Driving might be the American way of life, but it’s a way of life that’s simply not good for your health nor the environment.  The more we drive, the less we walk and the more difficult it becomes to get the recommended 10,000 steps a day to maintain wellness.

In fact, according to Lawrence Frank of the University of British Columbia, “Every additional 30 minutes spent in a car each day translates into a 3 percent greater chance of being obese,” he said.

Unfortunately, many American cities are not made for walking. As David Goldberg of Smart Growth America (a coalition of nonprofit groups that works to improve town and city planning) says “We have designed cities to suppress walking”  But times have changed and now the cities need to look at ways to move away from car culture and focus more on the health of their residents. This can be done through urban renewal projects and also through education.

In the meantime, here’s a few ways to get those daily 10,000 steps…

•  use public transport wherever possible and get off a stop or two before you need to and walk the rest of the way
• don’t aim for the closest car park at the shopping mall. Instead, park further away and walk.
• do a lap or two of the shopping mall before going into the supermarket or department store.

Of course, you could always move to one of these more pedestrian friendly cities.

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It’s a funny thing. Soon as I get to work, my nose seems to go into overdrive. The running and sneezing seem to increase.

I’ve always jokingly said I must be allergic to work. But it turns out it might not be a joke - I, like thousands of others, could easily be allergic to work, or at least all the allergens that are floating around the workplace.

What’s in your physical surroundings can easily act as an irritant that causes an allergic reaction.  Dust, of course, is probably one of the main suspects. And it’s not just in the office. There’s dust everywhere - in warehouses, at construction sites, in restaurant kitchens.

In fact, according to the World Health Organization, exposure to dust, gases, or fumes in the workplace environment are responsible for 11 percent of asthma cases worldwide.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Check out these seven common workplace irritants  that can make people sneeze, wheeze, and  itch…or worse, go into anaphylatic shock.

Latex  -  only about 1% of the population have an allergy to latex but this increases with increased exposure which explains why up to 15 percent of health care workers, who regularly wear gloves on the job, are allergic to latex 

Pet Dander -  yes, there are vets, animal walkers and workers who are allergic to pet dander. And with increased and constant exposure, this can get worse instead of better.  Turns out that of all people with allergies, 10 to 15% of them will be allergic to pets.

Beauty Products - this we shouldn’t be surprised about given all the chemicals that are in beauty products.  Hair stylists, nail salon workers or make-up artists often suffer the sneezes plus skin rashes.

Cleaning Supplies - again, no big surprise here. Cleaning agents are full of chemicals that can cause rashes, wheezing, and sneezing.  Plus there’s the added risk of  using latex gloves to protect themselves from the chemicals.

Fragrance Sensitivity - Ever go into a sneezing fit after someone with perfume or cologne walks by?  Then you were suffering from fragrance sensitivity. Okay as long as you can escape, but what if you’re a flight attendent in a plane full of perfumed  passengers. Escape is not an option.

Mice Allergy - not a common problem in most workplaces, but something that lab workers and scientists might have to deal with in their work environment. Of course, my answer to that is ‘free the mice’.

Mold Allergies - unfortunately, a common allergen, even in hospitals. Old buildings in old cities, damp climates, and poor insulation can result in a build up in mood in even the most cleanest places.

Sure makes it sound like going to work isn’t all that  good for your health…

(image from scx.hu)

MSNBC reported the other day that ‘thanks to the swine flu, there’s a little less hugging and kissing  [going on] in the United States’.  They base this on a recent  Harvard survey that found about 1 in 10 Americans have stopped hugging, kissing, and even shaking hands because of swine flu concerns.

Sounds pretty extreme and probably not all that good for your health. Hugging, after all, makes people happier. And happier people will often be healthier people.

Hugging, a simple physical expressions of affection,  improves and strengthen peoples connections and relationships with other people and themselves.

Hugging, even in the time of swine flu H1N1 flu, is good for you. 

To find out more about why hugging is good, check out this recent article over at The Happiness Project that highlights some ‘hugging’ studies.  

So go on….

Hug someone today, especially your mother this Mother’s Day.

And let someone hug you back.

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Sure hope it’s not too early to start on my Christmas Wish List ’cause I just found something to put on the top of the list

It’s a Pumgo Scooter - the world’s first pedal-powered scooter.

Check it out…

Think of the all possible benefits…

• Increased exposure to Vitamin D - By being outside, you’ll get a decent quota of Vitamin D, something that’s apparently lacking for many people.
• Fun and entertaining - Remember, laughter and fun is important for good health.
• A stress release - How could you be stressed when riding around like a kid on a Pumgo Scooter.
• An exercise workout - It’s a cardio-vascular workout that will burn calories and strengthened muscles.
• Clean, green transportation - Small enough to sit in the office while at work, this could be the newest way to get around the city and to work and back.

It’s like taking your gym’s stair-climber outside into the sun for fun.

Our home is our castle. A place to feel secure and safe.

But after reading Beth Greer’s book Super Natural Home, I have to say, I’m starting to wonder exactly how safe my house really is. According to Beth Greer, probably not all that safe, especially if you start taking into account all the dangerous chemicals that we invite in and have around our house at all times.

Beth used to be just like you and me, living what she considered a healthy but busy lifestyle. But when a medical crisis (a 5-centimeter tumour in her chest) caused her to re-evaluate her lifestyle, she discovered that maybe her lifestyle wasn’t as healthy as she thought. In fact, she discovered instead of being healthy, it was downright toxic.

