DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: We signed up for ‘Homes for Ukraine’ and like many, we didn’t hear a word –

The last few years have been tough for those of us who believe in basic human morality.

During the initial Covid blockade, there were many depressing images of supermarket customers fighting for toilet paper rolls on TV and companies profiting by charging exorbitant prices for face masks when supply was desperate.

Yet there were also instances of what a recent report describes as “a remarkable increase in acts of kindness.”

On a personal level, I’m reminded of my elderly mother’s new neighbors who, like many, take the time to help her with things like grocery shopping while she’s in solitary confinement.

We saw this more recently after the horrific occupation of Ukraine, where many people (including my family) volunteered to welcome Ukrainian refugees into their homes. Impressively, more than 100,000 Britons signed up within 24 hours of the government’s announcement of the Homes for Ukraine program on 14 March.

So why do strangers feel the need to help each other?

There is no doubt that global catastrophes create a sense of human unity, that we are all together inside.

In addition to numerous anecdotal evidence, this claim is supported by a large study called the World Happiness Report, which uses global research data from the past decade to assess declared happiness levels in more than 150 countries.

The results of the 2021 study showed that people are remarkably resilient, despite experiencing the worst health crisis in more than a century.

The UK may have fallen on the happiness chart (from 13th in 2020 to 17th in the world last year), but most of us are content with our lives.

But even more interestingly, there has been truly remarkable and unprecedented global growth in the types of kindness tracked in this study. These include helping strangers, volunteering, and donating time and money, all of which are now 25% above pre-pandemic levels worldwide.

Despite all this research showing the benefits of being kind and considerate, it’s a real shame when it comes to Ukraine that the British bureaucracy doesn’t act with the same sense of urgency as people’s desire to help.

Separately, psychologists from the University of Sussex, who recently conducted the world’s largest survey of kindness, found that acts of kindness were common during the pandemic, with three-quarters of Britons claiming to have benefited from kindness in one way or another.

Now you understand why people can be nice to their friends and family, but why do so many lend a hand of friendship to strangers?

Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection is often summed up as “the survival of the fittest,” actually believed that humans are a loving and social species, and that we are the way we are, precisely because we are willing to work together and help one another. can overcome obstacles. This may also explain why courtesy is one of the most important qualities we look for in a long-term partner.

This is what comes out of a study published in the Journal of Personality in 2019. For this study, 2,700 students from around the world were given a “companion dollar” budget to spend on the qualities they desire in a partner and chose one of eight characteristics: physical attractiveness, good financial prospects, kindness, humor, chastity, piety, desire for children, and creativity.

Students typically spent about a quarter of their total budget on kindness, followed by physical attractiveness and good financial prospects, while traits such as creativity and chastity were not rated highly and received less than 10 percent of a spouse’s dollar.

Men generally spend more of their budget on physical attractiveness than women (22% vs. 16%), while women spend more on good financial prospects than men (18% vs. 12%).

And being nice to others is good for you too, although that depends on what exactly it means. That’s according to an analysis of more than 200 studies involving nearly 200,000 people conducted by researchers from the University of Hong Kong.

They discovered that doing random favors, such as helping an elderly neighbor with their grocery shopping, contributed more to people’s mental and physical well-being than doing something more formal, like volunteering for a good cause.

According to the researchers, this may be because helping out on an informal and spontaneous basis can create stronger social connections than something more planned.

They also found that younger donors saw more psychological benefits from doing good, while older donors reported better physical health.

Despite all this research showing the benefits of being kind and considerate, it’s a real shame when it comes to Ukraine that the British bureaucracy doesn’t act with the same sense of urgency as people’s desire to help.

More than two weeks after we listed our names to host Ukrainian refugees, no indication was given as to when or whom we might be able to help our family and many others.

Calories on Menus Don’t Lose Weight

Starting Wednesday, main restaurants, cafes, bars and takeaways will have to put calorie labels on their menus. This is part of new pressure from the government to do (or at least pretend to do) something about the ever-rising levels of obesity.

I doubt this will make a difference. For starters, these rules only apply to large companies, not smaller, independent restaurants.

And there’s an exit clause: “specials” – anything left on the menu for less than 30 days – will be exempted.

Also, research from other countries on the impact of menu labeling has not been very encouraging. A 2016 New York University study examining the impact of labeling laws enacted a decade ago concluded that only 8% of fast food consumers are more likely to make healthy choices as a result of calorie labeling. This is because people who eat fast food are more motivated by taste, cost, and convenience than nutrition.

A 2019 study in the BMJ, which also examined the impact of food labeling in the United States, concluded that although the introduction of new laws initially resulted in a small reduction of 60 calories “per action,” the following year the decrease was massive. disappeared. So things don’t look very promising for the UK.

Covid risk is in your hands

One of the first things we learned in medical school was the importance of examining a patient’s hands.

For example, red, painful bumps on the fingertips can be a sign of endocarditis, inflammation of the heart valves and pale nail beds can be a sign of anemia.

It seems that your hands can also reveal whether you are at risk for a serious Covid infection if you catch the virus.

This is the result of a recent Swansea University study led by Professor John Manning.

When the researchers measured the fingers of 50 patients with COVID at the hospital, they found that the length of the patients’ fingers was a good indicator of how sick they would be.

Normally, a man’s index finger is shorter than his ring finger. In women, two fingers are usually the same length.

The difference between the index finger and ring finger is known as the index/ring ratio.

Previous research by Professor Manning suggests that this relationship is related to the amount of testosterone or estrogen you’re exposed to in the womb, and it’s linked to things like sports performance: people with longer ring fingers (a sign of testosterone exposure). usually does best in football or endurance sports.

In his new study, the longer the ring finger, the more likely patients were to become seriously ill with Covid.

This may be because high testosterone levels suppress the immune system. My finger measurements put me at moderate risk, so I’m being cautious about the virus.