Quote of the Day: “I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I’ve written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part.” – Shirley MacLaine (85-years-old today)
Photo: by ZZ Bottom, CC license via Flickr
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Despite having a rough history with his former teacher, this NFL linebacker is being praised for coming to her rescue when she was in trouble.
Martha Isbell had been all dressed up and on her way to Easter mass on Sunday when she got a flat tire on a highway in Lake View, South Carolina.
Luckily for her, 23-year-old Darius Leonard of the Indianapolis Colts was driving by just as her tire popped.
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As fate would have it, Isbell had been Leonard’s high school biology teacher. She admitted to the Indianapolis Star that she had been harsh on Leonard’s back in the day – but regardless of his antics as the class clown, she has always been fond of her former student.
“I was glad to see him because I knew I was safe with him there,” Isbell told The Star. “He knew it was me. If I had been a complete stranger, he still would have done it anyway. He cares enough to help anyone.”
Despite the “pitiful” state of her car jack, Isbell says that Leonard was quick to change the tire and careful to make sure that the tool had done its job.
WATCH: In Twist of Fate, NFL Star’s Organs Go to the Ailing Sports Hero Who Inspired Him
The high school teacher says she is particularly grateful for Leonard’s actions because she has been taking care of her father, who is currently battle stage 4 cancer, according to WXIN.
If the compassionate linebacker had not shown up when he did, her father may have been forced to make his way to Isbell’s car.
So not only did Leonard save Isbell’s father the trip, he also made sure that she was in time for Easter mass.
(WATCH the video footage below)
@Colts Darius Leonard continues to be an outstanding player on and off the field. So thankful to God that he stopped and helped me. Much love! pic.twitter.com/EKdmpCdYbH
— Martha Isbell (@mottjones) April 21, 2019
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One of Ireland’s most famous brewing companies is joining the fight against ocean pollution by swapping out their plastic packaging in favor of biodegradable materials.
Diageo, which is the parent company of Guinness beer and Smithwick’s and Harp, announced last week that they would be investing £16 million ($21 million) in ditching their plastic multi-pack rings and shrink wrap packaging.
Instead, the company plans on using 100% recyclable and biodegradable cardboard.
The cardboard packaging is set to appear on Irish store shelves starting in August. The initiative will then be launched in Britain and other world markets in the summer of 2020.
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Diageo says that their shift towards sustainable materials will collectively result in about 529 tons of plastic waste being diverted from landfills. As of right now, less than 5% of the company’s packaging used around the world is plastic.
The initiative means that Guinness will now be joining the likes of Corona and Carlsberg as some of the first major beer brands to ditch plastic packaging.
“For 260 years Guinness has played a vital role in the communities around us. We already have one of the most sustainable breweries in the world at St. James’s Gate and we are now leading the way in sustainable packaging,” said Global Head of Beer Mark Sandys in a statement. “This is good news for the brand, for our wider beer portfolio and for the environment.”
Toast The Good News With Your Friends By Sharing It To Social Media – Photo by Diageo
A man’s act of kindness towards an elderly woman eating by herself in a restaurant is touching hearts across social media.
Last week, Jamario Howards and his friends were sharing a meal at Brad’s diner in Oxford, Alabama when he saw the senior sitting alone.
“My exact thoughts [were] ‘dang I’d hate to have to eat alone,’” Howard recalled on Facebook.
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So rather than allow the woman to continue dining by herself, he crossed over to her table and asked if he could sit with her for a while
Howard and the woman, who was later identified as Eleanor, began chatting and swapping life stories – and as they continued to chat, she mentioned that her husband had recently passed away and it would have been their 60th wedding anniversary the following day.
“I instantly gave my condolences and asked her to come eat with us, which she was excited to do,” writes Howard.
Eleanor and the three young men shared the rest of their meal together, laughing and chatting all the while, and Howard says that it taught him a valuable lesson about humanity.
“The point in this is always be kind and be nice to people,” writes Howard. “You never know what they are going through. This woman changed my outlook on life and how O look at other people. Everyone has a story, so do not judge!”
