Reader's Digest April 2021

13 THINGS

FANTÁSTICO!!
Top Folk Remedies from

Around the World

We asked Reader’s Digest editors at our international
editions to share their popular home health treatments.
Here are the ones that check out with scientific research.

96 April 2021 Illustrations by Serge Bloch

Reader’s Digest

1PORTUGAL quatre voleurs (“four thieves’ vin-
Garlic for Warts, Corns, egar”) has many uses, including as a
and Calluses type 2 diabetes treatment and an ap-
In Portugal, garlic isn’t just for flavor- petite suppressant.
ing food. Many people use it to get Evidence It Works: Though more re-
rid of corns and calluses (the thick- search is needed, studies have shown
ening and hardening of skin at pres- that vinegar can affect blood sugar
sure points on the hands and feet) levels by delaying the rate at which
and warts (the small growths caused the stomach empties, which reduces
by the human papillomavirus, or the blood sugar spike after a meal.
HPV, that can occur anywhere on the But if you have type 2 diabetes, talk to
body). In fact, research from 2005 your doctor first, as the vinegar could
published in the International Journal drop your blood sugar too low.
of Dermatology showed that all warts
treated with garlic extract disappeared Vinegar may also prevent overeat-
within two weeks, and corns disap- ing. A small Swedish study found
peared for 80 percent of subjects after that individuals who consumed vin-
three weeks. Garlic capsules could egar with a meal reported feeling
also provide some overall antibiotic more satiated than those who didn’t.
protection. However, it’s best not to drink vinegar
Evidence It Works: The main compo- straight, as its acidity could damage
nent of garlic, allicin, is said to have tooth enamel. Instead, add one or two
topical antibacterial effects. But be tablespoons to water or tea.
careful not to allow raw garlic to touch
healthy skin for prolonged periods, as 3 GERMANY
it can cause burning and irritation. Marigolds for Inflammation
Not only do Germans use mari-
2 FRANCE golds (called calendula) as a topical
Vinegar to Aid Digestion treatment for insect bites, acne, and
French folklore has it that dur- dry skin but they also have their own
ing a plague in the 17th century, recipes for balms. Popular formulas
a gang of four thieves would rob include combining the flowers with
corpses yet never catch the plague warm pork fat, petroleum jelly, bees-
themselves. Supposedly, rubbing a wax, or olive oil and allowing the mix-
concoction of vinegar and herbs (in- ture to steep for a day or more.
cluding garlic, rosemary, sage, cin- Evidence It Works: High levels of
namon, mint, camphor, and more) antioxidants in the dried petals help
on their heads and hands protected prevent infection and reduce cell
them. Today, the French vinaigre des damage caused by free radicals. For
people with venous leg ulcers who

Rd.com 97

Reader’s Digest were treated with either calendula
98 April 2021 ointment or saline solution dress-
ings, the marigold-infused treatment
helped ulcers heal faster. Laboratory
and animal research has shown that
the flowers contain anti-inflammatory
and antimicrobial components and
that they heal wounds by helping
form new blood vessels and tissue.

4 NETHERLANDS
Licorice for Sore Throat
Licorice-based candies
called dropjes are as Dutch as
wooden shoes, but while few
farmers still wear wooden
shoes, everybody eats
dropjes, especially in the
winter. They come in all
shades of brown and black
and can be sweet or salty.
Evidence It Works: A 2013 ran-
domized double-blind study of
236 people by the Medical University
of Vienna found that patients who
gargled with a licorice solution be-
fore being intubated for surgery had
fewer sore throats afterward.

5 FINLAND
Sauna for Circulation
Saunas are a way of life in Fin-
land. In a country of 5.5 million peo-
ple, there are an estimated 3.2 million
saunas. Last year, UNESCO added
Finnish saunas to its list of Intangible
Cultural Heritage markers. Not bad
for a 150-degree F (and higher!) room
designed to make you sweat.

13 Things

Evidence It Works: Finnish research 7 SPAIN
published in JAMA Internal Medi- Olive Oil to Soften Earwax
cine in 2015 showed that sitting in a Spain produces more olive oil
sauna two to three times a week low- than any country in the world. Among
ers the risk of dying from any cause by its nonculinary uses, the Spanish (and
24 percent. Another study showed that others) warm it and use it to dissolve
15 minutes a day in a sauna five days a earwax.
week may help ease mild depression. Evidence It Works: A University of
Southampton review of 26 clinical
Sauna newbies should start with five trials found that earwax softeners,
or ten minutes; 20 minutes is the maxi- including olive oil, are effective, and
mum. If you have heart disease or high that side effects are rare. Nevertheless,
or low blood pressure, speak to your it’s recommended that you check with
doctor about whether a sauna is safe. your doctor before attempting self-
treatment of ear issues.
6 SLOVENIA
Saint-John’s-Wort to 8 BRAZIL
Soothe Skin Marcela for Cough
Saint-John’s-wort is a plant with yel- Marcela (Achyrocline satureioi-
low flowers that’s native to Europe des) is a plant in the daisy family. Bra-
and other parts of the world. Slovenes zilians steep it to make a bitter tea.
mix it with olive oil to treat sunburn, Evidence It Works: A review of sev-
insect bites, and bruises. eral studies published in 2014 in the
Evidence It Works: A 2010 Iranian ran- Brazilian Journal of Pharmacognosy
domized double-blind clinical trial of found that marcela appears to be anti-
144 women published in the Journal spasmodic and helps relieve coughs.
of Alternative and Complementary
9&10 MEXICO
Medicine showed that those who had Arnica for Bruising;
undergone cesarean sections and ap- Aloe Vera for Burns
plied a Saint-John’s-wort ointment Arnica, from the sunflower family, is
three times a day for 16 days had im- sometimes called a mountain daisy
proved wound healing and less pain and is a popular anti-inflammatory in
and scarring than those in the pla- Mexico. For burns, Mexicans have long
cebo and control groups. Animal turned to aloe, or sábila in Spanish,
studies out of Turkey in the past few which grows in the wild there.
years have shown that the plant heals Evidence It Works: A 2013 review of
wounds and burns; rats treated topi- 174 people with hand arthritis found
cally with Saint-John’s-wort four times that arnica gel improved pain and
a day experienced more rapid healing
than those that weren’t.

