IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2026 - Q1 Test 1 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Luyện tập đề IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2026 - Q1 Test 1 được lấy từ cuốn sách Forcast Test 2026 - Q1 với trải nghiệm thi IELTS trên máy và giải thích đáp án chi tiết bằng Linearthinking, kèm answer key và list từ vựng IELTS cần học trong bài đọc.
IELTS Forcast Reading Test 2026 - Q1 Test 1 with Practice Test, Answers And Explanation
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 1
Question 1 - 5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
1
Brantingham and Beekman were the first researchers to investigate the relationship between health problems and flat floors.
2
The subjects in Fisher’s control group experienced a decline in their physical condition.
3
The manufacturers are increasing the number of cobblestone mats they are making.
4
Fisher based his ideas on what he saw during an overseas trip.
5
The Masai Barefoot Technology shoes are made to fit people of all ages.
Question 6 - 8
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes on your answer sheet.
6
The writer suggests that Brantingham and Beekman’s findings were
A
ignored by big companies.
B
doubted by other researchers.
C
applicable to a narrow range of people.
D
surprising to them.
7
What claim is made by the designers of the cobblestone mats?
A
They need to be used continuously in order to have a lasting effect.
B
They would be as beneficial to younger people as to older people.
C
They could be an effective alternative to medical intervention.
D
Their effects may vary depending on individual users.
8
Which of the following points does the writer make in the final paragraph?
A
People should question new theories that scientists put forward.
B
High prices do not necessarily equate to a quality product.
C
People are setting up home in the country for health reasons.
D
The natural environment is fast disappearing.
Question 9 - 14
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
In their research, Brantingham and Beekman looked at the complex physical of the foot and noted that the surfaces of modern environments restrict its movement. They invented a mat which they tried out on factory workers. Whenever the workers walked on it, the different levels of in the mat would encourage greater muscle action. In turn, this lessened the effect of on the cardiovascular system.
Similar research was undertaken by John Fisher and colleagues in Oregon. As a result of their findings, they decided to market cobblestone mats to the elderly as a means of dealing with . Reflexologists claim that by manipulating specific parts of the feet, the performance of certain will also improve.
Finally, Benno Nigg at Calgary University believes that specially shaped on shoes should give health benefits.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 2
Question 15 - 17
Choose THREE letters, A-G.
According to the passage, what is true of normal REM sleep?
A
Our eyes can be sometimes open.
B
We only dream if we are completely free from harm.
C
All but the most essential muscles do not function.
D
Our bodies attempt to act out our dreams.
E
Our dreams are more animated.
F
Motor neurons in the spinal cord cause a condition called atonia.
G
Atonia can cause sleepers to wake up.
Question 18 - 20
Choose THREE letters, A-G.
What can happen to people during an attack of sleep paralysis?
A
Their minds suddenly go to sleep.
B
They sense something pushing on their body.
C
They often feel afraid for no reason.
D
They experience physical pain.
E
They are always able to move their eyes.
F
Their bodies develop a strange smell.
G
They sense things which are not present.
Question 21 - 26
Look at the following statements and the list of figures below.
Match each statement with the correct figure(s), A-E.
Write the correct letter, A-E.
List of Findings
A
Conspiracy theorists
B
Henry Fuseli
C
The Old Hag
D
Paulus Aegenita
E
Shadow People
21
Can draw parallels between a personal experience and the symptoms of sleep paralysis.
22
Believed sleep paralysis to be a sign of underlying health problems.
23
Can be referred to by an alternative name depending on which country you are in.
24
Is/are believed by many to exist due to the extensive recording of visions.
25
Received inspiration from folklore.
26
Is/are thought to cause bad dreams.
Question 27
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes on your answer sheet.
27
What is the most appropriate title for this text?
A
The role of folklore in dreams.
B
The physical symptoms and effects of sleep paralysis.
C
Investigating the source of irregular sleep patterns.
D
Paranormal theories for an unexplained phenomenon.
Passage
❓ Câu hỏi passage 3
Question 28 - 32
Reading Passage has eight paragraphs A-H
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H
28
A misunderstanding of a modern way for telling stories.
29
The typical forms mentioned for telling stories.
30
The fundamental aim of storytelling.
31
A description of reciting stories without any assistance.
32
How to make story characters attractive.
Question 33 - 36
Classify the following information as referring to A, B, or C.
List of Findings
A
Adopted the writing system from another country.
B
Used organic materials to record stories.
C
Used tools to help to tell stories.
33
Egyptians
34
Ojibway
35
Polynesians
36
Greek
Question 37 - 40
Complete the sentences below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
37
Aristotle wrote a book on the art of storytelling called The
.
