Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.

In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus it began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.

Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea; clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?

Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children of touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist(免疫学家),encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.

People with mild cognitive impairment (轻度认知障碍), or MCI, are 30 percent more likely to reverse (扭转) symptoms if they think positively about ageing, according to a study carried out by the Yale School of Public Health.

MCI is usually considered a one-way process, but according to Professor Becca Levy, lead author of the study, that’s not the case at all. She said, “Most people assume there is no recovery from MCI, but in fact half of those who have it do recover.”

MCI is a condition which causes memory loss and difficulty in thinking clearly. Symptoms might include forgetting events, or often losing things. Other more physical symptoms such as a loss of smell or spatial perception have also been linked to MCI. It is mostly diagnosed in people over 60, and often leads to Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia (痴呆).

The study involved 1, 716 participants aged 65 and above. It was conducted over a twelve-year period between 2008 and 2020, with seven data collection waves performed every two years. Results showed that those who came to the study with MCI were 30 percent more likely to make a full recovery if they were upbeat about ageing. They were also likely to recover two years faster than those with more negative age beliefs, such as “The older I get, the more   useless I feel”. Those who came to the study without MCI were also far less likely to develop it if they felt more age-positive, regardless of their physical health or age.

Factors such as age, race and gender have previously been examined for links to recovery, but this is the first study to look at cultural factors—in this case, beliefs about ageing.

While the study definitely led to positive results, researchers still have not known exactly why. “A limitation is that we did not examine the mechanism of positive age beliefs in cognitive recovery,” says Levy.

If you feel discouraged because of your plain looking, here are some practical ways that you can rethink about your own appearance self-esteem(自尊).

Throw away conventional, media-defined ideas of beauty. 【小题1】, but you can change your own. Don’t focus on the beauty you see in ads but, instead, on the beauty you see in the real-life people you admire.

Define yourself in ways other than how you look. Make your self-esteem based on your inner, not outer qualities. Focus on what you like about your abilities, personality and perspective on the world. These almost always show improvement over time. 【小题2】.

【小题3】. Be concerned about your body’s shape; be concerned about how your body functions are. Engage in enough exercise and sensible eating to get in shape, but not to the point of trying to force yourself to follow the image of a fashion model.

Use others as a sounding board. You may think your nose is huge, but those who care about you may find the very features that bother you the most lovely. If you’re feeling that you “look funny” or “fat”, ask your nearest and dearest. 【小题4】, saying that you don’t need all that makeup or shapewear to be the person they love.

To sum up, changing our society’s views of attractiveness won’t be easy. 【小题5】, and you will eventually define your identity in terms that allow you to gain fulfillment that lasts.