Rd.com 99

Reader’s Digest

function in the hand as effectively intestinal parasites. When research-
as ibuprofen gel. As arnica can be ers gave a papaya seed preparation to
poisonous, it should not be taken by children who tested positive for intes-
mouth. tinal parasites, it was shown to have
antimicrobial activity and treated
A review of four studies from Asia parasitic infections without harmful
published in the journal Burns con- side effects.
cluded that the gel inside aloe leaves
can accelerate healing of minor burns A double-blind placebo-controlled
several days faster than conventional trial, published in the journal Neuro-
medication. endocrinology Letters in 2013, showed
that volunteers with digestive com-
11 MALAYSIA plaints such as bloating and consti-
Papaya for Digestive Health pation had significant improvements
Tropical papayas are very after ingesting a papaya pulp supple-
popular in Southeast Asia—and so ment. The fruit is also rich in vitamin
popular in Malaysia that they are C and high in water and fiber content,
an unofficial national fruit. They are which regulates bowel activity.
also prized as an aid to digestion, for
everything from an upset stomach to 12NEW ZEALAND
constipation to food poisoning. Manuka Honey for
Evidence It Works: A study from Oba- Almost Anything
femi Awolowo University in Nigeria For centuries, the Maori community
published in the Journal of Medici- of New Zealand has relied on the
nal Food found that papaya fights leaves and bark from the manuka

HEALING STORIES FROM EDITORS

In addition to pinpointing popular remedies in their home countries,

RD editors shared some of their memories about them.

Luis Eduardo Pineda them with arnica balm, if we had a cough, my
Rosales, Mexico City “I and in a few days the grandmother would
played basketball when bruising would be gone.” whip one egg yolk
I was a kid, and some- with sugar and, when
times my fingers would Tanara Vieira, Rio it had whitened, com-
get painfully bruised. Grande do Sul, Brazil bine the mixture with
My mother would rub “When we were kids, a cup of marcela tea.

100 april 2021

13 Things

tree—which is native to
New Zealand and some-
times called a tea tree—
for its antibacterial and
wound-healing properties.
Today, Kiwis use manuka
honey to boost their im-
mune systems and for more
specific ailments such as

sore throats and general
inflammation. Manu-
ka’s curative properties
have become so highly
touted that there’s a
thriving industry for
fake manuka honey.
(The genuine product is
labeled UMF for Unique
Manuka Factor.)
Evidence It Works: Re-
search at Cardiff University
showed that components
of manuka honey can stimu-
late immune cells, increasing

It tasted so good that a whole bag of dropjes. poisoning while
my sister, my cousins, Once, I gave them to an traveling in Malay-
and I used to pretend American friend, who sia, we didn’t have
we were coughing so told me they tasted just any medicine for
she would give it to us.” as terrible as the raw tummy troubles, but
herring and smoked eel our hotel manager
Paul Robert, I’d given her earlier!” advised eating ripe
Amsterdam “When I papaya. An hour or
was a child, the best Bonnie Munday, two after my hus-
thing about having a Toronto “When my band ate it, he felt
cold was that I’d get husband got food so much better.”

Rd.com 101

Reader’s Digest 13 Things

our ability to fight bacteria and vi- Evidence It Works: In a randomized
ruses. It’s especially effective against a double-blind trial of 152 people
strain of streptococcus. Other studies published in the Laryngoscope in
have shown that its antimutagenic, 2009, German researchers found
antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory that the main component of euca-
qualities may improve dental health lyptus oil—1,8-cineole, or euca-
and help prevent or treat some cancers. lyptol—was effective and safe for
treating sinusitis, helping clear mu-
13 AUSTRALIA cus and nasal blockages. A South
Eucalyptus Oil to Korean study published in 2016
Clear Sinuses found that essential oils, including
If you’ve ever walked through a euca- 1,8-cineole, alleviated symptoms
lyptus grove on a rainy day, you know of respiratory disease and inflam-
that the trees give off a distinctive, al- mation. Of 54 people aged 20 to 60,
most medicinal scent. The tree is na- those who inhaled the oils for five
tive to Australia, where its oil was first minutes twice daily over seven days
used to alleviate nasal congestion and also had better sleep versus those
other mild respiratory ailments. Aus- who inhaled a placebo.
sies add a few drops to steaming hot
water and inhale the fumes when they Don’t ingest eucalyptus oil,
have a cold, and it’s a common ingre- though, and avoid applying it directly
dient in over-the-counter cough drops. to your skin; if it’s undiluted, it could
cause irritation. RD

How Is Mother Earth Still Single? She’s ...