So she spent six months cleaning up ‘her act’, eating an all-organic diet, discovered raw food, and cleared out all the everyday chemicals (cleaners  and personal products) from her house. Along the way, her health improved and within the year, the tumor and related pain and never damage seemed to disappear.

Since then, Beth has become an advocate of living a healthy, toxic free life, taking all the research and information she has accumulated while changing her own lifestyle and transforming it into the book Super Natural Home: Improve Your Health, Home, and Planet - One Room at a Time.

This book provides a practical guide to discovering potential toxic hot zones in your house and offers a straightforward soultion-based approaches to dealing with them. Broken into three main categories - what goes in you, what goes on you, and what surrounds you - the book can be used as a road map on how to become an environmental savvy consumer.

Of course, you might think, like I did, that your home isn’t toxic. In that case, I’d suggest heading over to Beth’s webstie SuperNaturalMom and sign up to take the Super Natural Home Quiz.

If you’re results are anything like mine, you might want to run out and get a copy of Super Natural Home. It will definitely help you figure out how to  make things less toxic in your life.

Image: SuperNaturalMom.com

Today, I was inspired and moved beyond words.

Flicking on the television this morning, I was captivated by this news piece…

Watch Susan’s full performance on Britain’s Got Talent here.

Have you heard about The Mensa Invitational ? It’s a ‘play on words’  list that’s been floating around the internet and emails for a few years now.

image from sxc.hu

Each of the words that have had a single letter added, deleted, or to create a new word with a humorous meaning.

Here’s the list so far…

Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject
financially impotent for an indefinite period.

Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you
realize it was your money to start with.
Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright
ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign
of breaking down in the near future.

Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the
fruit you’re eating.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who
doesn’t get it.

Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming
only things that are good for you..

Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s, like, a
serious bummer.

Glibido: All talk and no action.

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they
come at you rapidly.

Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve
accidentally walked through a spider web.

Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.

Any more that you know of???

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It’s a good month for coffee and chocolate.

First, there was news about a study that found that caffeine reduces muscle pain caused by exercise and now researchers in England seem to think that mental arithmetic becomes easier when chocolate is involved.

But before those of you trying to complete your tax returns go nuts on chocolate, you’d better have a good read of the study because it’s not as clear cut as us chocoholics would like it to be. Yes, it seems that the study participants, after partaking in large amounts of flavanols (the compounds found in chocolate), did do better when asked to count backwards in groups of three from a random number between 800 and 999. But when these same participants were asked to count backwards by sevens, the ingested chocolate was of no help.

According to the researchers, this is because this more complex task uses a different part of the brain. Huh?

Still, as tax day gets closer, I’m sure I’ll be eating a chocolate or two to help make the numbers look better.

(image from sxc.hu)

Great news for all the caffeine addicts out there. It’s a known fact that caffeine is a performance enhancer, one of the very few that isn’t banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

But now a new study by University of Illinois researchers has found that caffeine eases the muscle pains of exercising.

The study involved 25 fit, college-aged men. Some of the participants were regular caffeine users, ie ones who drank at least four cups of coffee (or the equivalent in caffeine laced drinks) a day on average, while others either didn’t take in caffeine at all or only had a small daily intake.

After an initial exercise test on an exercise bike to determine maximal oxygen consumption, the participants were then monitored while doing two high-intensity, half-hour exercise sessions. These two sessions were held a week apart and during that time the guys are expected to refrain from any caffeine, alcohol, and exercise (a big ask college aged guys).

An hour leading up to the exercise sessions, the participants were given either a placebo or a caffeine pill.
Then, while the exercise sessions were in progress, the researchers monitored the participants, collectiing information on oxygen consumption, heart rate, and work rate, and also questioned the participants about their perception of quadricep muscle pain.

The results - it ws found that when taking the caffeine pill, the participants experienced significantly less quadricep muscle pain. This was across the board for both those who where habitual caffeine drinkers and those who were not.

Wonder if this means we’ll soon be seeing coffee cups rather than water bottles strategically placed around the gym?

(image from sxc.hu)

After a long, hard winter, everyone just wants to get out and catch some sun rays, feel the warm, and get a bit of color back in the skin. But while the sun makes us feel good, it’s not always the best thing for us.

With the incidence of skin cancer on the rise, it’s important to remember to stop and protect ourselves before we head out into the sun.

It’s also important to know fact from fiction when it comes to what’s good and bad about the sun.

Myth #1:   Dark-skinned people are safe from sun damage and skin cancer risks.

Even though those with brown skin have lots of melanin which offers more protection against UV rays, they are more prone to moles. And abnormal moles are a major risk factor for melanoma.

Myth #2: Lip Gloss can protect the skin.

Not according to a  study done by researchers from Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. They found that  shiny lip balms and glosses actually attract ultraviolet rays and therefore,  increase the risk of skin cancer. So best to use a non-glossy lip SPF sun block.

Myth #3: Your clothes will protect you from the sun.

No. Clothes are not effective sun protection. Therefore, it’s best to put sun block on under your clothes. Or, alternatively, wear clothes with a sun protection rating.

Myth #4 :  Sunburn is more damaging than suntan

No. Both are toxic to your skin. In fact, a suntan is probably just as bad for your skin as a raw, pink sunburn is. Sun damage, by the way, is cumulative. The more damage, the greater the risk.

Myth #5:   No sun, No problem.

No. With at lease 70% of all UV rays getting through the clouds, you don’t need direct sunlight to cause damage to the skin.

Almost make you wonder if  you should go outside at all.