Bonitas Member Magazine B-Living Issue 4 | Page 7

Call your mom to beat stress Its common knowledge that a hug from mom can help soothe a stressed child, but new research shows that just hearing her voice can initiate the same biochemical responses. Even over the phone. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin held a focus group during which girls aged between seven and twelve, performed a speech and solved a series of maths problems in front of a panel of strangers. This sent the children’s hearts racing and levels of cortisol - a hormone associated with stress - soaring. Once stressed, a third of the girls were comforted in person by their mother, a third told to speak to her on the phone and a third given a film to watch. Levels of oxytocin, which has anti-stress effects, rose quickly in those who saw or spoke to their mothers. To the scientists’ surprise, within an hour, the girls who phoned their mothers were just as calm as those who were comforted in person. Fill a spray mister with your favourite cooking oil Pick up a spray mister at your local supermarket and fill it with your favourite cooking oil. Not only does it release a miserly portion of calorie-loaded oil, it contains no toxic hydrocarbons found in your normal cooking oil spray cans that you buy in the supermarkets. Drink chocolate milk for fitness A professor of sport and exercise nutrition at Loughborough University says: “There are two primary things you are trying to do after exercise: recover and encourage the muscles you have worked to become stronger. A bit of protein provides the most effective way of doing this. If you drink milk, you are getting a consistent source of protein, along with water and electrolytes. The chocolate provides useful carbohydrates and even the relatively high sugar content is an acceptable means of restoring lost energy.”