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Artificial intelligence has just surpassed yet another impressive milestone by inventing a new team sport – and it’s apparently pretty fun.
The new game, which is being called Speedgate, is being hailed as the first sport ever designed by artificial intelligence.
It was developed as a side project by Portland-based innovation agency AKQA. The designers started their labor of love by feeding hundreds of various sports-related rules and phrases into an AI program. Then, they uploaded the rules of 400 different world sports into the program for analysis.
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Upon asking the AI to interpret the data, it regurgitated more than a few interesting concepts.
The AKQA designers interpreted 1,000 different ideas and outlines that were drawn out by the program – and while many of them were amusing to imagine, the team says that they wanted the AI to help develop a game that was not only fun and easy to understand, but also active and accessible.
The team eventually narrowed it down to ten possible sports ideas before field-testing three of them – and Speedgate was the winner.
AKQA says that the AI-developed game combines elements of croquet, rugby, and soccer. Though the designers had to fill in some of the gaps in the program’s language, the AI is responsible for most of Speedgate’s rulebook.
“Using AI as a member of a creative team takes us to a new place that we never could have gotten to without it,” says Whitney Jenkins, creative director of AKQA.
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For starters, the game is played with two teams of six players. The objective of the game is for the teams to try and score points by getting the ball through their own goal posts on the playing field; however, a team can only score if they are first able to get the ball through the posts in the center of the field. Players in possession of the ball are not allowed to move, but they are able to pass the ball to other players so long as the ball is passed from below the waist.
The sport has since been recognized by the Oregon Sports Authority, and AKQA says that leagues are already being formed around the world, from Malta to Mozambique.
If you want to get a gang of friends together to start playing in your own backyard, you can check out the full rulebook on the Speedgate website.
(WATCH Speedgate in action below) – Photos by AKQA
This is Speedgate from AKQA on Vimeo.
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Despite being forced to wear a stoma bag for her Crohn’s disease, this 41-year-old woman is training to be a top MMA fighter.
Kharina Kharran first became fascinated with martial arts after she was introduced to Bruce Lee’s movies at 9 years old. Unfortunately, she was later diagnosed with Crohn’s disease as a teenager.
The condition caused holes to form in her bowel and rectum, and she was left needing dozens of operations. One of Kharran’s operations was so serious, it resulted in her inability to sit down for more than a year.
“For a year and a half, I just had to stand up while I was working. I could not sit down,” says Kharran.
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Regardless, she started training at 16 years old – and even though she has undergone 38 bowel surgeries over the years, she has picked up a variety of martial arts.
She says she is now an expert in kung fu, Brazilian Jujitsu, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do and boxing – and she has trained for all of them while wearing her colostomy bag.
The bag has forced Kharran to adapt her technique and constantly assess whether her health is at risk. The pouch is positioned on the right side of her body, 2 centimeters across and 1 centimeter down from her belly button, which she tucks into her belt during bouts.
“If I draw attention to it, there may be people out there who want to be aggressive so I choose not to,” says Kharran.
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“I position myself so that my weakness isn’t obvious and it takes a lot of practice. If I am on the floor in the ab crunch position, it’s a dangerous and vulnerable position for my tummy so I always move and re-position myself.
“When you are fighting, it’s your tummy and your head that are the easiest targets so it is a matter of re-positioning myself and trying to strengthen my other moves because I cannot do the crunches.
“For example, when I do anything standing up, I make sure I am in their face as quickly as possible so they are not on the attack first,” she added. “My elbows drop over my stoma so I am quite lucky that I am protected by them – I don’t have to drop my arms down because they naturally cover the bag. Then if I move my arm down to my thighs, I can protect my whole side.”
Kharran now trains at a martial arts gym six times per week. Since she became strong enough to step into the ring three years ago, the woman from Brighton, England has faced three opponents – and she was delighted to emerge victorious from her third fight earlier this month after she successfully choked out her opponent.
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“My biggest achievement was stepping into the cage. I was 100 percent vulnerable,” says Kharran. “I was training six days per week but five days before the event, I couldn’t train because I was unwell.
