The World's Happiest Countries

A British researcher merged dozens of statistical metrics to rank nations on the elusive notion of contentment.

By Marina Kamenev

Feeling blue? Perhaps you live in the wrong country. A recent study from Britain's University of Leicester examined a range of statistical data to devise a ranking of the world's happiest nations. Heading up the list: Denmark, which rose to the top thanks to its wealth, natural beauty, small size, quality education, and good health care. At the bottom were Zimbabwe and Burundi. There were a few surprises along the way, too. Asian countries scored worse than researcher Adrian White expected. Capitalism — sometimes criticized for its heartlessness — was far from a source of discontent, though the top-scoring capitalist countries also tended to have strong social services. And the U.S. ranked only 23rd, due to nagging poverty and spotty health care.

Not surprisingly, the countries that are happiest are those that are healthy, wealthy, and wise. "The most significant factors were health, the level of poverty, and access to basic education," White says. Population size also plays a role. Smaller countries with greater social cohesion and a stronger sense of national identity tended to score better, while those with the largest populations fared worse. China came in No. 82, India ranked 125, and Russia was 167. The U.S. came in at 23. View the world's happiest nations: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/happiest_countries/index_01.htm?chan=rss_topSlideShows_ssi_5

Rating coutries for happinest factors: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2006/gb20061011_072596.htm

7 Relationship Problems and How to Solve Them

How to solve the most common relationship problems and get your love life back on track:

Relationship problem #1: Lack of trust

Mary Jo Fay, RN, MSN, author of When Your “Perfect Partner” Goes Perfectly Wrong, offers these tips to help you and your partner develop trust in each other.

• Be consistent. Be on time. When you have to be late, call and say you’ll be late. Do what you say you will do, and call when you say you will call.


• Don’t lie, not even little white lies, to your partner or to others.


• Be fair, even in an argument.


• Carry your fair share of chores.


• Respect your partner’s boundaries.


• Be a good listener.


• Don't be jealous.


• Try not to overreact when things go wrong.


• Don’t dig up old wounds. Remember that once you say things, you can’t take them back.


• Be sensitive to the other’s feelings. You can still disagree, but don’t discount how your partner feels.

Relationship problem #4: Money issues

Money issues are a sore spot for many couples. Addressing them involves many questions, says Orbuch, from how much money you each think you should save to who earns more and who makes the financial decisions. “Money is an especially sensitive subject,” says Orbuch. “People just don’t like to talk about it."
Every three months, Orbuch says, you should schedule a “money talk.” Make a list of short- and long-term financial goals, and plan for how much you're spending and how much you're saving. “It’s not unusual for one partner to play a more primary role in money matters,” says Orbuch, “but the other partner should be involved and aware. One person shouldn't be making big financial decisions alone.”

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13 Healthy Habits to Improve Your Life

There are 13 ways to boost your chances of living a happy, healthy life. More can be added to this list, but, for simplicity's sake, we'll stick with this typically unlucky number.

1. Eat Breakfast Every Morning: Research shows people who have a morning meal tend to take in more vitamins and minerals, and less fat and cholesterol. The result is often a leaner body, lower cholesterol count, and less chance of overeating.
2. Add Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acids to Your Diet: The AHA recommends a serving of fish two times per week. Besides being a good source of protein and a food relatively low in the bad type of dietary fat called saturated fat, fish has omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.

3. Get Enough Sleep: Sleep is vital to good health and to mental and emotional well-being. The NSF reports that people who don't get enough slumber are more likely than others to develop psychiatric problems and to use health care services. Plus, sleep deprivation can negatively affect memory, learning, and logical reasoning. To avoid the pitfalls of insufficient sleep, make sure to get at least seven to 10 hours of slumber each night. Kids need more sleep, depending on their age.
4. Make Social Connections: Volunteer. Go to church. Join a club. Whatever you do, do it with people. Communal activities are good for your physical and mental health. Social ties have many benefits, including: providing information, instrumental help, emotional support and a sense of belonging.

5. Exercise for Better Health: Here is a review of the advantages of exercise.
- Helps control weight
- Maintains healthy bones, muscles, and joints
- Reduces risk of developing high blood pressure and diabetes
- Promotes psychological well-being
- Reduces risk of death from heart disease
- Reduces risk of premature death

6. Practice Good Dental Hygiene: Flossing your teeth every day could add 6.4 years to your life, according to Michael Roizen, MD.

7. Take Up a Hobby: Look up the word "hobby" in the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and you will find the definition as "a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation." Since they are relaxing activities, hobbies are usually enjoyable. The joy may help people live healthier and recover better from illness. For one thing, taking part in hobbies can burn calories.

