If you want to travel to a unique place to see some fall leaves, you might want to visit Mt. Koya in Japan. Koyasan is home to 117 temples(寺庙). In the fall, the Japanese maple (枫树) leaves turn deep red and orange colours. Among them are the 1,200-year-old temples and halls that were designed by Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism.

Visitors to Koyasan can spend the night at a temple. For dinner there is traditional Buddhist food called shojin-ryori. In the evening you can enjoy the gardens or relax in the baths before bed. The rooms have the paper doors typical of traditional Japanese buildings, often with a garden view. If you wake up early, there is a morning prayer(祈祷) at 6 a.m. and anyone can join before heading to breakfast.

In the centre of the temples is a cemetery(墓地). As you walk on the path you’ll see a deep well. The legend says that if you can see your face clearly in the water, you will live a long life. Further on there is a special stone which they say is as heavy as your crimes. You can try to lift it with one hand to see how heavy it is!

As you pass through the cemetery you will see some small stone men wearing bibs(围裙) and hats to keep them warm in the cold air. These are called Jizo, and they stay between Earth and the afterworld. They protect travellers, pregnant women, and also young children and babies before birth, during life, and after death. The reason they wear red bibs is because of their connection with the pronunciation of baby in Japanese.

Some of the monks at the temples speak English, and there are English-speaking guides who do tours of the cemetery, so you can practise your English on your trip.

Being in green spaces and connecting with nature is good for your physical and mental health. In Japanese natural healing, forest bathing has been used to decrease stress, anxiety, and even to treat mild depression. Now, scientists have discovered that blue spaces — natural waterways — are also connected to better mental health. A population-based study found that approach to water increased positive feelings of wellbeing.

Being near water gives people a sense of awe, because it gives people a consciousness of something greater than themselves. The sounds and movement of water gets people to focus their attention — like meditation — and this invites calm, You do not have to go to the coast to experience this well-being. Any waterway will do, including lakes, rivers, canals, or ponds. Even a flowing fountain will work.

The study also found that urban waterways were superior to feelings of well-being than just being near the ocean. Canals and rivers contain not only water but also an abundance of trees and plants, which means their capacity to improvement al well-being is likely to be due to the multiple benefits associated with both green and blue spaces.

Canals and rivers also provide homes to a range of wildlife, and we know that there is a notable association between encountering wildlife and mental well-being. Taken collectively, these findings provide an evidence base for what we thought about water and well-being.

These results are very exciting for urban citizens who have access to rivers and canals. The study also found that there were continuous improvements to mental well-being for up to 24 hours after visiting urban waterways. This is all good news. The availability of spaces to be in nature — both green and blue — will help calm their anxiety, stress, and help boost mental health.

Will it matter if you don’t take your breakfast? Recently a test was given in the United States. Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83. During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast. The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast. This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains. If a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention to class.

Opposite to what many people believe, if you don’t eat breakfast, you will not lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing. You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.