“I needed to make sure I had done everything I could – and just stepping into the cage, I felt I was a winner already. It felt pretty phenomenal.
“It was just this overwhelming achievement and it made all the suffering I went through worthwhile.”
Kharran says that she also competes in charity events, but she prefers not to disclose her illness to her opponents.
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So far, she has taken part in more than 30 full-contact bouts during training and thousands of hours in the cage – but she says she has never been hit in her stoma bag during a match.
“I have never had it hit in a fight but I was hit at the side of the stoma before during a practice and it really really hurt,” recalls the fighter. “For me, safety comes first and I had to stop and recover – but me and my coach worked on strategy after that and it has never happened again since.”
Be Sure And Share This Incredible Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” – Napoleon Hill
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Here’s a fun origin story about the all-night party that preceded the first modern bungee jump using a device invented by Oxford students… Hear our Good News Guru tell the fun story on the radio in Los Angeles—during the April 19, 2019 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5.
SEE more pics and read full story on GNN…
Subscribe to our Good News podcast on iTunes, or for Android devices on Podbean.
Also, Check Out Our Little Paperback Book of Good News—Buy on Amazon or White Cloud Press!
Thousands of people have come together in order to support a 20-year-old woman who has been supporting her five younger siblings since their parents died.
Sam Rodriguez is the oldest of her brothers and sisters, ranging in age from 5 to 17. Since both of their parents died from cancer within the last five years, she has taken charge of their family.
Last week, the siblings made national headlines after their local police department published a video of themselves presenting Sam with a new car. The kids’ story was shared thousands of times – and it has resulted in thousands of readers donating to a GoFundMe campaign for the family.
RELATED: 13-Year-old Boy Traded His Xbox and Did Yard Work So He Could Buy His Mom a Car
In just a week, the page has raised over $29,000 and counting.
“I’m at a loss for words, but the kids and I will be forever grateful to all of you,” says Sam. “This help has changed my life and took so much off my plate.”
“It amazes me to see how much people have came together to help me and my family and to see how many good-hearted people are out there!” she added.
(WATCH the officers surprise Sam with her new car in the video below)
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For the first time ever, scientists have used gene therapy to cure several young patients of “bubble boy” disease, a rare genetic defect that leaves children with an ineffective or nonexistent immune system.
The “bubble boy” name is a reference to how the patients, who usually die early in life if left untreated, are often forced to live in sterile environments.
Now, however, gene therapy developed at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has cured 10 infants born with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), the most common type of the rare, life-threatening genetic condition.
The children are currently producing functional immune cells, including T cells, B cells and natural killer (NK) cells, for the first time.
The results appeared in last week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
“This is a first for patients with SCID-X1,” said first and corresponding author Ewelina Mamcarz of the St. Jude Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
“These patients are toddlers now, who are responding to vaccinations and have immune systems to make all immune cells they need for protection from infections as they explore the world and live normal lives.”
Ten infants have received the experimental therapy. It was developed in research led by the late Brian Sorrentino of the St. Jude Department of Hematology. He is the senior author and died after the manuscript was submitted for publication.
The patients, who were treated at St. Jude and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, were enrolled in an ongoing clinical trial of infants newly diagnosed with SCID-X1.
UCSF played an instrumental role in the St. Jude protocol by including targeted dosing of busulfan, a chemotherapy agent commonly used in bone marrow transplantation to make space in the marrow for donor stem cells to grow.
“We found that the addition of very low doses of busulfan based on a model developed at UCSF increased engraftment of gene-corrected stem cells in the bone marrow without causing the side effects associated with standard doses,” said co-author Mort Cowan, a UCSF professor of pediatrics and principal investigator of the trial at UCSF, where four of the infants were treated.
SCID is caused by a mutation in the interleukin-2 receptor subunit gamma (IL2RG) gene that produces a protein essential for normal immune function.
Currently, the best treatment for SCID-X1 is bone marrow transplantation with a tissue-matched sibling donor. But more than 80% of SCID-X1 patients lack such donors. They must rely on blood stem cells from other donors. This process is less likely to cure the SCID-X1 and more likely to lead to serious treatment-related side effects.
