Food Unique: inspiration

Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

Friday, September 30, 2011

Diana Nyad, and Other Inspirational Seniors

CNN reports 61-year-old Diana Nyad had to abandon the first shark cage-free swim from Florida to Cuba about half way through the 103-mile undertaking. Nyad was attempting this to show people all over the world that it is never too late to set goals for yourself and you can do anything you set your mind to, even if you are older. Both the wind and currents contributed to her decision to stop the swim, plus asthma and shoulder pain.

Here are three other senior citizens who defied the odds and exceeded expectations of what was expected of someone their age.

The Huffington Post reports Min Bahadur Sherchan became the oldest person ever, at age 76, to scale 29,035 feet-tall Mount Everest in 2008. The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed Sherchan had indeed become the oldest person to scale Mount Everest; in 2009, they awarded him a certificate and put him in the record books. Sherchan is a former soldier in his home country of Nepal and wanted to climb for world peace, which is what kept him determined throughout the climb.

HealthLine reports that, at age 91, Edith McAllister from San Antonio, Texas, is a daily water skier and has stayed mobile and independent even in her older years. McAllister believes in daily physical activity and thinks you just need to keep going and not stop in order to stay healthy. Instead of just sitting around the house waiting for life to pass her by, she gets out there on the water and just has thetime of her life, which she probably learned from her father -- also an avid water skier.

ESPN reports Ken Mink, 73, from Arrington, Tenn., became an inspiration after he became part of the Roane State Community College basketball team. Mink had been kicked out of a junior college basketball team when he was younger for something he did not do and was committed to get back on the court again before it was too late.

Mink came onto the court defending the ball, shooting free throws, and dribbling the ball as he ran just as well as a lot of the men younger than himself. This was an excellent moment and an inspiration for older people everywhere; it showed that all you have to do is set your mind to do something and ask to become part of a team and you might get your shot.

CNN Wire Staff, "Diana Nyad Back In U.S. After Abandoning Cuba To Florida Swim", CNN

Adam Taylor, "Min Bahadur Sherchan, Nepalese Climber, 76, Oldest Man To Conquer Everest", Huffington Post

Jolie Bookspan, "91 Year Old Water Skier", Health Line

Wright Thompson, "The Legend Of Ken Mink", ESPN

By Jeanne Rose | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Aug 9, 2011 http://news.yahoo.com/diana-nyad-other-inspirational-seniors-194500497.html

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Thursday, September 15, 2011

How to become an optimist

ARTICLE BY: CYNTHIA ROSS CRAVIT

- SEP 08, 2011

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When times are tough it's easy to expect the worst. But a positive attitude benefits your health, your happiness -- and your productivity.

Research shows that having a positive attitude can make a huge difference in promoting better health and an improved sense of well-being — which in turn can lead to improved confidence and productivity.

And while optimists are often accused of oversimplifying or being unrealistic, the Mayo Clinic says that people who tend to view situations in a positive light experience a higher level of both physical and mental functioning than their pessimist counterparts.

Optimists, for example, have:

- Greater resistance to catching the common cold

- Reduced risk of coronary artery disease

- Easier breathing if you have certain lung diseases, such as emphysema

- Better coping skills during hardships

- Less negative stress

Further, studies have found that optimistic people decreased their risk of early death by a full 50 per cent compared to those who were more pessimistic. (For more, see Will your personality determine how long you live?)

Retrain the brain

If you’re not a natural optimist, can you change the way you think — and become more upbeat? Experts say yes, that with practice, people can basically retrain their brains to think more positively. Mainly this has to do with monitoring — and changing, if necessary — the ’self-talk’ or the automatic stream of thoughts that runs through your head, endlessly, every day. These thoughts can be either negative or positive, and can be based on logic or on misconceptions and lack of information.

According to the Mayo Clinic, some common forms of negative self-talk include:

Filtering. This happens when you magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all of the positive ones. For example, after a fantastically productive day at work, you suddenly realize you forgot one task – and it is this task you focus on instead of the ones you did accomplish.

Personalizing. In this case, when something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself. Did your company lose an important account? You think it must be entirely your fault — when in reality other factors came into play.

Catastrophizing. This happens when you automatically anticipate the worst in any given situation. Your boss asks to see you? It must be bad news.

