Annoying brother or sister may break your toys, but he or she may help you when you are in trouble. A new study suggests that younger siblings might be good for your health.

Children who didn't welcome a baby brother or sister into the family before first grade had almost three times the likelihood of obesity compared with kids who experienced the birth of a sibling when they were around 3 to 4 years old, the study found.

“It is possibly because when there is a younger sibling in the family, a child might become more active—for example, running around more with their younger sibling,” said Julie Lumeng, a public health researcher at the University of Michigan.

“Maybe families are more likely to take the kids to the park when there is a younger sibling, or maybe the child is less likely to sit, watching TV, when there is a younger sibling to ask them to join more active pretend play,” she added.

Mealtimes might also be different with a second kid at the table.Parents of only child can often focus too much on what their kid eats, which can lead to bad eating habits, some previous research suggests.

“When parents use restrictive or pressure­to­eat feeding practices, children have an increased risk of being overweight,” said Jerica Berge, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.

“When a new child is introduced, parents may relax their focus on the older child's eating behaviors, making it possible for the older child to self­regulate their eating,” said Berge. “This self­regulation may lead to a healthier weight for the child with a sibling.”

For their study, Lumeng and colleagues followed 697 U．S. children from birth through age 6.However,the authors acknowledged that their study lacked objectively measured birth weights and information on events such as a divorce, a move or a job loss in the family—all of which can influence the odds of children becoming obese. For more information about this topic, please click here.

Do you always forget where you placed your keys or your purse? What was the name of the movie you saw last week? The major cause of your forgetfulness may be linked to what you store in your body, not in your short-term memory bank.

Tests continue to show that people with enough Vitamin B2 do well in memory exams. The “B” could stand for “brain”, if you’re one of many with limited instant recall. And the number one source of that vitamin is sunflower seeds.

Even when you’re sleeping or relaxing, your brain is still at work. Although it makes up just two percent of your total body weight, it uses up to 30% of the calories you take in each day. For it to work properly, it must be fed. Even if you’re not a breakfast eater, that meal is the best way to prepare your brain for the day. A quick and easy English muffin with peanut and butter in it, a glass of milk, and an orange, might be what your brain may be asking you the first thing in the morning when you feel your head is in a fog. Having sunflower seeds and fruit between meals adds more muscle to that hungry, demanding organ. Vitamin B1 also helps the memory, and that is found in eggs, meat and nuts. In Chinese culture, walnuts are known as the fruit for a long life because it is believed that they feed both the kidneys and the brain. And according to Chinese culture, if you keep those two important organs in good working order, you’ll live longer.

However forgetful you are, just keep in mind the letter “B”, which will help you to “bear in mind almost everything” even on those days when life’s challenges are sending you in a billion directions.