Glories of Growing Up Grateful G
ratitude gifts teens with better mental health, according to researchers at California State University. Thankful teens are more apt to be happy and less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol or have behavior problems at school than their less grateful peers. The researchers asked 700 students, ages 10 to 14, to complete question-
naires initially, and again four years later. Teens that reported practicing the most gratitude at the end of the study enjoyed a 15 percent greater sense of meaning in life, became 15 percent more satisfied with their life overall (at home, at school and with their neighborhood, friends and themselves) and grew 17 percent more happy and hopeful about their lives, plus experienced 13 and 15 percent drops in negative emotions and depressive symptoms, respectively. “These findings suggest that gratitude may be strongly linked with life skills such as cooperation, purpose, creativity and persis- tence,” making it “a vital resource that parents, teachers and others that work with young people should help youth build up as they grow up,” says lead author Gia- como Bono, Ph.D., a psychology professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills. “More gratitude may be precisely what our society needs to raise a generation that is ready to make a difference in the world.”
Source: American Psychological Association’s 120th annual convention
Colorful Plates for Picky Eaters P
arents trying to entice fussy eaters to sample more nutritionally diverse diets have a surprising strat- egy at hand: color. A study at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, has shown that colorful fare—spe- cifically, food plates with seven different items and six colors—appear to be particularly favored by chil- dren. In contrast, adults tend to prefer fewer colors on one plate—only three items and three hues.
Source: Acta Paediatrica
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Rethinking Umbilical Cord Clamping
T
he Manchester Guardian reports that childbirth experts in the United Kingdom are urging the National Health Service (NHS) to reverse its policy on early clamping and cutting of a newborn’s umbilical cord. A recent Swedish study of 400 full-term infants from low-risk pregnancies published in the British Medical Journal found that delayed cord-clamping at birth resulted in infants being 5 percent less likely of being anemic two days later or iron deficient four months later. The latter problem has been associated with impaired brain development. The practice of separating infants from the placenta within 10 seconds of delivery has been commonplace since the 1960s, as supported by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which advises the NHS. However, several doctors, medical organizations and the nonprofit National Childbirth Trust (NCT), plus the World Health Organization, disagree; they advocate leaving the placenta untouched for at least 30 seconds up to whenever it stops pulsating naturally (usually between two to five minutes). Exceptions would be if the baby’s or mother’s health necessitates medical intervention. “At birth, about a third of
the baby’s blood is still in his or her cord and placenta,” explains Belinda Phipps, NCT chief executive. Unfortunately, “It is still accepted practice to deprive the baby of this blood.”
NaturalAwakeningsSA.com August 2013 11
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