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Reading for pleasure in early childhood can help youngsters perform better at school and boost their mental health as they enter teenage years, a study suggests. The study of more than 10,000 children found that those who started reading for fun at a young age performed better at cognitive tests and showed improved “brain structure” in adolescence. For “optimal” results, children should be reading for 12 hours every week, academics from the universities of Cambridge and Warwick in the UK, and Fudan University in China, found. Their study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, analysed data on the children, all from the US, including interviews, cognitive tests, mental and behavioural assessments and brain scans. We encourage parents to do their best to awaken the joy of reading in their children at an early age Professor Jianfeng Feng They then compared information on children who began reading for pleasure before they turned nine against those who started later, or not at all. Of the 10,243 participants studied, just under a half (48%) had little experience of reading for pleasure or did not begin doing so until later in their childhood. The other half had between three and 10 years’ reading for pleasure. Those who started reading for pleasure at a young age were found to perform better on cognitive tests, which measured verbal learning, memory and speech development, and school academic achievement, when they were teenagers. These children also had better mental wellbeing, showing fewer signs of stress and depression, as well as improved attention and fewer behavioural problems such as aggression and rule-breaking. They also tended to use screens less and slept longer. Academics also analysed brain scans of teenagers and found that those who started reading for pleasure at a young age showed moderately larger total brain areas and volumes, and also showed differences in brain regions previously shown to relate to improved mental health, behaviour and attention. “Reading isn’t just a pleasurable experience – it’s widely accepted that it inspires thinking and creativity, increases empathy and reduces stress,” said Professor Barbara Sahakian from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. “But on top of this, we found significant evidence that it’s linked to important developmental factors in children, improving their cognition, mental health, and brain structure, which are cornerstones for future learning and well-being.” Professor Jianfeng Feng from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and the University of Warwick, added: “We encourage parents to do their best to awaken the joy of reading in their children at an early age. “Done right, this will not only give them pleasure and enjoyment, but will also help their development and encourage long-term reading habits, which may also prove beneficial into adult life.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Stan Wawrinka on setbacks, preparing for Wimbledon and friendship with Roger Federer Hacks for saving money on school uniforms King Charles and Queen Camilla surprise spa guests in bathrobes at eco-village

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Jeremy Pang doesn’t have a classic chef origin story: he “hated” food as a child. Before he turned 10, the chef, teacher and owner of the School of Wok in London admits: “I hated eating – I honestly did not like food. “Up to the age of, like, nine, it would take my mum two, three hours to get my dinner down me. I just didn’t want to eat – I wanted to go out and play football with my mates. I wanted to go and do stuff and play – I also wanted to eat fish fingers and all the stuff my friends were eating at home.” Pang grew up in a Chinese household and is a third-generation chef. When he was 10 years old, his family moved from the UK to Singapore for two years. Now aged 39 and based in southwest London, Pang says upon making the move, his “life completely changed”. He says: “When you go into hawker centres [open-air food markets] in Singapore, it’s a different world. Every single stall is a specialist in one type of food – not even cuisine. So you might have one uncle who has cooked chicken rice for his whole life, or another person who has cooked Hokkien Mee [a stir-fried noodle dish] for 40 years. “When people are as specialist as that, you cannot not want to eat it. And you see everyone digging into their food with no real etiquette – but the etiquette is the enjoyment of that bowl of food.” From there, Pang says Singapore “opened mine and my sister’s horizons” and he fell in love with food. With Singapore’s proximity to other Southeast Asian countries, he was exposed to a variety of cuisines – from Indonesian to Malaysian – many of which are taught at the School of Wok, along with the Chinese food Pang grew up with. With two kids of his own, aged six and two, Pang says: “I now feel so sorry for my mum.” Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the chef says of his oldest: “It was really difficult to get him to enjoy anything that wasn’t raw carrot or cucumber – which actually is healthy at least, but every day? That’s hard.” The pandemic shifted his son’s eating habits. Pang took a couple of months off and “cooked with him – we started making homemade pizzas, flapjacks – anything he wanted to make. He definitely at that point thought he had more of a Western palate, but I’ve known since he was really young and started eating that he does love Chinese food. “He likes the slightly lighter palate, and home-cooked Chinese food can be quite light – steamed fish, flash-fried vegetables, things like that.” One constant from Pang’s childhood to his family life now is the concept of feasting – serving multiple dishes for one meal. “This is how Asian cuisine is eaten, and should be eaten,” he says simply. “My style of cooking is 100 per cent home cooking anyway, and I’ve grown up with it. If you are Asian, that’s just a way of life. But if you’re not, it’s hard to compute how to get four or five dishes on the table, all hot or in the right state at the right time.” He continues: “Even if when we’re doing midweek meals at home, if I’m cooking Chinese or Southeast Asian just for the four of us, I’ll quite often cook two or three dishes. Those two or three dishes are there to be shared – that absolutely is our way of cooking and eating.” Pang’s latest book, Simple Family Feasts, is all about demystifying this concept for home cooks who haven’t grown up with it. Each chapter is dedicated to a different cuisine – including Chinese, Vietnamese, Singaporean and Indonesian – and shows you how to build a feast, guiding you through which dishes to make and in what order. Balance is crucial to pulling off a feast. “If, for example, you just ate crispy, deep-fried stuff – which is terribly bad for you, but we all love it – yes, you want to eat lots of it at the beginning. But five minutes later, you might get lost in that deep fried, crispy, greasy world, and so you’re likely to stop eating it at some point quite quickly. “But if you had something crispy, you have something opposite that melts in the mouth, you had something soft with a gentle bite, you had crunchy – usually from fresh vegetables or flash-fried vegetables, salads, anything like that – and you had a perfect balance of those textures. Honestly, I think you could just keep eating.” Growing up with this style of cooking must make Pang a brilliant multitasker – something he says is “a great skill to have”, but “sometimes it’s my worst enemy”. “I’m constantly multitasking – I get to the end of the day and I don’t know what’s happened, I sometimes can’t tell you what I’ve done in a day. I might have done a million different things… So in some ways, I’m very good at multitasking – but when I get home, my wife probably wouldn’t agree with that.” Like all of Pang’s cookbooks, this is an “ode to my father”, who passed away in 2009. “He’s the one who instilled that love of cooking and cuisine – especially Asian food. He never really taught me how to cook, he just said, ‘Stand and watch’, or, ‘Taste this and tell me what’s in it’. That was his style of teaching.” ‘Jeremy Pang’s School Of Wok: Simple Family Feasts’ (published by Hamlyn; £22). Read More Marina O’Loughlin is wrong – there’s joy in solo dining Budget Bites: Three recipes to keep food bills down before pay day Meal plan: Romesco chicken and other recipes to fall in love with Who knew a simple flan could be so well-travelled? Midweek comfort food: Singaporean curry sauce and rice How to make Thai favourite lemongrass chicken stir-fry

