Having a sister makes you a happier person, according to study

Sep 6, 2020

Our sisters drive us crazy at the best of times, but a new study has found that having a sister makes you a more optimistic person.

According to a study conducted by researchers at De Montfort University and Ulster University, people who grow up with a sister are happier people.

They may steal our clothes, forget to call us for weeks and hogged the remote like there was no tomorrow when we were kids, but researchers found that sisters are more open to communication, making their siblings feel more supported.

Nearly 600 people took part in the study. They were asked about a variety of topics, including having a positive outlook and mental health.

The participants were aged between 17 and 25.

The team found that sisters encouraged their siblings to talk more, especially if they had something on their mind.

“Sisters appear to encourage more open communication and cohesion in families. Emotional expression is fundamental to good psychological health and having sisters promotes this in families,” said Professor Tony Cassidy.

He added that boys tend to bottle things up, but we need to encourage them to communicate more too.

The researchers said their findings will help promote communication in families, which will help youths who are suffering from mental health disorders. They believe that opening up to their family will relieve some of their stress.

Professor Cassidy added, “I think these findings could be used by people offering support to families and children during distressing times.

We may have silly tiffs with our sisters from time to time, but they are always there to cheer us up in our time of need.

Couples who drink together have longer, happier relationships

Relationships

Mar 7, 2020

by Amber Saunders

If you think nothing of splitting a bottle of wine with your partner on a Friday night, then that could bode well for your relationship.

A new study has revealed that couples who drink together are much happier in the long term than couples where only one person drank.

According to the study, titled Drinking Patterns Among Older Couples, the couples who didn't see eye to eye when it comes to drinking had the most arguments and unhappiness in their relationships.

The imbalance is what seems to cause most of the problems, as couples in which both people drank equally, there were less issues. Interestingly, the study found that in couples where the woman was the one who drank while the husband stayed sober, more issues arose.

"Wives who reported drinking alcohol reported increased negative marital quality over time when husbands reported not drinking," the study said.

Now, that's not to say that a teetotaler can't have a strong relationship with someone who enjoys a drink, but according to the study, finding someone who has the same alcohol habits as you can make life a bit easier and your relationship a bit longer.

Dying for a sick day? Apparently, THIS is the best time to pull one

Feb 3, 2020

by Amber Saunders

Leaving your warm and cosy bed on a dreary morning is one of the worst feelings ever. We'd honestly kill to curl up for an extra ten minutes but work beckons.

If the thought of pulling a sickie is the only thing getting you through right now, it's probably best you draw on the results of a study which established the best time to do it.

According to a market research study, if you want to be in with a good chance of convincing your boss that a day in the scratcher is the only thing for you, then you better send that mail at 06.38 on a Tuesday morning.

The study, which harnessed the experience of 1,000 employees, established that this particular day is more likely to elicit sympathy from your boss, unlike a last-minute Monday or Friday sickie.

Oh, and if you're wondering what your excuse should be, wonder no more.

The bog-standard 'upset stomach' is your go-to guy in this case because, really, who wants any further details on that one?!

Make of that information what you will, ladies.

The oldest child is the smartest in the family, according to science

Dec 21, 2019

by Kat O'Connor

Eldest siblings, rejoice! We’ve got good news for you. A new study has found that the eldest child is the most intelligent.

The study found that there was “a strong negative relation between birth order and cognitive outcomes of children.”

This news will certainly boost the older siblings ego, but it is bound to cause major sibling rivalry in households across the country.

The study was conducted by teams of researchers at the Universities of Houston, New South Wales and Sheffield.

The teams discovered that older siblings feel more confident when it comes to their academic performances, whilst younger brothers and sisters can often doubt themselves.

This may be because the eldest sibling doesn’t have anyone to compare themselves to. However, as younger siblings know, you’re often compared to your big sister or brother.

There is a huge pressure on youngsters to perform better especially if their big brother is a math whiz, or if their older sister is a history buff.

The team explained that younger siblings may be ‘less intelligent’ because they don’t get as much attention from their parents, compared to their older siblings.

They said parental attention has a massive impact on children’s academic performance. For example, the youngest daughter may not feel as supported as her older brother did when he was in school because the parents have more children to focus on.

