The Wellness Word
May 2018
Surprising Health Facts
Chewing gum makes you more alert. If you're suffering from a mid-afternoon slump or can’t seem to concentrate in the morning, then try chewing some gum to make you feel awake. Coventry University researchers found that chewing mint flavored gum dramatically reduced feelings of tiredness. Another study on the subject found that chewing gum can improve overall test scores and memory by 35 per cent, relieve stress and reduce anxiety levels.
Sitting at a desk can increase death risk by almost 50%. Office workers beware, as research from the University of Sydney found that office workers who sit for longer than 10 hours a day at their desk had a 48 per cent increase in risk of death, in comparison to people who sat for less than four hours a day. To counteract this health risk, try to introduce five minutes of activity every hour and make sure you take regular breaks away from your workstation. Simple changes like taking the stairs instead of the elevator will also make a positive difference to your health.
ATM machines and public toilets are equally dirty. Withdrawing money from a cash machine is something may of us do regularly, but how many of us give our hands a wash after using them? Cleanliness tests carried out in Britain found that ATM machines were as dirty as the toilets. Specialists investigated swabs taken from the cash machine keyboards and from public toilets nearby and found both samples had the same bacteria known to lead to sickness.
If you're an optimist, it could help you live longer. According to a study from Duke University Medical Center, heart patients who were more optimistic about their treatment, actually lived longer than those who were more pessimistic in their mindsets. Also, according to findings of a study published in the European Heart Journal, people who are optimistic have less chance of suffering from heart disease.
Smell an apple to prevent claustrophobia. An apple a day can do more than just keep the doctor away, it can also help with claustrophobia. Apparently smelling a green apple will relieve the stress associated with confined spaces, according to research from the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation. Sniffing a green apple can also prevent headaches and migraines and some homeowners even use the scent to make their houses seem bigger to potential buyers.
If you're tired, exercise. After a long day at work, going to the gym is probably the last thing on your list of priorities but research has found that exercising actually gives you more energy. A study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that levels of fatigue and depression improved after a 30-minute session of moderate intensity exercise. This is because exercise improves your cardiovascular health which means that more blood and oxygen flow around the body, therefore giving you more energy.
Sit ups won't give you a flat stomach. Many people fall into the trap of thinking that they can achieve a flat stomach by doing crunches. But the truth is, endless amounts of crunches won’t give you the stomach of your dreams - as the exercise only works your abs, not your core muscles. One study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found carrying out six weeks of abdominal exercises alone was not enough to reduce abdominal fat.
Handwriting things can help your memory. Research from Indiana University found that in order to remember something, you should hand write notes, rather than type them. Writing is thought to boost your memory as note taking by hand requires different cognitive processes than typing. For example, if in a lecture you are writing notes, you have to listen carefully to what the speaker has said as it is impossible to write down every word. Therefore through this process, you are listening, digesting and summarizing the information more effectively than someone who is just typing words into a laptop.
To cool down, drink something hot. It might sound counterproductive, but if you want to cool down, then drink something hot. According to a study from the University of Ottawa’s school of Human Kinetics, as the drink is hotter than your body temperature, it triggers a sweat response in the body that more than compensates for the increase. So although it might initially make you feel hotter, a hot drink will cause you to sweat more and therefore the body effectively cools itself quicker.
Stress-Busting Smoothie
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 cup cashew milk (can substitute almond milk)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 generous tablespoon almond butter
- 1 tablespoon coconut yogurt
- 1 teaspoon matcha green tea
- 2 tablespoons organic pea protein
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- handful of ice to blend - optional
Directions
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender
- Blend until smooth & creamy
- Pour into 2 smoothie bowls or glasses
Inspiration
Use homemade walnut milk in place of cashew or almond milk to boost omega-3s. Use frozen strawberries in place of blueberries. Pour smoothies into mason jars and enjoy as a portable breakfast on the go. Top smoothies with bee pollen or dust with a little cinnamon.