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The gene therapy involved collecting patients’ bone marrow, then using a virus as a vector to insert a correct copy of the IL2RG gene into the genome (DNA) of patients’ blood stem cells. The cells were then frozen and underwent quality testing. Prior to the gene-corrected blood stem cells being infused back into patients, the infants received two days of low-dose busulfan with the doses individually determined based on each patient’s specific ability to process the drug.
Most patients were discharged from the hospital within one month.
Within three months of treatment, gene-corrected immune cells were present in the blood of all but one patient, who required a second dose of gene therapy. The immune cells included T cells and NK cells, which help to fight infections. Antibody-producing B cells were also present, a first for SCID-X1 infants treated with gene therapy.
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Patients with infections prior to gene therapy have recovered. All are developing and growing normally. None have developed a life-threatening infection since receiving gene therapy, an indication of treatment effectiveness. No patients have developed leukemia, a side effect of previous gene therapy for SCID-X1.
“While longer follow-up is needed to assess any late effects of treatment, these results suggest most patients treated with this gene therapy will develop a complete durable immune response without side effects,” Cowan said.
St. Jude gene therapy is modeled on the human immunodeficiency virus, a lentivirus that can infect cells that are not dividing. Researchers have re-engineered the lentivirus to ferry a normal copy of IL2RG into patients’ blood stem cells and to be self-inactivating.
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In addition to targeted dosing of busulfan, St. Jude gene therapy differs from those earlier gene replacement efforts in several key ways. The vector includes insulators to block activation of genes adjacent to where IL2RG is inserted into patients’ DNA. The goal is to prevent gene therapy from inadvertently causing leukemia by switching on an oncogene in the patient’s blood stem cells.
Vector production and gene therapy treatment were streamlined using a stable producer cell line and cryopreservation. Both are important steps for expanding access to treatment and commercializing production.
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“This study marks the first time a lentivirus vector and targeted low-dose busulfan have been used as a primary treatment for newly-diagnosed infants with SCID-X1,” Mamcarz said.
“We hope this therapy, which includes several novel features, will serve as a template for developing gene therapy to treat other devastating blood disorders,” said co-author Stephen Gottschalk, chair of the St. Jude Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.
Reprinted from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Cure Your Friends Of Negativity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media – Photo by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Most people are not particularly thrilled to be pulled over by a police officer – especially not when they are illegally driving to an important job interview.
But rather than being issued a ticket, Ka’Shawn Baldwin was offered a ride.
The 22-year-old man from Cahokia, Illinois had been pulled over by Officer Roger Gemoules for driving a car with expired license plates last week. Not only that, Baldwin says that he did not have a valid driver’s license.
Baldwin explained how he had borrowed his friend’s car and opted to drive illegally because he was on his way to a job interview and he had no other means of transportation.
“He was very respectful when I pulled him over and you could just tell – I could feel that he really was wanting to get to this job interview,” Gemoules told CNN.
Upon hearing his story, Gemoules simply offered to give Baldwin a ride to the interview.
Baldwin was only a few minutes late, but he ended up landing the job – and he says that he is extremely grateful to Gemoules for his part in helping him get to the interview.
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Francella Jackson, who is assistant to Cahokia Mayor Curtis McCall Jr., later posted a photo of Gemoules to Facebook so she could thank him for his kindness and share his story with the community.
“On behalf of [the mayor], I would like to thank Officer Gemoules for showing compassion and being a great example of how community-oriented policing actually works,” wrote Jackson.
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A Finnish university has published a comprehensive global road map on how the world can reduce its carbon emissions before the 2050 deadline – and the research says that it is quite feasible.
The report breaks down exactly how the world’s different regions can transition to 100% renewable energy as a means of preventing the more catastrophic outcomes of irreversible climate change.
The study is the first of its kind to outline a cost-effective international strategy to keep the planet’s carbon emissions at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Not only that, it is the first study of its kind to suggest a global strategy that does not involve carbon-capture technology.
