, people rich in social and community support are more likely to live longer than those with weak social connections. Even people with unhealthy lifestyles tend to live longer than people lacking in social and community support. According to a study recently put out by Brigham Young University, spending time with friends has an extremely positive effect on health and can cut your risk of an early death in half. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, the research team’s head said that lacking in social relationships “was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.” If you find yourself spending most of your time alone, reach out. Offer to babysit for family members or join groups of people who share similar interests and gather together in person. Feel your presence in the world and make it felt by others.

5. Prescription for Longevity: A Happy Marriage

Research has confirmed that happily married couples live, on average, four years longer than single people. According to one study, nearly 100 percent of male centenarians are married or have only recently been widowed. Psychologists attribute the increased life span to the sense of interconnectedness with another human being. Studies have indicated that a happy marriage improves your mood, positively affects your dietary decisions, and leads to a larger social network of friends — three major factors of longevity. People in a marriage also tend to take better care of each other; and feeling that someone would care for you in times of illness appears to increase the sense of security about the future, cutting back on stress.

Studies suggest that the longer a marriage lasts, the greater the rewards. These days, there are many forms of spouse-like relationships that may benefit in similar ways. But not all relationships positively affect our health. Other research has found that marriage problems may increase risk for heart disease by 34% and tend to result in a lower survival rate in women with breast cancer.

Bonus tip: If you have recently ended a relationship, you can strengthen your spirit with affirmations and invocations. Consider listening to Invocations for Health, Longevity, and Healing a Broken Heart, a powerful set of guided invocations.

6. Healthy Loving Lengthens Your Life Span

Healthy sex, nature’s fountain of youth, raises your levels of endorphins, DHEA, and growth hormone, which increase longevity. At the same time, sex lowers levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, which decrease your life span. A Duke University study showed that women who were happy with their sex lives could live up to eight years longer compared with women who were indifferent to their sex lives. While healthy loving adds years to your life, it also takes years off your face, making you actually look younger. Studies show that people who are highly satisfied with their sex life looked 4 to 7 years younger than their peers. This results from reduced stress, greater happiness, and better sleep. So before you invest in a costly makeover, try improving your sex life.

If love equals health, how to manifest love? Begin by loving yourself. For your relationships, share your time, energy, and self with your loved ones. Look for ways to give back and make them happy. For instance, you might cook a meal or do the dishes as a pleasant surprise. Or you might send them a card, listing their many special qualities. It does not need to be elaborate or expensive, but it should show that you care and appreciate them. As you give freely of your love, you will receive meaningful love in return.

You can find many more ways that love helps you live to 100 in Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to Live to Be 100, which is now available on Kindle. If you are interested in a structured longevity program, check out my new book Secrets of Longevity 8-Week Program, a journal that will transform your health and lengthen your years.

I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

Courtesy of Dr.Mao

Fun with Folate

Eat folate-rich foods: Leafy greens like kale, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, turnip greens, bok choy, legumes, sunflower seeds, oranges, melons, beets, and fortified whole grains

Why? Folate, also known as folic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that is necessary for cell division, DNA synthesis, and healthy blood cell production. Research at the University of York and Hull York Medical School has found a link between depression and low levels of folate. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for men and women is 400 micrograms and 600 micrograms for pregnant women. To keep you smiling, increase your intake of folate-rich foods. A cup of cooked lentils provides 90% of the RDA of folic acid. Plus, the fiber and protein will satisfy you longer, stabilize blood sugar, and also promote a better mood. Additional bonuses: Folate can also decrease homocysteine, an amino acid that is linked to heart disease. Low levels of folate can cause anemia, while pregnant women must increase their folate levels to prevent fetal neural tube deficiencies.

Boost Your B6

Eat B6 foods: bananas, chicken breast, garlic, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, sunflower seeds, broccoli, red bell peppers, watermelon, avocados, and potatoes

Why? Vitamin B6 plays a role in red blood cell metabolism, protein metabolism, and synthesis of neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. It also helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels, and increases the amount of oxygen carried to your tissues. Low levels can lead to an increase of homocysteine, anemia, headaches, and depression. The RDA for adults from age 19 to 50 is 1.3 mg/day and approximately 1.6 mg for individuals over 50. The next time you’re feeling down, grab a banana and munch your blues away!

