Pelé, Vivienne Westwood, Pope Benedict XVI, Barbara Walters, Anita Pointer - Is Christmas proving too stressful?

In a study published in 1999, a research group found that there seemed to be consistently more deaths from ischemic heart disease during the winter than there were during the summer. 

About one third more deaths from heart disease were recorded in December and January than from June through September. 

They we were struck by an increase in deaths starting around Thanksgiving, climbing through Christmas, peaking on New Year’s Day, and then falling again. They reckoned that this peak in cardiac deaths during the holidays might result from factors including the emotional stress of the holidays, overindulgence during the holiday season, or both.

They call it the... 

“Merry Christmas Coronary” and “Happy New Year Heart Attack” Phenomenon *

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash

Christmas time, or the Holiday season, may be hard and stressful for many reasons: the strain it often causes on your personal finances, loneliness, unfulfilled expectations, the seasonal darkness, over-eating and drinking, and so on.

This festive season several famous individuals have passed away - Pelé, Vivienne Westwood, Pope Benedict XVI, Barbara Walters, Anita Pointer (of Pointer Sisters)...

Did the Christmas related stress have a bearing on them passing? We can only speculate.

It is often also asserted that, due factors like loneliness,  more suicides around Christmas time than any other time of the year. Is this true? I myself certainly used to believe it, but...

"Suicides and parasuicides increase at Christmas" -  a myth! It seems...

It is often claimed that "people already suffering from depression are pushed over the edge by the surrounding jollity that they can’t share in, by heightened feelings of loneliness (because “everyone but they” has family and friends to spend the holiday with), and by seasonal affective disorder due to the long nights and short days of mid-to-late December."

But the Christmas suicide peak is only a myth, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. According to CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, suicides (at more than 40,000 per year in the US) are at a nadir in December, and peak in the spring and fall. 

Whichever way you look at it though, the Holiday Season is a stressful one. More and more people that I talk to are opting, either not to celebrate Christmas at all, or only do so in a a very modest way.

Some off course don't celebrate Christmas at all, like most Muslims, Hindus (at least not officially), Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, and others.

It seems that they in many ways benefit from not celebrating Christmas, at least financially.

The Original University Challenge presenter, Bamber Gascoigne, passed away

Former University Challenge quizmaster, playwright, 

and author Bamber Gascoigne has died at the age of 87.

Bamber Gascoigne fronted the popular UK TV quiz show University Challenge (based on the US series College Bowl) for 25 years, from 1962 to 1987. He also presented TV documentaries and wrote a number of books, including A Brief History of the Great Moghuls.

Gascoigne was born in London on 24 January 1935. He was the elder son of Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Ernest Frederick Orby Gascoigne. H was educated at Sunningdale School in Berkshire before winning scholarships to both Eton College and Magdalene College, Cambridge (Wikipedia).

Bamber died from heart failure after a short illness, less than a month after his 87th birthday. He was best known for his famous University Challenge catchphrases such as "Fingers on buzzers", "Your starter for 10", and "I'll have to hurry you".

The tributes have been pouring in.

Paul Sinha, star of ITV's quiz show The Chase, tweeted: "[Gascoigne's] effortless erudition, making whole swathes of impenetrable knowledge seem cheerfully accessible, was totally inspiring to this kid of the 80s. Sadly we may never see his like on our screens again."

Stephen Fry, who took part in University Challenge in 1980, wrote on Twitter: "Oh no, not Bamber. He was so kind and warm to us students who sat nervously at those desks." He was "such an elegant, intelligent man".

Only Connect presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell said: "No quiz host has ever seemed more like they could answer all the questions themselves."

David Nicholls, who wrote the book the film Starter For Ten was based on (about Bamber Gascoigne), posted on Twitter: "Very sad to see this. Bamber was a big part of my TV childhood and was very gracious about his fictional cameo in Starter For Ten. He came to the book launch and left me quite star struck."

The Challenge continues...

University Challenge aired for 913 episodes on ITV from September 1962 to December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC revived the program on 21 September 1994 with Jeremy Paxman as the quizmaster.

The 51st series of the University Challenge began on BBC 2 on 12 July 2021.

Would you be able to answer questions like those presented on the show?

Why not have ago with the book or card game below!