Workout:

Daily Aha!

Daily Aha! You see 30 hours of TV drug advertising each year—and most of it is misleading.

Researchers reviewed 168 drug ads shown during nightly news broadcasts over three years and analyzed their content for accuracy. They found that 60 percent of the claims made in those commercials were misleading; they left out important information, exaggerated, or made meaningless assertions intended to sound clinically relevant. On top of that, 10 percent of the claims made were patently false advertising. The lesson? If you’re drawn to a drug you’ve seen on TV, do your research, talk to your doctor and take nothing for granted

Veg Diet Myth of the Day:

There's no point in trying to save animals: it's a lost cause.

BUSTED. When you look at the number of animals killed in the US each year for food (10 billion), it's easy to feel discouraged, and easier still to fall into the line of thinking that your actions couldn't possibly make a difference. Well, they can! "The less demand for meat, the fewer animals will be supplied into factory farms and slaughter plants," says Paul Shapiro, who heads up the Humane Society of the United State's factory farming campaign. "The meat industry is up in arms over campaigns like Meatless Mondays, so we know that even small reductions in consumption can make a difference." It was Mohandas Gandhi who suggested we all try to be the change we want to see in the world, so go ahead and give it a whirl!

Core Workout

Daily Aha!

Daily Aha! The Mediterranean diet improves cognitive function.

A survey of a dozen studies found that people who ate the Mediterranean way—lots of olive oil, vegetables, fruit and fish—had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and slower cognitive decline. A Mediterranean diet also lowers your risk of heart disease, and the more antioxidant-rich fruits and veggies you eat, the better your skin will look, too.

Veg Diet Myth of the Day:

In-flight meals are unpredictable enough—if I ask for veg meals, I might actually starve.

BUSTED. Ha! This one's easy. Ever notice how some people on your flight get their meals before everyone else? Those are the vegetarians (and others who ordered a special meal). The trick to avoiding hunger pangs on your next sky-high adventure is asking for the right special meal. When confirming your flight, put in your request for the Asian Vegetarian meal, so you can look forward to sautéed noodles with shiitake mushrooms and five-spice tofu. If you're feeling especially adventurous, request the Hindu Vegetarian option, and while your seatmates pick at a piece of overcooked cod, you'll be relishing your lightly spiced Aloo Gobi with a side of naan. Most airlines also offer vegan and gluten-free meals, too. Bon appétit!

Daily Aha!

Daily Aha! Anxiety affects your sense of smell.

In a recent laboratory study, researchers made participants smell a variety of odors and rate them as good, bad, or neutral. Then, they exposed them disturbing pictures and stories of war and car crashes, in order to induce anxiety. After that, they reintroduced the neutral odors. In their anxious states, the participants reported that those formerly neutral odors now smelled bad. Functional brain scans revealed that two independent brain circuits were lighting up together: one associated with smell, and one devoted to emotion. Typically, only the smell circuits are involved in odor processing, but it seems that when we’re dealing with anxiety, our emotions become intertwined with perception, darkening our view—or rather smell—of the world.