Learning! Roundup: It's Cool (or at least healthy) to Be Kind to Yourself! (And More!)

Photo by Olia Nayda.

It's Cool To Be Kind (To Yourself)

Guys! Our counsellors were right all along! People who are more compassionate and kind towards themselves rate higher for health-promoting behaviours. Meanwhile, no connection to healthy activities for folks who overly criticize themselves and treat exercise as a punishment for letting themselves have one moment of happiness. (For example.)

Okay, okay, it's a correlation, so all we know right now is that there is a relationship between self-compassion and healthy behaviours. But I am still getting excited about it.

Trusting the Gut

During medical emergencies (like, oh, I don't know, a global pandemic), people are more likely to listen to information that includes personal experience than simple facts, even when they contradict each other. When in doubt, it seems, we will follow the anecdotes first.

The Advantage of Being Well-Liked

Turns our Willy Loman was right, being well-liked matters. (That's a Death of a Salesman reference, for the non-theatre-nerds among us.) A new study shows that kids who are popular are less susceptible to illness than those who are less popular, even though they come into contact with more children (and should be exposed to more germs).

The "Aha!" Drug

For some folks, getting a creative breakthrough or insight (that aha! moment when it all comes together) activates the same reward centre in the brain as delicious food, drugs, and sex. Makes sense, then, that some of us go on to get addicted to MAKING THINGS.

Haters Gonna Hate

We tend to think that online trolls are simply small people who are unhappy with their own lives and taking it out on others. A new study, however, shows that a better predictor of hateful behaviour online is psychopathy. So that's fun?

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The Receptionist Delivers!
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