Hello and welcome to todays Levy Letter. Its Wednesday and its a rather chilly day so far, but nice and sunny. Lets hope it stays bright and clear. Speaking of the cold, we had a huge response yesterday to our story about people struggling to pay heating costs. Lots of people in similar situations and struggling to make ends meet, and also a few less sympathetic people suggesting we can just wear warm sweaters instead! Thank you for all of those messages and if we get time tonight I might read a few of those out on the programme.
Coming up on Look North tonight, we'll have a special report on the Goole pensioner preparing to go to jail today over his refusal to pay part of his council tax as a matter of principle. We report on the police and local farmers teaming up to try and prevent hare coursing gangs operating on private land. We reveal why one Elvis impersonator at a Rock and Roll theme bar is all shook up over Hull City Councils health and safety rules. We'll have the third in our series of short films from young directors hoping to be up for a BAFTA award. Well also be hearing from the council looking for a new auctioneer to work in local markets. And well have the detailed weather forecast as usual. Thats all coming up on tonights Look North at half past six on BBC One. I hope you can join me then. Forty Four Well they say life begins at forty, but it seems a significant portion of the worlds population disagree. New research analysing data from an incredible 2 million people from 80 different countries found a consistent pattern with depression and unhappiness peaking at the average age of 44. The risk of depression was lower earlier in life, and in the later part of life. According to the experts, this could be because the middle part of our lives is when we adjust our expectations to become more realistic and accepting of ourselves. Another possible cause for the upward trend in happiness as we got older is that we start seeing people our age dying and suffering and we count ourselves lucky compared to them! Thats according to the experts, not me. The dip and rise of happiness levels throughout our lives is not restricted to any social class or group apparently, we all have an equal chance of it happening to us, and for some its not until they reach their fifties that they begin to come out of their depressed phase. One positive to come from the research is the finding that as long as you remain fit and healthy, after the mid point in your life youll be on a steadily increasing curve of happiness so that when youre 70 youll be at the same level of happiness as you were when you were 20. Well thats a nice thought at least, something to look forward to. Im not sure if this research is reassuring or slightly depressing, but maybe its just my age! I wonder what you think about that one. Electrical Brain Stimulation I had a story not long ago about a special laser helmet that could help treat Alzheimers disease, and today theres a new story in the news about a new form of deep brain stimulation that could help boost our memories. It sounds very futuristic, but implanting electrodes deep in the brain and then stimulating them can create sensations on demand in patients, including déjà vu and intense memory recall. By regular stimulation, the patients can develop increased powers of memory in tests, although its not fully understood how this works yet. I read an incredible account of how a patient undergoing this experiment was transported back to a specific moment when he was 20 and could experience the sensations and colours of the time in vivid detail. That sounds wonderful, and it makes you wonder if people will one day pay for this sort of thing. Imagine being able to experience wonderful memories from your past just by stimulating electrodes. For now, however, its all experimental and being used to help those with problems such as Parkinsons disease, depression, and chronic pain. Its amazing what things scientists are able to do these days. Well thats about it from me today. Dont forget if youve got anything you want to let me know about, a story for the programme or something you want to tell me for the letter, drop me a line and email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] And if you know anybody whos not signed up the Levy Letter and you think theyd like one, send them to our website address www.bbc.co.uk/looknorthull and they can click on Levy Letter and subscribe for their free daily email. Of course you can also watch the programme online at that website, so no excuses for missing all the days news and stories from Look North. I hope you can join me for the programme tonight at the usual time of half past six on BBC One. Enjoy the rest of your day, and youll get your next Levy Letter tomorrow at around about the same time. Bye for now Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
