Lifestyle Issues

SLIMMERS ARE GRINNERS
Do you know anybody who is truly happy with their body? Not just occasionally (“actually my bum doesn’t look too big in this dress today!") but totally, utterly accepting all day, every day?

LIVING AT THE EDGE
Why don’t people stampede when faced with death? In times of crisis, the rules of ordinary life prevail.

I have a secret Internet friendship with a married man... by Cary Tennis
I have a secret Internet friendship with a married man. It's been great for seven years. But now I've been transferred to his city, and I'm scared. Should I break it off?

Happiness schmappiness... Give a Little Bit
Psychologist Steven Hayes says the American obsession with feeling good is preventing us from 'living good' -- and that living life to the fullest means a lot of pain.

IS FUN DEAD?
If the last time you remember having fun is at school – and you're 52 – then it might be time to strip off the work suit, don some glad rags and seek out some merriment.

"No way whatsoever would he have done such a thing..."
It had first been thought football great Steve Rogers had died from a suspected heart attack, but it is now known that Rogers took his own life. "No way whatsoever would that even enter my mind that he would do anything to himself. It's just out of the question as far as I'm concerned," golfing mate Gordon Glascock had told the Seven network, highlighting that even the closest of friends do not see, or are kept from seeing, signs of acute psychological distress.

The Holmes & Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale
This scale, now almost 40 years old, allows you to determine the total amount of stress you are experiencing by adding up the relative stress values, known as Life Change Units (LCU), for various events. The research methodology involved Holmes and Rahe examining the medical records of 5000 patients that had recently suffered illnesses. They then asked the patients whether they had experienced any life events preceeding the illness. Patients were then asked to rate the events with a score. It was found that many of the people had suffered major life events preceeding their illness. A positive correlation of 0.1 was found between life events and illness. In explaining the findings it was hypothesised that the changes associated with major life events absorb energy, leaving less energy to defend the body from illness.

NO WORRIES
Worry is a common theme, even a default state, in many of our lives. Worry often seems to take on a life of its own, sweeping us along in its vortex. Entire conversations may be centred on worry - money, children, parents, illness, work, relationships, lack of time, the troubles of the world, even the weather.

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
Psychologists, psychotherapists and scientists have debated for decades about what happiness is and how humans can obtain and maintain it. Is it simply related to how we behave? Is it deeply entrenched as a result of our childhood? Or is it the neurochemistry of our brain that creates the happiest and the saddest amongst us?

THE SLOW SEARCH FOR MEANING
A new world-wide movement is sliding into our 21st century lexicon: ‘The Slow Movement’. It embodies the antithesis of the hectic lives so many of us currently lead. The cult of speed is stalling; a new philosophy is taking over, one that celebrates ‘slower is better’ - better work, exercise, sex and food; and therefore a better life.