38
Aristotle believed the most powerful type of story to move listeners is
.
39
Aristotle viewed Homer's works as
.
40
Aristotle believed attractive heroes should have some
.
DOL IELTS Đình Lực
05/05/2026
📖 Bài đọc passage 1
Learning to Walk
These days the feet of a typical city dweller rarely encounter terrain any more uneven than a crack in the pavement. While that may not seem like a problem, it turns out that by flattening our urban environment we have put ourselves at risk of a surprising number of chronic illnesses and disabilities. Fortunately, the commercial market has come to the rescue with a choice of products. Research into the idea that flat floors could be detrimental to our health was pioneered back in the late 1960s in Long Beach, California. Podiatrist Charles Brantingham and physiologist Bruce Beekman were concerned with the growing epidemic of high blood pressure, varicose veins and deep-vein thromboses and reckoned they might be linked to the uniformity of the surfaces that we tend to stand and walk on.
The trouble, they believed, was that walking continuously on flat floors, sidewalks and streets concentrates forces on just a few areas of the foot. As a result, these surfaces are likely to be far more conducive to chronic stress syndromes than natural surfaces, where the foot meets the ground in a wide variety of orientations. They understood that the anatomy of the foot parallels that of the human hand - each having 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments - and that modern lifestyles waste all this potential flexibility.
Brantingham and Beekman became convinced that the damage could be rectified by making people wobble. To test their ideas, they got 65 factory workers to try standing on a variable terrain floor - spongy mats with varying degrees of resistance across the surface. This modest irregularity allowed the soles of the volunteers feet to deviate slightly from the horizontal each time they shifted position. As the researchers hoped, this simple intervention made a huge difference, within a few weeks. Even if people were wobbling slightly, it activated a host of muscles in their legs, which in turn helped pump blood back to their hearts. The muscle action prevented the pooling of blood in their feet and legs, reducing the stress on the heart and circulation. Yet decades later, the flooring of the world's largest workplaces remains relentlessly smooth.
Earlier this year, however, the idea was revived when other researchers in the US announced findings from a similar experiment with people over 60. John Fisher and colleagues at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene designed a mat intended to replicate the effect of walking on cobblestones*. In tests funded by the National Institute of Aging, they got some 50 adults to walk on the toots in their bare feet for less than an hour, three times a week. After 16 weeks, these people showed marked improvements in mobility, and even a significant reduction in blood pressure. People in a control group who walked on ordinary floors also improved but not as dramatically. The mats are now available for purchase and production is being scaled up. Even so, demand could exceed supply if this foot-stimulating activity really is a 'useful nopharmacological approach for preventing or controlling hypertension of older adults,' as the researchers believe.
They are not alone in recognising the benefits of cobblestones. Reflexologists have long advocated walking on textured surfaces to stimulate so-called 'acupoints' on the soles of the feet. They believe that pressure applied to particular spots on the foot connects directly to particular organs of the body and somehow enhances their function. In China, spas, apartment blocks and even factories promote their cobblestone paths as healthful amenities. Fisher admits he got the concept from regular visits to the country. Here, city dwellers take daily walks along cobbled paths for five or ten minutes, perhaps several times a day, to improve their health.
The idea is now taking off in Europe too. People in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can now visit 'barefoot parks' and walk along 'paths of the senses' - with mud, logs, stone and moss underfoot. And it is not difficult to construct your own path with simple everyday objects such as stones or bamboo poles.
But if none of these solutions appeal, there is another option. A new shoe on the market claims to transform flat, hard, artificial surfaces into something like uneven ground. 'These shoes have an unbelievable effect,' says Benno Nigg, an exercise scientist at Calgary University in Canada. Known as the Masai Barefoot Technology, the shoes have rounded soles that cause you to rock slightly when you stand still, exercising the small muscles around the ankle that are responsible for stability. Forces in the joint are reduced, putting less strain on the system, Nigg claims. Some of these options may not appeal to all consumers and there is a far simpler alternative.
If the urban environment is detrimental to our health, then it is obvious where we should turn. A weekend or even a few hours spent in the countryside could help alleviate a sufferer's aches and pains, and would require only the spending of time. However, for many modern citizens, the countryside is not as accessible as it once was and is in fact a dwindling resource. Our concrete cities are growing at a terrifying rate - perhaps at the same rate as our health problems.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 1
1
True
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài True / False / Not Given
Step 01: Read the question to understand (main idea + detail)
Simplified: Brantingham & Beekman were the first researchers to investigate the relationship between health problems + flat floors.
