Kids in the zone?
In football, if the offensive team is in the Red Zone, they’re inside their opponent’s 20-yard line and moving toward a goal. How many times the offense gets into the Red Zone and then how often they score from within that zone is a measure of the team’s efficiency.
On the school playground, getting in the zone is a smart way for kids to reach their goals of more physical activity and better classroom performance. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have found that dividing playgrounds into activity zones caused a “significant increase in physical activity.”
In a zoned playground, kids have many activity options, so there’s something that suits every child. For example, there’s an area where kids can play dodgeball, another for jumping rope, one for basketball, hopscotch and free play, such as climbing on a jungle gym or just running around. (Free play is as important as organized activities: Studies show that it stimulates creativity and helps build social skills.)
Encourage your local school to adopt activity zones, and make sure playground supervisors leave their cellphones in their pockets. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for playground-related injuries every year. They estimate that about 30 percent of those injuries could have been avoided if caregivers were not distracted! Seems that when kids see that their caregiver is not paying attention, they’re far more likely to engage in risky behavior.
Cat scratch dangers
Fleas on your cat can pose a serious health problem. It’s called cat scratch disease (CSD), a flea-borne infection caused by the bacteria Bartonella henselae.
You can become infected if a cat, carrying infected fleas, scratches you or licks an open wound (even a tiny one). Symptoms include fever and headache, swollen or sore lymph nodes near the infection point and a pustule at the site of the scratch. Sometimes, the infection can cause conjunctivitis-like eye problems (oculoglandular syndrome) or even spread to the lining of your heart (endocarditis), your brain (encephalitis), bones and bone marrow (osteomyelitis).
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found around 12,500 reported cases every year, 500 of them requiring hospitalization. Kids are most likely to be infected; they have almost 10 cases per every 100,000 people.
So take extra precaution if you have young children or care for the elderly or anyone who is immunocompromised, as they’re more susceptible to CSD complications.
If you have cats, you can prevent CSD by using flea collars, giving them anti-flea baths (you might want to let the vet do it), washing your hands after playing with them and making sure they don’t contaminate any open scratches or cuts you have.
Smoking causes back pain
But did you know that back (and more back) problems are the real pain-inflicting champions in America, and a major cause of all that back pain is smoking?
Smokers have a 300 percent greater rate of chronic lower back pain than nonsmokers. Why? One theory is that the inflammation from smoke’s hydrocarbons coupled with decreased blood flow (nicotine constricts blood vessels) disrupts of the supply of oxygen to the spine’s discs, which leads to degeneration (ouch!). Plus, smoking kills off cells that build bone. Even secondhand smoke has been shown to negatively affect bone mineral density.
The negative effects on the back from smoking are so profound that at Dr. Mike’s Cleveland Clinic, spine doctors won’t perform an elective spinal fusion operation on a patient who smokes. For those patients, that means no smoked marijuana (one joint releases hydrocarbons equal to four cigarettes, triggering inflammation), no chewing tobacco, no cigars.
So if you have chronic back pain and you smoke, your best, first step is to quit! (You’ll also reduce your risk for lung, esophageal and other cancers, COPD, stroke and heart attack.) Be a champ. You can do it!
Laugh your way to more consistent (and enjoyable) exercise
Sometimes the thought of exercising can make you feel rooted to the ground. But a new study shows that laughter just might give you the motivational lift you need. Researchers found that older adults who were led through an exercise program that incorporated simulated laughter (they went through the motions of laughter), which often triggered a genuine belly laugh, saw significant improvement in mental health, aerobic endurance and more interest in exercising. Study participants did a 45-minute course of moderate activity peppered with bouts of simulated laughter for six weeks. Almost 89 percent said laughter made exercise more accessible, and about 88 percent said they were motivated to participate in other exercise classes.
So the next time you exercise, sprinkle some humor into your workout, like Dr. Mike does. Try watching last night’s episodes of “The Late Show” (Stephen Colbert) and “Conan” while you exercise. You’ll discover that your workouts are more fun, and you’ll get other health benefits, too. A good laugh session releases mood-boosting endorphins, lowers stress, improves your immune responses, reduces pain, improves heart health and makes your RealAge younger.
A healthy dose of strength and generosity
Me, me, me: Psychologists point out that people who use I, me, mine the most are the least secure. They (like certain entertainers and public figures) care more about their self-interests than they do about others. So when you’re listening to someone blathering on (say, in the presidential debates) and you want to entertain yourself and get a peek into the person’s true nature, keep count of how often they use first-person pronouns.
And if you think you’re a bit too I, me, mine yourself, you want to nurture your ego strength, not egotism. Egotism clouds your vision. It’s ego strength (I can do this!) that fuels a determination to find solutions to health issues and relationship problems. It also sets you on a path of ever-improving mental and physical health and a younger Real Age.
To build a strong resolve, start with small steps. Set goals you can meet for physical activity and nutritional improvements. Acknowledge your accomplishments when you reach those goals, then set higher ones. And set goals for volunteering in your community helping those in need. Notice that your well-being is tied to the well-being of others. We, You, Us. Now that’s a nice tune.