People who constantly complain are harmful to your health
Moans, groans, and gripes release stress hormones in the brain.
Could you give up complaining for a whole month? That's the crux of this interesting piece by Jessica Hullinger over at Fast Company. Hullinger explores the reasons why humans are so predisposed to griping and why, despite these predispositions, we should all try to complain less. As for no complaining for a month, that was the goal for people enrolled in the Complaint Restraint project.
Participants sought to go the entirety of February without so much as a moan, groan, or bellyache.
The most obvious reason for striving to complain less is that griping is bad for you: "When we complain, our brains release stress hormones that harm neural connections in areas used for problem solving and other cognitive functions. This also happens when we listen to someone else moan and groan."
Hullinger quotes Jon Gordon, author of the 2008 book The No Complaining Rule, as saying the harms of complaining are comparable to secondhand smoke. Being a Negative Nancy in the office is not unlike chain smoking at your desk. For Gordon, both are unacceptable. He doesn't want the other members of his office to have to breathe in the offensive fumes of an employee's gripes.
At the end of Hullinger's piece are several tips for moving away from constant complaining and rethinking the impulses that lead to such discontent. The best advice is to separate yourself from chronic complainers who can only make themselves happy by bringing down other people with their dissatisfaction.
Read more at Fast Company.
'Upstreamism': Your zip code affects your health as much as genetics
Upstreamism advocate Rishi Manchanda calls us to understand health not as a "personal responsibility" but a "common good."
- Upstreamism tasks health care professionals to combat unhealthy social and cultural influences that exist outside — or upstream — of medical facilities.
- Patients from low-income neighborhoods are most at risk of negative health impacts.
- Thankfully, health care professionals are not alone. Upstreamism is increasingly part of our cultural consciousness.
Supreme Court to hear 3 cases on LGBT workplace discrimination
In most states, LGBTQ Americans have no legal protections against discrimination in the workplace.
- The Supreme Court will decide whether the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also applies to gay and transgender people.
- The court, which currently has a probable conservative majority, will likely decide on the cases in 2020.
- Only 21 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws effectively extending the Civil Rights of 1964 to gay and transgender people.
Scientists discover how to trap mysterious dark matter
A new method promises to capture an elusive dark world particle.
- Scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) devised a method for trapping dark matter particles.
- Dark matter is estimated to take up 26.8% of all matter in the Universe.
- The researchers will be able to try their approach in 2021, when the LHC goes back online.
Afghanistan is the most depressed country on Earth
No, depression is not just a type of "affluenza" — poor people in conflict zones are more likely candidates
- Often seen as typical of rich societies, depression is actually more prevalent in poor, conflict-ridden countries
- More than one in five Afghans is clinically depressed – a sad world record
- But are North Koreans really the world's 'fourth least depressed' people?
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