Easy Ways to Improve Your Posture
By: Markham Heid, TIME Health
You’ve probably heard about “tech neck”—the head-drooped, shoulders-forward pose many of us strike while crouched at a computer or peering into our phones. The more time a person spends in this position, the more the body’s muscles and ligaments embrace it as normal. The result is poor posture, which may have repercussions far beyond appearances.
“We live in a world now where slouching is highly promoted because we’re sitting in chairs and our body is in a collapsed position,” says Erik Peper, a professor in the department of health education at San Francisco State University. “If you have any history of exhaustion or negative thoughts, I would say that this body position amplifies them.”
It’s true: Peper has conducted a series of studies on posture and how it can influence a person’s mood, energy levels and cognitive performance. Some of his research has found that slouching promotes low mood and decreased energy levels. One of his forthcoming studies shows that slouching can even impair student performance on a math test.
Human emotion and cognition are closely linked to body posture, Peper says, and this link operates like a two-way street. Feeling depressed or frightened can cause a person’s head to drop or his posture to become tight and closed, but assuming these poses also seems to promote feelings of depression or fear.
“We’ve looked at brain activity using EEG, and we found the brain had to work harder to invoke positive or optimistic memories while [a person was] slouching compared to sitting up,” he says. “Every thought and emotion has a corresponding body activity, and every body activity has a corresponding psychological experience.” People prone to depressed mood, negative thoughts or low energy may be exacerbating those mental and physical states with poor posture, he says.
Peper’s not alone in this field. Just last year, a study from New Zealand linked upright posture with improved mood and energy levels among people with symptoms of depression. Another recent study found that the bent-over posture associated with smartphone use could hamper breathing and impair respiratory function.
Long story short, good posture matters. So how can you improve yours? Any posture overhaul has to include major changes to your daily routines. If you can switch up your desk setup in ways that promote proper posture, that’s a great start, experts say.
There are also a number of exercises that will help correct your poor posture. “If you have a rounded posture where your shoulders are migrating forward, you’ll want to do exercises that strengthen the muscles between the shoulder blades,” says William Smith, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and co-author of Exercises for Perfect Posture.
These back muscles help hold your shoulders and shoulder blades in the proper position. Any type of pulling exercise will strengthen them, but upright or bent-over rows are ideal, he says. Both of these involve pulling weight toward your chest.
Another good exercise—one you could do easily at home—is to hold a resistance band at shoulder level and pull the band apart, while taking care to keep your shoulders back and down. Make sure you return to your starting position slowly. “This helps strengthen the muscles behind and around the shoulder girdle,” Smith says.
Planks, push-ups, dead lifts and any other exercises that make you hold your body in a rigid position are also great because they emphasize stability. “If you’re controlling your body and activating your core and all those small stabilizer muscles, that’s going to help with posture,” he says.
Finally, strong and flexible hips promote stable movement and good body position. “It’s really important to stretch your hips out,” Smith says. To do that, he recommends glute bridges, which involve lying on your back with your feet on the floor and lifting your hips into the air. Any exercises or stretches that target your butt will also be helpful, he says.
To read more: http://time.com/5226701/how-to-improve-posture/
Strange-but-true Health Tips
(2) For healthy teeth, don't brush after eating. Don't brush your teeth immediately after meals and drinks, especially if they were acidic. Acidic foods—citrus fruits, sports drinks, tomatoes, soda (both diet and regular)—can soften tooth enamel "like wet sandstone," says Howard R. Gamble, immediate past president of the Academy of General Dentistry. Brushing your teeth at this stage can speed up acid's effect on your enamel and erode the layer underneath. Gamble suggests waiting 30 to 60 minutes before brushing.
(3) To wear a smaller size, gain weight. Muscle weight, that is. If two women both weigh 150 pounds and only one lifts weights, the lifter will more likely fit into a smaller pant size than her sedentary counterpart. Likewise, a 150-pound woman who lifts weights could very well wear the same size as a 140-pound woman who doesn't exercise. The reason: Although a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle, muscle takes up less space, says Mark Nutting, fitness director of SACO Sport & Fitness in Saco, Maine. "You can get bigger muscles and get smaller overall if you lose the fat," he says. "The bulk so many women fear only occurs if you don't lose fat and develop muscle on top of it." Cut back on calories and add weight to your workout to lose inches.
