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New research has found that fruit and vegetable consumption and exercise can increase levels of happiness. While the link between lifestyle and wellbeing has been previously documented and often used in public health campaigns to encourage healthier diets and exercise, new findings published by the Journal of Happiness Studies show that there is also a positive causation from lifestyle to life satisfaction. This research is the first of its kind to unravel the causation of how happiness, the consumption of fruit and vegetables and exercising are related, rather than generalizing a correlation. The researchers used an instrumental variable approach to...

Most Tuesdays, I run early in the morning with a woman named Meredith. For such close friends, we’re quite different. Meredith is a voluble social worker who draws energy from crowds. I’m an introverted editor who works from home. Meredith runs her best in large races and loves training with big groups. I’ve set PRs in solo time trials and tend to bail when a run’s head count gets above five. Meredith is a worrier, beset by regrets and anticipated outcomes, who has sought treatment for anxiety. I have dysthymia, or chronic low-grade depression. We like to joke that Meredith...

If you’re cruising along on a runner’s high while your partner has yet to feel that sweet euphoria, is that a nod toward your superior running ability? Sorry, no. The more likely reason could simply be in your genes, according to a recent study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Researchers looked at 25 collegiate runners, both male and female, and tested their saliva before and after a long-distance run. They also asked them about whether or not they experienced a runner’s high, which they gauged based on four criteria: mood, lost sense of time, run quality,...

There are a lot of things that make Desiree Linden’s victory at the 2018 Boston Marathon a race story for the ages. There’s the headline you’ve been seeing everywhere: She’s the first American woman to win the race in over three decades! And if you saw even a single picture taken on Marathon Monday, you know that she ran in some of the worst weather in the race’s history. (In case you didn’t, here are 15 pictures that captured the 2018 Boston Marathon.)Then, there’s the comeback component: Linden was two seconds away from victory at the 2011 Boston Marathon, and...

Russian scientists claim a beating on the buttocks with a strong cane is the perfect way to cure everything from depression to alcoholism by releasing the body's natural "happy chemicals" known as endorphins. Endorphins are produced in the brain in response to high levels of stress and pain that lead to feelings of euphoria, reduction of appetite, the release of sex hormones and enhancement of the immune response. They have a similar effect on pain to drugs such as morphine and codeine, but do not lead to dependence. The scientists, headed by biologist Sergei Speransky, claim corporal punishment not only...

Russian scientists claim a beating on the naked buttocks with a cane is the perfect way to cure everything from depression to alcoholism. Researchers at Novosibirsk say caning releases endorphins, the body’s natural ‘happy chemicals’, Izvestia reports. Endorphins lead to feelings of euphoria, a reduction of appetite, the release of sex hormones and an enhancement of the immune response. They also have a similar effect on pain to drugs such as morphine and codeine, but do not lead to addiction or dependence. The scientists, headed by Biologist Dr Sergei Speransky, claim corporal punishment similar to that doled out regularly in...

My Time No sun hat e'er shone So clear through the night No moonbeam e'er glown So true with delight The more I look The more I see When something new Occurs to me No winds hath e'er blown With no change in sight No mind's-eye e'er known Such meaningful flight The more I dream The more I sleep Where space and time Are mine to keep

As a source of renewable energy, consider the homeless person, addicted to drugs or alcohol, pedaling out toxins on an exercise machine attached to a generator. Dr. Sam Slishman has. The emergency room physician was standing under the Eiffel Tower a few years ago, annoyed with the trinket sellers. What a waste, he thought. "Every city has their trinket sellers. These trinkets don't contribute anything," he said. "I'd rather pay them to sit on an exerciser and generate electricity." The idea stuck with him and became part of Endorphin Power Co., his solution for several social issues at once: It...