“Although later-born children are not born disadvantaged in their health or developmentally, we find that parents are unable to provide them with the same level of cognitive support as they do with their first-born,” they explained.

Chronic pain is apparently damaging 35% of people’s sex lives

Sep 14, 2019

by Kate Brayden

Tens of thousands of Irish people are facing their romantic and sex lives being damaged by chronic pain, a study revealed yesterday.

1.65 million sufferers nationwide live with acute and persistent discomfort in Ireland, which takes a toll on work, sleep, leisure and relationships.

35 percent of study participants claimed that the persistent pain had deeply affected their sex lives, with 17 percent saying their pain had a huge impact on their physical relationships.

Chronic pain is defined by health experts and doctors as over 12 weeks of consistent pain, with the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists saying three-out-of-four sufferers can't live regular lives

Among those with chronic pain, almost half reported that their ability to sleep had been damaged.

Dr Brona Fullen of the UCD School of Public Health said:

“Living with persistent pain is not easy. Not only does it impact on on physical well-being but also your mental health. Emotions such as worry, stress, anxiety, low mood, fear and anger can develop.”

The survey interviewed 1,000 people, with 434 reporting that they had suffered chronic pain at one part in their lives.

75 percent said that it had a negative impact on their social activities and exercise. 70 percent of sufferers admitted that it damaged their ability to take part in family life and playing with their children.

Chronic pain is costing the taxpayer billions each year, according to the ISCP. This Sunday marks World Physiotherapy Day, with the 2019 theme being chronic pain.

The normal tissue healing frame is three-to-six months, and most chronic pain conditions have no apparent biological value. The causes and cures of female pain disorders are especially under-researched.

Libido lies: 32% of people still think men need sex more than women

Aug 23, 2019

by Kate Brayden

The long-held absurd belief that men have massive libidos and women are pretty indifferent when it comes to sex is still a prominent myth in our society, and new research proves this point.

A new study commissioned by the End Violence Against Women Coalition has shown that almost half of people still reckon that men have stronger sex drives than women.

3,922 British adults were quizzed on heterosexual relationships, and one-third of people (32 percent) think men need sex more than women (WOW) compared to only one percent who said the opposite.

45 percent of the study's participants said that they think a man is more likely to initiate sex, compared with three percent who believe the opposite.

43 percent said that both sexes were equally responsible for starting sex. One-in-10 of respondents claimed that a woman decides when the intimate act has finished, compared with 36 percent for men and 38 percent who said both.

"Although it's good to find that three-quarters of adults believe men and women are both likely to enjoy sex, what we clearly also have are persistent, widely held views about who sex is primarily 'for', who 'needs' it and whose pleasure matters,” said Sarah Green, director of the organisation.

"This is a cornerstone of equality as much as equal pay and shared parenting, but 'the orgasm gap' is perhaps not as widely discussed as some other key equality issues."

Interestingly, pensioners are more likely than 18-24-year-olds to believe both partners enjoy sex. People aged 65 and older felt both a man and woman would equally enjoy sex.

Among 18-24-year-olds, just 25 percent believe having sex is a mutual decision, while 50 percent think it is up to the man to decide. Just 10 percent believe it’s up to women to choose whether they have sex.

7 percent think women are more likely to "go along with sex to keep their partner happy", compared with only 2 percent who thought the same of men.

Dr Fiona Vera Gray, research fellow at Durham Law School and expert on sexual harassment and pornography, said: "This report shows how far we've got to go in changing outdated ideas about women as sexual gatekeepers."

Research has recently proven that men and women are equally aroused by sexual images, showing that sex makes no difference to the response to sexual visual stimuli.

The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany published the news in the scientific journal PNAS last month, saying; "Erotic pictures and videos are widely assumed to induce differential response due to sexual duality," the researchers stated.

Women aren’t having morning sex – and we don’t get why

Aug 10, 2019

by Staff Writer

Forget your morning cup of coffee.

Put the phone down and cut the pointless scrolling.

Wanna have a productive day?

Then a quickie is the only way…according to a new study, that is.

The study surveyed nearly 1,000 people living with their other half about all things AM passion.

And the results were quite startling, tbh.

