WASHINGTON — Former football star Herschel Walker and former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes say they are all too aware of the toll that blows to the head can take on an athlete’s brain.
In remarks during a recent Capitol Hill news conference on brain research, Holmes introduced himself by recounting his record — 75 fights, including 69 wins with 44 by knockout.
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Three Delhi toddlers, who pushed for a ban on firecrackers last year while asserting their right to be brought up in a pollution-free environment, prodded the grown-ups again to clear the city’s noxious air and persuaded the Supreme Court to back possible initiatives on Saturday.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, which was contemplating imposition of a heavy environment tax on diesel cars, said experts should examine the feasibility of fitting vehicles with filters that scrub fumes from tailpipe emissions.
Arjun Gopal, Aarav Bhandari and Zoya Rao Bhasin, all aged between six months and 14 months, are the apex court’s youngest petitioners who were represented by their parents and a team of senior lawyers. The mounting levels of pollution that regularly cloak the Capital in smog often leave residents struggling to breathe in air quality that international agencies say is worse than in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
The legal team led by senior lawyer KK Venugopal and assisted by advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Pooja Dhar suggested making it mandatory for all cars -old and new, petrol and diesel – to retrofit their engines with catalytic
converters and diesel particulate filters, devices that “worked wonders in California and brought down pollution level by nearly 85 per cent”, changing toxic gases to less toxic pollutants.
“When CNG was introduced in Delhi, people said it is not possible and others said it is too expensive, but ultimately people started using it. Earlier, it took more than three months to convert a vehicle into CNG, but now it takes around two to three days and costs just Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000,” Venugopal said, adding that retrofitting diesel vehicles will help reduce emission of particulate matter substantially.
Indian citizens have been demanding cleaner air as the World Health Organization estimates that more than 6,00,000 people die every year in the country because of diseases triggered by outdoor air pollution.
“We were only thinking in terms of imposing a cess. But why can’t we address pollution itself? Why cannot cars be modified? Let experts check, Centre examine,” the CJI said during a special Saturday hearing. “If we find it feasible then why not? We are not shutting it out; we must consult others on it.”
The chief justice said this to senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi who appeared for a car manufacturer, appealing for the lifting of a ban imposed on December 15 on the sale of diesel vehicles with engine capacity of more than 2000 cc.
The court has told automakers such as BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Skoda that it can end the prohibition only after imposing a 10 to 30 per cent green cess, based on the categories of cars. The bench also pulled up the Centre for supporting Venugopal’s idea immediately without coming up with any such plans earlier. This happened when the court wondered if catalytic converters can be made mandatory when there is no “legal requirement”.
When additional solicitor general Maninder Singh said legislation can be passed to enable it, the CJI shot back, “Why did you have to wait till Venugopal made this submission?” “You have woken up from slumber after Venugopal came up with this? You want somebody to point out this? What were you doing till now? See after all, this is affecting everybody. People are dying. What are the ministry officials doing? Simply sitting in their air-conditioned offices and sipping coffee?” Thakur asked Singh.
Venugopal said the government should put the matter before environmental panels, including one set up by the court, and assess the plan’s viability. “There are some converter companies to begin with and once it is a success, several others will come into the field,” he said. The hearing will continue on May 9.
However, Sunita Narain, a member of the Environment Pollution Control Authority that has recommended a green cess on new diesel vehicles, shot down the idea of retrofitting cars as a measure to reduce pollution.
“For retrofitting you need a cleaner fuel. Even otherwise, more than 15-year-old diesel vehicles and more than 10-yearold petrol vehicles have been banned by a court order,” she pointed out. “So where is the question of retrofitting old vehicles? This can only be seen as a measure to save old vehicles which to my view should not be encouraged.”
The Australian Henriette van Praag, a co-author on the paper, in NeuroImage, said: “For most people, physical health and brain health once seemed to have little connection. This has been changed by discoveries in rodents that wheel-running increases production of new … |
When 30-year-old nurse Lynn Alvarez isn’t caring for her patients, she’s devoting time to a second career in mixed martial arts.
“I definitely fell in love with the training aspect and pushing yourself physically,” said Alvarez, who participated in kajukenbo, a martial art, and later kickboxing before transitioning to MMA, where she has won six of nine professional matches.
For the last two years, the aspiring UFC fighter also has been helping researchers discover more about professional fighters’ brain health by participating in a study at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.
Alvarez is one of fewer than 50 women participants in the Ruvo Center’s Professional Fighters Brain Health Study, which was established in 2011 and has more than 650 participants.
Participants in the study undergo a battery of screenings and tests. An MRI, multiple computer-based tests, a neurological exam and a series of assessments through the Cleveland Clinic’s iPad-based C3 application are required. C3 allows researchers to assess a fighter’s balance and mental acuity using small tests.
Asked if she worries much about the risks involved in the often-punishing sport, Alvarez acknowledged she’s aware of the dangers, but there’s also a sense of “That’s not going to happen to me.”
“You definitely think about it, but you just shut it out of your brain,” she said. “That’s horrible to think, but that’s the blatant truth.”
The issue of brain health for fighters made news Tuesday when Dr. Charles Bernick, associate director of the Ruvo Center, announced that the Nevada Athletic Commission would require all licensed fighters in the state, including professional boxers and mixed martial athletes, to undergo regular brain health monitoring.
Fighters will be required to take part in monitoring using C3 in order to be licensed, Bernick said.
That decision comes after years of discussion on the long-term effects of repeated head trauma in combat and other sports, including professional football.
An exact timeline for implementation of the regulation hasn’t been established, though it’s expected to take effect this summer. This doesn’t mean all fighters automatically will be enrolled in the study, Bernick said.
The development makes sense, said Robert A. Stern, a neurology professor at Boston University School of Medicine and director of clinical research at the university’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center.
“If we human beings are to do these activities, we better also learn to protect our brains from damage and disease,” Stern said.
Bernick said the goal of the added requirement isn’t to put a strain on fighters but to help protect them. Testing will be free, and the C3 testing generally takes about 20 minutes.
“Finally, there’s an interest in the long-term brain health of individuals,” Bernick said.
Some of the C3 tests are harder than they look, Alvarez said. This year, during her second annual year of testing, she was far more comfortable completing the assessments.
“It’s really not bad. It kind of feels like a game,” Alvarez said.
She strapped an iPad onto her torso and stood on one leg before standing with one foot in front of the other. A mat, which functioned as an unstable surface, was placed under her feet as an added challenge to her balance.
Pamela Dino, one of two research coordinators, tracked the number of errors as the fighter balanced on one foot. A gyroscope inside the iPad detects how much a person’s body sways during examinations, helping the researcher assess the fighter.
The assessments are all “very standardized” but are being presented on a mobile device familiar to participants, Bernick said.
At one point, Alvarez works on a connect-the-dots type assessment using letters and numbers on the iPad.
C3 testing might be quick, but it appears to track with the results of the study’s other methods of gathering data.
“We seem to be getting the same information from just doing the iPad as from the standard battery” of tests, Bernick said.
Requiring all licensed fighters in the state to undergo this testing, then, might provide them with health information allowing the fighters to make determinations about their careers, Bernick said.
Contact Pashtana Usufzy at pusufzy@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Find @pashtana_u on Twitter.
NEW YORK – The Rev. Daniel Berrigan, a Roman Catholic priest and peace activist who was imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 94.
Berrigan died at Murray-Weigel Hall, a Jesuit health care community in New York City after a “long illness,” according to Michael Benigno, a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province.
“He died peacefully,” Benigno said.
Berrigan and his younger brother, the Rev. Philip Berrigan, emerged as leaders of the radical anti-war movement in the 1960s.
The Berrigan brothers entered a draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, on May 17, 1968, with eight other activists and removed records of young men about to be shipped off to Vietnam. The group took the files outside and burned them in garbage cans.
The Catonsville Nine, as they came to be known, were convicted on federal charges accusing them of destroying U.S. property and interfering with the Selective Service Act of 1967. All were sentenced on Nov. 9, 1968 to prison terms ranging from two to 3½ years.