Natural
Well-rounded

Magnetic
Thicker in some places

Hard-core
Always down for another round

Worldly
Getting hotter by the decade
(Items Borrowed from My Dating Profile)

Sara K. runnelS on McSweeneyS.net

102 April 2021

Reader’s Digest

Humor in

UNIFORM

My brother-in-law “Well, if your allies said that about you,
then they’re not your allies.”
Dayton, a Marine
paul noth/cartooncollections.com Corps captain, was In boot camp, we’re the sergeant shouted
invited to a reception trained to respond to back.
hosted by his com- a sergeant with such
manding officer and phrases as, “Here, The recruit an-
his wife. Dayton was sergeant. Yes, ser- swered, “Here I am!”
new to the base, so the geant. No, sergeant.” —Richard Guro
CO’s wife took it upon Well, maybe not all Kaneohe, Hawaii
herself to introduce of us.
him to other officers. Got a funny story
However, she was hav- One day in forma- about the military or
ing trouble remem- tion, after the sergeant your military family?
bering his first name. yelled one recruit’s It could be worth $$$.
name, the recruit re- For details, see page 4
“It’s Dayton,” my sponded with a simple or go to rd.com
brother-in-law said. “Here!” /submit.
“Just like the city in
Ohio.” “Here what, recruit?”

That helped tre-
mendously, because
the next person she
introduced him to,
she said, “I want you
to meet Akron.”
—Jan Alderman
Greenville,

South Carolina

Rd.com 103

NATIONAL INTEREST

104 April 2021 Photographs by Tim Gruber

Reader’s Digest

The Last Days
of the Pioneer

After printing the local farming,
sports, and civic news for 121 years,
another small-town paper faces the

end of a noble enterprise

By Richard Fausset

AdApted from the New York times

rd.com 105

Owner Rebecca
Colden and

the paper she ran
for 11 years

WHENEVER SHE THOUGHT HER
SMALL STAFF WOULD BE FACING A
PARTICULARLY STRESSFUL DEADLINE
DAY, REBECCA COLDEN DECLARED
A BLOODY MARY MONDAY. THIS WAS

definitely one of those Mondays— just below the Canadian border for
indeed, the last of them. The War- 121 years, was one issue away from
road Pioneer, the weekly newspaper certain death.
that Colden published and which
had served its tiny Minnesota town When Colden woke up that day, she
listened to a Christian hymn that had

106 April 2021

National Interest Reader’s Digest

buoyed her spirit of late: that local newspapers have histori-
“This is my story, this is my cally provided.”
song/Praising my Savior all
the day long.” Now she was In Warroad, the Pioneer was full of
trudging into the news- photos of fishermen with their outsize
room on a cold May morn- catches, news of awards won by chil-
ing with vodka, olives, and dren and Shriners, and stories about
tomato mix. A mock-up city officials, the school board, and
of the front page greeted local sports.
her on the newsroom
printer, screaming out a This, then, was what the desert
bold, striking headline: might look like: No hometown pa-
FINAL EDITION. She sat at per to print the obituaries from the
a desk and opened some Helgeson Funeral Home. No place to
bills, one of them stamped chronicle the exploits of the beloved
“past due.”
ROUGHLY 2,000
“I don’t want to feel like
I’m letting the community NEWSPAPERS HAVE
down, but I also know I’m
a small business, and it’s CLOSED OVER
dollars and cents,” says
Colden. “I’m broken with THE LAST 15 YEARS.
the decision. I’m just bro-
ken with it.” high school hockey teams. No histori-
cal record for the little town museum,
With the distribution of its which had carefully kept copies of
final issue on May 7, 2019, each issue of the newspaper in boxes
the Warroad Pioneer, which going back to 1897.
had printed about 1,100 copies per
week, joined roughly 2,000 news- And what about the next govern-
papers that have closed in the United ment scandal, the next school fund-
States over the last 15 years, accord- ing crisis? Who would be there? Who
ing to a study by University of North would tell those stories?
Carolina researchers soberly titled
“The Expanding News Desert.” Today It was easy to imagine the news
in many American communities, the moving instead from person to person,
researchers noted, “there is simply unchecked, on social media networks.
not enough digital or print revenue to “A lot of it is going to be word of mouth
pay for the public service journalism through kaffeeklatsches,” says Todd
Miller, a former county commissioner.
“And who knows what variant of bull
gets passed around there.”

Rd.com 107

Reader’s Digest National Interest

A t the Warroad Pioneer, it had
been a death by familiar cuts.
Hardly anyone took out a clas-
sified ad anymore. Storefront retail
has suffered. Doug’s Supermarket,
the only grocer in town, preferred to
put its color shopping inserts inside
a fat, free, ads-only mailer called the
Northland Trading Post.

Colden had announced the paper’s
demise—one of about 65 to close in
Minnesota since 2004—in a letter to
community leaders. Warroad’s “dire
retail reconfiguration and exodus,”

WHAT ABOUT THE
NEXT SCANDAL?

