4 . Fast walkers may live longer than dawdlers (缓慢的人)— regardless of their weight, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Leicester University analyzed data on 474, 919 people with an average age of 52 in the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2016. They found women who walked briskly had a life expectancy of 86.7 to 87.8 years old, and men who kept up the pace had a life expectancy of 85.2 to 86.8. Slow walkers hadn’t much encouraging prospects (前景): women had a life expectancy of 72.4, and men of 64.8 years old, if they were more leisurely in their movements. According to the paper, published last week, that ratio held true even if the fast walkers were severely overweight. It does not necessarily mean fast walkers will live longer. Experts say it suggests walking speed could be a simple way for doctors to judge their patients’ general health alongside other tests.

It is hardly the first study holding up walking speed as a powerful evidence that appears to improve and determine our health.

In 2011, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study by Stephanie Studenski, who found the same: walking speed was a reliable predictor of life expectancy.

In 2013, US researchers found walking pace was linked to lower heart disease risk and longer life expectancy. In 2018, a study from the University of Sydney found picking up your walking pace to even an “average speed” could cut your risk of premature death by a fifth.

And Tom Yates, the physical activity professor at Leicester who's behind the latest study, has been publishing findings on this connection for years.

In 2017, he analyzed the same UK Biobank data and found walking speed appeared to affect the risk of dying from heart disease — concluding that the slowest walkers were twice as likely to suffer a heart-related death compared to quick walkers.

5 . Recent research discovered that a low-cost computer training program can help older persons drive less dangerously.

“We developed a training program, called Drive Aware, which could be used by anyone who has a computer,” says Jing Feng, co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at NC State. “Drive Aware is a cognitive (认知的) training program for older persons that helps them notice traffic risks more effectively. The purpose of our recent study was to see how much Drive Aware changes trainees’ driving behaviors once they get behind the wheel.”

The researchers found 27 persons aged 65 and up to test Drive Aware. In a driving simulator (模拟器), all of the study participants (参与者) experienced a basic driving exam. The “active training” group was made up of nine of the study participants. Every two weeks, the active training group had two Drive Aware trainings. A group of nine additional study participants was asked to take “passive training”. This group watched videos of others receiving the Drive Aware instruction. This happened twice, with each lasting about a week. The control group, which was made up of the remaining nine study participants, received no training. After that, all 27 study participants performed a second driving exam in the simulator.

The study participants in the active training group experienced 25% fewer “unsafe incidents (事件)” following the training, according to the researchers. There was no obvious change in the number of dangerous incidents among study participants in the passive training and control groups.

“This testing was done with a fairly limited number of study participants,” Feng says. “If we can succeed in getting the fund, we’d like to further our testing with more people to clearly prove how effective this training is at reducing accidents among older drivers.”

7 . There are a lot of reasons why we may have to get up early. Maybe it’s for work, or maybe it’s to get your kids ready for school.     1     But if you’re not naturally a morning person, how can you wake up early? Here are some ways to help you.

Light.

The most powerful way to get your body feeling awake is to expose yourself to light. When you’re exposed to bright sunlight, your hormone (激素) tells the body, “Hey, it’s time to be awake.”     2     Those lights will signal to your body that it’s still daytime, which definitely won’t help if you’re trying to go to bed on time for an early wake-up.

Naps.

    3     Sleep doctors call that a “sleep debt,” and just like credit card debt, it has to get repaid for your body to function well. If it doesn’t, you might end up suffering the more serious consequences of sleep deprivation. Naps are a great way to squeeze in some extra shut-eye. Sleep studies show naps even as short as 10 minutes can make a difference!     4     If we nap too late, too close to bedtime, then it’ll make it hard for us to go to sleep at night.

    5    

Create an encouragement to get out of bed in the morning. Maybe that’s a mindfulness exercise to remind yourself of who or what you’re waking up early for. Something as simple as promising yourself a nice breakfast as soon as you get out of bed can do the trick.

9 . Fleanor Love knows that weddings create a lot of leftover flowers. That means more opportunities for her to collect after-wedding bouquets (花束) and give them to her lonely hospital _______, many of whom don’t often have visitors, let alone expensive _______.

The flowers are still in good shape, and the patients are pleased to have them. “I was so _______ that I cried,” said patient Connie Melzer, who was recovering from a heart problem when Love walked into her room with a bouquet in early 2020.

Love worked at the Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital as a(n) _______ student. She wondered how she could help _______ the patients’ suffering besides learning how to treat them as a student doctor.

“One of the _______ of being a medical student is that it can be very difficult to _______ to the care team,” said Love. “You are there as a learner, who doesn’t have as much knowledge as doctors. But you want to _______ your patients. How can I at this stage in my training make a(n) _______ for them?”

In 2019, she started The Simple Sunflower in Richmond, and so far has ________ more than 760 bouquets to patients. She brought fellow students and other people into her project, and now has more than 200 ________ on the email list.

When Love began the project, she called businesses such as wedding venues (场馆) and florists and asked them what events were scheduled. She then reached out to brides and grooms to ask them if they had ________ for their flowers after the big day.

For each wedding, she organized a team of eight people who helped ________ the flowers when the party was over and then spent time carrying them to individual patients.

People beyond the VCU community have heard about Love’s project and become part of it. “Once the word got out, people around the city started ________ us,” Love said. She wanted to bring the project to more cities and maybe open branches at other medical schools.

“I feel ________ when I see the patients who receive our bouquets,” she said. “It reminds me why we do what we do.”