When asked in 2009 by “America,” a national Catholic magazine, whether he had any regrets, Berriganreplied: “I could have done sooner the things I did, like Catonsville.”
Berrigan, a writer and poet, wrote about the courtroom experience in 1970 in a one-act play, “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,” which was later made into a movie.
Berrigan grew up in Syracuse, New York, with his parents and five brothers. He joined the Jesuit order after high school and taught preparatory school in New Jersey before being ordained a priest in 1952.
As a seminarian, Berrigan wrote poetry. His work captured the attention of an editor at Macmillan who referred the material to poet Marianne Moore. Her endorsement led to the publication of Berrigan’s first book of poetry, “Time Without Number,” which won the Lamont Poetry Prize in 1957.
Berrigan credited Dorothy Day, founder of The Catholic Worker newspaper, with introducing him to the pacifist movement and influencing his thinking about war.
Much later, while visiting Paris in 1963 on a teaching sabbatical from LeMoyne College, Berrigan met French Jesuits who spoke of the dire situation in Indochina. Soon after that, he and his brother founded the Catholic Peace Fellowship, which helped organize protests against U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Berrigan traveled to North Vietnam in 1968 and returned with three American prisoners of war who were being released as a goodwill gesture. He said that while there, he witnessed some of the destruction and suffering caused by the war.
Berrigan was teaching at Cornell University when his brother asked him to join a group of activists for the Catonsville demonstration. Philip Berrigan was at the time awaiting sentencing for a 1967 protest in Baltimore during which demonstrators poured blood on draft records.
“I was blown away by the courage and effrontery, really, of my brother,” Berrigan recalled in a 2006 interview on the Democracy Now radio program.
After the Catonsville case had been unsuccessfully appealed, the Berrigan brothers and three of their co-defendants went underground. Philip Berrigan turned himself in to authorities in April 1969 at a Manhattan church. The FBI arrested Daniel Berrigan four months later at the Rhode Island home of theologian William Stringfellow.
Berrigan said in an interview that he became a fugitive to draw more attention to the anti-war movement.
The Berrigan brothers were sent to the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Daniel Berrigan was released in 1972 after serving about two years. His brother served about 2½ years.
The Berrigan brothers continued to be active in the peace movement long after Catonsville. Together, they began the Plowshares Movement, an anti-nuclear weapons campaign in 1980. Both were arrested that year after entering a General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and damaging nuclear warhead nose cones.
Philip Berrigan died of cancer on Dec. 6, 2002 at the age of 79.
Daniel Berrigan moved into a Jesuit residence in Manhattan in 1975.
In an interview with The Nation magazine on the 40th anniversary of the Catonsville demonstration, Berriganlamented that the activism of the 1960s and early 1970s evaporated with the passage of time.
“The short fuse of the American left is typical of the highs and lows of American emotional life,” he said. “It is very rare to sustain a movement in recognizable form without a spiritual base.”
Berrigan’s writings include “Prison Poems,” published in 1973; “We Die Before We Live: Talking with the Very Ill,” a 1980 book based on his experiences working in a cancer ward; and his autobiography, “To Dwell in Peace,” published in 1987.
Even though the United States Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide in June 2015, same-sex couples looking to adopt still face an uphill battle in certain states. Yet when it comes to raising healthy children, research on the subject confirms that having gay parents has virtually no effect on a child’s development.
Researchers from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, the University of Amsterdam, and Columbia University have found that children raised by female same-sex couples are just as healthy physically and emotionally as kids from opposite-sex couples. “This study is the first to use a nationally representative survey to compare the two types of households by focusing only on those with parents that have been in a continuous relationship,” said lead author Dr. Henny Bos in a statement.
Transitions that affect the whole family, including parental separation and adoption, are especially hard on young children, no matter their parents’ sexual orientation. Some previous research has compared unstable same-sex families to stable heterosexual ones. To eliminate such bias, Bos’ research team made sure all couples included in their research were at the head of stable families.
Bos and her colleagues gathered data using the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health. The research team matched 95 female same-sex parent and 95 opposite-sex parent households with children between the ages of 6 and 17 based on parental and child characteristics, including parental age and level of education, children’s ages and levels of education, and family residence.
The findings showed no differences between children raised by same-sex couples and those reared by opposite-sex couples in terms of emotional difficulties, coping behaviors, and learning behaviors. Although children from same-sex households had similar outcomes as children from opposite-couple households, same-sex parents did have higher stress levels compared to opposite-sex couples.
“Future investigations might explore whether the cultural spotlight on child outcomes in same-sex parent families is associated with increased parenting stress,” said psychiatrist and co-author Dr. Nanette Gartrell, Visiting Scholar at the Williams Institute. “Some of our earlier studies have shown that lesbian mothers feel pressured to justify the quality of their parenting because of their sexual orientation.”
While this new study only took into account lesbian households, researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel conducted a similar study that examined how the brains of men and women changed when they became parents. This research included 89 straight moms and dads and 48 gay dads. MRI measurements revealed that the brain activity of gay dads was remarkably similar to that of heterosexual mothers and fathers. In fact, the connections between emotional and cognitive functions in the brains of gay dads grew stronger as they spent more time with their children.
Around six million children in the U.S. are being raised by at least one LGBT parent. Adoptions are regulated on a state-by-state basis, and some states have passed laws that allow adoption agencies, due to religious beliefs, to prohibit LBGT couples from adopting.
When it comes to parenting, evidence suggests cooperation and mutual support between parents are much more important than sexual orientation.
Source: NeJaime D, Gartrell N, Bos H, et al. Same-sex and Different-sex Parent Households and Child Health Outcomes: Findings from the National Survey of Children’s Health. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 2016.
Three Delhi toddlers, who pushed for a ban on firecrackers last year while asserting their right to be brought up in a pollution-free environment, prodded the grown-ups again to clear the city’s noxious air and persuaded the Supreme Court to back possible initiatives on Saturday.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur, which was contemplating imposition of a heavy environment tax on diesel cars, said experts should examine the feasibility of fitting vehicles with filters that scrub fumes from tailpipe emissions.
Arjun Gopal, Aarav Bhandari and Zoya Rao Bhasin, all aged between 6 to14 months, are the apex court’s youngest petitioners who were represented by their parents and a team of senior lawyers.
Youth Congress members take out a protest march against the odd-even scheme in the capital
The mounting levels of pollution that regularly cloak the Capital in smog often leave residents struggling to breathe in air quality that international agencies say is worse than in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
The legal team led by senior lawyer KK Venugopal and assisted by advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Pooja Dhar suggested making it mandatory for all cars -old and new, petrol and diesel – to retrofit their engines with catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters, devices that “worked wonders in California and brought down pollution level by nearly 85 per cent”, changing toxic gases to less toxic pollutants.
“When CNG was introduced in Delhi, people said it is not possible and others said it is too expensive, but ultimately people started using it. Earlier, it took more than three months to convert a vehicle into CNG, but now it takes around two to three days and costs just Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000,” Venugopal said, adding that retrofitting diesel vehicles will help reduce emission of particulate matter substantially.
Indian citizens have been demanding cleaner air as the World Health Organization estimates that more than 6,00,000 people die every year in the country because of diseases triggered by outdoor air pollution.
Court agreed to consider the plea for making it mandatory for all diesel cars to fit catalytic converters.
“We were only thinking in terms of imposing a cess. But why can’t we address pollution itself? Why cannot cars be modified? Let experts check, Centre examine,” the CJI said during a special Saturday hearing.
“If we find it feasible then why not? We are not shutting it out; we must consult others on it.”
The chief justice said this to senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for a car manufacturer, appealing for the lifting of a ban imposed on December 15 on the sale of diesel vehicles with engine capacity of more than 2000 cc.
The court has told automakers such as BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Skoda that it can end the prohibition only after imposing a 10 to 30 per cent green cess, based on the categories of cars.
The bench also pulled up the Centre for supporting Venugopal’s idea immediately without coming up with any such plans earlier.
