Perhaps you use your headphones to enjoy music and peace and quiet during the day. 【小题1】 1 in 5 teens will have some types of hearing loss. This is 30% higher than just 20 years before, and experts are pinning it on headphones.

In fact, headphones are not a bad thing. They can bring peace, allow for better musical enjoyment, and even protect your ears from higher decibels (分贝). 【小题2】

How long should you wear your headphones every day? The answer is, according to the World Health Organization, one hour per day. 【小题3】 But the fact is that the longer you listen, you’re going to lose your hearing sooner. To keep hearing loss from happening to you, you should follow the recommendation in place by the WHO that you keep your time with headphones on limited to one hour per day.

【小题4】 With headphones, it depends on the type you’re using and your environment. To test things out, you should take them off your ears and extend them in your hands out in front of you. If you still hear your music clearly, you need to turn them down. If you are using open-back headphones, you should try to have a conversation with someone nearby. When you’re able to carry on the conversation clearly, you’re listening at a proper volume. But do remember that never raise the volume on your listening device over 60% of the maximum!

At times, hearing loss isn’t permanent.【小题5】 It usually isn’t noticeable in the beginning. It’s not until it’s too late that most people realize that the damage has been done. The only way to know for sure is to consult your doctor.

Fast walkers may live longer than dawdlers (缓慢的人)— regardless of their weight, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Leicester University analyzed data on 474, 919 people with an average age of 52 in the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2016. They found women who walked briskly had a life expectancy of 86.7 to 87.8 years old, and men who kept up the pace had a life expectancy of 85.2 to 86.8. Slow walkers hadn’t much encouraging prospects (前景): women had a life expectancy of 72.4, and men of 64.8 years old, if they were more leisurely in their movements. According to the paper, published last week, that ratio held true even if the fast walkers were severely overweight. It does not necessarily mean fast walkers will live longer. Experts say it suggests walking speed could be a simple way for doctors to judge their patients’ general health alongside other tests.

It is hardly the first study holding up walking speed as a powerful evidence that appears to improve and determine our health.

In 2011, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study by Stephanie Studenski, who found the same: walking speed was a reliable predictor of life expectancy.

In 2013, US researchers found walking pace was linked to lower heart disease risk and longer life expectancy. In 2018, a study from the University of Sydney found picking up your walking pace to even an “average speed” could cut your risk of premature death by a fifth.

And Tom Yates, the physical activity professor at Leicester who's behind the latest study, has been publishing findings on this connection for years.

In 2017, he analyzed the same UK Biobank data and found walking speed appeared to affect the risk of dying from heart disease — concluding that the slowest walkers were twice as likely to suffer a heart-related death compared to quick walkers.

Make Your Brain Smarter

You know that eating sensible diet and getting plenty of exercise help make your body healthy and strong. But did you know that there are ways to make your brain healthier and smarter? Studies show that when the brain is forced to do something new, it creates new neural pathways. 【小题1】

◆ Limit Your TV Viewing

Watching an average TV show requires very little brain power and brings the same result as neglecting physical exercise. 【小题2】 If you watch TV informative, choose something educational and informative.

◆ Use Your Non-dominant (不占优势的) Hand

If you are right-handed, use your left hand for everyday activities, or use your right hand if you are left-handed. Doing familiar things in a new way will cause your brain to create new neural networks. Brushing our teeth is something most of us do daily. We really don’t put that much thought into it -- but maybe we should. Experts suggest that we can stimulate this right brain by changing things up and working with our non-dominant hand. So the next time you brush your teeth, open the tube, apply your toothpaste and brush with the opposite hand.

◆Shower with Your Eyes Closed

【小题3】 Even if you drop the soap -- that’s okay. Use your different senses. Searching for the soap or shampoaing while feeling the textures with your eyes closed works your brain and helps make you smarter. Using your fingers to make fine distinctions between objects or textures can rewire the brain areas involved in touch, suggests Larry katz, a professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Centre and author. This has been true for brain-imaging experiments with blind Braille readers and monkeys trained to use their fingers to get food.

◆ 【小题4】

Can playing “Chopsticks” on the piano make you smarter? Well, according to a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, it can. Kids who received at least three years of instrumental music training outperformed children without training in fine motor skills (精细运动技能), vocabulary and non-verbal- reasoning skills. Apparently, people who are better able to move to a beat show more consistent brain responses to speech than those with less rhythm. The study findings suggest that musical training might sharpen the brain’s response to language -- making you a little smarter.