The report, which is being called the “Global Energy System based on 100% Renewable Energy – Power, Heat, Transport and Desalination Sectors”, was conducted by the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and the Energy Watch Group (EWG) from Germany.
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Over the course of the last four years, the 14-person research team have developed a global simulation of consumption and energy production based on an hourly scale in 5-year phases from 2015 to 2050.
As of right now, one-third of the world’s energy is renewable. With population growth and energy demand in mind, the researchers say that we could meet the Paris Agreement’s carbon mitigation goals by generating 69% of the world’s energy from solar panels, 18% from wind power, 3% from hydropower and 6% from bioenergy.
Additionally, all the energy transitions could be paid for simply by giving up on fossil fuels entirely.
“A full energy transition to 100% renewable energy is not only feasible, but also cheaper than the current global energy system,” says Hans-Josef Fell, one of the researchers involved with the report
“The outlined global transition pathway stands out as the first to present a 1.5°C scenario that is technology-rich, multi-sectoral, multi-regional and cost-optimal,” he added. “Notably, it achieves a cost decline without the reliance on high-risk technologies such as nuclear power and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).”
The researchers dedicated the report to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for her youth-led Fridays for Future environmental protests.
“Existing renewable energy potential and technologies, including storage, is capable of generating a secure energy supply at every hour throughout the year,” says the researchers. “The sustainable energy system is more efficient and cost-effective than the existing system, which is based primarily on fossil fuels and nuclear.
“A global renewable transition is the only sustainable option for the energy sector, and is compatible with the internationally adopted Paris Agreement,” they added. “The energy transition is not a question of technical feasibility or economic viability, but one of political will.”
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After historians breathed a sigh of relief over the preservation of the many artifacts inside of the Notre Dame Cathedral, bee enthusiasts are now rejoicing over the miraculous survival of the building’s 180,000 pollinators.
For the last six years, there have been a trio of beehives nestled on top of the cathedral’s roof. The hives were just a few honeybee colonies that were installed across the city as a means of of boosting dwindling pollinator populations in Europe.
The hives have been managed by Notre Dame beekeeper Nicolas Geant since 2013; so when the Parisian cathedral caught fire last week, he anxiously awaited news of their condition.
It took a team of 400 firefighters almost nine hours to finally extinguish the blaze – and though city officials were wary of the hives’ survival, satellite photos showed that the three hives had made it through the fire.
Once specialists were finally able to check up on the honeybees, Geant was elated to hear that they were alive and well.
“It’s a big day. I am so relieved. I saw satellite photos that showed the three hives didn’t burn,” Geant told The Associated Press. “Instead of killing them, the CO2 (from smoke) makes them drunk, puts them to sleep.”
That being said, the bees are particularly lucky because the hives reside only 100 feet under where the roof was burning. If their hives had been heated to 63 degrees Celsius (145.4 Fahrenheit), the hive wax would have melted and the bees would have perished.
“I wouldn’t call it a miracle, but I’m very, very happy,” Geant added.
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Quote of the Day: “Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.” – Jimmy Carter (Happy Earth Day)
Photo: by Alan Grinberg, CC license via Flickr
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I wanted to share this, especially if you’re a long-time fan of GNN.
You guys know me as the founder—and how I’ve been working to share good news with the world for 21 years.
For my 60th birthday last week, the staff surprised me with a personal message from Steve Hartman! Our favorite news broadcaster, GNN shares his videos ALL the time—so, this was wonderful and so special.
It’s great to hear about whenever famous people take the time for kindness. (Check out our Celebrities page for more like this, including the latest ‘Keanu Kindness’.)
Steve ROCKS, sp please go follow his Facebook page and show him some love: On the Road with Steve Hartman…
There’s never been a better time to be disorganized.
For those of who you have been criticized for being messy, we have some good news. According to Steven Johnson, “the more disorganized your brain is, the smarter you are.”
He is the author of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. In his book, he notes that this revelation was discovered in a neuroscience experiment conducted by bio-psychologist Robert Thatcher.
