Did We Really Need Studies For This?

Psychologists at the University of Rochester evaluated surveys from 147 recent graduates. The researchers noted the graduates’ achievements and their level of happiness over a 2-year period. The graduates’ goals were divided into 2 types. Extrinsic goals were things like wealth, fame and personal image. Intrinsic goals were things like meaningful relationships, health and personal growth. Statistical analysis of the graduates’ surveys revealed that accomplishing intrinsic goals caused higher self-esteem and a greater sense of well-being. Accomplishing extrinsic goals caused anxiety and unhappiness. In 2009 maybe we should think of the recession as teaching us intrinsic goals. West Virginia University did an 8-week study on handling stress at work. Half of the 104 participants were given written instructions how to handle stress. The other half was taught techniques to cultivate mindfulness – to pay full attention to what you’re doing moment by moment. The techniques taught were deep breathing, stretching, yoga and meditation. After the study those who had the mindfulness training had lower blood pressure, as well as significantly less daily hassles, psychological distress, aches and pains. Mindfulness is a technique we all should learn – but first we have to learn to unfill our minds. A study published in the journal “BMC Family Practice” found that most people don’t know where specific organs are located in the human body or what they look like. Researchers surveyed 722 Britons – 589 hospital outpatients and 133 people in the general public. The volunteers were given 4 pictures of human figures and asked which correctly showed the size and location of a particular organ. Only 46.5% knew which picture correctly identified the heart, 42.5% knew which identified the kidneys, 38.4% knew which identified the stomach, 31.4% knew which identified the lungs and 30.8% knew which identified the pancreas. Obviously, the overall picture of human anatomy isn’t healthy. According to the director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program at Emory University School of Medicine, flying is one of the safer things we do probability-wise. The lifetime odds of dying in an air-travel accident are 1-in-20,000 compared with 1-in-100 in a car accident or 1-in-5 from heart disease. About 25 million people in the U.S. suffer from some sort of flying fear. About half of those are afraid of crashing. The other half are claustrophobics. Eight weekly sessions of virtual reality therapy supposedly can cure the fear of flying – which sounds better than winging it.