Why are British Women the Fattest in Europe?

Statistics indicate that of all the European nations, Britain is the one with the highest proportion of obese women. Between 2008 and 2009 23.9 per cent of British women were classed as obese, ahead of Malta with 21.1 per cent. Romania is at the bottom of the table, with 8 per cent of the female population classed as obese. Clearly, there is a significant difference between the nations with the highest proportion of obese females compared to the lowest and there surely has to be a reason why so many British women are obese.

For a start, Britain has a culture more akin to that of America than of continental Europe. Britons work the longest hours and have the shortest holidays and so they don't spend as much time looking after themselves as they should. Women are encouraged to find work, which many do willingly. However, it can be difficult to find decent childcare and for women to balance work and family life. When so many women are working full-time, looking after the children and keeping the home tidy, they generally don't have as much time to implement strategies that help with weight management.

Consequently, many British women fail to make the right dietary choices. In many European nations, there seems to be a more laid-back attitude towards eating and drinking. In Italy and France, people take time to prepare balanced meals and to enjoy what they're eating. Quite often, in Britain, women will simply eat something that is quick to prepare and doesn't take long to eat. They grab packaged sandwiches that they can eat during their lunch break, and pay little attention to the high-calorie content. They may snack on junk food to take away the hunger pangs as well.

They may not bother to cook meals from scratch, as it is more convenient and less time-consuming to heat up a microwaveable meal or pick up some fast food on the way home. Plus, women's eating habits are often influenced by their emotions. With British women working long hours and struggling to make time for their family; stress, anxiety and depression can be an issue. British women may turn to food or alcohol to lift their spirits, but if they regularly eat huge quantities of chocolate and drink large glasses of wine they will end up consuming an excess number of calories.

This is especially true when so many British women are failing to do enough exercise. Most people have come to depend on their cars to get to work, to take their children to school and to do the shopping. Thus, they are walking less, whilst not taking up any other activities that would enable them to burn more calories. It may be that British women cannot find the time to join a gym or cycle more, but there are plenty of instances where they simply can't be bothered. For these women, the incentive to remain slim and toned is not enough to make the prospect of working up a sweat any more appealing.

Obesity is an issue for most nations within Europe, but it is apparent that the situation is particularly bad in Britain. Unfortunately, many British women eat a poor diet, rarely exercise and fail to get enough sleep. Clearly, the majority of obese women are not happy about the situation, which is why so much money is spent on weight-loss products in Britain, but without lifestyle changes and a healthier attitude towards diet and exercise it is impossible to see how the obesity problem is going to be resolved.

The Difference Between a Good Article and a Bad One

The Internet is a wonderful invention, allowing users from all over the world to share their experiences and thoughts with others. There are plenty of sites where you can write to express yourself or offer your advice and tips, as well make some money. Unfortunately, it is the potential to make money which sometimes affects the quality of people's writing. Instead of taking the time to construct well-thought-out articles, some individuals simply churn out as many articles as they can in a short space of time. When you read these kinds of articles, you can usually tell.

Firstly, they may not make any sense and they tend to contain lots of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. You might come across an article title that intrigues you, so that you click on it expecting to learn something, only to be disappointed. Since there are people out there who write purely to make a profit, not everyone cares about the standard of work they put out. Consequently, they write an article that contains as few words as they can get away with writing and usually what they do write is fluff. There are many 'how to' articles, for instance, that suggest they will tell you how to do something that don't actually tell you anything you didn't already know.

After reading a good article, on the other hand, you usually come away more knowledgeable on a topic than you were beforehand. The article is well-constructed, with an introduction, a number of paragraphs that examine the topic more thoroughly and a conclusion and it will usually draw upon evidence or examples. This gives you more confidence in what you're reading, because when a statement is backed up with evidence, you can check it out for yourself, usually by clicking on a link. Sometimes, when you read an article that isn't particularly good, you simply get a lot of opinion without anything to balance it out.

Opinion isn't always a negative thing, but too often writers try to present their articles as objective and comprehensive, without being either of those things. A good article at least explores the possibility that there are different points of view out there. An article doesn't necessarily have to be informative to be a good read, though, as there are plenty of articles which don't reveal any particularly earth-shattering facts or information, but are entertaining enough to make you want to keep reading. It's like weight-loss articles – they pretty much all say the same thing, yet some are funny or make you look at it in a different way and so they continue to attract readers.

Of course, it is much easier to be a critic of articles than it is to actually create good articles yourself. The only way you can improve your articles is by writing them. The chances are that not all of your articles will be astoundingly good, but the more articles you write, the better you will become at researching and writing your articles. It also helps to have a passion for the subjects you write about. If you get some enjoyment out of what you are writing, it is much easier to craft an article that others will want to read. If you consistently write good articles, you will find that readers keep coming back for more, and so you won't have to keep churning out out as many articles as you possibly can to make writing profitable.

Why Are Politicians so Out of Touch with the Real World?

Politicians seem to be extremely out of touch with the people who elected them. They don't have to worry about losing their job – at least not for the duration of a parliament – and even if they are not re-elected they usually end up with a cushy job on a company board somewhere. They are paid a significant sum of money to represent the interests of the people who voted them in; to defend the vulnerable and promote policies which will benefit the whole country. How often does this happen, though? Not very often, it would appear.

The trouble is that politicians live in their own little bubble, surrounded by political acolytes and cronies who tell them what they want to hear. Usually, politicians come from privileged backgrounds that gained them access into the higher echelons of society. They may have been sent to private school before heading on to a prestigious university, such as Oxford or Cambridge. It is in these institutions that politicians usually start to make a name for themselves, getting involved in student debates and making acquaintances who will later become political allies or enemies.

Students in well-established universities are often able to make connections that will prove to be extremely useful when they are trying to forge a career. They may get involved in public relations or take a job assisting a politician and work their way up from there. Often, they will work for a politician without being paid for it, and so it helps to have money in the first place. Clearly, it is difficult for someone from a working-class background to be able to work for nothing just to get a foot in the door. Thus, the political landscape ends up being dominated by a small, select group of white, middle-class men.

Most of the people who end up as politicians have never had to struggle to get where they are, as they have always had everything handed to them on a plate. They may have some degree of intelligence, although there are instances where individuals get into university based on their family connections rather than on any innate ability. Even those that do have a few brain cells may not always turn out to be a particularly good politician. They have no experience of the real world, and so how can they formulate legislation that reflects the concerns of ordinary people? They end up obsessed with what business leaders think and how they are presented in the media, rather than the likely impact of their actions on society at large.

Privileged elites end up shaping and sometimes transforming a country without necessarily being able to relate the concerns of ordinary people. Politicians often come across as complacent, because generally they don't really care what happens to the country. They've already made a name for themselves and will have no difficulties getting a job even if they lose the next election, and it will no doubt be a job that pays well. What difference does it make to them if there are people leaving in poverty who have very few chances to improve their lives?

Even the very few politicians who come from less privileged backgrounds and have had to make it the hard way soon become part of the system. Instead of challenging the unfairness of the system and the disparity of wealth within the country, they soon find themselves enjoying their high salary and extra perks they get. All politicians are shielded from the realities of life. Usually, they have no idea of what it is to work hard, even though they usually maintain that they work all the hours god sends and do a good job. If their job is really so difficult and thankless, why on earth were they so keen to get into politics in the first place? Clearly, there must be some advantages of being a politician, particularly when it comes to the financial side of the job.

Dangers of Letting Your Weight Get Out of Control

If you are so heavy that you are classed as morbidly obese and have begun to develop health problems as a result of your size, it is evident that your weight is out of control. You probably never meant to put on so much weight, but found yourself on a downward spiral of eating and gaining weight. The heavier you became, the more you turned to food for comfort and when this happens it becomes harder to imagine the situation ever changing. You're carrying so much extra weight that it may take years to reach your goal weight, a prospect which makes finding the motivation to lose weight even harder.

Unfortunately, if you fail to tackle your weight you could run into serious problems. As you get heavier it becomes harder to do the normal everyday things that people who are a healthy weight take for granted. When you're substantially overweight, it can be extremely difficult to go for a walk, for instance. Walking is one of the easiest activities there is, but this is not the case when you're carrying too much weight. You may find that you are left out of breath after taking only a few steps and that there is so much pressure on your joints that you are in pain and have to sit down after covering only a few metres.

When you can't even do a basic form of exercise, such as walking, the chances are your weight problem is only going to get worse, since you end up burning even fewer calories. Clearly, if you burn fewer calories but continue to eat a high-calorie diet, the result will be continuing weight gain. It is not only exercise which can become difficult when your weight is out of control, as it can also affect your confidence, particularly in social situation. As an overweight individual, you can find yourself a target for abuse, as individuals shout nasty remarks at you regarding your weight. This can make you less inclined to leave the house.