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: “Brantingham”, “Beekman”, “pioneered/first”, “flat floors”, “health problems”
=> Dựa vào các từ khoá trên -> Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand (main + detail)
📌 Trích dẫn: “Research into the idea that flat floors could be detrimental to our health was pioneered back in the late 1960s in Long Beach, California. Podiatrist Charles Brantingham and physiologist Bruce Beekman were concerned with the growing epidemic of high blood pressure … and reckoned they might be linked to the uniformity of the surfaces that we tend to stand and walk on.”
Simplified: Research into flat floors’ health effects was pioneered in the late 1960s in Long Beach
Brantingham & Beekman reckoned high blood pressure,... might be linked to the uniformity of the surfaces
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
Trong bài đọc: Nghiên cứu “sàn phẳng có hại cho sức khoẻ” được tiên phong cuối 1960s; Brantingham & Beekman là hai người đặt vấn đề liên hệ giữa bề mặt phẳng và các bệnh.
Trong câu hỏi: Brantingham & Beekman là những người đầu tiên điều tra mối quan hệ giữa bệnh lý và sàn phẳng.
⇒ Hai ý trùng khớp -> ✅ Chọn: TRUE
-------
Lưu ý chung:
Nếu đáp án là FALSE: Văn bản phải nói rằng đã có người/nhóm khác đi trước (trước cuối thập niên 1960) hoặc khẳng định Brantingham & Beekman không phải nhóm tiên phong. Bài không có thông tin phủ định như vậy.
Nếu đáp án là NOT GIVEN: Văn bản phải không nêu yếu tố “pioneered/đầu tiên” hoặc không liên kết ý tưởng tiên phong với Brantingham & Beekman. Tuy nhiên, bài nêu rõ “was pioneered …” và ngay sau đó nêu hai ông là những người đặt nghi vấn liên hệ → đủ cơ sở kết luận TRUE.
Most nights, people experience dreams, partly due to a phase of the sleep cycle known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, during which the brain is highly active and dreams are particularly vivid and complex. Throughout this state, our bodies are still except for the muscles needed to move the eyes and to breathe, perhaps in order to stop dreamers from acting out and being put in harm’s way. This almost complete paralysis is called atonia and is caused by motor neurons, small nerve endings located in the spinal cord. Although this is entirely normal during sleep, atonia can occur while a person is awake.
This phenomenon is called sleep paralysis, an infrequent but perfectly safe condition. During sleep paralysis the mind is awake, but due to atonia, the body is paralysed for up to several minutes. This can result in an inability to move or speak, a feeling of pressure on the chest, difficulty breathing and an inexplicable fear or feeling of dread. In some, the inability to move their eyes can occur, whereas others find that these are the only part of the body they can move. Many also experience hallucinations during sleep paralysis, varying from believing a malevolent presence to be in the room, to more complex hallucinations including hearing, smelling or feeling things that are not there. In more extreme cases, people have reported forced or wilful out-of-body experiences. Understandably, these effects can be very frightening for the individual, even though there is no danger.
Documented interest in sleep paralysis goes back as far as Ancient Greece, but has not always been thought of as a medical issue. Paulus Aegenita, a Byzantine Greek physician, wrote about a disorder called ‘ephialtes’ in his medical encyclopaedia Medical Compendium in Seven Books. According to Paulus, the sufferer of ephialtes experiences the sensation of being suffocated and unable to move as a demon presses down on them. The being may speak while attempting to suffocate them, then flees when they strive to grab it. Aegenita believed such an affliction was a forerunner of another disease and that the demon behind it would return every night after its initial visit to torment the sleeper. This perception of sleep paralysis is mirrored across many cultures. British folklore talks of the Old Hag, an entity who sits on people’s chests while they sleep and causes them to have nightmares. When the sleeper awakes, the Old Hag disappears, leaving the person unable to speak or move temporarily. The Old Hag also appears in other European cultures, commonly known as ‘mara’ and causing similar effects on its victims. Beyond these broad similarities, further details differ from culture to culture. In Japan, evil spirits - known as ‘kanashibari’ - tie up victims with iron ropes, whereas the Inuits attribute the phenomena to a shaman placing a curse upon the victim. Despite these differences, it is clear that most pre-Enlightenment cultures believed that rather than a natural occurrence in the human body, sleep paralysis was attributed to an exterior threat, someone or something that wished to harm them. 18th-Century artist Henry Fuseli is well known for oil painting ‘The Nightmare’, depicting a woman with a demonic creature sitting on her chest and a possessed horse skulking near the bed. This painting is commonly perceived as depicting sleep paralysis, as the incubus puts pressure on the chest, causing the shortness of breath typical of the condition. Furthermore, the woman is painted as lying on her back, a position which even in modern medicine is considered to lead to or exacerbate sleep paralysis. It is believed that Fuseli was inspired by Germanic tales of hags and mara in his creation of this artwork.
