Tag Archives: stress

5 Reasons Cycling is Better than Driving

by RefugioLovegrov Posted on May 13, 2019

May is National Bike Month. What better time to dust off your trusty bicycle and get some fresh air. Why? Because it’s fun, healthy and way better than driving.

Established in 1956, National Bike Month is an opportunity to pay homage to something that makes us all feel like a kid again: the humble push bike.

Cycling is Way Better than Driving

If you’re like most folks, the only thing you have to lose are the extra pounds you accumulated this past winter. Besides, with all the ways cycling trumps driving, why wouldn’t you want to trade in your sedan for a shiny new bicycle?

1. It Beats Sitting in Traffic

Traffic. If you drive a car and have a job, there’s no avoiding it. When you cycle to work you get to enjoy the fresh air and scenery while whizzing past the people sitting in the cars. People assume driving is faster, but think about it: when last did you see a gridlock in the bike lane?

2. It’s Much Cheaper

Between gas, parking, maintenance, toll fees, etc., car ownership is a costly business. When you ride a bike you have to pay for the bike, that’s it. Sure, it will require the occasional service or some new brake pads every now and then, but it’s nothing compared to what you have to shell out for a car.

3. You Meet More People

In a car, you’re ensconced in your metal bubble. You might listen to the radio or a podcast, but aside from that you’re not really engaging in anything but the task at hand. (Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong.)

On a bicycle, there’s more of an opportunity to smile, say hi and maybe even enjoy a brief chat with a fellow cyclist or pedestrian.?Even if you drive with your window down, you’re not going to start a conversation with the person in the next lane. That would just be weird.

4. It’s Better for the Planet

Cars have a big impact on the environment. Bicycles, on the other hand, could help save the planet. That’s what the IPCC claims in their report on the impact of global warming, anyway.

A smaller carbon footprint is only part of it. According to Viewchange.org, “A simple bicycle can mean transportation, employment, even access to education and healthcare.”

5. It Makes You Healthier and Happier

This one’s a no-brainer. Whether or not sitting is the new smoking, we know it’s not good to sit for extended periods of time. Using a standing desk is a great idea. You know what’s even better? Riding your bike to work.

Cycling brings with it numerous health benefits. It promotes weight loss, improves your mental wellbeing, builds muscles, helps you sleep better and?makes you happier.

Riding a bike also?increases longevity. Maybe not as much as racquet sports, like tennis and baddington, but enough to make a difference.

What to Do During National Bike Month

Celebrating National Bike Month could be as simple as riding your bike. If you’re in the mood, why not rally your workmates and take part in National Bike to Work Week (May 13-19) as a team?

If the whole week is a stretch, you could always take part in Bike to Work Day, which takes place on Friday, May 17. There’s also the option to plan your own event with your friends or local bike club.

The World Needs More Bike-Friendly Cities

Not everyone is fortunate enough to live in one of America’s bike-friendly cities. Fortunately, there are?a number of?things you can do to build a bike-friendly community in your own neighborhood.

The first step is to do a?quick assessment to see what’s preventing people from cycling (or cycling more) in your community. The Bicycle Friendly America program will then provide you with customized feedback to help you move forward.

We spend so much time sitting in our cars that we’ve forgotten there are other ways to get around. Why not make May the month you drive less and peddle more?

In case you’re wondering, you’re never too old to get back on your bike. This 105-year-old man recently broke the cycling hour record for centurions.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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5 Reasons Cycling is Better than Driving

Posted in alo, bigo, Casio, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Smith's, Uncategorized | Tagged america, Better, Casio, cycling, friendly, national, people, riding, stress | Comments Off

Why a Walk in the Woods is Vital for Your Health: The Science Behind Forest Bathing

by Errol5393y Posted on May 25, 2017

Forest bathing is a concept originally developed in Japan in the 1980s. Its called shinrin-yoku in Japanese, which means taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing.

Its as simple as it sounds. Forest bathing involves relaxing in a forest or other natural area, often taking a slow walk while observing the environment around you. It has become such a respected practice in Japan and Korea that forest therapy is now covered under their medical insurance systems.

The healing power of nature has been known for millennia, but modern science is just discovering the importance of this ancient knowledge.