Ok so when it comes to getting down and dirty when you wake up, 63% of women said nope, it's not their cup of tea and they had NEVER done it.

Lads, are you serious?!

One in five did admit though that they would like to make it a regular part of their routine – and we agree!

They also discovered that more than 45% of women and 53% of men say morning sex makes them more productive.

Having sex = your boss not shouting at you because you are actually doing good work.

Sounds like a win-win to us.

It also looked like women were willing to give up their beauty sleep to get frisky – a whole 30 minutes!

For men, it was unsurprisingly 45 minutes of kip that they would sacrifice for a morning romp.

And overall, it isn't surprising that those surveyed who had morning sex at least once a week, were more satisfied in their relationships…so what are you waiting for?

Happy humping!

Social media is making life harder for young people, study finds

Aug 1, 2019

by Kat O'Connor

We are all aware of the negative impact social media can have on our mood. Scrolling through Instagram for a mere ten minutes can knock our confidence and leave us feeling like our social lives are not up to scratch. We instantly compare ourselves to the people we follow, despite the fact that people only share their best moments on social media.

A new study has discovered the lasting impact social media can have on young people in Ireland and the findings are a cause for concern.

One in three young people revealed the pressure of social media makes life harder for them.

The study, which was conducted by Young Social Innovators and Amarach Research Index, found that despite its perks, social media is putting far too much pressure on young people.

Rachel Collier, Young Social Innovators chief executive said: “There has been a lot of discussion in the media in recent weeks about keeping young people occupied during the summer months and, in particular, how to get them away from screens.

“From this research, we can see how strongly embedded smartphones are in the day-to-day lives of Generation Z. For all of us involved in guiding young people from teens to adulthood, the issue of smartphone usage is something that we need to be aware of,” she added.

Social media does have many positives. It helps friends stay in contact even if they’re on opposite sides of the planet, it helps people share their content and gives people a place to express their views, but we need to remember that balance is key.

“We need to focus on getting the balance right between smartphone usage and real-life experiences, without trying to roll-back on something that is firmly part of contemporary youth culture,” said Rachel Collier.

93 percent of people involved in the study said life is harder for them than it was for their parents, mainly because of social media.

Social media makes young people compare every aspect of their lives to their peers’. They scrutinise everything from their appearance to their grades, and that pressure can be extremely damaging.

There are many wonderful things about social media. We certainly couldn’t go without it, but Rachel Collier is right, we need to find the right balance between life on Instagram and life in the real world.

Gender plays no part in sexual arousal, according to new research

Jul 19, 2019

by Kate Brayden

How many times have we heard the absurd phrase; "Women are from Venus, men are from Mars"? Too many times, that's for certain.

It's long been believed that men and women are simply wired differently when it comes to sexuality and arousal, due to the way our brains and hormones work.

Popular psychology posits that men are more visually oriented, responding to body in front of them or images. Women are presumed to be more emotionally driven and desiring intimate relationships.

The stereotype that women prefer their imaginations and reading erotica versus men being addicted to porn is neither true nor a healthy way to see arousal.

The image of men gorging on PornHub and Playboy while women masturbate once every five years has gone out the window for good, thank Goddess for that.

According to a new study, gender plays absolutely zero role when it comes to sexual arousal. This would make total sense, and will hopefully help us include those who are gender non-binary and LGBTQ+.

The latest reseearch from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal) proves that men and women aren't different when it comes to our responses to sexy stimuli.

A meta analysis of 61 previous studies conducted by researchers delivered somewhat surprising results regarding sex and cis-gender.

Members of the research group wrote: “These results offer strong quantitative evidence that the neuronal response to visual sexual stimuli, contrary to the widely accepted view, is independent of biological sex.”

AKA: We get off on the exact same things. Women are just as likely to get turned on by viewing pornographic images as men. I wonder how many (male) scientists it took to crack this code? ASK WOMEN.

Dr. Hamid Noori of the Max Planck Institute argues that while men and women may see similar brain responses to arousing video or images, they still respond in very different ways.

“There are differences in behaviour — the number of men going to porn sites is roughly 80 percent of the consumers,” Noori said. This is obviously because most porn is AIMED at men.

