WANT TO REMOVE STRESS? MEDITATE!
I know many of my Moebius friends, be they parents of children with Moebius or teens and adults who have it, when they post their daily statuses on (for example) Facebook they are often talking about...stress. And hey, who isn't without some kind of stress these days? But there are lots of ways you can reduce it. Take for example meditation--as this article shows, it's not just for Zen-types saying "ommmmm" anymore:
"Little by little, meditation is shedding its image as a strange spiritual discipline practiced by monks and ascetics in Asia. Gwyneth Paltrow meditates. Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of the rock band Weezer, meditates. David Lynch -- his movies are strange, but he is strangely normal -- meditates. Meditation has helped recent military veterans deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Beyond celebrities and the military, there's science. A growing body of research shows that meditation has a discernible effect on the brain that promotes various types of health and well-being.
Anyone interested may need to surmount the final hurdle: the assumption that meditation is hard, time-consuming, painful or complicated. Or religious. While there are lots of different kinds of meditation -- from transcendental meditation to Zen -- experts and health organizations such as the National Institutes of Health agree a beginner need not bother grappling with them. Meditation is simple and easy, and everyone can do it and benefit from it. Here are some tips:
Find some free time -- at least 20 minutes -- and as calm and quiet a place as you can. Meditating with interruptions from your BlackBerry or your computer doesn't really work.
Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Some traditions use physical positions -- mudras, in Sanskrit -- in meditation. The most famous is sitting on the ground in the lotus position, i.e., Indian style. If you are comfortable sitting this way for longer than a few minutes, fine. If not, sit in a chair.
Don't just do something, sit there -- to quote the title of a well-known book on meditation by Sylvia Boorstein. Don't launch immediately into what you think meditation is. Let your mind and body settle for a minute or so. Life is stressful enough; don't make meditation stressful and rushed.
Pick something and gently center your attention on it. It can be your breathing, which works well because of its easy, natural rhythm. It can be an image, mental or physical -- one can meditate with eyes open or closed, whichever works. It can be a mantra, a sound or word that you repeat in your mind or with your voice. "Om" -- with most of your time resting on that nice m sound -- is the most famous.
When your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the thing you picked.
When your mind wanders again, gently bring it back to the thing you picked. The mind is a wandering machine. Meditation is not having an empty mind; it's gently quieting your mind using the technique of concentrating on one thing. Over the time you sit, you will likely notice your mind getting a bit quieter.
When your mind wanders again, gently bring it back to the thing you picked. The key word is gently. Meditation is a simple technique, but it's also an approach, a way of being. People, especially Americans, tend to worry about doing it right. Worrying about doing it right is the one wrong way to meditate. Don't be angry or frustrated with your mind or yourself.
Gently close your meditation when you wish or need to. The idea is relaxation and reducing stress, remember? Make it smooth, not jarring. Let the relaxation you cultivated breathe a bit before going on to the next thing in your day.
Repeat as needed. Meditation works best when it's done regularly and over a long period. That doesn't have to mean for hours every day. It can be once every other day for 20 minutes. Many meditaters refer to their "practice." Its benefits happen, and happen more deeply, when it's something you do regularly for some time."
So remember--meditate; go take on the day; repeat. As needed.
"What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages." - H.W. Beecher
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
ARE YOU A COMPULSIVE, HABITUAL PHONE CHECKER?
Some of you might want to take the little quiz contained in this piece. Don't be afraid to admit you might have a problem. :+) Actually this has to do with something going on in your brain--and we with Moebius are always interested in brain talk:
"There I was at a long-awaited dinner with friends Saturday night, when in the midst of our chatting, I watched my right hand sneaking away from my side to grab my phone sitting on the table to check my e-mail.
"What am I doing?" I thought to myself. "I'm here with my friends, and I don't need to be checking e-mail on a Saturday night."
The part that freaked me out was that I hadn't told my hand to reach out for the phone. It seemed to be doing it all on its own. I wondered what was wrong with me until I read a recent study in the journal Personal and Ubiquitous Computing that showed I'm hardly alone. In fact, my problem seems to be ubiquitous.
The authors found smartphone users have developed what they call "checking habits" -- repetitive checks of e-mail and other applications such as Facebook. The checks typically lasted less than 30 seconds and were often done within 10 minutes of each other.
On average, the study subjects checked their phones 34 times a day, not necessarily because they really needed to check them that many times, but because it had become a habit or compulsion.
"It's extremely common, and very hard to avoid," says Loren Frank, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. "We don't even consciously realize we're doing it -- it's an unconscious behavior."
Earlier this year, Frank started to realize that he, too, was habitually checking his smartphone over and over without even thinking about it. When he sat down to figure out why, he realized it was an unconscious, two-step process.
First, his brain liked the feeling when he received an e-mail. It was something new, and it often was something nice: a note from a colleague complimenting his work or a request from a journalist for help with a story.
"Each time you get an e-mail, it's a small jolt, a positive feedback that you're an important person," he says. "It's a little bit of an addiction in that way."
Once the brain becomes accustomed to this positive feedback, reaching out for the phone becomes an automatic action you don't even think about consciously, Frank says. Instead, the urge to check lives in the striatum, a part of the brain that governs habitual actions.
For Frank, constant checking stressed him out and really annoyed his wife.
Dr. Adam Gazzaley, a neurologist at UCSF, sees another cost: Whenever you take a break from what you're doing to unnecessarily check your e-mail, studies show, it's hard to go back to your original task.
"You really pay a price," he says.
Habitually checking can also become a way for you to avoid interacting with people or avoid doing the things you really need to be doing.
"People don't like thinking hard," says Clifford Nass, a professor of communication and computer science at Stanford University. Constantly consulting your smartphone, he says, "is an attempt to not have to think hard, but feel like you're doing something."
How to know if you're a habitual checker
1. You check your e-mail more than you need to.
Sometimes you're in the middle of an intense project at work and you really do need to check your e-mail constantly. But be honest with yourself -- if that's not the case, your constant checking might be a habit, not a conscious choice.
2. You're annoying other people.
If, like Frank, you're ticking off the people closest to you, it's time to take a look at your smartphone habits.
"If you hear 'put the phone away' more than once a day, you probably have a problem," says Lisa Merlo, a psychologist at the University of Florida.
3. The thought of not checking makes you break out in a cold sweat.
Try this experiment: Put your phone away for an hour. If you get itchy during that time, you might be a habitual checker.
How to get rid of your checking habit
1. Acknowledge you have a problem.
It may sound AA-ish, but acknowledging that you're unnecessarily checking your phone -- and that there are repercussions to doing so -- is the first step toward breaking the habit.
"We can be conscious of the habit of checking. We can unlearn its habits," says Sherry Turkle, a psychologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self.
2. Have smartphone-free times.
See if you can stay away from your phone for a few hours. If that makes you too nervous, start off with just 10 minutes, Merlo suggests. You actually don't have to stay away from your phone altogether -- you can just turn the e-mail function off (or Facebook or whatever you're habitually checking)."
It's a long piece, but a good one. So many of us are so very connected to the internet, daily--which is okay. The 'net has done such wonders in building a caring, supportive Moebius community. But we don't want to go overboard...
"You were born an original. Don't die a copy." -John Mason
Some of you might want to take the little quiz contained in this piece. Don't be afraid to admit you might have a problem. :+) Actually this has to do with something going on in your brain--and we with Moebius are always interested in brain talk:
"There I was at a long-awaited dinner with friends Saturday night, when in the midst of our chatting, I watched my right hand sneaking away from my side to grab my phone sitting on the table to check my e-mail.
"What am I doing?" I thought to myself. "I'm here with my friends, and I don't need to be checking e-mail on a Saturday night."
The part that freaked me out was that I hadn't told my hand to reach out for the phone. It seemed to be doing it all on its own. I wondered what was wrong with me until I read a recent study in the journal Personal and Ubiquitous Computing that showed I'm hardly alone. In fact, my problem seems to be ubiquitous.
The authors found smartphone users have developed what they call "checking habits" -- repetitive checks of e-mail and other applications such as Facebook. The checks typically lasted less than 30 seconds and were often done within 10 minutes of each other.
On average, the study subjects checked their phones 34 times a day, not necessarily because they really needed to check them that many times, but because it had become a habit or compulsion.
"It's extremely common, and very hard to avoid," says Loren Frank, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. "We don't even consciously realize we're doing it -- it's an unconscious behavior."
Earlier this year, Frank started to realize that he, too, was habitually checking his smartphone over and over without even thinking about it. When he sat down to figure out why, he realized it was an unconscious, two-step process.
First, his brain liked the feeling when he received an e-mail. It was something new, and it often was something nice: a note from a colleague complimenting his work or a request from a journalist for help with a story.
"Each time you get an e-mail, it's a small jolt, a positive feedback that you're an important person," he says. "It's a little bit of an addiction in that way."