Polarizing. In this instance there is no middle ground: You view things as either good or bad, black or white. You feel that you have to be perfect or that you’re a total failure.

Silence the internal critic

Instead of automatically giving in to them, challenge your negative thoughts. You can weed out negative self-talk by replacing thoughts that are based on irrational thinking with rational, positive ones. For example, if you’re feeling out of the loop at the office, instead of saying to yourself: “No one bothers to communicate with me”, say instead, “I’ll see if I can open the channels of communication.”

http://www.50plus.com/lifestyle/how-to-become-an-optimist/2021/

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Healthy Brain - Challenge yourself

Just as physical activity improves your body's ability to function, studies show that keeping your brain active may help reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Research is showing that by using your brain, you increase its networks of connections. A brain-healthy lifestyle also emphasizes the importance of overcoming routine and monotony in our daily lives. By approaching daily routines in new ways, you engage new or little used mental pathways.
Since the evidence suggests that mental stimulation enhances brain activity and may help maintain brain health throughout life, it is important to put your brain to work.
Challenging your brain doesn't have to be difficult. It can be as simple as dialing the phone with your less dominant hand or as complex as learning a new language. Remember, the goal is to give your brain a new experience and a workout each and every day.

Play games to challenge your mind – chess, word and number puzzles, jigsaws, crosswords and memory games.

Pursue a new interest such as learning to play a musical instrument, taking a course or going to the theatre.

Break your routine – take a different route to the store or change the order of your morning routine.

Involve one or more of your senses in a novel way - write your name with your opposite hand or count out coin change by using your sense of touch.

Read a book – discuss it with a friend.

Pursue cultural activities like going to plays, museums, concerts, galleries.

Keep up hobbies such as sewing, carpentry or take up a new hobby.

Cross train your brain – try a variety of mental challenges.

For some great ways to take action on brain health, visit our BrainBooster^TM pages.

Note: Your abilities, health situation and interests should be taken into consideration when choosing brain healthy activities. If you have questions about your own situation, speak to your doctor or health-care provider.
For a reference list of studies regarding Alzheimer's disease and brain health, click here.
[This information is also available in an information sheet you can download from this site.

http://alzheimer.ca/english/brain/challengeyourself.htm

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Music Helps Ease Pain & Anxiety of Cancer Patients

The saying music soothes the soul has proven to be more than a catchy phrase. Over the years, frequently listening to music has been linked to a number of health benefits which includes reducing stress. A recent review of 30 studies published in the Cochrane Library found that music therapy helped cancer patients reduce anxiety and pain while improving overall quality of life.

Joke Bradt, PhD., and associate professor of creative arts therapies at Drexel University and her colleagues reviewed studies that included 1,891 cancer patients who went through different forms of music therapy. In all of the studies, participants commonly listened to music and in some cases also played instruments, sang, or created rhymes along with control groups the received standard treatment. Improvements linked to the different music therapies included: reduced anxiety, improved pain and mood, lower blood pressure, heart rate, and overall improved quality of life.

Bradt concludes that there is need of more research and tests in order to see which type of music therapy is most effective, but says that programs should be tailored to the individual’s tastes and skills. “It’s not like when you go to a doctor with a headache, and he prescribes a specific type of medicine that will help me with my headache and also help you with your headache,” Bradt explains.

More in depth studies are needed to know the true extent of the benefits that music may have, however the results are promising. Robert Zatorre, Ph.D., a cognitive neuroscientist at McGill University sums it up saying, “the cost involved with music is very small compared to other kinds of interventions. How well it works – say, compared to drugs – is another question, but the side effects are very minimal as well. The worst thing that can happen [when] someone doesn’t like music is that they can turn it off.” So whether you suffer from a chronic illness or not, listen to some music to help brighten your day and improve your mood.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Positive aging

Aging can be difficult at times, we all go through it. It is important to remember that even though our physical appearance changes, our spirit does not. Some people in their 70s and 80s are much younger than some people in their 20s or 30s. It all comes down to one thing and that is our outlook on life. Everybody is looking for the fountain of youth, but what they often are unaware of is that the fountain of youth can be found by simply looking within oneself.
Always remember, we are never too old to realize a new goal or dream. Also we must realize, just because someone is older, it does not mean that they are incapable of accomplishing great things to contribute to society.

The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.

~Frank Lloyd Wright

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
~ Mark Twain