In addition, Johnson and other sources have cited “messy” ideas as proving to have a profound impact on creativity.
For instance, research has revealed “wandering minds” to be more creative—and even large cities as being more creative than smaller towns due to the amount of spurring ideas.
“Being right keeps you in place,” says this author of seven books focused around science, technology and life. “Being wrong forces us to explore.”
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The book begins with Charles Darwin’s first encounter with the teeming ecosystem of the coral reef and draws connections to the intellectual hyper-productivity of modern life.
By the end of the book, Johnson builds a case for what he believes:
“You may not be able to turn your government into a coral reef, but you can create comparable environments on the scale of everyday life: in the workplaces you inhabit; in the way you consume media; in the way you augment your memory. The patterns are simple, but followed together, they make for a whole that is wiser than the sum of its parts. Go for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; take on multiple hobbies; frequent coffeehouses and other liquid networks; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle, reinvent. Build a tangled bank.”
(READ more at TIME Magazine)
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Quote of the Day: “To believe in the story of Easter is to believe that a wall is nothing more than a door in disguise.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough
Photo: by Yorgos Stavrinos, CC license via Flickr
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
This is Milo. He can’t believe he was hit by a snowball in April. Way too late for such frigid nonsense. 13/10 would chilly boop pic.twitter.com/BZaOn0tlqS
— WeRateDogs™ (@dog_rates) April 16, 2019
Before Matt Nelson had millions of online followers and subscribers, he was just a guy who loved dogs; three years later, he has used his love of canine companions to save the lives of dozens of pups.
When Nelson was just a freshman in college, he started a “We Rate Dogs” Twitter account so he could post pictures of cute dogs and rate them on a 10/10 scale.
That being said, Nelson has given every single dog on his channel a 10/10 rating – “because they’re all better than perfect.”
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“Dogs have always been a part of my life,” Nelson told GoFundMe. “When I was a bored college freshman and wanted to start a new thing, I knew that most people shared this love of dogs with me, so why not create an account that embraced that?”
Since starting with several thousand followers, his Twitter account has accumulated 8 million subscribers.
Some people might settle for internet fame, but as Nelson became more and more familiar with canine friends, he found an opportunity to use his passion project for good.
This is Cricket. Back in September, you guys raised all the money for his surgery. I finally got to meet him and his friends, and we wanted to thank you for being part of a community that’s contributed over $500k for dogs in need. He insisted all of you receive honorary 15/10s pic.twitter.com/Pzr1b5jBbH
— WeRateDogs™ (@dog_rates) April 11, 2019
“In mid-2016, there were four dog – three pugs and an older yellow lab –who always dressed up for the holidays,” says Nelson. “Their owner would make a whole backdrop and dress them up, and she sent me a photo for every holiday.
“Then, I learned that one of them needed a doggie wheelchair. I think he was 12 years old and struggling a little bit. It was $400 or $500 for the wheelchair, so his owner started a GoFundMe.”
Since Nelson figured that his followers were familiar with the sweet pups, he shared the crowdfunding campaign in hopes of helping to raise money for the the wheelchair. Within hours, their followers donated enough money to meet the crowdfunding goal.
This is Bulleit. He was born with a back deformity compressing his spinal cord. As he grows it will continue to paralyze his hind end. He does a very good job with his acupuncture, but needs surgery to live a long happy life. You can help him below. 13/10https://t.co/WeQkEfAqD0 pic.twitter.com/8fshzwlD61
— WeRateDogs™ (@dog_rates) April 12, 2019
Inspired by his followers’ dedication, Nelson continued to share GoFundMe campaigns for the pups on his page – and every single time, his followers helped the campaigns to meet their goals.
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“These were dogs that people weren’t familiar with until they read their stories, but they just attached themselves to it and raised the money,” said Nelson. “In that first year, we shared one with a goal of over $10k – so this was the post where I thought, ‘If we don’t make it, it’s okay’ – but within 24 hours, that goal was hit.”
In 2017, Nelson committed to consistently sharing canine-related crowdfunding goals. To date, he has helped 88 different campaigns meet their goals, raising over $552,000 in donations.