WHO WOULD TELL
THE STORY?

she wrote, “has had a catastrophic im- newsroom. Shelley Galle, the office
pact on this community newspaper.” manager, had already taken a job at
the Seven Clans Casino across the
But what could be done? Mike river.
Kvarnlov ran the local GM dealership
for years before recently selling it to his Provance mixed the Bloody Marys.
son. He thought it was a tragedy that The women hoisted their plastic cups.
the paper would be folding, but the “We’re going to get this done,” Colden
new world was what it was. “Fifteen told them. “We’re going to get it out,
years ago, we were 50 percent paper and we’re going to do it well.”
and 50 percent radio,” he said of the
dealership’s advertising budget. Now Outside, there was no grand rally
most of the money goes to the Internet. to save the Pioneer. It was another
day in Warroad, population 1,880, in
I t was after 9 a.m. when the pa-
per’s remaining staff—Koren Zaiser,
the editor, and Jenée Provance,
the page designer—rolled into the

108 April 2021

The last edition,
like all the

others, rolled off
the presses in

nearby Grafton,
North Dakota.

a remote stretch of Minnesota where administration. “There’s that com-
winter temperatures can dip to mi- placency,” she says. “With a 120-year-
nus 35  degrees F. Farmers gossiped old paper, they are just so sure we’re
over breakfast at the Daisy Gardens always going to be there.”
restaurant. Workers trudged by the
hundreds to their factory jobs at Mar- There was also the reality that truth
vin, the big window and door manu- telling in a tiny town, while generating
facturer that dominates the town. good copy, does not always generate
love for the newspaper. On that Mon-
Part of the problem, Colden sus- day morning, Zaiser took her drink
pected, was that no one could imagine to her computer and formatted the
Warroad without the paper that had Court Report, the Pioneer’s unflinch-
been publishing since the McKinley ing weekly roll call of anyone who had

Rd.com 109

The paper was a team
effort. Editor Koren

Zaiser (seated, right)
sometimes got help

from her husband,
Rick Zaiser (standing).

recently run afoul of the law. Everyone Church, Colden’s preacher, who had
read the Court Report. Over the years, been counseling her through the pa-
people had tried to bribe their way out per’s last days. “That nobody is above
of it, Colden says, to no avail. If you anybody else.”
messed up, you were going in. In fact,
Colden herself had made the Court C olden bought the Warroad
Report for speeding, as had Provance, Pioneer in December 2008. Her
for driving with expired tags, and background was in marketing,
Zaiser, for driving while drunk. but she discovered her inner assign-
ment editor, incessantly scouring the
It was the truth at its most raw, and town for story ideas.
Colden believes it served an essential
small-town function: “Accountability,” She soon found herself swimming
she says. against the current of the Great Re-
cession. Like other publishers, she
After her appearance in the Court introduced a website, but it did little
Report, Zaiser wrote a confessional for her bottom line. The paper never
column, acknowledging that her had more than four full-time employ-
drunken driving could have killed ees during her tenure and had always
somebody. The experience, she says, relied on freelancers for much of its
set her on a path to a renewed Chris- coverage. At a point, Colden had been
tian faith. forced to lay off her sole freelance lo-
cal government reporter. The desert
“It’s one of those things that shows was creeping closer, and people felt it.
us that all of us are fallible,” says
Wayne Maxwell of Woodland Bible

110 April 2021

National Interest Reader’s Digest

“Definitely, it got slim,” says Bill says. “That was not this conversation.”
Boyd, a Marvin employee. “Even the Her staff saw the toughness in her
ads—if you wanted to get a snow-
blower, you used to look at the paper. in April 2010 when she was forced to
Now all of that’s on Facebook.” tangle with John W. Marvin, known as
Jake, the chief executive of the Mar-
On the Wednesday before the vin company at the time and brother
final edition, Colden returned of Warroad’s mayor, Bob Marvin. The
from a meeting with an entre- paper had published an article about
preneur whose business acumen she Jake’s daughter, Brooke Marvin, after
valued. She had hoped it would gen- she had been arrested on charges of
erate some ideas that might save the misdemeanor domestic assault, ob-
paper. It had been held at Warroad’s structing arrest, and criminal damage
small-business incubator, the Discov- to property.
ery and Development Hub, a collabo-
ration between the Marvin company Colden said she heard from Jake
and local government. The DD Hub, Marvin soon after the article came
as it’s called, is a vision of the best- out. He was angry. Many considered
the Marvins the town’s de facto royal
THE NEWS DESERT family. “Your name’s no different than
WAS CREEPING anybody else’s name,” Colden recalls
CLOSER, AND telling him, “and we publish other
PEOPLE FELT IT. people’s children who get in trouble
the same way.”
case future Warroad imagines for itself,
with contemporary furniture and hip Jake Marvin told her he might re-
sans-serif fonts on the window. scind Marvin advertising—though he
later walked back the threat. But he
But when she returned to the did rescind a favor. From that point
newsroom, her staff knew from look- forward, the Pioneer was no longer
ing at her that the meeting had not driven to Warroad from its printer in
fixed anything. “We read each other’s Grafton, North Dakota, on a Marvin
minds,” Zaiser says. company truck. And he canceled his
subscription for good measure.
“I think a lot of times people want
that Hallmark story where a knight The next week, Colden wrote an ed-
in shining armor comes out and itorial defending the article. “To any-
we’re going to save the day,” Colden one wanting to control the freedom of
the press,” she wrote in a memorably
tart final paragraph, or to those who
“feel they can do a better job for the
community, the Warroad Pioneer may
be purchased for $500,000.”

