Clipmarks | coconutshell's Health collection

The best at what you do.

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:28:38 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: It makes you think. And it's a good read.

Clip Source: www.wisebread.com

Joe

was born with Down Syndrome

His condition makes most jobs out of his reach

that didn’t stop him from getting a position at the local grocery store as a bagger

not a particularly glamorous job

pay isn’t exactly wonderful

He wanted to be the best bagger in the store, if not, the city

He went home and, with the help of his father, typed up inspirational sayings and quotes

he cut them out and took them to work

Every time he put groceries in a bag, he would add one of the little inspirational quotes

It made Joe happy to spread a little joy

and the customers loved it

people were lining up to get their groceries bagged by Joe

From a mundane job, Joe created something extraordinary

He did something remarkable and genuine, and everyone around him felt inspired. That is the embodiment of being the best at what you do

What could you do better in your daily routine? It doesn’t need to take a lot of time or money, but just a little thought.

Tags: people, jobs, inspiration, best

Happiness: Good for Creativity, Bad for Single-Minded Focus

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 06:11:11 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: I thought thinking happy thoughts made you fly. But this is close enough.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Happiness: Good for Creativity, Bad for Single-Minded Focus

Happy people are open to all sorts of ideas, some of which can be distracting

by JR Minkel


	Image: © EMELY/ZEFA/CORBIS
	A HAPPY THOUGHT: People in a happy mood perform better than others on a task that requires them to be creative, but do worse when asked to cut through distractions and focus on one thing.

Despite those who romanticize depression as the wellspring of artistic genius, studies find that people are most creative when they are in a good mood, and now researchers may have explained why: For better or worse, happy people have a harder time focusing.

University of Toronto psychologists induced a happy, sad or neutral state in each of 24 participants by playing them specially chosen musical selections. To instill happiness, for example, they played a jazzy version of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. After each musical interlude, the researchers gave subjects two tests to assess their creativity and concentration.

In one test, participants in a happy mood were better able to come up with a word that unified three other seemingly disparate words, such as "mower," "atomic" and "foreign." Solving the puzzle required participants to think creatively, moving beyond the normal word associations--"lawn," "bomb" and "currency"--to come up with the more remote answer: "power."

Interestingly, induced happiness made the subjects worse at the second task, which required them to ignore distractions and focus on a single piece of information. Participants had to identify a letter flashed on a computer screen flanked by either the same letter, as in the string "N N N N N," or a different letter, as in "H H N H H." When the surrounding letters didn't match, the happy participants were slower to recognize the target letter in the middle, indicating that the ringers distracted them.

Tags: science, research, psychology, people, society

Fake eye - prosthetics from 4,800 years ago.

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:48:25 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks:

Harris said the primary reason for the artificial eyeball would not have been medical.

"She could have worn a patch, but perhaps her family wanted her to look her best for public appearances," he explained.

Damn the wealthy!! I'm sure all the other girls back then would have wanted the fake eye too.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Dec. 18, 2006 — Around the time that the great pyramids were built in Egypt and Stonehenge was erected in England, a young woman living in what is now Iran lost an eye and was fitted with a prosthetic device.

The 4,800-year-old artificial eye was recently found by archaeologists working at the Burnt City historical site in southeastern Iran, according to a report published by the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies, a London-based research and educational program.

The find supports speculation that such prosthetics were available to a fortunate few in the ancient world. An early Hebrew text, for example, references a woman who wore an artificial eye made of gold.

The newly found eye isn't gold, but it probably looked more like the real thing.

"At first glance, it seems natural tar mixed with animal fat has been used in making [the eye]," said archaeologist Mansur Sayyed-Sajadi, who is directing the excavation. Further testing will be needed to determine its exact composition.

Sayyed-Sajadi added that whoever made the eye likely used a fine golden wire, thinner than half a millimeter, to draw "even the most delicate eye capillaries."

Parallel lines were also drawn around the pupil to form a diamond shape.

Two holes at the sides helped hold it in place in the woman's eye socket. Sayyed-Sajadi said remaining eyelid tissues are still evident on the eyeball, as are markings that suggest the woman developed an abscess in her eyelid due to frequent contact with the object.

The eyeball was found with the skeletal remains of its wearer in an early cemetery. The researchers believe the woman was between 25 and 30 years old when she died.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Clay vessels, ornamental beads, a leather sack and a bronze mirror were also found in her grave.

Michael Harris, a senior lecturer in optometry at the University of California at Berkeley, said the objects, as well as the effort it must have taken to prepare and fit the woman for the artificial eye, suggest she was a member of the elite.