(4) To eat less, eat more. Grabbing a 100-calorie snack pack of cookies or pretzels may seem virtuous, but it's more likely to make you hungrier than if you ate something more substantial, says Amy Goodson, RD, dietitian for Texas Health Ben Hogan Sports Medicine. "Eating small amounts of carbohydrates does nothing but spike your blood sugar and leave you wanting more carbs." Goodson recommends choosing a protein such as peanut butter or string cheese with an apple. "They are higher in calories per serving, but the protein and fat helps you get full faster and stay full longer—and you end up eating fewer calories overall," she says.
(5) Skip energy drinks when you're tired. Energy drinks contain up to five times more caffeine than coffee, but the boost they provide is fleeting and comes with unpleasant side effects like nervousness, irritability, and rapid heartbeat, says Goodson. Plus, energy drinks often contain high levels of taurine, a central nervous system stimulant, and upwards of 50 grams of sugar per can (that's 13 teaspoons worth!). The sweet stuff spikes blood sugar temporarily, only to crash soon after, leaving you sluggish and foggyheaded—and reaching for another energy drink.
(6) Drink water when you're bloated. When you feel bloated, drinking water sounds as if it would only make matters worse, but it can often help, says James Lee, MD, gastroenterologist with St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. If you're on a high-fiber diet, for instance, then your body needs more water to work more efficiently, says Dr. Lee. "Water mixes with water soluble fiber and makes it into a gel like substance. This affects the motility of the gut and reduces the symptom of bloating." Drinking more water also relieves bloating caused by dehydration. When you're dehydrated, your body clings to the water your body does have, causing you to puff up.
(7) Ditch diet soda to lose weight. You should ditch all soda, including diet. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health revealed that overweight and obese adults who drank diet beverages ate more calories from food than those who drank regular soda. Additionally, a University of Texas study found that diet soda drinkers had a 70% greater increase in waist circumference than non-drinkers over the course of about 10 years. "In addition, many people think 'low-fat,' 'low-sugar,' or 'light' means fewer calories, but that's not always true," says Goodson. "Typically when manufacturers cut something out and the end result tastes just as good, they've added something like additional sugar."
(8) To improve your relationship, spend less time together. Jumping from one social event to another without any time to come up for air could sacrifice the quality of your relationships. Spending time alone allows you to process your thoughts rather than act impulsively and, as a result, you get to know yourself better, says Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD, author of Better Than Perfect: 7 Strategies to Crush Your Inner Critic and Create a Life You Love. "Alone time enables you to be more in touch with yourself and can better give and receive," Lombardo says. "In addition, it reduces stress and anxiety, which could also contribute to relationship strains." Meditate, go for a walk, sit in a café and people watch, or even clean out your closet, she suggests.
(9) Skip antibacterial soap to prevent illness. Reaching for the soap bottle labeled "antibacterial" won't necessarily reduce your risk of getting sick or passing illness to others—in fact, there is no evidence that antibacterial soaps are more effective than regular ones. What's more, long-term exposure to some ingredients in these products, such as triclosan, may pose health risks like bacterial resistance or hormonal effects, according to a 2013 FDA statement. More research on the effects of triclosan is needed, and in the meantime, the FDA is working toward requiring manufacturers to prove their products are safe for long-term use—and the state of Minnesota has banned triclosan-containing products altogether, which goes into full effect in 2017.
This Study Could Explain Why Our Brains Perform Worse As We Age
For a long time researchers thought the brain did not make new cells. That meant that as the existing cells died with age, nerve connections were lost and everything from memory to reasoning and language skills started to decline. Then scientists learned that the brain actually did make new nerve cells, specifically in areas associated with memory.