This happened when the court wondered if catalytic converters can be made mandatory when there is no “legal requirement”.
When additional solicitor general Maninder Singh said legislation can be passed to enable it, the CJI shot back: “Why did you have to wait till Venugopal made this submission?”
“You have woken up from slumber after Venugopal came up with this? You want somebody to point out this? What were you doing till now? See after all, this is affecting everybody. People are dying. What are the ministry officials doing? Simply sitting in their air-conditioned offices and sipping coffee?” Thakur questioned Singh.
Venugopal said the government should put the matter before environmental panels, including one set up by the court, and assess the plan’s viability.
“There are some converter companies to begin with and once it is a success, several others will come into the field,” he said.
A signboard put up near BJP leader Vijay Goel’s residence, which highlights the failure of odd-even scheme
The Supreme Court refuses to extend deadline fixed for their conversion into less-polluting CNG mode.
The bench, also comprising Justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi, had on March 31, extended the deadline till April 30 for conversion of all diesel taxis to CNG.
Diwan made a strong and emotional plea for modification of the order saying: “We will not be able to earn our livelihood. Moreover, we have to pay the bank also.”
A senior Delhi government official said about 60,000 taxis are registered in Delhi and of them 21,000 run on diesel.
There is already a ban on diesel cabs plying on local routes here. Taxis having all India permit are required to cover around 200km which is not a violation of the existing rules.
Taxis having all India permits cannot ply from one point to other point inside Delhi, the official said.
The deadline for the change had been extended twice. The apex court had initially asked diesel cab operators in the NCR to switch over to CNG by March 1.
That deadline was later extended to March 31 and then to April 30.
The Supreme Court, however, allowed Delhi Police and Delhi Jal Board to register their new diesel-run vehicles with an engine capacity of 2000 cc and above for transportation of undertrial prisoners, arms and ammunition and supply of water.
The bench comprising asked Delhi Police to pay 30% of the real value of the vehicle to be purchased by it as Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) or green cess as a pre-condition for their registration with the transport department.
Alaska’s only residential detox facilities for opiate addiction have closed its beds, according to the Alaska State Opioid Treatment Authority.
Due to a federal regulation change, Anchorage’s 14-bed Ernie Turner Center operated by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council and Fairbanks’ 16-bed Gateway to Recovery Detox Center operated by the Fairbanks Native Association are not accepting new patients for withdrawal from opioids. Beds remain open for detox from other substances, like alcohol.
Bradley Griggs, the State Opioid Treatment Authority, said the Ernie Turner Center made the decision this week. He said the beds cannot remain closed.
“Detox is a very serious and very essential service to what we provide in the state. With the increase of opiate use throughout the state, if we have designated beds for opiate detox, it is essential that we keep those online,” Griggs said during a phone interview Friday.
Both treatment centers used a combination of the medications Tramadol and Zyprexa for opiate detox. Griggs said the protocol was to have physician assistants administer them. But according to federal regulation, only a medical doctor certified with the Drug Enforcement Administration is allowed to do that in a detox setting.
“That’s the big deal here,” Griggs said. “It really raises the cost and the protocol for our providers.”
At an average daily rate of $365, Griggs said the state provides the two facilities $3.6 million a year for detox services. That figure includes detox for opiates and alcohol.
Tramadol, a synthetic opiate-like substance, was marketed in the U.S. in 1995 as a pain medication, according to the DEA. In 2012, 3.2 million people in the U.S. 12 or older used tramadol for nonmedical purposes. In August 2014, DEA classified Tramadol as a schedule IV controlled substance.
“As the state opioid treatment authority, I’ve reached out to my colleagues in the Lower 48 and we’re hoping to gain some information from them on how they’re dealing with this — if there has been a pause in treatment services for detox, what they’re doing to minimize that pause so they can get these beds back online,” Griggs said.
He said it’s crucial to have beds available when someone facing addiction is motivated to seek treatment.
Christina Love is a recovery coach in Juneau, where there is no detox facility for opiate addiction. She refers at least two people a month to the facilities in Anchorage and Fairbanks. When somebody went to her Thursday night needing to detox, Love called both detox centers and was turned away.
“Unfortunately for the person I was working with, that window of opportunity is really small,” Love said. “If there aren’t any detox options then it’s just a matter of time before another option becomes available to them that keeps them in that life.”
Love is also a person in recovery. She went to Gateway to Recovery Detox Center for opiate and other substance abuse in 2012, and her medication involved Tramadol.
“One of the greatest barriers to recovery is the withdrawal. You feel like you want to die. Not just the physical thing, but the anxiety. You are just so mentally and emotionally broken, to be able to have any vision for your life is impossible. It’s incomprehensible demoralization,” Love said.
She described being on the floor, throwing up, defecating on herself during detox.
“You think death would be easier than this, using would be better than this. You can’t imagine how this is the better way,” Love said. “But with some of the medically assisted detoxes, the medication they provide makes it bearable.”
No one reached at Cook Inlet Tribal Council or the Ernie Turner Center was able to comment on the detox program. Director of Recovery Services Rebecca Ling did not return repeated phone calls for comment on Friday.
Gateway to Recovery Detox Center closed its opiate detox beds April 14, said Perry Ahsogeak, the Fairbanks Native Association’s behavioral health director.
He said it was during an ongoing program review when he realized the detox center, which serves people from all over the state, was not compliant with federal law.
“It was felt that until we complete this review that we should shut down our program,” Ahsogeak said on the phone Friday.
Of the 16 beds in the detox facility, only two are designated for opiate addiction. Ahsogeak said those beds are always full and the center gets multiple calls a day asking for availability. He said using Tramadol and Zyprexa to wean people off opiates was “effective.”
“It meets the needs of the people,” Ahsogeak said.
He said Gateway to Recovery Detox Center does not have any medical doctors on staff; only physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
“We’re looking at what our options are and to make sure we have all the protocols in place,” Ahsogeak said.
He said he hopes to look at reopening the beds for opiate detox by end of May.
• Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com.
Hair can be a touchy subject. It’s considered an essential part of overall identity: especially for women, that’s why many of us try our best to care for and manage it. However, while most of us know that moisture and trimming split ends are essential for hair growth and strong, healthy hair, how we style our hair could also be detrimental to its health. A new research review published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found a strong association between certain scalp-pulling hairstyles — many of which are common among black women — and gradual hair loss. Their research assigned a level of risk to a number of popular hairstyles, from straightening to tight ponytails.
Traction alopecia, a form of gradual hair loss caused by constant strain or tension, affects an estimated one-third of African-American women. Fortunately, unlike others, this form of alopecia can be easily stopped and reversed. Still, the current study’s researchers urge dermatologists to better educate themselves about hairstyles that can contribute to this condition, including tight ponytails, braids, knots and buns.
“Hair is a cornerstone of self-esteem and identity for many people, but ironically, some hairstyles meant to improve our self-confidence actually lead to hair and scalp damage,” Dr. Crystal Aguh, assistant professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a statement.
Aguh and her colleagues combed through 19 studies and found a compelling correlation between high-tension hairstyles and hair loss. The researchers then categorized hair-styling practices into low-, moderate- and high-risk styles based on the degree in which styles exposed hair follicles to tension, weight, heat and hair-altering chemicals, such as straighteners.
High-risk hairstyles include braids, dreadlocks, weaves and extensions, especially when applied to hair that has been chemically straightened. These styles are very popular among African-Americans partially because they are low-maintenance, requiring little upkeep, and they look good. Although they are aesthetically pleasing, the constant pulling of the hair in one direction could be doing its health a disservice. Serious damage can also be done by chemical straightening, which weakens the hair shaft, making it more susceptible to breakage. Tight weave or extensions — especially if they are affixed with adhesive glue directly on the scalp also increases risk for hair loss.