Go Fish!

Eat omega-3-rich foods: fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and herring, flaxseeds, walnuts, and algae

Why? DHA omega-3 essential fatty acid maintains healthy brain function and is vital for fetal brain and eye development. Current research also demonstrates the association between intake of omega-3 fatty acids and depression. A meta-analysis study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that depression was significantly improved in patients with unipolar and bipolar disorders after taking three daily fish capsules for eight weeks. Eat the oily fish listed above — a 3-ounce serving of salmon contains between 1.1 – 1.9 grams of omega-3 fatty acids. Supplementing with high quality fish oil capsules may be an alternative if you don’t consume fish on a regular basis. Vegetarian sources of omega-3 can be found in flaxseeds, walnuts, and algae. Toss a tablespoon of sunflower seeds or walnuts into a creamy cup of unsweetened low-fat yogurt for a mega mood boost!

You can also try Super Clarity, a blend of powerful herbs that nourish the brain and cardiovascular system, helping the mind be joyful.

Good Carbohydrates, Bad Carbohydrates

Eat good carbohydrates: whole grains, fruits, vegetables

Why? Not all carbohydrates are created equal. Whole grains, fruits, and veggies supply us with prolonged energy, fiber, and multiple nutrients that our bodies need for optimal health. Good quality carbohydrates can also trigger serotonin synthesis. Recognized as the “happy hormone,” serotonin is an important neurotransmitter that affects our mood and sleep. The next time you feel blue, instead of reaching for that bag of chips or sugary cookies, opt for unrefined, unprocessed carbohydrates that will provide you with sustained energy and an improved mood. Toss that muffin and enjoy a whole grain cracker with a tablespoon of natural nut butter for a delicious and uplifting snack!

People who work hard at improving a skill or ability, such as mastering a math problem or learning to drive, may experience stress in the moment, but experience greater happiness on a daily basis and longer term, a study suggests.

“No pain, no gain is the rule when it comes to gaining happiness from increasing our competence at something,” said Ryan Howell, professor of psychology at San Francisco State University.

“People often give up their goals because they are stressful, but we found that there is benefit at the end of the day from learning to do something well. And what’s striking is that you don’t have to reach your goal to see the benefits to your happiness and well-being.”

Contrary to previous research, the study found that people who engage in behaviors that increase competency, for example at work, school or the gym, experience decreased happiness in the moment, lower levels of enjoyment and higher levels of momentary stress.

Despite the negative effects felt on an hourly basis, participants reported that these same activities made them feel happy and satisfied when they looked back on their day as a whole. This surprising finding suggests that in the process of becoming proficient at something, individuals may need to endure temporary stress to reap the happiness benefits associated with increased competency.

The study examined whether people who spend time on activities that fulfill certain psychological needs, believed to be necessary for growth and well-being, experience greater happiness.

In addition to the need to be competent, the study focused on the need to feel connected to others and to be autonomous or self-directed, and it examined how fulfilling these three needs affect a person’s happiness moment by moment within a day.

For two days, participants reported how they spent each hour, the enjoyment and stress experienced in that hour, and whether the activity met their need for competency, connectedness to others or autonomy. A second group of participants completed a similar survey, but reported on the day as a whole.

While behaviors that increase competency were associated with decreased happiness in the moment, people who spent time on activities that met the need for autonomy or feeling connected to others experienced increased happiness on both an hourly and daily basis. The greatest increase in momentary happiness was experienced by participants who engaged in something that met their need for autonomy — any behavior that a person feels they have chosen, rather than ought to do, and that helps them further their interests and goals.

The authors suggest that shifting the balance of needs met in a day could help people find ways to cope with short term stress in the workplace. “Our results suggest that you can decrease the momentary stress associated with improving your skill or ability by ensuring you are also meeting the need for autonomy and connectedness, for example performing the activity alongside other people or making sure it is something you have chosen to do and is true to who you are,” Howell said.

The study was published online in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

People with a large circle of friends may feel happy and supported – but there is a darker side to popularity.

A new report has revealed that popular people also get the flu first, on average two weeks sooner than most others.

