Women’s Health
News flash: Men and women are different. You didn’t need Women’s Health to tell you that, but the November issue does have some insights on how to work with the differences in the male and female brains to communicate better with your partner. Say you want him to just listen while you kvetch about your obnoxious co-worker, and not solve all your workplace problems. Stress helps activate the part of men’s brains that prompts action, studies suggest, so you need to tell him to resist that urge. If you think he’s not listening, be patient and give him a minute to react. Women’s left and right brain hemispheres work simultaneously, allowing them to verbalize emotion more quickly. And he might need even more time than that. Men have fewer neurons in the part of the brain associated with processing and understanding language, so after raising an issue, revisit it in a day or so to give him a chance to turn things over in his mind.
— Nancy Watkins
– – –
Self
I’m not much of a morning person, so I was intrigued by a short piece in the November issue of Self called “Wake Up Happier.” The magazine asked a self-proclaimed night owl to try out and rate four strategies — two gadgets and two low-tech — for waking up without punching the snooze alarm three times. A $50 progression wake-up clock from hammacher.com scored lowest, downgraded for an abundance of bells and whistles that didn’t do much. A $179 watchlike device from sleeptracker.com fared better but was deemed “uncomfortable.” I was drawn to the two low-tech strategies — keeping fresh flowers by your bedside and drawing figure 8s when the first alarm sounds. Both techniques rated high and are supported by recent studies, one showing that the sight of fresh flowers makes for a more positive day and the other showing that doodling stimulates eye movement that creates calm.
— Lara Weber
