1 . Tips for Unplugging (拔掉……的电源插头) for the Holidays

Unplugging for the holidays will give your brain a break and allow yourself to enjoy more pleasures in your life.     1     These tips will help you have a tech-free holiday and enjoy the benefits of unplugging for the holidays.

    2     It’s a lot easier to stay away from your smartphone if everyone else you’re with follows suit. Let family and friends know you’d like to do a digital detox (脱瘾) during your time. Have everyone turn their phones off, then collect them and keep them in a separate room.

Plan or arrange activities in advance. The day might seem boring if everyone’s phone is taken and there’s no plan for entertainment.     3     From making popcorn and watching a movie to going on a hike, baking cookies or playing board games, you’ll be surprised by how much fun you can have together.

Keep your phone out of the bedroom at night. Give yourself an alarm clock, and keep your phone out of the room when you’re getting ready to sleep.     4    

Take time to relax. Whether it’s reading a book or taking a hot bath with essential oils, take time to enjoy life’s little pleasures but no technology.

Practice yoga (瑜伽).     5     Yoga changes your brain in a variety of ways. With all the extra time you’ll have from your digital detox, you’ll have time to get started.

2 . Deep sleep doesn’t just rest your body. Scientists believe it’s also when the brain washes away toxins (毒素), with a new project looking at whether the brain’s self-clean can be boosted.

South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) neuroscientist Dr Tim Sargeant has teamed with Dr Edward Robins from SAHMRI’s Molecular Imaging and Therapy Research Unit to develop a brain scan that shows how well a brain is cleaning itself. Studies have shown that a clean brain would help with memory while fighting dementia (痴呆).

Scientists believe our brains clean themselves out each night when we enter deep sleep. Cerebrospinal fluid (脑脊液) is thought to wash through the brain, cleaning out toxins. Studies have shown a clear link between poor memory and toxins like the buildup of sticky plaques (粘性斑块) in the brains. Scientists believe brains that have a buildup of this plaque over time may not be cleaning themselves properly, putting people at risk of dementia.

Fortunately, the hope is that a clean brain would help with memory while fighting dementia. The brain scan will use special material to track how well the brain can keep itself clean and healthy through the process of removing and recycling its waste. “We’re aiming to catch the signs of the brain struggling to keep itself clean in individuals around the age of 50 or 60, well before the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (老年痴呆症) in most people,” Dr Sargeant said.

This new scan, an exciting imaging technology, will allow scientists to form a picture of a living brain and watch how it’s recycling wasting material in real time. “The scan takes out a lot of the guess work, by allowing scientists to see with their own eyes if they’ve hit the target or not,” Dr Robins said. “Without imaging, a researcher can get all the way up to the trial stage before realising they’re at a dead end.”

3 . Lucy was rescued from a rural farm in New South Wales, Australia, two years ago. She was suffering from chlamydia (衣原体病), a disease widespread among koalas. Today, she is one of “the lucky” living creatures in tree corridors (走廊) that have been created by volunteers to protect koalas and other animals by saving their quickly shrinking habitats, or natural environment.

The corridors, planted by the local conservation group Bangalow Koalas, are made up of large systems of plants. They are intended for koalas and other animals like the glossy black cockatoos, possums, and wallabies. All of them are endangered, or at risk of becoming extinct. The corridors provide a safe path across the koala’s increasingly broken habitat. “Our corridors are actually trying to get them away from humans, from cars and from dogs,” said Linda Sparrow, president of Bangalow Koalas. “They can safely move across the landscapes and don’t have to put up with us humans.”

The koala is predicted to be extinct in the wild in New South Wales by 2050. Some of the biggest dangers include wildfires and habitat loss through land clearing for development. Koalas have already been declared endangered in several Australian states. A recent report by the Australian Koala Foundation said the animal was worth an estimated $3.2 billion per year to the tourism industry.

Founded in 2016, Bangalow Koalas has planted over 936,000 trees on 119 properties, helping koala conservation and improving the local ecosystem. The group, which depends on com munity volunteers, aims to plant 500,000 trees by 2025. Volunteer Lindy Stacker, who has been planting trees for over five years, still remains devoted to the cause. She said the activity is good for mental health and has brought the community together. “I can’t imagine a world where there’s no koalas in the wild. We’re going to do everything we can possibly to. make sure that won’t happen,” Lindy said.