Once the brain becomes accustomed to this positive feedback, reaching out for the phone becomes an automatic action you don't even think about consciously, Frank says. Instead, the urge to check lives in the striatum, a part of the brain that governs habitual actions.
For Frank, constant checking stressed him out and really annoyed his wife.
Dr. Adam Gazzaley, a neurologist at UCSF, sees another cost: Whenever you take a break from what you're doing to unnecessarily check your e-mail, studies show, it's hard to go back to your original task.
"You really pay a price," he says.
Habitually checking can also become a way for you to avoid interacting with people or avoid doing the things you really need to be doing.
"People don't like thinking hard," says Clifford Nass, a professor of communication and computer science at Stanford University. Constantly consulting your smartphone, he says, "is an attempt to not have to think hard, but feel like you're doing something."
How to know if you're a habitual checker
1. You check your e-mail more than you need to.
Sometimes you're in the middle of an intense project at work and you really do need to check your e-mail constantly. But be honest with yourself -- if that's not the case, your constant checking might be a habit, not a conscious choice.
2. You're annoying other people.
If, like Frank, you're ticking off the people closest to you, it's time to take a look at your smartphone habits.
"If you hear 'put the phone away' more than once a day, you probably have a problem," says Lisa Merlo, a psychologist at the University of Florida.
3. The thought of not checking makes you break out in a cold sweat.
Try this experiment: Put your phone away for an hour. If you get itchy during that time, you might be a habitual checker.
How to get rid of your checking habit
1. Acknowledge you have a problem.
It may sound AA-ish, but acknowledging that you're unnecessarily checking your phone -- and that there are repercussions to doing so -- is the first step toward breaking the habit.
"We can be conscious of the habit of checking. We can unlearn its habits," says Sherry Turkle, a psychologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self.
2. Have smartphone-free times.
See if you can stay away from your phone for a few hours. If that makes you too nervous, start off with just 10 minutes, Merlo suggests. You actually don't have to stay away from your phone altogether -- you can just turn the e-mail function off (or Facebook or whatever you're habitually checking)."
It's a long piece, but a good one. So many of us are so very connected to the internet, daily--which is okay. The 'net has done such wonders in building a caring, supportive Moebius community. But we don't want to go overboard...
"You were born an original. Don't die a copy." -John Mason
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
MORE BRAIN TALK
Good news--it appears that exercise can keep our brains fit--and thus continuing to remember where your car keys are or peoples' names--as we get older. Great news for all us adults with Moebius, right? Read on:
"For those of us hoping to keep our brains fit and healthy well into middle age and beyond, the latest science offers some reassurance. Activity appears to be critical, though scientists have yet to prove that exercise can ward off serious problems like Alzheimer’s disease. But what about the more mundane, creeping memory loss that begins about the time our 30s recede, when car keys and people’s names evaporate? It’s not Alzheimer’s, but it’s worrying. Can activity ameliorate its slow advance — and maintain vocabulary retrieval skills, so that the word “ameliorate” leaps to mind when needed?
Obligingly, a number of important new studies have just been published that address those very questions. In perhaps the most encouraging of these, Canadian researchers measured the energy expenditure and cognitive functioning of a large group of elderly adults over the course of two to five years. Most of the volunteers did not exercise, per se, and almost none worked out vigorously. Their activities generally consisted of “walking around the block, cooking, gardening, cleaning and that sort of thing,” said Laura Middleton, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and lead author of the study, which was published last week in Archives of Internal Medicine.
But even so, the effects of this modest activity on the brain were remarkable, Dr. Middleton said. While the wholly sedentary volunteers, and there were many of these, scored significantly worse over the years on tests of cognitive function, the most active group showed little decline. About 90 percent of those with the greatest daily energy expenditure could think and remember just about as well, year after year.
“Our results indicate that vigorous exercise isn’t necessary” to protect your mind, Dr. Middleton said. “I think that’s exciting. It might inspire people who would be intimidated about the idea of quote-unquote exercising to just get up and move.”
The same message emerged from another study published last week in the same journal. In it, women, most in their 70s, with vascular disease or multiple risk factors for developing that condition completed cognitive tests and surveys of their activities over a period of five years. Again, they were not spry. There were no marathon runners among them. The most active walked. But there was “a decreasing rate of cognitive decline” among the active group, the authors wrote. Their ability to remember and think did still diminish, but not as rapidly as among the sedentary.
“If an inactive 70-year-old is heading toward dementia at 50 miles per hour, by the time she’s 75 or 76, she’s speeding there at 75 miles per hour,” said Jae H. Kang, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study. “But the active 76-year-olds in our study moved toward dementia at more like 50 miles per hour.” Walking and other light activity had bought them, essentially, five years of better brainpower.
“If we can push out the onset of dementia by 5, 10 or more years, that changes the dynamics of aging,” said Dr. Eric Larson, the vice president of research at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle and author of an editorial accompanying the two studies.
“None of us wants to lose our minds,” he said. So the growing body of science linking activity and improved mental functioning “is a wake-up call. We have to find ways to get everybody moving.”
Which makes one additional new study about exercise and the brain, published this month in Neurobiology of Aging, particularly appealing. For those among us, and they are many, who can’t get excited about going for walks or brisk gardening, scientists from the Aging, Mobility and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of British Columbia and other institutions have shown, for the first time, that light-duty weight training changes how well older women think and how blood flows within their brains. After 12 months of lifting weights twice a week, the women performed significantly better on tests of mental processing ability than a control group of women who completed a balance and toning program, while functional M.R.I. scans showed that portions of the brain that control such thinking were considerably more active in the weight trainers.
“We’re not trying to show that lifting weights is better than aerobic-style activity” for staving off cognitive decline, said Teresa Liu-Ambrose, an assistant professor at the university and study leader. “But it does appear to be a viable option, and if people enjoy it, as our participants did, and stick with it,” then more of us might be able, potentially, to ameliorate mental decline well into late life."
"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a
second-rate version of somebody else." -Judy Garland
Good news--it appears that exercise can keep our brains fit--and thus continuing to remember where your car keys are or peoples' names--as we get older. Great news for all us adults with Moebius, right? Read on:
"For those of us hoping to keep our brains fit and healthy well into middle age and beyond, the latest science offers some reassurance. Activity appears to be critical, though scientists have yet to prove that exercise can ward off serious problems like Alzheimer’s disease. But what about the more mundane, creeping memory loss that begins about the time our 30s recede, when car keys and people’s names evaporate? It’s not Alzheimer’s, but it’s worrying. Can activity ameliorate its slow advance — and maintain vocabulary retrieval skills, so that the word “ameliorate” leaps to mind when needed?
Obligingly, a number of important new studies have just been published that address those very questions. In perhaps the most encouraging of these, Canadian researchers measured the energy expenditure and cognitive functioning of a large group of elderly adults over the course of two to five years. Most of the volunteers did not exercise, per se, and almost none worked out vigorously. Their activities generally consisted of “walking around the block, cooking, gardening, cleaning and that sort of thing,” said Laura Middleton, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and lead author of the study, which was published last week in Archives of Internal Medicine.
But even so, the effects of this modest activity on the brain were remarkable, Dr. Middleton said. While the wholly sedentary volunteers, and there were many of these, scored significantly worse over the years on tests of cognitive function, the most active group showed little decline. About 90 percent of those with the greatest daily energy expenditure could think and remember just about as well, year after year.
“Our results indicate that vigorous exercise isn’t necessary” to protect your mind, Dr. Middleton said. “I think that’s exciting. It might inspire people who would be intimidated about the idea of quote-unquote exercising to just get up and move.”
The same message emerged from another study published last week in the same journal. In it, women, most in their 70s, with vascular disease or multiple risk factors for developing that condition completed cognitive tests and surveys of their activities over a period of five years. Again, they were not spry. There were no marathon runners among them. The most active walked. But there was “a decreasing rate of cognitive decline” among the active group, the authors wrote. Their ability to remember and think did still diminish, but not as rapidly as among the sedentary.
“If an inactive 70-year-old is heading toward dementia at 50 miles per hour, by the time she’s 75 or 76, she’s speeding there at 75 miles per hour,” said Jae H. Kang, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study. “But the active 76-year-olds in our study moved toward dementia at more like 50 miles per hour.” Walking and other light activity had bought them, essentially, five years of better brainpower.
“If we can push out the onset of dementia by 5, 10 or more years, that changes the dynamics of aging,” said Dr. Eric Larson, the vice president of research at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle and author of an editorial accompanying the two studies.
“None of us wants to lose our minds,” he said. So the growing body of science linking activity and improved mental functioning “is a wake-up call. We have to find ways to get everybody moving.”