Moderate-risk styles include some of the same hairstyles noted to be high-risk, except they are performed on natural hair that have not been chemically straightened or processed, thus less likely to result in hair loss. This category also includes the use of wigs, and heat-related straightening products such as flat irons. Though heat-related products aren’t associated with traction alopecia per se, researchers say they can weaken hair shaft leading to “significant” hair loss when traction is applied. Meanwhile, wigs attached with clips and adhesives to keep them in place can result in breakage.
“Dermatologists need to be conscious of the fact that many high- and moderate-risk hairstyles greatly improve hair manageability, and simply telling patients to abandon them won’t work for everyone,” Aguh said. “Instead, physicians can educate themselves to speak with patients about making the best hairstyling choices to minimize preventable hair loss.”
Higher-risk, tension-creating hairstyles can create a tricky situation because these patients become even more reliant on weaves and extensions to cover spots where hair is lost. Some low-tension styles that should be considered include loose buns, loose-hanging styles, such as wearing your hair down, and styles or updos that put little friction on the hair and scalp.
Researchers also offered guidelines for dermatologists and other care providers to prevent and manage hair loss from traction alopecia, especially when dealing with African-American patients. Aguh said the first line of therapy is to loosen braids and other high-tension styles, to relieve the pressure of weight on the hair follicles permanently or periodically. They also say that braided hairstyles should not last longer than two to three months, and weaves or extensions should be removed after six to eight weeks.
Source: Haskin A. Aguh C. All Hairstyles are not Created Equal: What the Dermatologist Needs to Know About Black Hairstyling Practices and the Risk of Traction Alopecia. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2016.
If, like us, the thought of washing your hair fills you with dread (aka, you just can’t be bothered), it’s likely that you’ll love this beauty newbie as much as we do.
The miracle buy in question? Living Proof’s new Healthy Hair Dry Shampoo, £22.
What makes it so special – and more importantly – worth splashing the extra cash on? Well the sci-fi like formula for start, it’s insanely intelligent, thanks to the ‘triple-action cleaning technology’, which essentially washes your hair (without the soap and water part).
First off the spray coats strands with a totally weightless, invisible shield, then a series of powders in the formula work to absorb and dissolve dirt and oil (rather than just masking it). The invisible shield creates a slip on your hair that – unlike a regular dry shampoo – allows the powders (containing all the dirt and oil) to be totally brushed out.
All that, AND it also contains a time-released fresh fragrance that keeps hair smelling clean throughout the day.
SEE: 5 Tips To Get Your Best Hair Ever
When you first spritz the dry shampoo into roots, the spray leaves hair feeling a little stiff. But if you leave it for a minute to give the powders time to soak up the oil and dirt, then brush it out, your hair will look freshly washed, amazing right?
Whether you’ve been working out, or just can’t be bothered battling with the blow-dryer, we guarentee this dry shampoo will be your new bestie.
Posted April 29, 2016 10:31 pm
By
Question: “I have been married to a wonderful man for almost 20 years. The problem is he calls himself a collector, but our house is filled with stuff he has collected to the point it is hard to walk around. Just thinking about coming home after work causes me to feel so stressed out that I do not want to come home. I do not enjoy being at home. I have tried to talk with him about it, but he keeps saying that he needs the stuff. I keep telling him how disorganized and cluttered our house is stresses me out. What can I do or say to him to help him understand how I feel?
Answer: Unfortunately, this is a problem I see often. Your husband may not understand the effect clutter can have on the relationship not only physically, but also more important psychologically. If your home is in a state of disorder or what most people may call messy, then it is difficult to have the emotional energy to sustain healthy relationships, with not only family, but also friends. The problem with holding onto things is that the stuff becomes more important than anything else in the individual’s life. It is a real problem and the goal is not to solve the problem, but to learn how to manage the compulsion of collecting and keeping things.
The first step for your husband would be to accept the fact that he has a problem with collecting and keeping things, which has become a problem for you. Keep in mind that physical clutter not only takes up much needed space in your house but also in your mind. Clutter tends to also drain your emotional energy.
If your husband is able to accept that he has a problem, the challenge becomes what to do about it. The next step is to understand why holding onto things is more important than relationships with others. After this obstacle has been tackled, it now becomes a matter of creating a plan to manage the clutter or disorganization.
You can begin to organize and de-clutter your home by first taking a look around your home and picture in your mind what you would like your home to look like without piles of stuff laying around. Then look at ways to change and manage the way you think about stuff by using the following tips:
• Begin to change old patterns of thinking. If you don’t change your old pattern of thinking about “things,” then even if you clean out all of your clutter, you will just begin to collect stuff again because you haven’t changed how you think about those things. Thinking about your items differently can open up possibilities you hadn’t imagined. Stuff is never more important than relationships.
• Take inventory of your items. Along with working on your pattern of thinking about your stuff, you must create a plan to get rid of your stuff. These are items that take up space or collect dust such as clothes you don’t wear, old magazines or old bills that need to be filed. You must ask yourself, “Is this something that I truly love or currently functional in my life?” If your answer is no, consider getting rid of it by donating or recycling it.
• Do away with your one day thinking: “One day I may need or use this book, shirt, or even food.” This is one of the biggest road blocks to individuals who collect things. This pattern of thinking will keep you stuck and unable to clear out the clutter because it is easy to find a reason to keep something by telling yourself you will one day need it.
The best way to help your husband or an individual who you feel has a problem with keeping stuff is to realize there is a lot of shame and guilt that goes along with collecting objects. Discussing with them how these things are not only causing problems in your relationship, but also is having an effect on your emotional health. By getting rid of the clutter, your house will be much more pleasant to live in, not to mention actually enjoyable.
Michelle Aycock is a licensed psychotherapist. Her office number is 912-233-4294. Her website is http://ift.tt/1nVEuJz. Submit a family relationship question at michelle@coastaltherapist.com.
It’s week three of Ciara McDonnell’s weight loss plan. She dropped two dress sizes – and she’s loving it.
Week three is my favourite week so far. It begins with the amazing news that I have lost just over two kilos.
This is especially amazing because I have just returned for a weekend away with my mother, where I may have imbibed a tequila or two. Or three.
My friend Aoife gets in touch with me to show her support of my fat-fighting ways.
She completed a brutal body transformation a few years ago, so I pump her for advice.
She assures me that during week three or four, something will click, and I won’t want to die anymore while at the gym.
Surprisingly, she is right. This week is spent absolutely killing it in the gym.
The weird thing is, I like it.
Now that I have proved that I can do squats and lunges and not fall over, I am allowed to play with the big kid’s weight machines.
I get to bench press, which makes me feel like a proper body builder, and I achieve what was totally unattainable during weeks one and two — a squat with an Olympic bar across my shoulders weighing 20kg.
I’m training with Edward Finn, who will be opening up One Arena with Brian Drinan and Paul Coffey, owners of Perry Street Market Cafe, later this year.
It’ll be a fitness centre like no other, focused on classes and personal training, with Brian and Paul’s team on hand to create healthy lunches and smoothies while you work out.
Eddie tells me I am a boss, and to be honest, I agree.
My diet is going well.
I’m still finding the sheer amount of meat an effort (I used to eat meat once a week), so I am thrilled when Brian and Paul come up with a super delicious chickpea burger for me to try.
Even better, the whole family like them.
I am like the Mary Poppins of snacks, toting a seemingly bottomless handbag of almonds, rice cakes and tiny pots of hummus around with me for fear that I would die of starvation.
While shopping for a dress for an upcoming wedding, I discover that I have lost almost two dress sizes. The sheer joy this gives me can’t be matched.
I fizz all over the dressing room, boring the attendants with stories of my ‘journey’.
I have become THAT person, and I’m not even sorry.
I finish the week feeling full of energy.
This week has shown me glimpses of what’s to come if I keep this exercise business up.
I am starting to see definition in my arms, and my waist is back to the way it was in my 20s.
Mostly, this week has been so good because I feel happy, and it’s a new kind of happiness.
It’s the kind of happiness that I think comes from starting to feel comfortable in my own skin.
It’s a kind of happiness I want to hang on to.
See next week’s Weekend for week four of Ciara’s six-week programme.
Follow Ciara’s journey on Twitter @ciaramcdonnell3.