Not only do you have to contend with bullying when you are overweight, though, as you may discover it is harder to carry out ordinary, everyday activities such as going to the cinema or shopping for clothes. When you're extremely heavy, you may not be able to fit into seats that are designed to accommodate a slimmer person and you may find yourself in an embarrassing situation that makes you want to leave. Going shopping for clothes can be equally traumatic, especially if you are with friends who are much slimmer than you are, and you can only find clothes that fit you in specialist plus-size stores.

The most dangerous aspect of letting your weight get out of control is the implications for your health. If you allow yourself to gain too much weight, you could find yourself diagnosed with a range of health conditions such as sleep apnoea, diabetes and arthritis. Your heart is under a great deal of pressure when you're overweight and your organs are likely to be covered in fat, so that you are at a higher risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke than someone of a healthy weight. Being overweight – especially when you are so overweight that you are considered to be morbidly obese – certainly does your health no favours and you could be shortening your life.

Thus, if you're a few pounds overweight it is worth trying to do something to lose the extra weight before it becomes a significant problem, and if you're extremely overweight you need to find the motivation to start trying to lose weight. You have to tell yourself that it's not too late, because it isn't. Although there is a long road ahead of you, it is possible for you to lose weight so that your health improves and you can enjoy life once again without having to worry about your size.

Deciding What to Study at University

There are so many subjects to choose from when considering what to study at university that you can easily become overwhelmed. When you're at school, there are far fewer options in relation to the subjects you are able to study, which makes life much easier. However, the whole purpose of a degree is to learn about a subject in greater depth and so you have to specialise. You need to determine which subjects actually interest you and what you are good at, so that you have a better chance of making the right choice for you. If you decide to take a subject without first doing some research into what you will actually be studying, you may end up disappointed.

If you get stuck taking a course that doesn't challenge you or which you find to be extremely boring, this will be reflected in your grades. You may end up skipping lectures and failing to hand in essays on time, before eventually quitting. It is your money that you are wasting at the end of the day. Going to university gives you an opportunity to increase your understanding of the world and to open up many more opportunities to you when it comes to choosing a career. Employers want to know that they are hiring someone who is intelligent and can work hard, which getting a good degree seems to suggest.

To choose the right course for you, it helps to start looking at universities and university courses early on, so that you are not rushed into making a decision that turns out to be the wrong one. You will find that different universities offer different subjects and even the same subject can have a different focus. If you want to study History, for instance, you may discover that at one university the emphasis is on ancient history, whilst at another university the course is geared more towards modern history. You therefore need to look through a variety of prospectuses and perhaps even visit a few universities so that you can ask any questions you may have.

Obviously, before visiting universities it is helpful to narrow down the subjects you think you would like to study. Even if there is no single subject that stands out as being your favourite, there are bound to be some subjects you find to be more enjoyable than others. It is also worth considering your abilities. If you excel in essay-based subjects, but struggle when it comes to mathematical calculations, you may be better of going for an arts or humanities degree, rather than a science or mathematics course. If you're good at everything, then it is really up to you.

If you're struggling to reach a decision, it might be worth considering your employment opportunities after finishing your degree. Some courses will almost guarantee you a job after graduation, particularly those which provide you with specialist skills that are in high demand. If you have a degree that has provided you with skills that relatively few other people possess, you will clearly be in a better position to enter your chosen profession. Thus, engineering and technology courses are usually a safe bet.

However, even if there is a great deal of competition for careers that relate to your ideal university course, you shouldn't let this put you off if you really want to study a particular subject. Even if studying Drama will not guarantee that you end up as a famous actor, you will still come away with invaluable experiences that will help you in the workplace. At least if you enjoy your subject, you will have a better chance of achieving high grades, which is something that employers bear in mind when looking to employ someone.

Ultimately, any kind of university degree is better than none at all, but seeing as though you will spend three or four years of your life studying, it makes sense to take some time to ascertain which course is right for you. You may choose a degree that leads directly to a particular career, or you may not be ready to decide which career you intend to pursue, but either way you will learn about a subject in greater depth and acquire a range of skills that will help you in the workplace.

Accepting it is Within Your Power to Lose Weight

It is understandable why you may be pessimistic about your chances of losing weight and keeping it off when you consider how many other people fail to reach their weight-loss goals. However, you shouldn't let this put you off trying to do something about your weight when failing to take action could result in you continuing to pile on the pounds. It might be hard to stay positive all the time and sometimes you may feel that you have absolutely no control over your eating and that you're always going to be fat. The reality, however, is that you do have the power to lose weight!

You simply have to change how you approach weight loss. If you tell yourself you're going on a diet and joining a gym that you're going to use every day, you may struggle to succeed, because this is so alien to you. Instead of trying to abruptly change your routine, you may find it easier if you alter some of the habits you already have, so that you continue losing weight in the long run. If you put yourself on a very-low calorie diet and try to do lots of exercise, you will constantly feel as though you have very little energy and you may pick up coughs and colds frequently, as well as injuries.

Consequently, it won't be too long before you're back to eating high-calorie foods and spending too much time in front of the television. When you regain the weight you lost you can become convinced that you're just one of those people who is going to be overweight forever. You are despondent about being overweight and it is hard to find the motivation to tackle your weight again when you believe that you're going to end up just as heavier, if not heavier, than before trying to lose weight. Clearly, yo-yo dieting is far from ideal, which is why you have to aim for sustainable weight loss.

Rather than trying to transform your eating and exercise habits overnight, you can take simple steps that are easy to implement. Thus, for instance, you should try to eat regularly to ensure you don't end up bingeing on food because you're extremely hungry; you have to reduce your portion sizes at meal times and try not to eat too many snacks – especially if you have a habit of reaching for junk food. It is also worth increasing your activity levels, but you don't necessarily have to join a gym to reap the benefits of exercise. Deciding to walk or cycle to work is a start and as you lose weight and become fitter, you may find yourself actually wanting to take up a sport or join a gym.

When you're overweight and have been struggling with your weight for a long time, it is easy to lose faith in your ability do something about it. However, the reality of the situation is that you do have the power to lose weight, as long as you are prepared to make some changes to your lifestyle and to be patient. The results you want will come eventually.

The Importance of Acknowledging That You Need to Lose Weight

If you're overweight and heading towards the obese category (according to your Body Mass Index), it is important to acknowledge that you could do with losing some weight. If you continually avoid the issue of your weight, preferring to tell yourself that you're merely curvy and that men love women with a bit of meat on their bones, you are just storing up problems for later on. Even if you have high self-esteem and are confident about the way you look, there is no getting away from the fact that the heavier you are, the greater the health risks. It therefore makes sense to lose weight before you encounter any serious problems.

Of course, it is tempting to simply ignore the extra weight you're carrying, because tackling your weight head-on can be a challenge. You try to tell yourself that you don't actually look that bad and that you could easily do something about your weight if you really wanted to. However, you know how much effort you have to put into losing weight and most of the time you just can't be bothered, especially when your husband tells you that he finds you attractive whatever your size. Unfortunately, if your bad habits get worse, you could continue to put on weight.

As you get heavier it becomes increasingly difficult to like what you see when you stand in front of the mirror. All you are able to focus on is the extra folds of skin and lumps of fat. You might have difficulty finding clothes that fit and even when you do, they may not look as good on you as you would like them to. It is not only about how you look, though, as you may also start to encounter health problems. You may feel as though you have very little energy and experience knee and back pain because of the extra weight you're carrying. If you continue down this path, it could become extremely hard to lead your normal life, which will, no doubt, affect your confidence.

You therefore have to acknowledge that it is time you lost weight, so that you can avoid getting so heavy that you rarely leave the house because you either can't stand other people staring at you and the embarrassment this causes or because you are physically unable to move yourself. Acknowledging that you need to lose weight is only the first step to getting you back on the right track in terms of your health, but at least it is a positive one. It is certainly better than pretending that your weight isn't an issue, especially if you seem to be unable to stop gaining weight, because even if your weight isn't a problem now, it could soon become one.

Staying Slim in a World of Temptation

It isn't always easy to stay slim when you live in a world full of temptation. The trouble is that you have so much choice when it comes to the food you eat that you can find yourself overwhelmed. Instead of making an effort to control your calorie intake, you simply opt for the foods you find to be the tastiest or most convenient. You don't necessarily consider the implications of not bothering to calorie count, but eventually you will come to realise that the only way to stay slim is to control your eating, rather than letting food dominate your life.

You obviously have to eat to live and so you cannot avoid food completely, but you can make more sensible choices that should help you keep your weight down. Yet, when the choice is between an apple and a bar of chocolate you may be inclined to take the least healthy option. Chocolate comes in a nice, shiny wrapper; you've seen the adverts that make it look so seductive and enticing; you've tasted it before and it produces an endorphin rush that you don't get from eating fruit. Even when the healthy option is cheaper, habit and a love of junk food can affect your decision.

