When You’re Stressed About Money, This Is What Happens to Your Body and Your Brain

I think a lot of us can say that we’ve felt this kind of stress before: stress about being broke or very close to it. But how does this stress affect us, physiologically speaking?

We all have a fight-or-flight response system in our bodies that developed when our ancestors were roaming the land trying to avoid the many threats that could literally kill them at any time. Stress hormones are released when we’re presented with what we interpret as these kinds of situations – times when we humans have to decide whether to stick it out and fight or to run for our lives.

Stressed

But there are fewer saber-tooth tigers these days, and your fight-or-flight reflex is much more likely to be triggered by social issues – including dealing with money problems. When it does happen, the fight-or-flight reaction is very hard on the body. It can tense up our muscles until they hurt and mess up how our immune systems work, leaving us more vulnerable to getting sick. It can also cause constant stomach aches and headaches.

Stress

Another bad side effect: you might make bad decisions, even though, deep down, you know better. Aimee Daramus, a clinic psychologist, said, “Under stress, blood flow and electrical activity are reduced in the frontal and prefrontal lobes and increased in the survival parts of the brain, such as the amygdala.”

Since the parts of the brain where blood flow is reduced influence impulse control and planning, your decision-making process might get thrown for a loop, causing you to do things you normally wouldn’t do. Basically, you start to feel the walls closing in, which pressures you to act in ways that actually hurt your situation.

Daramus added, “We act quickly and decisively, but not always as accurately as usual.”

Depressed

On top of that, frequent stress reactions – whether caused by money issues or not – may cause anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Chronic stress might even lead to long-term physical ailments such as heart disease and diabetes. Finally, the stress may lead you to take comfort where you can find it – and that can sometimes mean in alcohol and drugs, which may lead to substance abuse problems.

Money problems are hard – really hard – but try to take care of yourself.

Remember, your only real wealth is health.

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You Might Not Realize These Phrases and Actions Are Seen as Microaggressions to the Disabled Community

Listen up, people.

When we know better, we do better. And to know better, we have to listen when marginalized communities tell us that something is offensive, hurtful, dismissive, or all of the above.

So read through this list of 14 phrases that can be taken as ableist, then do your best to remove them from your vocabulary – it won’t hurt you to quit using them, but it might hurt another person’s feelings if you choose not to.

Easy decision, no?

14. Why on earth would anyone think this is okay?

13. Promise.

12. That last one, though.

11. Maybe they just think the other person is awesome?

10. I want to shout this from the rooftops.

9. None of these are at all helpful.

8. Maybe just skip the labels.

7. They’re not there so you can have a moment.

6. This makes me sick to my stomach.

5. Stop thinking fair and equal are the same thing.

4. Strictly speaking, vegetables aren’t that helpful of a suggestion any time.

3. I promise it’s not Jesus.

2. Chances are they realize that fact already.

1. It’s not “nice.” And while we’re at it, neither is saying “I don’t see color.”

Now that you know better, do better!

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Students Clean Their Own Classrooms and Toilets in Japan

It’s actually common for Japanese people to take responsibility for cleaning public spaces they utilize.

Photo Credit: Needpix

After a recent win over the Colombian football team during the World Cup, the fans naturally wanted to celebrate. But not until they all pitched in to clean the stadium.

This Japanese drive to maintain cleanliness is a concept introduced during their early school years. According to Bright Vibes, the o-soji (cleaning), as it is called, is tradition in Japanese schools.

【News: Japanese-Style Education “Special Activities” /Tokubetsukatsudo(Tokkatsu) Spreads to Egyptian Elementary…

Posted by JICA – Japan International Cooperation Agency on Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Making the children clean their schoolrooms and restrooms has nothing to do with lack of manpower. Even though people – called yomushuji, often shortened to shuji – are hired for non-teaching roles like cleaning and maintaining school grounds, children are still taught to clean. The idea is to instill the values of discipline, responsibility and the joint care of spaces into children. It’s a value they go on to hold throughout their lives.

Starting each day (except Wednesdays and Saturdays) after lunch, the students clean for approximately 20 minutes. They start with their own classrooms, then rotate as groups to clean other spaces like the playground, library and common areas. Then, they get recess.

