Watching the World

“People who don’t smoke, are physically active, drink alcohol in moderation, and eat at least five servings of fruits or vegetables a day live 14 years longer, on average, than those with none of these attributes.” The conclusion is based on an 11-year study of 20,000 people.​—UC BERKELEY WELLNESS LETTER, U.S.A.

“Reading is the best way to relax. . . . Even six minutes is enough to cut stress by more than two-thirds.”​—INDIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL, INDIA.

Abandoned “Toys”

“The bad economy is creating a flotilla of forsaken boats,” says The New York Times of the situation in the United States. Owners are sandpapering the names off their boats, removing registry numbers, and then abandoning their vessels or sinking them, sometimes with a view to making claims on their insurance. What is behind this? “Some . . . are in the same bind as overstretched homeowners: they face steep payments on an asset that is diminishing in value and decide not to continue,” notes the Times, which calls the boats “expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal.” The newspaper explains: “The owners cannot sell them, because the secondhand market is overwhelmed. They cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars a month mooring and maintaining them. And they do not have the thousands of dollars required to properly dispose of them.”

Preschoolers’ Body Image

Children as young as four are “attempting to alter their appearance to conform to the body ideal endorsed by society,” reports Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph. A study of preschoolers’ eating and exercise habits found that both boys and girls were concerned about their body size​—girls about losing weight and boys about building muscles. “Children seemed to be reflecting the body focus of their mothers [who] were generally dissatisfied with their own bodies,” stated the authors of the study.

Children Shopping Online

“A fifth of children [in the United Kingdom] are shopping online without parental permission and half of those who make a purchase are using their parents’ credit cards,” reports The Daily Telegraph of London. Many children know the sites and passwords their parents use for online shopping​—which may also give them easy access to their parents’ credit card number. Few parents think their children could shop online without their consent. There is “an alarming difference” between what parents think their children know and what their children actually do know, notes the report. Among other things, this behavior exposes parents to the risk of fraud. Advice to parents who shop on the Internet is: “Avoid storing credit or debit card details online,” use only reputable Web sites, and “log out of sites when finished.”