Health, Fitness and Style

During the holidays, many in the press write stories aiming to help readers cope with the blues and other seasonal conditions. But some journalists inadvertently support a myth about the holidays and suicide, or quote well-intentioned sources who should know better. Despite the fact that the holiday season has some of the lowest average daily suicide rates, some journalists continue to perpetuate the holiday-suicide myth. In the 2017-18 holiday season, two-thirds of the print news and feature stories that mentioned both the holidays and suicide drew a false connection between them, according to the latest analysis by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.    more »

“While alerts in the entertainment sector are numerous (e.g. Clark Griswold illustrating risks such as burning down the Christmas tree, falling from the roof while installing Christmas lighting and being attacked by a squirrel hidden in the Christmas tree), serious health warnings are often ignored due to the preponderance of Christmas spirit.” Researchers also found that 277 children were hurt during interactions with a Santa impersonator — for example, by falling off his lap or falling while running away in fear. more »

Preventing veteran suicide is one of the Department of Veterans Affairs' highest priorities. VA reports that an average of 20 veterans die by suicide each day. Since 2010, VA has conducted national outreach to raise awareness about suicide prevention resources for veterans. However, we found that VA's outreach activities dropped off in 2017 and 2018, and the office responsible for these activities lacked consistent leadership. We also found that VA did not have clear goals for evaluating the effectiveness of its outreach activities. more »

Overall, the findings, just published in the journal Emotion, showed an increase in such positive behaviors as humor and affection and a decrease in negative behaviors such as defensiveness and criticism. The results challenge long-held theories that emotions flatten or deteriorate in old age and point instead to an emotionally positive trajectory for long-term married couples. “Given the links between positive emotion and health, these findings underscore the importance of intimate relationships as people age, and the potential health benefits associated with marriage.” more »