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Scientists have found that visiting friends and family at least once a month can help you live longer. According to a recent study published by the University of Glasgow in BioMed Central Medicine, researchers discovered that there was a correlation between how often a person was visited by their family and friends with their life expectancy. Those who were never visited by their family reportedly had a higher risk of dying. Amid the ongoing loneliness epidemic, social isolation has previously been linked by researchers to a shorter life expectancy. This latest study sought to understand the effect that different types of social interaction have on our quality of life, with visits from friends and family, participating in a weekly group activity, and not living alone reportedly making the biggest difference among a group of 458,146 participants in the United Kingdom. Participants were between the ages of 37 and 73, with the average age being 56 years old, and data was collected between 2006 and 2010. Researchers asked the participants questions about the five different forms of social interaction: how often they were able to confide in someone close to them, how often they felt lonely, how often friends and family visited, how often they participated in a weekly group activity, and whether or not they lived alone. “We also tried to take into account lots of other factors that could explain the findings — like how old people were, their gender, their socioeconomic status, whether they were a smoker and more,” Dr Hamish Foster, a clinical research fellow at the University of Glasgow and the lead study author, explained to Insider. “And even after removing those factors from the equation it still showed that these social connections were important for risk of death.” Depending on when the participants were recruited, researchers would revisit the questions with the participants an estimated 12.6 years later to follow up. They reportedly found that, within those years, 33,135 or 7.2 per cent of participants died, with 5112 or 1.1 per cent passing from cardiovascular-related deaths. Strikingly, the study also found that “regardless of weekly group activity or functional components,” those who never had friends or family visit while also living alone were 77 per cent more likely to have a higher risk of death. However, Dr Foster cautions that the study is unable to take into account both the complexity and the quality of human social interactions. “Humans are really complicated and so are our connections and our measures in this study are pretty crude compared with what humans are capable of, but this study is still very detailed and is starting to drill down into how different types of connection are important,” Foster said to the outlet. He added that the study cannot prove that less socialisation causes death, but it does prove that loneliness and isolation can lead to not only poorer mental health but also poorer physical health. “We need to see more society-level interventions and support that make social connections easier, more likely, and of higher quality,” Foster added. “For example, community centers, parks, places, and activities that make it easy for people to meet and connect for high-quality relationships.” Dr Foster and his team of researchers aren’t the first to connect the dots between longer life spans and active social lives, with Netflix recently shining the spotlight on the famed blue zones - places with notably high populations of centenarians - in the docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue. Within blue zones like Ikaria, Greece, or Okinawa, Japan, social interaction is prioritised within the community rather than being left on the backburner in favour of economic or individualistic pursuits. As the digital age and the pandemic have brought on an increase in social isolation, Dr Foster stressed that it’s important for young people to nurture their social lives and participate in their communities. Read More Blake Shelton opens up about parenting style with Gwen Stefani To shave or not to shave: How women can participate in No-Shave November Game of Thrones actor announces ‘unbearable loss’ of baby after stillbirth

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If you’re anything like us, the first coffee of the day is the only thing that can get us up on a morning – and it turns out, there’s real science behind it. Everyone knows that coffee can give us a welcome caffeine hit, but it’s now been revealed that the drink also gives us an extra ‘special boost’ too. Scientists have claimed that the act of drinking a cup of joe gives the body a lift, making us more alert, which can’t be replicated merely with caffeine. In fact, new research shows that drinking hot coffee activates additional areas of the brain. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Scientists from the University of Minho in Portugal and elsewhere looked into the effects of coffee outside of just caffeine content as part of a study – and they found that plain caffeine didn’t have the same impact. In fact, a cup of coffee also influenced working memory and goal-directed behaviour. “There is a common expectation that coffee increases alertness and psychomotor functioning. When you get to understand better the mechanisms underlying a biological phenomenon, you open pathways for exploring the factors that may modulate it and even the potential benefits of that mechanism,” study co-author Nuno Sousa explained. Experts said that drinking coffee actually increased the connectivity in the brain’s more advanced nerve network controlling vision, and other parts involved in working memory, cognitive control and goal-directed behaviour – something not found when participants only took caffeine. Researchers also said that if subjects wanted to not just feel alert but ready to go, caffeine alone might not do the job. “Acute coffee consumption decreased the functional connectivity between brain regions of the default mode network, a network that is associated with self-referential processes when participants are at rest,” study co-author Maria Picó-Pérez said. “The subjects were more ready for action and alert to external stimuli after having coffee,” she added. