HEALTH NOTES: Bogus online profiles harm mental health
Only a quarter of Britons say their social media profiles are a true reflection of themselves.
Experts have long warned that the manipulated selfies posted to Instagram, TikTok and others harm mental health because they promote an unrealistic lifestyle.
A survey of 2,000 social media users aged 18 to 65 by beverage brand G’Vine found that only one in four people say their profiles reflect reality.
January data collected by charity Stem4 also found that eight in ten young people aged 18-21 hate their bodies. The researchers blamed the results on social media, arguing that it “presents an assumed reality that is distorted and harmful.”
Experts have long warned that the manipulated selfies posted to Instagram, TikTok and others harm mental health because they promote an unrealistic lifestyle.
Does your pet get you down?
Pets won’t necessarily promote mental health, a study suggests.
Previous research has shown that people with pets are less likely to have mental health problems. Analysts from the University of York, however, compared the symptoms of 170 British psychiatric patients with and without pets – and found no difference. They even noted that having a pet was linked to greater mental health declines during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Co-author Dr Elena Ratschen said owning a pet may have exacerbated financial worries.
Sitting on a vibrating chair can help treat high blood pressure.
Scientists have previously found that repetitive head movements can lower blood pressure because fluids in the brain shift and interfere with molecules on the surface of brain cells that control blood pressure.
Researchers at the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities in Japan asked 30 volunteers with moderately high blood pressure to sit in a chair that uses vibration to shock the body. They sat on it for 30 minutes three times a week for a month.
The results showed a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The scientists plan to further test the chair for elderly people who are unable to exercise.
ONE in five young festival-goers never wash their hands after using the toilet at outdoor events, according to a poll. No wonder then that a third of the 1,500 18 to 24-year-olds surveyed also reported contracting a virus at a festival.
Three-quarters go at least a day without washing their hands and one in ten said they had contracted other types of infections, such as conjunctivitis.
When asked why they avoided the sinks by cleaning brand Method, respondents blamed a lack of washing facilities, queues and being absorbed in the music.