The school gets a longer cleaning on the last day of each semester. The children also get an o-soji song or something else to get them pumped while they clean. Older kids also help teach the little ones what to do, which bonds the kids like siblings.

Once they reach the third grade, children start participating in chiiki seiso – a full neighborhood clean-up.

If you ask me, this Japanese tradition is onto something. If everyone was taught to clean up after themselves starting in early childhood, the world would be a much cleaner place.

What do you think about the practice? Let us know in the comments.

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An Expert Says That Unmarried Women Without Kids Are the ‘Healthiest and Happiest Population Subgroup’

We all face a lot of pressures in our lives – pressures about marriage, kids, happiness, and what the perfect ingredients are to live a “perfect” life. Well, the older we all get, we know that there is no such thing as perfect,’ and we also know that what works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for someone else.

As a man, it seems to me that women have it much tougher than men when it comes to societal expectations (though I can only speak from my personal experience). A lot of people still think that women are supposed to settle down, get married, have children, and raise a family. That’s been the ‘traditional’ way for generations, but what if those pressures really aren’t pushing women toward happiness at the end of the day?

Woman pointing

A professor of behavioral science named Paul Dolan published a book in 2019 called Happy Ever After: Escaping the Myths of the Perfect Life in which he makes some very interesting claims. Dolan, who teaches at the London School of Economics, said something quite controversial: he claims that “married people are happier than other population subgroups,”  but only “when their spouse is in the room when they’re asked how happy they are. When the spouse is not present: f—ing miserable.”

Wow. That sure turns a lot of ‘common knowledge’ on its head, doesn’t it? On top of that, Dolan said that “the healthiest and happiest population subgroup are women who never married or had children.”

Dolan’s book and his claims are based on research that polled people who are married, single, divorced, separated, and widowed. Dolan also claims that men seem to get more out of marriage because many of them “calmed down” after getting married.

Dolan pointed out the different effects that marriage has on the sexes: For men, “you take less risks, you earn more money at work and you live a little longer. She, on the other hand, has to put up with that, and dies sooner than if she never married.”

Woman's portrait

Dolan also added this little nugget about his research and findings: “You see a single woman of 40, who has never had children — ‘Bless, that’s a shame, isn’t it? Maybe one day you’ll meet the right guy and that’ll change.’ No, maybe she’ll meet the wrong guy and that’ll change. Maybe she’ll meet a guy who makes her less happy and healthy, and die sooner.”

Yikes.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

The post An Expert Says That Unmarried Women Without Kids Are the ‘Healthiest and Happiest Population Subgroup’ appeared first on UberFacts.

People Share the Secret Battles They Are Currently Fighting in Life

People say that everyone out there is fighting a secret battle. It could be health-related, it could be depression, sadness, rage, money troubles, love troubles, etc. The point is that everyone is dealing with something.

AskReddit users shared the private battles they are currently enduring.

Remember to be kind to everyone and help people out whenever you can. You never know what people are going through.

1. Terrible.

“My mother has weeks or months left… Doctors aren’t optimistic, but this is indeed my last holiday with her.”

2. Still haunted.

“My mom died unexpectedly in December of 2011.

I am haunted by all the ‘what ifs’, ‘should haves’, and ‘never agains’.”

3. Torn apart.

“Honestly….depression. Cancer has literally torn my family apart. I lost my biological father, my stepfather, 2 aunts and numerous cousins to it. My daughter doesn’t have it but she stays sick, a lot.”

4. Hang in there!

“Diagnosed with 2 different types of cancer this year. And surgery, radiation. Starting to recover and figuring out what life will be like from here on out as I turn 40 in 3 months.”

5. A dark abyss.

“Trying to continue life with my daughter gone. I miss her so much every day. I’m fighting the guilt that’s constantly eating me alive because I didn’t protect her. I should’ve been more watchful but I failed my sweet baby. Life is nothing but a dark abyss without her and I’m not sure I’ll ever see light again.”

