Toast To Your Girls!

I just finished watching a video from a lecture class at Stanford University. The lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, football, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers/best friends, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged, this however is not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. So, let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health. :)

I Predict A Riot...

Sitting at my office desk near a dual carriageway in North West London, I see out the window four police swat cars drive by. I am wondering which area they are heading to.

Looking at the picture above, you would think people are running away from a bomb or terrorist attack, this is hardly the case.

Mark Duggan shot a bullet from his gun at a policeman last week in Tottenham. The policeman then shot back, and killed Mark, a father of four and a known drug dealer. This was the beginning of a lit spark, to fuel riots.

For the last three days, but with the worst yesterday, we have seen a new low of British people. Buildings are being set on fire, cars being vandalized and shops being looted. Nobody actually knows a reason as to why this is happening. I understand it started with people in Tottenham mad at the police for shooting and killing someone, but how did one shooting fuel so much anger in people that they felt it necessary to do the damage to our city that is being done now?

In broad daylight, people are being mugged. One injured boy thought he was being helped by a gang who then robbed him of his belongings from his backpack. A police man was seriously injured when a brick was thrown at him. This is just ludacris behaviour of yobs who simply have nothing better to do with their time.

It has got so serious now and spread throughout the country. Something so small that started in Tottenham has now spread to Ealing, Croydon, Hackney, Peckham, Ealing, Camden Town, Notting Hill and even moved up North to Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds.

From images you are seeing on the news, you would think that there is a war, or people are running from terrorist threats, when in fact, it is mindless Brits terrorising their own towns and communities. Kids as young as 13 are joining in and you wonder where there parents are!

On Friday, I am flying to Israel. A country who has had numerous amounts of protests and demonstrations over the last month. Not one person walked away harmed. The Israeli's said their piece and left in peace. They are a country who live with wars and terrorist attacks. Why are they able to still be strong? The reason is because they have an army. Where is our army? Oh yes, PROTECTING us by fighting on the front line in Afghanistan. Our soldiers bravely leave their families to fight for our country, to stop terrorist attacks and what for? For the youth of today to ruin it all. They do not know why they are fighting now. They just want a fight and to steal free gear! Give these youths a gun and tell them to stand on the front line at a war zone, then let them think they are big men!

I truly feel sorry for the police. Working so hard to protect the streets and losing. All they have is shields. What about water cannons or rubber bullets? Shoot the youths doing the damage. Our country is being weak and they need to step up and be strong and fight for the rights of the rest of us!!

I would love to hear what you all think.. please leave comments!!

Little Miss V..xx