CCC 27-2_LR

NEWS & NOTES

STROKE FOURTH LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2023, stroke was the fourth lead ing cause of death in America. Although more than half a million people in the U.S. experience a stroke each year, with improved nutrition, exercise, and risk identification, this may be prevented. Although it might not be easy to sustain, eating healthy, exer cising, and not smoking are the best ways to reduce stroke risk and are also the most effective in lowering the threat of a host of other health issues. 2 WHERE MONEY DOES BUY HAPPINESS When does money buy happiness? When you give it away. According to a Wall Street Journal report, find ing joy in receiving money seems to fade, while giving it away remains strong. Researchers at the University of Chicago compared relative happiness between giv ing and getting. The participants were given $5 per day for five days and told to spend it in the same manner each day. However, some participants were told to spend the money on themselves (e.g., buying a coffee), while others were instructed to spend it on someone else (e.g., leaving a tip for a coffee). All of the participants began with similar levels of happiness. After five days, those who spent the money on them selves felt their joy diminish more with each passing day; however, those who gave the money away felt just as much joy on the fifth day as they did on the first. 3 MARRIAGE PROTECTS AGAINST SUICIDE AND DRUG DEATHS A new research study of data between 2000 and 2021 revealed a remarkable difference between single and married people in the U.S. “The nonmarried exhibit mortality rates 2 to 3 times higher in alcohol and suicide deaths and 4 to 5 times higher in drug-re lated deaths compared to the married population.” Sociologist, Rosemary Hopcroft, noted, “These results indicate that not only does marriage protect against deaths of despair, but the positive effect of marriage has been increasing over the last 20 years…. This is one more reason the decline of marriage has been catastrophic, particularly for poorly educated white men. This suggests that revitalizing marriage and supporting stable families would do as much for decreasing deaths of despair as increasing levels of education.” Statistics consistently show marriage increases “happiness and financial stability, pre dicts whether people are ‘thriving’ and say their lives have ‘meaning and purpose,’ fights loneliness, increases sexual satisfaction, increases physi cal health as well as mental health, helps children thrive, lowers crime, increases home ownership, and a host of other positive outcomes.” 4

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