Chardin Newsletter
February, 2015
Why Does My Back Hurt? - Chloe
Well, fellow student, your back hurts because you spend too many hours slumped in your ill-fitting chair staring at a computer screen with your shoulders pinched together and wrists at an awkward angle.
Unfortunately, this is the state of things nowadays. Most of us are on a one-way path to desk city, so it’s best to address this issue early one. Sitting incorrectly can cause the glutes weaken and get sore, the lower back to becomes tight because of a tightened psoas muscle, and our rhomboids and traps to pinch our shoulder blades together in order to bring our hands up to our keyboard (and it is worsened by slouching).
Minimizing the amount of pain you experience during typing or other sitting tasks involves adjusting your seat height so that your feet rest flat on the ground and so that your knee and hip height are the same. If you can, adjust your desk height so that your humerus (that’s your upper arm) bone is parallel with your spine, and your forearm makes a 90-100 angle with your upper arm (so flat, or slightly downward bent). If it is impossible to adjust your desk height, you can raise your seat and use a foot rest so that your legs are still in the proper position. This minimizes strain on your back, knee caps, and lower back. To relieve neck strain, you should position your monitor so that it is directly in front of your face (0 degrees) or slightly lower than your eyes (up to 20 degrees). This prevents the neck from experiencing strain from constant flexion or extension. Another thing to consider: the most comfortable seat may not be actually all that comfortable when you have to change positions to begin typing. If you are going to invest money in a new desk chair, be sure to test it out with a desk of a similar height and simulate typing beforehand.
If this still doesn’t solve your problem, you may need to see a physical therapist or other health provider. You can also use this website to help understand your symptoms and where they might be coming from (which cannot to replace a doctor’s diagnosis of course).
The NAMTPT symptom checker: http://www.myofascialtherapy.org/symptom-checker.html
Happy Chinese Lunar New Year! - Ran
Wednesday, February 18, 2015 is Chinese Lunar New Year, and it is the year of Goat. I missed the time when we celebrate the New Year with my family while I was in China.
Things we usually do to prepare and celebrate the New Year:
- Cleaning the House, also we call it “Sweeping the dust”, meaning to put away old things, bid farewell to the old year, and welcome the New Year.
- New Year Shopping. We buy food and snacks, decorations, and clothes for New Year before New Year’s Eve.
- Putting up New Year Decorations, for example, red lanterns, read couplets, and goat images (for the goat year).
- Affixing Door God Images and Putting up Spring Couplets. We paste it on the door to pray for blessing, longevity, health, and peace.
- Putting up Paper Cutouts. We put these on the window for decoration and good meanings. Just like people putting snowflakes on the Christmas Day. But the paper cutouts are mostly in red color.
- Enjoying a Reunion Dinner. This is the most I missed in Chinese New Year. We usually gathered to my grandparents’ house to have dinner. And my grandfather will cook his self-invented New Year Dish, and we will only have it on that day.
- Watching CCTV’s New Year Gala. I watched it every year. It is a tradition to watch the New Year Gala on New Year’s Eve. Just for fun and as a background when people chat.
- Giving Lucky Money. Best time for the New Year when you’ll be receiving red envelopes with money from your family.
- Staying up Late and listening to a New Year Bell. The Bell starts bonging at midnight. So, better staying up late.
- Setting Off Fireworks. After midnight, people go outside and setting off firework. There are all kinds of fireworks for sell several days before New Year’s Eve. I set off fireworks a lot when I was little. But since we have air pollution in the country, we now have limited time to set off fireworks during the holiday.
- Greeting Each Other with Good Wishes. This event will last couple of weeks. We will wish people good luck when we greeting each other during the month.
The Value of Audiobooks! - Connor
As a subscription member of Audibles, I have often been curious of the psychological value that audiobooks hold for the listener. Many assertions have been made that “listening to an audiobook doesn’t use up any brain-power.” With finals and big term papers coming up, now is an excellent time to start listening to those audiobooks!
Scientific research has shown that the cognitively we grasp more information from listening to audiobooks over reading. Additionally, listening requires you to hear every single word as opposed to quickly skim reading over words. This helps the brain further process the information, retaining it in the long-term memory more easily. On top of that, reading actually interferes with imagery and helps continue to develop those good listening skills – which are essential for receiving those top grade!
If you have a busy day or a long commute, you can multitask by listening to your required course reading while doing errands. You can also do the actually reading on top of listening to books! This actually helps you really hold down on that information! Or maybe you have a lot of reading for classes and want to leisurely read a book but are too tired! Audiobooks are great for that too! If that is the case, check out the special celebrity readings of the James Bond books! Especially if you are a Doctor Who fan, as they have David Tennant as one of the guest narrators!
Sweet Treats - Jessie
With Valentine’s Day passing and the stress building up to Finals begins to hover over our shoulder, our “sweet-tooths” have become more prominent. I found an interesting article that offered easy recipes and pairings of sweet and healthy items that can be mixed together in order to satisfy your sweet tooth or sweet cravings, but also be healthy! These are also quick to put together for whipping up a well-needed dessert after a long day of work and study:
- Dark chocolate dipped strawberries—dark chocolate is rich in fiber, iron, magnesium, and other minerals making it actually nutritious. When paired together with vitamin C-rich strawberries, this dessert option can never go wrong! Plus the bittersweet flavor can be translated to the bittersweet-ness of studying for finals. Bitter from the stress, sweet from knowing that this quarter will be coming to a close soon!
- Choco-nut popcorn—pop a small bag of unbuttered popcorn and top it off with a tablespoon of melted peanut butter and a pinch or two of cocoa powder. This snack is crunchy and has the perfect amount of sweetness. Also, the peanut butter is packed with protein. If you want to try a twist, use almond butter instead. Almond butter has more vitamin E (4 times more) and iron (2 times more) than peanut butter.
- All-fruit popsicles—all you have to do is get out your blender and puree watermelon chunks and some lime juice, freeze, and enjoy. Other flavors can be pears, peaches, and berries with apple juice instead of lime or lemon juice. Target and other grocery stores have Popsicle mold trays that can make your popsicles in different shapes and sizes! Plus no added sugar in this recipe as well.
- Café Mocha—so you don’t have an espresso machine at home but you are walking past one of the dozens of coffee shops near campus. Order a café Mocha to get your daily requirement of caffeine (tailored to finals week) and a serving of dark chocolate all at once. Ask if your beverage can be made with low-fat milk or soy milk to keep calorie counts down too.
- Baked apples—this is a super easy treat to prepare and apples are in abundance in all Washington grocery stores. You can make this treat ahead of time and reheat it as well. Cut out the core and stuff the apple with oats, nuts, and a little honey or brown sugar!