Given that people in the past attributed sleep paralysis to supernatural causes, it is unsurprising that they also believed it was a precursor to illness or could even lead to death. Even when a rational, medical explanation for the condition exists, some people still believe it is more than just an anomaly in sleeping patterns. Some theories attribute sleep paralysis to ‘shadow people’ - entities with a human form found in the shadows watching over victims while they sleep. Those who have ‘met’ these gloomy figures, often hallucinate about long shadows and strange shapes. The widely documented nature of these hallucinations mean many consider them proof of the shadow people’s existence. Alternatively, many conspiracy theorists believe sleep paralysis is due to alien activity, as the majority of those claiming to be victims of alien abduction describe the encounter as being similar to sleep paralysis: inexplicable anxiety, hearing buzzing or humming sounds and sensing a potentially harmful presence.
It appears some aspect of the human psyche has always been attracted to bizarre and supernatural explanations for an affliction that, although potentially alarming, is entirely benign. Although the mechanics are now understood by modern medicine, the root causes of sleep paralysis still remain vague and unconfirmed. It has been linked to narcolepsy, its likelihood increasing through irregular sleeping patterns or insomnia. Nonetheless, a definitive cause has yet to be determined and this strange phenomenon is likely to continue to attract supernatural speculation until we discover what exactly provokes it.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 2
15
C
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Multiple Choice
Step 01: Read the question to understand
Simplified: Normal REM sleep -> what is true?
Main idea: REM sleep -> Tìm đặc điểm hoạt động cơ thể – giấc mơ đúng.
-------
Step 02: Locate relevant information
🔍 Từ khóa: REM sleep, dreams, atonia, motor neurons
→ Dựa vào các từ khoá trên → Tìm được trích dẫn ở đoạn 1.
-------
Step 03: Read relevant information to understand
📌 Trích dẫn: “Most nights, people experience dreams, partly due to a phase of the sleep cycle known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, during which the brain is highly active and dreams are particularly vivid and complex. Throughout this state, our bodies are still except for the muscles needed to move the eyes and to breathe, perhaps in order to stop dreamers from acting out and being put in harm’s way. This almost complete paralysis is called atonia and is caused by motor neurons, small nerve endings located in the spinal cord.”
Simplified: people experience dreams due to REM sleep
-> Detail:
dreams are vivid + complex -> Chọn E.
our bodies are still , except for the muscles to move the eyes + breathe -> Chọn C.
almost complete paralysis = atonia is caused by motor neurons = small nerve endings in the spinal cord -> Chọn F.
=> Main idea: REM sleep → não hoạt động mạnh → giấc mơ rõ ràng, phức tạp → cơ thể bất động (chỉ các cơ để chuyển động mắt/thở hoạt động) → atonia
-------
Step 04: Compare meaning with meaning
❌ A. Our eyes can be sometimes open: Sai → bài nói rõ chỉ cơ mắt hoạt động chứ không nói “mắt mở”. “…except for the muscles needed to move the eyes and to breathe”
❌ B. We only dream if we are completely free from harm: Sai → bài nói con người mơ do REM sleep, không liên quan “free from harm”.
C. All but the most essential muscles do not function: Đúng → paraphrase của “our bodies are still except for the muscles needed to move the eyes and to breathe”.
❌ D. Our bodies attempt to act out our dreams: Sai → ngược lại, atonia ngăn cản hành động nguy hiểm.
E. Our dreams are more animated: Đúng → Những giấc mơ của chúng ta sống động hơn → “dreams are particularly vivid and complex” = "dreams are more animated".
F. Motor neurons in the spinal cord cause a condition called atonia: Đúng → Các tế bào thần kinh vận động ở tủy sống gây ra tình trạng gọi là atonia → “This almost complete paralysis is called atonia and is caused by motor neurons.”
❌ G. Atonia can cause sleepers to wake up: Sai → bài không nhắc, chỉ nói atonia xảy ra để bảo vệ người mơ.
A. It was told, we suppose, to people crouched around a fire: a tale of adventure, most likely— relating some close encounter with death; a remarkable hunt, an escape from mortal danger; a vision, or something else out of the ordinary. Whatever its thread, the weaving of this story was done with a prime purpose. The listeners must be kept listening. They must not fall asleep. So, as the story went on, its audience should be sustained by one question above all. What happens next?
B
The first fireside stories in human history can never be known. They were kept in the heads of those who told them. This method of storage is not necessarily inefficient. From documented oral traditions in Australia, the Balkans and other parts of the world we know that specialised storytellers and poets can recite from memory literally thousands of lines, in verse or prose, verbatim-word for word. But while memory is rightly considered an art in itself, it is clear that a primary purpose of making symbols is to have a system of reminders or mnemonic cues—signs that assist us to recall certain information in the mind's eye.
