Psychology
You stub your toe on the bedpost. Before your brain even registers the pain, a word explodes from your mouth – sharp, loud and oddly satisfying.
Far from being a simple slip in manners, swearing is a reflex rooted deep in the structure of the human body, drawing on networks in the brain and autonomic nervous system that evolved to help us survive pain and shock.
Research shows that a well-placed expletive can dull pain, regulate the heart and help the body recover from stress. The occasional outburst, it seems, isn’t a moral failure – it’s a protective reflex wired into us.
The impulse to…
Between 23 and 30 April 2020, one month after the lockdown was introduced in the United Kingdom, 17,452 people responded to the online survey out of a total study population of 42,330 used the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, which is a validated tool for measuring levels of mental distress, and a new paper details the non-immunological effects of government lockdown.
The study reveals that some mental health inequalities that were present before the pandemic have widened. The increase in mental distress was greater among women than men (women: average adjusted increase of 0.92/36, men:…
Imagine you’re sitting at an important job interview. You’re suitably dressed and have taken the time to do your hair and apply some makeup. You’re smiling, answering questions, and attempting to appear competent, and, obviously, hireable. The panel, made up of men and women, aren’t giving anything away. What do you think might be influencing their perceptions of you?
Though there is the old adage that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, makeup is one way in which they may be judging you. It’s not just about whether someone simply likes or dislikes your makeup – it can be change the…