The blog that aims to help you reach your goals, one step at a time!
Small, Frequent Meals Posted by Erudite Chick on May 19, 2013
Last week was finals, and when finals were done, I ended with what I call the ‘finals flu’. It seems that every time those exams roll around, I end up getting sick – and this time it was a particularly nasty stomach bug, but at least it waited until I had actually finished everything I needed to do for the semester. I haven’t always been that lucky in the past, and it makes exams even more difficult than they already are. The whole experience made me stop and think (actually, I couldn’t do a whole lot else for a day or two), and I reached a few conclusions. First, I’m getting too old for this. Quickly followed by the realization that even the young kids who are going through this for the first time were having similar struggles, and many of them were down with some illness as well. Which made me think that the whole process of going to school can be a bit sadistic; forcing students to forego good health habits in order to make the grade. While it would...Read More
I Want to Ride My Bicycle… Posted by Erudite Chick on May 8, 2013
Today was ‘bike to school day’, which made me think “Why am I not on my bike?!” It probably had something to do with the fact that I have a 40 mile commute to school, but that didn’t help quench the desire to get out and ride. I love biking, and the season is painfully short here in the ‘great up-north’, so it pays to get out as much as you can while the weather is nice. Clearly it is not possible for all of us to bike to all of our destinations, but we can all find smaller trips we usually make in the car that will work with a bicycle. For example, I live just about a mile away from a grocery store. Why drive there for a loaf of bread and half gallon of milk when I can take the bike? My part-time job is about 2 ½ miles, so that’s an easy pedal as well. Even the mall is no more than 5 or 6 miles from here, so that could be a pleasant ride, too. On long summer evenings, my husband and I will sometimes bike the couple of...Read More
Music Brings Us Together Posted by Erudite Chick on May 3, 2013
‘Ba-da-da-dum’ – I heard the opening notes and immediately thought, “Supertramp! Breakfast in America!” And it was, sort of, until it segued into a rap I was unfamiliar with. I was listening to a CD mix that my daughter had made for me, and it began appropriately enough with this mash-up song that combined both of our musical worlds into one. My daughter is a child of the boy-band-era, and we went through a long period when our musical tastes found little, if any intersection. Then she joined the Air Force and became a disc jockey for Armed Forces Radio (hey, somebody’s gotta do it!). She started to develop an appreciation for a much wider range of music as she gained exposure to artists she was previously unfamiliar with, including some that I grew up with. So the CD mix was her way of sharing some of her favorite songs with me. She included an interesting combination of old, new, fast, slow, hard rock, disco, pathos, humor – an awful lot shoved...Read More
Find Your Groove Posted by Erudite Chick on Apr 30, 2013
I had a rough week. Really rough. In fact, I ended up sitting in my car ready to do my long drive home, and on the verge of a serious meltdown. But before I hit the road, I turned on some Led Zeppelin and was immediately wailing along with ‘Immigrant Song’. You know – the one that starts with the wail that sounds like Robert Plant slammed his hand in the car door… And I immediately felt better. Which got me thinking about how to make use of the power of music on a more regular basis. New research has demonstrated that music has the ability to enhance the production of dopamine and alter brain activity, leading to a sense of euphoria. In other words, there is physiological evidence that music makes us feel good. That same research discovered that different music has different effects on different people. Sounds obvious, perhaps, but it should make us think a bit more about the atmosphere we live, work and play in. In this modern world, music is...Read More
Pillow Talk Posted by Erudite Chick on Apr 20, 2013
I just had a very vivid reminder of how many things can prevent you from getting a good night’s sleep. I had to spend one night in a hotel, and wow! did it ever mess up my sleep. Nothing at all against the hotel itself – it was clean, reasonably quiet (especially when you consider they were hosting a convention), and they had a very comfortable mattress on the bed. And all of these things are vitally important to sleeping soundly. Everyone knows that it is easier to sleep when it is dark and quiet, but the ‘clean’ part of that description is also important. Have you ever stayed in a hotel that claimed to be smoke-free, but as soon as you get into the room you can smell that’s not true? Some years ago, I moved to a town in Florida where the economy turned on the paper mill. I can still remember the first night I was actually awakened by the smell of that industry seeping in through the very walls of my apartment. It is impossible to describe this particular...Read More