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Everyone has a theory about their dreams and the science or meaning behind them. And when the weather hots up, the more bizarre they tend to get. “Dreams are a fascinating and enigmatic phenomenon that occur during sleep, encompassing a vast realm of imaginative experiences,” says sleep expert and CEO of MattressNextDay, Martin Seeley. “They are a collection of thoughts, images, sensations, and emotions that unfold within the theatre of our minds.” Why do we dream? When we sleep, our brain enters a complex state where it engages in various cognitive processes, explains Seeley, including memory consolidation, problem-solving and emotional regulation. “Dreams are thought to emerge from these processes, weaving together fragments of memories, desires, fears, and subconscious thoughts into a narrative or non-linear sequence,” adds Seeley. “And they can be surreal, vivid, or mundane, blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy.” While the precise purpose and meaning of dreams remains a subject of exploration and debate, Seeley says they can serve as a portal into the inner workings of our minds: “Providing a canvas for exploration, processing of emotions, and glimpses into the subconscious depths of our psyche.” Why do we dream more when it’s hot? Lisa Artis, deputy CEO of The Sleep Charity, says: “When the weather is hot, it can disrupt our sleeping patterns, making it difficult to fall asleep in the first place – and causes us to wake more often during the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep phase.” REM sleep is where we experience intense dreaming, explains Artis – so waking during or at the end of this cycle can mean we are more likely to remember our dreams. “Dreams happen regularly, but are often forgotten and our mind’s way of unpacking the day’s events, dealing with stress and sorting through our day-to-day thoughts,” notes Artis. Our body heat generally peaks in the afternoon then starts to drop over an evening to prepare us for sleep, says Artis. Melatonin, the sleep hormone, is produced when this happens.“An ideal temperature is around 16-18°C and anything around the 24°C mark can cause restlessness,” says Artis. “So, it’s no surprise that when we’re experiencing a heatwave with temperatures reaching over 30°C, it affects our sleep.”Can a heatwave really make dreams more surreal? The connection between heatwaves and the content or nature of dreams is not fully understood. However, there may be a few possible explanations if your dreams seem weirder when the weather heats up – although Seeley points out these are all speculative. First off, he agrees it may have a lot to do with the fact we’re less comfortable and waking more when it’s hot. “These frequent awakenings can interrupt the normal sleep cycle and result in a higher probability of remembering dreams, including the more unusual or vivid ones,” he notes. “So, during a heatwave, the increased frequency of waking up during the night might contribute to a greater recall of strange or funky dreams.” Secondly, the body’s physiological response to heat may influence brain activity, he adds: “Heat can affect neurotransmitter levels, such as serotonin and dopamine, which play a role in regulating mood and emotions. These alterations in neurotransmitter activity might impact the content and emotional tone of dreams, potentially leading to more surreal or bizarre experiences.” Psychological factors could also play a role. Heatwaves can cause restlessness and increased stress levels in some individuals. Seeley adds: “Stress and emotional fluctuations can manifest in dreams as strange or unusual scenarios, as the mind processes and attempts to make sense of these experiences.” Can we stop strange heatwave dreams happening? While it’s probably not possible to completely control the content of our dreams, there are certain strategies you can try to promote better sleep – and potentially reduce the likelihood of experiencing a restless night and unusual dreams during hot weather. Create a cool sleep environment: “Use fans, air conditioning, or open windows to circulate cool air in your bedroom – and consider using lightweight, breathable bedding materials,” says Seeley. Stay hydrated: “Drink enough water throughout the day to prevent dehydration, especially during hot weather,” he continues. “Being adequately hydrated can help maintain a balanced sleep cycle.” Practice relaxation techniques: “Engage in activities that promote relaxation before bed, such as deep breathing exercises, meditation, or taking a warm bath,” suggests Seeley. “These practices can help calm your mind and promote a more restful sleep.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live What are the royals doing to mark the anniversary of the Queen’s death All the times Kate has channelled the late Queen’s style since her death YouTube begins verifying videos by UK doctors to tackle health misinformation

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