But why do cognitive functions still decline over time? That’s what researchers led by Maura Boldrini, a research scientist in the department of psychiatry at Columbia University, and her colleagues wanted to find out. In a study published in Cell Stem Cell, Boldrini and her team studied the brains of 28 healthy people who had died suddenly of accidents but not long term disease. The people ranged in age from 14 years to 79 years, so the researchers could look at the number of brain cells in different parts of the brain as well as the population of stem cells, which give rise to the brain nerve cells, in people of different ages.
Boldrini found that older people made as many new neurons in parts of the brain responsible for memory as younger people do. But what is different in the aging brain is the reduced blood flow to nourish these cells. That means they are dividing less, and generating fewer new neurons in older brains than in younger ones. In other words, the pool of new brain cells is still there, but it’s not as active in older brains.
The findings suggest that it may be possible to combat some age-related cognitive decline by improving blood flow to the brain, and making sure that tiny capillaries that feed brain nerve cells aren’t compromised. “Exercise could be one thing to maintain the vasculature,” says Boldrini, “and being intellectually engaged also helps.” So far, these factors have helped improve blood flow in the brains of animals, but no strong studies yet establish that they can slow or even reverse age-related brain functions in people. But Boldrini believes those studies are coming, and she also hopes to compare her results to those of people with degenerative brain conditions like Alzheimer’s, to see if the growth of new nerves is affected by those diseases.
Kirkwood Observatory Open House
Open houses may be cancelled on short-notice due to unfavorable weather conditions. No reservations are required. Due to Daylight Savings Time in Indiana, the sky is not dark enough for observing with the telescope until late in the evening. We have scheduled the Open Night hours as early as we can and still have the sky dark enough to view with the Kirkwood telescope.
For more information, please visit: http://www.astro.indiana.edu/kirkwood.shtml?utm_source=2018-03-27&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_content=Kirkwood-Observatory-open-house&utm_campaign=2018-inside-iub-distribution
Cost: FREE
Wednesday, May 2, 2018, 09:00 PM
Kirkwood Observatory, East 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN, USA
The 32nd Annual Strawberry Shortcake Festival
For more information, please visit: http://bgcbloomington.org/ssf2018/
Thursday, May 3, 2018, 10:30 AM
Monroe County Courthouse, West Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN, USA
Cardinal for Kids Presents: Robin Hood
Step into Sherwood Forrest with this action-packed adventure! In their fight for equality and justice, Robin Hood, Maid Marian and their gang use every trick in the book to outsmart the evil Prince John and Sheriff of Nottingham. Come join our band of Merry Men for this exciting new twist on the classic tale!
Run Time: TBA
Show Location: Ivy Tech Waldron Auditorium
Time Options: 5/4, 5/5, 5/6, 5/11, 5/12, 5/13, 5/18, 5/19, 5/20
For Showtimes, please visit: http://www.cardinalstage.org/plays/2017-2018-cardinal-for-kids-season/spring-kids-show/overview/
Cost: $12.95 - $21.95, depending on seats
Friday, May 4, 2018, 07:00 PM
Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center, South Walnut Street, Bloomington, IN, USA
Wings & Wildflowers Hike
RSVP on the event page of the website or call 812-336-5382 ext. 100 for more information.
Website: https://sycamorelandtrust.org/Events/wings-wildflowers-hike/
Cost: $5/person or $10/family
Saturday, May 5, 2018, 10:00 AM
Porter West Preserve, West Vernal Pike, Bloomington, IN, USA
Game Night
For more information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/200186857457620/
Thursday, May 17, 2018, 06:00 PM
Cup & Kettle Tea Co., North Walnut Street, Bloomington, IN, USA
32nd Annual Harrodsburg Heritage Days Festival
Times:
Friday, May 18th: 4 PM - 9:30 PM
Saturday, May 19th: 10 AM - 10 PM
For more information, please visit: https://harrodsburgheritagefestival.org/
Cost: FREE
Friday, May 18, 2018, 04:00 PM
894 West Popcorn Road, Bloomington, IN, USA
Soup & Serenity
For more information, please visit: https://www.meditationinbloomington.org/
Cost: $7