【推荐1】Have you ever had a stressful day? And on these high-pressure days, many people might find themselves reaching for a sugary snack. Perhaps this is part of their daily routine. Or perhaps on this particular day, heir self-control is a bit low and they want to take a sugar hit.

Stress is natural. That feeling of pressure is a biological response, and under the right circumstances can be a great source of motivation. However, too much stress, has been linked to sleep disruption, heart-attack, ulcer or depression, among other things. But why should stress make a person comfort eat?

When we become stressed, our bodies enter “fight or flight” mode. Because our body believes it’s under attack, it releases glucose (葡萄糖) into the blood to provide energy for muscles. However, if we don’t use that energy, our body then releases insulin (胰岛素) to make the blood sugar levels drop. This drop causes a hunger response: you want to eat. And what you particularly want is sugary food, which rapidly refills the energy you have lost. If this happens repeatedly, over a long enough period, these high-calorie foods can lead to obesity.

So what can we do to fight the stress? Dr Michael Mosley recommends exercise, gardening, mindfulness or other activities you enjoy. But his strongest recommendation is trying to get a goodnight’s sleep. So, try sleeping to decrease stress.

【推荐3】A new study published Monday in an American Heart Association journal Hypertension, examined 360,000 participants who provided blood, urine and saliva (唾液) samples, as well as detailed information about their lifestyles. Researchers found that adults who napped often were more likely to develop high blood pressure and have a stroke. But that doesn’t mean the napping causes these health issues — instead, napping may be due to unhealthy behaviors. The researchers found that a high percentage of frequent nappers reported cigarette smoking, daily drinking, insomnia (失眠症) and other factors that could contribute to health-related issues.

Dr. Margaret Blattner, clinical instructor, from the department of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, tells PEOPLE that frequent or long daytime naps can disturb healthy nighttime sleep. Napping during the day may make it harder to fall asleep at night or cause nighttime sleep to become fragmented and that missing out on night time sleep can cause severe daytime sleepiness.

“Often, naps continuing long are less restorative than more brief daytime naps; people often wake up unrefreshed after a long nap,” she adds. “Additionally, long day time naps take away time from other healthy things that people enjoy during the day: spending time with family, enjoying hobbies, and exercise.”

When napping during the day becomes unpredictable, uncontrollable, or prevents an individual from accomplishing what they need or want to do, it could indicate a possible sleep disorder.

But Blattner assures that taking naps can also be beneficial. ”Napping is not always a cause for concern. Taking a nap can be refreshing and enjoyable,” she says. “The key is, are you missing out on things that you enjoy because you are too sleepy to stay awake — that can indicate a problem -or does the nap help you get more out of your day?”

“Taking a brief nap can feel restorative, reduce stress, and improve focus. Early afternoon is a good time to nap, as this agrees with a physical circle dip in energy,“ Blattner continues.” However, napping too late into the afternoon or evening may impact night time sleep quality and make it harder to fall asleep.”

【推荐1】When Jennifer first heard that her friend George passed an exam, her heart sank. She’d failed the same test weeks earlier. But then, instead of feeling upset and envious, she congratulated him. Jennifer was surprised when she could share her friend’s happiness, she experienced her own, in turn.

Finding pleasure in another person’s good fortune is what social scientists call freudenfreude, a term which describes the happiness we feel when someone else succeeds, even if it doesn’t directly involve us.

Freudenfreude is like social glue, making relationships closer and more enjoyable. A study in 2021 found that in daily life freudenfreude boosted kind acts, such as helping others. Sharing in someone else’s joy can also improve life satisfaction and help people cooperate during a conflict.

While the benefits of freudenfreude are plentiful, it doesn’t always come easily. In some cases, it might really hurt you when you see another person’s winning as your loss, making freudenfreude feel out of reach. If you were raised in a family that paired winning with self-worth, you might misread someone else’s victory as your own weak point. Factors such as mental health and overall well-being can also affect your ability to share someone else’s joy.

To better understand freudenfreude, it can be helpful to illustrate its better-known counterpart, schadenfreude: the pleasure we feel when witnessing someone’s misfortune. In a 2022 study, experts examined instances of freudenfreude and schadenfreude among college students, some of whom were experiencing mild depression. Freudenfreude scores were higher, and schadenfreude scores were lower among those who were not depressed. The mildly depressed students, however, had a harder time developing a joy-sharing mindset. When you’re feeling down, it’s natural to view positive news with negativity.

However, no one gets to the top alone, and when we raise others up, we’re often carried up with them. When we feel happy for others, their joy becomes our joy. Celebrating our friends’ successes — big and small — helps us all win.

【推荐2】For centuries, apple growers in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture have been creating good-looking apples by using “Mojie Ringo”. The process is fairly simple. It basically shelters the apples from sunlight for a period of time and then applies stencils(蜡纸)to ensure that part of the apple skin remains discolored. More often than not, Mojie Ringo apples are decorated with messages and symbols of good fortune, and are offered as gifts.

Large apple varieties like Mutsu or Stark Jumbo are most suitable for Mojie Ringo, as they provide more surface area for complex design. Preparation begins in January, with a pruning(剪枝)operation, to ensure that remaining flowers receive plenty of sunlight. Then, growers hand-pollinate (人工授粉)each of the apple tree flowers, and then once fruits begin to form, they are covered with several layers of plastic bags to protect them from both pests and sunlight.

Keeping the apples “in the dark” for long periods of time increases their photosensitivity(光敏性), so when the plastic bags are finally removed, they begin to produce a component that turns the skin red. During the final stage of the Mojie Ringo process, stencils are applied on the surface of the apple to ensure that only the skin around the stencil turns red.

The stencils are removed during harvesting, to expose the almost white skin underneath. The stencils need to be flexible, because the fruits continue to grow, and otherwise the designs could be compromised.

According to Culture Trip, Mojie Ringo was perfected by farmer Hamo Iwasaki from Aomori Perfecture, whose son, Chisato Iwasaki, is widely regarded as one of the most talented apple artists today.

Although Mojie Ringo seems fairly simple, it requires a lot of work and patience over long periods of time, and for many growers the effort and attention just don’t pay off enough. That’s why the old tradition is slowly fading, with only a few Aomori fruit gardens producing the eye-catching fruits.

【推荐3】You have identified your goal in life. You know what you want to do and when. You also understand how you set about achieving your final goal. These three elements form the basis of your master plan. “What”, “how” and “when”.

The fourth element is, of course, “you”. You are the only one who knows what you want to achieve and how you intend to do that. The final success or failure of the plan is in your hands. One important secret of success is to keep the whole strategy and any short-term plans, simple.

Simplicity is a huge factor in the success of any project. The more complicated the business is, the more likely it is to fail Achieving simplicity can be a short-term goal in itself, one that should make the success of the activity certain.

How to achieve simplicity is a skill in itself. There are several ways of approaching the issue of simplicity. First of all, you will need to decide what it is that you are trying to achieve. How is this currently achieved, or what is your plan to do it? Secondly, you need to examine that process and determine what can be taken away and still allow the desired result.

Next, consider the problem from every possible angle and see if there is a simpler way of doing the same job. Lastly, when you are doing a job, are you likely to consider something you do as necessary when, in reality, it is not?

Simplifying a task does not mean doing an unsatisfactory job. Often it can lead to doing a better job. Take the example of a messy desk. Organizing the mess is an excellent first step, then reducing it by removing what is not needed. Then ensure that everything on the desk has a purpose that you understand. You can then trust that what you need is there when you need it.