Which makes one additional new study about exercise and the brain, published this month in Neurobiology of Aging, particularly appealing. For those among us, and they are many, who can’t get excited about going for walks or brisk gardening, scientists from the Aging, Mobility and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of British Columbia and other institutions have shown, for the first time, that light-duty weight training changes how well older women think and how blood flows within their brains. After 12 months of lifting weights twice a week, the women performed significantly better on tests of mental processing ability than a control group of women who completed a balance and toning program, while functional M.R.I. scans showed that portions of the brain that control such thinking were considerably more active in the weight trainers.
“We’re not trying to show that lifting weights is better than aerobic-style activity” for staving off cognitive decline, said Teresa Liu-Ambrose, an assistant professor at the university and study leader. “But it does appear to be a viable option, and if people enjoy it, as our participants did, and stick with it,” then more of us might be able, potentially, to ameliorate mental decline well into late life."
"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a
second-rate version of somebody else." -Judy Garland
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
AN ACTRESS SPEAKS OUT
About the unrealistic expectations many in this society have concerning women and their body image--see what she has to say:
"Actress Rosario Dawson has some pointed words about expectations on women and their bodies.
"It's a form of violence in the way that we look at women and the way we expect them to look and be for what sake? Not for health, survival, not for enjoyment of life, but just so you could look pretty," Dawson told Shape Magazine.
Dawson who appears on the August cover discussed industry-wide pressures to maintain an ideal body type. After losing weight to play a drug addict dying of HIV/AIDS in the 2005 film "Rent," she was stunned to hear compliments about her figure. “I remember everyone asking what did you do to get so thin? You looked great,” Dawson recalled. “I looked emaciated.”
The controversies surrounding the pressure to be too thin and constant airbrushing of photos are nothing new.
“I’m constantly telling girls all the time everything is airbrushed, everything is retouched to the point it’s not even asked,” she told the magazine. “None of us look like that."
In the competitive world of magazine covers, skin is nipped, blemishes erased and waist trimmed. Photoshopping models and celebrities for ultra svelte bodies became a huge topic in France in 2009 when a politician proposed a law that require altered advertisement photographs to carry a label.
This year, the American Medical Association adopted a policy during its annual meeting warning that photo alteration of models’ bodies “can contribute to unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image – especially among impressionable children and adolescents.
“A large body of literature links exposure to media-propagated images of unrealistic body image to eating disorders and other child and adolescent health problems,” according to the AMA.
The group called on advertising associations to discourage altering photos that could promote unrealistic expectations of body image.
From glossy fashion magazines to even health and fitness routinely retouch photographs. Is it contradictory that fitness magazines that preach healthy lifestyle retouch their models or celebrities’ photos to look skinnier?"
Amen. What really struck me is how Ms. Dawson got almost dangerously thin for that part she was playing in "Rent"--she looked "emaciated", as she put it--and yet everyone congratulated her on how thin she was.
There's a line to walk here, of course. We can't just let ourselves go and be content with looking like slobs. We need to take pride in our appearance, and there are things everyone can do, even those with physical differences, to look good. But I continue to be glad that there is occasional push-back in this society against the obsession Hollywood and others have with the ultra-thin, perfect-looks model type, which is leading to eating disorders and an obsession with surface looks rather than true beauty, both inside and out.
AND BY THE WAY--DON'T STOP WORRYING; JUST POSTPONE IT
So says a new Dutch study--check it out:
"For those concerned with shedding some of their anxieties, it seems planning a certain time every day to worry may help stop the stress-out cycle.
When people with adjustment disorders, burnout or severe work problems used techniques to confine their worrying a single, scheduled 30- minute period each day, they were better able to cope with their problems, a new study by researchers in the Netherlands finds.
The study made use of a technique, called "stimulus control," that researchers have studied for almost 30 years. By compartmentalizing worry — setting aside a specific half-hour period each day to think about worries and consider solutions, and also deliberately avoiding thinking about those issues the rest of the day — people can ultimately help reduce those worries, research has shown.
"When we're engaged in worry, it doesn't really help us for someone to tell us to stop worrying," said Tom Borkovec, a professor emeritus of psychology at Penn State University. "If you tell someone to postpone it for a while, we are able to actually do that."
The new study was published in the July issue of the Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
While the new study was small (it began with 62 patients, and a number of them dropped out), the researchers found that people who used worry reduction techniques before beginning therapy regimens reduced their anxiety, stress and depressive symptoms significantly more than people using only standard anxiety treatments.
Four steps are involved in the stimulus control therapy to reduce worrying, according to Borkovec, who was not involved in the new research but was part of the group that developed stimulus control therapy for worry in the early 1980s.
First, patients must identify and realize when they are worrying. Second, they must set aside a time and place to think about these worries. Third, when they catch themselves worrying, they must postpone worrying, and instead focus on the task at hand. Finally, patients are told to use the time they've set aside for worrying to try and solve the problems their worries present."
Read the whole thing; and feel better!
Choosing goals that are important to you is one of the most
essential things you can do in order to live your dreams.
-Les Brown
About the unrealistic expectations many in this society have concerning women and their body image--see what she has to say:
"Actress Rosario Dawson has some pointed words about expectations on women and their bodies.
"It's a form of violence in the way that we look at women and the way we expect them to look and be for what sake? Not for health, survival, not for enjoyment of life, but just so you could look pretty," Dawson told Shape Magazine.
Dawson who appears on the August cover discussed industry-wide pressures to maintain an ideal body type. After losing weight to play a drug addict dying of HIV/AIDS in the 2005 film "Rent," she was stunned to hear compliments about her figure. “I remember everyone asking what did you do to get so thin? You looked great,” Dawson recalled. “I looked emaciated.”
The controversies surrounding the pressure to be too thin and constant airbrushing of photos are nothing new.
“I’m constantly telling girls all the time everything is airbrushed, everything is retouched to the point it’s not even asked,” she told the magazine. “None of us look like that."
In the competitive world of magazine covers, skin is nipped, blemishes erased and waist trimmed. Photoshopping models and celebrities for ultra svelte bodies became a huge topic in France in 2009 when a politician proposed a law that require altered advertisement photographs to carry a label.
This year, the American Medical Association adopted a policy during its annual meeting warning that photo alteration of models’ bodies “can contribute to unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image – especially among impressionable children and adolescents.
“A large body of literature links exposure to media-propagated images of unrealistic body image to eating disorders and other child and adolescent health problems,” according to the AMA.
The group called on advertising associations to discourage altering photos that could promote unrealistic expectations of body image.
From glossy fashion magazines to even health and fitness routinely retouch photographs. Is it contradictory that fitness magazines that preach healthy lifestyle retouch their models or celebrities’ photos to look skinnier?"
Amen. What really struck me is how Ms. Dawson got almost dangerously thin for that part she was playing in "Rent"--she looked "emaciated", as she put it--and yet everyone congratulated her on how thin she was.
There's a line to walk here, of course. We can't just let ourselves go and be content with looking like slobs. We need to take pride in our appearance, and there are things everyone can do, even those with physical differences, to look good. But I continue to be glad that there is occasional push-back in this society against the obsession Hollywood and others have with the ultra-thin, perfect-looks model type, which is leading to eating disorders and an obsession with surface looks rather than true beauty, both inside and out.
AND BY THE WAY--DON'T STOP WORRYING; JUST POSTPONE IT
So says a new Dutch study--check it out:
"For those concerned with shedding some of their anxieties, it seems planning a certain time every day to worry may help stop the stress-out cycle.
When people with adjustment disorders, burnout or severe work problems used techniques to confine their worrying a single, scheduled 30- minute period each day, they were better able to cope with their problems, a new study by researchers in the Netherlands finds.
The study made use of a technique, called "stimulus control," that researchers have studied for almost 30 years. By compartmentalizing worry — setting aside a specific half-hour period each day to think about worries and consider solutions, and also deliberately avoiding thinking about those issues the rest of the day — people can ultimately help reduce those worries, research has shown.
"When we're engaged in worry, it doesn't really help us for someone to tell us to stop worrying," said Tom Borkovec, a professor emeritus of psychology at Penn State University. "If you tell someone to postpone it for a while, we are able to actually do that."
The new study was published in the July issue of the Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
While the new study was small (it began with 62 patients, and a number of them dropped out), the researchers found that people who used worry reduction techniques before beginning therapy regimens reduced their anxiety, stress and depressive symptoms significantly more than people using only standard anxiety treatments.
Four steps are involved in the stimulus control therapy to reduce worrying, according to Borkovec, who was not involved in the new research but was part of the group that developed stimulus control therapy for worry in the early 1980s.
First, patients must identify and realize when they are worrying. Second, they must set aside a time and place to think about these worries. Third, when they catch themselves worrying, they must postpone worrying, and instead focus on the task at hand. Finally, patients are told to use the time they've set aside for worrying to try and solve the problems their worries present."
Read the whole thing; and feel better!
Choosing goals that are important to you is one of the most
essential things you can do in order to live your dreams.