You don't have to go without calorific treats to stay slim, though; you just have to ensure you get the right calorie balance. It is still possible to eat chips, pizza, burgers and other high-calorie foods, but these are the kinds of foods you should try to limit your intake of. You can still enjoy fast food, but ideally you shouldn't have it every night. You don't have to be 'good' all the time, but it becomes much easier to control your weight if you eat a balanced diet most of the time and enjoy the occasional treat.

When it comes to smaller calorific options, such as a medium-sized bar of chocolate, you may be able to get away with having one a day, but that is only if you make an effort to manage your calories the rest of the time. If you eat sensible meals during the day, you should feel free to treat yourself to something a little bit naughty. To ensure that you don't exceed your calorie needs, though, you could always do some exercise. By keeping active you will be able to burn more calories, so that you won't have to worry as much as about the implications of giving into temptation.

Temptation appears to be everywhere when you're trying to stay slim, and especially when you enjoy your food! All this temptation can make it a challenge for you to take the right decisions, even though you realise that if you don't you could find yourself gaining weight. It isn't necessarily a bad thing to give into temptation now and again, since telling yourself that you're not allowed a particular type of food can actually make it more desirable, so that you binge on it! It is therefore important not to become too obsessed with avoiding all temptation and simply focus on getting the right balance when it comes to your diet and the amount of exercise you do.

Where to Find Inspiration for Your Articles

As a writer, you tend to draw inspiration from anything and everything you encounter in your day-to-day life. Obviously, certain areas and topics interest you more than others and it is generally these that you will find yourself writing about. After all, it is much easier to find the motivation to write and to create an interesting and informative article if you actually have a passion for what you're writing about. However, sometimes you can develop a passion for a topic when you start to do some research and this can help you produce high-quality articles, too.

Being a writer generally means you are influenced by the literature you read, from novels to magazine articles to online blogs. To stand out and actually have your articles read, especially as an online writer, it helps to write something original and unique. Therefore, if you're going to find inspiration from other people's work you have to put a different spin on it and find your own voice. If you read an article that puts forward an argument you completely disagree with, it is up to you to craft your own argument and convince readers that you are right.

It is important to be open-minded as a writer, as otherwise you could become closed to new and exciting ideas. If you pay attention to what is going on in the world around you – in politics, economics, culture, entertainment and sports – you will obviously have a great deal more to write about than if you tell yourself you're only going to write about technology. That is not to say you cannot specialise in a particular area, but if you want to appeal to a wide range of readers, it helps to be able to draw on a range of different examples and experiences.

There are many websites that can offer you a useful starting place when trying to come up with ideas for your articles. You may decide to go to one of the many online news sites and look for inspiration there or trawl through the thousands of forums that bring together people from all over the world, each focusing on a particular issue or range of issues. You can even interact with people on these sites and find out more about a particular hobby, health condition or event. There are also keyword sites which may be able to help you create article titles.

Inspiration can come from a variety of sources when you're a writer – whether from your own experiences or from something you've heard or read about and researched – which is why there will never be a shortage of topics to write about. Once you have found a range of topics that particularly interest you, you may decide to stick to writing about them in order to appeal to your readership who have come to associate you with the informative articles you produce on these topics. As long as you enjoy what you're writing, this will come across in your articles and ensure that people keep on reading what you write.

Why do People Let Themselves Get so Heavy?

As people get heavier, society's idea of what constitutes a 'normal' weight changes. When you're surrounded by overweight individuals, it is easier to remain ignorant of your own weight situation than to face up to it. If you're about the same size as everyone else and they are not worried about their weight, why should you worry about yours? Unfortunately, if you fail to recognise that you're overweight and you continue to eat too much, the weight will continue to pile on and you could find that your weight affects your everyday life to the extent you can no longer ignore it.

Whenever you see a super-sized individual walking down the street or as the subject of a documentary you can't help but wonder how they let themselves get so heavy. You might be able to understand how a person can become slightly chunky, but when they are so heavy that they cannot even leave the house you start to question why they didn't do something about their weight sooner. Anyone can find themselves in that position, but you simply cannot imagine allowing yourself to get that heavy, as you would surely do something about it before it reached such a stage.

Yet, if you're carrying a few extra pounds and you continue to lead the lifestyle that has caused you to gain too much weight, when exactly will be the right time for you to tackle your weight? At the end of the day, losing weight is tough and so it is much more convenient to put it off, especially when you have lost a few pounds in the past only to gain more back. Nobody wants to gain so much weight that they put their health at risk, but facing up to the problem can be a challenge, particularly if you already have a lot of weight to lose. Sometimes, it is just easier to bury your head in the sand.

Many people do not realise that they are overweight because wider society is getting fatter or they accept that they are overweight, but have no idea by how much. Society is having to change to accommodate overweight individuals, so that there is less incentive for people to lose weight. Even though the majority of overweight people would love to be lighter for the sake of their appearance, confidence and health, the benefits of losing weight do not make the weight-loss process any easier.

To lose weight and keep it off, you have to change the habits of a lifetime, which is always going to be a struggle. If you come from a family of overweight individuals and have lots of overweight friends, they may tell you that you don't have a problem, which it is reassuring to hear, even though this makes you more inclined to avoid changing anything. Nobody wants to end up stuck in the house, fearing for their life every time they go to sleep because they are so heavy, though, which is why more should be done to tackle a weight problem early on.

Why Fad Diets Cause More Harm Than Good

You might think that going on a diet is the solution to all your weight problems, but the chances are dieting will do very little to solve anything. Indeed, the chances are you will quickly get stuck in a cycle of losing and gaining weight, as your body is forced to adjust to your ever-changing calorie intake. Although it may not be particularly healthy to be overweight, it isn't exactly healthy to starve yourself for weeks at a time or binge on huge quantities of food after having deprived yourself, either. To lose weight and keep it off requires a certain amount of balance in your life.

You therefore have to look at making sensible lifestyle changes that will put you in control of your calorie intake, without you becoming obsessed with weight loss. Fad diets have an addictive quality because when you stick to them you can lose a substantial amount of weight in a very short space of time. It keeps you motivated to be able to look in the mirror or stand on the scales and see a noticeable difference. However, you also have to bear in mind that a lot of the weight you have lost will have come from water and muscle mass.

Consequently, as soon as you revert back to your normal diet, you will pile on the pounds again. It isn't healthy to continually lose and gain weight, as you often end up heavier than you were before going on a diet. After starving yourself, your body wants to hold on to any extra calories you feed it and you generally find that losing weight becomes harder. Not only is it physically harder, as it can also be difficult mentally to motivate yourself when you know that you have lost weight in the past but failed to keep it off.

Fad diets may appeal to you because you are able to lose weight quickly, but you can't usually follow these diets for very long without compromising your immune system. If you're not getting the right balance of nutrients, you may find yourself feeling tired and ill all the time, which is hardly the best way to spend weeks or months of your life. That is why you should concentrate on improving your overall health through gradual weight loss, rather than becoming preoccupied with losing weight as rapidly as possible, when the likelihood is that you will only fail when it comes to weight maintenance, anyway.

Losing weight often gives you an emotional boost, as your confidence grows when you can see a difference and when other people start to compliment you, but if you go on a diet to achieve this weight loss there is always a danger you will struggle with weight maintenance. What follows will be feelings of embarrassment, shame, disappointment and frustration. You feel down about yourself and the temptation is there to eat in order to cheer yourself up and so you find yourself on a downward spiral.

If you're serious about losing weight so that you never have to go through the weight-loss process again, you have to approach it sensibly, rather than turning to fad diets. Fad diets may help you lose weight quickly, but in most cases you are just wasting your time because you don't come away from these diets prepared for what you need to do to keep the weight off. You usually end up heavier and more miserable afterwards, and so you may as well have not bothered.

Why is Childhood Obesity on the Increase?

The main reason for the increase in childhood obesity is the fact that more and more children are consuming an excessive number of calories. Time-constrained parents are feeding their children on calorific junk food and failing to encourage them to exercise. These children grow up thinking it is normal to eat whenever they feel like and sit around playing computer games all the time so that, unsurprisingly, many of these obese children turn into obese adults. This has serious implications for the obese individuals concerned and for society at large, which is why there is so much concern about rising obesity levels throughout the world.

It might be tempting to say that child obesity is on the increase because health professionals have just got better at measuring it. In the past, nobody even knew what was meant by Body Mass Index (BMI) let alone knew what their actual BMI was. Nowadays, most people are aware that their BMI determines whether they are overweight or not by taking into account their weight in relation to their height. Consequently, this measure is often used to determine whether children are overweight, and in some cases schools will regularly weigh their students and provide a report for parents, telling them whether their children need to lose weight or not.

