Walking to school helps...if you're a girl

As most of you know one of the things that I have decided to do is walk to school. The good thing about this is that it helps me wake up before I get to school, it gives me time to think about and mentally prepare for my and now according to studies it may even make me do better on tests. Sounds silly right, well it just might not be as silly as you may think it to be.

I scanned the news and saw an article entitled, Girls who walk, bike to school do better in tests: Spanish study shows that the longer the commute the higher the scores. This article was found on msnbc. com. So basically the study talks about how girls do better on exams when they have more than a 15 minute commute to school. They however found no significance in boys. The reason for this is unsure, but there are a couple of theories. One would be that boys may get more exercise overall throughout the day so this morning walk would not really make a difference. The second theory is that it may just be a difference in boys and girls brains. The theory has to do with neurological stimulants being different in the female brain and the male brain. The problem with this is that these two things are just theories so the answer to what the difference is between boys and girls in this aspect has yet to be found.

Wondering if it were just a difference between boys and girls in Spain a very similar study was done in Sweden, where they found the very same results. There was a difference in up to four points in girls who walked or biked to school, but still no difference for boys. The other thing that was found was that the longer the commute to school the better the female child did on the test.

So this is just something else that Europeans have going for them. If this be so overseas it should be so in the United States...right? Well yes and no. The fact is that not all commutes are equal. In Europe the child will have a much more stimulating walk by walking through town and passing shops and cafes. A typical suburb here in the States is not going to do much to stimulate us. We will end up walking by cookie cutter type houses. Also safety plays a factor. As we all know not all neighborhoods are good ones to be walked through and if their is high traffic then that would also not be beneficial. One of the plus sides to this study is that the female student has time to think about her day and if she is worried for her life she obviously is going to be thinking about more important things than her exam.

I was intrigued after I read this article for many reasons. But the biggest thing that it told me was that it was yet again another great reason for me to walk to school. I have about a 20 to 30 minute walk from my apartment to my college, I walk past a museum with cafe tables and chairs, dorms and a lot of really pretty landscaping because one thing that OU doesn't skimp on is that. I have all the right ingredients to be a good candidate for doing better on my tests or whatever at school. I'm a female and I have a good long commute. Graduate school is not the easiest thing I've ever done by any means so if it talks a little walk to put some pep in my step and an increase in my grades them of course I'm down. If you are able to walk to school I suggest you give it a try too.

My Life's Biggest Project: Addiction Awareness

My Life's Biggest Project: Addiction Awareness: "Yesterday after my post I was waiting on my friend Eric to get around so that he and I could go tackle the day. While I was waiting for him ..."

Addiction Awareness

Yesterday after my post I was waiting on my friend Eric to get around so that he and I could go tackle the day. While I was waiting for him I decided to watch some television. Being a fan of pop culture I stumbled across an episode of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. I truly love hearing his perspective on things. I remember in middle school sometimes I would listen to Dr. Drew's radio show Loveline on The Edge. His speaking voice is very soothing, which is great for his patients I'm sure.

Well while I'm watching this reunion show I caught myself coming to tears with everything that these people had gone through. Addiction is one of those things that people can not truly understand unless they themselves have been through it personally. Have any of you? I have seen it first hand. Someone who I was very close to at one point in my life struggled through drug addiction and still does, because like they said on the show I watched, being a recovering addict can take up to 20 years or more for someone to really truly concur this problem. Relapses are normal.

I have lost relationships that meant a lot to me due to addiction. It's sad, but it is one of those things that nobody can fix for the other person. The addict has to do it all by themselves. Now you can be supportive, but they have to be the one to decide that they are through. I bring this up because one thing a lot of people do not realize is that obesity caused by overeating is in fact an addiction problem. Drug addicts and alcholics did not become addicts over night. It was a process the same as food. The only difference is that taking cigarettes, drugs or alcohol out of the mix is good and will save the person's life. Taking food out of the person's life is not an option.

