Some studies suggest that physical orderliness — a clean, neatly organized office, for example — may be linked with some positive outcomes, like eating healthier.
A 2013 study, for example, found that when they gave a set of volunteers in two types of rooms a choice between a chocolate bar and an apple for a snack, the people in a cluttered room were more likely to choose the chocolate bar, while those in the neat room were more likely to choose the apple. When the same participants were given the option to donate money to a charitable cause, those in the orderly room also tended to give more money than those in the disorderly room. So give it a shot.
Decades of research has failed to find any substantial evidence that the vast majority of vitamins and supplements do any significant good. Some of them might even be harming us. Several supplements have been linked with an increase in certain cancers, for example, while others have been associated with a rise in the risk of kidney stones. Still others have been tied to an overall higher risk of death from any cause.
That said, certain vitamins — like Vitamin D and folate — are tough to get from food, so you might want to add those to your daily regimen. Here's a comprehensive guide on which ones you should skip and which you should take.
One easy way to determine that astrology is unscientific is this: It's so-called predictions can't be tested, which is one of the standard components of the scientific method. Instead, horoscopes are carefully worded to be highly general, such as "You will face great difficulties ahead." Any result, from getting fired from your job to getting a raise, could be seen as fitting those expectations.
Still, horoscopes remain popular, something psychologists think is at least partially a result of the fact that we're biased to see "personalized" results as accurate. This is called the Forer Effect after psychologist Bertram Forer. In 1948, Forer gave each of his students a personality test and then told them that each "result" was individually unique. He asked them to rank the tests' accuracy and on average, they said it was 85% accurate. Later, he revealed to the students that he'd lied and given them all the exact same result.
Low-fat diets don't work. Our bodies need fat, protein, and fiber to function properly.
An 8-year trial involving almost 50,000 women, roughly half of whom went on a low-fat diet, found that those on the low-fat plan didn't lower their risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or heart disease. Plus, they didn't lose much weight, if any.
A study published in February showed for the first time that when we meditate — independent of whether we're expert meditators or total newbies — the practice appears to produce measurable brain changes in two key ways: First, it facilitates more communication between two brain regions involved in self-control and focus, and second, it lowers levels of a substance called IL-6 that's been linked with stress and inflammation. IL-6 can also sometimes be used as an early indicator of later health problems.
While there are very few studies looking at the benefits of abstaining from alcohol in the short-term, at least one study showed that a dry month was at least somewhat beneficial for most people: after successfully abstaining from alcohol for at least 30 days, a majority of people continued to drink less often, even six months later. Plus, when they did drink, these people also reported having fewer drinks. Most also described having an easier time refusing alcohol and they tended to show lower dependence scores on the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.
One similarity the Meyers-Briggs personality test shares with astrology is that it relies on binary choices. According to the test, for example, you're either "introverted" or "extroverted." In reality, very few people would qualify as simply one or the other, as Dean Burnett points out in The Guardian.
This point is hammered home by the fact that statistical studies of the Myers-Briggs show that its data follows a normal distribution — where the data falls around a central value with no bias to the left or the right, forming a balanced hill shaped curve — instead of a bimodal one, where the data are lumped around two peaks.
Eating "clean" doesn't mean anything. Instead, follow these basics:
While coloring within the lines isn't exactly the most creative activity you could engage in, any small amount of activity that encourages you to focus in a creative way might help decrease feelings of stress.
Several small studies on people with specific health problems, from substance abuse to cancer, suggest that drawing and music therapy can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Psychologists suggest this may be a result of the fact that creative activities can help quiet the mind by encouraging us to focus. As of yet, few large-scale studies have been done in healthy people, but a little coloring can't hurt.
"Positive thinking" — a school of thought in the psychology world that suggests that viewing the world more optimistically can help you feel more satisfied and less stressed — has some limitations. In her book "Rethinking Positive Thinking," psychologist Gabriele Oettingen proposes that while thinking optimistically sounds great on paper, it falls short in reality. People who daydream about a better world, she says, end up merely fantasizing about a reality rather than taking concrete actions to make it happen.
One study she coauthored of women enrolled in a weight-reduction program found that those who thought more positively about their future outcomes tended to lose fewer pounds than those who thought more negatively about them.
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