Two experts, who reported their findings in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, said that this tendency could be invaluable in tracking the spread of disease.

James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, who worked on the study, said: ‘Being at the centre of the network tends to make you happy but it also exposes you to disease.’

Mr Fowler and Nicholas Christakis, of Harvard University in Massachusetts, said the so-called ‘friendship paradox’ could be important to working out how a flu pandemic or other viruses were likely to behave.

‘This would allow an earlier, more vigorous, and more effective response,” Mr Christakis said.

Here’s how the friendship paradox works. If a person is asked to name a friend, the person they name is statistically likely to be more popular than the original individual.

Mr Fowler says this is because people who are asked to name a friend or two are more likely to choose someone who connects them to others.

He said a good example of this is a party scenario, where most guests would name the host as a friend – as opposed to the loner standing in the kitchen.

Messrs Fowler and Christakis are experts on social networks and have used their methodology to show that obesity, smoking and other behaviors are directly related to a person’s friends, and the friends of their friends.

They teamed up again to study the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic among 744 Harvard students.

They found the most popular students got the flu about two weeks earlier than the others.

Mr Fowler also said that the internet could be used to track the spread of disease, as people’s web-browsing behaviour tends to match circulating disease.

He said that when people felt ill, they looked up terms such as ‘fever’ or ‘cough’. By watching when and where these search terms became more common, health officials should be able to track disease trends.

‘This is one way we could really turn friends into our crystal ball,’ he said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1312409/The-price-popularity-People-lot-friends-likely-flu-say-scientists.html#ixzz0zfuGe3oY

We all have unexciting days sometimes.  However, hey, having a boring day beats having a really bad one, right?

Not so fast.  Seems that “ho hum” might be right up there with “woe is me” when it comes to the impact on your health. In a study, people who were most bored with their jobs had higher mortality rates at younger ages. Yikes. Time to spice things up!

Be Aware of  Your Enthusiasm

The study included a survey of more than 7,000 government workers in London in the 1980s, asking them how often they found themselves bored on the job. After a little more than 20 years had passed, the researchers checked back in with the participants and found that those who had been most bored with their jobs were more likely to have died in the interim. And the killer? More often than not, it was due to heart troubles. (Working too much?

Bored to Death

Boredom itself wasn’t the actual cause of death, but researchers noticed that the people who were most bored also exercised less and had worse overall health, leading the researchers to speculate that depression could be at play. Feeling chronically uninterested in things can be a sign of depression, and depressed people are less likely to feel motivated to take care of themselves.

3 Ways to Jumpstart Your Spirit

• Perk up with a puzzle. Challenging your mind regularly helps keep you stimulated and engaged in life
• Get physical. Exercising is one of the best natural mood boosters on earth.
• Find something to love. Happiness doesn’t always just land in your lap.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 30 minutes

Here’s How:

1. Make it Pleasant

Try to schedule your trips to the grocery store at times when it is not crowded. Early in the morning is usually a good time, even on weekends. The produce is fresh, carts are available and the staff is just starting their day, so they are usually relaxed and helpful. Try not to think of your trip to the grocery store as a chore, but a part of your day to calmly select foods to feed yourself and your family.

1. Make a List

Go to the store with a list that you made at home. Try to organize your list into categories according to the store layout (for example: produce, meats, dairy, spices, specialty items, etc.)

1. Shop the Perimeter

If we are eating for health, there really is no reason to visit many of the aisles in the store. Most healthy food, such as produce, fish and dairy, is located around the edges of the store. Going down the aisles containing cookies or chips may lead to unwanted items finding their way into our carts through habit or impulse.

1. Don’t Shop on an Empty Stomach

We have all had the experience of shopping when we are hungry and coming home with items that we bought on impulse, which are usually are not the best choices for our health. Eat before you go and you will be able to resist temptation.

1. Try New Things

Add a sense of adventure to grocery shopping by trying a new food each time. Pick an interesting-looking fruit or a small piece of exotic-sounding cheese to try. You may find a new favorite to add to your healthy repertoire.