-Les Brown
Monday, July 25, 2011
INTERESTING INSIGHTS FROM A MAN WITH PARTIAL FACIAL PARALYSIS
He doesn't have Moebius Syndrome. But Brian does have a facial difference--and he shares some interesting insights that I think can benefit all of us. Here are some excerpts from his story:
"...it was there from day one, and has been there ever since. My parents never really got into with me how they coped or dealt with it at the time, but judging by the lack of baby pictures, I would imagine it wasn't easy for them.
My childhood was a mixed bag. Naturally, there were the bullies, the "popeye" comments, the being left out from certain groups, but being different as a kid can strengthen your survival skills, and you begin to develop an immunity towards the negative to preserve your sanity and protect your self worth. Looking back, I can see that in that way, my facial paralysis was a sort of "gift" to weed out certain types who might be too shallow or superficial to hang with someone different. On the whole, I still would classify my childhood as pretty normal. The friends I've collected have all been true, the girlfriends, although fewer than desired at the time, all have made me feel comfortable with myself, and I can't think of too many instances where my condition has stopped me from doing anything....
By now, I've learned how to deal with practically all situations that my facial paralysis might put me in. I've learned how to fake a smile for pictures, to politely ignore when strangers ask if I'm seeing a dentist about my abscess, to position myself to sit on the right side of someone at a business meeting, plus other assorted nuances that I've picked up along the way. Of course, I'll have an occasional day when I'll mope, but overall I'm comfortable with who I am, and accept my individuality as my own uniqueness. My self esteem has dramatically improved over the years, thanks to a loving family, and amazing friends who all love and accept me as I am.
So that's my story... it wasn't at all as difficult to write as I had suggested...thanks for reading..and for walking a mile in my smile.."
Amen. I think Brian makes a couple of excellent points. First, yes, with a facial difference, maybe when you're young there will be some who will taunt you and refuse to be your friend. So we should remember: in that case, those people were probably too shallow and superficial to be good friends anyway. Second: the key to finding good relationships in adulthood for people like us? Simple: find those who accept you as you are. They're out there. And you can find them. Go for it!
"You must think of failure and defeat as the springboards to
new achievements or to the next level of accomplishment."
-Les Brown
He doesn't have Moebius Syndrome. But Brian does have a facial difference--and he shares some interesting insights that I think can benefit all of us. Here are some excerpts from his story:
"...it was there from day one, and has been there ever since. My parents never really got into with me how they coped or dealt with it at the time, but judging by the lack of baby pictures, I would imagine it wasn't easy for them.
My childhood was a mixed bag. Naturally, there were the bullies, the "popeye" comments, the being left out from certain groups, but being different as a kid can strengthen your survival skills, and you begin to develop an immunity towards the negative to preserve your sanity and protect your self worth. Looking back, I can see that in that way, my facial paralysis was a sort of "gift" to weed out certain types who might be too shallow or superficial to hang with someone different. On the whole, I still would classify my childhood as pretty normal. The friends I've collected have all been true, the girlfriends, although fewer than desired at the time, all have made me feel comfortable with myself, and I can't think of too many instances where my condition has stopped me from doing anything....
By now, I've learned how to deal with practically all situations that my facial paralysis might put me in. I've learned how to fake a smile for pictures, to politely ignore when strangers ask if I'm seeing a dentist about my abscess, to position myself to sit on the right side of someone at a business meeting, plus other assorted nuances that I've picked up along the way. Of course, I'll have an occasional day when I'll mope, but overall I'm comfortable with who I am, and accept my individuality as my own uniqueness. My self esteem has dramatically improved over the years, thanks to a loving family, and amazing friends who all love and accept me as I am.
So that's my story... it wasn't at all as difficult to write as I had suggested...thanks for reading..and for walking a mile in my smile.."
Amen. I think Brian makes a couple of excellent points. First, yes, with a facial difference, maybe when you're young there will be some who will taunt you and refuse to be your friend. So we should remember: in that case, those people were probably too shallow and superficial to be good friends anyway. Second: the key to finding good relationships in adulthood for people like us? Simple: find those who accept you as you are. They're out there. And you can find them. Go for it!
"You must think of failure and defeat as the springboards to
new achievements or to the next level of accomplishment."
-Les Brown
Friday, July 22, 2011
IN HONOR TODAY OF WESLEY CHARLES VON WILLINGH
Who is no longer with us; but he is not forgotten. Read on:
"My second pregnancy was as uncomplicated as my first. Hence, after the scan in my third semester, I looked forward to the birth. I was rushed into theater after three failed epidurals and Wesley was delivered by Emergency Caesarean.
While battling to open my eyes in the recovery room, trying not to concentrate on the pain after my caesarian, I heard one of the nurses passing a comment: "shame, if only she knew". The doctors told me: "he might not be able to see, hear, talk, walk, in fact he wont be educable. He hardly has a brain. He will need constant caring and would need to be institutionalized".
Still in shock, I was told "Your baby is very sick and might only live for two weeks, but if by a miracle he survives, he might not grow older than 18 years. The diagnosis was Hydrocephalus, Moebius Syndrome and Poland Syndrome. I recall how devistated and helpless I felt.
For three days I shut myself off from the world, refusing to see him or hold him. Instead, I prayed, cried and perfected my negotiation skills with God, whom I couldn't allow to get off lightly. After all, I told him: if you entrust me with this special child, give me the courage to cope, the love to hold him and protect him and the determination to never give up on him, and a three-some pact was sealed that day. Wesley survived against all odds, and up to the age of 13 years managed a hassle-free VP Shunt which had been inserted when he was 4 days old. I recall a further conversation with God when I thanked him for giving Wesley to us but telling him how I longed to hear him say "mommy"
His development was noticeably slower than other babies but a friend who cared for him since the age of 9 months would give me a rundown of his daily activities when I fetched him after work. She recalls how he would turn his head as cars passed the house, attracted by the sounds he heard. When he was just a few months old my sister sent him a Fischer Price CD player, with nursery rhymes. His favorite was Twinkle Twinkle little Star, yet, when we changed the CD to Baa Baa Black Sheep, Wesley objected with what could only be described as an early toi-toi (an African way of objecting to unhappiness by means of chanting or dancing). He displayed a strong rhythmic sense and he showed his appreciation for music by thumping his feet to the beat…especially when we turned the volume down. In true Wesley fashion, at the age of three, 23 July 1999, bypassing the crawling stage, Wesley could walk, talk, and pretty much caught up with his peers reaching each and every Moebius milestone.
What struck me was that Wesley’s development was never recognized or acknowledged by doctors purely because he bypassed the expected "due date" which resulted in his achievements becoming a reason for the family to celebrate and acknowledge his blessings. With my wonderful support system at home, we crossed each and every hurdle with flying colors while Wesley enjoyed the words of encouragement and praise, and offcourse the fuss.
With many instances of school bullying and beating, Wesley remained strong willed, positive and kind hearted. Until about 3 months before he died, he never raised his voice at me. Like always, he greeted me at the door, asked about my day and would follow me into the room. There I would hear about his day and what he did, whom he saw and which girl attracted his attention that day. We would usually talk about the "girl" situation, reassuring me that he wouldn’t step out of line, that he believes a girl should be treated with respect but also lovingly reminding me that he had heard that "lecture" far too many times. He would ask about dinner and follow me into the kitchen as if he was going to help, only to make sure what’s for dinner and off he would go to his room. That night though, was different, he returned from his room minutes later, boldly shouted: "why me, why not Melissa or Kristen, why did you have to do it to me". I was shocked, hurt and bewildered. After what seamed like hours, all I could utter was" Wes, I don’t know. I’m sorry; I think you should ask God." Some time had passed when he eventually came back into the kitchen saying: "Mommy Kay, I’m sorry. I’m ok, I’m fine with who I am – besides, soon I will be able to smile just like you.
Soon forgotten, Wesley was his old self – keeping the girls in line and a so often word of advice to his elder sister, reprimanding her on her dress code with a "I see too much, or please wear something else before you step out of the house or a firm warning to stay clear of drugs and alcohol and a subtle plea not to venture into easy relationships" – the advice Melissa now tells me she misses dearly and valued so much about her brother.
Highlights around Moebius Syndrome are that of how we make the person living with this syndrome / sequence feel.
The facial expression of another person is often the basis on which we form significant impressions such as friendliness, trustworthiness, and status.
What we often overlook is that while someone living with Moebius Syndrome has no facial expression, he / she can easily interpret the shock on another person’s face when coming in contact with them.
With obvious facial differences, speech problems, eating difficulties, children with Moebius Syndrome are often victims at school where they are teased and bullied.
They have difficulty in participating in ordinary child-like activities such as blowing out their birthday candles, inflating balloons or even blowing bubbles. Children might become withdrawn from society as they feel less wanted or welcome amongst their peers and are forced to deal with their emotions of anger, rejection, depression and loneliness to name a few.