It is obviously impossible to determine the exact number of obese children on the planet, but there is no getting away from the fact that however weight has been measured over the years, a growing number of children are developing health problems because of their weight. There are obese children who are developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes because their poor lifestyle choices have caused them to put on so much weight that it is affecting their whole body. Thus, it is not only that obese children have a good chance of turning into obese adults that is a cause for concern, when young children are already developing health problems because of their weight.

Although parents obviously don't want to see their children developing a weight problem, it is sometimes hard to say no, especially when many parents are themselves trying to lose weight. There are many parents who are not able to spend as much time with their children as they would like and so it is not only a case of feeding their children quick and easy-to-prepare meals; they 'treat' their children to junk food, which eases some of their parental guilt. As far as exercise goes, many parents are anxious about letting their children play by themselves, whilst having no time or inclination to accompany their children outdoors either.

It is therefore evident that parents have a key role to play in tackling childhood obesity, since it is they who feed their children and who are their main role models. Of course, living in a society where there is so much pressure on parents to work long hours in order to provide a comfortable lifestyle for their family certainly doesn't help the situation. Parents are often in a difficult position, because they can't afford not to work or to cut back on work, even though this means they have less time to be with their children and to encourage their children to make the kind of choices that will ensure they remain slim and avoid developing weight-related health issues.

The Difficulties of Making Friends as an Adult

It seems so much easier to make friends when you're a youngster. For a start, when you go to school there are lots of children the same age as you and you all have similar interests and experiences. You are less likely to pass negative judgement someone when you're just a kid, but that all begins to change as you get older. First, you have to deal with secondary school, where teenagers are less tolerant of difference than children. The likelihood is that you will encounter bullying at some point and this may influence how you feel about yourself and your inclination to socialise.

It is during adolescence that you form your own opinions and start to decide what interests you and what you enjoy. You can then work on finding a group of friends who you have something in common with and whose company you appreciate. This continues for as long as you remain within the education system. If you go to university, you have the perfect opportunity to meet people from all over the world and to further develop your own sense of self. Making friends isn't too difficult when you're all studying in the same place and are able to relate to each other.

It is usually when you enter the world of work that making friends can become more problematic. Even though you may get along with your colleagues, often the relationship you have with these people does not extend to after working hours. Friends are the people you turn to when in difficulty and in need of support, something which you are unlikely to do with someone who you are in competition with in the workplace. If your job is stressing you out and there is a promotion on the horizon, you are hardly likely to alert someone who is up for the same job, are you?

It is even more challenging to make friends if you work from home, because if you don't leave the house when are you ever going to meet people? You may be able to establish a few online friendships, but they are not quite the same as the real thing. You have to get out of the house and join various clubs and societies so that you actually have people to talk to. However, you may discover that apart from cycling or running or dancing, depending on what kind of groups you decide to get involved in, you have very little in common with other members.

If you're in your twenties or thirties and single and all the people you encounter in your day-to-day life are middle-aged and married, you may have difficulty to relating to their experiences, whilst you can't really understand where young people are coming from either. As you get older and have children, you may find that you meet other parents at the school gates and that you develop a few friendships with them, but sometimes it can feel as though there is a competition going on. Mothers who turn up to the school dressed to the nines with their perfect children may appear to be everyone's friend, when actually people frequently criticise them behind their back.

There are always potential opportunities to make friends, however young or old you are, though generally you find that as an adult it becomes harder to find people whose company you actually want to spend time in. You become more aware of what interests you and what your beliefs are, and you may be reluctant to waste time listening to other people's opinions and opening yourself up to new friendships.

The Benefits of Being Attractive

Given the choice, most people would prefer to be attractive than to be considered plain or even ugly. Although there may be some debate as to what it actually means to be attractive – since beauty is in the eye of the beholder – you can usually tell when someone is naturally beautiful. Of course, you cannot divorce someone's external appearance from their internal character. An extremely beautiful woman may not have the same kind of appeal if she is rude and condescending to everyone she meets. However, when you're passing someone on the street, you only get a split second to evaluate whether you find them attractive or not.

When you're attractive, life seems so much easier, because everyone wants to be around you, perhaps hoping that some of your beauty will rub off on them! You are unlikely to be picked on for having any kind of physical defect when to everyone else you seem to be perfect. This can put a certain amount of pressure on you to always look good and you may not always be sure what people's intentions are when they befriend you. However, it is much easier to feel confident about yourself when you are attractive and everyone else knows it.

Being attractive can therefore benefit your self-esteem, which could give you a boost in other areas of your life. If you're confident and outgoing at school, the likelihood is that you will perform better, which will give you more options in life. You may decide to go to university, so that you can pursue a career and it clearly doesn't hurt to be attractive. You may not be able to rely on looks alone, but turning up for an interview conducted by your future professors will certainly leave a positive impression on them.

The same applies when you go for job interviews, as employers have so many applicants to deal with that anything which makes you stand out can only be a good thing. An employer, especially one involved in providing a service directly to clients, will obviously prefer someone attractive to represent his company. If you're going to be meeting and greeting potential and existing clients and customers, it helps to be considered physically attractive. Consequently, you can find that your good looks help you get on in your career. It doesn't matter what kind of industry you work in, being attractive provides you with an advantage over your less attractive co-workers.

It doesn't seem very fair that being attractive can help you get ahead in both your personal affairs and professional life, but that is generally the case. That is why even those individuals who are not considered to be a 'natural beauty' spend so much time and effort on their appearance. Increasingly, people are turning to cosmetic surgery in order to improve their looks, so desperate are they to be considered attractive. However, it is one thing to be conventionally attractive on the outside, but what about intelligence and personality? Surely they must count for something.

Facing up to Getting Older

Everyone gets older – it's a fact of life – but that doesn't make accepting it any easier! Facing up to getting older means acknowledging your own mortality and recognising you have to make the most of your life while you can. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to go skydiving or bungee jumping and to lead an 'exciting' life, but it does mean you should think about what you want out of life and making time for the people you care about. Just as you're getting older, you cannot ignore the fact that your parents, too, are ageing, and that at some point in the future they will no longer be there. Consequently, family may come to mean more to you.

There are definite benefits of getting older. You're more sure of yourself and you have a clearer idea of what your priorities are and should be. You may have built a successful career that you are able to build on further, or you may decide to pursue a different career, having plenty of experience under your belt. As you get older, you may come to realise that your career doesn't matter as much to you and that you would prefer to spend time with your family. Instead of being driven by ambition and your earning potential, you may decide to focus more on doing things you enjoy and spending time with people that matter to you.

There are also downsides associated with getting older and it is the negative aspects of ageing which you tend to focus on more as the years pass. As you get older, wrinkles start to appear and become evermore prominent, as you experience the stresses and strains that life throws up. Your hair starts to turn grey and you realise that you are perhaps not as attractive as you once were. It is not only your appearance that causes you concern, though, as health problems start to accumulate. You may find that your misspent youth catches up with you! When you're young, you may not pay much attention to your eating and exercise habits, but you have no choice as you get older.

As your metabolism slows down you can find yourself putting on weight, which puts you at greater risk of a number of serious health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. You have to make more of an effort to look after yourself if you want to avoid coming to a premature end. You have to make yourself eat healthier and exercise more, even though everything seems like so much more effort than it did when you were younger. Unfortunately, as you get older your body and mind begin to deteriorate, despite all your best efforts to halt the ageing process. It is surely better to face up to getting older and to embrace the benefits that age brings, rather than trying to pretend it isn't happening. After all, it is not as if you are alone in getting older!

How Exercise Benefits Your Mind as well as Your Body

The physical benefits of exercise are plain to see, but there are also a number of psychological benefits associated with keeping fit. You may decide to take up running or cycling for the purposes of losing weight and improving your fitness, but by making exercise a regular feature in your life, you will also discover how much better you feel. This isn't just about being able to run faster for longer without getting tired, as doing exercise actually makes you feel less stressed and more upbeat about life. That is one of the reasons doctors try to encourage people suffering from depression to increase their activity levels.

It is hard to appreciate the psychological benefits of exercise until you actually start doing some. You can obviously see how doing regular exercise transforms your physical self – enabling you to lose weight and develop muscles where previously there was only fat – but it is very easy to overlook the benefits of exercise for your mind. It is probably because exercise leaves you feeling happier and less anxious that so many people continue to exercise regularly. When you're somewhat of a couch potato it is hard to imagine what would drive anyone to go for a run when it is pouring down with rain and freezing cold outside, until you actually try it.

