Yahoo! Answers

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It’s snowing, windy and freezing, the thought of going outside literally makes you shiver. After the holidays, everyone can’t wait for the snow to melt and the heat to rise. Why is it that when the temperature drops so does our mood?

Many people start the day in the dark and end up coming home from work in the dark. This literal darkness and lack of sunlight exposure can actually affect your mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder that affects people who normally aren’t depressed in the spring or summer months but become depressed during the autumn or winter year after year. According to Mind for a Better Health “When light hits the back of the eye (the retina), messages are passed to the part of the brain (the hypothalamus) that rules sleep, appetite, sex drive, temperature, mood and activity. If there’s not enough light, these functions are likely to slow down and gradually stop.” Your body’s biology dertermines how you react to the lack of light, some people aren’t affected at all and others are.

But most of us experience some sort of mood changes during the winter and summer months.We’re more isolated in the winter and tend to stay indoors and socialize less. We’re wearing more clothes, eating more and moving less. All these factors contribute to the winter doldrums. Think about it, as soon as the sunshine hits your face how much happier do you become? Combine that with some outdoor activities, al fresco dining, barbecues and people dressed showing more skin—it’s bound to put a smile on your face.

So, besides moving to a Caribbean island, what do you do to avoid getting into a funk in the winter? Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Guest Blogger – Ashu

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Choosing a Featured User of the month is getting harder and harder. Again, we had some great nominations so thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate someone.

Our winner this month was nominated more than once. Congrats Miraca Ereshi!

Miraca has only been around since April 2012, but already her presence has been felt. Let’s meet Miraca who is a Top Contributor in Special Education.

Savannah, Georgia

“My name is Miraca Ereshi and I am from Savannah, Georgia. Back when I lived in Savannah, I used to visit a park called “Forsythe Park Fountain” where I would make wishes about my grandmother becoming healthier during her significant battle with cancer. I would throw pennies in the wishing well.”

Wishing well at Forsythe Park Fountain: Courtesy of Miraca

Dyscalculia

“I have dyscalculia (a math learning disability). I had a significant academic delay in mathematics. I was accused of being lazy and not dependent enough to accept the help I was getting, which wasn’t true. I was getting straight U’s in mathematics all my life until my parents finally decided to seek help for my math differences.”

“I got evaluated and was diagnosed with Dyscalculia. Dyscalculia is very similar to “math dyslexia” except they visualize numbers a little different and more significant than dyslexia. So then a special education teacher accommodated me for two straight years in Algebra and Geometry. I couldn’t even tell time until the end of 10th grade.”

“My parents made me count everything. I had to count how much cereal (which sounds silly but helped a lot), count buttons on my cable remote, and I had to calculate prices when going to the store. At the end of 10th grade, I improved. My counting skills have gotten better, but I still have Dyscalculia and continue to battle with it.”

Miraca's inspiration...Albert Einstein

Autism

“I am now in college majoring in special education and psychology. I have a high functioning autistic cousin, which is how I gained interest in the special education field. I also volunteered in a deaf and hard of hearing classroom at the ages of 15-16, where they also taught me plenty of sign language. I have worked with autistic children at Wisconsin Easter Seals for a summer.”

“Autism is such a broad spectrum, where it covers people from the non-verbal level to high functioning. A person could be severely disabled or very high functioning. They have such unique abilities. Many people with Autism might find it hard to make small talk, but that’s a blessing and a curse. The blessing is the way they give detailed information about their obsessive topics is so unique. They could focus on something for more than two hours without being distracted. Us neurotypicals can’t even do that. That’s why sometimes I wish that I had the obsessive qualities of people with autism.”

“People with autism have neurological differences, were there’s differences in social development. That’s a curse, but can be a gift. I teach individuals on Yahoo Answers! about their disabilities and how to cope with it. I tell them to make the best out of it. It’s not easy, but everyone has their differences in life. You just have to accept the help your receiving and try to gain the appropriate coping skills. I just love topics about autism. I could go on and on about autism.”