On the brink of adulthood, Wesley showed signs of fear, scared that he would not fit in with friends and family and judging from our conversations about girls, his greatest concern was if he would be able to kiss or whether she would feel the ‘butterflies’, but with a clear warning from me to be careful of those butterflies which always sent him off with a roar of laughter.
When Nelson Mandela picked up and read the letter wherein Thando’s mother appealed for his help, lives were bound to change. Through him, the improbable became possible. How thankful we should be that this humble, kind spirited man walked out of prison with no hatred or vengeance in his heart. Lives changed, and so did mine. Through an unselfish act of Nelson Mandela, children like Thando, Wesley, Kelobogile, Divan and many others have received quality of life!
Thando was also born with a rare genetic disorder affecting the facial nerves. Thando couldn’t smile!
Without hesitation, he approached a very prominent businessman, Bertie Lubner who in return consulted with his son Marc who then contacted Prof George Psaras. A Canadian, Dr Ronald Zucker, flew to South Africa to meet with Marc and George to assess Thando as a suitable candidate for the procedure he had performed on children with Moebius Syndrome. In 1999, with Nelson Mandela as a Founder Patron, The Smile Foundation was born.
Thus far the Smile Foundation have hosted many Smile weeks and during such a week up to 40 children receive free medical procedures which ranges between cleft-lip & palate, cleft-lip, facial burns, facial paralysis or Moebius Syndrome (also referred to as Moebius Sequence)
On the eve of the Smile operation on May 24 2007 Wesley was calm yet excited as he had made a date with a special girl at school. I am told that he promised her, a night out, but insisted I drive them because 'my mother would stress too much'.
With the operation being successful, the wonderful caring he received while in hospital and the assurance that he would be back for the second phase, Wesley and I left for home, his dream like Martin Luther King’s had come true!
Friday, 20 July 2007 was like many other evenings for him. He had his favorite audience listening to his selection of music, hosting his private talk shows - including weather forecasts and the latest reviews on politics etc, when suddenly he rushed to urge me to phone Prof Psaras to tell him that he felt a twitch, that when he wakes up tomorrow morning he was sure that he would smile for me. His sisters hugged and kissed him, sharing his excitement. I told him I couldn’t do it, that it was too late and that I was not sure where Prof Psaras was at the time. I assured him that I would inform Prof Psaras via email Monday morning and that he should be patient till then.
When I found him sitting on the bed early hours of Saturday morning, I immediately told him that we should go to hospital. (about 50km away) Wesley told me that God was taking his pain away and that I shouldn’t panic but nothing seemed to matter to me more than to get him to hospital. I offered him mild pain medication and soon after he dozed off to sleep, he alerted me again at 9:00 that morning.
When the Neurosurgeon eventually got to see Wesley, he was talkative, cheerful and responsive. A full blood count was taken, he was going to be sent for a scan and if there was reason for concern, they would hospitalize him for observation. Being admitted to the trauma unit, I was not allowed to stay with him and stepped out for 20 minutes for them to complete the tests.
Upon my return to the ward, I found him with his head turned, not responding to my voice and I could clearly see that his lips had turned blue. The nursing sister who had asked me to leave, assuring me that she would notice when something went wrong, was nowhere near him but came running when she heard me crying frantically for someone to help.
After an emergency operation to release the fluid from the brain that same day, and the subsequent observation thereafter, we were told by the Neurosurgeon that he had reached his mortality, that Wesley would not ever be the same again. Wesley was declared brain dead and that day, 22 July 2007, we had to say our goodbyes.
I don’t know if it will get better, if this deep sense of loss ever fades, but I am glad and grateful that we had Wesley. Clear to me now, is that if I could do it over again, and my journey includes Wesley with Moebius, I would want to do it again.
My Moebius journey has not ended as I intend to share and help other parents in South Africa who might be battling with the challenges they are facing.
After his operation, Wesley told me to start an organization to help others. The initiative is an attempt to provide non-financial support to children born with Moebius Syndrome and their parents. The support hinges around information-sharing, such as coping skills for feeding, which often is the most concerning factor at birth. Furthermore, the need to identify and document children with Moebius Syndrome will form an integral part.
The battle within them about being loved, belonging, and feeling wanted is only a few of the trials they face and it remains our duty as parents to protect and guide them. More importantly, we have to positively expose them to the community so that the outward manifestations of this syndrome can be positively embraced
Project Aims and Objectives
Create a database of children with Moebius Syndrome;
(listing details of patient, diagnostic data, ie symptoms present, where and when diagnosed; medical support ie, network of doctors and examinations needed; family history
Spread the awareness through campaigns, media, posters.
Provide reading material in the three official languages;
Offer support to children and parents – this could be offered via the website, e-mail and printed form;
Obtain funding for a special need feeder (Haberman Feeder) and to supply parents of new-born babies with a feeder.
Offer assistance with recruitment for adults with Moebius Syndrome
Educating the community and educators.
To set up a trust fund of bursaries for children with Moebius Syndrome who wish to further their studies."
"Without some goals and some efforts to reach it, no man can
live." -John Dewey
Who is no longer with us; but he is not forgotten. Read on:
"My second pregnancy was as uncomplicated as my first. Hence, after the scan in my third semester, I looked forward to the birth. I was rushed into theater after three failed epidurals and Wesley was delivered by Emergency Caesarean.
While battling to open my eyes in the recovery room, trying not to concentrate on the pain after my caesarian, I heard one of the nurses passing a comment: "shame, if only she knew". The doctors told me: "he might not be able to see, hear, talk, walk, in fact he wont be educable. He hardly has a brain. He will need constant caring and would need to be institutionalized".
Still in shock, I was told "Your baby is very sick and might only live for two weeks, but if by a miracle he survives, he might not grow older than 18 years. The diagnosis was Hydrocephalus, Moebius Syndrome and Poland Syndrome. I recall how devistated and helpless I felt.
For three days I shut myself off from the world, refusing to see him or hold him. Instead, I prayed, cried and perfected my negotiation skills with God, whom I couldn't allow to get off lightly. After all, I told him: if you entrust me with this special child, give me the courage to cope, the love to hold him and protect him and the determination to never give up on him, and a three-some pact was sealed that day. Wesley survived against all odds, and up to the age of 13 years managed a hassle-free VP Shunt which had been inserted when he was 4 days old. I recall a further conversation with God when I thanked him for giving Wesley to us but telling him how I longed to hear him say "mommy"
His development was noticeably slower than other babies but a friend who cared for him since the age of 9 months would give me a rundown of his daily activities when I fetched him after work. She recalls how he would turn his head as cars passed the house, attracted by the sounds he heard. When he was just a few months old my sister sent him a Fischer Price CD player, with nursery rhymes. His favorite was Twinkle Twinkle little Star, yet, when we changed the CD to Baa Baa Black Sheep, Wesley objected with what could only be described as an early toi-toi (an African way of objecting to unhappiness by means of chanting or dancing). He displayed a strong rhythmic sense and he showed his appreciation for music by thumping his feet to the beat…especially when we turned the volume down. In true Wesley fashion, at the age of three, 23 July 1999, bypassing the crawling stage, Wesley could walk, talk, and pretty much caught up with his peers reaching each and every Moebius milestone.
What struck me was that Wesley’s development was never recognized or acknowledged by doctors purely because he bypassed the expected "due date" which resulted in his achievements becoming a reason for the family to celebrate and acknowledge his blessings. With my wonderful support system at home, we crossed each and every hurdle with flying colors while Wesley enjoyed the words of encouragement and praise, and offcourse the fuss.
With many instances of school bullying and beating, Wesley remained strong willed, positive and kind hearted. Until about 3 months before he died, he never raised his voice at me. Like always, he greeted me at the door, asked about my day and would follow me into the room. There I would hear about his day and what he did, whom he saw and which girl attracted his attention that day. We would usually talk about the "girl" situation, reassuring me that he wouldn’t step out of line, that he believes a girl should be treated with respect but also lovingly reminding me that he had heard that "lecture" far too many times. He would ask about dinner and follow me into the kitchen as if he was going to help, only to make sure what’s for dinner and off he would go to his room. That night though, was different, he returned from his room minutes later, boldly shouted: "why me, why not Melissa or Kristen, why did you have to do it to me". I was shocked, hurt and bewildered. After what seamed like hours, all I could utter was" Wes, I don’t know. I’m sorry; I think you should ask God." Some time had passed when he eventually came back into the kitchen saying: "Mommy Kay, I’m sorry. I’m ok, I’m fine with who I am – besides, soon I will be able to smile just like you.
Soon forgotten, Wesley was his old self – keeping the girls in line and a so often word of advice to his elder sister, reprimanding her on her dress code with a "I see too much, or please wear something else before you step out of the house or a firm warning to stay clear of drugs and alcohol and a subtle plea not to venture into easy relationships" – the advice Melissa now tells me she misses dearly and valued so much about her brother.
