What makes you smile?

Stacey Collins
I think most people would agree that January isn’t the cheeriest month of the year. The month hosts the most depressing day of the entire year, people are still trying to recover from the excess of food eaten and money spent at Christmas and news reports seem to fill us with nothing but doom and gloom about the tough economic problems that we can expect to face in the oncoming year.

 In order to cheer you up, here are some things that PruHealth have found make you smile:

• A quarter of people asked in PruHealth’s Feel Good Factor study said that they get a buzz from walking on a beautiful day.
• Other answers included being nice to someone or smiling at them, getting a good night’s sleep, a loved one achieving something .
• The top spot was given to spending time with family, with 56% of those asked offering it as the thing which most makes them feel good.

So what makes you smile? What would you place at the top of your feel good list?

Retail therapy cheers some

Perhaps spending money makes you smile. We’ve been told repeatedly that money can’t buy you love, but it certainly can buy you the things you love. PruHealth found that people enjoy rewarding themselves by spending money on meals, going on holidays. I’m not surprised to see that chocolate found its way into the sixth place onto the chart - with retail therapy not far behind, with 21% of people choosing it as their gloom-buster.

Health and wellbeing expert at PruHealth, Dr Katie Tyron, claims that their research shows that people are incentivised to get healthier when they reward themselves. Or maybe it’s just because people have no money left to buy lots of food after spending money on rewarding themselves.

The study also found that over half of Brits take a ‘glass half-full’ approach to life. I think I probably fall into the pessimistic other half.

Who remembers 'Stranger-Danger'?

Stacey Collins
Well, there I was discussing  the benefits of social media in opening up venues for writers to express themselves and practise their writing when along came a bunch of experts finding a new reason to express concern about the social media - the impact it has on love lives.

A man called Professor Andy Phippen of Plymouth University has surveyed 850 16-24 year olds and found that 80 per cent of those interviewed admitted they had used a smart phone or the web for sexual purposes.

One of the first things I remember being taught at primary school after the green cross code was ‘Stranger-Danger’ and the perils the cartoon characters faced in the 70’s video footage they showed to warn us off.

However, the footage shown in the early 90’s to my generation of troll collecting, culotte wearing, ‘the higher the socks the better’, children involved cars, sweets and men with big noses, much like the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Now emphasis is being placed on the dark side of the internet - where bullies and sexual predators lurk in the crevices, disguising themselves as ‘Freddie- the guy next door type’.

Some may be scornful of those who fall into the trap of being in contact with strangers on the internet but West Country sexual health adviser, Andrew Wilson of NHS Somerset, has explained that young men and women whose self-worth is low, may feel a false sense of belonging from undesirables who make them feel attractive by the attention they give them online.

You do hear about couples meeting on chat sites and marrying within a couple of months claiming that they’re met ‘the one’.

But for most people the reality is that the sense of fulfilment they desire is not met by these arrangements - and they end up feeling worse about themselves.

So, if you’re one of the 80%, perhaps you should remember the old stranger slogans and see if they still apply to your current situation.

More on this

Naughty or adventurous?

By Baby Blogger Kate Richards 
I'm starting to wonder whether some of Ben's more "challenging" behaviour could now be described as naughty, or whether it's still just adventurous curiosity.

He went through a stage of biting at about 14 months, and now, at 16 months he's just doing it occasionally. Except I do think he is developing a sense of mischievousness, because he definitely understands the word no, and I occasionally catch a cheeky grin on his face.

To write or not to write

Stacey Collins 
As you get older do you ever find that the phrase 'Well, back in my day' has somehow managed to find its way into your vernacular? Back in my day when the buses were 60p, back in my day when people used to put up with My Little Pony, even the boys, and back in my day when we had none of this internet malarkey and used to entertain ourselves with a hula hoop.

Shock, horror! - 'la difference' survives?

Stacey Collins 
A new report suggesting that men and women have major personality differences may not come as a big surprise to those of you who live with spouses. This is probably something that the majority of us realised after life experiences such as.... primary and secondary school, TV series including Friends and popular titles such as Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.

Ben's first words

By Baby Blogger Kate Richards
Deciding when Ben spoke his first word is not as simple as I'd anticipated. Since he turned one year, three months ago, he's been saying "uh-oh" at appropriate moments. But whether this counts as a word is debatable.

Time to deal with New Year irresolution

Stacey Collins 
I’m going to play a guessing game with you. I bet that I can guess your New Year’s resolutions for the year 2012, and also for the last twenty years of your life. Resolution number one was to start eating healthier, resolution number two was to start doing more exercise, resolution three was to do all you can to try and find your true love and resolution four was to move out of your parent’s house. Do I win a prize?

Happy New Years Eve

Stacey Collins 
Weeks of planning, buying and hard work for just 24 little hours and then just as quickly as it arrived, Christmas is yet again over for another year. Before any recovery from Christmas day could be made, the boxing day sales were thrown upon us and people found themselves relenting to the constant nagging of DFS and their ‘Hurry to our three day only sales’ - that actually occur every three days throughout the year.

Merry Christmas to Womens News UK readers

Stacey Collins 
Merry Christmas Eve; I trust that the biscuits and whisky are out, you’re several stone heavier from the lead-up festivities and that you’ve already unwrapped and then re-wrapped the presents under the tree as you surrendered to your curiosity. If not, then bah humbug.

Christmas is coming

The best Christmas ever!

By Baby Blogger Kate Richards

Well the run-up to Christmas has certainly been different this year with a toddler! I've met several Santas already (often female), sang a lot more carols, and re-decorated the tree on a nightly basis. The baubles are often to be found stashed away under the rocking horse (of course, where else?), but strangely, the presents haven't been interfered with at all.

Ben has been to three Christmas parties so far, wearing a gorgeous but highly flammable looking red robe with pointy elf-style hood. He's developed a quite grown-up taste for mince pies, and a suitably child-like love of flashing Christmas lights.