Generation Next Blog

August 2014

This Is the Equation for Happiness

By |2014-08-29T22:32:25+10:00August 29th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Researchers at University College London were able to create an equation that could accurately predict the happiness of over 18,000 people, according to a new study. First, the researchers had 26 participants complete decisionmaking tasks in which their choices either led to monetary gains or losses. The researchers used fMRI imaging to measure their brain [...]

Work stress raises type 2 diabetes risk by 45 per cent

By |2014-08-29T22:29:54+10:00August 29th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , |

High amounts of work related stress have been shown to raise the risk of type 2 diabetes by 45% in a study of over 5,000 people. The research was carried out by researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum München in Germany. 5,337 people, without type 2 diabetes at the start of the study period, were picked from the MONICA-KORA cohort [...]

Australian Students Lack Skills To Cope With Life’s Problems

By |2014-12-10T12:02:44+11:00August 29th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

More than half of Australian students lack the skills to deal with life's difficulties, a survey has found, with many citing depression, stress and a lack of confidence. The study of more than 16,000 students in years 4 through to 12 by Resilient Youth Australia, a not-for-profit organisation promoting the mental health of young people, [...]

Stress, the Brain and the Neuroscience of Success

By |2014-08-29T22:25:24+10:00August 29th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

In the last 10 years, a new field of neuroscience has mapped the mental zone that can literally change the brain to quiet an overly active stress response system and simultaneously pave the way for higher brain networks to perform at optimum. The more we function from this mental zone, the less we stress, and [...]

Preschool Depression May Continue For A Decade

By |2014-08-29T22:23:58+10:00August 29th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

New research discovers early childhood depression increases the risk that a child will be depressed throughout their formative school years. Washington University researchers discovered children who had depression as preschoolers were 2.5 times more likely to suffer from the condition in elementary and middle school than kids who were not depressed at very young ages. [...]

The Death Of Privacy

By |2014-08-29T22:19:27+10:00August 29th, 2014|Categories: Cybersafety, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , |

When schools ask me to chat to parents, one of the things I often cover with them is how to – or how not to – use social media. I urge parents not to vent their anger around a school on Facebook as, if we’re being honest, it’s often an issue that has been blown [...]

5 Things Families Can Do To Stop The Rise Of Meth

By |2020-11-02T10:06:23+11:00August 29th, 2014|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol|Tags: , , , , , , |

Recent news of former NSW premier’s daughter Harriet Wran being charged with murder is another illustration of Australia’s growing problem with the drug ice. Wran, who is said to have been battling an ice addiction, has been charged with murder, attempted murder, and breaking and entering while armed with a knife, along with Michael Lee. Another [...]

How a Kit Kat is classified as ‘healthy’

By |2014-08-22T06:33:52+10:00August 22nd, 2014|Categories: Science & Research, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Food companies are advertising products such as Kit Kats and Coco Pops to children because they are classified as healthy by their own nutritional standards. A NSW Cancer Council analysis found that 63 per cent of food that appeared in television advertisements was considered unhealthy under Food Standards Australia New Zealand nutrient profiling. The analysis [...]

Australia’s daily alcohol toll: 15 deaths and 430 hospitalisations

By |2020-11-02T10:07:06+11:00August 22nd, 2014|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol, Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Chronic disease and injury caused by alcohol has significantly increased over a decade, causing 15 deaths and 430 hospitalisations each day in Australia, according to a new report. The VicHealth and Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education’s Alcohol’s burden of disease in Australia report, released today, shows the number of alcohol-attributed hospitalisations and deaths has increased by [...]

Should We Tell Kids Things Don’t Always End “Happy Ever After?”

By |2014-08-22T06:30:47+10:00August 22nd, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Lets face it, watching the evening news bulletin rarely makes for cheery viewing, but in the last few months it seems to have been particularly harrowing. Plane crashes, war zones, suicides and urban shootings have seemingly dominated the headlines. As an adult I’ve found it hard to watch. As an educator I’ve found it harder [...]

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