Highlights around Moebius Syndrome are that of how we make the person living with this syndrome / sequence feel.
The facial expression of another person is often the basis on which we form significant impressions such as friendliness, trustworthiness, and status.
What we often overlook is that while someone living with Moebius Syndrome has no facial expression, he / she can easily interpret the shock on another person’s face when coming in contact with them.
With obvious facial differences, speech problems, eating difficulties, children with Moebius Syndrome are often victims at school where they are teased and bullied.
They have difficulty in participating in ordinary child-like activities such as blowing out their birthday candles, inflating balloons or even blowing bubbles. Children might become withdrawn from society as they feel less wanted or welcome amongst their peers and are forced to deal with their emotions of anger, rejection, depression and loneliness to name a few.
On the brink of adulthood, Wesley showed signs of fear, scared that he would not fit in with friends and family and judging from our conversations about girls, his greatest concern was if he would be able to kiss or whether she would feel the ‘butterflies’, but with a clear warning from me to be careful of those butterflies which always sent him off with a roar of laughter.
When Nelson Mandela picked up and read the letter wherein Thando’s mother appealed for his help, lives were bound to change. Through him, the improbable became possible. How thankful we should be that this humble, kind spirited man walked out of prison with no hatred or vengeance in his heart. Lives changed, and so did mine. Through an unselfish act of Nelson Mandela, children like Thando, Wesley, Kelobogile, Divan and many others have received quality of life!
Thando was also born with a rare genetic disorder affecting the facial nerves. Thando couldn’t smile!
Without hesitation, he approached a very prominent businessman, Bertie Lubner who in return consulted with his son Marc who then contacted Prof George Psaras. A Canadian, Dr Ronald Zucker, flew to South Africa to meet with Marc and George to assess Thando as a suitable candidate for the procedure he had performed on children with Moebius Syndrome. In 1999, with Nelson Mandela as a Founder Patron, The Smile Foundation was born.
Thus far the Smile Foundation have hosted many Smile weeks and during such a week up to 40 children receive free medical procedures which ranges between cleft-lip & palate, cleft-lip, facial burns, facial paralysis or Moebius Syndrome (also referred to as Moebius Sequence)
On the eve of the Smile operation on May 24 2007 Wesley was calm yet excited as he had made a date with a special girl at school. I am told that he promised her, a night out, but insisted I drive them because 'my mother would stress too much'.
With the operation being successful, the wonderful caring he received while in hospital and the assurance that he would be back for the second phase, Wesley and I left for home, his dream like Martin Luther King’s had come true!
Friday, 20 July 2007 was like many other evenings for him. He had his favorite audience listening to his selection of music, hosting his private talk shows - including weather forecasts and the latest reviews on politics etc, when suddenly he rushed to urge me to phone Prof Psaras to tell him that he felt a twitch, that when he wakes up tomorrow morning he was sure that he would smile for me. His sisters hugged and kissed him, sharing his excitement. I told him I couldn’t do it, that it was too late and that I was not sure where Prof Psaras was at the time. I assured him that I would inform Prof Psaras via email Monday morning and that he should be patient till then.
When I found him sitting on the bed early hours of Saturday morning, I immediately told him that we should go to hospital. (about 50km away) Wesley told me that God was taking his pain away and that I shouldn’t panic but nothing seemed to matter to me more than to get him to hospital. I offered him mild pain medication and soon after he dozed off to sleep, he alerted me again at 9:00 that morning.
When the Neurosurgeon eventually got to see Wesley, he was talkative, cheerful and responsive. A full blood count was taken, he was going to be sent for a scan and if there was reason for concern, they would hospitalize him for observation. Being admitted to the trauma unit, I was not allowed to stay with him and stepped out for 20 minutes for them to complete the tests.
Upon my return to the ward, I found him with his head turned, not responding to my voice and I could clearly see that his lips had turned blue. The nursing sister who had asked me to leave, assuring me that she would notice when something went wrong, was nowhere near him but came running when she heard me crying frantically for someone to help.
After an emergency operation to release the fluid from the brain that same day, and the subsequent observation thereafter, we were told by the Neurosurgeon that he had reached his mortality, that Wesley would not ever be the same again. Wesley was declared brain dead and that day, 22 July 2007, we had to say our goodbyes.
I don’t know if it will get better, if this deep sense of loss ever fades, but I am glad and grateful that we had Wesley. Clear to me now, is that if I could do it over again, and my journey includes Wesley with Moebius, I would want to do it again.
My Moebius journey has not ended as I intend to share and help other parents in South Africa who might be battling with the challenges they are facing.
After his operation, Wesley told me to start an organization to help others. The initiative is an attempt to provide non-financial support to children born with Moebius Syndrome and their parents. The support hinges around information-sharing, such as coping skills for feeding, which often is the most concerning factor at birth. Furthermore, the need to identify and document children with Moebius Syndrome will form an integral part.
The battle within them about being loved, belonging, and feeling wanted is only a few of the trials they face and it remains our duty as parents to protect and guide them. More importantly, we have to positively expose them to the community so that the outward manifestations of this syndrome can be positively embraced
Project Aims and Objectives
Create a database of children with Moebius Syndrome;
(listing details of patient, diagnostic data, ie symptoms present, where and when diagnosed; medical support ie, network of doctors and examinations needed; family history
Spread the awareness through campaigns, media, posters.
Provide reading material in the three official languages;
Offer support to children and parents – this could be offered via the website, e-mail and printed form;
Obtain funding for a special need feeder (Haberman Feeder) and to supply parents of new-born babies with a feeder.
Offer assistance with recruitment for adults with Moebius Syndrome
Educating the community and educators.
To set up a trust fund of bursaries for children with Moebius Syndrome who wish to further their studies."
"Without some goals and some efforts to reach it, no man can
live." -John Dewey
Thursday, July 21, 2011
SOMETHING FOR YOU PARENTS OUT THERE
This is a question that me and my wife often think about--how soon can you start treating your child like a "big boy"? How soon do you get him or her to abandon some of their toddler habits? It can be an even more complicated question if you have a child with Moebius Syndrome. Here's what one mother accomplished recently; her child does not have Moebius, but it is interesting to see what her rationale was:
"For the past couple of months I’ve been trying to get JD to take a shower. He refused my attempts to lead him into the shower and clung to me as I attempted to lift him over the tub, with the shower running. Finally, two nights ago, we reached a milestone: JD took his first shower and enjoyed it—and I got told off on Facebook and deleted by a fan for it!
JD and I were playing outside in the courtyard after dinner and an afternoon in the pool. He smelled like chlorine and was racing cars in the mulch—and getting dirt under his nails. Putting him in the bath would result in instant brown water—Ew. So, I said to him: “Bud, when we get upstairs, you’re taking a shower. You’re not a baby anymore—you’re a big boy.” “I am a superhero boy, Mom!” he said, shot one arm out and charged away from me. “Superheroes take baths!” I said. “Oooooooooo-kay!” JD said, running around the courtyard in Superman-style.
JD is turning 4 next month. HE’S NOT A BABY. I was using this as a way to explain that teeny-tiny babies take baths in sinks and tubs—and it’s time for him to take a big boy shower. I needed a way to make a shower sensible to a resistant pre-schooler. It’s not like JD was crying or whining and I yelled, “Stop acting like a baby!”
My kid goes to a pre-school where he’s required to use the bathroom, clean himself, select his snack from his lunchbox, clean it up, clean up his lunch and put his containers away, put his sheet on his mat, nap, take his sheet off his mat, put it away. At home, JD carries light grocery bags in for me and he brings his dishes to the sink. He helps sort laundry. JD doesn’t want to ride in a stroller or a cart. He doesn’t want help with the bathroom anymore (even though, I still spot check him, lol). He doesn’t like when I pick up his fork and attempt to feed him (when he’s distracted). He reminds his Aunt Lissy, that her son IS A BABY (he’s 1) and that he will teach him how to play cars. He can work an iPad, a computer and a DVD player. So, that evening I told JD to take his clothes off (something he can do, too!) and I turned on the shower and tested the water. He got shy and wanted a bath. “Buddy, are you a baby?” I asked. “No, I’m a big boy!” he said and shot his hands in the air. “Here’s some cool soap (sensitive skin bar),” I said. “You get to wash yourself, but don't put any by your eyes!” I helped him step over the tub. He started laughing as the water bounced off his skin. “This is cool!” He washed his body and hair—and I helped here and there. I was thrilled and I'm sure JD will still get the occasional bath (big kids can take baths too, but I'm glad MY kid is also down to shower!)
When my real live friend replied to my Facebook status: Milestone: No more baths. Showers all the way! Hooray! And whimper, sniffle, with the remark: “Does he wash and shower himself off? I shower both kids, but I have to be in with them.” I wrote back to my friend (again real live friend, not reader who lives in California): “I told him babies take baths then asked him if he was a baby. He said no. I handed him the soap and turned on the 'rain.'"