Improving the channel of communication between yourself and your teenager is essential to a respectable and loving parent-child relationship. Just as a radio channel signal must to be clear in order for listeners to hear and understand the voices communication between a parent and their teenager must be clear. There are some essential communication tools that can improve the quality of Communication With Teenagers;

1. Listen

2. Set boundaries that reflect your values and provide appropriate punishment

3. Ask and value their opinions

4. Give them privacy

5. Develop an interest in their life

6. Let them know you believe in their potential as a human being and that they are of precious value to you and to the world

Listen

Listening is different to hearing. Often people are having a conversation that consists of them sharing their opinion and then while the other person speaks they are thinking about what they are going to respond without listening. Listening is not a natural quality a lot of people posses rather it is cultivated and developed through constant effort. Listening means that when someone else is talking you are listening to their words, focused on their countenance and sensitive to their emotions. When a person truly listens to another they pick up signals the other person is sending out such as body language. Body language is a huge tool to help one understand the feelings of another. By focusing on another person that person will feel important and therefore are more likely to respect your opinion.

With your teenager they might use phrases such as, “you just don’t understand” or “fine, whatever.” These phrases are closed and basically say “you don’t care about my opinion so I’m not going to listen to you.” If you teenager is constantly repeating “you just don’t understand” then ask her to explain what is so important to her and listen. Now just because you listen and focus all you attentions on your teenager doesn’t mean that you need to agree with then. But it will provide them with an opportunity to evaluate their own feelings and values. Teenagers don’t think that their parents were ever teenagers. Sometimes sharing appropriate stories of being a teenager and making decisions can make you more tangible and real to you teenager.

Boundaries

Purely being your teenager’s best friend will do them no favors. Teenagers Need Structure. Without rules and consequences they will never be prepared for the wide world which awaits them. With this said there must be a balance. Too many rules and not enough freedom will only cause your teenager to rebel. Decide what is must important to you, what do you value must about life. Avoid giving them set rules and provide them with principles. A principle is an accepted code of conduct that may apply in many facets of life. Here are some examples:

Don’t yell – Be respectful

Don’t make a mess – Take care of your possessions

You must clean your room – cleanliness of next to Godliness

Use your manners – Acknowledge your blessings through an attitude of gratitude

The only way that your teenagers will integrate these principles into their life is if they see them exemplified through your actions.

When deciding an appropriate consequence to bad behavior involves your teenager. Have family discussions and ask them what they think would be an appropriate consequence. This way when they are disobedient they can not moan about the consequence because they helped create it. Also involving your teenager in the discipline process is a manifestation that you care about what they think and that elevates them with a sense of maturity.

Ask

Teenagers are developing their ideas and opinions about the world in which they live and although those with evolve throughout their life they thrive on sharing their present thoughts. Ask you teenager what they think about smoking, teenage pregnancy, sex, underage drinking, higher education, work ethics etc… By asking then the questions they will be thinking about those topics and will be more likely to make logical and smart choices.

Privacy

Everyone enjoys some privacy especially teenagers who’s body is changing with soaring hormones. The emotional rollercoaster that accompanies the teen years often calls for some well need privacy.

Be interested

If your teenager knows you are interested in their life and their hobbies they will feel more comfortable in sharing things with you.

Importance

If you can try to always discipline with love your teenagers will soon learn that you do all you do because you love them. Tell them that they have great potential because of who they are rather than because they were captain of the football team or received an “A” in an exam. This doesn’t that these things are not accomplishments but make sure you are praising your teenagers for the choices they make and person they are becoming.

By: R. Kapoor

by Elizabeth Mendes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hawaii’s residents had the highest well-being in the nation in 2009, pulling ahead of 2008 leader Utah, and coming in with a new high state Well-Being Index score of 70.2. Utah and Montana are also among the top well-being states in the country, sharing the same score of 68.3. Kentucky (62.3) and West Virginia (60.5) have the two lowest well-being scores, as they did in 2008.

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index 2009 state-level data encompass more than 350,000 interviews conducted among national adults aged 18 older across all 50 states. Gallup and Healthways started tracking state-level well-being in 2008. The Well-Being Index score for the nation and for each state is an average of six sub-indexes, which individually examine life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and access to basic necessities.

The Well-Being Index is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100, where a score of 100 would represent ideal well-being. Well-Being Index scores among states vary by a narrow range of 9.7 points. The 2009 Well-Being Index score for the country is 65.9, unchanged from 2008.

