And there was plenty of audiovisual material. These commercials for reduced-sodium side dishes were priceless.

This video convinced me that it’s time to try to kick the sugar habit again.  In the past three days, I’ve had more energy after cutting back on processed sugar.  And my next step will be to try to add more veggies into my diet.

More than 1.1 million people have viewed the 90 minute lecture, which is shocking giving the short 90-second attention span of today’s internet surfer.

photo © 2008 Micah Baldwin | more info (via: Wylio)

Random find of the day:

Preliminary research suggests that class status may contribute to denying people their genetic destiny.

In a study of cognitive ability in 750 sets of twins, researchers found that

At 10 months, there was no difference in how the children from different socioeconomic backgrounds performed. By 2 years, children from high socioeconomic background scored significantly higher than those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. . .

“Our findings suggest that socioeconomic disparities in cognitive development start early,” says Tucker-Drob. “For children from poorer homes, genetic influences on changes in cognitive ability were close to zero. For children from wealthier homes, genes accounted for about half of the variation in cognitive changes.”

Follow up research is planned to investigate which environmental and familial behavior factors are causing that shift in performance.

If early childhood cognitive development is dependent on access to resources – educational, nutritional, and emotional — we may be shortchanging children to the detriment of the next generation.  Prospects for upward social mobility become much more difficult when your game is handicapped before play begins.  And what of budding Einsteins that don’t have the opportunity to become brilliant contributors to their nation and industry?

What responsibility would we have as a nation if this research bears out?  Should policy try to compensate for the possibility that the economic class impacts genetic potential?

pic by sunfrog1

As someone who exercises daily, I explored the use of heart rate monitors to get a better workout.  I always struggled to get my rate into the max range in interval training.

The standard formula was “220 – the person’s age.” I started playing with heart rate monitors right out of college. Though I did my damnedest to get my heart rate into the 190s, it was near impossible.  At 183 beats per minute, I couldn’t talk any more and I could barely breath; it felt like having asthma attack…on purpose.   So I gave up on heart rate monitors because the defeated me in every spinning class.

The American Heart Association journal Circulation recently published the findings of a heart rate study, using about 5500 women.  Surprise, surprise!  Women’s hearts beat to their own drummer, and our maximum heart rate is considerably lower than that of men.

That  new formula “206 – (.88*age) is spot on.   At 21, my maximum heart rate was 187.5, so it’s no wonder I was struggling so much.  I had moved into my real heart rate peak range, though science hadn’t yet acknowledged it.

Me thinks it is time to buy some new batteries for my heart rate monitor.

Spread the word.

Though I think I’m a few years off from having the confidence to have pundit ‘tude, I did enter.  With a 400-word limit, I had to decide between setting up a longer piece that would cut off at the 400-word mark, or just try to make a coherent argument complete within the word limit. I went with the latter.

With a national unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent, we’re moving beyond job hunt desperation to a general workplace malaise that is also a threat to American morale.  A recent DDI poll found that more than half of worker bees feel disconnected from their workplace responsibilities. Despite reporting significantly heavier workloads as their companies streamline staff, employees perform by rote, rather than because of an ambition to reach the next rung or the determination to stay employed.

At first glimpse it seems crazy to be almost lackadaisical in one’s professional efforts given the economy.  Corporations are downsizing, eliminating job security. Bonuses are a non-starter, since belt-tightening is a matter of course.   And if not experiencing forced furloughs or pay cuts, receiving a raise tied to the bump in the cost of living is considered generous.

The growing ranks of the unemployed don’t just raise concerns about whether one will be able to make that next mortgage payment, it threatens the daydreams that inspire people to work the extra hours, to take on side projects and to survive less than optimal work environs.   Whether focused on the next promotion or company leapfrog, ambitions are born of what one imagines could follow a vertical or lateral transition.

Given that inadequate compensation and a hunger for career advancement spur new employment searches, 60 percent of workers are actively looking for a new office environment, competing with millions of equally hungry, unemployed job seekers.   Competition is fierce and the odds of making a move to a more favorable position seem slim.  Even if a new opportunity avails itself, there’s no guarantee it’s anything but the flip side of the same coin.

