It was an ordinary day. Checking out my April 8th TIME Magazine when I came across a column story titled "Happiness in the U.S. - A new low". Thought you may be interested in the brief message that was meant for us to compare with past, present and future years to see if our United States can do any better or possibly worst in some categories. In this case it deals with "Happiness" and how well each individual group of people is doing at present. So...read on. For the first time in the 12-year history of the World Happiness Report, the U.S. did not rank in the top 20 of the world's happiest countries. Of the more than 140 nations surveyed, the U.S. came in 23rd, compared with 15th last year. While the USA is still in the top 10 happiest countries for people 60 and older, its overall ranking fell because of a significant decline in the reported well-being of Americans under 30. Finland ranked at the top of the list for the seventeenth year in a row. Lithuania is the happiest country in the world if you look only at those under the age of 30, while Denmark is the happiest country for those 60 and older. So how do they do it? This was the first year the report, released March 20th, analyzed rate of happiness by age group. Said John F. Helliwell, professor at the Vancouver School of Economics and founding editor of the report: "There is a great variety among countries in the relative happiness of the younger, older, and in-between populations." So what can we do to bring back the numbers of just about every age range? Hey, you will have to give it a better try than you did this past year. I'm glad to say that I'm in the over 60 category which is in the top 10% of the countries rated, but no other age group seems to be trying to get happy!! I've searched and can't seem to find any suggestions for all of the other age groups as to what they should do to get happy! Perhaps all you need to do is "Don't Worry...Be Happy" as the song goes. Works for me...so it does. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
Another story from my April 8th TIME Magazine that can be extremely helpful and perhaps life-saving for women is a story titled "The five-minute quiz that helped catch Olivia Munn's cancer." Read it and see if it may be of any help to you or your relatives and best friends. Story went...
Actor Olivia Munn recently shared in an Instagram post that a free risk-assenment tool her doctor used revealed that she had a higher chance of developing breast cancer. It led to testing - and eventually treatment - that likely spared her from more serious outcomes. The Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool isn't new. It's been around since 1989 for women ages 35 to 74, and it doesn't even require a doctor. The online questionnaire, available through the National Cancer Institute (NCI), asks about a woman's age, her family history of breast cancer, when she began menstruating, how old she was when she had her first child (if applicable), and if she's had any breast biopsies. It then estimates her risk of getting breast cancer in five years and over the course of her life. "This calculator is a great first step that women can do on their own and discuss the results with their primary-care doctor or gynecologist," says Dr. Jennifer Litton, professor of breast medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The tool was built using data from the Breast Cancer Demonstration Project, a 1970s study of 280,000 white women, and the NCI Surveillance, Epidermiology, and End Results Program. Data from Black, Hispanic, and Asian women were added later to provide more accurate predictions for women of different races and ethnicities. While it's still less accurate for women of color, research has found that the tool is about 98% accurate in predicting disease risk. It's especially helpful for those who have a family history of breast cancer, people who don't know their genetic risk for the disease, and those who don't have major genes for breast cancer such as BRCA1 or BRCA2 - which was the case for Munn. About half a million women use it annually, according to NCI - and after Munn's post, "the Brest Cancer Risk Assessment Tool received a dramatic increase in visits," a spokesperson said. Some doctors use the questionnaire in conjunction with a slightly more comprehensive one called the Tyrer-Cuzick model, which is also free and available online. Together with regular mammograms starting around age 40, these risk assessments help doctors decide which women should get mammograms more frequently and whether they need additional tests like an MRI. Knowing a woman's risk score can lead to early detection of cancer, as it did for Munn. Yet many women aren't aware that there's a short risk quiz they can take, then discuss with their doctors. "Knowledge is power," says Dr. Larry Norton, medical director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. "The more you know about yourself, and the more you engage with medical professionals, the better you can get answers that are appropriate for you."
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