Archive for the 'Exercise' Category
Publice Service Murder?
Last night I was watching Criminal Minds. Something one of the characters said struck me pretty hard. I haven’t been able to get this out of my mind. This is a subject I feel very strongly on, but I want to know what you think.
In the show, a young boy had been murdered some twenty years before. A child predator had sexually assaulted him, then stabbed him repeatedly. Later, the same pedophile was making advances towards another boy who grew up to be one of the FBI agents. The Agent had vague memories of the situation. His parents had covered up the entire incident and the Agent had blocked much from his mind.
It turned out that the Agent’s mother had found out about the predator making moves on her child and informed the father of the murdered boy. This all happened about a year after thee unsolved murder. She pointed out the predator, who had also been seen with the murdered boy not long before he had been killed. The boy’s father beat the pedophile to death with a baseball bat.
This ‘crime’ had remained unsolved because no one noticed that the predator disappeared. He had a history of exposing himself to young children and the police in not one, but two states did not readily pursue the case of his murder, even when they found a bit of evidence that would have led straight to his killer. One of the characters, a police officer, asked the FBI Agents if they really wanted to pursue and prosecute someone who had performed a ‘Public Service Murder’.
That has really gotten to me. Though I do not feel we have a right to act as a god and choose who lives or dies, when a crime of this nature has been committed, is it really a crime? Removing from the population a predator such as a pedophile, child molester, child murderer, or any serial killer…should we ardently chase down a suspect? Should a father or mother who kills someone who hurt their child in a manner that will scar the child for life or take away their young life, be prosecuted. In this instance, hypothetically let’s say the parent knows without a doubt who the perpetrator is. There is no doubt whatsoever.
Is it wrong? Is there such a thing as Public Service Murder? Please, offer your thoughts.
Posted in Activities, Exercise, Exercise, Health, Healthy Living, Mental Health, Outdoors, Stress Management, Uncategorized, Weight Management | No Comments »
Asthma
asthma - a paroxysmal, often allergic disorder of respiration, characterized by bronchospasm, wheezing, and difficulty in expiration, often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of constriction in the chest.
“asthma.” Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 18 Jul. 2008. .
Basically, the airways in your lungs are inflamed and swollen causing the chest to hurt, which in turn can affect the ability to breathe. Now, how can you tell if your toddler or preschooler has asthma when they wouldn’t know the words to describe it? By watching for the symptoms and if you think your child does don’t be afraid that you might be over reacting. Asthma can be a life threatening disease if gone untreated.
Symptoms to look for in toddlers in preschoolers. Coughing, sometimes after playing hard or intense crying, or repetitious coughing at night when sleeping or early morning. Symptoms are usually worse at night. Dark circles under eyes, shortness of breath, wheezing — a whistling sound due to the closed off airwaves. It tends to be commonly linked with allergies.
Triggers. Exposure to allergens, most commonly animal dander, dust mites, and mold, can prompt the asthma symptoms or bring on an attack. Common colds and illnesses, tobacco smoke, and in some cases exercise can also perpetuate the affliction.
If the child has some or all of these symptoms you need to consult your pediatrician immediately. It might be just a cold but if it isn’t, you want the child treated before a full blown asthma attack. The pediatrician will assess the child and make a determination if it is in fact asthma or something as simple as a common cold. If it is asthma, it’s important you work closely with your health care provider to come up with a treatment plan.
First, figure out what is triggering the child’s episodes. Three-feet-of-fun has asthma and he was allergic to pet dander so in order to try and avoid attacks we gave our cats away to a good home. There are medicines for cat allergies but the only truly effective one is in shot form and my husband and I decided that until he could make the choice for himself we’d be pet free — we couldn’t inflict shots on him on top of everything else.
They will also teach you how to use a nebulizer, a machine that turns liquid medicine into a mist that goes through tubing into a face mask for the child to inhale. With that, there are too kinds of medicines: a preventative medicine and a quick reliever. The preventative won’t do anything for a child in arrest only the quick reliever will blast the child’s airways open, enabling them to breathe.
Asthma happens. There is no sure fire way to prevent your child from succumbing to it and there is no cure. You can help their chances to avoid it by keeping your house vacuumed, keeping the child away from smokers and smoke in general, keeping the house pet free if the child shows pet allergies, and diminish mold in the home.