People do not understand that food can be one of the most addicting things of all. They think oh you're fat because you have no self control, yet we sympathize with someone who shoots something into their arm that was concocted in a bathtub with ingredients found under your kitchen sink. Where is the logic? This is the reason why people struggle to lose weight. They never deal with the root of the problem. If you were in drug rehab, Dr. Drew or whoever would have counceling sessions with their patient to try to find out when and why you turned to escapism or the need to be high. They would break you down to finding the very instant in your life that this thought process took over your brain. Once this is found then the addict can begin to overcome the problem. We do not do this for people who have a food addiction.

Food addicts have withdrawl symptoms just like alcholics and drug addicts. They suffer from relapses, temptation (and lots of it because no matter where we go food is everywhere. Recovering drug addicts don't have lines of blow thrown in their face everyday unless they hang out at places where it is accessible.) and the very same feelings of depression and anxiety. Using food as comfort is the same thing as an addict using to numb themselves. For a food addict they get the same kind of high off of it. Another thing is what we call the "come down period" for alcoholics and drug addicts this is where they start to sober up and come off of their high. They felt great while they were high, but now they are hitting a low because yet again they have messed up. Someone with a food addiction feels great while they are eating, but once they have that moment of clarity of what they are doing they too feel the same guilt.

Honestly and truly anytime someone talks about drug or alcohol addiction they could interchange those words with food and it would be the same thing. Sadly in our society it is more socially acceptable or at least something that reacieves more sympathy than someone who claims to be addicted to food.

Just the other day one of my friends was talking on Facebook about how all the new years resolutioners were going to be taking up lots of space in the gym and that by the end of February they wouldn't even still be going. There was a long feed of responses to this of people agreeing with him and understanding where he was coming from. I even get what he was saying, but it is that mentality that keeps people from keeping on. Discouragement is the greatest excuse to stop. And all an addict needs is a teensy tiny excuse. Another one of my friends commented on this post saying that because people say things like that is what keeps these people from keeping their resolutions and she is 100 percent correct. Now my friend who had this as his status did not mean it to be mean. He's a super nice guy and I've personally never witnessed him do or say anything mean. He probably was genuinely annoyed by the fact that he couldn't get to his machines because of the new crowd and I get that. However with that said, we need to not be the excuse.

My person in my life who was suffering from drug addiction would try to find excuses to relapse and really if you look for one you can find it. It is amazing what the mind can create if we want it to. The reason for this like I said is because of all the temptation that is everywhere. I was in church today and that is what the sermon was all about was trying to not give into temptation. The problem is that it will never go away so we must find a way to overcome it.

I ask you all to consider everything I've said today. Try to be sensitive and encouraging to those around you. You never know what they are going through or how inspirational even a smile can be to that person. We are all more important to others than we can imagine. I believe that God puts us in certain places at certain times for a reason and if my reason was just to tell someone good job then my job is done. Those two words really could change someone's entire perspective of themselves. It really really is the little things in life that can make the biggest difference.

I also ask you all to not give into the temptations and you have no idea how very proud of yourself you will be. The overwhelming feelings will subside and in the end you will be so proud of yourself. That my friends is an amazing award. Really over all what I hope you take from this post is to be thoughtful of yourself and others. In the end you will be happier for it. So be kind to one another and have a great remainder to your weekend. Monday's coming along with some wacky winter weather in this part of the country so enjoy it now. I'll post new things to think about tomorrow!

My Life's Biggest Project: Happy Healthy Heart

My Life's Biggest Project: Happy Healthy Heart: "Most of the time when we hear about heart attacks we hear about them in men, but that is not always the case. Women have heart attacks too. ..."

