WellBeing

from the editor-in-chief

Justus von Liebig was a cruel man. My evidence for this assertion goes back around 8000 years when people in Anatolia (now part of Turkey) manufactured the first mirrors out of ground and polished obsidian (volcanic glass). In Mesopotamia and Egypt around 4000 to 3000 years ago mirrors were made from polished copper, then around 2000 years ago Chinese and Indian craftsmen were making them out of polished bronze. It was around this time too that the first glass mirrors appeared in Rome. Of course, before all of these the very first mirrors would have been quiet pools of water. In short, we had plenty of reflective surfaces until Justus von Liebig had to get involved. It was von Liebig, a German chemist, who in 1835 came up with the idea of…

from the editor

Did something resonate with you in this issue of WellBeing? Tell us! Write to WellBeing, Locked Bag 154, North Ryde, NSW 1670, email wbletters@umco.com.au, comment on our Facebook or Instagram page: @WellBeing _Magazine. We reserve the right to edit all letters. Happy New Year WellBeings! I can’t quite believe 2021 is over, the year that held such universal promise and delivered yet more disaster. The collective mood is more cautious this year, but nonetheless optimistic. And how can we not be? For better or for worse, humans are hardwired for hope. I, for one, am a sucker for a fresh start, and January delivers that back-to-school with brand new stationery feeling I have loved since childhood. This January feels even more momentous because it marks my daughter’s first birthday, or more to…

recent medical findings for a healthier body

Diet and children’s mental health For this study researchers gathered data from nearly 9000 children in 50 schools around Norfolk (UK). The children self-reported their dietary choices and took part in age-appropriate tests of mental wellbeing including cheerfulness, relaxation and having good interpersonal relationships. The results showed that around 25 per cent of the subjects reported eating the recommended five servings a day of fruit and vegetables. More than 20 per cent of high-school students did not eat breakfast and more than 10 per cent of them did not eat lunch. Analysis found that eating well was associated with better mental health in the children. Getting the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables was strongly associated with mental wellbeing as was eating breakfast. Interestingly, those children who had an energy drink…

interesting slices of life

Meditation cuts mistakes Some types of meditation have you focus on a single thing such as your breath, while open monitoring meditation has you pay attention to everything going on in your mind and body. In a new study, researchers recruited 200 people who had never meditated before and took them through a 20-minute open monitoring meditation. The subjects then completed a computerised test while their brain activity was monitored using EEG. When you make a mistake a certain brain activity pattern occurs half a second later, known as “error positivity” and indicates conscious error recognition. In people who had meditated this signal was much stronger than in controls. This indicates that just 20 minutes of meditation increases the brain’s capacity to detect and pay attention to mistakes, reducing the likelihood…

all the latest in environmental issues

Shapeshifting animals Animals are adapting to climate change and significant physical changes are happening among the planet’s fauna. Several species of Australian parrot have shown an increase in bill size of between 4 and 10 per cent since 1871 and this has been linked to the summer temperature each year. In North America the small sparrow songbird the dark-eyed junco has also shown a link between beak size and temperature extremes. In mammals there have been changes reported, including tail length increases in wood mice and tail and leg size increases in masked shrews. So far the size changes are less than 10 per cent, but predicted changes may be more dramatic and more noticeable. For instance, elephant ears may be much bigger very soon. This shapeshifting does not mean animals…

selenium

While selenium was known to be an important nutrient in agriculture, the biological role of selenium was only discovered in 1990, and since then there has been accumulating evidence for its importance in human health. Selenium is an essential trace element but has the potential to be toxic at high doses, with a relatively narrow therapeutic window — a factor of only eight times the dose separating out a therapeutic dose from a potentially toxic one. The correct dose is therefore an important issue, although this is regulated to some extent by manufacturing processes. It is a good idea to consult a health professional to establish your required dose. There are enormous geographical variations in the selenium content of soil and food, and therefore also in selenium intake from food and subsequently…