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Why this media story could ruin your health
22nd February 2009
Why this medialed gloom is bad for your health
Here's a cure for the winter blues... imagine winning £3,000, a new £3,970 kitchen or a trip to Monte Carlo. Click here and look at this: Opportunity to win
How the simple act of making this drink could improve your health
On Friday I was talking about ways of preventing Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.)
But even if you don't suffer from a chemical imbalance or vitamin D deprivation, I wouldn't blame you for having the winter blues this year.
Unless you've chucked out your radio, blown up your TV and banned newspapers, you can't escape it...
I'm talking about the constant, depressing and unrelenting flow of BAD NEWS.
Soaring unemployment figures... recession... falling interest rates... property prices slumping.... banks in crisis... rising fuel and food costs...
Even the joyful burst of snow shut down the country, closed the airports, and left the roads riddled with potholes.
The clincher came the other day when I heard on the radio:
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At last, some good economic news, Kentucky Fried chicken are opening 300 new restaurants and creating 9,000 new jobs.
Oh, marvellous.
If there's any indicator things are getting bad, it's that the ONE booming industry involves (allegedly, in case their lawyers are reading) super-cheap battery-farmed fried food.
Good news?
Hmmm. Not really.
I don't know about you, but I'm getting a bit sick of the constant media led doom-mongering.
And I believe the consequences are dangerous...
Why bad news can damage your health
In my opinion, a good frame of mind is essential for a speedy recovery from illness.
A happy person will be more protected from disease. Positive people cope better when they have a serious illness and can still enjoy fruitful, eventful lives despite their problems.
According to Dr Derek Cox, Director of Public Health in Scotland:
'If you are happy you are likely in the future to have less in the way of physical illness than those who are unhappy'.
Andrew Steptoe, the British Heart Foundation Professor of Psychology says:
'We know that stress, which has bad effects on biology, leads to those bad changes as far as health is concerned. What we think is happening is that happiness has the opposite effect and has a protective effect on these same biological pathways'.
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I'll give you an even more specific example.
A few years back, a research team from Johns Hopkins University discovered that when you suffer an emotional trauma, stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol flood your bloodstream. Your heart rate quickens, your blood pressure rises and your muscles tense.
These stress hormones can actually become toxic to your heart, effectively 'stunning' it, causing chest pains, breathlessness and heart failure.
Other triggers can include being the victim of a serious crime, losing your home, or suffering a serious job crisis.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, of the British Heart Foundation, told BBC:
The researchers have shed some new light
on a condition that is known to particularly affect older women - the sudden onset of what appears to be a classic heart attack following severe emotional stress.
So how can you help yourself stay positive?
Do ONE thing today to make you excited about the future
Going back to my advice on Friday... it's important that you do something every day that makes you feel happy... that gives you a jolt of excitement... and that makes you feel positive, hopeful and looking forward to the future.
I offered a few tips about this on Friday, but here's one that will really get your juices flowing...
Imagine if you could spend 5-10 minutes every day doing something simple and fun... and, as a consequence, get the chance to win £3,000... a private film screening... a brand NEW £3,970 kitchen... and a trip to Monte Carlo.
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And that's not a one-off. You could get dozens of chances to win prizes like these every week.
If you like the sound of this, take a look at this website which explains how you can do all this for £1...
LINK: Coffee Break Winner
A happy hobby that can pay off
This is something my parents LOVE doing together, and my wife swears by as a way of cheering herself up when she's having a bad time at work (mainly because she can sneakily do it AT work).
If you remember Friday's email, I told you about a Good Lifer's advice for curing the winter blues. One of her tips was:
Do something, no matter how small, that will make you feel you haven't wasted the day. Try and make it something that clears a space as it will clear one in your head.
This is a perfect little hobby that can help you do this without much effort or having to leave the house.
All you have to do is access a password-protected members-only website. They show you the prize-winning opportunities available.
Recent goodies to be won include...
A trip to New York, including a Vidal Sasson hair makeover, a helicopter ride over Manhattan, Broadway tickets to Hairspray and a harbour cruise.
A diamond and white gold necklace...
A free lunch at Claridge's with Gordon Ramsay, a five-star weekend break in Oxford and five-star Spa break
An Amanda Wakeley designer dress worth £450
A holiday to New Zealand or a fully inclusive week in the Bahamas
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VIP Centre Court tickets to Wimbledon plus two nights in a five-star hotel
Two return tickets to see the Olympics in Beijing
Not a bad roll call of prizes, and it's only a quid to join in your first month. Take a look at this:
Coffee Break Winner
And finally today...
How making a cup of tea can
reduce stress
According to some studies, green tea can help you relax and de-stress. Some experts say it's down to something called L-theanine, an amino acid found in the leaves.
But others say the ritual act of making the tea that holds the true secret.
One Japanese study looked at more than 3,000 women over the age of 50 who regularly practiced a Japanese tea ceremony. They found that these women lived longer than those who didn't perform the tea ceremony.
According to dietician, Nadine Taylor:
In a stressed-out world, it appears that the calming and relaxing ritual of boiling water, adding the leaves, inhaling the delicious aroma, and taking the time to sit down and slowly sip the tea may be almost as beneficial as the brew itself.
So with this in mind, let me finish today with a multi-faceted tip for curing the winter blues....
Every day at the same time, slowly and methodically brew yourself a cup of green tea. Sit down at your PC and enter some prize winning opportunities. After that, go |
for a walk, get some vitamin D-rich light on your skin, and think about holidays in Monte Carlo, or trips to New Zealand.
Here's that website again if fancy a go:
Coffee Break Winner
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