Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at You

Scientists at Harvard have found that when you have higher levels of the body’s hunger hormone, ghrelin, in your system, you are more likely to be impulsive. This means that you will be liable to make poor decisions, tending towards instant gratification rather than long-term achievement. In one experiment, hungry women with a higher amount...

Try listening to ‘sedative music’, with a slow tempo, soft volume and smooth melody. Music is less invasive than sleeping pills, and may possibly work for you. A recent study carried out at a university in Taiwan found that “listening to sedative music can improve sleep by modulating sympathetic nervous system activity and the release...

We all like to receive a compliment from time to time. As Robert Orben, former script writer for President Gerald R. Ford once said, “A compliment is verbal sunshine.” Another American, Leo Buscaglia once observed: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment,...

Emails – a blessing or a problem? Have you ever laughed at a joke you did not understand?   Beware of the dog Do you love a bargain?  Nectar in your garden How to keep ground coffee fresh Is there life without the BBC? Good walls protect marriages Beware the use-by date ** Editor: David Pickup,...

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. (James 3 v 9-10) I wonder what St James would say about emails! He had plenty...

Then you are not alone.  It seems that two thirds of us have laughed at jokes we did not ‘get’, simply because we wanted to fit in with our friends at the time. And more than half of us have actually gone on to repeat jokes with punchlines which we don’t ourselves understand. More than...

Be careful if you are looking to buy a puppy. Make sure you know where it really came from. A spokesman for the RSPCA warns of a spike in the number illicit dog breeders and dealers who are conning the public. The number of dogs imported from the EU increased by 52% from 2019 to...

Some people adore bargains, promotions, and cut-price items. They are the ones who always forage out reduced clothing and food, collect coupons and loyalty points with great care, and are at the front of the queue to bag items on Black Friday. Now a new study has found that such deal-prone bargain-hunting may be more...

The battle rages:  just where IS the best place to store your ground coffee? Sainsburys, Morrisons, Asda, Marks & Spencer and Ocado are among the supermarkets that advise you keep fresh ground coffee in a fridge or freezer after opening. But Tesco, Waitrose and Harrods advise that you store ground coffee and beans in a...

Could you live happily without the BBC?   Just try it for two weeks. That was the recent challenge of the corporation’s outgoing chairman, Sir David Clementi, to a group of critics who said they resented the licence fee. Apparently, nine days later, two thirds of the critics had changed their mind and said that the...

Think twice before you knock down internal walls in your house and move over to open-plan living. If you are married, it does not lead to happiness. So says Sarah Beeney, the TV property presenter.  She points out that open-plan living means that “you cannot shut a door” after rowing with your partner. The star,...

Nobody likes to throw food away, but if you ignore the use by dates and go by smell alone, you can risk serious illness. So warns the Food Standards Agency. In a recent study, the regulator found that half of us do not always check use-by dates. Many of us still smell the milk to...