Need some inspiration? I loved this presentation!! Give it a try!
LosAngeles/CreativeMornings - Sharon Ann Lee from LosAngeles/CreativeMornings on Vimeo.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Collaberative Consumption
Hi, all! I know it's been forever since I've posted here!! I've been super busy writing for Borgess Athletic Performance and still keeping up on the Eating Coach blog. Not as much time for reading wonderful things (or at least the non-athletic/fitness related wonderful things). But...today's a brand new day and I just found a great video to get you thinking about how you interact with the world -- or more to the point, how you could interact with the world.
I found this at the Good Gym website and they are featured in the first part of the video -- they are fantastic! and if you're looking for an exercise model that makes you feel great about taking time for your health, this might be just what you need. I hope you find this as inspiring as I did!!
Collaborative Consumption from NESTA UK on Vimeo.
I found this at the Good Gym website and they are featured in the first part of the video -- they are fantastic! and if you're looking for an exercise model that makes you feel great about taking time for your health, this might be just what you need. I hope you find this as inspiring as I did!!
Collaborative Consumption from NESTA UK on Vimeo.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Laughter has similar health benefits to aerobic exercise and statin use!!!!
How cool is this! From the Scope blog at Stanford University:
How laughter, anger may influence heart health
Lia Steakley on August 29th, 2011 1 Comment
Anger and the inability to manage stress can harm your heart, while laughter can be an effective stress-reliever and improve cardiovascular function, according to a pair of studies presented yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting.
In the first study, Italian researchers recruited 228 survivors of an acute myocardial infarction, 200 of whom were men, conducted psychological evaluations of individuals and followed them for 10 years to evaluate how negative emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety might affect prognosis in cardiology. During this time, researchers recorded 51 cardiac events. According to an ESC release:
To understand which factors were able to predict these events the authors used a statistical analysis known as the Cox model. Examining factors such as the age of patient, gender, psychological variables, clinical data (traditional risk factors, peak cardiac necrosis enzymes, left ventricular wall motion score index and heart rate variability), the results show that the only factors able to predict cardiac events in patients are the Anger and Stress-related disturbances, with a relative risk of 2.30 and 1.90 respectively. Patients who had reported a high score on the Anger scale had a higher risk of experiencing a new event, 2.30 times superior in comparison with those who had reported a low score on the same scale.
These study results were particularly interesting in light of additional findings presented at the ESC meeting by University of Maryland researcher Michael Miller, MD, who has been exploring the role of laughter and humor in reducing the risk of heart disease for the past decade.
Miller’s early work suggested mental stress caused blood vessels to constrict so he decided to examine if positive emotions, such as laughter, had the opposite effect. In his latest study, participants were instructed to watch either a comedy or intense drama and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films. According to an ESC release:
When study volunteers watched the stressful movie, their blood vessel lining developed a potentially unhealthy response called vasoconstriction, reducing blood flow. This finding confirms previous studies, which suggested there was a link between mental stress and the narrowing of blood vessels. However, after watching the funny movie, the blood vessel lining expanded.
Overall, more than 300 measurements were made with a 30-50% difference in blood vessel diameter between the laughter (blood vessel expansion) and mental stress (blood vessel constriction) phases. “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise or statin use” says Dr. Miller.
How laughter, anger may influence heart health
Lia Steakley on August 29th, 2011 1 Comment
Anger and the inability to manage stress can harm your heart, while laughter can be an effective stress-reliever and improve cardiovascular function, according to a pair of studies presented yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting.
In the first study, Italian researchers recruited 228 survivors of an acute myocardial infarction, 200 of whom were men, conducted psychological evaluations of individuals and followed them for 10 years to evaluate how negative emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety might affect prognosis in cardiology. During this time, researchers recorded 51 cardiac events. According to an ESC release:
To understand which factors were able to predict these events the authors used a statistical analysis known as the Cox model. Examining factors such as the age of patient, gender, psychological variables, clinical data (traditional risk factors, peak cardiac necrosis enzymes, left ventricular wall motion score index and heart rate variability), the results show that the only factors able to predict cardiac events in patients are the Anger and Stress-related disturbances, with a relative risk of 2.30 and 1.90 respectively. Patients who had reported a high score on the Anger scale had a higher risk of experiencing a new event, 2.30 times superior in comparison with those who had reported a low score on the same scale.
These study results were particularly interesting in light of additional findings presented at the ESC meeting by University of Maryland researcher Michael Miller, MD, who has been exploring the role of laughter and humor in reducing the risk of heart disease for the past decade.
Miller’s early work suggested mental stress caused blood vessels to constrict so he decided to examine if positive emotions, such as laughter, had the opposite effect. In his latest study, participants were instructed to watch either a comedy or intense drama and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films. According to an ESC release:
When study volunteers watched the stressful movie, their blood vessel lining developed a potentially unhealthy response called vasoconstriction, reducing blood flow. This finding confirms previous studies, which suggested there was a link between mental stress and the narrowing of blood vessels. However, after watching the funny movie, the blood vessel lining expanded.