Some types of physical activity will appeal to you more than others. If you're significantly overweight, the thought of doing a high-impact activity such as running may fill you with dread, whereas walking or swimming may seem more tolerable activities. It helps to approach exercise with a positive mindset, because if you tell yourself you loathe all forms of exercise before even doing anything, you're only making it harder for yourself. Once exercise becomes part of your routine you will no longer avoid it like the plague, because you will appreciate how much calmer you feel after doing any kind of activity that gets your heart rate up.

Perhaps you're not the type of person who is ever going to love exercise, in which case it is even more important that you appreciate the physical and psychological benefits of keeping active. When you exercise your brain produces endorphins, which leave you feeling in a more positive frame of mind and it is these feel-good chemicals that can give exercise an addictive quality. Even if you do not enjoy doing exercise, there is always the option to make your workouts a social occasion. If you get friends and relatives on board, at least you will have someone to keep you company when you're working up a sweat, which should help to keep you motivated.

Thus, if you're having doubts about working on your fitness and doing some exercise, you might want to think again. In a stressful, hectic world it is worth taking time out for yourself and to do some exercise that will leave you feeling less frustrated, stressed and worried and better able to concentrate and deal with whatever life has to throw at you.

The Importance of Confidence for Professional Athletes

Confidence is extremely important for professional athletes, because if they don't believe in themselves how can they put everything into their performance? If you don't believe you can win, you may not push yourself hard enough to actually make winning a realistic possibility. You have to have self-confidence and believe that given the right training and preparation, you have as much chance as anyone else of being a winner. It is this kind of mentality that professional athletes have to adopt, which is perhaps why so many of them can end up coming across as arrogant in interviews.

Of course, it is difficult to sound modest when you're the best in the world at something. If you are a world champion cyclist or triathlete, then it would sound rather disingenuous to say that are completely surprised by your outstanding performance. To be a professional athlete obviously requires a great deal of physical strength, endurance and speed, but the psychological component cannot be ignored, either. A lot of psychological games go on between competing athletes and it is generally those who have confidence that come out on top.

When Mark Cavendish became world road race champion in 2011, it was largely because he had confidence in himself and his team also had confidence in him. Cavendish was the favourite to win and whereas many British athletes have baulked under such pressure, he did not. The British team decided to lead from the front, which demonstrated just how confident they were in their team leader and Cavendish certainly didn't let them down. It was obviously quite difficult for Cavendish and the whole British team to play down the expectations of him before the race, when everyone already knew he was the fastest sprinter in the world!

There have been occasions where other athletes haven't fared so well under this amount of pressure. For those who are deemed the best at what they do, continually putting in performance after performance can become quite stressful. Sometimes, a professional athlete can find himself on a losing streak that is hard to break, thus undermining his confidence further and making it even harder for him to come up with the goods. It only takes one good result for his confidence to start climbing again, though getting a win or a top-ten finish is often the real challenge.

With self-confidence and belief so important for professional athletes, it is not surprising that the role of sports psychologists has grown in significance, as athletes look for ways to harness their power to take their performance up a level, achieve good results consistently and become the best of the best.

Is Honesty Really the Best Policy?

From an early age you are are usually led to believe that honesty is always the best policy. It is obviously easier for parents and teachers to present children with a black-and-white view of the world where telling the truth is always desirable and lying is wrong. However, as you get older, you realise that life tends not to be as simple as that. Sometimes, it is tact that leads you to slightly distort the truth, whilst there are other times when you don't directly lie, but find yourself omitting certain facts. You often base your decision about whether to be honest or not on the likely outcome.

If your girlfriend asks you if you think she looks fat in what she's wearing, you may tell a little white lie to spare her feelings. You may even try to guide her into changing her outfit by telling her you think she looks gorgeous when she puts her short, black dress on, so that you actually pay her a compliment and make her feel good about herself. If your girlfriend or wife has put on a few pounds and she is feeling down about it, you obviously don't want to upset someone you care about and so you have to realise being honest may not always go down well.

When it comes to your personal life, whether honesty is the best policy or not depends on who you are lying to and what you are lying about. Telling your girlfriend you love her new haircut when she is feeling self-conscious about it may not be a bad thing, but if you lie about having a gambling habit and the fact you're in serious debt is not going to solve anything and will only lead to further problems. There are some issues that you shouldn't lie about, especially if your lies are going to hurt other people and could get you into trouble with the law.

Outside of your personal life, there is also your professional life to consider. You may think nothing of telling the occasional lie to a friend or relative if it for their own good, but when it comes to your job, lying could end up getting you into trouble. If you lie on your CV in order to get a job, you may be happy with your initial success, only to find a few weeks or months later that you are fired, having been found out. If you lie to colleagues about the amount of work you've done and frequently tell lies, you will get caught and this will reflect poorly on you.

In most cases, honesty probably is the best policy, especially when the likelihood is that your lies are going to be discovered eventually, anyway. However, there are occasions when it is kinder to tell a small lie to spare someone's feelings and other times when it is just easier to tell a lie than to give a full explanation of the truth. It all depends on the situation you find yourself in and how you decide to react.

How Many Articles Can You Write on a Daily Basis?

Not everyone is capable of churning out hundreds of articles a week, though a few are. However, if you are able to produce, say, 50 articles a day, the quality of each article may turn out to be rather questionable. Mind you, this is not always the case as there are a range of factors that can affect how many articles you produce. Your typing speed, how familiar you are with the particular subject area you are writing about, the number of words you are expected to write, your organisational skills and your general ability to focus can all have a bearing on your article production.

If you have an in-depth knowledge of what you are writing about, you obviously won't have to do as much research and your writing style will be more fluid. You won't have to keep stopping and starting to see if what you're writing is accurate and you will be able to pinpoint relevant source material and resources much more quickly than if you have no real idea what you are writing about. Even though you may be able to write an article about a subject area with which you are not too familiar, it takes more time and effort to research and write such an article.

Consequently, the greater your familiarity with a subject, the more articles you can produce, especially if you are able to organise your time effectively. If you have a set list of titles you need to write to and a designated number of words each article has to come to, you clearly have less flexibility when it comes to writing. This can sometimes be a good thing, as you know what is expected of you and so you just get on with it. It is coming up with your own titles and writing to them that can be more problematic, as there is just too much choice!

On the other hand, when you choose which articles you want to write, you can pick subject areas which interest you and which you already have some knowledge about. You can probably get away with writing only 300 or 400 words, which may not be an option if someone is paying you to write articles that meet certain specifications. You have less flexibility and you may be required to perform re-writes until your client is satisfied, which can be rather time consuming.

To maximise the number of articles you write when writing articles that you actually want to write – rather than because you are being directly paid to write them – it helps to create a list of article titles that fall under a similar category. If you decide to write a range of articles on diet and weight loss, you won't have to waste time thinking about which titles to write to and then doing the research, as you will already have the titles there and be able to do all the research in one go.

Everyone has a different work rate. Some people are able to produce a large quantity of articles daily, whilst for others just writing one or two is a challenge. It obviously depends how much time you can dedicate to your writing, whether you are writing for yourself or because you are being paid by a client, how knowledgeable you are on a range of subjects, how quickly you can get your ideas down on paper and how many words you have to express yourself in.

Ultimately, though, quality has to count for more than quantity and so instead of focusing on how many articles you can churn out on a daily basis, perhaps it would be better to focus on creating content that people actually want to read.

Making Friends When You Lack Confidence

It can be extremely challenging to make friends when you lack confidence in yourself. For one thing, you may be inclined to avoid social situations, so that you don't give yourself an opportunity to meet people. This can make your problem worse, because if you avoid social interaction it only becomes more difficult to force yourself to talk to people. If you don't practise your social skills, when you finally do try to interact you may find yourself behaving in an awkward manner and your confidence plummets further. Even when you do manage to chat to people, you may not have the confidence to develop the friendship further.

Consequently, it can be a very lonely life when you lack confidence. Not always, though, as you may be one of those people who is able to hide the fact you don't have very much confidence. To everyone else, you may seem to be outgoing and charismatic when the reality is that you question yourself constantly and often wonder why anyone would want to be your friend. At least you are able to put yourself in a position to meet people. If you lack confidence and also suffer from severe shyness, you may really struggle to socialise with others. You may be lucky enough to have a small group of friends who you feel comfortable being around, or you may not.

It is when you have no friends at all that you can find yourself growing depressed. Unless you happen to be a loner who enjoys your own company more than anyone else's, the chances are you want to fit in and be accepted. You want to be able to go out with friends and have a good time, but without the confidence to meet people and open up, this is obviously difficult. It doesn't help when everyone else you know seems to have lots of friends. You come to see yourself as the black sheep of the family – the person no one else understands or can relate to – and so you withdraw deeper into your shell.