6. Staying clean.

“Going through methadone treatment while my two brothers are still using drugs. I’m clean now but it’s still a tough battle, especially because we live together.

I appreciate all the support and kind words reddit peeps. I’m in the middle of tapering down already, 30 mg left, and if anyone is facing a similar struggle just know YOU CAN DO IT! You’re the master of your own destiny.”

7. My psychosis.

“Psychosis. I’m under immense pressure to try and seem normal, to laugh like I’m normal and react and talk and socialize like I’m normal. But it’s hard when I’m hearing and feeling things that aren’t real, or when I believe things that make other people get weirded out. I feel like I’m at constant war with my head and I want so hard to just seem well-adjusted, and to not be fucking annoying all the damn time.”

8. Looking for a job is demoralizing.

“Currently dealing with unemployment and trying to stay positive in the sea of rejection letters. Luckily, I have an interview coming up but that is stressing me out because I don’t what I’m going to do if that doesn’t go well.”

9. Still grieving.

“It’s been a while since my husband died and no one talks about him anymore, it’s as though he never existed but I still grieve for him every single day.”

10. Exhausted.

“I just wish I existed outside of my own fucking head. Attempts at reaching out met with indifference feels like contempt after so long. .

3 people I love have died in the last year. I feel so fucking alone.

Nobody is having an easy time and I can barely think of anything positive, and when I do and share it, indifference is what I’m met with.

It’s exhausting. I don’t want to do this anymore for no reason.”

11. Reality.

“I have a baby with serious health issues who will likely have disabilities.

There are a lot of other things along with that situation.

Sprinkle in my own anxiety disorder / depression… Struggling mightily with life right now.

I don’t see it getting better. This is my new reality.”

12. A shell of my former self.

“Depression, Anxiety, PTSD.

Car accident at 16 left me clinically dead and in a coma. Massive anxiety from that along with PTSD.

Last year I lost my S/O because of a drunk driver.

I have horrific nightmares about both incidents. I’m a shell of my former self.”

13. This is sad.

“I want to kill myself, but I’m the only person who gives a crap about and helps my disabled friend in another state who is routinely abused and taken advantage of.

I mean, I guess I also don’t want to hurt my parents, but they should have thought ahead before reproducing when they knew how fucked-up their heads were. But my friend never asked for a neurological disorder. She doesn’t deserve to suffer alone.”

14. He doesn’t need to know.

“My kid is dying. Incurable, fatal disease. My wife and I decided to tell no one, not even family, because at that point our little boy will find out, and why does he need to know? He just needs to be a little boy and enjoy the life he has.”

15. Heartbroken.

“The girl i thought i was gonna marry broke up with me. I’ve been going through a faith crisis which has always been huge for me. I just feel so broken and lonely…”

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15 ‘Health’ Foods That Aren’t That Healthy at All

Eating healthier is a goal that almost everyone shares, but which foods count as “healthy”? It’s sometimes hard to tell. Some foods, like granola, are touted as “health foods” even though they’re packed full of sugar, which is definitely unhealthy. Other foods are seen as healthy until some new study comes out claiming the opposite.

People chimed in on AskReddit with foods that are typically seen as healthy even though they aren’t, from salads to smoothies.

1. Activated charcoal.

“Activated charcoal. It’s amazing if you’ve been poisoned but it absorbs good nutrients and medications as well. Im getting so sick of seeing it in everything.”

2. (Some) smoothies.

“I was a manager of a Jamba Juice for a year or so and people used to come in bc they got it was healthy but the most commonly ordered smoothie by This crowd “Apples and Greens” the small size has 44g of sugar. Most of the smoothies are packed in sugar.”

“Smoothies from smoothie shops. They use sorbets, ice creams, and juices with an insane amount of sugar in them. My sister worked at a smoothie shop and people would always come in after going to the gym. It’s not what most people think it is.”

3. Granola bars.

“Granola Bars. The one I was eating daily had the nutritional value of a Snickers.”

“Granola bars were always meant to be a portable, non-perishable and high-energy snack- which is automatically going to have carbs & sugar.”

4. Fat-free foods.

“‘Fat free’ doesnt mean ‘miracle weight loss.’”

