February 2007 Natural Health News Ovulating women dress to impress
It seems women dress to impress when they are at their most fertile. In a study, they asked female subjects to come to the lab for a test and then gave them questionnaires about food. The women came back several times over the course of a month and were photographed. The researchers then asked men and women to assess these photographs by asking, "In what photo is the person trying to look more attractive?" The judges chose the photograph taken during the women's fertile phases 60 per cent of the time, which is well beyond chance. This is not to say the women totally changed their style when ovulating, but rather they made the best of their personal style. They wore their best shirt, added some more flamboyant earrings or a little more makeup. Does this mean Spring Carnival in Melbourne is one big ovulation festival? Of course not; women (and men) dress up for a whole raft of reasons. What the study does do is add to a wealth of research that says some primitive procreative instincts still drive us, no matter how evolved we like to imagine we are.
Source: Hormones and Behaviour Don’t sniffle, be happy
While you stock up on your echinacea and vitamin C, invest in a little happiness, too, and you might have fewer colds this season. In an experiment, researchers gave their subjects personality tests, then gave them nasal drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus that causes cold-like symptoms. Over the next six days, the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing or congestion they had, while the researchers collected objective data, such as daily mucus production. Based on objective measures of nasal woes, happy people were less likely to develop a cold. What's more, when happy chappies did develop a cold, their self-rated symptoms were less severe than would be expected based on objective measures. So can a grumpy person fight the common cold by deciding to be happy? Conventional wisdom holds that personality traits are very stable and difficult to change. But recent research suggests emotional traits are more amenable to change than traditionally believed. So smile, people, and bid that virus farewell.
Source: Psychosomatic Medicine Religion heals soul and body
Older people who regularly attend religious services are healthier than those who don't. At the new study's outset, in 1988, 65 per cent of female participants and 51 per cent of men reported attending religious services regularly. Over the follow-up period, which averaged 4.6 years, lung function declined twice as much in the people who didn't attend church services regularly compared with those who did. While the more religious individuals were more physically active and also less likely to smoke, these differences didn't account for their better lung function. People experience a steady decline in lung function as they age, and impaired lung function is a key early warning sign of many health problems, making pulmonary health an excellent gauge of overall health. Religious service attendance likely protects people by giving them a supportive community, according to the researchers. Religion can also offer older people a psychological resource for coping with end-of-life issues, while meditating, praying and singing at religious services may have benefits in and of themselves.
Source: Annals of Behavioural Medicine Baby’s got blue eyes
Blue-eyed men prefer blue-eyed women for a very good genetic reason: eye colour can help reveal whether their partner has been faithful. Under the laws of genetics, two parents with blue eyes will always have blue-eyed children. So a blue-eyed man can know his blue-eyed wife or partner has cheated on him if their child has brown eyes.
Researchers from the University of Tromso in Norway asked students to rate the attractiveness of models based on pictures manipulated so that half of them had blue eyes and the other half had brown eyes. The blue-eyed men in the group showed a preference for blue-eyed women but brown-eyed men, who cannot find any clues about paternity from a child's eye colour, had no preferences by eye colour. Women showed no preference for brown or blue-eyed men, regardless of their own eye colour. In a second study young adults of both sexes were asked about the eye colour of their partners. You guessed it; blue-eyed men were also the group with the highest proportion of partners with the same eye colour.
Source: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology October 2006. Oil lowers blood pressure
A new study has found Ylang Ylang essential oil can lower blood pressure. Forty volunteers in one study rubbed 1ml (about 20 drops) of ylang-ylang essential oil in a sweet almond oil base over their abdomens for five minutes. In the control group, sweet almond oil with no ylang-ylang oil was used. Both groups breathed pure air by mask to prevent them from smelling the oil’s fragrance during application. During the trial, the people were monitored for physiological and behavioural changes. Those receiving ylang-ylang oil experienced significantly decreased systolic blood pressure and greater calmness and relaxation. In contrast, the systolic blood pressure of those in the control group went up and they experienced none of the other benefits. These results demonstrate that not only is ylang-ylang oil absorbed through the skin, but it has relaxing effects in the autonomic nervous system, which controls blood pressure and stress reactions.
Source: Phytotherapy Research Australia heating up
Australia's climate is now permanently hotter and drier, and the country faces major temperature rises and significantly less rainfall by 2070. The projections come from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and predict that rainfall in parts of eastern Australia will drop 40 per cent by 2070, with a seven degree Celsius rise in temperature. It said that by 2030 the risk of bushfires will be higher, droughts more severe and rainfall and stream run-off lower. By 2070, the town of Gunnedah in western New South Wales state will have more than 100 days a year with temperatures over 35 Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and Walgett may have 83 days a year above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), said the report. Such constantly high temperatures could turn normally drought-proof green pastures into brown dustbowls. Professor Mike Young, a water management expert at the University of Adelaide and a member of the Wentworth Group of scientists, said that even when the five-year-long drought breaks Australia will not return to cooler, wetter conditions.
Source: CSIRO Earth Hour
7.30pm on 31 March 2007 is Earth Hour. WWF-Australia and The Sydney Morning Herald are inviting Sydney to turn off its lights for just one hour - Earth Hour - to show that it's possible to take action on global warming.
All of Sydney is invited to participate - companies, government departments, individuals and families - to turn off their lights for just one hour. It's a simple action if everyone takes part, sending a powerful message that we care about the future of the planet.
Earth Hour is the launch of a 12 month campaign to reduce Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by 5%. This could be achieved if all businesses and households turned off unused lights and appliances on standby.
Visit www.earthhour.com.au for more information and to register. |