Push-ups are basic strength-building total body exercises that strengthen the upper body and improve the core strength.
Several muscle groups in the chest, arms, shoulder, triceps, back, and neck work simultaneously during a push-up.
Push-ups are performed in a prone position, which can help develop a good posture.
Set your hands at a distance that is slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Depending on your strength and experience, you can either do them on your toes or on your knees.
Keep your shoulder in line with your hands.
Keep your back straight, with a neutral spine.
Keeping your hips forward bend your elbows through full range of motion and push back up while keeping your core nice and tight.
Training is going brilliantly.
Not only is Ciara’s strength and fitness improving each week, we have also seen massive improvements in her posture, mobility and flexibility.
Even though l have given Ciara a corrective exercise programme for at home, l still include some of this work in our sessions.
I base our exercises around areas that we need to focus on.
I start our sessions with a warm-up routine to raise the heart rate, activate the muscles and mobilise the joints.
Depending on what we are focusing on in that session, l usually begin with compound exercises.
These are exercises that incorporate more than one muscle group at a time, and put the most stress on the body.
From here we have some specific exercises set out for that session that we cover, before l finish with some core and conditioning to the end of most session.
Each week we are looking to progress our training, how we perform the exercise, the weight we use and our level of fitness.
Ciara’s third week of training went very well.
She is making massive progression in the gym, and her nutrition is going very well, she is losing weight and inches everywhere.
She is enjoying it more and growing in confidence with each session.
To find out more, or to enquire about personal training, email edward@onearena.ie or check out his Facebook page.
Ready in minutes and full of flavour, these veggie burgers are a great way of introducing one meat-free day to the weekly menu.
400g chickpeas can, drained
Zest of 1 lime, plus juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp ground cumin
Small bunch coriander, chopped
1 egg
100g grated carrot
1 medium red onion, ½ diced, ½ sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
To Serve:
4 small whole-wheat buns
1 large tomato, sliced
½ cucumber
Chilli sauce
1. In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas, lime zest, juice, cumin, half the coriander, the egg and some seasoning.
Scrape into a bowl and mix with 80g of the grated carrot and the diced onions.
Form 4 burgers and press the remaining grated carrots onto both sides and chill for at least 10 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan until hot.
Fry the burgers for 4 minutes each
side, keeping the heat on medium so they don’t burn.
To serve, slice buns and fill with a tomato slice, a burger, a few red onion slices, cucumber slices, a dollop of chilli sauce and the remaining coriander.
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
REX/Shutterstock/Courtesy of Snapchat
Kim Kardashian, at least you could have given us a warning! The now 35-year-old mother of two revealed that she has dropped nearly all of her baby weight in record time. It makes us want to step our fitness game up too! Let Kim K’s post-baby body inspire you by shopping the same type of scale she uses to track your own progress!
It’s only been five months since Kim gave birth to her son, Saint West, but you wouldn’t know it by the way she looks. The reality queen was recently seen in Iceland for big sis Kourtney Kardashian‘s birthday sporting a black one-piece that hugged her curves in all the right places.
And in case you’re wondering, seeing is believing — Mrs. West revealed in a Snapchat pic of her standing on a scale that she weighs 139 pounds. To put that into context, Kim reportedly weighed 190 pounds before giving birth to Saint and is now just four pounds shy of how much she weighed before she was pregnant.
Her improvement got us thinking — what are we doing to get on her level? Whether it’s by walking, hitting the gym or juice dieting, make sure you track your progress by shopping Kim’s same scale brand, the Health O Meter, right here!
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Kim only uses the best of the best products, so of course the Health O Meter Digital Medical Scale, now for $29.95, is top notch! It has the ability to track your weight from before and after, plus, it can keep track of weight data for up to 4 users! We’re glad Kim decided to share her weight-loss progress with the world. It makes us want to be the best versions of ourselves!
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HollywoodLifers, are you ready to get on the level with Kim’s #bodygoals?
What in the world could Lucy, Ethel, Fred and Ricky tells us about how to achieve sustained weight loss (or about sustainability, for that matter)? It turns out that this dynamic foursome had a secret sauce. It was team power.
Big Food wants you to believe that eating/drinking smaller portions will result in weight loss. The first of this two-article series outlined the four ways eating Big Food’s “smaller portions” still adds weight. It lists three best practices for avoiding Big Food and weight gain.
This article focuses on the research around how people working together can achieve sustained weight loss. Shape Up Rhode Island conducted one such research study to determine the impacts social activity and team support have on individual weight loss success. This research found that people attempting to lose weight in a social or team environment achieved about 10 percent more weight loss. The bottom line is that weight loss success is a team sport!
“I Love Lucy” was brilliantly designed to capture our core human attributes. Lucy is the emotional/creative type that we all love being around in short bursts of fun. Ethel is a social enabler who knows better but can’t help herself from participating in Lucy’s crazy ideas because she loves her so. Fred is the analytical bystander who thinks he has it figured out and thinks it is important to explain why he was right. Ricky is a driver focused on achieving success, including building a fun-loving family with Lucy. These four characters are psychological summaries of human behavior:
Appreciating these human attributes is important because weight loss is such a very personal challenge. A secret to weight-loss success — or success in any healthy or sustainable lifestyle change — is to create your own “I Love Lucy” team. Four keys to building a successful team are:
The “I Love Lucy” weight-loss secret is in how to build a successful team. It begins with having an understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses. Are you a Lucy or a Fred? How about an Ethel or a Ricky? Once you sense who you are, then you know what type of strengths you should look for in terms of your team members.
For example, if you are a creative emotional “Lucy,” then it would be great fun, but probably disastrous in terms of weight loss, to add another Lucy. Having an Ethel and a Ricky would be more helpful. Having a Fred might give you analytical insights, but he or she would also probably stress you out. And remember, stress adds weight.
The companion question is: Where to find your teammates? With social media, there are so many options. Search the online meet-ups for weight-loss groups. Attend these to find potential friends where you can compliment their efforts while they compliment yours.
Network through your church or social organizations. Our country is in a national weight crisis. You (we) are not alone in this. I am continuously surprised at how engaged people become when I bring up a weight-loss topic. A lot of people just like you and me are concerned, are searching for insights, and would enjoy positive collaboration. Get out there and start making connections with an eye out for potential teammates.
Finally, there are professional organizations like Weight Watchers. My research suggests that many of these companies’ approaches on food selection and weight measurement are not best practices for sustained weight loss. But their use of teams and a professional coach do align with my research on proven best practices for sustained weight loss.
Many (most) human resources (HR) departments have a focus on enhancing work associate health. Selling companies weight-loss and wellness programs is a growth industry. Here are three keys in accessing programs based on their ability to achieve sustained results:
Research points to weight-loss success being a team sport. Individual weight loss is really hard. Create or join a team that can enable success. Seek professional support. Explore using the weight-loss secrets from “I Love Lucy.” I did and I lost 30 pounds while still enjoying chocolate chip cookies and living more+!
Image credit: Bill Roth
More women are opting for Silicon Balloon Implants to reduce their weight. The procedure is non-invasive and that it can show results within a span of a few months!
(Photo : Adam Swank | Flickr)
A new and unique method using silicon balloon implants is the current hot topic in weight loss circles among women. Contrary to its name, these implants actually help to trim your tummy and lose weight, by taking a toll on your appetite.
In this technique, a silicon balloon is filled with water and then implanted into the stomach. This gives an inverse sense of partial fullness while eating food, thereby reducing the person’s appetite.
Experts found that with the balloon in place, one can easily lose around 10 to 15 kilos (about 20 to 30 pounds) within a span of a few months.
With obesity on the rise and at an all-time high, this latest weight reduction technique of putting a silicon balloon into the tummy is a ray of hope to those who are keen on reducing their weight, but do not want to undergo any operations, such as the bariatric surgery – a surgical procedure that reduces the size of the stomach.