At the same time, having 1 year of experience, or 20, at a company means little when that job is deemed expendable or redundant.  A position can be here today, gone tomorrow.  When the opportunities are limited outside one’s current employ, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep that hope alive. With the ability to imagine the possibilities faltering, ambivalence is infectious.

Such insouciance is toxic at a time when innovation and fresh thinking are demanded to make the American labor market competitive again.  The psychological hurdle to overcome is as palpable as the economic one:  the power of possibility needs to be rekindled.

If anything, it was great to be writing again, so I need to get this blog back up and running.

photo by bensonkua

Bad relationships don’t just take a toll on your mental health, they do damage to your heart and metabolic processes as well.

While both men and women in “strained” unions, those marked by arguing and being angry, were more likely to feel depressed than happier partners, the women in the contentious relationships were more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and other markers of what’s known as “metabolic syndrome,” said study author Nancy Henry, a doctoral candidate in clinical healthy psychology at the University of Utah.

Metabolic syndrome is known to boost the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

If your relationship isn’t headed in a direction you’re happy with, you have yet another reason to ask, is it worth it?

Alternately, a new study draws into question previous conclusions about marriage and relationships.  Previously, biological anthropologists like Helen Fisher concluded that early in a relationship heightened hormones drove passion and lust, which leveled off after 2-4 years to a more level attachment that kept many relationships together.

In a just published study in the Review of General Psychology, researchers looked at couples from college and middle-age brackets who experienced romantic, passionate, or friendship based love in short and long-term relationships.  Couples who kept the romance going had the most satisfaction in both types of relationships.  Couples in more obsessive relationships were happier in the short-term, than long.  Since it’s just a handful of couples, much more research needs to be done, which could shift our understanding of human partnerships.

This year the US Department of Health and Human Services wants to remind you that HIV isn’t just a third world epidemic, the disease takes its toll domestically as well.  There are educational events taking place all over the country today to offer American women information on HIV prevention and transmission.

Though originally stigmatized as “gay cancer” in the 1980s, young adults, particularly African-American women, are especially at risk today.  HIV is the leading cause of death for young black women (ages 25-34).  In 2007, they made up 65% of new AIDS diagnoses in women. Overall, a third of new HIV infections occur in young adults 13-30 years of age.

Check out the Red Pump Project (launched by The Fabulous Giver) for more information about how women are fighting the further spread of HIV amongst their sisters and how they’re helping those who’ve been diagnosed.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn more.  Here are some resources to get you started.

Prevention:

• Find an STD testing site near you to get tested with your partner(s).
• Get your Safe Sex Tips here
• Always use a condom when having sex (unless absolutely sure your not-philandering partner is disease-free, and you’re using another type(s) of birth control).

Get your facts:

• CDC Fact Sheet on HIV/AIDS in women
• Kaiser Family Foundation HIV/AIDS Fact Sheet covering the history and current state of HIV/AIDS in the US.
• Epic tome And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts provides excellent coverage of the early reactions to the emergence of the virus by the medical, political, and gay communities.

1. Can’t help but seriously date more than one guy at a time?  Consistently  bored with your main squeeze? Blame it on sex hormone oestradiol.

The researchers found that a woman’s oestradiol level was positively associated with self-perceived physical attractiveness. Women with a higher oestradiol level also reported a greater likelihood of flirting, kissing and having a serious affair (but not a one-night stand) with a new partner.

Oestradiol levels were negatively associated with a woman’s satisfaction with her primary partner.

2. A microbicidal gel for women in an international trial possibly protected 30% of users from contracting HIV by blocking the virus from attaching to white blood cells.  Further testing is necessary to confirm.

Researchers hope gels and other microbicide creams could help protect women whose partners refuse to wear condoms.

I want to know why women are willing to date men who don’t care enough for their partners’ health to wear a condom.

3. Despite young African-American women being one of the fastest growing demographics contracting sexually transmitted diseases, only 1 in 4 African-American teens are receiving the HPV vaccine, which severely limits likelihood of cervical cancer.  Roughly 1 in 4 American women between 14-59 years of age are infected with HPV.

4. Kissing lowers cortisol levels in men and women, making it a great stress reliever. But unexplainably, kissing also increases the oxytocin (AKA the love hormone) level in men, while simultaneous decreasing it in women.  Researchers plan to investigate if the kissing venue plays a role in the oxytocin changes in women.

And just for fun: balloon animal sex.