Posted in Exercise, Exercise, Health, Healthy Living, Uncategorized, Weight Management | No Comments »
Why Weight?
Toning your upper body is a topic in and of itself. Weights are one way to fight the arm flab but there are a couple weightless toning exercises that work and don’t require you go out and spend money on weights.
The Chest Expander
Target Area: Chest
Benefits: Firms up the breasts and loosens the shoulders
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, as with all standing exercises, and with a straight posture. Never lock the legs, so keep them bent slightly with your weight in your legs. Fold your arms in front of your chest with one arm over the other, not touching, and the hands pointed down.
Slowly, open your arms like an exaggerated shrug until your arms are straight out from your sides, forming a “T” with your hands facing up. You should be able to feel your chest expanding. Out and back in is one rep and you should do three sets of fifteen - twenty of them with a five second pause between each set.
The Push Up
Target Area: Chest, Shoulders, and Arms
Benefits: Firms up the breasts, targets all muscle groups in your arms, and strengthens shoulders.
To get the best results from push ups make sure you use the full range of motion. On the up, make sure your arms are locked and on the down let your nose touch the floor. It’s important to keep your back straight and support your weight in your arms and legs.
There are variations on the push up if you can’t do a full one.
Knees down. Set up like a regular push up but be on your knees instead. Start with your lower leg and feet on the floor and build up the arm muscles. Gradually you can work into having your feet off the ground while your knees are down. Finally, coming to a full push up.
Against the wall. For those who have bad backs and knees, a vertical push up against the wall. Start with a small angle of 20 to 30 degrees to the wall and do the push ups. They aren’t as weight intensive so you have to do more of them to be effective but still get the job done if you do them enough. Gradually, make the angle from the wall bigger until 75 to 85 degrees to the wall. This will put more weight into the push up and make it more effective and still not a strain on your back or knees.
Posted in Exercise, Exercise, Health, Healthy Living, Uncategorized, Weight Management | No Comments »
How Fat Can We Get?
The race to get fat is on!
And, according to research released by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, most Americans are going to place in this race with a big fat blue ribbon.
The research points out that if Americans keep gaining weight at the current rate they’re gaining; in just eight years 75% of Americans will be overweight and 40% will be obese.
Raise you hand if you’d like to come in last in this race.
Our kids are affected as well. It’s not fair to train them for a contest that will kill them.
Sorry if I sound agitated, I do tend to be chipper and positive — look on the bright side.
But when my son and I go to the city park I count far more chubby kids than slim kids. More parents sitting on the bench then playing Frisbee or swinging with their children. It’s sad. Many of the people my age aren’t going to live to see their grandkids. Fat will do them in early — if they even have grandkids. Studies show that overweight individuals have a much harder time conceiving.
Right off the top of my head I can think of two revolutionary ways to stop this…
Eat better and exercise.
Cutting out soda and fruity sugary drinks will help too. As will trimming down food portion sizes and actually hanging out with our kids; setting a good example by playing with them, outside in the fresh air.
Other key points found by Johns Hopkins:
- Currently 1 in 3 adults is obese.
- 80% of African American women over the age of 40 are overweight.
- Asians born here in America are four times more likely to be overweight than their foreign born cousins.
- 16-34% of children (11 million) are overweight and many more are at risk of becoming overweight.
- Women ages 20-34 years have the highest rate of increased weight gain.
But no one is entirely off the hook. The overall fact remains that 75% of ALL Americans will likely be overweight by 2015. Imagine what this will do to the already escalating health care costs.
This is serious. I hear peppy talks by fitness trainers. I see nicely worded articles about slimming down youth. I feel all warm and fuzzy when I learn that yet another overweight pregnant woman thankfully gave birth to a healthy baby.
But honestly, I think we’ve reached the point where happy pep talks and saying “robust” when we mean “grossly overweight” has got to stop. It’s not working. Maybe knowing that we’re willfully harming our children will work. Maybe considering that there soon won’t be enough healthy people to care for the unhealthy people will work. Is death a motivator to get in shape?
Maybe…
If you’d like to see your children grow up healthy and happy you can visit:
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences kids page
Why not make a choice right now that you and your children will lose this race. All you have to do to get started is click on a link above. It’s that simple.
Posted in Child Abuse, Exercise, Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Nutrition for Adults, Weight Management | 3 Comments »