“Young girls looking to get married prefer this technique, also referred to as gastric balloon. Also, the balloons do not have to be kept inside forever. They are taken out as soon as there is significant weight reduction to avoid any side-effect.” said Ashish Bhanot, head of the Institute of Bariatric Surgery at Apollo Spectra hospitals, Delhi. On average, he performs seven to eight of these surgeries in a month.
Therefore, women prefer it over bariatric surgery as it is incision free and non-invasive.
In this procedure, by using an endoscope the silicon implants are placed in the stomach and then inflated. A typical gastric balloon can be inflated with about 350 to 400 milliliters (12 to 14 ounces) of fluids.
Further, the newer balloons even come with a cap to control the volume of fluids contained inside them. Hence, the fluid amount can be regulated just in case the person using it feels nauseous as a side effect.
The cost of this technology is between Rs 150,000 and Rs 200,000 ($2,255 to $3,007) depending on the quality of the gastric balloons used.
These surgeries are particularly helpful in cases wherein the patients are extremely obese and cannot undergo surgery.
A few patients had shown symptoms of rebound hunger, which could lead to subsequent weight gain, said Delhi-based gastroenterology expert, Abhay Singh. However, the number of such cases is supposedly extremely low.
Photo: Adam Swank | Flickr
© 2016 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With the warm weather setting in, many folks are starting to acknowledge the few (or more) pounds they put on during those winter months. Second to New Year’s Day, spring is the time when many people make a commitment to lose weight. I asked top nutrition experts from around the country to give their top weight-loss tips to help folks get back into the healthy swing of things. Here’s what they said:
[See: The 15 Best Weight-Loss Diets at a Glance.]
1. Reflect on why you are losing weight.
“Good reasons why you want to lose weight include having more energy and maximizing overall health. I have yet to have a person be successful in long-term weight loss for just a number on the scale. It must be a deeper, more meaningful reason.”
– Angela Lemond, registered dietitian and owner of Lemond Nutrition, a family nutrition practice in Plano, Texas
2. Create realistic goals.
“Before crafting your goals, look at where you are in terms of your eating habits. With summer around the corner, it can be tempting to create super lofty goals and just focus on the big picture, which can be daunting and wind up sapping motivation. Instead, build in challenging-yet-doable food goals from your starting point. Be sure to revisit and revise these goals as you move forward. If you have smaller goals that push you out of your comfort zone little by little, they’ll add up to major results by the time summer arrives.”
– Willow Jarosh, registered dietitian and coauthor of the upcoming “Healthy, Happy Pregnancy Cookbook“
3. Spring clean your pantry.
“As you do your spring cleaning, take advantage of the moment and clean up your pantry and kitchen from top to bottom. Make sure you place highly nutritious foods in the front, less nutritious foods in the back and discard any unwanted temptations.”
– Sylvia Klinger, registered dietitian and nutrition and culinary consultant for Hispanic Food Communications, Inc.
4. Leave fruit on the counter.
“Clear all the food off of your counters except for a fruit bowl. A study out of Cornell University found that people who keep fruit out weigh 13 pounds less than those without visible healthy snacks. Interestingly, those who left cereal on the counter weighed an average of 20 pounds more than those who stashed it in the cupboard. It’s hard to rely solely on willpower, especially when you get home from work at the end of a long day, so make it easier on yourself by taking willpower out of the equation.”
– Caroline Kaufman, registered dietitian and blogger at http://ift.tt/1kyFtPi
5. Get plenty of sleep.
“People who sleep less than seven hours per night tend to weigh more. The National Institutes of Health confirms that sleep deprivation leads to obesity and chronic disease. This takes some planning, but, in the end, it pays off with pounds off.”
– Pat Baird, registered dietitian, author, speaker and founder Confident Health
6. Keep track of what you eat (and drink).
“Don’t underestimate the power of a food log – it can be tedious, but it really does help. Research shows that people who record their food intake lose twice as much weight as those who don’t keep track of their food. Whether you’re writing it down, sharing it with a friend, talking to a nutritionist or using a food journal app, tracking what you eat can help keep you in check. It will also make you more aware of your choices and will usually cause you to think twice before making an unhealthy decision. Most people will cut down their calories and be smarter about what they eat when they see it in writing. Dropping pounds will usually follow.”
– Ilyse Schapiro, registered dietitian in private practice and coauthor of “Should I Scoop Out My Bagel?: And 99 Other Answers to Your Everyday Diet and Nutrition Questions to Help You Lose Weight, Feel Great, and Live Healthy”
7. Fill up on veggies.
“My best spring weight-loss tip is to eat more vegetables. I know this sounds trite, but after looking at hundreds of food journals every year from my clients, the one food group that is missing is the vegetables one! As long as they are not fried or swimming in oil and fat, they are very low in calories, provide great phytonutrients (the colors of the plants are loaded with health benefits) and contain lots of fiber.”
– Felicia D. Stoler, registered dietitian and author of “Living Skinny in Fat Genes: The Healthy Way to Lose Weight and Feel Great”
[See: 7 Reasons to Choose a Plant-Based Diet.]
8. Eat fresh.
“Visit your local farmers market to get the latest bounty of fresh produce. Benefits include cooking at home more often, which will save you money, provide health benefits and trim your waistline. You can search for your local farmers market here.”
– Angel C. Planells, owner of ACP nutrition and dietitian with the VA Puget Sound Health Care System
[See: 8 Great Farmers Markets.]
9. Make exercise a family affair.
“Now that the sunny side of the equinox has arrived and it’s daylight savings time, take advantage of the long days and go for a walk after dinner. Grab the kids and make it a family affair. Lifestyle activity like walking boosts metabolism, helps control weight and makes you feel happy.”
– Layne Lieberman, award-winning registered dietitian, culinary nutritionist and author of “Beyond the Mediterranean Diet: European Secrets of the Super-Healthy”
Supermodel, body positive icon, and generally awesome human being Ashley Graham shared some amazing news on her Instagram to jump start your weekend, and it involves nail polish. Ashley collaborated with Formula X to create three amazing nail polish shades, all of which debut today on Sephora’s website and will be available in stores next week.
There are three shades — a pastel peach, a pinkish red, and a magenta.
Related: Ashley Graham Celebrated National Lingerie Day with STUNNING #BodyPos Snaps
Ashley has created some truly beautiful shades made all the better by their fun and empowering names —36DDD, Sexy As Hell, and #beautybeyondsize. The nail polish line is part of Sephora’s #ColorCurators, a series of 10 nail polish collaborations, which will be available in limited quantities for one month only. Retailing at $12.50, they are the perfect (and affordable) weekend pick me up. Make sure you check them out before they’re gone!
NORTH ADAMS — With the region still in the throes of an epidemic of opioid addiction, a Northern Berkshire advocacy group is asking Berkshire Medical Center to open an inpatient detox center in its North Adams campus.
The North County Cares Coalition on Tuesday presented to the City Council a report containing sobering statistics about the rise of opioid addiction in the North Adams area. The report states that many of the hundreds of addicts there don’t have adequate access to a detox unit at BMC’s main campus in Pittsfield.
“Immediate action by Berkshire Health Systems to address this issue is important,” said Nykole Roach, a strategic researcher who conducted the study on behalf of the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
Supported by the MNA, the North County Cares Coalition was formed in the wake of North Adams Regional Hospital’s closure in 2014. Its members advocate for restored health care services in the Northern Berkshires.
The group’s report was released on the same day Berkshire Medical Center announced expanded substance abuse disorder services at its Pittsfield location, with longer-term treatments now available following detox.
The coalition notes that statewide efforts to combat the addiction crisis have included trying to reduce of over-prescription of opiates, as well as increasing availability to naloxone, a drug that counteracts overdoses. Locally, the report states, Berkshire Medical Center has expanded access to substance abuse care in Pittsfield and Great Barrington, and now “must take concrete steps to address opioid addiction in Northern Berkshire County with a full range of services.”
Berkshire Medical Center provides addiction services at its North Adams campus, but only on an outpatient basis. Through its Neighborhood For Health, which opened in 2015, a team of addiction specialists provides a detox program and group therapy services built for those who have recently completed detox.