Happy Healthy Heart

Most of the time when we hear about heart attacks we hear about them in men, but that is not always the case. Women have heart attacks too. One of the highest reason for heart attack in both men and women is because of leading unhealthy lifestyles, obesity and stress. Obviously men and women both suffer from all of these things, so it should not have come as suprise to me when I came across this article on Yahoo news written by Leah Zerbe of Rodale.com, that it was about women.

I am just not use to hearing about women having heart attacks. Part of the reason for this is because of where men and women tend to carry their weight. This can also mak eyou more prone to having heart failure. People who suffer from heart attacks tend to carry all of their weight in their stomach, which is more commen in men. Women tend to carry more of their weight in their lower body. Areas like the hips, thighs and butt. I certainly fall into this category as well. Even when I'm thinner than now I always have a big booty and child bearing hips.

Zerbe's article talks about how women suffering with work stress are more likely to have an attack. So she offers stress relief suggestions. I've talked about this before because the more stressed out people are the less likely they are to have results when losing weight. Here are the tips that Zerbe posted and I will share them with you :)

"An August study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that students taking part in Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT) enjoyed changes in white brain matter (within 11 hours of practice) that seemed connected to better regulation of emotions and behavior," said Zerbe in her article.

You've got to change up the way you think about things and IBMT will do that for you. It consists of the "practice of maintaining a state of restful alertness to tap into body-mind awareness while a trained coach guides your breathing and mental imagery." Kind of like when you are doing breathing exercises in Yoga. Another thing it is similar to is the more recognized and well known thing called mindulness-based stressed reduction (MBSR). This involves focusing on "your present-moment thoughts and feelings in a non-judgmental way. MBSR has been shown to help people make clearer decisions in times of crisis, which could help when all health breaks loose at the office."

You don't have to turn to pill popping to lower your stress you can do it all nat-u-ral! Here is what Zerpe suggests in her article;

Get your daily IBMT. Previous research out of the University of Oregon and three Chinese institutes has found that you could adopt stress-zapping properties of IBMT before the workweek's out. After practicing it for 20 minutes a day for five days in a row, participants reported reduced stress and increased energy. Prevention suggests this intro IBMT exercise: Sit quietly in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and think of your mind as a full cup; as thoughts come and go, keep returning to an image of the cup becoming empty. Repeat for five minutes.

Regardless of your meditation style, know this: Compared to non-meditators, women who practice meditation enjoy up to a 66 percent drop in stress hormone levels, which can dramatically improve heart health.

Pop a piece of gum.
If you're in need of an emergency quick freak-out fix, reach for a piece of gum. (Avoid artificial sweetened gum, though—some are linked to health issues.) One study found that chewing gum boosts blood flow to the brain by up to 40 percent, helping you stay calm and in the present. This prevents you from ruminating over some aggravating office event.

Learn more about meditation.
You don't need to be a monk to enjoy the benefits of meditation. In fact, more and more Western integrative medicine practitioners are using it as a nontoxic health improver. To learn more about meditation, read: Meditate Like a Marine to Pump Up Your Mental Muscles.

My Life's Biggest Project: Don't Worry...Be Happy

My Life's Biggest Project: Don't Worry...Be Happy: "Yesterday I went to work and we were suprisingly slow. Me being a doof I completely didn't think to bring my homework or even my Chelsea Han..."

Don't Worry...Be Happy

Yesterday I went to work and we were suprisingly slow. Me being a doof I completely didn't think to bring my homework or even my Chelsea Handler book that I'm reading for fun. Instead I didn't bring anything but myself so I had lots of time to blow. I did everything I needed to do work wise, but lets just say I had an over abundance of down time. So I Facebooked like a crazy person and read a whole lot of things on the Internet. I don't always love down days like that because I'm one of those people who constantly needs to be on the go, but it was really nice yesterday because my energy levels have been super low this last week. This was sign number one.