The Health Benefits of Forest Bathing

1. Lowers Stress

A Japanese study looked at the physiological effects of forest bathing. They found it promotes lower levels of stress hormones, lower pulse rate and blood pressure, as well as improved nervous system function.

In addition, these benefits were found after participants went forest bathing only once. They walked in a forest for about 15 minutes, then simply viewed it for another 15 minutes.

2. Improves Memory

One Stanford University study had participants do a memory test before and after either a nature walk or a walk in an urban area. Those who walked in nature improved their performance on the second memory test. Whereas, the urban walkers had no improvement.

3. Increases Vitality

Vitality means having physical and mental energy. When you feel vital, you experience a sense of enthusiasm, aliveness and energy.

Through a series of studies, a research group looked at the effect of nature on vitality. They found that walking outdoors increases your vitality, and it was not from the exercise or social interactions. It appeared to be the presence of nature that strengthened peoples sense of aliveness. Interestingly, viewing pictures of nature also had a positive effect.

Researchers concluded its important to spend at least 20 minutes each day interacting with nature to feel more energized.

4. Enhances Mental Wellness

A 2015 study found that forest bathing reduces repetitive, negative thoughts, which are a known risk factor for mental illness such as depression. Participants also had reduced activity in an area of the brain linked to mental illness.

Researchers pointed out that currently 50 percent of people live in urban areas. This is estimated to rise to 70 percent by 2050. Urbanization is also linked to higher levels of mental illness. They felt that access to natural areas may be vital for mental health in our rapidly urbanizing world.

5. Boosts Immune Function

Forest bathing is shown to increase the activity of natural killer cells and anti-cancer proteins. Both of these compounds are important parts of your immune system. They actively target and destroy dangerous cells in your body, such as virus-infected cells or tumor cells.

Tips on Getting the Most Out of Forest Bathing

Forest bathing is about experiencing a natural space, not getting somewhere or achieving a goal. Low-impact ways of observing your surroundings work best, such as walking or simply sitting and touching the ground or plants around you.

More vigorous activities, like running or cycling, can also be beneficial when done in nature. Although, it is difficult to fully immerse yourself in a natural setting when youre moving through it quickly.

Exposure to any form of nature is shown to have health benefits. If you cant easily get to a forested area, going to a local park, your back yard, a river, or even a secluded beach are all great options.

Try one of these exercises next time youre out in nature:

Whether youre walking, sitting or standing, pay attention to the bottom of your feet. If your mind starts to drift towards a project you need to finish or other stressful thoughts, bring it back to the bottom of your feet.
Take in your surroundings with all your senses. Listen for birds and insects, smell the soil, touch the bark of a tree.
Pick up a rock and see whats underneath it.
Bring a field guide book with you to learn more about the plants and animals you see.
Choose a short nature trail or a garden path you know well. Challenge yourself to walk through it as slowly as possible.
At the beginning of your forest bathing session, take a moment to notice how you feel. Then, check in with yourself again at the end of the session. Is there a difference?

The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy offers a certification program on becoming a forest guide. Their video is a great overview of forest bathing fundamentals.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Why a Walk in the Woods is Vital for Your Health: The Science Behind Forest Bathing

Posted in FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Uncategorized | Tagged eco-friendly tips, health, mental, nature, Ona, pur, self-help, shinrin-yoku, stress, Vitality | Comments Off

5 Reasons to Kick Factory Farmed Meats Off Your Plate

by HungHolub80 Posted on October 8, 2016

These days, just about everything is mass-produced, including our food, with large, factory-style farms churning out a seemingly endless supply ofmeat, chickens,eggsanddairy products. All that mass production equals abundance and lower prices, but if those factory-farmed products are eroding your health, is the savings really worth it? Not in my book. Heres whats really going on with mass-produced meats and why you should steer clear:

1. Factory-farmed animals eat crap. Literally.

To keep production costs low, animals raised in factory farms are fed the cheapest possible grains and feeds containing among other things, by-product feedstuff, which begs the question, whats feedstuff? Its a nausea-inducing assortment of disturbing ingredients, including municipal garbage, stale cookies, poultry manure, chicken feathers, bubble gum and even restaurant waste. So, when you eat factory-farmed animals, youre also getting an unintentional serving of feedstuff.

