Why we love scary stories Here's a puzzler: why did a game where the aim is to create a virus so deadly it kills the global population before humans can develop a vaccine have the highest number of downloads this year? That's exactly what happened with Plague Inc, a game you
How to become more resilient These are trying times. The world is heaving under the pressure of seismic events: the end of a global pandemic, global warming, the deep, silent currents of the global economy and its ability to shock countries, communities and citizens, seemingly at random. No one is immune to these shifts. But
Uitwaaien - the Dutch answer to stress When I take my dog for a walk on a windy day, she goes bananas. And it's not the usual bananas. It's a very special type of bananas. A banana's bananas. While my dog is an idiot at the best of times, it turns
The quiet cost of living in noisy environments While we've all been on lockdown, things have been, well a lot quieter. There have been fewer cars on the roads, fewer people (except when you go to buy food), and we've been exposed to less noise. While that has led to many of us feeling,
How loneliness quietly affects your health Loneliness: the subject no one likes talking about, but everyone is aware of experiences in very private, and sometimes devastating ways. At the best of times, there are 1.2 million chronically lonely people in the UK, with 500,000 going five or six days without speaking to anyone. These
The places you go can change your personality In a bad mood? Go for a walk. We all know that changing location is good for us. In my freelance days I would tour five coffee shops across a normal working day to "keep things interesting" (read: I couldn't stand the guilt of nursing one
Sorry, boredom is really good for us I try anything to avoid being bored. My phone is the first port of call. If that doesn't suffice, I'll haphazardly try to reorganise what's on my desk. If that fails, I'll go annoy the dog. You get the picture. It'
How your inner child can help your adult anxiety If there's a word that most aptly sums up the age we live in, it'd probably be "anxiety". That word has become common parlance for those moments we feel overwhelmed, uncertain, and out of control. In the NHS Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, it said
The rise of the anxiety economy Everyone is really anxious right now. In the US, it's the most common mental health disorder, affecting 18.1 percent of Americans each year and nearly one-third of Americans over their lifetimes. In the UK, it's one in six people, according to the NHS Adult Psychiatric
Why do we keep seeing faces in everyday objects? Ever seen the Virgin Mary in a slice of toast? Probably not. But a few years ago, Diane Duyser from Chicago was so convinced she'd found a woman in a cheese toastie, a casino paid her $28,000 to buy the sandwich and display it for the world
Why we're all 'doomscrolling' Doomscrolling, one of those perfect words that explains itself without much thought. Yes, we're all doomscrolling these days. As the world looks worse by the day, people are endlessly scrolling through their smartphones confronting themselves with all that is wrong with the world. Aimless scrolling on smartphones is
Why we disagree with science when it jars with our worldview Humans are a funny bunch. We don't seem to agree on very much, especially when it comes to scientific research. Among us are people that think global warming is a hoax, that vaccines are dangerous, and that putting fluoride in water and genetically modified foods is a form
We all need a good cry every now and again How often do you have a ruddy good cry? For me, crying is like Christmas, it happens once a year and the build-up is always better than the aftermath. But, say psychologists, it should be a more regular part of our daily lives. It turns out our bodies three kinds
Can people change? Here's something to chew on over the weekend. Can we change who we are? Sure, we can change our hair colour, our jobs, where we live, our friends. These are all fairly easy things to do. But can we change how we are in the world, how we
The more time teens spend online, the more they change When I was a kid, I was told repeatedly, "TV rots your brain". More recently, that media rotting our brains idea has been redirected at the internet. We're all aware of the effects too much of anything will probably turn to a bad thing, but more
Nobody cares, and that's ok When was the last time you fretted and worried about someone noticing something about you? That stain on your top you picked up at breakfast? That thing you said to your friend over the weekend? That thing you didn't say to your friend over the weekend? The truth
Why we always cancel on our friends Now that lockdown is relaxing an eeny wheeny titsy bit, no doubt your calendar is popping off with invites for some top social gathering. But, before you start filling your diary, it's worth casting your minds back to the distant past, otherwise known as 2019. Back then, life
Your brain watches the people around you to help work out who you are Who you are, or rather, who you think you are, relies on who other people think you are. Here is a completely unscientific anecdote to demonstrate this. When I got to secondary school, a certain art teacher (who will remain nameless) took a disliking to me. Side note: the disliking
Why we might need to give up on our Plan B I love a Plan B. And a Plan C. And a Plan D. I am someone with an eternal number of alternate plans. But, says two business professors, this hedging of plans might have negative consequences. Jihae Shin of the University of Wisconsin and the University of Pennsylvania’s Katherine
We're more likely to help others when we don't think about it That's a weird idea, isn't it? That our charitable side comes out more often when we're less aware of it. But that's the thinking behind a paper in Psychological Science. In it, David G. Rand, an associate professor of psychology, management, and
Why does socialising feel so damn exhausting? Are you finding the thought of meeting up with friends, family, and acquaintances a daunting experience? Or have you already done so and now you're calling for a return of lockdown so you can recover from the bombardment of social gatherings? You're not alone. One of
Sharing your dreams can improve your relationships When was the last time you told someone about a dream you had? For me it was last week, and it involved being chased by a giant gut down the street and me not being able to get away from it. I concede this is also very similar to a
A better mood takes 12 minutes How do you make yourself feel better? You might exercise, you might eat, you might eat while exercising. Or like me, you'll spend hours window shopping online for things you'll never actually buy but it's nice to feel like you could. But researchers at
People pleasing is bad for your health Have you ever been bumped into and said sorry for the other person? Or started a conversation with a stranger by saying, 'sorry'? While you may have chalked it up as being exceedingly polite - or exceedingly British - relentless people-pleasing can be bad for your health. One
Show some love for your loose friends No, not that type of loose friend, we're talking about those people we know and spend time with that we wouldn't immediately call friends. These 'weak-tie' friendships play a surprisingly large role in helping our moods and mental health, say researchers. A 2016 study