Nine of the top 10 well-being states — Hawaii, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Colorado, Utah, and Alaska — are in the Midwest and the West. Seven of the 11 lowest well-being states are in the South. The general geography of well-being in 2009 remained similar to 2008.

In addition to having the highest overall Well-Being Index score, Hawaii was best in the nation on three of the six well-being sub-indexes, Life Evaluation, Emotional Health, and Physical Health. At the opposite end of the spectrum is West Virginia, which performed the worst on the same three sub-indexes. Utah does the best on the Work Environment Index, with a score more than 10 points higher than that of the worst state on this measure, Delaware. As in 2008, Mississippi is at the bottom on the Basic Access Index, and Kentucky scores the worst on the Healthy Behavior Index.

Each state’s sub-index score reflects the average of the positive percentages found for each of items detailed in the chart above. For example, Mississippi’s Basic Access Index score of 77.3 means that, on average, more than three-quarters of its residents do have access across each of the basic necessities asked about in the sub-index, but that still leaves a large number who are in need, representing millions of people.

Change in Well-Being From 2008 to 2009

Generally speaking, well-being has been fairly stable over time; most states exhibited little change from 2008 to 2009. Only four states — South Dakota, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Iowa — saw an increase of two or more points in their Well-Being Index score from 2008 to 2009. Wyoming saw the largest decrease at 1.3 points. Overall, 18 states moved in a negative direction, 27 in a positive direction, and 5 remained unchanged.

Some of the six sub-indexes scores are more likely to move because of several factors including the number of questions included in the sub-index and the content of the questions. For example, the Life Evaluation Index, which is calculated using two questions asking respondents to rate their lives now and in the future, score changes a good deal throughout the course of the year. Across states, 2008 to 2009 change in Life Evaluation Index scores ranged from 11.0 in Maine to -1.7 in Wyoming. After Maine, two of the biggest gains in Life Evaluation scores from 2008 to 2009, 10.7 and 10.5 points, were in North Dakota and South Dakota, respectively, also the two states with the highest percentage of residents who were satisfied with their standard of living in 2009. Although Wyoming was the only state in which the Life Evaluation Index score decreased last year in comparison to 2008, the downtick is not statistically significant.

Basic Access Index scores, on the other hand, are less likely to change over time. This sub-index is made up of 13 individual questions, many of which are items that require community, business, or governmental intervention to change such as if the city where the respondent lives in is getting better or worse as a place to live and if it is easy to get affordable fruits and vegetables where the respondent lives. The year-over-year range of change on this measure is from 0.8 points to -2.1 points and most of the change is not statistically significant, meaning that access to the basic necessities a person needs to have high well-being is essentially stagnant across the United States. However, cities and communities potentially have the opportunity to move the needle on the Basic Access metric by taking significant steps to improve the health and well-being of their residents.

While certain metrics are in the control of the individual and others fall upon businesses and the government to change, what is clear is that a much bigger society-wide effort is needed for more Americans to move their Well-Being Index score closer to the optimal level of 100 points.

We have never posted an article like this, however if there was ever an exception to promote spiritual and holistic wellness, this is it. 

This is a wonderful piece by Michael Gartner, editor of newspapers large and small and past president of NBC News.  In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.  It is well worth reading, and a few good chuckles are guaranteed.  Here goes….

My father never drove a car.  Well, that’s not quite right.  I should say I never saw him drive a car.

“No,” he said ” If we miss it at seven, we just come home and call it a bad day.  Besides, nothing in life is so important it can’t be put off another day or another week.”

    My mother was never in an accident, but one evening she handed me her car keys and said she had decided to quit driving.. That was in 1999, when she was 90.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. 

So love the people who treat you right.  Forget about the one’s who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason.  If you get a chance, take it & if it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it.

ENJOY LIFE NOW – IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE

GENEVA – Most of the 2.6 million deaths of young people each year are preventable, according to a new study supported by the World Health Organization and released in Geneva Friday.

The main causes of deaths in the 10-24 age group were road traffic accidents, complications during pregnancy and child birth, suicide, violence, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

The study, to be published in the Lancet, a medical journal, found that 97 percent of these deaths were taking place in low and middle-income countries.