In short, their bad diet becomes your bad diet which is counter-productive to your health.

2. Bad diets make for sick animals and people too.

Cud-chewing critters such as cattle, dairy cows, goats, bison and sheep were designed to eat fibrous grasses, plants, and shrubsnot starchy, low-fiber grains and feedstuffs. When these animals are switched from pasture greenery to grains, many wind up suffering from a number of disorders and painful conditions. The sickened animals are then given chemical additives, plus constant, low-level doses of antibiotics.

Their drugs in turn enter your system when you eat antibiotic-treated animals, settingthe stage for drug-resistance in your body, particularly if youre a heavy-duty carnivore.

3. Lousy ingredients wont create a nutritious product.

It should come as no surprise that animals fed a crappy diet will make for a less nutritious meal. Compared to grass-fed, factory-farmed, grain-fed meats have less vitamin E, beta-carotene, and little of the two health-promoting fats called omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA.

So whats the end-result of the feed-em-fast-and-cheap factory farmed method? Inferior food with negligible nutrients and more of the unhealthy fats. Small wonder the stuff is so much cheaper than grass-fed.

4. Stress hurts everyone.

If your goal is to sustain wellness, factory-farmed products just dont deliver thenutritionalgoods. In factory farms, chickens, turkeys, and pigs are typically raised in inhumane conditions, tightly packed into cages and pens, unable to practice normal behaviors, such as rooting, grazing, and roosting.

In these conditions, the animals get stressed and wind up producing products that are lower in a number of key vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids talk about empty calories!

5. Factory farming pollutes the earth.

In a conventional feedlot operation, for example, confined cattle deposit large amounts of manure in a small amount of space. The manure must be collected and removed. As it costs money to haul it away, the manure is often dumped nearby, close to the feedlot. As a result, the surrounding soil gets over-saturated with the stuff, resulting in ground and water pollution. But when animals are raised on pasture, their manure is a welcome source of organic fertilizer, not a waste management problem.

Bottom line: raising animals on pasture is kinder to the environment.

In short, though factory farming enables us to have plenty of cheap and convenient food, its food with little nutritional benefit, that can increase your resistance to antibiotics as it pollutes your air, land and water. With so little going for it, doesnt it seem slightly crazy to eat factory-farmed meats? It certainly does to me which is why I strongly suggest that if youre going to eat meat, buy the good stuff, even if it means having to pay a bit more or buy less of it. Choose grass-fed beef, lamb, bison and poultry, to insure that youre eating nutritious and healthy meats, as nature intended.

This article originally appeared onDrFrankLipman.com, and reposted with permission from Naturally Savvy.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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5 Reasons to Kick Factory Farmed Meats Off Your Plate

Posted in alo, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, Omega, ONA, organic, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized | Tagged animals, body, book, environment, Everyone, factory-farmed, food, health, literally, Manure, radius, stress | Comments Off

5 Tips For Spending Less Time on Social Media

by Anastasia5969 Posted on September 10, 2016

Social media has changed the world in a lot of positive ways. While many of us like to bemoan social media mainly for the fact that its causing us to communicate differently, theres no proof that its actually makingour connections any worse. In fact, surveys have shown that we actually report feeling more connected now than we did in the past, as our friends are only a status or photo posting away.

However, there are some drawbacks. While social media can make it easier for us to connect, thats not always a good thing. Many people suffer from stress associated with constant connectivity, especially those who utilize social media for work purposes. Social media can also facilitate bullying and have the effect of comparing ourselvesto others.

A lot of people have expressed a desire to disconnect a little bit from social media. Tuning down your use of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and the like doesnt have to mean getting rid of these networks entirely. Sometimes, for our own sanity, its best to give ourselves more time to really be alone with our thoughts. If youre interested in spending less time on social media, here are a few tips to help you do it.

Track the Amount of Time You SpendAlready

The first step toward dialing down your social media use is tracking the amount of time you spend on social networking sites. Add up every little moment you spend checking Facebook on your phone or answering a direct messageyoull quickly see that these things add up. Once youre aware of how much time youre spending online (and how youre spending it) you may be more inspired to cut back a little. And most importantly, youll know exactly where those cutbacks need to take place (been spending too much time reading political articles shared on Facebook, perhaps?).