4 . Being cut from a school team can be a difficult experience for a kid. But when 13-year-old Emmie Tallent who has Down syndrome (唐氏综合征) didn’t make her school’s cheer squad (啦啦队), she responded in the most impressive way — she cheered anyway. Emmie Tallent, agirl with firm determination, took to the sidelines while her school’s cheer squad performed. She matched the entire routine, moving for moving, in a black dress and tie-dyed shoes.

Her sister, Sydnee, recorded this moment on video, and it’s now capturing hearts worldwide. The video, with over 3 million views and 87,000 likes, shows Emmie facing the official squad and performing the routine alongside them. Her performance is nothing short of inspiring. “Girl didn’t make the cheer team, but she didn’t care,” Sydnee wrote, admiring Emmie’s confidence.

“Emmie may not be on the cheer team this time, but I’m sure her talent and spirit will shine through somewhere in the future,” Sydnee said with a smile. “Right now, she’s satisfied and happy doing what she loves. Thank you all for supporting her. I want to show the world Emmie’s joy from pursuing what she likes and the beauty of diversity.”

The team did not have a lot of spots and even neurotypical (神经正常的) girls who were much better than Emmie didn’t make it to join it. Emmie’s school was giving Emmie help and kept encouraging her, but there are hard decisions that have to be made sometimes. Though Emmie didn’t make the squad, she wasn’t feeling upset at home, and continued to follow cheer squad’s routines and moves to please herself and spread joy to others, even if from the sidelines.

In the face of rejection, this tough 13-year-old chose to dance rather than sit by and let it define her, inspiring us all to embrace our uniqueness and find joy in every moment.

5 . Family Vacations in Hawaii

Whether your interests are history, native cultures, hiking, water sports, or simply relaxing in the sun, Hawaii has abundant choices to keep you and your family entertained.

This famous two-mile stretch of sand is home to scores of family-friendly beach hotels and all kinds of action-packed excitement. Waikiki Beach is the perfect place to go if you’re looking for warm ocean water and golden beaches. Kids will enjoy walking along the beach, stopping for shaved ice or an ice cream and taking a dip in a safe area of the ocean.

Some of the tallest ocean waves in the world are found at Oahu, Hawaii’s North Shore coastline during the winter months. These crashing walls of water are born for surfing and offer one of the best free shows on the islands. The North Shore is home to world-class surf contests, attracting the world’s top surfers.

Nothing appeals to the whole family like Hawaiian past coming alive. Besides, the colorful costumes, lively songs, and traditional dances in the Pacific region are presented here. You’ll see customs of Fiji, New Zealand, Marquesas, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, and Hawaii all represented in Polynesian Cultural Center’s re-created island villages, which is decorated with palm trees and tropical gardens.

More than 3,500 feet deep, this landmark on Hawaii’s island of Kauai is the largest canyon in the Pacific. Unlike Grand Canyon, plentiful rain keeps Waimea Canyon and its surrounding area thick with vegetation (植被), and visitors are frequently treated to the sight of vivid rainbows. It offers a great canyon view and a covered picnic area.

6 . Powerful Benefits of Journaling

When looking for a way to better manage stress and feel your best, consider adding journaling to.     1     It’s a pathway to deeper self-understanding, emotional clarity, and psychological recovery.

Practice journaling as therapy (治疗)

By making journaling a regular practice, you create a space for self-reflection that can lead to personal growth and psychological treatment.     2     Once you start, with each word you write, you’re taking a step towards a deeper understanding of yourself and moving closer to well-being.

Release and process feelings

    3     Journaling provides a private, judgment-free space to explore and express emotions without reservation. This process of externalizing what’s inside can be incredibly cathartic (宣泄的), helping to reduce stress and manage extreme emotions.

Help recognize sources of stress

Think of it as a safe space to express how you feel, leading to a significant decrease in stress levels. Sometimes the first step in building the life you want starts with simple awareness. Journaling gives you a chance to recognize what stresses you out in the first place.     4    

Promote mindfulness

Journaling brings your focus to the present. Just like in mindful meditation (冥想), journaling gives you an outlet to observe thoughts and emotions without judgment. Think of this as an act of self-love, to accept yourself in the present moment just as you are.     5    

7 . The recent spread of “fake news” may make it seem like misinformation is a relatively modern invention. But falsehoods (假话) and wild claims have been part of human culture for about as long as it’s existed. This is because misinformation originates with, and is spread by, fellow humans.

When you’ve ever had to communicate an important, but complex, issue to a general audience, you may have a sea of the most reliable data, the most elegant PowerPoint slides and the full backing of every famous expert in the relevant field. And yet, you can still be less persuasive than someone whose entire argument is: “A guy I met down the pub told me something different.”

In a perfectly sensible, logical world, someone who is loosely connected with a certain field or industry wouldn’t have the same influence as actual data, or the leading experts in the field. But humans aren’t perfectly sensible, logical creatures and neither is the world we live in.

The ability to think rationally and analytically is a relatively recent addition to our mental abilities (in the evolutionary sense). And it costs our brains a lot of energy and effort, The more established, fundamental systems in our brain, which shape memory and learning, are heavily reliant on emotion. The more emotionally stimulating something is, the easier it is to remember. That’s why we can spend months revising the material for a crucial school exam, but struggle to remember any of it once we’ve passed. Meanwhile, the embarrassing tine we slipped and landed on our backside in the school canteen. that memory will last until our dying day.

The most determined sceptics (无神论者) will often say, “Facts don’t care about your feelings,” which is correct. But feelings don’t necessarily care about facts either. And ultimately, feelings have more of a say in what we think and do. And that’s why your mate down the pub can seem more believable than a pile of published research.

8 . Since the mid-1990s, tourists have paid storm-chasers to take them to places in the American Great Plains where they expect to see tornadoes. Why, a reasonable follow-up question might go, would anyone want to get so close to something so disruptive? These tourists, a study found, characterized their relationship to severe weather as a “passion”, describing their feelings about tornadoes using words like “enjoyment”, “fascination” and “love”. Some people seem spiritually moved by tornadoes-one tourist called the storms “humbling” -but the main motivator seemed to be simple: Twisters are cool.

America has many more tornadoes than any other country, and its people have long regarded twisters with a mix of fear, awe and thrilled pleasure. Fast-moving and dramatic, tornadoes have been irresistible parts for popular entertainment. One needn’t be an extreme-weather enthusiast, however, to take a brief and far-less dangerous tour: of culture tornadoes have inspired and of the transformation of American society’s feelings about these storms from fear to excitement.

European colonists in the future United States were fascinated-and sometimes horrified-by their new land’s weather. In the Early Republic, the influence of romantic ideas about the terrible and wonderful power of nature became clearer in American tornado culture. Some people began to write about tornadoes in terms of awe, and to produce art that explored the phenomenon’s natural beauty, while also moralizing about its meaning. Since the 1930s, American tornadoes have been less deadly: the country has much better early-warning systems, fewer people live in rural areas and tornado activity has largely shifted from the southeast to the thinly-populated Great Plains.

Storm-chasing-a scientific, thrill-seeking activity that most Americans found out about via the1996 blockbuster film Twister, is still incomprehensible to many who don’t practice it. “I find it difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t chased what forces us to seek pleasure from risk,” wrote Jennifer Henderson, a scholar and crazy storm-chaser, characterizing her feelings while chasing as “a sense of exposure and revelation tightly coupled”.

10 . Pickleball, which combines elements of badminton, Ping-Pang, and tennis, has two characteristics that make it a good choice for older adults. It’s slower than other racket (球拍) sports, and it’s easier to learn.

With a play area about a quarter the size of a tennis court and a plastic ball that doesn’t bounce as high or as fast as a tennis ball, you don’t have to run as much or as quickly. The bats are lighter and shorter than tennis rackets, making them easier to swing and control. There are fewer rules than tennis.

Plus, pickleball is more social than many types of exercise and it’s fun. In one study, participants rated pickleball 150 percent higher for enjoyment than walking. “People are finding it’s not boring,” says Cedric Bryant, PhD, chief science officer at the American Council on Exercise, who has played pickleball for more than 20 years. “It’s not something they’re doing just because they should, but because they enjoy it and want to do it.”

Pickleball is an effective workout, and like walking, you can adjust the intensity to your preferences. A friendly doubles match can qualify as proper exercise. A competitive singles match is likely to be tighter.

And pickleball offers plenty of health pluses. After six weeks of playing an hour of pickleball three times a week, older adults improved their cardiorespiratory (心肺的) fitness and blood pressure, according to a study published in 2018 in the International Journal of Research in Exercise Physiology. Another study found that the activity may keep you mentally sharp. “You’re making a lot of quick decisions while engaged in a physical task,” says study author David Bolton, PhD, assistant professor at Utah State University in Logan. “It is effectively training cognitive (认知的) ability.”

But it is not without risks of getting injured. Don’t just hit the court and go right into having a game. A warm-up is the best defense against injury, so take at least 5 minutes to prepare your body.