Life Style

    The most uncomfortable question in every relationship: what's your number? As in, how many people have you slept with? To find out the average number of sexual partners a person has had as well as the feelings surrounding the subject, a recent study surveyed over 2,000 people in the US and Europe. Turns out, the average American has had 7.2 partners while the average European has had 6.2. On top of the median counts, America's highs and lows ranged at much more drastic extremes, from 2.6 (Utah) to 15.7 (Louisiana), vs. Europe's 5.4 (Italy) to 7.0 (UK). The survey also asked the participants at what number they considered someone to be too promiscuous. Women answered 15.2 while men said 14; both, however, closely agreed on the ideal number of partners for someone to have in...

    There are a number of common signs of depression that often go unnoticed. On many occasions we fail to recognise the warning signs in our own lives, and it takes a friend or family member to reach out to point them out. Weight loss, loss of appetite, loss of sex drive, wavering concentration and difficulty enjoying things: these are all fairly well-known symptoms that can be linked to depression. But there’s one symptom that hasn’t had quite as much attention, and it’s called hindsight bias. Depressed people are more likely to project their cloudy outlook onto the past, rather than glorify the good old days, like we're more likely to do. New research from Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf and University of Portsmouth tested more than 100 students with mild to severe de...

    If you do want to play chicken with infections, viruses and diseases, add an egg or two to your diet daily. Just one large egg contains almost a quarter (22%) of your RDA of selenium, a nutrient that helps support your immune system and regulate thyroid hormones. Kids should eat eggs, especially. If children and adolescents don’t get enough selenium, they could develop Keshan disease and Kashin-Beck disease, two conditions that can affect the heart, bones and joints. 1. You’ll boost your immune system If you don’t want to play chicken with infections, viruses and diseases, add an egg or two to your diet daily. Just one large egg contains almost a quarter (22%) of your RDA of selenium, a nutrient that helps support your immune system and regulate thyroid hormones....

    Successfully and painlessly getting from one part of the world to another can be difficult. Between booking the right flights, planning and packing for all contingencies, and ensuring your travels are as stress-free as possible, a lot of things can go wrong along the way. Luckily, there are plenty of people in the airline industry who can offer extensive knowledge on the matter. So we asked more than 80 airline workers including flight attendants, gate agents, ticket agents, and other airport customer service reps to share their best travel hacks with us, and we scoured the internet for even more. Here are 22 things that could help make your next trip less painful: Save space in your suitcase "My favourite travel hack is definitely the clothes-roll technique. I am often go...

    Equity release is growing in popularity across the UK as more and more homeowners over 55 look to access some of the wealth tied up in their property. As house prices have increased, so has the amount of equity in your home. Now could be the perfect time to see how much equity you could release from your home, and how you could use that tax-free cash. So why should you consider releasing equity from your home? 1. You could have access to tax-free cash – when you need it. With a Lifetime Mortgage you can release as little as £10,000 tax-free initially, and leave funds in reserve for when you need it. You retain full ownership of your home, you’ve just borrowed against it. 2. You could become repayment mortgage-free. Reduce your monthly outgoings by clearing any remaining mo...

    Stomach cancer has a reputation for being one of the most painful forms of cancer. But for many sufferers, pain is not among the disease's early warning signs. In fact, the most common feature of stomach cancer's early stages may be that it causes no symptoms at all, says Umut Sarpel, MD, an associate professor and surgical oncologist at New York's Mount Sinai Health System. We all get stomachaches from time to time, and that can make people worry about stomach cancer," Dr. Sarpel says. "But it's not one of the most common cancers, and in most cases stomachaches or pain are not going to be the result of cancer. So how common is stomach cancer? Roughly 1 in 111 adults will develop stomach (gastric) cancer at some point in her lifetime, and the disease is more common among m...

    A 31-year-old woman who was ‘constantly bloated’ has urged others not to ignore the symptoms of bowel cancer that are easy to dismiss. Sherie Hagger was in so much pain, constantly bloated and suffered from diarrhea within an hour of eating or drinking. She tried to ease her discomfort with tea and hot water bottles on her stomach, she told News.com.au. Even plain water made her feel sick. As Hagger was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease aged 15, she put her symptoms down to a flare up of the inflammatory bowel disease and cut out gluten and dairy from her diet, but nothing worked. Hagger struggled for three months before she asked her doctor for a colonoscopy which identified she had bowel cancer. She believes the procedure saved her life. To treat the disease, Hagger underwe...

    For most people, waking up an hour earlier in the morning is a lofty (and often laughable!) goal. But a Harvard psychologist may have found the perfect way to rise and shine and actually mean it this time. Before you even toss the covers off and put your feet on the floor, strike a pose. More specifically, strike a power pose! Here’s what we mean: Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy recommends taking time to stretch in bed every morning. And she’s not just talking about a meager shrug or twist, but a huge, body-wide expansion. You should feel it from the tips of your toes to the tops of your fingers and don’t be afraid to take up the entire bed. When you power pose, as the theory is called, you trick your brain into thinking you are more confident than you feel. Making your bod...

    More than anyone else, parents and grandparents should avoid the pitfalls of not preparing a will. It’s a shocking statistic, but around 27 million adults in the UK have failed to prepare a will*. This can have serious consequences, especially if you’re a parent. Dying without a will means the law will simply run its course, and often again your wishes. It’s a huge risk that can leave you powerless over your assets. Why A Professional Will Is Essential: The technical term for passing away with no valid will is ‘dying intestate’. If this happens your money, possessions and property will be divided up according to the law, and your loved ones could stand to inherit nothing. For instance, if you are unmarried and die ‘intestate’, your partner would by law receive nothing. If ...

    The Brain Tumour Charity When Rosie Bell noticed her son had started to bump into things and tumble, she put it down to him inheriting the family brand of clumsiness. And as three-year-old Daniel started to become morose and tired, his family explained his mood as a growth spurt or virus. But then when her young son started to be repeatedly sick, Rosie remembered a friend's Facebook post about the warning signs of a brain tumour. Ignoring her concerns that she would be seen as a hypochondriac mum, she took Daniel to the doctor who dismissed his symptoms as hayfever and prescribed him antihistamines. However in the days that followed little Daniel continued to be sick and he was eventually referred to a paediatrician. It was then that Rosie, who was seven months pregna...