Tags: interesting, science, health, society, lifestlye, history, prosthetics

Don't wanna be a moron or idiot....

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:55:55 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

The Dilemma: You want to assail someone’s intelligence, but you don’t know quite which word to use, which calls into question your own intellect.

People You Can Impress: Well, idiots and morons both, for starters. But also psychologists. And you really, really need to impress psychologists, because - as you’ll see - you don’t want them to think you’re an idiot.

The Quick Trick: These days, the words are completely synonymous. But back in the dark days of psychology (which is to say until about 30 years ago), there was a difference, and here’s the quick trick psychologists used: Ask a question. If your subject answers, they’re a moron at worst. If they don’t answer, you might have an idiot on your hands.

The Explanation: Anyone who says that political correctness never accomplished anything worthwhile should take a long, hard look at the lot of the idiot.

The concept of "IQ" followed soon after, and psychologists fell so deeply in love with the scientific nature of the tests that they created classification systems. Any child with an IQ of above 70 was considered "normal," while those with scores above 130 were considered "gifted."

To classify scores below 70, psychologists invented a nomenclature of retardation. Those with IQs between 51 and 70 were called morons. Morons had adequate learning skills to complete menial tasks and communicate. Imbeciles, with IQs between 26 and 50, never progressed past a mental age of about six. And the lowest of all were the idiots, with IQ between 0 and 25, who were characterized by poor motor skills, extremely limited communication, and little response to stimulus.

Today the classification system is one category broader - moron, imbecile, and idiot have been replaced with mild, moderate, severe, and profound retardation - and diagnostic factors other than IQ are considered in making a diagnosis.

Tags: interesting, health, science, iq, psychology

How to eat a pomegranate

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 13:17:58 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: Very useful to finally know.

Clip Source: www.thatsfit.com

They're the new "it" fruit - but how do you eat a pomegranate?

Posted: Dec 10th 2006 6:40AM by Brigitte Dale
Filed under: Food and Nutrition

If ever a fruit could be stylish, the pomegranate is stylish now. It's exotic, colorful, and full of antioxidants, Vitamin C, polyphenols, and flavonoids. When I heard all this news, I bought a pomegranate the next time I was at the grocery store. I brought it home, cut it open, and then thought, "How do I eat this? I think something's wrong with my pomegranate."

Nope, that's what a pomegranate is supposed to be like. If you want to just chop the fruit in half and eat it with a spoon, go for it. But I should warn you that pomegranate juice stains, so be careful. If you're not wild about the the idea of being covered with red stains, here's how to remove the fruit and seeds without getting squirted.

First, cut off the crown of the fruit. Also cut the fruit as if you were quartering it, but instead of cutting all the way through just cut through the skin and a bit of the fruit underneath. Next, soak the whole fruit in a bowl of cool water for five minutes. While the fruit is still underwater, pull apart the four sections (that way the juice won't squirt on you.) Now, the rind and membrane will float to the top of the dish while the fruit-covered seeds will sink. Throw away the rind and membranes and pat the seeds dry. They're ready to eat!

Check out Nubella's article on pomegranates for more information on the new "it" fruit, including how to choose a good pomegranate at the supermarket.

Tags: food, fruit, health, pomegranate, howto

Many women do not recognise bulimia symptoms

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 07:45:44 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell

Clip Source: today.reuters.com

In a study of 158 women with bulimia-type eating disorders, Australian researchers found that nearly half did not acknowledge a problem with their eating. This was particularly true of those who did not vomit to control their weight.

But there are also non-purging forms of bulimia, where tactics like excessive exercise or strict dieting are used to counter binge-eating episodes.

Still other people have certain symptoms of bulimia but fall short of all the criteria used to diagnose the disorder; they may fall into the category of "eating disorder not otherwise specified," or EDNOS.

The new study, published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, focused on women with "bulimic-type" eating disorders. This included those with purging or non-purging bulimia, as well as women with EDNOS. Some women in the latter group were diagnosed with binge-eating disorder, which involves excessive eating but no purging to compensate]

Women who used self-induced vomiting were nearly six times more likely than other women to recognize that they had a problem, the study found. Continued...

Clip Source: today.reuters.com

This is partly due to media portrayals of eating disorders, which typically highlight anorexia and purging-type bulimia, Mond told Reuters Health.

But there's also a general perception that excessive exercise and strict calorie-cutting are acceptable, or even "desirable," behaviors, he added.

And that awareness needs to spread not only in the general public, Mond noted, but among doctors and other health professionals.