Rd.com 111

The newspaper went on to cover C olden’s rule for Bloody Mary
two of the more important local sto- Monday is that the vodka stops
ries of the last decade. The first was flowing at noon. In the late after-
about a budget crisis in the school noon on that final day, like any other
district that forced teacher layoffs day, there were familiar headaches to
and the consolidation of all grades deal with: The father of Scott Johnson,
into a single school building. The the Pioneer’s landlord, had died, and
Pioneer used public records laws to
request e-mails sent by school board ON THAT FINAL DAY,
members, which revealed depths LIKE ANY OTHER DAY,
of infighting and dysfunction, and
pointed to a possible violation of THERE WERE
open-meeting laws. HEADACHES.

The second was a scandal at the the obituary had just come in from the
county board of commissioners, funeral home. Colden asked Provance
where one of the commissioners had to bump the issue up to 18 pages from
been accused of improperly ben- 16. Zaiser was on the phone hunting
efiting from a county gravel contract. for a student who could tell her the
Colden described the matter as “ludi- names of two high school baseball
crous” and an “example of backwoods players in a photo.
politics and finger-pointing.” The
commissioner, Roger Falk, was found
innocent of a criminal charge in 2017.

112 April 2021

Sometime after 5:30 p.m., they “It’s devastating to lose a
shipped the last of the newspaper’s
pages to the printer. The final issue local paper,” said one of the
included an article about the future Pioneer’s many loyal readers.
of the farmers oil co-op now that its
general manager had resigned. There see you again, and you will rejoice,
was an article about low-interest fed- and no one will take away your joy.
eral loans for farmers affected by natu- In that day you will no longer ask me
ral disasters. There was an ad inviting anything.”
readers to the 85th-birthday open
house in honor of a woman named Provance said she was still an-
Ione Carlson. And the Warroad High gry about the paper’s end. “I’m very
School prom king and prom queen ashamed of this community, and we
were on the front page. deserve better.”

The Pioneer sisterhood opened a Colden told her to let the resent-
few bottles of wine. ment go. But the publisher admit-
ted she was having trouble letting go
The next day, Colden dropped herself as she drove in the warming
her last-ever stack of Pioneers at the weather and saw the farmers in their
Thrifty White Pharmacy on Lake fields.
Street, and in the afternoon she and
her staff met for Bible study. “I thought, ‘We need to get those
farm stories going.’” RD
Zaiser read from the Book of John:
“Now is your time of grief, but I will The New York Times (AugusT 1, 2019), CopYrighT
© 2019 bY New York Times, NYTimes.Com.

Rd.com 113

THE
GENIUS
SECTION

10 Pages to sharpen
Your Mind

THE ART OF THE
“GOOD” MELTDOWN

Under stress from every front, we’re having more

meltdowns. Here’s how to lose it the right way.

By Elizabeth Bernstein

From the Wall Street Journal

114 April 2021

Reader’s Digest

joleen zubek. illustration by maria amador P reston Woodruff held it more because of our sustained levels
together for months during of stress, anger, and fear. We’ve been
the pandemic—working in overwhelmed by bad news, exhausted
his garden and workshop, by the need to be ever-vigilant. It’s no
sharing meals with his wonder our fuses have been short.
daughter, and walking in the woods
behind his home. Then a sneeze sent Think you’ve never had a melt-
him over the edge. down? Think again. Although we
typically expect meltdowns to look
Woodruff was sleeping soundly like the adult version of a tod-
when he woke to an uncomfortable dler’s tantrum—wailing, whining,
feeling in his nose. He reached for the whimpering—psychologists say they
box of tissues on his nightstand. None can manifest in different ways: crying,
peeked up from the top. He tried and rage, silence, or an emotional shut-
tried to dig one out. The entire wad down. “Often, people don’t identify
remained tightly wound. with the word meltdown because of
the stigma of having a mental health
So Woodruff grabbed the box, crisis,” says Amanda Luterman, a li-
crushed it in his hands, and flung it at censed psychotherapist in Montreal.
the far wall of his bedroom. Alone in “They will just say they are having a
the dark, he slammed his head back really horrible day.”
on the pillow and swore.
What most meltdowns have in com-
“I momentarily lost it,” says Wood- mon is a loss of emotional control—
ruff, a retired philosophy professor. often manifested physically—and a
sense of helplessness. They occur
Welcome to the meltdown. Have when we no longer have the emotional
you had one lately? resources to deal with our stress. And
they’re typically triggered by some-
It’s what happens after you’ve held thing small and unanticipated—a
it together through a pandemic and a stubbed toe, a spill on our shirt, or (for
quarantine, working from home and me recently) a broken backspace key
homeschooling, civil unrest and the on the laptop.
most divisive public discourse in sev-
eral lifetimes—on top of the dishes Yet meltdowns have an upside.
and the laundry and your regular They allow us to release tension,
familial responsibilities. Then, when and once we do that, we can think
something seemingly small hap- more clearly because we’re no lon-
pens, suddenly you’re alone in your ger spending all our energy trying to
car screaming or sobbing to your dog hold it together. “A meltdown is the
about, well, everything. body’s natural mechanism to let go,
to cleanse itself of painful emotions,”
People lost control of their emo-
tions before this past year, of course.
But we’ve been doing it a whole lot