“Young people … often fall through the cracks,” said Daisy Mafubelu, WHO’s expert for family and community health.

She said it was important to improve their access to information and services “and help young people avoid risky behaviors that can lead to death”.

There are an estimated 1.8 billion people that fall into this age group, accounting for 30 percent of the world’s population.

Road traffic accidents could be avoided through more appropriate speed limits, strict enforcement of drunk-driving laws and by the use of helmets and safety belts, the WHO said.

Moreover, young people need sex education, condoms and other contraceptives, the ability to perform safe abortions, access to antenatal and obstetric services and testing and care for HIV/AIDS.

The study also led the researchers to conclude that suicide and other violence could be prevented through life-skills training and positive parental involvement in young people’s lives.

Furthermore, the WHO recommended that access to lethal means of all kinds, including guns and toxins, should be reduced, along with limiting the consumption of alcohol.

There also needed to be better care and support for those exposed to child abuse, youth violence, and sexual assault, to help young people deal with the immediate and long-term consequences of these traumatic events.

How Infant Pain Has Repercussions in Adulthood

ATLANTA – Researchers at Georgia State University have thrown light on how pain in infancy alters the brain’s ability to process pain in adulthood.

The study has now indicated that infants who spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) show altered pain sensitivity in adolescence.

The results have profound implications, and highlight the need for pre-emptive and post-operative pain medicine for newborn infants.

The study sheds light on how the mechanisms of pain are altered after infant injury in a region of the brain called the periaqueductal gray, which is involved in the perception of pain.

For the study, graduate student Jamie LaPrairie and professor Anne Murphy used Sprague-Dawley rats to examine why the brief experience of pain at the time of birth permanently decreased pain sensitivity in adulthood.

Endogenous opioid peptides, such as beta-endorphin and enkephalin, function to inhibit pain and they are also the ‘feel good’ substances that are released following high levels of exercise or love.

As these peptides are released following injury and act like morphine to dampen the experience of pain, the researchers tested to see if the rats, who were injured at birth, had unusually high levels of endogenous opioids in adulthood.

Thus, they gave adult animals that were injured at the time of birth a drug called naloxone, which blocks the actions of endogenous opioids.

The researchers observed that after animals received an injection of naloxone, they behaved just like an uninjured animal.

Using a variety of anatomical techniques, the investigators showed that animals that were injured at birth had endogenous opioid levels that were two times higher than normal.

Interestingly, while there is an increase in endorphin and enkephalin proteins in adults, there is also a big decrease in the availability of mu and delta opioid receptors, which are necessary in order for pain medications, such as morphine, to work.

This means that it takes more pain-relieving medications in order to provide relief as there are fewer available receptors in the brain. Studies in humans are reporting the same phenomenon.

The number of invasive procedures an infant experienced in the NICU is negatively correlated with how responsive the child is to morphine later in life.

Thus, the researchers concluded that the more painful procedures an infant experienced, the less effective morphine is in alleviating pain.

The study has been published online in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

SYDNEY – A new online survey has found that women are happier than men, and that young people are more likely to be distressed.

The survey of 309 people, conducted by the Mental Health Association NSW (MHA), also found that spending time with friends or being a member of a club contributed much to an individual’s happiness.

It also showed that those unsure whether they would like socialising, “fence sitters”, were more prone to mental ill-health.

A majority of women reported feeling happier than men, and they also had more active social lives.

“The report reveals that there is a strong link between participating and feeling happy when socialising with friends or being a member of a club,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted MHA spokeswoman Nataly Bovopoulos as saying in a statement.

“It was also interesting to note that the majority (72 per cent) of the respondents were female, which indicates immediately that women are more likely to get involved than men,” she added.

Those who were experiencing a disadvantage from factors such as a financial crisis reported being distressed, as did 18 to 25-year-olds, who were unhappier than older age groups.

The survey, which asks people if they attend religious services or use social networking sites such as Facebook, is part of research into community participation, psychological distress, and mental well-being trends in NSW.

Bovopoulos also said it was possible for people to feel unhappy without being depressed or anxious, however, most people who were distressed reported feeling unhappy.

