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Welcome back, team. With 2024 now firmly in the rear-view mirror, we focus on the bright and beautiful beacon of hope that is 2025. We’ve laid down our resolutions, set our intentions and maybe put a few things on the wish list (can you blame us); it’s time to make good on those early-year promises. To get you in the mood and kick this year off in the most positive fashions, we’ve pulled together a brand-spanking new edition of Feel-Good Friday; our first for the year. Get amongst it, fam.

Study Suggests 7,000 Steps is Key to Positive Mental Health
We all know the benefits of exercise for our bodies, but new research has revealed the startling impact moving can have on your brain. Scientists from Spain analysed data from 100,000 participants across 33 global studies to investigate the link between step counts and mental health. According to the study, which was published in the Jama Network Open journal, taking 7,000 steps a day reduced the likelihood of depression by 31 per cent.
“Our results showed significant associations between higher numbers of daily steps and fewer depressive symptoms as well as lower prevalence and risk of depression in the general adult population,” the scientists from the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha wrote via The Sun.
Admittedly, the experts urged caution about the findings, noting that they couldn’t “definitively say that walking more reduces depression”. However, they did suggest that the study may well encourage people to meet their daily step targets. If your New Year’s resolution was to get out and be more active, here’s another reason to strap on the running shoes.

Hippos are Coming Down Under For the First Time in 40 Years
Australia’s surprising lack of hippopotamuses is finally being addressed, with the ABC reporting that the nation’s 40-year import hiatus on the animals has come to an end. As part of a shift in legislation, Australian zoos are now free to import pygmy and common hippos, helping to improve conservation efforts for the vulnerable African species.
In the past, the importation of hippos had been restricted due to their semen posing a ‘biosecurity risk’ to Australia’s unique ecosystem. The ban, which came into effect in the 1980s, has steadily led to a reduction in hippo numbers across the country as those in captivity age out or pass on. According to ABC, just five pygmy hippos and nine female common hippos are left in Australian zoos. With the ban now lifted, you can expect to see more hippos hit the water in our favourite zoos over the next few years.

Camp for Kids with HIV Closes, But For the Best Possible Reason
You might think the closure of a summer camp for children battling HIV is a sad indictment of the cost of living, but this is actually a positive news story. The Minnesota Star Tribune is reporting that the One Heartland summer camp in Duluth is set to shut up shop due to so few children being born with HIV or contracting the virus.
Thanks to a series of medical advancements over the past three decades, the number of mothers living with HIV who pass the virus on to their newborns is now less than one per cent. For One Heartland’s Neil Willenson, who founded the camp in 1993 after meeting a friend’s child, the closure of the camp is, somewhat strangely, a dream come true.
The entrepreneur and humanitarian, who has dedicated his life to creating a space for kids living with HIV, told the newspaper there was no longer a need for the camp’s original purpose, describing the closure as “the greatest story that I ever could have imagined. It’s something I never could have predicted.”