C
In some Polynesian communities a notched memory stick may help to guide a storyteller through successive stages of recitation. But in other parts of the world, the activity of storytelling historically resulted in the development or even the invention of writing systems. One theory about the arrival of literacy in ancient Greece, for example, argues that the epic tales about the Trojan War and the wanderings of Odysseus-traditionally attributed to Homer-were just so enchanting to hear that they had to be preserved. So the Greeks, c.750-700 BC, borrowed an alphabet from their neighbors in the eastern Mediterranean, the Phoenicians.
D
The custom of recording stories on parchment and other materials can be traced in many manifestations around the world, from the priestly papyrus archives of ancient Egypt to the birch-bark scrolls on which the North American Ojibway Indians set down their creation-myth. It is a well-tried and universal practice: so much so that to this day storytime is probably most often associated with words on paper. The formal practice of narrating a story aloud would seem-so we assume-to have given way to newspapers, novels and comic strips. This, however, is not the case. Statistically it is doubtful that the majority of humans currently rely upon the written word to get access to stories. So what is the alternative source?
E
Each year, over 7 billion people will go to watch the latest offering from Hollywood, Bollywood and beyond. The supreme storyteller of today is cinema. The movies, as distinct from still photography, seem to be an essentially modern phenomenon. This is an illusion, for there are, as we shall see, certain ways in which the medium of film is indebted to very old precedents of arranging 'sequences' of images. But any account of visual storytelling must begin with the recognition that all storytelling beats with a deeply atavistic pulse: that is, a 'good story' relies upon formal patterns of plot and characterisation that have been embedded in the practice of storytelling over many generations.
F
Thousands of scripts arrive every week at the offices of the major film studios. But aspiring screenwriters really need look no further for essential advice than the fourth-century BC Greek Philosopher Aristotle. He left some incomplete lecture notes on the art of telling stories in various literary and dramatic modes, a slim volume known as The Poetics. Though he can never have envisaged the popcorn-fuelled actuality of a multiplex cinema, Aristotle is almost prescient about the key elements required to get the crowds flocking to such a cultural hub. He analyzed the process with cool rationalism. When a story enchants us, we lose the sense of where we are; we are drawn into the story so thoroughly that we forget it is a story being told. This is, in Aristotle's phrase, 'the suspension of disbelief'.
G
We know the feeling. If ever we have stayed in our seats, stunned with grief, as the credits roll by, or for days after seeing that vivid evocation of horror have been nervous about taking a shower at home, then we have suspended disbelief. We have been caught, or captivated, in the storyteller's web. Did it all really happen? We really thought so for a while. Aristotle must have witnessed often enough this suspension of disbelief. He taught at Athens, the city where theater developed as a primary form of civic ritual and recreation. Two theatrical types of storytelling, tragedy and comedy, caused Athenian audiences to lose themselves in sadness and laughter respectively. Tragedy, for Aristotle, was particularly potent in its capacity to enlist and then purge the emotions of those watching the story unfold on the stage, so he tried to identify those factors in the storyteller's art that brought about such engagement. He had, as an obvious sample for analysis, not only the fifth-century BC masterpieces of Classical Greek tragedy written by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Beyond them stood Homer, whose stories even then had canonical status: The Iliad and The Odyssey were already considered literary landmarks—stories by which all other stories should be measured. So what was the secret of Homer's narrative art?
H
It was not hard to find. Homer created credible heroes. His heroes belonged to the past, they were mighty and magnificent, yet they were not, in the end, fantasy figures. He made his heroes sulk, bicker, cheat and cry. They were, in short, characters - protagonists of a story that an audience would care about, would want to follow, would want to know what happens next. As Aristotle saw, the hero who shows a human side - some flaws or weaknesses to which mortals are prone - is intrinsically dramatic.
🔥 Đáp án & giải thích 3
28
E
Giải thích chi tiết
☺️ Ứng dụng Linearthinking để giải quyết dạng bài Matching Information
📌 Dạng Matching Information chúng ta nên làm cuối cùng, sau khi đã làm các dạng câu hỏi khác nhé DOLBIES, bởi vì lúc này mình đã đọc và hiểu nội dung của bài rồi, cộng thêm nghệ thuật Specify của Linearthinking → sẽ nhanh chóng tìm được vị trí đáp án hơn!!