People are generally drawn to other people with confidence, because they don't want to have to constantly provide reassurance to their friends. Of course, offering reassurance is part of being a friend, but you don't want to have to tell your friend that she is attractive, slim and flawless every day when she is complaining about being fat, ugly and stupid and is evidently none of those things. It therefore helps to be confident when you're on the look out for friendship, but at the same time, you have to put yourself out there and risk rejection so you can actually gain the necessary confidence to make more friends.

Besides, everyone has certain aspects of themselves they are not particularly confident about, so you just have to try to get past your lack of confidence and instead focus on what makes you great!

Why do People Get Married?

With so many marriages ending up divorce, you have to wonder why people bother to get married in the first place. In conservative countries there is obviously still a certain amount of expectation that you will get married before having children, but in more liberal countries it is possible to live together and to raise a family without having to get married. You won't be judged negatively for deciding not to get married, although if you have been married five times, this may elicit a few raised eyebrows! After all, if you're not going go take marriage seriously, what is the point?

Most people who do decide to enter into matrimony probably are taking it seriously, though, and believe that there relationship is going to last. They ignore the fact that plenty of their friends' and relatives' marriages have failed and instead concentrate on making their relationship work. They want to get married to demonstrate their commitment to the person they love. Getting married enables a couple to stand up in front of witnesses and declare that they intend to make a life-long commitment to each other, and to celebrate this commitment with the people they care most about.

For some people, religion is important, so that marriage becomes a way of joining spiritually before the eyes of God. For others, marriage is a more pragmatic affair, giving each spouse certain rights within the relationship. When a couple marries, they cannot simply separate their affairs as easily as they could have when they were simply living together. Often, financial matters have to be sorted out and custody rights. Many people who get married feel that doing so offers them protection in case their spouse either dies or decides to leave them.

Even though in many societies you don't have to get married to live with your partner or have children, this is still the route that many people decide to take. When you're brought up by married parents and you watch friends and relatives getting married, you may be inclined to get married yourself. It is easy to build up an unrealistic picture of what marriage is and to visualise marrying the most perfect husband or wife and to have an incredible wedding day before going on to live happily ever after. Life rarely works out that way, though, and so things may not always go to plan.

You may fantasise about getting married when you're younger, only for you to have difficulty finding someone you actually want to settle down with. You may think you've met the person of your dreams, only for the relationship not to work out, or you discover that the other person is not interested in marriage. There is more to life than getting married, though, which is why you should enjoy the single life or being with the person you care about without fixating on the issue of marriage.

Is Studying History a Waste of Time?

Everyone is shaped by the past – by their country's history, by their family's history and by their own individual history. It is impossible to escape history's grasp, as it colours everyday events and shapes how different sections of society think and respond. You cannot get away from the fact that political struggles and significant world events that are happening in the present are very much informed by the past. To understand the contemporary world, therefore, it is evident that studying History at school or at university is far from being a waste of time.

By studying History, you are able to appreciate just how much past events have contributed to people's identities in the past and today. History is not only the study of great leaders and great wars, it is also about uncovering the lives of ordinary individuals and looking for continuity over time, as well as changes. By learning about the past, you are able to understand more about where you come from and understand why society is the way it is. You discover that there is not only one view point, one accepted interpretation of the past, and that in many ways the past is characterised by the struggle for dominance.

When studying History, you have to get to grips with a variety of different sources and learn to question any preconceived ideas you may have had. It surely cannot be a bad thing to examine people's motives for creating a document in a particular way when those who had an education and influence in society were trying to shape what posterity would make of them. Today, there is a similar situation with those in society's higher echelons seeking to control the way they are presented in the media and hoping to secure a favourable place in history.

Studying History is definitely not a waste of time when there are so many similarities between what goes on in the past and in the present. Most people would say that studying History is important, as it helps you to avoid making the same mistakes again, but when you study History it often seems that this is precisely what happens! That doesn't make studying History any less worthwhile when change is just as significant a feature as similarities and continuities. History is a fascinating subject that has so many facets, making it impossible for you not to find something of interest to you.

History incorporates a variety of subjects, as to get a more comprehensive understanding of the past, you clearly need to consider economics, society and culture, as well as politics, which means you have an opportunity to develop a wide range of skills. Studying History enables you to analyse and evaluate a range of primary and secondary sources, to interpret evidence and to create a well-supported argument. Such skills are extremely useful in any kind of further study you may engage in and can also help you in the workplace. Consequently, the fact that studying History can broaden your knowledge base and help you in your career means that it is a useful, rather than a wasteful, way to spend your time.

Why Would Anyone Want to be a Politician?

Politicians come under a great deal of scrutiny in both their public and private lives, and are often at the receiving end of criticism from the media and the public at large. As far as most people are concerned, politicians are only in the job to line their own pockets and to further the interests of people like themselves. They are not concerned about the ordinary people who voted for them and got them elected, as once they are in power their whole focus becomes about holding on to that power at all costs. It therefore helps to have wealthy and influential backers who will most probably give them a job once they leave the world of politics.

It is this kind of cynical attitude that makes you wonder just why anyone would want to become a politician. As a politician, it seems that you are not entitled to a private life, with every romantic dalliance detailed in the newspapers and any past mistakes or indiscretions dug up and divulged to the public. If you do not want your sexual orientation disclosed for any reason, or have left your wife and do not want her to be publicly humiliated, you're likely to be disappointed, as the media love a juicy story. Of course, there are some instances where it seems legitimate to delve into a politician's private life, especially when there is hypocrisy in what he says in public.

Clearly, you need to develop a thick skin to get into politics, because you will never be able to please everyone. Even if you have something you think is worth fighting for, believing that you can change the system, the truth is that you soon become part of that system. You may believe that becoming a politician will enable you to improve society and help people, but you will soon find yourself making back-room deals with fellow politicians and compromising. You may end up forgetting whose side you're on, as you begin to cosy up with big business. You may start out as idealistic, but you're soon ground down by the realities of the political world.

It may be the case that many individuals decide to become politicians because they believe in something and want to make a difference to their society, but there are others for whom politics is just about getting ahead. What more prestigious job is there than being prime minister or president of a country? Anyone who enters politics obviously has to consider what he wants out of his career and what he is prepared to do to reach the top. You don't become leader of a party or a country by being sweet and honest when it is ruthlessness and determination that are needed. Entering the political arena gives you a chance to get your name in the history books.

Being a politician can be a thankless job in many respects, but there are still plenty of people who wouldn't mind being in such a position. As a politician you can influence the affairs of a country, pass laws and shape the social landscape. You earn a considerable amount of money doing a job where you often have long holidays and flexible hours. It is also a prestigious job that gets your name known in public and can help you in your future career. Clearly, it helps to be educated and to possess certain qualities which not everyone has, but even those without any kind of political skills can see that there are definite benefits of being a politician that make it seem like an attractive job.

Why is it so Hard to Trust People?

It can be difficult to trust people in an impersonal world that is characterised by the pursuit of material things. It often seems that everyone wants to be the best – to be the richest or the most successful – and will do whatever has to be done in order to get where they want to be. This can mean riding roughshod over everyone else. Of course, not everyone is ultra-ambitious, heartless and uncaring, but when you've been let down before, you can find yourself struggling to trust people, which obviously has an effect on your ability to start relationships and to keep those relationships.

People can be selfish and not everyone considers how their actions will affect those around them. Unfortunately, when you are at the receiving end of someone else's poor decisions, it can make you reluctant to try again. If you begin a relationship with someone and later discover he is only interested in you for your money, of course you're going to be more sceptical in future. How can you put your trust in someone when you have done so in the past, only to be betrayed? As they say, once bitten, twice shy, which could mean you hold back from establishing new relationships.

This is understandable, because you don't want to get hurt again, but by distancing yourself from other people and not wanting to open up to anyone, you may be depriving yourself of plenty of fulfilling relationships. You probably don't see it like this, though, as you simply dwell on all the times other people have lied to you, mistreated you, and abandoned you when you needed them most, and so you try to convince yourself that you're better off on your own. It is just too hard to trust anyone when the people in your life seem to be so vindictive.

It only takes one bad relationship for you to start to question the quality of your other relationships. When you have been treated badly by one person, you may begin to wonder what other people's motivations are for wanting to be your friend or lover. You may want to see the best in people, but they don't always make it easy for you. When they say they're going to do one thing and end up doing another or fail to assist you when you really need their help, you may simply come to the conclusion that it is not worth your time or energy to maintain the relationships in your life when you seem to get so little out of them, other than sorrow.

The Importance of Trust in a Relationship

The importance of trust in a relationship cannot be overstated. Whether the relationship concerned involves friendship, kinship or romance, without trust it is difficult to form a meaningful bond with another human being. If you do not believe what your lover or friend is telling you and think that there is a chance you could get hurt, as a result, this can affect your ability to form and sustain relationships with other people. You may be less open to establishing new relationships and getting close to people, which can affect your self-esteem.