“But men and women respond the same way at the brain level to visual sexual stimuli. What we do with it afterwards is what brings the difference.”

One thing to note is that this study relies on meta analysis (previous research combined) rather than conducting new physical or medical tests to examine specific behaviour.

The scans are also unable to see brain activity at the most microscopic levels, so men and women can possibly show different reactions to provocative stimuli.

However, the concept of men being more turned on by images and hardcore porn while women just want 50 Shades of Grey and a secret vibrator is fairly outdated.

If they would just make porn ethical, female-friendly and LGBTQ+ inclusive then plenty of women, gay people and gender non-binary folk, would head to the sites. It's simple maths.

Studies always rely too heavily on heterosexual people, predominantly straight men, for data results. Not anymore, suckers.

Study says that women are giving blowjobs for too long and obvs

Jul 7, 2019

by Staff Writer

Dress it up whatever way you like, but giving head takes skill. Effort. Time.

It's not something that you can do half-arsed and it deffo ain't something you can do in matter of minutes.

Or so we thought.

When it comes to how long one spends going down on their guy, opinions differ.

According to this study, which surveyed 1,000 women and men, us ladies belive that blowjobs should last longer than men do.

Yep, you read that right – looks like we're just too generous.

Hey, as long as it's reciprocated.

Breaking it down, American women round it up to 11 minutes whereas Europeans gave the grand total as 9 minutes, 14 seconds.

Precise, ladies.

So lets delve deeper into the world of oral sex for guys – what are their thoughts on swallowing?

More than half of men don’t care if their partner swallows after oral sex and still report extremely satisfied with the blowjobs they’ve received.

Hardly shocking tbh.

It also seems that most lads don't even have to ask for it, with 60% of European and American women initiating blowjobs.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, when it comes to getting head or having sex, a lot of fellas would opt for the latter – 30% to be precise.

So what you can take away from this, is that next time you're getting intimate with your guy, just follow the rhythm rather than watching the minutes tick by on the clock.

Study finds high street tooth-whitening kits can damage teeth

Feb 22, 2019

by Amber Saunders

A study has just found that major high street chemists are selling potentially damaging tooth-whitening kits, leaving teeth weaker and more sensitive.

Testing of five common brands discovered that they can harm enamel, and dental experts are now requesting a ban on non-hydrogen peroxide based whitening kits sold over the counter.

Tests on extracted teeth that had been whitened saw damage, according to a study published on Friday in the British Dental Journal.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by(@iwhiteteeth) on Mar 29, 2018 at 8:06am PDT

Home users can apparently cause more damage to occur by leaving the whitening strips on for too long or using them too often. If they have underlying dental problems, the authors said they are also at risk.

Dr Linda Greenwall, author from Manchester University wrote; “The lack of research and ease of availability of these products from major retailers is alarming and may potentially be harming the consumers’s dentition.”

A wide range of teeth whitening products have been saturating the market since an EU directive in 2011 said products with more than 0.1 percent hydrogen peroxide were only be sold to dentists.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by (@twotimingmom) on May 20, 2018 at 12:24am PDT

Dr Greenwell and her colleagues claim that, despite safety testing taking place, the longer-term effects of the whitening kits are drastically misunderstood.

Three of the tested products in the BDJ study possess sodium chlorite, an additive which can react in the mouth to product enamel-harming chemicals.

Samples which were treated with the Brilliant 5-minute kit and iWhite instant teeth whitening had the most noticeable effects after being tested, and also showed softening which leaves teeth vulnerable to abrasions.

Users have potentially wasted time and money, as some of the tested whitening kits produced no effects at all.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by (@ritachongg) on Feb 21, 2019 at 8:31am PST

The British Dental Bleaching Society is now asking for all dentists to be trained in tooth-whitening and bleaching. A spokesperson for the group said;

“We are concerned that the OTC products included in the study may be harmful to teeth and advise the general public to see their dentist if they are considering having their teeth whitened.

A Boots spokesperson said: “The safety of our customers is extremely important to us and we thoroughly assess all of our dental care products before we put them on sale.”

High street cosmetic procedures have been increasingly popular with more of the public trying to imitate the look of celebrities and reality TV personalities.

Feature image: @iwhiteteeth/Instagram