The McGee Recovery Center at BMC has 21 beds available for detox, and its average patient volume per day is 17, according to Berkshire Health Systems, the hospital’s parent company.
The report found a 47 percent increase in the total number of North Adams residents seeking addiction treatment of any kind between 2005 and 2014. During that same span, the percentage of patients specifically asking for help with an opioid addiction in North Adams grew from 17 percent to 55 percent.
A study conducted in the wake of the closure of NARH, often cited by the union and coalition in their arguments for restored services, noted there is an existing need for 10 to 11 inpatient substance abuse treatment beds in the Northern Berkshires. NARH did not have inpatient substance abuse disorder services at the time of its closing.
The coalition also argues that many in North Adams lack adequate access to transportation and other support systems for treatment elsewhere.
“They should not have to struggle to get access to addiction treatment,” the report states. “[Berkshire Medical Center] must provide inpatient substance abuse treatment beds in North Adams.”
Councilor Lisa Blackmer noted that when the Southern Berkshires faced a similar epidemic more than a decade ago, various community groups came together to fight it and did not rely solely on the hospital.
“It’s an interesting report, and I appreciate it, but I think some of this other stuff is important and I think sometimes information can be skewed to what you want to present,” Blackmer said, noting that it was conducted by a group that has advocated for additional health care services at BMC in North Adams.
Mayor Richard Alcombright noted there is a prescription drug and heroin abuse task force working through the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition to address many of the same issues.
Though he recognized its importance, Alcombright noted that detox is only one step in the recovery process.
Contact Adam Shanks at 413-496-6376.
“What benefits the body benefits the brain,” says Dianna Purvis Jaffin, PhD, director of strategy and program at the Center for Brain Health’s Brain Performance Institute. “You are not a separate brain walking around on top of a body.”
Exercise revs up complex processes inside your mind that can curb depression, help you keep your cool at work, and even one day give Betty White a run for her money. Here are three brain benefits of exercise, plus a look at the science behind them from the inside out.
Squats for the booty — and the brain? Inside your head, there are about 86 billion neurons designed to bark orders to the rest of your body — all with the help of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters regulate everything from your mood and sleep cycle, to memory and appetite.What’s it to you? Studies show that low levels of two of these neurotransmitters in particular, glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), can lead to mood disorders such as depression. The good news: moderate exercise can increase these levels, according to a recent study in The Journal of Neuroscience. The result, whether you suffer from depression or not, is an increased resilience and capacity to respond to mental challenges, a concept known as “mental fitness,” explains study author Richard Maddock, MD, a research professor at UC Davis Medical Center.This study measured neurotransmitter levels in participants before and after 20 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, so Maddock says it’s not clear if lower intensity exercise would have the same effect on glutamate and GABA. But one small study suggests that GABA increases after 12 weeks of practicing yoga.Daily Burn: How Much Exercise Does It Take to Boost Brain Power?
If you’re constantly feeling overwhelmed by the stressors in your life, you might want to step up your fitness routine. Why? When you’re stressed out your brain secretes the “fight or flight” stress hormone cortisol. This is good if you’re about to get mugged on the street, but if your cortisol levels are chronically elevated, it can cause problems, says Jaffin. (Studies have linked high cortisol levels to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, memory loss and more.)
Hit the track, weights or heavy bag, though, and you expose your body to something called “controlled stress,” which helps sharpen your brain’s stress response, Jaffin says. “You turn it on when you need it and turn it off when you don’t.” Done and done.
It’s never too early to think about having a healthy brain as you age, and exercise can help by increasing your cognitive reserve. Translation: Your brain will be able to handle the deterioration that comes with age without taking its toll on your memory, says Jaffin.
Daily Burn: Inside the Brain of This 93-Year-Old Athlete“If you have more to begin with, you have more margin to suffer any aging decline without actually exhibiting cognitive impairment,” she says. “Exercise seems to be preventive in aging and cognitive decline and potentially Alzheimer’s disease as well.”Another A+ fact about exercise and the aging brain? Believe it or not, older adults who exercise actually have larger brain volumes than those who don’t, according to a 2006 University of Illinois study. After six months of aerobic training, study participants had significant increases in both gray and white matter regions of the brain compared to those who participated in non-aerobic stretching and toning activities. Gray matter includes neurons, which are the basic cells of the central nervous system, Jaffin says, and preservation of white matter is associated with improved processing speed.
Plus, the hippocampus, the brain system associated with memory and learning (and often shrinks with age), is larger in people who are active, says Jaffin. This won’t make you smarter, per se, but it will help you remember the important things the older you get. And that’s as good a reason as any to fit in a workout today!
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HUNDREDS of children got hands on experience of how to be healthy.
Chef Clover Hudson visited Shildon Civic Hall on Thursday and Spennymoor Settlement on Friday to work with more than 500 pupils from nine County Durham schools.
Her message for the young cooks was simple- eat well, understand how what you eat affects you and don’t waste food.
Councillor Brian Stephens, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships, said: “The children looked like they really enjoyed themselves.
“It was great to see them learning about healthy cooking, fruit and vegetables, and ‘good’ sugars, and that they had the opportunity to get hands on through food experiments and pizza making.
The Love Food Road Show events were part of the build up to Bishop Auckland Food Festival, which was enjoyed by thousands of people on Saturday April 23 and Sunday 24.
Cllr Stephens said: “These events were a fantastic way of inspiring children to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
The Shildon sessions received £3,000 from the neighbourhood budgets of Councillors Rob Yorke and Christine Wilson, with £3,000 for the Spennymoor day coming from Cllrs Neil Foster, Barbara Graham, Ian Geldard and Pat Lawton.
Bishop Auckland and Shildon Area Action Partnership (AAP), Spennymoor AAP and Health Express also supported the initiative.
Hollis JohnsonHeading to McDonald’s for a healthy lunch might not sound like an easy task.
But it can be.
We checked out the lunch and breakfast fare at dozens of on-the-go restaurants — from Chik-Fil-A to Wendy’s to Starbucks— to give you a simple guide to some of the healthiest items they offer.
All of the choices we picked pack less than 500 calories, are fairly low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and include 15 or more grams of protein to keep you feeling full.
Check out these sandwiches, salads, bowls and burgers for a lighter on-the-go option:
Hollis JohnsonHeading to McDonald’s for a healthy lunch might not sound like an easy task.
But it can be.
We checked out the lunch and breakfast fare at dozens of on-the-go restaurants — from Chik-Fil-A to Wendy’s to Starbucks— to give you a simple guide to some of the healthiest items they offer.
All of the choices we picked pack less than 500 calories, are fairly low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and include 15 or more grams of protein to keep you feeling full.
Check out these sandwiches, salads, bowls and burgers for a lighter on-the-go option:
The City of Longview’ Parks and Recreation Department has been awarded a $15,000 grant to support its out-of-school time healthy food access and nutritional literacy programs, according to a press release from the department.
The grant was awarded to the department in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association. It is part of a $2.5 million grant NRPA received from the Walmart Foundation to support out-of-school time programs in 80 park and recreation agencies.
The purpose of the grant is to help increase access to healthy foods and improve opportunities for physical activity in the community, according to the press release.
The department also will receive support for meals provided through USDA afterschool and summer feeding programs as well as nutritional literacy materials to support lifelong healthy habits for Longview’s youth.
The Daily News, Longview, Wash.
Briana Gee credits her family — namely, her dad — for cultivating her interest in healthy cooking.
The fit 30-year-old and UA nutritional sciences graduate recalls many a meal that she cooked for him, no matter how it tasted, that he ate and then advised her on how to make it better the next time. “My dad was my best guinea pig,” she recalls. “I always loved cooking and he hated wasting food.” To this day, her family and friends still lovingly call her “Ratatouille” after the beloved Disney film.
Gee has parlayed this culinary devotion into her company, ABLE Nutrition & Fitness, and its recent offshoot, ABLE Fresh. Through ABLE, or Achieve, Balance, Live Empowered, Gee not only offers workouts, personal training and fitness counseling to her clients, she prepares and delivers them healthy meals from her licensed, commercial kitchen for under $10 each.