Rd.com 115

Reader’s Digest

says Tal Ben-Shahar, a psychologist his outbursts brief. “It’s wasted energy
who specializes in the science of hap- and wasted time to focus too long on
piness. “It lets us reset.” the hostility of the moment,” he says.
“I let it out, and then I have an imme-
Not all meltdowns are created diate feeling of relief.”
equal. Bad ones happen often and can
hurt people around us or leave us feel- Mike Veny was walking to his truck
ing worse. Good ones are rare, ideally one afternoon when he received an
take place when we’re alone, and leave e-mail from a colleague stating that
us feeling better than we did before. some information he needed for a
project wasn’t available. Immedi-
To have a productive meltdown, ately, his stomach dropped. His fists
experts say we should accept that it’s clenched. He began stomping down
happening (or about to). Meltdowns the street, ranting about a growing
are as natural as gravity, says Ben- list of complaints: a coworker who
Shahar. We need to identify what will annoyed him, the state of the coun-
make us feel better—and explain this try, whether people on the street were
to others. We should be careful to looking at him funny, how his dad
manage the negative effects and ex- hadn’t called him all week.
plore the meaning afterward.
“It was like going down a rabbit hole
“IT SPIRALED UNTIL in Alice in Wonderland,” says Veny,
who lives in New York City and owns
THINGS FELT 10,000 a company that provides mental-
wellness and diversity training for
TIMES WORSE THAN corporations. “It spiraled faster and
faster until things felt 10,000 times
THEY REALLY WERE.” worse than they really were.”

Woodruff, of the tissue tantrum, Luckily, Veny has a plan for dealing
has minor meltdowns several times a with meltdowns. He paused in the
week nowadays and makes a point of middle of the street to collect himself
taking his frustration out on inanimate and then got into his truck. He sat for
objects—throwing a piece of wood 20 minutes and thought about the
across his workshop or slamming sil- answers to three questions: “What
verware into the dishwasher. He some- do I feel?” (Anger, but also sadness
times plans his emotional purges in at losing work and fear of whether he
advance. When he replaced his wonky would get the coronavirus by going to
computer a while back, he carried the the gym.) “Where do I feel it?” (In his
machine out to his fire pit, destroyed it chest and stomach.) “What do I need
with a sledgehammer, and set it on fire. now?” (Time to feel his emotions
rather than suppress them.)
But Woodruff makes sure to keep

116 April 2021

The Genius Section

Next, he went to the gym. The mu- an important lesson. “Having an occa-
sic was loud, and he cursed while he sional meltdown and recovering from
worked out. When he got home, he it helps people see that we can be OK
did yoga, which he says helps him let through these expressions,” says Carrie
go of his emotions. Krawiec, a licensed marriage and fam-
ily therapist.
In bed that night, Veny realized he
had a smile on his face. “I felt free of Try an “alternate rebellion.” When we
whatever it was that had been cooking lose control, we often want to rebel:
up inside me,” he says. “I felt like I was quit our job or tell off our father-in-
in control again, like I had taken my law. Instead, plan a healthy rebellion
power back.” that satisfies the need to assert control
in your life, recommends Jenny Taitz,
Here are some tips on how to have a psychologist and assistant clinical
an effective meltdown: professor at the University of Califor-
nia, Los Angeles. One idea: Tell others
Accept it. Don’t judge yourself. A that you are turning off your phone for
meltdown lets you release tension a while and can’t be reached, then go
and frees up energy that was spent do something you enjoy.
suppressing emotions.
Calm yourself, explore the meaning
Know what you need. Some people of your meltdown, and move on. Get
prefer to be left alone when they lose some intense exercise or try paced
control. Others want a hug or a pep breathing—six counts in and eight
talk. Be clear with your loved ones counts out—to calm your nervous sys-
about your needs, says Luterman. tem. Then reflect on what happened.
Apologize if you’ve upset others—and
Model a good meltdown. No kicking forgive yourself: Having a meltdown
the dog, punching the wall, or full- makes you human. RD
blown meltdowns in front of children—
it can frighten them. But showing RepRinted by peRmission of Wall stReet JouRnal
others, especially kids, that you can (octobeR 6, 2020), copyRight © 2020 by doW Jones &
express painful emotions in a way that company, inc. all Rights ReseRved WoRldWide.
doesn’t negatively affect others can be

And the Answer Isn’t ...

I love that my six-year-old enjoys watching Jeopardy!,
even if she just announced she wants a Nanoknee replacement.

@eRdmanmolly

Rd.com 117

Reader’s Digest

BRAIN GAMES

Quick Crossword 12 3

easy Get ready for Tax Day by filing
these tax-related words in the grid.