WASHINGTON — People in sunny, outdoorsy states — Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida — say they’re the happiest Americans, and researchers think they know why. A new study comparing self-described pleasant feelings with objective measures of good living found these folks generally have reason to feel fine.

The places where people are most likely to report happiness also tend to rate high on studies comparing things like climate, crime rates, air quality and schools.

The happiness ratings were based on a survey of 1.3 million people across the country by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It used data collected over four years that included a question asking people how satisfied they are with their lives.

Economists Andrew J. Oswald of the University of Warwick in England and Stephen Wu of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., compared the happiness ranking with studies that rated states on a variety of criteria ranging from availability of public land to commuting time to local taxes.

Probably not surprisingly, their report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science found the happiest people tend to live in the states that do well in quality-of-life studies.

Yet Oswald says “this is the first objective validation of ‘happiness’ data,” which is something he says economists have been reluctant to use in the past.

“Very loosely, you could say that we prove that happiness data are ‘true,’ — such data have genuine objective informational content,” he said.

“Moreover,” Oswald added, “it is interesting to uncover the pattern of life-satisfaction across one of the world’s important nations.”

Ranking No. 1 in happiness was Louisiana, home of Dixieland music and Cajun/Creole cooking.

Oswald urged a bit of caution in that ranking, however, noting that part of the happiness survey occurred before Hurricane Katrina struck the state, and part of it took place later. Nevertheless, he said, “We have no explicit reason to think there is a problem” with the ranking.

Rounding out the happy five were Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee and Arizona.

At the other end of the scale, last in happiness — is New York state.

As if to illustrate the problem, residents attending a meeting Wednesday in rural Queensbury unleashed their anger and cynicism at a state government they described as corrupt, self-dealing and too quick to increase taxes. It was a tirade that had one lifelong resident saying he was ready to flee “this stinkin’ state.”

Oswald suggested the long commutes, congestion and high prices around New York City account for some of the unhappiness.

He said he has been asked if the researchers expected that states like New York and California, which ranked 46th, would do so badly in the happiness ranking.

“I am only a little surprised,” he said. “Many people think these states would be marvelous places to live in. The problem is that if too many individuals think that way, they move into those states, and the resulting congestion and house prices make it a non-fulfilling prophecy.”

Besides being interesting, the state-by-state pattern has scientific value, Oswald explained.

“We wanted to study whether people’s feelings of satisfaction with their own lives are reliable, that is, whether they match up to reality — of sunshine hours, congestion, air quality, etceteras — in their own state. And they do match.”

Oswald and Wu used data from CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System collected from 2005 to 2008. The survey, launched in 1984, collects information on a variety of health measures.

The research was supported by Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council.

GENEVA – India, Nigeria and Congo account for 40 percent of the 8.8 million deaths of children under the age of five years, a new Unicef study released Friday says.

Though a little satisfied over a drop in child mortality, the UN agency said these three countries were a key to the world achieving the millennium development goals by 2015. The goals have been set up by United Nations.

“A handful of countries with large populations bear a disproportionate burden of under-five deaths, with forty per cent of the worlds under-five deaths occurring in just three countries: India, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the global report said.

Unless mortality in these countries is significantly reduced, the MDG (millennium development goals) targets will not be met, said Unicef Executive Director Ann M. Veneman.

The study said achieving the goal of a two-thirds reduction in the under-five mortality rate by 2015 would require a strong sense of urgency with targeted resources for greater progress.

While praising some countries for making efforts in reducing the mortality, Unicef expressed dissatisfaction that South Africa was not doing enough in this regard.

In some countries, the progress is slow or non-existent. In South Africa, the under-five mortality rate has actually gone up since 1990. The health of the child is inextricably linked to the health of the mother and South Africa has the highest number of women living with HIV in the world, the report said.

Recent commitments by the government to scale up interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS should help improve the situation, the UN agency hoped.

Unicef said the progress could be accelerated even in the poorest environments, through integrated, evidence-driven, community-based health programmes that focus on addressing the major causes of death — pneumonia, diarrhoea, newborn disorders, malaria, HIV and under-nutrition.