“It goes so hand in hand,” recalls Gee, who launched ABLE just a few years after she graduated in 2008. “I like the idea of helping people who really wanted the information. I love the food side of it. I wanted to show that healthy food doesn’t have to be bland or boring.”
The meals, which can be customized to be gluten-, dairy- and soy-free, have gained traction among Tucson senior citizens and athletes, who want to remove the guesswork from their daily eating. Gee changes the menu on her website monthly, confirms all orders by Thursday, shops on Friday, cooks all day Saturday and delivers the fully-cooked meals on Sunday.
“I started with recipes as guidance,” said Gee, who seeks out fresh herbs, citrus, grilled meats and seasonal vegetables for her monthly menus. “Now, I’m writing my own recipes. I’m always experimenting and asking, ‘Well, how will that look on a plate? I’m never going to cook something that is not going to have great taste.”
Why are your meals fully-cooked?
I make them so you don’t have to prepare them. You would just heat it up like a TV dinner, in the microwave. There are many services out there that provide you the ingredients, but you still have to cook and you still have to clean up. Mine are ready to go, and the thinking part is done for you. I also include “use by” or “freeze by” instructions.
How do you work with your clients with allergies?
I will meet with them and find out what their goals are. Everything can be individualized. With my nutrition background as well, I do all the nutritional analysis for them.
What is your current go-to ingredient?
I really like cilantro. I always try to include it in a lot of the meals. It’s fresh and visually appealing.
With your busy schedule, what do you cook for yourself?
I keep it simple. I love breakfast for dinner. Having an omelet with whatever leftover protein I have and some vegetables. Five to 10 minutes and you are done.
What is your vision for ABLE Fresh?
It’s my passion and it has been great to turn what I love to do into a career. I would love to have a storefront one day, a quick stop for people to pick up a healthy meal that’s ready to go.
Access to healthy food should be a right, not a privilege. But in a lot of towns across America, there isn’t a Whole Foods for hundreds of miles. And while a lot of families rely on fast food drive-throughs and frozen dinners for sustenance, one startup aims to bring healthiness to everyone’s table, no matter the zip code.
Wholeshare is a group-purchasing platform that aggregates orders from people within a community into one group order. By shopping together as a group, Wholeshare users are able to skip the grocery store and buy directly from wholesale food suppliers. They allow communities everywhere to access the same selection of healthy products as a natural food chain while 20 to 50 perent on their orders.
We talked to Wholshare founder Matt Hatoun, who shared with us the inspiration for the company, his goals for the wholesale healthy food company and where they are headed in future months.
Hatoun: “My two co-founders, Peter and Miriam, and I were inspired to start Wholeshare after being involved with a buying club in Providence, RI. Buying clubs are an easy way for communities to pool their purchasing power, allowing them to bypass grocery stores and buy directly from wholesale food distributors. We were all amazed at how great the buying club model worked – it enabled our community to take an active role in our food supply chain and get access to healthy, sustainable food at wholesale prices.
We’re really passionate about the food space and wanted to do something to facilitate local and regional distribution. We started Wholeshare as a way to bring that same buying club model to other communities that also want to improve their food access without paying the markups of large natural food chains.”
Hatoun: “Wholeshare’s goal is to help communities everywhere get access to the same organic and sustainable food that you would find at a large natural food chain. Most natural food chains are extremely restricted in terms of where they can operate. Whole Foods, for example, only covers 15 percent of the US population. That leaves huge areas of the country without access to healthy and natural food.
We’re enabling consumers to tap directly into the existing wholesale delivery infrastructure. That means the community can decide what food gets delivered to them. And because we’re actually shortening the supply chain, we’re able to bring healthy food to those communities at wholesale prices.”
Hatoun: “A few months ago, we launched a partnership with the largest natural food distributor in the country. That partnership has allowed us to offer 20,000 healthy and organic products at 20 to 30 percent less than Amazon. Right now we’re focused on getting the word out about that new catalog and on finding new communities that are interested in improving their healthy food access. In 6 months, we’ll raise our series A to build on our national growth.
Hatoun: “I’m inspired by many of the communities and small natural food stores that use Wholeshare throughout the country. They’re an extremely important part of our food system as they give consumers a way to take more control over their food supply chain. One in particular is Beacon Food, a volunteer-run group coordinated by local food activists, parents, and chefs in Beacon, NY. The group has grown to nearly 700 members and they operate their bustling group out of a local bakery. It’s great to see a group of excited, young people working together to improve natural food access for the whole community.”
Photo: Flickr / Vinoth Chandar
People crave fatty and sugary foods when they are bored. That is the conclusion of research being presented at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society this week by Dr Sandi Mann from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Dr Mann and her fellow authors, Faye Ibbitson and Ben Edwards, also from UCLan, conducted two studies of boredom and food choices.
In the first study the researchers asked 52 participants to complete a questionnaire on their food preferences before and after completing the boredom-inducing task of repeatedly copying the same group of letters.
In the second study they asked 45 participants to watch either a boring or a funny video, during which a range of healthy and unhealthy snacks were available. The bowls were weighed before and after each trial to how much of each snack had been eaten.
The results from the first study showed people were more likely to express a preference for unhealthy foods like crisps, sweets and fast food after completing the boring task.
The results from the second study showed that the participants who had watched the boring video ate significantly more unhealthy food.
Dr Mann said: “These results are in line with previous research suggesting that we crave fatty and sugary foods when we are bored. This strengthens the theory that boredom is related to low levels of the stimulating brain chemical dopamine and that people try to boost this by eating fat and sugar if they cannot alleviate their boredom in some other way.
“People designing health education campaigns to encourage us to make healthier food choices need to take boredom, including boredom in the workplace, into account. Bored people do not eat nuts.”
FAMILY FEATURES — The brain is the body’s most complex organ. It’s also the most important one. That’s why keeping it healthy is critical, especially as you age. Every day, scientists are discovering how closely our minds and bodies are connected. As it turns out, the things that you do to keep your body and heart healthy may also be good for your brain.
Incorporate these eight healthy habits and activities into your daily life to help you optimize brain health and stay sharp in the years ahead.
Get moving
Physical activity is good for your health at every age. Studies show being active is associated with a lower risk of brain issues. Whether it’s nightly walks, playing with the grandkids or taking your favorite yoga class, find an activity that meets your needs and gets your heart pumping for at least 30 minutes every day.
Eat to thrive
The antioxidants in nutrient-dense foods like berries, broccoli and legumes, including some fats such as olive oil, may lower some risks to your brain. Try eating a healthy, low-fat, low-cholesterol diet with lots of vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains such as oatmeal and brown rice.
Know your blood pressure
High blood pressure can have serious effects on your brain health. If your blood pressure is high, get it under control. It may help reduce some risks to your brain.
Drink moderately
How the body handles alcohol can change with age. Some older adults can feel “high” without increasing the amount of alcohol they drink. This can make them more likely to become confused or have accidents. So limit the amount of alcohol you drink – or don’t drink it at all.
Get a good night’s sleep
Poor sleep, or inadequate sleep, due to issues such as insomnia or sleep apnea, doesn’t just leave you feeling tired. It can have serious physical effects and can impact memory and thinking, too. Get comfy and go to bed. Seven to eight hours is a good night’s rest.
Discover a new talent
When you learn new things, you engage your brain. Try something you haven’t done before – learning French, ballroom dancing or carpentry, for example. Challenging your brain on a regular basis is fun and beneficial.
Stay connected
Science has shown that regular engagement in social activities can help reduce some risks to your brain. Stay connected and invite family or friends over for a healthy meal, go on a hike together or just hang out.
Talk to your doctor
As you age, some changes in brain function, including short-term memory, happen more frequently than when you were younger. If you have questions or are concerned, ask your doctor at your next appointment.
For more tips on keeping your brain healthy and thriving, visit BrainHealth.gov.
Source: Administration for Community Living
