50% of your happiness comes from your Genetics & Personality; 10% from your Circumstances and 40% from Intentional Activities and your Choices. In other words you can choose to do things that make you happy!

Happiness is a skill i.e. we can learn how to turn a negative response into a positive one. Cognitive scientists Paul Ekman and Richard Davidson say it’s all about becoming "the manager of your emotions”.

Paying it forward and giving makes us happier. Even witnessing an act of kindness can create a happy experience/ a ‘grateful to be alive’ feeling and an inner joy according to psychologist Abraham Maslow.

Smiling sends signals to the brain of emotional well-being. Smiling lowers stress hormones and blood pressure. Smiling stimulates the feel-good areas of the brain more than chocolate or money!

Animals and pets make us happy. Our pets contribute to lowering blood pressure, reduce anxiety and improve our mood. Researcher James E. Gern, MD, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology states that children who grow up around animals have a stronger immune system.

Blondes have more hair. They’re also said to have more fun! Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair have about 100,000 follicles and redheads have about 86,000 follicles!

Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph which is why you can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze. A good reason to cover your mouth when you sneeze!

Women blink twice as many times as men do. Hmmm that’s a lot of blinking! The average person blinks about 13 times a minute.

Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing. I think some people’s noses never stop growing like Pinocchio!

By 60 years of age 60% of men & 40% of women snore – some I know definitely start earlier!

A 10 year study found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays more than on any other day of the week. So take it easy on Monday or be aware of those hectic weekends!

Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress. High stress jobs are dangerous for your health.

The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream. So get toasty at night if you want to have sweet dreams.

11% of people are left handed. Right-handed people live on average 9 years longer than left-handed people. Oh dear I’m left handed (however blonde!)

Women burn fat more slowly than men at a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. We know this and it’s really annoying!

The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest correspondence university in the world and has approximately 300,000 students.

South African golfers have won more golf majors since the 1940’s than any other nation apart from the United States. Gary Player alone has won 9 majors and 24 PGA Tour wins.

Table Mountain alone has over 1,500 species of plants, more than the entire United Kingdom.

South Africa has the most official languages in the world – 11: English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Setswana, Sepedi, Xitsonga, siSwati, isiNdebele and Tshivenda.

Route 62, Western Cape is the longest wine route in the world – encompassing Wellington, Tulbagh, Worcester, Robertson and the Klein Karoo..

Mossel Bay is recorded as having the second most moderate climate in the world.

South Africa is the sole producer of the Mercedes Benz C Class, right-hand drive vehicles.

South Africa is rated 3rd in the world in supplying safe, drinkable tap water.

Walt Disney serves South African wine exclusively at its 73-acre Animal Kingdom Lodge in the US.

Facebook reports over 1 billion registered users.

Domain names are registered at a rate of more than two million per month.

Bill Gates’s house was designed using a Macintosh computer.

Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the web.

In 1 minute 141 million email messages are sent.

Google has 200 million searches per day.

In 2000 there were 360 million internet users in 2014 there are almost 7 billion.

“The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep is sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister.

Months that start on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th.

You share your Birthday with 9 million others.

A piece of paper cannot be folded more than 7 times.

It takes 6 months to build a Rolls Royce and 13 hours to build a Toyota.

A fascinating site to visit is www.worldometers.info