Yahoo! Answers and Miraca

“Yahoo! Answers has taught me to take criticism wherever I go. There are times were users would thumb my answers down and I would get upset. I have learned that there will always be disagreements. That’s one advantage of being on Yahoo! Answers. There would be some users who would email me rude messages because they hated the answer I gave. I have learned not to comment on other users questions if they can’t take constructive criticism.”

“I love everyone on Yahoo Answers. And it has been a great experience so far. I want to thank everyone for the support in reaching out to the community.”

“I hope to become a teacher or a psychiatrist for special needs individuals. I am a huge advocate for special education.”

Thanks for reading my story!

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As many of you already know, we have something called the “Best of Answers” module. This rotating module is featured on our Answers Homepage and it showcases our blog, product updates, question of the day and of course, the best of answers that we come across on Answers!

Usually the best of answers portion are resolved questions suggested by our community, but we decided to try something new for 2013! Instead of featuring closed questions, we have decided to feature open-ended questions.

But don’t worry…

We know that each day, each of you, come across some interesting, quirky, and fantastic questions that need ANSWERS! So we still want our community to suggest some great topics/questions. The module will be handpicked by you.

What are the rules?

No questions containing profanity, obscenity, relating to sex, alcohol, etc.
Questions must follow the Community Guidelines
Question should be relatively free from typos and grammatical errors
Yes, you can send us more than one

What happens if my question is picked?

If we select your open question and feature it in the “Best of Answers” module, we’ll award you 100 extra points on Answers.

Where do I submit my questions?

Submit your questions to us via email at: y_answrs_favorites@yahoo.com with the subject line: BoA – Open Question. Please make sure to send the link to the open question!

If we select your question, we’ll send you an email notifying you that your question has been selected and you should see the bonus points in your account shortly.

Thanks for reading,

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Hey Guys,

Food has a habit of falling on the floor (stupid gravity). The question then becomes: To eat or not to eat? Is there any truth to the adage that food that’s been on the floor for five seconds or less is safe to scarf?

According to legend, the idea originated with none other than Genghis Khan. According to The Citizen, historians have traced the maxim to the great military leader. Back then, it was known as the Khan Rule and it was a bit more liberal.

During post-victory banquets, Khan supposedly would declare that if food fell on the floor, it could stay there for 12 hours. Any longer than that, and you risked death.

Of course, that’s just a legend. Whether Khan actually had such a rule is anybody’s guess. What we do know is that the five-second rule (let alone the 12 hour rule) doesn’t make much sense. Snopes.com explains that researchers have done experiments and found that the amount of time a piece of food is on the floor really makes no difference. If the floor is dirty, so is the food.

“Bacteria and viruses grab on by contact, and even brief encounters of the split-second variety can be more than enough for them to claim a new home address. They harbor no respect for a time barrier of a specific number of seconds.”
Of course, a little bit of bacteria isn’t gonna hurt (well, probably not), but if the floor isn’t very clean, you’re probably better off tossing the food and starting again.

Thanks for reading,

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**Secret Revealed**

Winter hat, stocking cap, beanie or toque; whatever you call it, it keeps your head warm. But, it doesn’t necessarily keep you warm.

An old US Army survival manual suggested wearing a hat since “40 to 45 percent of body heat” is lost through your head. This recommendation is thought to have come from a military experiment over 60 years ago when participants were dressed from neck to toe in Arctic clothing, but no headwear. Over time, this has snowballed into “most” heat is lost through our heads.

Where you lose heat comes down to what is exposed or poorly insulated. If you’ve worn shorts on a day that was way too cold to wear shorts, you know how quickly you can get cold when half your body is exposed. I know I could last longer on a cold day without a hat than wearing shorts.

Some areas of your body are more sensitive to temperature changes, including your head, face and chest. Protecting these areas will make a big difference in comfort even though it may not have as big an impact on actual heat loss compared to properly insulating all other areas of your body.

New studies in body performance show that less than 20 – 30% of heat loss is from the head, depending on environmental temperature. In extreme cold, this 20 – 30% could make a significant difference, so don’t skip the hat.

Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.

Thanks for reading,

Sources: healthline.com, guardian.co.uk, bmj

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