“‘Fat free” usually means ‘shitload of added sugars.’”

“Besides that, your body needs fats. Fats aren’t some evil, bad, chunky boys; our body relies on them. As long as you don’t receive too much of it and it’s mostly unsaturated fats, you’re good.”

5. ‘Detox’ programs.

“Those stupid juicing detox programs … your body’s liver and kidney’s naturally detox your body so long as you drink plenty of water. This whole notion that you are detoxing your body with juice is asinine.”

6. Takeout salads.

“The vast majority of salads at restaurants. A handful of lettuce buried beneath fried chicken, cheese, and ranch dressing.”

7. Vitamin Water.

“It’s stacked with ridiculous levels of sugar and no vitamins.”

“I love that in the lawsuit against them for just this reason, their argument was something along the lines of; ‘no reasonable person would think Vitamin Water is a health beverage.”

8. Juice over soda.

“Getting lemonade or some other juice, rather than soda at a restaurant.”

9. The food pyramid.

“The Food Pyramid that was popularized by the USDA is a terrible idea. A lot of people today have realized this, but many older folks still see it is the ‘bible’ of good eating. And they are very fat.”

10. Gluten-free food.

“Gluten-free food is for people allergic to gluten. It’s not some dieting trick.”

11. Lazy keto diets.

“Doing a keto diet but only eating the foods you like that are “allowed”. Ie: someone I know eats bacon and sausages every single day and sucks down a can of whipped cream because she’s “going keto”.”

12. Green juice.

“It’s WAY too sweet to not be bad for you. I mean come on, it’s just as sweet as a glass of Tropicana. Do you really expect me to believe that it’s this detoxifying ambrosia that everyone claims it to be?”

“Back in college, I used to regularly have this juice called “Green Machine Boost” by Naked Juice. Looked at the nutrition facts one day and it contained 50+ grams for sugar per serving. Quit that shit instantly. I mean.. how do you even pack that much sugar in in such a small bottle, and how are you even allowed to advertise that crap as “healthy”.”

13. Non-GMO products.

“The non-GMO project label is on thousands of products and is used as a marketing ploy. Less than 30 varieties of plants (corn, wheat, etc) even have the potential to be GMOs as of right now. GMO products have been heavily researched and no difference between non-GMO products have been found.”

14. Subway.

“Yeah sure your four-meat, footlong, cheese filled sub is way better for you than a standard tuna butty you unquestioning bellend.”

15. Red wine.

“Wine and spirit manufacturers try to tell people that these are healthy in moderation. They are not. The Framingham Study of 5000 women revealed that women who drink 3 drinks per week raise their chances of getting breast cancer by 30%. Nine drinks of any kind of alcohol raise the chances by 300 Percent. This was a study that lasted 20 years and followed the women to see how many got breast cancer. The one factor in all of the breast cancers was the drinking of any kind of alcohol.”

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15 Downsides of Smoking Marijuana That People Don’t Talk About Enough

As legalization sweeps the country, weed is becoming more acceptable. Smoking weed after work is basically the new version of having a glass of wine. But surely there are some potential downsides to weed, and one AskReddit thread had people chatting all about it. Here are 15 downsides of weed that people don’t talk about, courtesy of Redditors.

1. Lack of appetite.

“Not having an appetite if you’re not high. You have to smoke heavily though to get to that point.”

2. All thought, no action.

“Been smoking everyday for the past decade and am recently realizing that being too introspective can be a negative thing at times – I’ve been thinking too much and acting too little.”

3. Cognitive issues.

“Both my roommates are heavy smokers, and they just… think so slowly. It takes them forever to understand anything. They also forget a lot of stuff, like they’ll step away from the dishes for a moment and then never finish them without prompting.”

4. A one-track mind.

“It can become your only personality trait.”

“Some of my peers’ only goal is when they are going to get their next high and like they are so stuck in the culture that they just become sort of boring and their personality lacks dimension.”

“I lost a significant chunk of my best friends in college because by senior year all they were focused on was weed.”