The earliest relationship you have tends to be the one you have with your parents. They are the ones who instil in you certain values and who you look to for advice and support. Not all parents are there for their children, though, and if you are let down when you are young, it may affect your ability to form relationships as an adult. There are parents who abuse their children – emotionally and physically – and have no qualms about lying to their children if it benefits them in any way. Even when you're treated badly by your parents, you want to believe that you can trust them when you know that the parent-child relationship is so important.

Then there are your friends – the people you are supposed to be able to confide in with your problems. However, they can let you down, too. You may believe that they care about you, but later discover that they have been talking about you behind your back, thus undermining your trust. Perhaps your lack of trust comes as a result of financial issues – such as lending a friend money and never getting it back again – or romantic reasons – such as a friend deciding to go out with the person you're supposed to be seeing.

Trust is also essential when you decide to pursue a romantic relationship, because if you are unable to trust the person you're dating or even married to, it becomes difficult to continue on with the relationship. If you're worried your spouse is going to cheat on you every time he leaves the house or that he is going to gamble your savings away or make a series of ridiculous decisions without consulting you, it is evident that you are in the wrong relationship. Trust provides the foundation for a lasting relationship and so if you do not trust the person you're with, either you have to look at the person you're with or look inside yourself and see what needs to be changed.

The same applies to the other relationships in your life. If you don't trust certain people, it is probably because you have been let down in the past by them or by others, thus affecting your attitude towards relationships. It can be difficult to trust people, anyway, but when you have reason to believe you're going to be betrayed in some way, it is not really surprising if you shy away from relationships.

Why Do People Use Facebook?

Facebook is a social networking site which enables you to communicate with friends, either by chatting in real time, by exchanging messages or even by creating updates on your personal profile. It is also possible to locate people from your past by checking out Facebook pages associated with your old high school, university or place of work. You can check out different members' profiles and add them as a friend, which they can then accept or decline. You can create and join interest groups and 'like' various pages, so that you may even be able to connect with people you don't actually know in real life.

For most people, though, Facebook is the easiest way to stay in touch with friends that they may see on a regular basis or perhaps do not see as often as they would like to. Facebook only works because there are so many members. There wouldn't be much point joining if you were the only member, as you need to have other people who you can add as friends and stay in contact with. Facebook first became popular amongst college and university students, who used it as a way to interact with friends, though this particular social networking site is now used by people of all different generations.

It seems to be the ease with which you are able to share information with others that has made it so appealing. You can let people know what is going on in your life and read what is going on in everyone else's life. You don't have to send an individual email to all of your friends, as everyone can see for themselves that you're engaged or that you've just had a baby. You can upload pictures in a few clicks and look at pictures that other people have taken. You can disclose or hide whatever information you want on Facebook, which might seem appealing if you want everyone to come away with a particular impression of you.

Therein lies one of the problems with Facebook. People can tell you what they want, just as you can tell everyone else what you want to. The people you add as friends may not actually be friends, but you add them out of habit and because you want to have a proper look through their profile! A number of privacy issues have been raised in relation to Facebook and there have also been concerns about young people using Facebook and being exploited by adults.

However, there are still plenty of people signed up to Facebook and who continue to use the service. Even if Facebook were to disappear completely, which seems unlikely, it already has its place in history, as although not everyone uses Facebook, the chances are virtually everyone has heard of it because of the impact it has had.

How Unemployment Can Affect Your Self-Worth

Usually, your self-worth takes a dive when you find yourself without a job. It doesn't matter how you lose your job or why, as there are generally more pressing concerns, such as finding another job and paying the bills. If you leave on amicable terms with your former employer, at least you will be able to count on getting a positive reference, which may not be the case if there were tensions in the relationship you had with your boss. Either way, without a job you have nothing to occupy your time other than looking for work, and it can get you down.

Without a job, the days often seem long. Once you've filled in a few application forms and sent out your CV to different companies, the chances are you will have very little to do. You may perform a few household chores and watch a bit of television, but soon find yourself growing evermore despondent. When you don't have a job, you don't have much of an income, even if you are entitled to state benefits. Any money that does come in has to go towards paying the bills and so you can't just go out with friends and have some fun during your time off work.

Mind you, there is usually reluctance to meet up with friends when you're out of work, anyway, because of the shame that is attached to being unemployed. You don't want your friends to think that you're lazy and just trying to get out of work when the reality is you would much rather have a regular income. This is particularly true if you have been unemployed for a considerable period of time, and the longer you're out of work, the more your self-worth seems to decline, as you start to wonder what is wrong with you when you're never even asked to attend an interview.

Unemployment can adversely affect your self-worth because you have to be more careful with money, which means you can't always do the things you enjoy. You may be inclined to avoid friends and relatives because of the negative associations of being out of work, which means you have very little social interaction and this can leave you feeling down about yourself. There may be very little structure to your day, as you have nothing to get up for and nothing much to do, and so you find yourself growing increasingly bored and frustrated.

Since unemployment can take a toll on your self-worth, it is also bound to have an impact on the relationships you have with other people. You may start picking fights with loved ones and getting angry for no reason, directing your frustrations and anxieties at those you care most about. Virtually everyone finds themselves without a job at some point in their lives, but you just have to stay positive and hope that the situation changes in the future, as it probably will.

How Shyness Can Affect Your Love Life

Shyness can make it extremely difficult to have a love life, especially if you are so shy that you avoid any kind of social interaction. Clearly, to find a boyfriend or girlfriend, you have to actually put yourself out there and socialise. If you hide in the background in order to avoid being noticed, the chances are you will get your wish. Even though you may fantasise about finding the man or woman of your dreams, your anxiety when dealing with other people can be overwhelming and make you feel less inclined to socialise, thus reducing your chances of finding someone.

The trouble is that the longer you avoid the company of other people, the harder it becomes to come out of your shell. If you have actively avoided meeting and talking to new people for a long time, you may find it a struggle to actually talk to anyone when you finally do decide that you want to meet someone. When you're socially awkward and conscious of the fact, you dwell on all your inadequacies and imagine that other people have already formed a negative opinion of you. If you have a bad experience in the presence of others, you probably won't want to try to socialise again.

With such little confidence in yourself, it becomes a real challenge to build any kind of a love life. Confidence is an attractive attribute, but shyness can drain your confidence away, so that whenever you pluck up the courage to talk to someone of the opposite sex you are unable to find the right words. The embarrassment just gets to you and so, in future, you try to avoid putting yourself in an awkward position again, even if there is someone you are really attracted to. It is much easier to construct a love life in your head than it is to actually go up to someone and tell them how you feel and pursue a proper relationship.

Being shy doesn't have to stop you having a love life, though, as there are plenty of shy girls and boys out there just waiting to awkwardly bump into one another. Shyness can make finding love somewhat more challenging, though, because your lack of social interaction may lead you to develop unrealistic expectations about how a relationship works and what your role should be. Relationships can only flourish when there is communication between both parties, but when you're shy communicating can be a problem and you may decide to give up before even trying.

However, this is not the kind of attitude you should take if you hope to find someone to settle down with. What is needed is for you to stop putting so much pressure on yourself and to simply accept that everyone will occasionally say or do something silly and that nobody is perfect all the time. You have to let other people get to know you and try not to let anxiety win. The more you interact with people, the greater your chance of finding someone you can visualise having a relationship with, so that you won't have to go through the hassle of trying to attract someone, for awhile, at least!

Do You Have to be Ruthless to be a Successful Politician?

If you ever stop to think about the characteristics needed to become a successful politician, ruthlessness surely has to feature. Even well-respected politicians who ooze charisma and charm in front of the cameras probably did not get to the top by playing fair and being honest all the time. Those who are at the top of their game have got there by doing deals, playing people off against each other, discovering their opponents' weaknesses and exploiting them, whilst never actually getting their hands dirty. They surround themselves with cronies, but have no qualms about dumping supporters when they become a liability.

It has always been the case that only those with a ruthless streak could survive in the murky world of politics. Principles rarely came into it, just as it is today. A politician can appear on television professing his support for one policy initiative and, then, a couple of weeks later state that he is of completely the opposite opinion, without even batting an eyelid. He won't even feel the need to explain his volte-face – the chances are he will simply pretend it never even happened. Politicians supposedly represent the interests of their constituents, yet when such incidents happen it is clear that the majority of politicians are more concerned about their own careers.

Those at the bottom of the political pile – perhaps those working in local government or working as a governmental aide – want to make a good impression and so they will say whatever they need to get themselves recognised as politician material. Their actual experience and skills seem to count for little, since more importance is placed on their connections and their ability to network. If they can get on the right side of influential people, they at least have a chance. Indeed, it seems that over the past few decades, the political class has increasingly come to be made up of ambitious opportunists rather than anyone desirous of actually changing society for the better.