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Bode Miller has revealed that his three-year-old son, Asher, was hospitalised for carbon monoxide poisoning. The US Olympic alpine skier - who shares sons Nash, eight, Easton, four, twin sons Asher and Askiel, three, and daughter Scarlet Olivia, 19 months, with wife Morgan Miller - shared in a since-deleted Instagram post on 27 July that the incident came after a construction crane was parked in the driveway of their home. “Earlier this week we had a crane parked in our driveway for a few hours. Despite keeping the kids inside for obvious safety reasons, the little ones got really sick from it,” he captioned the deleted post, according to People. “Asher ended up in the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning,” Miller said. “All are well now, but passing along as a reminder to all parents of the dangers of carbon monoxide. Reminder to go test your CO detectors.” While Miller’s post has since been deleted, his wife Morgan shared her own Instagram post about the incident on 28 July. “Receiving a lot of messages so addressing it here,” she captioned her video, which showed her three youngest children wearing oxygen masks in the hospital. “Two weeks ago, we had a crane at our house to remove our broken hot tub. Asher, Aksel and Scarlet innocently stood on the front step of our house to watch the action which resulted in them getting carbon monoxide poisoning due to the lack of airflow in our driveway landing them in the ER,” Morgan revealed. “They were on high flow oxygen for over four hours. It was a terrifying experience but thanking my lucky stars they are okay.” When asked by an Instagram follower how she recognised the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, Morgan explained that Asher “was complaining of an upset stomach” and he appeared as “white as a ghost”. Asher then began to pass out, which prompted her to rush the toddler to the emergency room. While his tests came back normal, Morgan instructed her nanny to check if her other children were having any symptoms of poisoning. The nanny informed her that Aksel started to have the same symptoms as his twin brother. “I notified the nurse and she said if there’s ever more than one with the same symptoms then they check for carbon monoxide poisoning and sure enough that’s what it was,” Morgan said. “They had us clear the house and bring everyone down to get tested and they sent the fire department up to check our home.” In a separate comment, the professional beach volleyball player revealed that the family has carbon monoxide detectors in their house, but none of them went off. Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when too much carbon monoxide is in the air, causing the body to replace oxygen in red blood cells with carbon monoxide. According to the Mayo Clinic, some of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache, weakness, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, shortness of breath, blurred vision, drowsiness, loss of muscle control and loss of consciousness. The recent health scare comes after their son Asher was rushed to the hospital following a febrile seizure in December – a convulsion in a child that’s caused by a fever. “Yesterday, Asher had a febrile seizure which scared us half to death. We took that same ambulance to the same hospital we took Emmy to but this time we got to leave with our child,” Morgan wrote in an Instagram Story at the time, alongside a photo of her husband lying down on a hospital bed with Asher asleep on his chest. Their daughter, Emmy, died in an accidental drowning incident in 2018 when she was 19 months old. In a separate Story, Morgan also shared a picture of the pro skier cuddling with his twin sons on the couch after they had brought Asher home from the hospital. “He’s home and back to his normal self,” she said. “I am reminded to slow down and realise life’s little gifts during this crazy holiday season because we already have everything we need… our loved ones, our health, and more time”. “Because time with the ones we love is all we could ever ask for,” she wrote over the final photo, which showed Miller looking affectionately at his three-year-old son. He is also father to daughter Dace, 14, and son Nate, 10, from previous relationships. In June 2018, their daughter Emeline died in a drowning accident at 19 months old. The child was found unconscious at a neighbour’s swimming pool in southern California. Miller, who has won six Olympic medals in alpine ski racing, shared at the time that he and his family were “beyond devastated”. “We are beyond devastated. Our baby girl, Emmy, passed away yesterday. Never in a million years did we think we would experience a pain like this,” he shared in an Instagram post, which featured a picture of his daughter. “Her love, her light, her spirit will never be forgotten. Our little girl loved life and lived it to its fullest every day. Our family respectfully requests privacy during this painful time.” Read More Bode Miller reveals three-year-old son was hospitalised after seizure Olympic gold medal-winning skier Bode Miller's 19-month-old daughter drowns in swimming pool Bode and Morgan Miller urge other parents to remain vigilant at pools after their daughter drowned The two best exercises for lowering blood pressure, according to study Experts reveal the most unhygienic things in your kitchen – and how to get them clean Hepatitis B and C could cause ‘significantly higher cancer risk’ than smoking daily pack of cigarettes

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