In some cases where a woman with one of these eating disorders does seek treatment, he explained, the doctor may treat what's seen as the "true" problem -- such as depression or anxiety -- leaving the eating disorder inadequately addressed.

Tags: health, disorder, bulimia, women, society, people

Holiday drinks - healthier than you thought.

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 17:31:34 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: I think the eggnog's on the next page which I didn't get to clip. But yay for the good stuff!

Clip Source: www.webmd.com

Hot and Healthy Holiday Drinks

By Christina Frank
WebMD Feature

Conveniently, it turns out that several traditional warm holiday beverages serve a purpose beyond pure comfort: They're actually good for you! These four classics all contain ingredients with proven health benefits. How joyous is that?

Hot Cocoa

But not all hot chocolates are created equal, cautions Lauren Slayton, MS RD, a nutritionist in New York. The key is to use dark chocolate, which has the highest concentration of good stuff. Look for cocoa mixes that list dark chocolate as their first ingredient, or simply melt a bar of dark chocolate that contains at least 70% cocoa. To make your hot cocoa even healthier, make it with low-fat milk, which cuts fat and calories.

Mulled Wine

Red wine just can't get enough good press, so how lucky that it's found in several warm punch-like libations, including glogg and mulled wine. Studies have shown that powerful antioxidants found in grapes -- flavonoids and resveratrol -- have a bevy of benefits. They have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects that might help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Resveratrol may also reduce the risk of developing macular degeneration, a painless eye disease that affects more than 10 million people in the U.S. It is the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 55.

There's also evidence that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower death rates from heart disease. Wine can increase "good" HDL cholesterol and may lower the risk of heart attacks by modestly reducing the ability of blood clots to form in the heart.

Another recent finding, published in the December 2003 issue of the journal Cancer Research, showed that red wine reduces the activity of an enzyme called aromatase, which plays a role in breast cancer.

Apple Cider With Cinnamon

Cinnamon has been shown to improve glucose and cholesterol levels in the blood, which makes it particularly good for people with type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.

Tags: health, holidays, drinks

10 things about drugs

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 05:51:47 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: The rest is at the source page.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

The Top 10 Things I Know About Drugs

By Tony Newman, AlterNet. Posted June 2, 2006.

1. Drugs are everywhere. Despite a $40 billion a year "war on drugs" and political speeches about a "drug-free society," our society is swimming in drugs. Cigarettes, sugar, alcohol, marijuana, Prozac, Ritalin, Viagra, steroids and caffeine. The vast majority of Americans use drugs on a regular basis. People always have and always will.

2. Different people have different relationships with different drugs. My wife is someone who can enjoy an occasional cigarette and only smokes when she drinks. I am an addict who cannot control my cigarette problem. If I have one cigarette, I will end up smoking a pack a day. Some people have serious problems with alcohol and can't enjoy even a single drink. I can handle alcohol and enjoy a drink or two some nights, leave it alone on others, and I rarely have negative experiences with it. Different strokes for different folks.

3. People use drugs for joy and for pain. Many people enjoy using mind- and body-altering substances. How many of us enjoy having some drinks and going out dancing? How many of us enjoy a little smoke after a nice dinner with friends? Many people bond with others or find inspiration alone while high on drugs.

On the flip side, many people self-medicate to try to ease the pain in their lives. How many have us have had too much to drink to drown our sorrows over a breakup or some other painful event? How many of us smoke cigarettes to deal with anxiety or stress?

7. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse. Locking someone up in a cage for using marijuana or some other drug when no harm has been done to anyone else is cruel and inhumane. People who prohibit clean syringes to reduce the spread of HIV have blood on their hands. Denying financial aid to students who have a drug offense is counterproductive. Many of our country's laws are more harmful than the substances they are trying to combat.

Tags: drugs, health, people, society, addiction, economy, war, policy

Who is it?

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 08:54:46 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: Awwww...

Clip Source: www.b3ta.com

Tags: comics, funny, humour, entertainment, superman

Stupid pill, anyone? I mean, anti-stupid!

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 06:49:18 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: Yeah, I bet I'd need this one...

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

You know anybody who needs an "anti-stupid" pill?

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German scientist has been testing an "anti-stupidity" pill with encouraging results on mice and fruit flies, Bild newspaper reported Saturday.

It said Hans-Hilger Ropers, director at Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, has tested a pill thwarting hyperactivity in certain brain nerve cells, helping stabilize short-term memory and improve attentiveness.

"With mice and fruit flies we were able to eliminate the loss of short-term memory," Ropers, 62, is quoted saying in the German newspaper, which has dubbed it the "world's first anti-stupidity pill."

Tags: