Loneliness Is as Harmful as Smoking and Alcoholism

PLOS One journal has published an article by American physiologists on the dangers of loneliness. According to them, it is equivalent to the harm caused by smoking and alcoholism.

However, strong family and friendship, mutual emotional attachment and kind words can significantly improve human health – and sometimes even more effective than physical exercise and abstinence from harmful habits.

Within 7 years, the scientists conducted several studies on this subject with the participation of almost 400 thousand people, which showed that non- singles, i.e. people belonging to certain social groups (such as neighbors, friends or relatives) by 50 percent less than singles risk their health.

This conclusion has led experts to the fact that they actually equated loneliness to smoking and alcoholism. So, in terms of negative impact on health, loneliness was identical to smoking 15 cigarettes a day – the journal quoted the researchers.

Dogs Cure Human Diseases

British scientists have proved scientifically the conventional opinion that domestic animals, dogs in particular, can cure their masters from various ailments and sometimes even from serious diseases. The article in the Health journal discusses the issue.

The experts conducted a research involving more than two hundred families. It turned out in the course of the study that the dog-owners (both grown-ups and children) from the families with dogs of various breeds had a significantly smaller number of health problems observed. These mainly include cases of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. For instance, the researchers give the following figure: if people have suffered a heart attack and spend some time with their beloved dog while being cured, 94% of them will have a rapid recovery.

In addition, the scientists claim that the overall curative effect obtained from communicating with pets is obvious: while we are stroking a dog, our muscles relax, the heartbeat slows down, and the blood pressure gets back to norm.

The authors of the article explain this by saying that dogs emit a huge amount of purely positive energy since all the processes in their body are extremely active. Thus, according to the scientists, our four-legged friends should inevitably want to share this excessive energy with people.

Hence, their medicinal properties. The Health journal writes about an interesting fact that even dogs’ saliva contains a medicinal substance called lysozyme which destroys the cells of bacteria. Therefore, if you’re sick, do not forget that your favorite pet can help to cure you of any disease “hand in hand” with usual medicines – just spend more time with it!

Work at the Computer Causes Premature Aging

Prolonged exposure of women to computer screens is fraught with premature aging and formation of a “computer face”, whose characteristic features are “double chin”, “turkey” neck and deep wrinkles on the forehead and around the eyes.

One of Britain’s leading experts in the field of cosmetic surgery, Dr. Michael Preydzher, came up with such a warning. According to him, he observed the signs of premature aging almost in all clients that spend too much time at computers.

“If you are one of those unfortunate people who during concentration of view on the screen frown or screw up, premature wrinkles are guaranteed for you”, Preydzher said.

To identify these traits in yourself, Preydzher encourages women to put a mirror next to the computer to be able to look at yourself during work. “When my clients follow this advice, they are often horrified by the fact of how angry or overly serious their faces look like during work” – he said.

To combat the formation of a “computer face”, Preydzher encourages regular breaks at work with electronic devices, exercises for the neck muscles and botox injections.

Does Cell Phone Use Really Harm the Health?

The scientists have been discussing the effect of radiation from mobile phones on the human brain for a long time. The latest research conducted by American scientists has reaffirmed this fact. According to the head of the U.S. National Institute of Substance Abuse, long-lasting communication on the cell phone may not be that bad. And that is because of the positive effect of radiation from cell phones on brain activity.

In the course of laboratory studies which involved about 47 volunteers and a positron emission tomography, it has been proved that the probationers’ brain activity increases by approximately 7% while they are talking on a cell phone.

According to the experts, the newly discovered fact can be used for treating serious diseases in future.