After lunch with my friend I walked home from campus and felt some pain at my incision site. Well that sucks I thought so I went to look at it and... (this part may be gross so if you are faint of heart go ahead and skip to the next paragraph) it looked like the Texas chainsaw masacre occured on my floor. I was so pissed off. I cried and not because it hurt super bad, but because I am beyond frusterated. I really thought this time was it. So after I cleaned myself up and my floor I called the doctors office.

They scheduled me an appointment a week from today, but the on call doctor told me that if it continued to bleed heavily that I needed to go to the ER. Well hell this brought up a whole new list of problems so I called my insurance company to see if this was going to cost me an arm and a leg. You know there is a problem with the healthcare system if someone bleeding profusely considers not going to the doctor because of money, but hey I have enough debt because of college and all the previous surgeries so I do everything I can to not add to that.

So at the end of the night I decided to not go to the ER, but I was so upset. I had a lot of things I needed to do, but instead I layed around and cried and felt sorry for myself. Yes even today I still feel justified in being upset and disapointed, but really there was a better way of handeling this mishap. So after feeling sorry for myself I decided that I needed to concentrate on being happy because mental health is essential to physical health. This reminded me of what I saw on Oprah the other day while flipping through the channels. I stopped because I saw that Goldie Hawn and Jenny McCarthy were going to be a part of the show, but a lot of things were very important.

The entire show focused on happiness. It talked about the happiest place to live, the happiest careers, the fact that more money doesn't make us happy and all other kind of things. I'll share some of the facts with you from the show.

1. According to a 2010 Gallup Poll, 57 percent of Americans say they are happy, 40 percent say they are struggling or trying to be happy and 3 percent say they are suffering.

2. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that people can be born happy—up to 50 percent of your happiness is genetic. (40 percent can be learned and 10 percent is influenced by life circumstances.) 

3. A Harvard University study has shown that spending just 10 minutes each day sitting and breathing—doing absolutely nothing—will increase your happiness.

4. According to a study by Dartmouth College, the more sex you have, the happier you'll be. (This must be were Meredith Grey from my favorite TV drama learned to be such a little slutty slut...lol. Notice in early season's she always has three things: tequilla, her Dartmouth sweatshirt and a one night stand).

5. Research from Dan Buettner's book, Blue Zones, shows that while having a child is stressful, a parent's happiness rises after the child turns 18 years old…and it keeps rising!

6. A Pew Research Center study found that almost 1 in 3 Americans don't know their neighbors. Yet, according to a study by Harvard University, the more neighbors you know, the happier and safer you feel. Plus, if your neighbor is happy, it increases your happiness by 34 percent.

7. Research shows that the happiest people watch the least amount of TV, while the least happy people watch 10 hours or more each day, according to a study by the University of Maryland.

8. Research shows that the more TVs you have in your home, the more TV you tend to watch. For ultimate happiness, watch between half an hour to one hour of TV per day. 

9. According to a Gallup Poll, Americans, on average, say they have nine close friends. Experts at the National Institute of Health say you should have at least two close friends for maximum happiness.

10. Travel agents, clergy, special education teachers and firefighters have the happiest jobs in America. And, on average, not one of those jobs pays more than $50,000 per year, according to research by the University of Chicago.

11. Studies show that money can make you happier, but only to a point: According to Princeton University, happiness maxes out once you earn $75,000 per year for a family of four.

12. Research from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Cornell University shows that spending money on a life experience produces longer-lasting happiness than spending money on material things; in fact, the impact of a new material thing only lasts about nine months.

To go with number 12 I think I should tell you that this is not the first time I heard that, but this last summer was. One of my friends said that he was going to start spending money on experiences instead of things because it just made more sense to him. I thought that was one of the most insightful things I had ever heard at that time. Seems like he knew what he was talking about!

I'll keep you all updated on what happens with my post post post op appointment and you all continue to read and be positive. I'll try to do the same thing. Do you have any happy suggestions or things you do that pull you out of a bad day? I'd love to hear your suggestions because I may need them. Don't worry about the little things and try to be happy because happy people are the prettiest people :)