4

INCOME 6 5
PROPERTY 8 7
SALES
CITY 9 10
ESTATE
CAPITAL emily goodman (quick crossword, pass the salt, please). noun project (4)
GAINS
CORPORATE
FLAT
PAYROLL

Pass the Salt, Please

MediuM On April Fools’ Day, your mischievous teenager replaces the salt in three
of your four salt shakers with sugar. He leaves a note next to each shaker:

A. B. C. D.
THIS IS SALT. THIS IS SALT. THIS IS THE SALT IS
SUGAR. NOT IN B.

If only one of these notes is true, which shaker still contains salt?

118 April 2021

marcel danesi (pyramid scheme). sue dohrin (the sock-eating dryer). emily goodman (phoning it in). noun project (12) Phoning It In The Genius Section

MediuM Each number in the message below corre- Pyramid Scheme
sponds to a letter on a standard telephone keypad.
For instance, a 2 could represent an A, a B, or a C; difficult In total, how
a 3 could be a D, an E, or an F, and so on. Can you many distinct triangles
decipher the message to reveal a timely fun fact? are there in the figure
above? Note: Some
123 of the triangles are
made up of two or
ABC DEF more smaller ones.

456

GHI JKL MNO

789

PQRS TUV WXYZ

6673 8426 4253 2

6455466 3447 9373 The Sock-Eating Dryer

443336 46 843 96753’7 easy You bought a new
clothes dryer, and the
5274378 327837 344 first time you used it, a
single sock disappeared
4868. from your laundry. The
next time you used it,
For more Brain Games, two socks vanished. Cycle
go to rd.com/crosswords. after cycle, the number of
socks that went missing
For answers, turn to page 123. kept doubling until all
25 pairs of your socks
were gone. How many
cycles did that take?

Rd.com 119

IF YOU PURCHASED MAXWELL HOUSE OR
YUBAN BRANDED GROUND COFFEE PRODUCT(S)
BETWEEN AUGUST 27, 2015 AND JANUARY 18, 2021,
A CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT MAY AFFECT YOUR RIGHTS

Para información en español, visite el sitio web o llame al 833-644-1596.

Maxwell House and Yuban Brands Ground Coffee

The lawsuit claims that Defendant deceptively • Exclude Yourself – This is the only option
packaged and labeled Maxwell House, and Yuban that allows you to keep your right to sue about
ground coffee Products as containing enough the claims in this lawsuit. You will not get
coffee to make a represented number of cups. any money from the Settlement. Your request
As part of the Settlement, Defendant has agreed for Exclusion must be received on or before
to change their Labeling practices and provide April 7, 2021.
payments to customers. Defendant denies any
wrongdoing. • File an Objection - Stay in the Settlement but
tell the Court why you think the Settlement
Who is included in the Settlement? should not be approved. Objections must be
received by April 7, 2021.
You may be included in the Settlement if you
purchased Maxwell House or Yuban ground The Court will hold a Fairness Hearing in the
coffee Products for personal use between August United States District Court for the Southern
27, 2015 and January 18, 2021. District of Florida, U.S. Federal Building and
Courthouse 299 East Broward Boulevard,
What does the Settlement provide? Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 in the courtroom
of the Honorable Rodolfo A. Ruiz, II, on
The Settlement will provide up to a maximum of June 21, 2021 at 9:00 a.m., to decide whether to
$16,000,000 to pay Valid Claims, an Attorneys’ approve the Settlement and to award Attorneys’
Fees and Costs Award, and Administration Fees and Expenses of up to $3,900,000. All briefs
Expenses. Only one Claim may be submitted and materials filed in support of the Settlement
per Household under either Tier 1 or Tier 2, and and the Application for Attorneys’ Fees and
final amounts paid may be reduced based on total Costs will be made available on the Settlement
number of Claims received. Website at www.GroundCoffeeSettlement.com.
These materials will be made available on the
• Tier 1 - Without Proof of Purchase: You can get website by March 24, 2021, which is 14 days
up to $.80 per Unit purchased up to a maximum before the deadline to file Objections. You may
of 6 Units per Household for up to a maximum hire an attorney, at your own expense, to appear at
reimbursement of $4.80 per Household. the hearing, but you don’t have to.

• Tier 2 - With Proof of Purchase: You can get Claims will be paid only if the Court approves the
up to $.80 per Unit purchased for the number Settlement and all appeals are resolved. Please
of Units for which a valid Proof of Purchase be patient. If the Settlement does not become
has been provided, up to a maximum effective, the litigation will continue.
reimbursement of $25 per Household.
This is only a summary. For more information,
What are my rights? please visit www.GroundCoffeeSettlement.com,
or contact the Settlement Administrator at
• Submit a Claim – You must submit a Claim 833-644-1596 or by writing to Ferron v. Kraft
to get a monetary Benefit from this Settlement. Settlement, c/o Settlement Administrator, PO
Claim Forms must be submitted online by or Box 189, Warminster, PA 18974-0189.
received on or before May 18, 2021.

• Do Nothing – If you do nothing, you remain in
the Settlement, you give up your rights to sue,
and you will not get any money.

www.GroundCoffeeSettlement.com
833-644-1596

The Genius Section Reader’s Digest

WORD POWER 9. guerrilla n.
(guh-'rih-luh)
What do fettuccine, football, grasshoppers, A large monkey.
and a carryall have in common? If you think B outlaw soldier.
C grilled pita.
you’re seeing double, you’re right—each
of those words contains two sets of repeated 10. milliwatt n.
('mih-luh-waht)
letters, as do all the words this month. A tooth whitener.
Will your answers be errorless? Don’t be em- B unit of power.
barrassed to turn the page for the answers. C earthworm.