-------
Step 01: Read the question to predict
Hiểu câu hỏi: A misunderstanding of a modern way for telling stories
Specify & Predict: Đoạn sẽ chứa một quan điểm sai lầm cụ thể, liên quan đến cách kể chuyện thời nay, ví dụ: mọi người nghĩ điện ảnh là mới hoàn toàn nhưng thực tế nó có nguồn gốc từ xưa, ...
-------
Step 02: Khoanh vùng đoạn văn
🔍 Từ khóa: “misunderstanding", "modern way", "telling stories"
-> Dựa vào các từ khoá trên, có thể khoanh vùng được đoạn E vì tác giả đã "lật tẩy" một lầm tưởng phổ biến qua các cụm như: "cinema" (điện ảnh) = "essentially modern phenomenon" (một hiện tượng hoàn toàn mới mẻ); nhưng thực tế "This is an illusion" (Đây chỉ là một sự ảo tưởng/nhầm lẫn thôi) vì nó phụ thuộc vào các tiền lệ cổ xưa rất nhiều ("depends on old precedents of storytelling").
-> Đây là giải thích cụ thể cho "A misunderstanding of a modern way for telling stories".
These days the feet of a typical city dweller rarely encounter terrain any more uneven than a crack in the pavement. While that may not seem like a problem, it turns out that by flattening our urban environment we have put ourselves at risk of a surprising number of chronic illnesses and disabilities. Fortunately, the commercial market has come to the rescue with a choice of products. Research into the idea that flat floors could be detrimental to our health was pioneered back in the late 1960s in Long Beach, California. Podiatrist Charles Brantingham and physiologist Bruce Beekman were concerned with the growing epidemic of high blood pressure, varicose veins and deep-vein thromboses and reckoned they might be linked to the uniformity of the surfaces that we tend to stand and walk on.
The trouble, they believed, was that walking continuously on flat floors, sidewalks and streets concentrates forces on just a few areas of the foot. As a result, these surfaces are likely to be far more conducive to chronic stress syndromes than natural surfaces, where the foot meets the ground in a wide variety of orientations. They understood that the anatomy of the foot parallels that of the human hand - each having 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments - and that modern lifestyles waste all this potential flexibility.
Brantingham and Beekman became convinced that the damage could be rectified by making people wobble. To test their ideas, they got 65 factory workers to try standing on a variable terrain floor - spongy mats with varying degrees of resistance across the surface. This modest irregularity allowed the soles of the volunteers feet to deviate slightly from the horizontal each time they shifted position. As the researchers hoped, this simple intervention made a huge difference, within a few weeks. Even if people were wobbling slightly, it activated a host of muscles in their legs, which in turn helped pump blood back to their hearts. The muscle action prevented the pooling of blood in their feet and legs, reducing the stress on the heart and circulation. Yet decades later, the flooring of the world's largest workplaces remains relentlessly smooth.
Earlier this year, however, the idea was revived when other researchers in the US announced findings from a similar experiment with people over 60. John Fisher and colleagues at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene designed a mat intended to replicate the effect of walking on cobblestones*. In tests funded by the National Institute of Aging, they got some 50 adults to walk on the toots in their bare feet for less than an hour, three times a week. After 16 weeks, these people showed marked improvements in mobility, and even a significant reduction in blood pressure. People in a control group who walked on ordinary floors also improved but not as dramatically. The mats are now available for purchase and production is being scaled up. Even so, demand could exceed supply if this foot-stimulating activity really is a 'useful nopharmacological approach for preventing or controlling hypertension of older adults,' as the researchers believe.
They are not alone in recognising the benefits of cobblestones. Reflexologists have long advocated walking on textured surfaces to stimulate so-called 'acupoints' on the soles of the feet. They believe that pressure applied to particular spots on the foot connects directly to particular organs of the body and somehow enhances their function. In China, spas, apartment blocks and even factories promote their cobblestone paths as healthful amenities. Fisher admits he got the concept from regular visits to the country. Here, city dwellers take daily walks along cobbled paths for five or ten minutes, perhaps several times a day, to improve their health.
The idea is now taking off in Europe too. People in Germany, Austria and Switzerland can now visit 'barefoot parks' and walk along 'paths of the senses' - with mud, logs, stone and moss underfoot. And it is not difficult to construct your own path with simple everyday objects such as stones or bamboo poles.
But if none of these solutions appeal, there is another option. A new shoe on the market claims to transform flat, hard, artificial surfaces into something like uneven ground. 'These shoes have an unbelievable effect,' says Benno Nigg, an exercise scientist at Calgary University in Canada. Known as the Masai Barefoot Technology, the shoes have rounded soles that cause you to rock slightly when you stand still, exercising the small muscles around the ankle that are responsible for stability. Forces in the joint are reduced, putting less strain on the system, Nigg claims. Some of these options may not appeal to all consumers and there is a far simpler alternative.