Overall, more than 300 measurements were made with a 30-50% difference in blood vessel diameter between the laughter (blood vessel expansion) and mental stress (blood vessel constriction) phases. “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise or statin use” says Dr. Miller.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Can practicing yoga help women suffering from Fibromyalgia?
Good news! A new study published in the Journal of Pain Research suggests it can! Thanks to the Scope blog for passing along the following news:
Women suffering from fibromyalgia may find some welcome relief in yoga. A new study from York University in Toronto shows that practicing yoga boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol, helping ease some of the symptoms, which include pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and depression. Low cortisol has been tied to fibromyalgia, and this study is the first to look at the effect of yoga on levels of this hormone.
For the study, which appears in the Journal of Pain Research, the researchers followed a group of women who practiced 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice a week. After eight weeks, saliva samples revealed elevated levels of cortisol. Women also reported significant reductions in both physical and psychological symptoms. Kathryn Curtis, the study’s lead author, explains more in a release:
“We saw their levels of mindfulness increase – they were better able to detach from their psychological experience of pain,” Curtis says. Mindfulness is a form of active mental awareness rooted in Buddhist traditions; it is achieved by paying total attention to the present moment with a non-judgmental awareness of inner and outer experiences.
“Yoga promotes this concept – that we are not our bodies, our experiences, or our pain. This is extremely useful in the management of pain,” she says. “Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that psychological changes in turn affect our experience of physical pain.”
Women suffering from fibromyalgia may find some welcome relief in yoga. A new study from York University in Toronto shows that practicing yoga boosts levels of the stress hormone cortisol, helping ease some of the symptoms, which include pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and depression. Low cortisol has been tied to fibromyalgia, and this study is the first to look at the effect of yoga on levels of this hormone.
For the study, which appears in the Journal of Pain Research, the researchers followed a group of women who practiced 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice a week. After eight weeks, saliva samples revealed elevated levels of cortisol. Women also reported significant reductions in both physical and psychological symptoms. Kathryn Curtis, the study’s lead author, explains more in a release:
“We saw their levels of mindfulness increase – they were better able to detach from their psychological experience of pain,” Curtis says. Mindfulness is a form of active mental awareness rooted in Buddhist traditions; it is achieved by paying total attention to the present moment with a non-judgmental awareness of inner and outer experiences.
“Yoga promotes this concept – that we are not our bodies, our experiences, or our pain. This is extremely useful in the management of pain,” she says. “Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that psychological changes in turn affect our experience of physical pain.”
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Two important things parents can do to change the childhood obesity epidemic
The following is a repost from Stanford School of Medicine's Scope blog:
Following a controversial commentary published last week in the Journal of American Medical Association, the ever-growing childhood obesity epidemic is once again the subject of many headlines and roundtable discussions. Today, as a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Stanford pediatrician Thomas Robinson, MD, MPH, took on the issue and responded to listeners’ calls and e-mails. Many parents, he said, don’t know how to solve their child’s weight problems – and some don’t know how to identify if their child needs help in the first place.
Robinson, who runs the Center for Healthy Weight at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and serves on the Institute of Medicine’s standing committee on childhood obesity prevention, says the most important thing for parents is to set a good example, and he offered up two simple suggestions: Turn off the TV and don’t bring foods you don’t want your children eating into the home. “If you know that they shouldn’t be drinking sodas all the time… then you shouldn’t have them in your home,” Robinson said.
Following a controversial commentary published last week in the Journal of American Medical Association, the ever-growing childhood obesity epidemic is once again the subject of many headlines and roundtable discussions. Today, as a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, Stanford pediatrician Thomas Robinson, MD, MPH, took on the issue and responded to listeners’ calls and e-mails. Many parents, he said, don’t know how to solve their child’s weight problems – and some don’t know how to identify if their child needs help in the first place.
Robinson, who runs the Center for Healthy Weight at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and serves on the Institute of Medicine’s standing committee on childhood obesity prevention, says the most important thing for parents is to set a good example, and he offered up two simple suggestions: Turn off the TV and don’t bring foods you don’t want your children eating into the home. “If you know that they shouldn’t be drinking sodas all the time… then you shouldn’t have them in your home,” Robinson said.
A great post written by a girl recovering from an Eating Disorder
Kids in your life? Read this!! Eating disorders aren't always about body size or body image -- sometimes it's about feeling like life is out of control. Here's a great post written by a girl recovering from an Eating Disorder.
“What I wish parents knew about eating disorders…” by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on July 20, 2011
“What I wish parents knew about eating disorders…” by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on July 20, 2011
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