Recently I read an article written by Edan Lepucki and titled "Don't Play With Your Kids. Seriously. " It makes a case for parents consciously withdrawing from their children's playtime until those children are able to play independently all the time.

According to Edan Lepucki, there are two main reasons. One is that it allows the child time and space to delve into wonderful imaginary worlds that he or she is not able to enter in quite the same way if a parent is present.

The second reason is that it gives parents a break. With everything else we do on a daily basis-feeding, cleaning, disciplining, educating, transporting, and more—it's simply too much to be expected to entertain our kids actively, as well. Lepucki describes a sense of exhaustion to which I can relate.

"The constant quarrelling was so exhausting that my husband and I didn't have the energy to play the way my son preferred. After 1 scolded him, I felt guilty and frustrated"

Adopting a no-play approach changed everything, improving both the relationship with her son and her own mental wellbeing, and it has done the same for me, with my own three children.

I have another reason for choosing this approach: It builds greater independence in children. Children play differently when adults are present. They tend to rely on adults to solve conflicts，whereas when they're on their own, they have no choice but to rise to the occasion and deal with any issue.

Lenore Skenazy, the author of "Free Range Kids", told me that when adults are present, kids act like kids, but when adults leave, kids become adults. She said, "If there's an adult there, they will take over. So adults need to step back. "

Take this as your excuse to stop playing with your kids. Know that it's perfectly OK to say no, to admit you need a break, and to encourage your children to play without you. Then sit back and observe the clever, imaginative little humans you've created at play. It's a most satisfying feeling.

In 2009 in a small town, Todd Bol came up with an idea to share his mother's love of reading with others. Bol's mother had been a teacher who had loved reading. He decided to build a wooden box and fill it with books. Bol placed the box of books on a post in his front yard with a sign that read "Free Books". Soon his neighbours noticed this tiny model of a "schoolhouse". They began taking the books and replacing them with books of their own. The tiny library allowed people the opportunity to "check out" books day or night.

Bol's friends and neighbours wanted little libraries of their own. Bol built several and gave them away. One of his friends, Rick, believed that Bol's little libraries could benefit more than just local friends and neighbours. With these ideas in mind, Bol and Rick came up with a plan to build over 2,500 Little Free Libraries around the world. They believed that books should be available to all people, no matter where they live or what their background is. To help achieve their goal, Bol and Rick created a website that provides information about the Little Free Libraries and how people can establish little libraries of their own. 

Thanks to Bol and Rick, the Little Free Libraries are encouraging people to read more. They didn't just provide books. They also helped build friendships and a sense of belonging among community members. As more and more people visited Bol's little library, they began talking with one another. They shared thoughts, ideas, and stories. They got to know one another. Everyone loved the little library. After all, as Bol says, "It's a magic box with books. People tell us all the time that they've met more people in a week than they have in a lifetime. "

Today there are more than 25,000 Little Free Libraries around the world, and they can be found on almost every continent. 

A gene variant (变体) that causes the "alcohol flush (脸红)" reaction increases the risk of heart disease by causing inflammation of blood vessels (脉管), especially in drinkers. Around 8 percent of the world's populations has a gene variant called ALDH2*2 that impairs the body's ability to break down alcohol and causes unpleasant symptoms such as flushing soon after people drink. Now, researchers have shown why this change also raises the risk of heart disease.

"We are trying to understand why ALDH2*2 is associated with a higher risk of coronary arte (冠状动脉) disease at a cellular (细胞的) level," says Hongchao Guo at Stanford University in California.

The ALDH2*2 gene encodes one version of the enzyme (酵素) alcohol dehydrogenase (脱氢酶), which breaks down the toxic acetaldehydes (乙醛) produced when alcohol is metabolized (代谢), and also mops up other harmful substances known as free radicals.

The gene variant also impairs the growth of new blood vessels. "That means that when there is a heart attack, when there is a need of blood vessel growth, carriers have less ability to generate new blood vessels," says Guo.

The team found that an existing diabetes (糖尿病) drug called empagliflozin may reduce these harmful effects in people with ALDH2*2 who drink a lot of alcohol. But for Wu, the take-home message is clear. "If you're missing this enzyme, try not to drink," he says. "If you drink consistently, you are at much higher risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer."

Given its many negative consequences, there has been debate about why this change spread and became common, today being found in more than a third of people of cast Asian origin.

"My only explanation is that if you are missing this enzyme, you tend to drink less and there's therefore less chance of you becoming alcoholic," says Wu.