If the urban environment is detrimental to our health, then it is obvious where we should turn. A weekend or even a few hours spent in the countryside could help alleviate a sufferer's aches and pains, and would require only the spending of time. However, for many modern citizens, the countryside is not as accessible as it once was and is in fact a dwindling resource. Our concrete cities are growing at a terrifying rate - perhaps at the same rate as our health problems.
high blood pressure,...
might be linked to the uniformity of the surfaces
Most nights, people experience dreams, partly due to a phase of the sleep cycle known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, during which the brain is highly active and dreams are particularly vivid and complex. Throughout this state, our bodies are still except for the muscles needed to move the eyes and to breathe, perhaps in order to stop dreamers from acting out and being put in harm’s way. This almost complete paralysis is called atonia and is caused by motor neurons, small nerve endings located in the spinal cord. Although this is entirely normal during sleep, atonia can occur while a person is awake.
This phenomenon is called sleep paralysis, an infrequent but perfectly safe condition. During sleep paralysis the mind is awake, but due to atonia, the body is paralysed for up to several minutes. This can result in an inability to move or speak, a feeling of pressure on the chest, difficulty breathing and an inexplicable fear or feeling of dread. In some, the inability to move their eyes can occur, whereas others find that these are the only part of the body they can move. Many also experience hallucinations during sleep paralysis, varying from believing a malevolent presence to be in the room, to more complex hallucinations including hearing, smelling or feeling things that are not there. In more extreme cases, people have reported forced or wilful out-of-body experiences. Understandably, these effects can be very frightening for the individual, even though there is no danger.
Documented interest in sleep paralysis goes back as far as Ancient Greece, but has not always been thought of as a medical issue. Paulus Aegenita, a Byzantine Greek physician, wrote about a disorder called ‘ephialtes’ in his medical encyclopaedia Medical Compendium in Seven Books. According to Paulus, the sufferer of ephialtes experiences the sensation of being suffocated and unable to move as a demon presses down on them. The being may speak while attempting to suffocate them, then flees when they strive to grab it. Aegenita believed such an affliction was a forerunner of another disease and that the demon behind it would return every night after its initial visit to torment the sleeper. This perception of sleep paralysis is mirrored across many cultures. British folklore talks of the Old Hag, an entity who sits on people’s chests while they sleep and causes them to have nightmares. When the sleeper awakes, the Old Hag disappears, leaving the person unable to speak or move temporarily. The Old Hag also appears in other European cultures, commonly known as ‘mara’ and causing similar effects on its victims. Beyond these broad similarities, further details differ from culture to culture. In Japan, evil spirits - known as ‘kanashibari’ - tie up victims with iron ropes, whereas the Inuits attribute the phenomena to a shaman placing a curse upon the victim. Despite these differences, it is clear that most pre-Enlightenment cultures believed that rather than a natural occurrence in the human body, sleep paralysis was attributed to an exterior threat, someone or something that wished to harm them. 18th-Century artist Henry Fuseli is well known for oil painting ‘The Nightmare’, depicting a woman with a demonic creature sitting on her chest and a possessed horse skulking near the bed. This painting is commonly perceived as depicting sleep paralysis, as the incubus puts pressure on the chest, causing the shortness of breath typical of the condition. Furthermore, the woman is painted as lying on her back, a position which even in modern medicine is considered to lead to or exacerbate sleep paralysis. It is believed that Fuseli was inspired by Germanic tales of hags and mara in his creation of this artwork.
Given that people in the past attributed sleep paralysis to supernatural causes, it is unsurprising that they also believed it was a precursor to illness or could even lead to death. Even when a rational, medical explanation for the condition exists, some people still believe it is more than just an anomaly in sleeping patterns. Some theories attribute sleep paralysis to ‘shadow people’ - entities with a human form found in the shadows watching over victims while they sleep. Those who have ‘met’ these gloomy figures, often hallucinate about long shadows and strange shapes. The widely documented nature of these hallucinations mean many consider them proof of the shadow people’s existence. Alternatively, many conspiracy theorists believe sleep paralysis is due to alien activity, as the majority of those claiming to be victims of alien abduction describe the encounter as being similar to sleep paralysis: inexplicable anxiety, hearing buzzing or humming sounds and sensing a potentially harmful presence.