8. Protect Your Skin: Our skin starts to age as soon as we are born and, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, the best way to protect it and look younger is to stay out of the sun.

9. Snack the Healthy Way: The ADA recommends five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day as part of a healthy diet.

10. Drink Water and Eat Dairy: Water and milk are essential fluids for good health, but they can also help with shedding pounds. The body needs water to keep properly hydrated and individuals vary widely in how much water they need. Joints need it to stay in motion, and vital organs such as the heart, brain, kidney, and liver need it to work properly.

11. Drink Tea: There is some evidence that tea may help in improving memory, and preventing cavities, cancer, and heart disease.

12. Take a Daily Walk: An eight-year study of 13,000 people also showed that people who walked 30 minutes daily had a significantly reduced chance of premature death compared with those who rarely exercised.

13. Plan: There is, perhaps, no better word in the English language to better illustrate how you can incorporate healthy habits into your everyday life than the word PLAN. To eat healthy, for example, it would help to set aside time to draft a menu, make a grocery list, go to the store, prepare meals, and pack breakfast and lunch.

And the last, but not least, recommendation from me is COMMITMENT. Without it, nothing will happen no matter how much you plan!

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Eight Healthy Reasons To Drink Beer

Eight healthy reasons to drink alcohol : heart health, stroke and hypertension and diabetes prevention, cognitive function boost, strong bone, staying a live (reduce mortality) and feeling healthier.

A decade's worth of health research shows that regular, moderate beer intake--one to two 12 ounce glasses per day for men and one for women--can be good for you, especially if you're facing some of the most common diseases related to aging.

A number of studies are showing that moderate consumption of alcohol, including beer, can have similar heart healthy effects, including making men 30 to 35% less likely to have a heart attack than those who abstain.

Alcohol in moderation raises high-density lipoprotein or HDL, known as good cholesterol. It also appears to have a favorable effect on the lining of blood vessels, making them less likely to form a clot or for a clot to rupture and plug an artery, and may help protect against Type 2 diabetes.

"People should realize that a little bit of alcohol on a regular basis decreases the risks of aging," says Ellison, who specializes in researching, among other things, the relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and chronic diseases.

And earlier this month researchers at the National Institutes of Health released a study showing that frequent drinking in moderation may protect men from death due to cardiovascular disease. Men who reported drinking 120 to 365 days a year had a 20% lower cardiovascular death rate than those who drank one to 36 days a year.

Beer may also give your brain a boost. Adults over age 65 who drank one to six alcoholic beverages over the course of the week turned out to have a lower risk of dementia than non-drinkers or heavier drinkers. Likewise, a 2006 report that appeared in an American Heart Association journal showed that a drink or two a day might be linked to better cognitive function in women.

Click on the title link for detail. Link to resons to drink beer: http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/14/beer-drink-health-forbeslife-cx_avd_0317health_slide_2.html?thisspeed=20000

Six Ways to Stop Memory Loss

I found this article useful for those using their brain lots, especially scholars. Our brains are like machines. They need care and break. One should know how to balance brain use: use it to sharpen your cognitive skill but don't use it too much.

With the wave of elder boomers looming, scientists are hard at work on ways to prevent dementia and ordinary mental decline. The research is beginning to bear fruit: it's clear that a healthy lifestyle and mental exercise can measurably improve cognitive functioning. Here are six brain-sharpening recommendations that mindful folks of any age can follow.

1. Go Aerobic: an impressive lineup of research suggests that exercise promotes new neurons in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for some aspects of memory. Neuroscientist Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois found that after only six months people over 60 who exercised three times a week for an hour had the brain volumes of people three years younger.
2. Be a Player: Software has been used for years to help people who have suffered strokes or traumatic brain injuries regain specific mental abilities. Healthy folks have their choice of a host of products, including one, Posit Science's Brain Fitness Program.
3. Fat Factor: Omega-3 fatty acids, which are plentiful in flaxseed, walnuts, wild salmon, cooked soybeans and halibut, among other foods, are not only mood-boosters but can improve concentration, according to work at the University of Siena in Italy.
4. Take Folic Acid: Research published last year in the British medical journal the Lancet found that adults ages 50 to 70 who took 800mg a day of folic acid for three years did much better on cognitive tests than a placebo group.
5. Bottoms Up: Among seniors with mild memory and cognitive problems, those who had one alcoholic drink a day, typically wine, had a slower progression of their dementia over a three-year period than the teetotalers.
6. Relax: Seniors with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their blood have a smaller hippocampus and do worse on memory tests, according to researchers at Douglas Hospital. Stress may also act as a trigger to poor memory in people with a gene associated with Alzheimer's. You can find the American Academy of Family Physicians' tips on managing stress here.