Easy Ways to Improve Your Mood

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Taking an extra moment for yourself will make your day brighter and give you a healthier outlook on life. Here are some simple ways you can bring a little happiness into your life right now:

    Go for a walk.

    Grab your dog, best friend, or your significant other and head out on a brisk(轻快的) walk. Just a little bit of exercise can improve your mood and give you a fresh perspective on problems that have been bothering you. Think walks are boring? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Take a trip to the mall, or even walk to get some frozen yogurt. Make it a fun trip and you'll surely make it part of your routine.

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    After all, laughter is the best medicine. Pick up something that makes you laugh like a funny picture, book, magazine, or a DVD of your favorite comedy. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Giving yourself time to laugh increases feel-good endorphins(胺多酚).

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    Take a photo of yourself doing something you enjoy, like roller skating, skiing, swimming, playing an instrument, or being with friends and family. Place the picture on your desk to remind yourself that you lead an amazing life and have lots to be happy about.

A. Model behavior.

B. Buy something silly.

C. Ten minutes of relaxation can do wonders.

D. Try walking to a place that seems exciting to you.

E. You could even plan a date night out to a comedy club.

F. Tell someone that you're guaranteed to brighten their day.

G. Even the most optimistic people can use a mood boost every once in a while.

    Early birds-people who feel most energetic in the morning-tend to make healthier food choices throughout the day than night owls(夜猫子) , according to a new study.

    "Evening types had more irregular meal times," notes study author Mirkka Maukonen, studying human nutrition and obesity(肥胖) in Finland.

    Her study focused on people's risk of heart disease and their eating habits. Participants described when and what they had eaten during the past two days.

Maukonen's team then looked at l,854 people's lifestyle. After analyzing the data, the researchers found that both morning and evening people consumed approximately the same number of calories over a whole day.  However, night owls tended to eat their meals later than early birds. Before 10:00 am, night owls consumed less food than early birds. More of their calories came from sugar. After 8:00 pm, the night owls ate more sugar and fat. Meanwhile ,early birds ate more protein during both the morning and the evening hours.

    "Night owls tend to be less healthy than early risers," notes Courtney Peterson who studies diet and meal timing. "They are more likely to get heart disease or cancer. The fact that night owls tend to eat more junk food probably plays a role," Peterson says. "Other factors(因素) also can ruin a night owl's health. Night owls generally sleep worse," says Peterson. "Poor sleep has been linked to unhealthy food choices. "

    Peterson and Maukonen say night owls tend to have poor eating habits. But that doesn't necessarily mean that being a night owl makes a person a poor eater. It could be the reverse- eating poorly could affect people's sleep habits.

"The new findings should serve as a wake-up call to night owls. For them, the new results should encourage paying attention to healthier lifestyle choices," says Maukonen. 28. How did Maukonen do research about people's risk of heart disease?

    Optimism May Help People Live Longer

People who have an optimistic view on life are more likely to live longer, a US study said Wednesday.

    The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, analyzed data from 2004 to 2012 from 70,000 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study, a long-running US study tracking women's health via surveys every two years.

    The researchers looked at participants' levels of optimism and other factors that might play a role in how optimism may affect mortality risk, such as race, high blood pressure, diet, and physical activity.

    It found the most optimistic women, or the top 25%, had a nearly 30 percent lower risk of dying from any of the diseases analyzed in the study compared with the least optimistic women, or the bottom 25%.

    The most optimistic women had a 16 percent lower risk of dying from cancer; 38 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease; 39 percent lower risk of dying from stroke; 38 percent lower risk of dying from respiratory disease; and 52 percent lower risk of dying from infection.

    Previous studies have linked optimism with reduced risk of early death from cardiovascular (心脑血管的) problems, but this was the first to find a link between optimism and reduced risk from other major causes.

    “While most medical and public health efforts today focus on reducing risk factors for diseases, evidence has been mounting that enhancing psychological resilience (弹性，复原力) may also make a difference,” said Eric Kim, research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and co-lead author of the study.

    “Our new findings suggest that we should make efforts to boost optimism, which has been shown to be associated with healthier behaviors and healthier ways of coping with life challenges.”

