Curious

Study reveals what sibling is smarter

They say that “blood is thicker than water“, and it is true that unconditional love is often found amongst siblings, however much they might fight. We barely ever hear about siblings that get on perfectly well, which is pretty normal, given that we spend our whole lives (up until adulthood) living under the same roof.

Sibling disputes are a continuing cliché, and the fights seem to always be about the same: who is better, who is smarter, who has more talent… and a long etcetera. However, there is an actual study that proves which of the siblings is smarter.

Who was born first?

It is often said that those who are born first are favourites. Also called, PFBs (“precious first borns”) and often considered their parents’ “apple of my eye”, first-born children are now proven to actually be smarter.

The University of Edinburgh has carried out a study which concluded that children who are born first have superior thinking skills because they obtain more mental stimulation from their parents.

In fact, while all of the children seemed to receive the same emotional support, the eldest received more help involving tasks that develop thinking skills.

What the study means

The data obtained from the study was analysed, and it was found that first-borns obtained higher scores in IQ-tests than their siblings, even as early as age one. They scored higher in tests that included reading, matching letters, names, reading single words out loud, and picture vocabulary tests.

The “birth order effect”

The researchers that carried out the study claimed that the findings explained the “birth order effect”: this means that children that are born first, or earlier, have both better levels of education as well as better wages later in life.

A matter of parenting

The study showed that this occurs, because parents change their behaviour as they have more children, decreasing the amount of mental stimulation given, as well as the amount of activities involving the child.

Dr. Ana Nuevo-Chiquero, from the Edinburgh University’s school of economics explains: “Our results suggest that broad shifts in parental behaviour are a plausible explanation for the observed birth order differences in education and labour market outcomes“. It is already hard to be a parent, but now it turns out it’s worse than we thought.

It’s not all rainbows and butterflies for the eldest

However much it might seem like being the eldest comes with all the good stuff, it has, in fact, some disadvantages too. A study from 2015 has shown that first-borns are up to 20% more likely to develop short-sightedness. So no worries if you are not the eldest: we may not be as smart, be we do have a better eyesight!

Photos: Unsplash

Mark Zuckerberg came up with a “sleep box” for his wife

Suffering from insomnia has become quite common nowadays, especially in a society in which stress and anxiety levels keep increasing throughout the years.

This is the case of Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg’s wife. Being a mother of two, Priscilla stays up at night worrying about her children, which seems to be quite a common phenomenon amongst new moms. Luckily, Facebook’s CEO has found a solution.

The wooden “sleep box”

Zuckerberg posted his newest invention on Instagram: “the sleep box“. In it, he explains: “Being a mom is hard, and since we’ve had kids Priscilla has had a hard time sleeping through the night.”.

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Una publicación compartida de Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck) el 27 Abr, 2019 a las 9:45 PDT

His creation consists of a wooden box that emits a faint light at the times it is okay for one of them to pick up the kids, but not bright enough to wake her up if still asleep. A big plus is that it doesn’t actually show the time, which will keep her from having the anxiety that comes with knowing how much more time she has left to sleep.

A good night’s sleep

“As an engineer, building a device to help my partner sleep better is one of the best ways I can think of to express my love and gratitude“, he writes in his caption. He claims it has worked very well for his wife, even better than he expected. Priscilla is finally able to sleep through the night.

An invention accessible for everyone

According to Facebook’s CEO, some of his friends have already asked for something similar, which is why he has decided to share the “sleep box” with everyone. He believes it might help other people with their own sleeping issues, putting his idea out there in case another entrepreneur wants to run with it, and “build sleep boxes for more people”. Way to go, Zuckerberg!

Photos: Instagram

Science proves why napping is the way to go

“Taking a nap” is a concept we seem to have taken over from the Spanish. Known for international symbols like flamenco, paellas and bulls, perhaps at the top of the list we can find their famous siestas. However, for most, napping equals being lazy. But is napping really that bad? Science has finally proven that taking a nap is, in fact, a healthy habit.

Is napping for the lazy?

The time has come, once and for all, to get rid of the negative connotations napping carries with it, and instead, acknowledge the healthy habit it actual is, according to science. So, if you are one to need a quick getaway from daily life, fear no more: your time has come. These are the reasons why not to give up your every day moment of peace.

Improve mental alertness

If your day to day life requires being alert and awake at all times, forget about caffeine: the way to go is taking a quick nap. In fact, a study carried out in 1995, shows that naps provide longer and less graded changes in performance, mood and alertness than caffeine (which loses its effectiveness much quicker).

Help support a healthy immune system

This 2015 study shows that having a siesta has stress-releasing and positive immune effects, and can be an effective way to countermeasure the effects sleep-deprivation has on the immune system. You know what they say, a nap a day keeps the doctor away.

Improve motor learning skills

This study proves that people who often take naps are able to improve their physical stamina. This is important for the learning of new physical skills (like driving, dancing…) as well as critical for children during their growth and development period.

Improve physical stamina

According to a study carried out by the Journal of Sports Sciences, napping improves athletes’ sprint times. In said study, athletes were separated into two groups. One of them took a 90 minute nap after lunch. The second group didn’t. The group that slept for an hour and a half, obtained better time scores during the race.

Improve memory

Having a siesta causes our brains to have a better retention of associative memory. In 2010, the University of New York carried out a study in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. In said study, 31 participants were chosen, and were then exposed to two sets of photographs of both faces and objects which were somehow related (associative memory). Each object was related to two different faces. After, a part of the participants went to sleep for 90 minutes and the rest were kept awake. In the end, the group that had taken a nap turned out to have a better direct associative memory retention than those who didn’t get any sleep.

Just in case you’re still not convinced…

It has been proven that the perfect time for a nap is about 10 minutes. This period allows you to improve outcomes in all of the aspects mentioned above, without the impaired period of alertness you might get with a longer period of sleep.

Also, a longer nap period, which can be between 60-90 minutes, will have the same effects on perceptual learning as a full night sleep. So, all in all, napping is, in fact, healthy; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Photos: Unsplash