5. Loss of motivation.

“It is fine in moderation, but multiple times per day seems to suck the ambition from most people I’ve seen, including myself long ago.”

“I used to smoke every day multiple times a day and I can confirm: it made me useless and killed my motivation. It also contributed to me losing my job.”

“It makes you okay with being just okay.”

6. Anxiety or panic.

“Things that aren’t currently stressing you out may start to induce anxiety in you. While this isn’t always the case, weed has the potential to worsen your mental state if you aren’t careful. This impact became more pronounced when I smoked weed solo, having other people around allowed me to be more present in the moment, whereas I was in my head when I was alone.”

7. Poor conversational skills.

“I’ve noticed after the initial uptick in chatter- people tend to get really quiet, and zoned out in their own thoughts.

When I used to smoke it, I found it had a dulling effect on my personality and conversational skills after the fact, too.”

“Yeah I’d never tell any of my sweet lovely friends this in real life in case it hurt their feelings, but a couple of them are a lot less fun after they smoke weed.”

8. No more dreams at night.

“One thing that I never see brought up is the effect of marijuana on dreaming. Marijuana use can prevent the user from dreaming during regular sleep. When the user stops using Marijuana for a while, they can experience night after night of extremely vivid dreams. I can only speak for my own experience, but I have heard this echoed by a co-worker’s dad who started smoking again because he couldn’t handle “having acid-trip dreams every night”.

I suspect that marijuana has some potent effect on REM sleep that will remain under-documented until it is de-scheduled and more thorough research can be done.”

9. Vomiting.

“Cannabinoid hyperemesis and cyclic vomiting syndrome.”

“Yeah my ex had cyclic vomiting syndrome so bad, but he smoked weed to help him fight the nausea turns out it was making him worse off. Not a lot of people know about this one, where I’m from at least.”

“I started smoking regularly at night to assuage anxiety and kick start my appetite and eventually ended up developing this super fun condition. It’s absolutely awful. I thought I was pregnant and or dying.”

10. Dependency.

“Its not that its super addicting its just nothing is as fun as being high so you want to be high all the time.”

“As a pretty consistent weed smoker, I don’t like when people say that weed isn’t addicting. They’re right in saying that it’s not addictive chemically like nicotine or something, you can still get addicted to not being sober.”

“I’ve been a daily user for the last 15 (or more) years and my mind automatically starts to feel like I’m not relaxing if I haven’t smoked.”

11. A higher tolerance.

“The one most annoying thing with being a smoker is your tolerance level goes way up so even though you are smoking you arent getting that high you used to get, just a mind numbing insomnia almost.”

12. Triggering psychosis.

“It can trigger psychosis if you’re susceptible to it already.”

“I had a friend go through a mental break after smoking a lot. Had to be admitted and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (which ran in their family).”

NPR did a report about a study done in the UK, saying that heavy pot smokers are 3x more likely to have a psychotic episode than people who never smoked at all.”

13. Brain development.

“There is “moderate evidence” that acute marijuana use can impair learning, memory, and attention, leading to a reasonable argument that it shouldn’t be consumed by those under about 25 since the brain is still developing during that time.”

14. Money.

“If you use it regularly it can become super expensive.”

15. Disassociation.

“Cannabis induced disassociation. Can completely ruin your life.”

“I’ve had it (I think it materialized from my generalized anxiety disorder) but it was the scariest fucking thing when it first happened. You feel like you’re in a fog, and disconnected from everything. Took about 8 months for me to shake it.”

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A Terminally Ill Scientist Wants to Turn Himself Into a Cyborg Before He Passes Away

We sometimes joke from time to time about robot uprisings, the day when technology becomes too much for humanity to handle, or how we might be able to use it to be able to “live” forever. There have been countless television and movies that have explored those ideas (and associated fears) over the years – but now one scientist thinks he could actually live forever via tech.

Or at least become part robot.

Dr. Peter Bowman Scott-Morgan is a roboticist who has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It’s a degenerative condition, also known as Lou Gehrig’s. It has few treatment options and no cure, so Scott-Morgan decided to work toward becoming the “world’s first full cyborg.”