This is Paisley. She’s been diagnosed with chylothorax, a condition causing fluid buildup around her heart and lungs. She underwent a massive four-part surgery yesterday, and could really use your support. You can help the best girl beat this below. 13/10https://t.co/1NFyE96rU1 pic.twitter.com/mHMUdB1lHo
— WeRateDogs™ (@dog_rates) April 5, 2019
“I’d like to think that if anyone else had this audience, they would do the same. Hopefully I’ve taken it and done the best I’ve could with it, but it’s been wild for sure,” said Nelson.
“If you believe in a cause, I’m sure a quick Google search can get you to where that cause is being elevated. And if you’re really invested in it, you can find a way to get it done.”
(LISTEN to Nelson’s interview below) – Photo by Matt Nelson
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Smokers who are trying to quit may not always have to reach for a piece of nicotine gum to stave off a craving. Deliberately inhaling a pleasant aroma may be enough to reduce the urge to light up, at least temporarily, and could be used as part of an effective smoking cessation strategy.
“Despite disappointing relapse rates, there have been few new approaches to smoking cessation in general and to craving relief in particular,” said lead author Michael Sayette, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh. “Using pleasant odors to disrupt smoking routines would offer a distinct and novel method for reducing cravings, and our results to this end are promising.”
The research, which was conducted by the American Psychological Association, was published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
While smoking rates have fallen over the past 50 years, approximately 40 million Americans still smoke, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most adult smokers want to quit and at least half report trying in the past year, yet half of those who try relapse within two weeks.
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“Even with nicotine replacement, relapse is common. New interventions are urgently needed to help the millions who wish to quit but are unable,” said Sayette.
The researchers recruited 232 smokers, ages 18 to 55, who were not trying to quit at the time and were not using any other nicotine delivery system, such as gum or vaping. They were asked not to smoke for eight hours prior to the experiment and were required to bring a pack of their preferred cigarettes and a lighter with them.
Upon arrival, the people first smelled and rated a number of different odors generally considered to be pleasant (e.g., chocolate, apple, peppermint, lemon, or vanilla) as well as one unpleasant chemical odor, tobacco from the participant’s preferred brand of cigarettes and one blank (no odor). They were then asked to light a cigarette and hold it in their hands, but not smoke it. After 10 seconds, the participants verbally rated their urge to smoke on a scale of 1 to 100 before extinguishing the cigarette and putting it in an ashtray.
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The participants then opened a container that held either the scent they had rated most pleasurable, the scent of tobacco or no scent and sniffed it once before again rating their urge to smoke. They continued to sniff the container they were given for the next five minutes, rating their urge to smoke every 60 seconds.
The average craving score just after lighting the cigarette was 82.13. Regardless of what odor they smelled, all participants experienced a decreased urge to smoke after sniffing the container, but the average craving scores for those who smelled pleasant odors dropped significantly more (19.3 points) than those who smelled tobacco (11.7 points) or received the blank (11.2 points).
The researchers were not surprised by the findings, as they confirmed and extended results from a much smaller, exploratory study they had previously conducted, according to Sayette.
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“These days, replicating prior findings is not something I take for granted, and extending the research by showing that we can maintain the effect for as long as five minutes suggests it might offer enough time for a smoker to decide to avoid or leave their high-risk situation,” he said.
Sayette believes that part of the reduction seen in all three conditions may be due to smokers extinguishing the cigarette and removing temptation. As for why pleasant aromas achieved a greater reduction in cravings, he thinks they may work by distracting smokers from thoughts of their craving to memories linked to these olfactory cues (e.g., peppermint reminded some of the smokers of childhood Christmas holidays spent at a grandparent’s home), but more research would need to be done to confirm his hypothesis.
“Our research suggests that the use of pleasant odors shows promise for controlling nicotine cravings in individuals who are trying to quit smoking,” said Sayette, who noted that additional research needs to be done to see if this strategy could prove useful alone or in combination with other approaches to smoking cessation.
Reprinted from American Psychological Association
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