By Sarah Chassé 11. abbess n.
('ab-ess)
A deep wound.
B convent leader.
C grand estate.

1. buccaneer n. 5. settee n. 12. fuddy-duddy n.
(buh-kuh-'neer) (seh-'tee) ('fuh-dee-duh-dee)

A early settler. A place mat. A old-fashioned person.

B pirate. B sofa. B sticky candy.

C bullfighter. C tennis match. C mock turtleneck.

2. terrazzo n. 6. hippogriff n. 13. lessee n.
(tuh-'raz-oh) ('hih-puh-grif) (leh-'see)

A mosaic flooring. A mythical animal. A free trial

B seasoned pork. B early automobile. B rope trick.

C public square. C complainer. C renter.

3. heedless adj. 7. bassoon n. 14. kookaburra n.
('heed-less) (buh-'soon) ('kuh-kuh-burr-uh)

A outgoing. A court jester. A vegetable stew.

B inconsiderate. B woodwind instrument. B giant oak tree.

C unselfish. C hunting dog. C Australian bird.

4. muumuu n. 8. skiddoo v. 15. riffraff n.
('moo-moo) (skih-'doo) ('rif-raf)

A sweetheart. A joke around. A questionable character.

B wild ox. B tap-dance. B expert surfer.

C loose dress. C depart. C fishing fanatic.

Rd.com | ApRil 2021 121

Reader’s Digest

Home of the Triple Double

Even more rare than words with double double letters are
those with three pairs of doubles. You’ll find a few of them
on the map of the United States, many with an Indigenous origin.
There’s Tallahassee and Kissimmee in Florida, the Chattahoochee River,
Mississippi, and the grand champion: Goodlettesville, Tennessee.

Word Power 6. hippogriff (a) 11. abbess (b) convent found image holdings inc/getty images
mythical animal. leader. The younger
ANSWERS According to legend, a nuns looked to their
hippogriff has the front abbess for guidance.
1. buccaneer (b) pirate. half of an eagle and the
After the raid, the band hind half of a horse. 12. fuddy-duddy (a)
of buccaneers divvied old-fashioned person.
up their loot. 7. bassoon (b) Call me a fuddy-duddy all
woodwind instrument. you like, but I’m still not
2. terrazzo (a) mosaic Erica is the only bassoon getting a smartphone.
flooring. Tamara installed player in her high
cheery green-and-white school’s orchestra. 13. lessee (c) renter.
terrazzo in her guest Per the contract, the
bathroom. 8. skiddoo (c) depart. apartment’s lessee pays
“I’d love to stay and the cable bill.
3. heedless (b) chat, but I have to
inconsiderate. “How can skiddoo!” Amos said 14. kookaburra (c)
you be so heedless of my as he left. Australian bird. The
feelings?” Diego asked, kookaburra’s call sounds
looking heartbroken. 9. guerrilla (b) outlaw like fiendish laughter.
soldier. The guerrilla
4. muumuu (c) loose leader hatched a 15. riffraff (a)
dress. While visiting plot to overthrow questionable character.
Maui, I bought two the government. Mom says that in her day,
flower-patterned people who got tattoos
muumuus. 10. milliwatt (b) unit were considered to be
of power. A milliwatt is total riffraff.
5. settee (b) sofa. equal to one thousandth
Our dog Harpo likes of a watt—not enough Vocabulary Ratings
to nap on our vintage to give off much light!
settee despite having 9 & below: committed
a bed of his own. 10–12: successful
13–15: peerless

122 april 2021

The Genius Section

BRAIN GAMES Make
ANSWERS Lauusgh!

See page 118.

Quick Crossword

ACROSS
4. PROPERTY
7. SALES
8. FLAT
9. INCOME
10. CITY

DOWN
1. CORPORATE
2. CAPITAL
3. PAYROLL
5. ESTATE
6. GAINS

Pass the Salt, Please Caption Contest

C. The only note that can What’s your clever description for this
be true without forcing picture? Submit your funniest line at
any of the others to also rd.com/captioncontest. Winners will
be true is D’s. Since appear in a future Photo Finish (page 124).
the other inscriptions
are therefore all false, C
must contain the salt.

piola666/Getty imaGes Phoning It In Reader’s Digest (ISSN 0034-0375) (USPS 865-820), (CPM Agreement# 40031457), Vol. 197,
No. 1169, April 2021. © 2021. Published monthly, except bimonthly in July/August and
More than half a million
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Rd.com 123

Reader’s Digest The Genius Section Nasos Zovoilis/WesteNd61/superstock

PHOTO FINISH

Your Funniest captions

Winner
The Maytag Repairman: The Early Years.
—William Kandell Holbrook, New York

Runners-Up
Long skeptical of the dish-running-away-with-the-spoon story,

Joey decided to investigate their disappearance himself.
—Nina Diehl Oak Park, Illinois
“I’ve got a full load!”

Donna Gardner Burnsville, Minnesota
To enter an upcoming caption contest, see the photo on page 123.

124 April 2021 | rd.com