Increase Efficiency

This tip wont work for everyone, but if youre the kind of person who likes to post your status to multiple accounts (say, Twitter and Facebook), use an app like Hootsuite, Buffer or TweetDeck to make your posting more efficient. If youre OK with posting the same status to all your social media accounts, you can simply type it in once and post it to all of your accounts instantaneously, dramatically cutting down on the amount of times you need to open various apps and type in your content.

Delete Social Apps From Your Phone

If youre serious about cutting down your social media time, make it easier on yourself by deleting the apps from your phone. This way, youll only be able to use social media exactly when you intend towhen you sit down at your computer for exactly that purpose. No more intermittently checking Facebook while youre waiting in line at the grocery store.

Respond to Messages With a Phone Call

When friends send you direct messages or Facebook chats, get in the habit of giving them a phone call in response. This way, your conversation is likely to be a lot lengthier and deeper, and youll be able to hear more about what theyve been up to and whats going on in their lives. As a bonus, youll be spending that much less time on the social app itself.

Turn Off Notifications

Its hard to resist opening your Twitter app when theres a little red bubble telling you that someone has responded to your tweet. Turn off notifications on your phone so that you arent constantly checking the app to see whats up. Youll get all the information about whos responded when you open the app later on.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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5 Tips For Spending Less Time on Social Media

Posted in alo, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Smith's, Uncategorized | Tagged facebook, life, make-it-easier, mental wellness, Ona, person, relationships, stress, world | Comments Off

Studies Show: Marijuana Does Not Make You Stupid

by ukiczp43 Posted on February 22, 2016

We’ve all seen those old Public Service Announcements on the dangers of marijuana: poor decision making, laziness, stupidity general uselessness. Further stoking this ideology, stoner stereotypes in film and television show us drooling teens and college studentslaughing over nothing, stringing together incoherent lines of thought and binge eating very, uhm, interesting food choices.

However, not one but two new studies have furthersmokedthe notion that smoking pot makes you dumb. One Journal of Psychopharmacology study focused on a large group of British teenagerswhile the other, perhaps more interesting, focused on the cognitive function in sets of identical twins one using marijuana, and one drug-free. Twin studies tend to be more reliable as they focus on subjects with identical genetic makeup, offering up more conclusive results.

While methods differed, results in both studies were the same: Marijuana use has no impact on overall levels of intelligence.

While marijuana fans can use these findings as an excuse for a celebratory toke, it’s important to note that this has been an ongoing discussion, and that these findings are not ground-breaking.

A study published in 2011 led by Robert Tait at the Australian National Universitylooked at the long-term cognitive effects of marijuana use in 2,000 subjects between the ages of 20 and 24. The scientists followed participants for 8 years, at the end of which they concluded weed consumption had no concrete measurable impact on cognitive performance.

A similar 2014 University College of London study showed that marijuana use does not impact your IQ. However, while the London study showed no ill impact on overall smarts, it concluded that marijuana use can affect your ability to actively learn; Scientists in that study found a 3 percent drop in test scores on school exams taken at the age of 16 among the test group. (Interestingly enough, the study also noted that alcohol usenot marijuanawill indeed impact your overall levels of intelligence.) However, way back in 2001 Harvard researchersnoted that learning impairments among marijuana users diminish within 28 days of smoking cessation.

So if it doesn’t make you dumb, what does it do? Aside from medical treatment for ailmentslike glaucoma, epilepsy, anxiety and more,the plant has been shown to improve creativity, relieve stress and promote alternative ways of thinking you can thank weed for that aha! moment.

It’s important to note that weed isn’t merely for teenaged stoners. The age range of cannabis users is as vast as the reason they use, and the country-wide consumption of the plant impacts everything from politicsto the housing industry.

While you don’t necessarily need to smoke the plant to feel its benefits (apparently you can juice it, too), news of cannabis’ non-effect on intelligence has many fans lighting up.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Studies Show: Marijuana Does Not Make You Stupid