The Day After Thanksgiving

Seasonal changes, holidays and shopping activities are among the environmental factors that can influence our health. What positive or negative effects can we expect on Black Friday and days right after?

The Friday-after-Thanksgiving was coined "Black" by police officers because of the fact that the traffic on the day after Thanksgiving is usually heavy and crowds are large. And they were right. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration & CDC, Thanksgiving is the most dangerous holiday of the year for drivers.

November is also one of the most financially stressful months. But stress is not always bad. The only stock market crash that happened the day after Thanksgiving (November 27, 2009) was in Dubai and did not affect global markets as much as "Black Fridays" in September and May of 1800s. What about the more common stress after Thanksigiving associated with holiday spending?

For retailers, "Black Friday" marks the transition from "red" to "black", indicating the start of Christmas Shopping Season. Should not this fact alone improve our mood and make us feel better? It definitely should. And researchers agree.

Even though there are many reasons not to participate in Black Friday, shopping can be good for you. It makes you burn calories, and feel happier. According to a recent study by Rick and colleagues, people often shop when they feel sad and making shopping decisions reduces their "residual sadness" as it restores a sense of personal control. Previous research, too, points that shopping can translate into rise of dopamine and activities of brain regions responsible for pleasure and positive thinking.

November is a great month for comforting food - and we do gain on average a pound after Thanksgiving. But it's also a great month for outdoors, bird watching, getting together and reflecting on the good things. According to academics, even people considering suicide are less likely to do it on or right after Thanksgiving Holidays. A paper from the 40s suggests we might be also a bit less sharp mentally (compared to the spring), but your brain does need some downtime. Mental breaks can increase productivity and creativity. Enjoy your holidays. Life only gets better after Thanksgiving.

REFERENCES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2001). Reducing the risk for injury while traveling for Thanksgiving holidays. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 50 (45), 1016-7 PMID: 11724161

Hull HR, Radley D, Dinger MK, & Fields DA (2006). The effect of the Thanksgiving holiday on weight gain. Nutrition journal, 5 PMID: 17118202

Rick, S., Pereira, B., & Burson, K. (2014). The benefits of retail therapy: Making purchase decisions reduces residual sadness Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24 (3), 373-380 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcps.2013.12.004

Petrescu, M., & Murphy, M. (2013). Black Friday and Cyber Monday: a case study International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 5 (3) DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2013.052884

Beauchamp GA, Ho ML, & Yin S (2014). Variation in suicide occurrence by day and during major American holidays. The Journal of emergency medicine, 46 (6), 776-81 PMID: 24462023

H.E.Jones (1941) Seasonal Variations in IQ. The Journal of Experimental Education. Vol. 10, No. 2, Dec., 1941

Knutson, Brian, Scott Rick, Elliott Wimmer, Drazen Prelec, and George Loewenstein (2007), "Neural Predictors of Purchases," Neuron, 53, 147-156.

Hull HR, Hester CN, & Fields DA. (2006) The effect of the holiday season on body weight and composition in college students. Nutrition & metabolism, 44. PMID: 17192197

Are You What You Read or Do You Read What You Are?

The environment plays a significant role in our health. We are exposed to multiple physical, chemical and biological challenges, including information  - like news and gossip stories related to health and wellness. How exactly is it affecting us?

University of Pennsylvania researchers surveyed over two thousand US adults 40 to 70 years of age on how they scanned for information about specific health behaviors. The researchers followed up one year later to see how participants' behaviors changed. The result?  Consumption of health information does affect specific behaviors. But the effect is not as straightforward or as strong as one might think.

As was shown earlier, people who seek information about particular health issues are typically in the middle of making a decision, and need information to ease anxiety or reinforce confidence in their already made decision. The recent study also shows that people already motivated to change their behavior may be more motivated to scan information about this change of behavior. But exposure to information might not be helpful if they have not made a decision yet.

For example, women actively scanning information about breast cancer after getting a mammogram are more likely to get another one next year compared to those who consume the same amount of information but have not made up their mind about getting a mammogram yet. People that exercise and eat healthy are more likely to continue doing so one year later than those not adhered to healthy behaviors yet, despite the same amount of health-related information consumed during the past year.


Online content discovery platform Outbrain did their own research and found similar if not more dramatic results. Analysis based on total U.S. page views across Outbrain’s network of 100,000+ publisher sites during the month of June 2013 as well as data from the external sources is captured on the figure. Surprised? Health content consumption actually positively correlates with unhealthy weight.

The more obese people live in the region, the more they read online about health. Reading a lot about jobs does not lower unemployment rates either. Information about relationships does help to avoid divorce though. So reading can be good for you. But not sufficient. After all, it was Albert Einstein who said -  Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

REFERENCES

Hornik R, Parvanta S, Mello S, Freres D, Kelly B, & Schwartz JS (2013). Effects of Scanning (Routine Health Information Exposure) on Cancer Screening and Prevention Behaviors in the General Population. Journal of health communication PMID: 24083417

Bennett, A. 7 Surprising (or not?) Facts about the Content Americans Consume. Outbrain blog. October 16, 2013