It appears some aspect of the human psyche has always been attracted to bizarre and supernatural explanations for an affliction that, although potentially alarming, is entirely benign. Although the mechanics are now understood by modern medicine, the root causes of sleep paralysis still remain vague and unconfirmed. It has been linked to narcolepsy, its likelihood increasing through irregular sleeping patterns or insomnia. Nonetheless, a definitive cause has yet to be determined and this strange phenomenon is likely to continue to attract supernatural speculation until we discover what exactly provokes it.
people
experience dreams
due to REM sleep
dreams
are vivid + complex
our bodies
are still
the muscles to move the eyes + breathe
almost complete paralysis = atonia
is caused by
motor neurons = small nerve endings in the spinal cord
B. The first fireside stories in human history can never be known. They were kept in the heads of those who told them. This method of storage is not necessarily inefficient. From documented oral traditions in Australia, the Balkans and other parts of the world we know that specialised storytellers and poets can recite from memory literally thousands of lines, in verse or prose, verbatim-word for word. But while memory is rightly considered an art in itself, it is clear that a primary purpose of making symbols is to have a system of reminders or mnemonic cues—signs that assist us to recall certain information in the mind's eye.
C. In some Polynesian communities a notched memory stick may help to guide a storyteller through successive stages of recitation. But in other parts of the world, the activity of storytelling historically resulted in the development or even the invention of writing systems. One theory about the arrival of literacy in ancient Greece, for example, argues that the epic tales about the Trojan War and the wanderings of Odysseus-traditionally attributed to Homer-were just so enchanting to hear that they had to be preserved. So the Greeks, c.750-700 BC, borrowed an alphabet from their neighbors in the eastern Mediterranean, the Phoenicians.
D. The custom of recording stories on parchment and other materials can be traced in many manifestations around the world, from the priestly papyrus archives of ancient Egypt to the birch-bark scrolls on which the North American Ojibway Indians set down their creation-myth. It is a well-tried and universal practice: so much so that to this day storytime is probably most often associated with words on paper. The formal practice of narrating a story aloud would seem-so we assume-to have given way to newspapers, novels and comic strips. This, however, is not the case. Statistically it is doubtful that the majority of humans currently rely upon the written word to get access to stories. So what is the alternative source?
E. Each year, over 7 billion people will go to watch the latest offering from Hollywood, Bollywood and beyond. The supreme storyteller of today is cinema. The movies, as distinct from still photography, seem to be an essentially modern phenomenon. This is an illusion, for there are, as we shall see, certain ways in which the medium of film is indebted to very old precedents of arranging 'sequences' of images. But any account of visual storytelling must begin with the recognition that all storytelling beats with a deeply atavistic pulse: that is, a 'good story' relies upon formal patterns of plot and characterisation that have been embedded in the practice of storytelling over many generations.
F. Thousands of scripts arrive every week at the offices of the major film studios. But aspiring screenwriters really need look no further for essential advice than the fourth-century BC Greek Philosopher Aristotle. He left some incomplete lecture notes on the art of telling stories in various literary and dramatic modes, a slim volume known as The Poetics. Though he can never have envisaged the popcorn-fuelled actuality of a multiplex cinema, Aristotle is almost prescient about the key elements required to get the crowds flocking to such a cultural hub. He analyzed the process with cool rationalism. When a story enchants us, we lose the sense of where we are; we are drawn into the story so thoroughly that we forget it is a story being told. This is, in Aristotle's phrase, 'the suspension of disbelief'.
G. We know the feeling. If ever we have stayed in our seats, stunned with grief, as the credits roll by, or for days after seeing that vivid evocation of horror have been nervous about taking a shower at home, then we have suspended disbelief. We have been caught, or captivated, in the storyteller's web. Did it all really happen? We really thought so for a while. Aristotle must have witnessed often enough this suspension of disbelief. He taught at Athens, the city where theater developed as a primary form of civic ritual and recreation. Two theatrical types of storytelling, tragedy and comedy, caused Athenian audiences to lose themselves in sadness and laughter respectively. Tragedy, for Aristotle, was particularly potent in its capacity to enlist and then purge the emotions of those watching the story unfold on the stage, so he tried to identify those factors in the storyteller's art that brought about such engagement. He had, as an obvious sample for analysis, not only the fifth-century BC masterpieces of Classical Greek tragedy written by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Beyond them stood Homer, whose stories even then had canonical status: The Iliad and The Odyssey were already considered literary landmarks—stories by which all other stories should be measured. So what was the secret of Homer's narrative art?
H. It was not hard to find. Homer created credible heroes. His heroes belonged to the past, they were mighty and magnificent, yet they were not, in the end, fantasy figures. He made his heroes sulk, bicker, cheat and cry. They were, in short, characters - protagonists of a story that an audience would care about, would want to follow, would want to know what happens next. As Aristotle saw, the hero who shows a human side - some flaws or weaknesses to which mortals are prone - is intrinsically dramatic.
