Using fatty foods to comfort eat during times of stress can harm the body's recovery from the pressure, research suggests.

Although many people turn to unhealthy foods such as chocolate, crisps or pastries when they are feeling the strain, researchers have found this can reduce blood flow to the brain and cause poorer vascular (血管的) function, which in turn can have a negative effect on mental health and increase the risk of heart disease. The researchers suggest people resist the attraction of convenient treats by eating fruits and vegetables instead.

Prof Jet Veldhuijzen van Zanten said, "We looked at healthy 18- to 30-year-olds for this study, and to see such a clear difference in how their bodies recover from stress when they eat fatty foods is staggering." For people who already have an increased risk of cardiovascular (心血管) disease, the impacts could be even more serious. We all deal with stress all the time, but especially for those of us in high-stress jobs and at risk of cardiovascular disease, these findings should be taken seriously. This research can help us make decisions that reduce risks rather than make them worse.

The study involved a group of young healthy adults who were given two butter bread as breakfast. The participants were then asked to do mental maths, increasing in speed for eight minutes, and alerted when they got an answer wrong. They could also see themselves on a screen.

The researchers found that consuming fatty foods when mentally stressed reduced vascular function by 

1.74%. Previous studies have shown that a 1% reduction in vascular function leads to a 13% increase in cardiovascular disease risk.

"We also know that the elasticity (弹性) of our blood tubes, which is a measure of vascular function, declines following mental stress," said the study's first author, Rosalind Baynham from the University of Birmingham.

    For decades, the message to students in the United States has been nearly the same: You need to go to college. Students have heard this message loud and clear, ever since their childhood. However, while encouraging students to further their education after high school is a noble and well-intentioned action, the current system in the United States has created some damaging side effects. 

    The largest and most well-known consequence is the student debt. Tuition and fees at four-year universities have risen by around 54% since 1999. Total student debt in the U. S. is estimated at around $1. 6 trillion, so much that even the world's richest man Jeff Bezos would have to increase his wealth by nearly nine times to pay off all of it. 

    Although the price of acquiring a bachelor's degree has gone up, the relative value of having the actual degree has been watered down by the fact that holding a degree is now an expectation, not a bonus. The poor return on investment is also evidenced by the massive waves of students earning degrees in fields where there simply are not enough jobs for the number of graduates, leaving young adults in debt and out of work. 

    The push for students to go to college has also prevented them from considering careers in important fields that don't necessarily require a four-year degree, such as construction and manufacturing. Despite the good pay and benefits in these industries, the lack of new blood has led to growing shortages of both workers and skills, causing delays and higher costs in projects like road repairs and infrastructure(基础设施) improvements. 

    Colleges and universities remain critical to our nation. But as a society, it would benefit us greatly to acknowledge that college isn't the only form of higher education and career preparation. Students and young adults have more options than they think and informing them of those opportunities can go a long way toward making higher education as a whole more effective, efficient and affordable. 

One day, I visited a shelter with my pet rabbit Soapy. No one smiled a greeting, and they appeared uninterested. One little girl in particular moved like a wisp (纤弱的小东西) in the background. I was told that she had been there for over a month and had not spoken the entire time. Her mother said she had talked at one time but not in recent memory. I didn't want to imagine what could have happened to rob this little girl of the natural curiosity and enthusiasm so natural to childhood.

Spreading a blanket on the floor, I sat down and put Soapy on it. I told the group that Soapy would come to talk to them if they sat on his blanket. Several children did this, including the silent girl. She sat rigidly at the edge of the blanket, staring hard at Soapy. She didn't reach out to him or encourage him in any way. Rather she sat tensely, just staring.

Soapy circled around and finally came to a stop about two inches from her. He quietly reached out and laid his chin on her knee. I was astonished. While a common behavior for dogs, this is not a behavior normally exhibited by a rabbit.

The girl slowly leaned toward Soapy. When her face was within inches of his, she carefully reached out and circled him with her arms. Quietly, she pillowed her head on his back and whispered to him, so softly that no one in the room could hear. Soapy remained motionless.

I looked up and noticed that the shelter workers had stopped talking. Every adult in the room froze in place. Time seemed to have stopped.

The little girl reappeared when I was to leave. I held Soapy out to her. She wrapped him in a big hug and pressed her face against him. Soapy laid his head on the child's shoulder, his breathing slowed, and his eyes closed. As the little girl released her hug and turned away, I thought I saw the beginnings of a faint smile.

The rabbit in his cloud of soft, warm fur had touched something deep in the child. Soapy's innocence and trust appeared to kindle those very same qualities in the little girl. It seems the language of the heart is simple after all.