Interesting Facts

According to a study by insurance company RIAS the top reason for pulling a sickie from work was being too tired to get up! (The top six reasons given were:- Too tired to get up - 28% Felt I deserved a day off due to working hard recently - 23% Just didn’t want to go in - 23% To avoid a colleague - 18% Hungover - 16% Had something planned and didn’t want to use up holiday - 14% I'm surprised "I haven't been off sick yet this year," wasn't on there.)

Over the last 50 years short-sightedness amongst children in the UK has doubled. ( In the 1960s just 10% of British 12 and 13-year-olds had myopia, today that is 23%. Experts are blaming this increase on our increasingly indoor lifestyles and use of computers.   And it's not just happening in the UK, in the US in the 1970s 25% of children were diagnosed myopic, by the year 2000 this had risen to over 40%.  In China The journal Nature reported that around 90% of China's teenage and young adult population are short-sighted, up from 10 to 20% of the total population 60 years ago. One Chinese city is so worried, they are experimenting with transparent classrooms to expose children to more sunlight. How about giving them more time and space to play outside?)

A study carried out by Theatre Projects Consultants shows that that the average size of cinema (movie) seats in the US has grown over the last 20 years. (Cinemas (movie theaters) have had to adjust the size of their seats for the ever expanding waistlines of their customers.  According to the report, the average cinema (movie theater) in 1990 had seats that were 20" wide and had 33" of separation between it and the seat in front of it. Nowadays the average seat is  23" wide and has 38" of space.   More leg room for me.)

On average, New Year's resolutions only last 23 days. (According to a study carried out by the University of Hertfordshire most of us scrap any good intentions as early as January 23rd. Only 30 per cent of women in the UK stuck to their guns, compared with 37 per cent of men. Of course, it depends on the resolution.)

According to a survey conducted by Confused.com, the average Brit lies about 10 times a week, 91 per cent have told a lie. (The most common lies were regarding vices:- 41% - the price of an item they had bought 25% - how much they drink 23% - eating habits, News.com.au reported 16% - past relationships 15% - where they were the previous night 14% - who they were with the night before Matt Lloyd, head of life insurance at Confused.com, said that little white lies are part and parcel of daily life. I'm glad he's not my husband.  Regarding the 9% who say they have never told a lie...)

Ports in the UK are on alert for the Asian tiger mosquito. (This species of mosquito can transmit up to 23 infections - including West Nile virus and dengue fever. It is not native to the UK, and is believed to have stowed away in used tyres being shipped from the Far East to the UK for retreading. It is slightly bigger than a native mosquito, and has distinctive black and white stripes.  With another report that there are 800,000 illegal immigrants currently living in the UK, I don't think the port authorities will have much luck stopping illegal mosquitoes.)