Of course, with these kinds of people getting into government, ruthlessness always takes over. Instead of passing legislation which could benefit the country, it is all about point scoring and getting one-over on the opposition. The politicians with a flair for humiliating their opponents without coming across as ruthless and ambitious are generally the ones who succeed. They have a way of presenting themselves that seems to suggest they are only interested in the good of the country, when the reality of the situation is that they enjoy power and wouldn't mind some more of it and will, consequently, do anything they can to hold on to it.

What is evident is that even the few principled politicians that do exist are unlikely to achieve success in their political career without a degree of ruthlessness and, unfortunately, the amount of success a politician has in his career seems to correspond with just how ruthless he is prepared to be, rather than his actual aptitude for the job.

Are People too Obsessed with Material Things?

It certainly seems that many people are obsessed with the accumulation of material things. However, it is hardly their fault when they are conditioned by society into believing that being wealthy, owning a nice house and a big car are things to aspire to. It appears that success isn't measured in terms of the knowledge or experience you possess, but by the material things you own. When you are surrounded by people all after the same thing – to become rich and, therefore, successful – you can find yourself infected with the same ambition.

That is how the capitalist system works, though. There needs to be demand for material goods to keep the economy going. If people stopped buying things, there would be fewer people in work because there would be no need to produce luxury items, which would mean there would be more people without enough of an income to buy luxury goods, thus further shrinking the economy. It is therefore in the interests of national governments to get people spending, as if people are out of work they won't be adding to the economy in the form of taxes.

The general public is bombarded with images of the kind of lifestyle they should aspire to have and it usually involves earning a lot of money and being able to afford the most luxurious, extravagant material things. Children are taught from an early age to ask for the items they want and there is often a degree of competition between friends to have the best toys and gizmos. This carries on into adulthood, but the kind of toys change! People come to believe that computers, televisions, cars, holidays and DVD players are not luxuries, but rather necessities, because that is what they are programmed to believe.

Although this may be a rather depressing state of affairs, circumstances change and whilst everyone may like to own lots of material things, many more people are having to face up to the reality of their situation. There will always be those people who have more money than sense and who have never experienced any form of poverty, but when the economy is weak many people are finding themselves out of work and having to exist on a meagre income. A growing number of people are discovering that material things are not the be-all and end-all of life. Love, the support of family and friends, as well as good health are what really matter.

Clearly, capitalism is fuelled by the demand for material things and so there always has been and always will be a certain obsession with material things, but there are some people who are waking up to the fact that, at the end of the day, there is much more to life than how much money you earn and the items you possess. After all, you can hardly take it all with you when you're dead, anyway!

Why Children Are Not Getting Enough Exercise

It is vitally important for children to exercise if they are to grow into strong, healthy adults. Whilst there are some children who regularly go outside to play, running around without a care in the world, there are many more children who sit at home in their bedrooms, playing computer games. It is obviously up to parents to encourage their children to exercise, but that doesn't mean they always do. Some are reluctant to allow their children to go outside alone, but are too lazy to take them to the park or for a walk in the country themselves, so that it becomes much more convenient to let their children watch television or play on their computers.

Getting a child active in early life will enable him to maintain a healthy body weight; build strong muscles, bones and joints; get a better night's sleep; improve his self-esteem; reduce the risk of depression and anxiety; whilst improving his overall health. Exercise needs to become a habit for children, so that they don't grow into the kind of adult who sits around all day, stuffing his face and getting heavier and dangerously unhealthy, as a result. However, children learn from their parents and when parents do not make an effort to exercise and, indeed, paint exercise in a negative light, their children are, of course, going to pick up on this.

If parents drive everywhere and drive their children everywhere, children get used to this and so don't see why they should bother to walk. Children should be doing at least an hour of exercise a day, but many fall short of this. They get driven to school, perhaps play in the playground at break time or perhaps not, then get driven home where they spend their time doing their homework or playing games. They are not burning off all that extra energy children have, as it is not what is expected of them. When their friends are chatting or playing games online, that is what they do, too.

It doesn't help that parents may not have the time or inclination to take their children for a walk in the park or to the swimming pool for a swim. Many parents would prefer to sit down and relax, themselves. They may not realise how important exercise is for young children, particularly if their child doesn't appear to have a weight problem. Consequently, there is no reason to get their child to exercise, especially if it means having to let him go out alone. There is always going to be a fear that he could get run over or have an accident or be abducted, no matter how small the risk.

Children are unlikely to challenge the fact they're not getting enough exercise, though, when they're perfectly content in front of their big television screens, chomping away on chocolate and crisps. In the long run, though, they could find themselves putting on too much weight and developing health problems. Children may not realise this fact, but it is the responsibility of parents to educate their children about the importance of leading an active lifestyle, which it seems many are failing to do.

Making Exercise Part of Your Everday Life

The best way to stick to maintain your fitness is to make exercise part of your everyday life. The trouble is that many people only decide to tackle their fitness once or twice a year – perhaps when they want to lose weight in the New Year or when they want to tone up to wear a bikini in the summer – which just isn't enough. There is very little point signing up to a gym as part of your New Year's resolution if you only end up going for a few weeks before giving up on it. You therefore need to find a way to make exercise something that is normal to you do, rather than as something you have to go out of your way to do.

If exercise becomes part of your everyday life, you won't even bother to think about whether you should do it or not, as you're too busy getting on with it. In the past, it seems that more people kept active without even really thinking about it. Instead of driving everywhere, they walked, and going for a bike ride or walk in the countryside with their family was a pleasure rather than a chore. Nowadays, though, many people feel that they have to join a specific exercise class or join a gym in order to get their workout and keep fit, which they aren't particularly inclined to do, either.

Being fit isn't just about being slim and toned – it is more to do with your general physical condition. You don't have to look like a professional athlete to be fit and so it is more important to find activities that you enjoy doing and which you can fit into your everyday life, rather than becoming obsessed with being thinner or more muscular. It only takes small steps, as just increasing the amount you walk can benefit your fitness. Therefore, whenever you get the chance, you should leave your car at home and walk to school or to work or to the shops, for instance.

It also helps to get the whole family on board and to encourage your friends to do something with you, as well. To stay motivated, it is good to have the support of others and you can spur each other on to try harder than you otherwise would have. At the end of the day, though, you're trying to keep fit for your own sake and sometimes there won't be anyone else there to keep you focused. Plus, finding the time for exercise can often be a challenge. However, you should be able to find at least half an hour in the day to do something, especially if you turn off the television! Alternatively, you could always watch the television whilst you're actually exercising!

If you make exercise part of your everyday life, you will discover that it is not such a hardship to make time for exercise, as you look and feel much better for it. You can also feel reassured that your long-term health prospects are far better than for someone who leads a sedentary lifestyle, thus giving you an added incentive to continue exercising.

Why is Online Shopping so Popular?

It used to be the case that people were a little bit wary about using the Internet to do their shopping, but this situation has changed rapidly in recent years. Companies were quick to realise the potential of Internet shopping with many exploiting the situation to build a significant online presence. This meant they had to tackle people's concerns, which mainly revolved around online security and being ripped off. As companies began to take action to allay people's anxieties, more people thought they would give online shopping a try and having done it once it became much easier to keep on doing it.

It is completely understandable why online shopping has become so popular in a society where people spend most of their time working. After a long day, nobody wants to have to go to the shops, especially if it means driving there and finding a parking space, and dealing with the crowds and queues they inevitably encounter. Online shopping is just so much simpler and easier. All you have to do is find the product you want, add it to your basket and pay for it with your credit or debit card. There's no queuing and it only takes a few minutes.

Plus, online shops are never closed. If you decide to 'go shopping' at midnight, all you have to do is switch on your computer and place an order. It may not be processed until the next day, but the chances are your product will arrive within a few days of ordering it. Clearly, there are some types of shopping which aren't practical to do online, which is perhaps why grocery shopping hasn't yet taken off quite as much. If you run out of milk, you can't exactly wait around for a day or two for it to arrive!

When you're looking to make a substantial purchase, though, the Internet is the perfect place to conduct your research, read reviews and buy a product. Usually, shopping online works out a lot cheaper than when you walk into a shop, as you are able to compare prices at the click of a button and there seems to be a great deal of competition between online stores. Consequently, you end up getting a better deal when you buy online. Indeed, it is the growth of online shopping which has led high-street stores to reduce some of their prices – especially on items such as CDs and DVDs.

The most evident reasons for the popularity of online shopping include that it is relatively hassle-free, as individuals can shop when they want without even leaving the house, and the fact that it's cheaper than shopping in a high-street store. At a time when people are working longer hours for less pay it wouldn't be a surprise if the number of people shopping online actually continues to increase, as people look for simpler and cheaper ways to shop.