    The study also found that healthy behaviors only partially explain the link between optimism and reduced mortality risk. One other possibility is that higher optimism directly affects our biological systems, Kim said.

    Co-lead author and postdoctoral research fellow Kaitlin Hagan said optimism can be varied with relatively uncomplicated and low-cost interventions (干预), even things as simple as having people write down and think about the best possible outcomes for various areas of their lives, such as careers or friendships.

    “Encouraging use of these interventions could be an innovative way to enhance health in the future,” Hagan said.

    The Winners Club is a bank account specially designed for teenagers. It has been made to help you better manage your money. The Winners Club is a transaction account（交易账户）where you receive a key-card so you can get to your money 24/7—that's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

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    You want your money to grow. The Winners Club has a good rate of interest which gets even better if you make at least two deposits（储蓄）without taking them out in a month.

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    Teenagers are busy—we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the Winners Club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet…You can have money directly deposited into your Winners Club account. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part-time job!

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    The Winners Club is a great choice for teenagers. And it is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form. You will have to get permission from your parent or guardian (so we can organize that cool key-card) but it is easy. We can't wait to hear from you. It's the best way to choose to be a winner!

    I grew up without a father. Well, sort of. My parents divorced (离婚) in the 1960s when I was a small child, and I stayed with my mother in Los Angeles. My father remarried and moved to a small suburb of Atlanta. For one month out of the year in the summer, I would fly back and spend time with my dad, so I had a father at times.

    Further, I had a series of stepfathers who ranged from wonderful guys to alcoholics to dangerous individuals. Having lived through such experiences, I find it amusing when people say that children really need a father in the home. Well, if he is a good father and a good man, then I agree completely. If he is not, then the child might actually be better off without him. We don't just need fathers — we need good fathers.

    I feel it fair to say I ended up a very successful adult, at least that's what people tell me. So how did I do it? I think it started with me having a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Normally this is not a good thing, but in my case it was rocket fuel for achievement. Not having a father in my life gave me something to prove, and it motivated me in an “I'll show you” way.

    I also tried very hard, even as a little boy to be self-sufficient. And that means I did not rely upon my parents except to the extent necessary. This kind of independence I believe is highly missed in this age of highly managed children with “helicopter” parents hovering (盘旋) above them constantly.

    I also think I never wanted not having a father in my life to be an excuse for myself. We make and allow excuses constantly these days, but I just never felt that feeling sorry for myself was going to get me anywhere, I think if children can adopt such mindsets early in their lives it can be helpful.

    Sixty-four-year-old Pierre Deom has spent his entire life close to the woods and fields that he loves. Twice a year, his magazine, La Hulotte, focuses on an animal or plant native to the French countryside.

    The 100th edition was published in November. The magazine counts more than 150, 000 subscribers in many countries, and is doing very well financially. Deom says it all began in January 1972, when he was teaching science in a one-room schoolhouse here." It upset me how the forests and swamps were beginning to be ruined. The word 'ecology' didn't really exist yet. Some friends and I wanted to call attention to the issue. So we said, let's educate the kids. They're ready to hear our message." So he took a step into the unknown, planning to publish his nature journal.

    Deom does all the research and writing and the illustrations (插图) of the magazine by hand. He combines science and humor in his writing and drawing to describe the daily life and sufferings of his creatures. Animals you might overlook or consider dull are magically and vividly brought to life in La Hulotte. "I try to write about animals and plants that are easy to find because I want kids to put on boots, take a magnifying glass, go to the woods and fields to observe and be amazed by what they find," Deom says.

    And it seems to work. Biologist Jerome Fournier began subscribing to La Hulotte when he was just eight years old. "For me it was the first contact with nature when I was a child. And maybe it's the beginning for my life of scientist. I think so."

    What's amazing is its approach. The magazine has realistic drawings and also a little cast of cartoon creatures who comment on things and give a different views. You can read it as an adult or a child; it can be understood on two different levels. So scientists, regular people and children all get something out of it. "It's extraordinary." Fournier says, who works at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, where he says La Hulotte has a crazy following.