I ran across two interesting abstracts for recently published articles!

Student-Teacher Relationships and Adult Health:

Jinho Kim (2021) found a strong positive relationship between good student-teacher relationships and adult health, even accounting for family background history!  This highlights the importance of a strong positive relationship between teachers and their students.  Research has shown how this positive influence impacts kiddos in the short-term, but now we see that these positive relationships impact us well into adulthood.  This reminds me of a quote by Dr. Bruce Perry, an American psychiatrist who researches and works with children who struggle with trauma:  “The most healthy relationships a child has, the more likely he will be able to recover from trauma and thrive.  Relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love.”

Read the article for more insights:  “The quality of social relationships in schools and adult health:  Differential effects of student-student versus student-teacher relationships”—Jinho Kim, School Psychology, January 2021

Smiling Decreases Pain during Injections:

Did you know that grinning or grimacing can decrease the perceived pain felt during a shot?  During a time when many are looking forward to getting a shot, keep in mind the research by Pressman et. al. (2020).  They found that people who engaged a full smile or a full grimace reported almost half as much pain during injection than those who did not!  They also found that full smiles were associated with significantly lower heart rates.  So, if you are getting an injection anytime soon, remember that fully engaging your facial muscles can decrease your pain!  (Good thing we’re all wearing masks, huh?!)

Read the article for more insights:  “Smile (or grimace) through the pain?  The effects of experimentally manipulated facila expressions on needle-injection responses.” –Pressman, Acevedo, Hammond, and Kraft-Feil, Emotion, 2020.