Your in-laws may give you the sh*ts in more ways than one this Christmas

The stress of visiting your in-laws at Christmas may change the gut bugs in your poo, according to Dutch research which examined the 'Yule logs' of 24 people before and after Christmas. It found the 'Mr Hankeys' from people who visited their in-laws over Christmas had lower counts of a type of bacteria called Ruminococcaceae compared to those who visited their own family. Previous research has shown that low levels of this bacteria are also found in people with depression and mice under stress. The researchers say this could imply that visiting in-laws during Christmas induces high stress levels, which in turn reduces the presence of this bacteria in the gut. However, even the researchers themselves acknowledge the small numbers of people in their study and that a larger study is needed to confirm the findings.