Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at You

When fathers work with their children on puzzles, it helps them grow closer, because their brains ‘synchronise’. This leads them to being more ‘psychologically in tune’ with each other. A study at the University of Essex said that “the synchronising of brain activity is interesting, because we knew it happened between mothers and children, but...

Exercise can be just as effective as mindfulness when it comes to reducing your stress and anxiety.  Such is the conclusion of a recent study at Cambridge University. Mindfulness is a form of meditation which involves focussing your thoughts and sensations, and it has become popular in recent years.  But now Cambridge University experts say...

Under lockdown, millions of us who rarely walked around our immediate locality are now well acquainted with every nearby driveway, every crack in the pavement, and every pothole in the road. We have developed views on our neighbours’ gardens, on their oddly coloured garage doors, and on their dogs, children and cars. If we go...

You’d think that the real-life pandemic would be frightening enough, but instead apocalyptic films on streaming services have soared in popularity this past year. And it seems that people who enjoy movies about zombies, alien invasions and apocalyptic pandemics may even be coping better than most of us. A recent study published in the journal...

With the third lockdown, too many of us are facing a torrent of stress over job insecurity, home schooling, isolation, illness, or all of the above! Stress makes us want to eat badly, exercise less and drink more. It also has a profound effect on our immune system. While brief or ‘acute’ stress can spur...

Editor:  Finally, if you want to generate some local stories, how about the following?  Why not ring round and invite three or four people in your church to share ‘A day in my life under lockdown’? – get them to send you 100 words of how they are spending their time at home, and what...

Taking a mature look at Valentine’s Day Do me a favour? What happened to your New Year’s resolution? What we want during the pandemic Beware hand sanitiser! Pandemic dreams Want to feel better? Cuddle your pet National Nestbox Week – time to help your garden birds Rising demand for leggings Let your teenager sleep Restaurants...

You do not see many Zimmer frames, wheelchairs or hearing aids on Valentine’s Day cards. They mostly seem to be full of young love, hearts and roses. Young love is wonderful and beautiful, full of optimism, and plans and hopes for the future. But love in later life is precious too. It is a love...

I just had an email from a clergyman, saying, “Hi” and asking me to do him “a favor”. I replied to say yes, of course. I then began to wonder why he had not said what sort of favour it was, and why he was asking me. I decided to telephone him and find why...

If you are already struggling to keep it, here is something that might help you. Psychologists advise that it is useless to say you are going to quit anything. Instead, make your resolution to change into something positive. For example, instead of “I will give up sweets,” say “I will eat fruit twice a day.”...

What have men and women been thinking about during the pandemic? According to recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), men have been preoccupied with takeaway food and pints, while women have been keeping in touch with their friends. In a study on the social impact of coronavirus, the ONS found that women...

Don’t let vulnerable members of your family accidentally poison themselves with hand sanitiser. It can kill them. Poisonings from swallowing alcohol-based hand sanitiser have more than doubled in the past year, to nearly 400. Doctors from the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at the University of Oxford urge that more needs to be done to...