The two leading causes of under-five mortality are pneumonia and diarrhoea. New tools, such as vaccines against pneumococcal pneumonia and rotaviral diarrhoea, could provide (the) additional momentum, the report said.

The data, however, shows a 28 per cent decline in the under-five mortality rate, from 90 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990, to 65 deaths per 1000 live births in 2008 in the world.

According to these estimates, the absolute number of child deaths in 2008 declined to an estimated 8.8 million from 12.5 million in 1990, the base line year for the millennium development goals.

Compared to 1990, 10,000 fewer children are dying every day. While progress is being made, it is unacceptable that each year 8.8 million children die before their fifth birthday, added Veneman.

OXFORD -  Science has proved it: People do better as a team. Researchers from Oxford University have found that team players can tolerate twice as much pain as those who work alone.

The study, which carried out tests on 12 rowers after a vigorous workout in a virtual boat, suggests that exercising together appears to increase the level of the feel-good endorphin hormones naturally released during physical exertion.

Writing in Biology Letters, the authors speculate these hormones may underpin an array of communal activities.

Physical exertion releases endorphins and that these are responsible for the sometimes euphoric sensations experienced after exercising are facts already known.

However, in the new study, researchers from Oxford University’s Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology found this response was heightened by the synergistic effect of rowing together.

After 45 minutes of either rowing separately or in a team of six, the researchers measured their pain threshold by how long they could tolerate an inflated blood pressure cuff on the arm, reports The BBC.xercise increased both groups’ ability to tolerate pain, but the difference was significantly more pronounced among the team rowers.

This, they said, was a measure of an increased endorphin release.

“The results suggest that endorphin release is significantly greater in group training than in individual training even when power output, or physical exertion, remains constant,” said lead author Emma Cohen.

“The exact features of group activity that generate this effect are unknown, but this study contributes to a growing body of evidence suggesting that synchronized, coordinated physical activity may be responsible,” the expert added.

SAN FRANCISCO – ‘No pain, no gain’ adage applies to happiness too, according to new research.

People who work hard at improving a skill or ability, such as mastering a math problem or learning to drive, may experience stress in the moment, but experience greater happiness on a daily basis and longer term, a study suggests.

“No pain, no gain is the rule when it comes to gaining happiness from increasing our competence at something,” said Ryan Howell, professor of psychology at San Francisco State University.

“People often give up their goals because they are stressful, but we found that there is benefit at the end of the day from learning to do something well. And what’s striking is that you don’t have to reach your goal to see the benefits to your happiness and well-being.”

Contrary to previous research, the study found that people who engage in behaviors that increase competency, for example at work, school or the gym, experience decreased happiness in the moment, lower levels of enjoyment and higher levels of momentary stress.

Despite the negative effects felt on an hourly basis, participants reported that these same activities made them feel happy and satisfied when they looked back on their day as a whole. This surprising finding suggests that in the process of becoming proficient at something, individuals may need to endure temporary stress to reap the happiness benefits associated with increased competency.

The study examined whether people who spend time on activities that fulfill certain psychological needs, believed to be necessary for growth and well-being, experience greater happiness.

In addition to the need to be competent, the study focused on the need to feel connected to others and to be autonomous or self-directed, and it examined how fulfilling these three needs affect a person’s happiness moment by moment within a day.

For two days, participants reported how they spent each hour, the enjoyment and stress experienced in that hour, and whether the activity met their need for competency, connectedness to others or autonomy. A second group of participants completed a similar survey, but reported on the day as a whole.

 While behaviors that increase competency were associated with decreased happiness in the moment, people who spent time on activities that met the need for autonomy or feeling connected to others experienced increased happiness on both an hourly and daily basis. The greatest increase in momentary happiness was experienced by participants who engaged in something that met their need for autonomy — any behavior that a person feels they have chosen, rather than ought to do, and that helps them further their interests and goals.

The authors suggest that shifting the balance of needs met in a day could help people find ways to cope with short term stress in the workplace. “Our results suggest that you can decrease the momentary stress associated with improving your skill or ability by ensuring you are also meeting the need for autonomy and connectedness, for example performing the activity alongside other people or making sure it is something you have chosen to do and is true to who you are,” Howell said.

The study was published online in the Journal of Happiness Studies.