Women_Health_and_Fitness_Magazine_October_2016

PHOTOGRAPHY: THINKSTOCK

Quote IQ

The degree to which a person can

differentiate between profound-sounding

but meaningless quotes and cogent ones.

People who are impressed by vacuous quotes

tend to have lower IQs according to a study

published in journal Judgment and Decision

Making. “Our results support the idea that

some people are more receptive to this type

of bulls**t and that detecting it is not merely

a matter of indiscriminate skepticism but

rather a discernment of deceptive vagueness

in otherwise impressive-sounding claims,”

authors wrote. Suckers are also more

susceptible to conspiracy theories and likely

to favour alternative medicine.

JOY RIDE

Catching public transport is better for psychological health than

driving according to a study from the University of East Anglia.

“Buses or trains also give people time to relax, read, socialise,

and there is usually an associated walk to the bus stop or railway

station that appears to cheer people up,” said lead researcher

Adam Martin.

FEEL HAPPIER

Simply replacing abstract or vague

goals with definite, realistic ones

can make you happier according to

research from Stanford University.

USE IT:Create a column of your

current happiness criteria (i.e. what

you imagine needs to happen for

you to be happy). Beside any vague

or grandiose items, write a definite,

realistic alternative (say, raise $100 for

the McGrath Foundation rather than

help find a cure for cancer). Concrete

goals enable you to actually tick things

off your wish list, resulting in positive

feedback, whereas nebulous ones are,

by definition, unattainable.

HEAD IN THE

CLOUDS

Struggling to stay awake during the day? Skip

the Nescafe and spend a few minutes looking at

clouds. A German study found that exposure to even a

simulated LED sky reduced subjective tiredness within

a day compared with static artificial light. Make it

interesting by clueing up on key cloud types and seeing

which you can find with the Cloud Appreciation

Society’s CloudSpotter app. Bonus: It doubles

as mindfulness.

Free for iPhone, cloudspotterapp.com

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WORD

QUICK FIX

BE

first word