‘Smoking could cause schizophrenia’ according to the Independent after research by Kings College London found daily smokers who went on to develop psychosis did so a year earlier than non-smokers, on average.
The rest of the article does note this does not prove causation, as it could be those at risk of psychosis are also more likely to smoke, but the authors say smoking should be taken seriously as a risk factor.
Dr James McCabe, clinical senior lecturer in psychosis studies at the King’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) said it smoking should not be ‘dismissed as a consequence of the illness’.
Having more trees on your street can greatly increase your sense of wellbeing and decrease reported health problems, equivalent to shaving years off your age.
The Guardian reports a survey of more than 30,000 residents of the Canadian city of Toronto, found that having ten trees on their street increased the level at which participants rated their own health, by the same level as a $10,000 increase in personal income or being seven years younger.
Study author Omid Kardan, of the University of Chicago, said the experiment had been controlled for factors that could affect health suggested the link could be both correlation and cause. Participants are healthier from reduced air pollution and stress, but healthier people also choose to live near greenery.
Over on the Daily Mail, a study has suggested that sunbathing is more dangerous than driving a car. Researchers looked at the risk of death from skin cancer versus dying in a car crash, finding that even in muggy UK there were more melanoma deaths than road traffic fatalities.
