An Announcement and Invitation: If you enjoy learning about amazing stuff in our world, check out my new Substack Newsletter: Aha! Science. The mission: Celebrating science by revealing amazing discoveries and images from our world and beyond and exploring life’s most intriguing, strange and unexpected questions.
Now, your weekly dose of science-backed health and wellness insights from Wise & Well, to help you make tomorrow a little better than today. The links below are also “friend links,” as always, so if you’re intrigued by one, do go enjoy the entire story.
21 Ways to Make Tomorrow a Little Better than Today
Happy Birthday to us! Wise & Well turns 1 year old on June 1, so to mark the anniversary, we’ve pulled together some of the most insightful words of wisdom, actionable advice, surprising contradictions to popular belief, and just plain interesting writing from our most widely read and informative stories.
Why the Loneliest Place is Sometimes a Roomful of People
The writer’s friend is popular, and people love him. He navigates social engagements with seeming ease. But he rarely enjoys social interactions, often expending more emotional energy than he gets back, fueling a desire for solitude. Sound familiar?
Solitude is about not having physical companionship while loneliness is about not having emotional connectedness. Simply having physical company is like the fast food of connections. It requires less effort on our part to organize. It satiates some parts of our hunger for connection, but it just won’t fully nourish our soul.
—May Pang
Does Everybody Have ADHD?
More than 11% of US kids have been diagnosed with #adhd part of a rising trend that has some people questioning the validity of the diagnoses or seeing a conspiracy by drug companies. But this psychiatrist and neuroscientist explains why the rise is real:
Rather than being a red herring, increased rates of ADHD diagnoses serve as a canary in the coal mine. Changes to our society are imperiling the brains and daily functioning of not just our children, but of adults as well.
—John Kruse MD, PhD
Even Good Swimmers Drown. What You Need to Know Before You Go Back in the Water.
As a former triathlete, I've been kicked in the face during swims, had my nether regions scratched, and gulped way more murky water than I care to recall. But I grew up PLAYING in the water all summer (Marco! Polo!) so even though I've never been a great swimmer, I'm comfortable just treading water, just hanging out in it. Well, turns out water play is a great way to improve water safety. And that’s really important, because most Americans can’t swim as well as they think they can, research shows.
Two drowning deaths shook our swimming community this year. A high school swim team member died during an open water practice while visiting Florida’s Gulf Coast, and an experienced paddleboarder also died in the intercoastal waters near the Tampa Bay area.
—Chris Arestides, RN MPH
The Most Dangerous Room in the Home
Charlie Colin, the famous bass guitar player of the popular 90s pop-rock band Train, died at age 58 after slipping and falling in the shower recently. You might thing, well, that's strange. Nope. It's shockingly common. This writer explains why, and offers common-sense tips to keep you and your family safe—whatever the heck it is y'all do in there.
Up to 80% of home falls happen in the bathroom. And a bathroom fall is more than twice as likely to result in an injury compared to topples in other rooms, studies show. In turn, falls are the №1 cause of accidental injury death among older adults.
—Annie Foley
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BONUS STUFF: Here are two stories this week from Aha! Science that touch on the human condition (links are “friend links,” so please read on):
Holy &@$%! Swearing is a Natural Painkiller?!
The best swear words are based on cultural taboos. And when you're in pain, uttering them can make you feel better. Our resident angry nurse dishes out a lighthearted introduction to foul-mouthed first aid.
Scientists have theorized that because swear words are taboo and emotionally charged, the very act of uttering them distracts the mind from pain. Other research suggests that swearing may trigger the body’s stress response, leading to a release of adrenaline and endorphins — the body’s natural painkillers. This can result in a temporary increase in pain tolerance, allowing the curser to endure discomfort more easily.
—Andrea Romeo RN, BN
Do Men and Women Really Communicate Differently?
Probably since people learned to converse, men have been calling women everything from chatty to mouthy. Research, however, finds that common perceptions of the gender differences in communication range from pure myth to some based in grains of truth. The writer sorts out which is what. And guys, please don't interrupt.
One variation of this belief maintains that the sexes communicate differently due to their prehistoric roles. In ancient times, the story goes, men were hunters, required to stand silently for hours while stalking big game. Meanwhile, the women gathered nuts and berries, happily chatting up a storm. … . I’ve noticed that in the workplace — where the men almost always outrank the women — males consume more than their fair share of air time. But at home — where women hold the reins on household management — the tables are turned.
—Kathleen Murphy
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Cheers,
Rob