Interesting Facts

Attendees at the National Union of Students Women's Conference were asked not to clap after some delegates reported feeling anxious during audience applause. (The NUS Women's Campaign tweeted from its official account: "Some delegates are requesting that we move to jazz hands rather than clapping, as it's triggering anxiety. Please be mindful!" But clapping was not the only behaviour that caused problems for attendees at the Solihull event. Another delegate claimed that murmuring was "making things inaccessible", leading the NUS to issue an edict banning "chat" and "whooping". It's lucky I wasn't there, as I am jazzhandaphobic.  Just tell everyone to sit on their hands, and be quiet.  Back to kindergarten.)

According to a study by food firm Tilda, just over half of adults in the UK have suffered increased levels of stress and anxiety in the past year. (As they struggle to find that elusive work-life balance, the average person now gets six and a half hours sleep a day and spends less than 20 minutes preparing weekday meals.  One in the eye for Jamie Oliver.)

Scientists from Heptares Therapeutics in Hertfordshire, are claiming to have identified the brain's 'misery molecule', which they have linked to stress and anxiety. (The protein - named CRF1, not the misery molecule, could also be linked to depression, and there are hopes that this discovery will lead to new drugs able to block this and control stress, anxiety and depression. I only have one problem with that. What if we have every reason to be stressed, anxious and depressed?)

According to the ONS (Office for National Statistics) Britons in their late 60s are happier and more carefree than any other age group, including young people. (Incidence of anxiety and depression in the UK drops by almost a third between the early 50s and late 60s.  It must be the 1960s that did it.)