Sleep On It Posted by Erudite Chick on Apr 16, 2013
I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn’t come up with a health goal for myself this week, and my co-worker responded with, “sleep on it”. Well, I realized then and there that the reason I couldn’t think clearly was precisely because I needed more sleep. My nights get later and later as I try to accomplish ‘just one more thing’ before going to bed, because I always know that the following day is going to be packed. But my alarm goes off at the same time every morning, and I just get more and more tired with each day that I deprive myself of the necessary amount of sleep, leading to being less efficient throughout the day, and ending up even further behind. So I end up staying up later to try to catch up, and…. Sound familiar? There has been a lot in the news lately about the link between lack of sleep and weight gain. Studies have shown that people who are short on sleep feel hungrier, crave more sweet and salty snacks, and end up eating more...Read More
Beef; It’s What’s NOT For Dinner Posted by Erudite Chick on Apr 10, 2013
This has definitely been the week that beef has taken a beating. Well, actually all meat, but especially the red stuff. First, the study on TMAO hit the news. As if the saturated fat and cholesterol in red meat was not enough to make me think twice about that juicy steak, now researchers have found a new chemical that increases the risk of heart disease. A heretofore ignored chemical released by bacteria in the intestines after red meat is consumed gets converted in the liver into the also-previously-ignored TMAO. When TMAO gets into the blood, it increases the risk of heart disease. Studies done in both mice and humans found that eating meat on a regular basis leads to a burst of TMAO in the blood each time meat is consumed. And not only did TMAO predict heart attack risk in humans, it actually caused heart disease in mice. The good news was that people who did not eat meat on a regular basis (in this study, specifically vegetarians and vegans) could...Read More
Do Something! Posted by Erudite Chick on Apr 8, 2013
“This is a long time to be sitting, so why don’t you all get up and take a stretch?” Thanks, professor! I’m so glad to see that my previous whining has had an impact on the health of the entire class! So perhaps I should list whining as my first method of reducing sitting time. But I have also been more aware of the time I spend sitting elsewhere throughout the day. Instead of sitting at a table or my desk to do homework, I’ve been making an effort to find the high tables at school or work at my kitchen counter so I can stand up while I work. I also rolled my balance ball to my desk to sit on when I have to work there, so at least I’m working some small muscles while I sit. Keeping the printer in another room forces me to get up and move every time I need a hard copy of something, and it works even better when it’s on a different level so I have to climb steps. If you really want to get yourself moving, scatter your most-often-used items...Read More
Don’t Just Sit There! Posted by Erudite Chick on Apr 3, 2013
“All this sitting is gonna kill me!” I whined to my professor. She agreed. Because it’s true – sitting for long periods will increase your chances of getting sick or dying prematurely. According to Mayo Clinic, excessive sitting can lead to obesity, increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels – all of which may lead to an increase in cardiovascular disease and cancer. People who spend four hours a day watching TV were almost 50% more likely to die from any cause, and 125% more likely to suffer cardiovascular diseases. And it’s not just the couch potatoes who are at risk. People who sit for more than six hours a day at work were at similar risk of illness and death. Even more alarming is that these statistics hold true even for those who exercise daily. Apparently a hour or so of intense activity does not make up for an entire day of sitting. Everything points to the need to...Read More
Let’s Get Together and Feel Alright… Posted by Erudite Chick on Mar 27, 2013
With all the holidays – Good Friday, Easter, Passover – this is a great week to focus on improving my social life. I tend to get so busy with all the stuff I ‘have’ to do that I can let my relationships go un-nurtured for too long. But a new British study that found lack of social contact leads to early death got me thinking about whether this is wise. Other studies have also linked the lack of social support to numerous illnesses, including heart disease, dementia, and high blood pressure, as well as increasing the chance of depression, insomnia, and other mental illnesses. Apparently, the human brain is wired for social interaction, and most neuroscientists believe that it was humans’ need to understand and process social cues that led to the increased size of the human cortex. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to merely surround ourselves with other people, collect hundreds of Facebook ‘friends’, or be engaged in...Read More
