HEALTH TIPS

CLEAN THE AIR WITH PLANTS:
Researchers from Georgia and South Korea took 28 plants and put them in jars with pollutants from building and cleaning products, fragrances, paints, and tobacco. After six hours, all the plants improved the air somewhat. The top four were the asparagus fern, the English ivy, the purple waffle plant, and the variegated wax plant.

BETTER BODY IMAGE, WITHOUT WEIGHT LOSS:
Men and women who start exercising are happier about their bodies even when they don’t lose weight, according to a study published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Health Psychology. Improved body image depended more on how often people exercised than on how long or hard they worked out, according to researchers at the University of Florida.

EAT SLOWLY, FEEL FULL:

European researchers had 17 men eat the same amount of ice cream in either 5 minutes or 30 minutes, then took blood measurements every 30 minutes for 3 ½ hours. The study, published in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, found that the 30-minute snackers had higher concentrations of several hormones that help make people feel full.