The Thin End

We know that listening to music and exercise has positive effects on our wellbeing.  If this is so, then putting the two together should have added benefits.  You might think that is so, and you would be right. But what is the evidence that it does?  We know that 'sad music' makes us...well...feel sad.  That is why it is called sad. Precisely what it is that makes us feel sad when listening to it is an interesting question.  Music in minor keys tends to sound 'sadder' or more melancholy than tunes in major keys.  We can bring about a major change in mood simply by switching from major to minor, and this is commonly exploited in popular and classical music.  It can introduce a kind of melancholy even within an otherwise jolly and uplifting piece.  When I listen to Let it Be, I find it both uplifting and with that important ingredient,  a tinge of melancholy.  Certainly, the lyrics are important.  When I find my self in times of troub...

When I was growing up in the 1950s we didn't have Television. One or two of my school friends had one, and we would go round to their house after school and watch a bit of television with a tea of bread and jam. It was just a bit of TV. Mostly we played outdoors - running around playing cowboys, or reenacting exploits in WW2. The more I think back, I realise just how much more active we were as children in all types of weather. We never seemed to do things standing still. We now know that our lifestyles at an early age impact on our health and wellbeing in later life. Adhering to a healthy lifestyle at age 4 years is associated with a decreased risk of overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity at 7 years, according to a study published in Pediatric Obesity . The study assessed five lifestyle behaviours—physical activity, sleep duration, television watching, ultra-processed food consumption, and plant-based food consumption—in 1,480 children when they were 4 years of age. Limi...