Image Credit: Twitter

After undergoing four medical procedures in an attempt to prolong and improve the quality of his life, he refers to himself as Peter 2.0.

Peter has a feeding tube that goes directly into his stomach, a catheter that goes directly into his bladder, a colostomy bag into his colon, and he also underwent a laryngectomy to remove is larynx, which connects his mouth and nose to his lungs.

He’s not able to speak with a natural voice and can breathe only with a respirator, but it also takes away the risk of  saliva accumulating into his lungs, which would basically cause him to drown.

He tweeted after coming home from the hospital the last time.

“Just home from 24 days in Intensive Care. All medical procedures now complete and a huge success. My mini-ventilator keeping me breathing is a LOT quieter than Darth Vader’s. All speech is synthetic but at last sounds like me again. Long research road ahead but in great spirits.”

Scott-Morgan writes on his website that he’s working on the “experiment of this life,” and plans to use his robotics knowledge to not only survive, but to thrive with a disease that spells the end for everyone who gets handed the diagnosis – over 220,000 people around the world.

In addition to the surgeries, he’s made big upgrades to his wheelchair that make it easier to move around his home, and will undergo laser eye surgery so that he can better read and control the computer screen using only his eyes – because in time, he won’t be able to control any of the other muscles in his body.

You can catch a documentary detailing his journey into becoming Peter 2.0 in 2020.

And for now, Peter is living happily in Devonshire with his husband, Francis.

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Wow! Playing Music Benefits Your Brain More Than Any Other Activity.

If you’re interested in strengthening your brain, playing a musical instrument is the best exercise you can do to improve brain function, make you happier and protect against dementia.

Learning to play an instrument actually changes brain structure and improves functioning better than any so-called brain games. Those who learn to play when they are young also have better long-term memory and brain development.

Photo Credit: Pexels

A study completed by researchers at the University of Montreal found musicians tend toward more mental alertness over those who don’t play.

Head researcher Simon Landry said,

The more we know about the impact of music on really basic sensory processes, the more we can apply musical training to individuals who might have slower reaction times. As people get older, for example, we know their reaction times get slower. So if we know that playing a musical instrument increases reaction times, then maybe playing an instrument will be helpful for them.

Previous to this study, Landry discovered musicians have faster auditory, tactile, and audio-tactile reaction times, and an altered statistical use of multisensory information.

Photo Credit: Pxhere

In other words, playing an instrument is a complex and emotional task requiring multiple senses, inputs and fine motor skills. This is what changes the brain and can also help musicians be successful in other fields, like business.

Scans of brains actually show physical differences between musicians and non-musicians. The huge bundle of nerves connecting the two sides of the brain, or the corpus callosum, is larger in the brains of musicians.

Learning an instrument at a young age leads to the biggest brain differences. Even if someone doesn’t dedicate the rest of their lives to an instrument, there are still drastic changes caused by even moderate or intermittent study. That’s because music instruction makes these changes in the brain more efficiently than any other activity (that we know of).

Photo Credit: Pxfuel

From strengthening speech processing to protecting against dementia, learning to play an instrument is like lifting weights for your brain. So forget the dumb brain games on your phone. Pick up guitar or find a piano teacher.

Your brain will thank you.

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Enjoy These Funny Tweets About Self-Care

A lot of times, in the midst of our incredibly busy lives, we forget that we need to take the time to relax, reflect, and take care of ourselves. Maybe not all the time, but at least occasionally.

I’m sure you’ve heard of “Self Care Sunday,” where you treat and pamper yourself after a lot of hard work? Well, these tweets are kind of about that phenomenon, but they flip it on its head a little bit with some humor.

Enjoy…and see if these tweets speak to you…

1. Please fix me.

2. Does it work, though?

3. All good tips.

4. Totally worth it.

5. I have a feeling it would be popular.

6. Do what you gotta do.

7. I do!

8. Sorry about that…

9. Start today!

10. This is so funny.

11. All very good tips.

12. The last one is crucial.

13. Doesn’t seem to be working…

14. I need to talk about how healthy I am.

15. I see…

Take good care of yourself in 2020 and beyond!

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