A fan or one-time fan (?) immediately posted: He's what, four? Jesus, Christine. Pressuring him to not be a "baby" anymore? Wow. Delete.
JD will always be my baby. I will always hug him, kiss him and carry him until he lets me. But as his mom, I’ll also encourage him to be independent, try new things—like “washing up in the rain” (what I call a shower for JD). Maybe you would have explained taking a shower after attempting to get your kid to shower 1000 times already differently (cool!). But this worked for us. And JD is not a baby, nor am I pressuring him not to be a baby. But, why would I want my 4-year-old to be a baby!? Babies can't talk, count, sing the ABC's, eat food, jump in a pool, play on a jungle gym, clean up their toys, dress -- you know, hit MAJOR DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES...Being a baby is a physical thing and has NOTHING to do with the love and support my child will always get from ME."
"Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the
talent that has been entrusted to you." -Henri-Frederic Amiel
This is a question that me and my wife often think about--how soon can you start treating your child like a "big boy"? How soon do you get him or her to abandon some of their toddler habits? It can be an even more complicated question if you have a child with Moebius Syndrome. Here's what one mother accomplished recently; her child does not have Moebius, but it is interesting to see what her rationale was:
"For the past couple of months I’ve been trying to get JD to take a shower. He refused my attempts to lead him into the shower and clung to me as I attempted to lift him over the tub, with the shower running. Finally, two nights ago, we reached a milestone: JD took his first shower and enjoyed it—and I got told off on Facebook and deleted by a fan for it!
JD and I were playing outside in the courtyard after dinner and an afternoon in the pool. He smelled like chlorine and was racing cars in the mulch—and getting dirt under his nails. Putting him in the bath would result in instant brown water—Ew. So, I said to him: “Bud, when we get upstairs, you’re taking a shower. You’re not a baby anymore—you’re a big boy.” “I am a superhero boy, Mom!” he said, shot one arm out and charged away from me. “Superheroes take baths!” I said. “Oooooooooo-kay!” JD said, running around the courtyard in Superman-style.
JD is turning 4 next month. HE’S NOT A BABY. I was using this as a way to explain that teeny-tiny babies take baths in sinks and tubs—and it’s time for him to take a big boy shower. I needed a way to make a shower sensible to a resistant pre-schooler. It’s not like JD was crying or whining and I yelled, “Stop acting like a baby!”
My kid goes to a pre-school where he’s required to use the bathroom, clean himself, select his snack from his lunchbox, clean it up, clean up his lunch and put his containers away, put his sheet on his mat, nap, take his sheet off his mat, put it away. At home, JD carries light grocery bags in for me and he brings his dishes to the sink. He helps sort laundry. JD doesn’t want to ride in a stroller or a cart. He doesn’t want help with the bathroom anymore (even though, I still spot check him, lol). He doesn’t like when I pick up his fork and attempt to feed him (when he’s distracted). He reminds his Aunt Lissy, that her son IS A BABY (he’s 1) and that he will teach him how to play cars. He can work an iPad, a computer and a DVD player. So, that evening I told JD to take his clothes off (something he can do, too!) and I turned on the shower and tested the water. He got shy and wanted a bath. “Buddy, are you a baby?” I asked. “No, I’m a big boy!” he said and shot his hands in the air. “Here’s some cool soap (sensitive skin bar),” I said. “You get to wash yourself, but don't put any by your eyes!” I helped him step over the tub. He started laughing as the water bounced off his skin. “This is cool!” He washed his body and hair—and I helped here and there. I was thrilled and I'm sure JD will still get the occasional bath (big kids can take baths too, but I'm glad MY kid is also down to shower!)
When my real live friend replied to my Facebook status: Milestone: No more baths. Showers all the way! Hooray! And whimper, sniffle, with the remark: “Does he wash and shower himself off? I shower both kids, but I have to be in with them.” I wrote back to my friend (again real live friend, not reader who lives in California): “I told him babies take baths then asked him if he was a baby. He said no. I handed him the soap and turned on the 'rain.'"
A fan or one-time fan (?) immediately posted: He's what, four? Jesus, Christine. Pressuring him to not be a "baby" anymore? Wow. Delete.
JD will always be my baby. I will always hug him, kiss him and carry him until he lets me. But as his mom, I’ll also encourage him to be independent, try new things—like “washing up in the rain” (what I call a shower for JD). Maybe you would have explained taking a shower after attempting to get your kid to shower 1000 times already differently (cool!). But this worked for us. And JD is not a baby, nor am I pressuring him not to be a baby. But, why would I want my 4-year-old to be a baby!? Babies can't talk, count, sing the ABC's, eat food, jump in a pool, play on a jungle gym, clean up their toys, dress -- you know, hit MAJOR DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES...Being a baby is a physical thing and has NOTHING to do with the love and support my child will always get from ME."
"Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the
talent that has been entrusted to you." -Henri-Frederic Amiel
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
KEEP MOVING!
More evidence that living too much of a "sedentary" lifestyle just isn't good for you--but, note that there's also some good news in here too:
"Anyone who’s been paying the slightest bit of attention knows by now that the government and public health organizations want adults to get a minimum amount of exercise on a regular basis.
Generally speaking, guidelines call for 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio (a brisk walk will do) five days a week, two or three weekly sessions of resistance training (usually weightlifting), plus stretching and balance exercises.
Seems like a second full-time job, doesn’t it? If you’re meeting those goals (I admit I’m not), congratulations. The benefits to your long-term health are indisputable.
But now comes sobering news from the American College of Sports Medicine that it might not be enough. For the first time, the world’s largest exercise and sports science organization is singling out our sedentary lifestyle as a health risk factor, regardless of whether we’re getting the proper amount of exercise.
That’s right. You might be working out like a football player at training camp, but if you spend another nine hours each day in front of a computer screen and a few more on the couch watching “How I Met Your Mother” reruns, you’re still endangering your health. And don’t forget that time in the car commuting between your desk and the TV. Or your video game habit.
“Sedentary behavior — sitting for long periods of time — is distinct from physical activity and has been shown to be a health risk in itself. Meeting the guidelines for physical activity does not make up for a sedentary lifestyle,” the ACSM said in the first recent overhaul of its comprehensive recommendations.
Gee, thanks, guys.
This depressing declaration became necessary because “unfortunately there’s been increasing amounts of research that sitting a lot is bad for your health, and that’s true even if you do attain the recommended amount of exercise,” said Carol Ewing Garber, chairman of the group that wrote the new guidelines and an associate professor of movement science at Columbia University. “And that’s quite worrisome on a number of levels, because most people don’t get the recommended amount of exercise.”
Adults spend 60 percent or more of their waking hours sedentary, according to a 2010 review of numerous studies over the past decade, conducted by a group of researchers from Australia and the United States. (Most of the data were gathered by connecting people to accelerometers to measure how long they are still.)
The risks of sitting all day are the ones you’d expect: increased chance of heart disease and diabetes. According to the Canada Fitness Surveys, people who sit a lot showed “significantly poorer long-term mortality outcomes” than those who didn’t. That was true “even among those who were physically active.”
“You don’t want to be engaged in prolonged periods of sedentary behavior,” said Marc Hamilton, a professor of inactivity physiology at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. “Now what is prolonged? Is it 10 minutes? Is it 20 minutes?”
Although the reasons sitting is so bad for you are not totally understood, muscles compose a large part of our bodies and are critical in regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism, Hamilton said. Keep them still for hour upon hour, and you simply won’t burn as many calories as you would if you were moving.
It’s not like these findings should surprise us. Anyone who is parked behind a computer for hours at a time, as I am, becomes acutely aware that nature did not intend for us to spend our days this way. Public health officials have been sounding the alarm about modern sedentary lifestyles for years.
So what can we do? Therein lies some good news.
Just. Get. Up.
The same study I cited above found “intriguing preliminary evidence” that “a higher number of breaks in sedentary time was beneficially associated with waist circumference, body mass index, triglycerides” and other factors.
Yes, research seems to show that by breaking up long periods of sitting still, you can partly counteract the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
“My recommendation from the research is that trying to get up at least once an hour would be a good thing,” Garber said. “Every 30 to 60 minutes, get up while you’re talking on the phone, just for a minute or two.”
Hamilton generally agrees but says the research is so new that recommendations are just guesses. He predicts far-reaching changes in the way we spend our workdays and downtime once the hazards of sitting become widely known.
People need to “find a way they can substantially increase their activity,” he said. It will require “a lot of volume. We need to come up with something better than just taking a jillion little breaks during the day.”
Okay, I gotta go. It’s time for my hourly stroll around the office. Hope you can do the same."
So there you go. It can be hard for some of us to exercise a lot. Maybe you have chronic pain or other bodily issues. But that's the great thing--just try to get up and move around as best you can. Just do your best. Just do...something, one guesses. It can help.
"Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the
twentieth." -Julie Andrews
More evidence that living too much of a "sedentary" lifestyle just isn't good for you--but, note that there's also some good news in here too:
"Anyone who’s been paying the slightest bit of attention knows by now that the government and public health organizations want adults to get a minimum amount of exercise on a regular basis.
Generally speaking, guidelines call for 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio (a brisk walk will do) five days a week, two or three weekly sessions of resistance training (usually weightlifting), plus stretching and balance exercises.
Seems like a second full-time job, doesn’t it? If you’re meeting those goals (I admit I’m not), congratulations. The benefits to your long-term health are indisputable.
But now comes sobering news from the American College of Sports Medicine that it might not be enough. For the first time, the world’s largest exercise and sports science organization is singling out our sedentary lifestyle as a health risk factor, regardless of whether we’re getting the proper amount of exercise.
That’s right. You might be working out like a football player at training camp, but if you spend another nine hours each day in front of a computer screen and a few more on the couch watching “How I Met Your Mother” reruns, you’re still endangering your health. And don’t forget that time in the car commuting between your desk and the TV. Or your video game habit.
“Sedentary behavior — sitting for long periods of time — is distinct from physical activity and has been shown to be a health risk in itself. Meeting the guidelines for physical activity does not make up for a sedentary lifestyle,” the ACSM said in the first recent overhaul of its comprehensive recommendations.
Gee, thanks, guys.
This depressing declaration became necessary because “unfortunately there’s been increasing amounts of research that sitting a lot is bad for your health, and that’s true even if you do attain the recommended amount of exercise,” said Carol Ewing Garber, chairman of the group that wrote the new guidelines and an associate professor of movement science at Columbia University. “And that’s quite worrisome on a number of levels, because most people don’t get the recommended amount of exercise.”
Adults spend 60 percent or more of their waking hours sedentary, according to a 2010 review of numerous studies over the past decade, conducted by a group of researchers from Australia and the United States. (Most of the data were gathered by connecting people to accelerometers to measure how long they are still.)
The risks of sitting all day are the ones you’d expect: increased chance of heart disease and diabetes. According to the Canada Fitness Surveys, people who sit a lot showed “significantly poorer long-term mortality outcomes” than those who didn’t. That was true “even among those who were physically active.”
“You don’t want to be engaged in prolonged periods of sedentary behavior,” said Marc Hamilton, a professor of inactivity physiology at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. “Now what is prolonged? Is it 10 minutes? Is it 20 minutes?”
Although the reasons sitting is so bad for you are not totally understood, muscles compose a large part of our bodies and are critical in regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism, Hamilton said. Keep them still for hour upon hour, and you simply won’t burn as many calories as you would if you were moving.
It’s not like these findings should surprise us. Anyone who is parked behind a computer for hours at a time, as I am, becomes acutely aware that nature did not intend for us to spend our days this way. Public health officials have been sounding the alarm about modern sedentary lifestyles for years.
So what can we do? Therein lies some good news.
Just. Get. Up.
The same study I cited above found “intriguing preliminary evidence” that “a higher number of breaks in sedentary time was beneficially associated with waist circumference, body mass index, triglycerides” and other factors.
Yes, research seems to show that by breaking up long periods of sitting still, you can partly counteract the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
“My recommendation from the research is that trying to get up at least once an hour would be a good thing,” Garber said. “Every 30 to 60 minutes, get up while you’re talking on the phone, just for a minute or two.”
Hamilton generally agrees but says the research is so new that recommendations are just guesses. He predicts far-reaching changes in the way we spend our workdays and downtime once the hazards of sitting become widely known.
People need to “find a way they can substantially increase their activity,” he said. It will require “a lot of volume. We need to come up with something better than just taking a jillion little breaks during the day.”
Okay, I gotta go. It’s time for my hourly stroll around the office. Hope you can do the same."
So there you go. It can be hard for some of us to exercise a lot. Maybe you have chronic pain or other bodily issues. But that's the great thing--just try to get up and move around as best you can. Just do your best. Just do...something, one guesses. It can help.
"Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the
twentieth." -Julie Andrews
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
YET MORE REASON TO GET PLENTY OF SLEEP
Otherwise it can make you angry at the world, looking for revenge:
"The next time your boss scolds you for low production and claims that as the reason for not giving you a well-deserved raise, she may not be unfair. She may be sleepy.
A new study shows that when people, in this case college students, are sleepy they are more likely to think about how events could have turned out differently and ponder how situations could have been better. Depending on the outcome, they may blame others and even seek revenge. Researchers call this sleepy thinking ‘counterfactual.’
Irritability, moodiness and complaining are well researched side effect of sleepiness, but the new study is believed to be the first to explore how people actually think when they’re sleepy, says principal investigator David Mastin, associate professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He presented the abstract last week at SLEEP 2011, the 25th anniversary meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.
“We need to realize that sleep deprivation is debilitating,” he says. “It causes people to have car accidents and make poor judgments. Would you want your supervisor reviewing you for a promotion when they are sleepy? They may say, ‘Quarterly sales were down last month and whose fault was that?’ If they are sleepy, they are more likely to seek revenge and not give you that raise.
“You hope the state trooper who pulls you over has had enough sleep. Now we can imagine how important it can be to understand how not having enough sleep affects us, the impact it can have on our marriages, the way we treat people in the workplace. During voir dire, should lawyers ask jurors how sleepy they are?”
Sherri Williams, a first-year mass communications Ph.D. student at Syracuse University, says she realized her thinking was stinking last week after she stayed up overnight to complete class work. She found herself mad at the world.
“I was extra aggravated by everything people did,” acknowledges Williams, 38. “I was mad at the phone company for charging me $120 to talk and text, and for having to pay $100 to watch TV each month. Then I remembered I had been awake for 27 hours.”
Mastin says other cultures, such as Latin cultures, seem to understand what Americans don’t: Getting enough sleep is vital for a quality life.
“They have siesta periods; in our culture we almost regard taking naps as childish,” he says. “As psychologists, we want to understand the human condition, and we should know what’s going on when people are sleepy.”
These study results mean researchers will focus more attention on people in professions that often require them to sacrifice sleep.
“Having no sleep can affect our motor coordination and can be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol,” Mastin explains. “So we’re starting to pay attention to truck drivers and air plane pilots and physicians who are sleepy. We would never tolerate somebody being drunk in the workplace. But sleepy? We don’t give it a second thought.”
Persons with Moebius Syndrome have to work extra hard at this, sometimes; we can be plagued by night terrors and the various sleep issues that all people in this world seem to have. But continuing to work at getting required sleep is a must.
"You must have long-range goals to keep you from being
frustrated by short-range failures." -Charles C. Noble
Otherwise it can make you angry at the world, looking for revenge:
"The next time your boss scolds you for low production and claims that as the reason for not giving you a well-deserved raise, she may not be unfair. She may be sleepy.
A new study shows that when people, in this case college students, are sleepy they are more likely to think about how events could have turned out differently and ponder how situations could have been better. Depending on the outcome, they may blame others and even seek revenge. Researchers call this sleepy thinking ‘counterfactual.’
Irritability, moodiness and complaining are well researched side effect of sleepiness, but the new study is believed to be the first to explore how people actually think when they’re sleepy, says principal investigator David Mastin, associate professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He presented the abstract last week at SLEEP 2011, the 25th anniversary meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.
“We need to realize that sleep deprivation is debilitating,” he says. “It causes people to have car accidents and make poor judgments. Would you want your supervisor reviewing you for a promotion when they are sleepy? They may say, ‘Quarterly sales were down last month and whose fault was that?’ If they are sleepy, they are more likely to seek revenge and not give you that raise.
“You hope the state trooper who pulls you over has had enough sleep. Now we can imagine how important it can be to understand how not having enough sleep affects us, the impact it can have on our marriages, the way we treat people in the workplace. During voir dire, should lawyers ask jurors how sleepy they are?”
Sherri Williams, a first-year mass communications Ph.D. student at Syracuse University, says she realized her thinking was stinking last week after she stayed up overnight to complete class work. She found herself mad at the world.
“I was extra aggravated by everything people did,” acknowledges Williams, 38. “I was mad at the phone company for charging me $120 to talk and text, and for having to pay $100 to watch TV each month. Then I remembered I had been awake for 27 hours.”
Mastin says other cultures, such as Latin cultures, seem to understand what Americans don’t: Getting enough sleep is vital for a quality life.
“They have siesta periods; in our culture we almost regard taking naps as childish,” he says. “As psychologists, we want to understand the human condition, and we should know what’s going on when people are sleepy.”
These study results mean researchers will focus more attention on people in professions that often require them to sacrifice sleep.
“Having no sleep can affect our motor coordination and can be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol,” Mastin explains. “So we’re starting to pay attention to truck drivers and air plane pilots and physicians who are sleepy. We would never tolerate somebody being drunk in the workplace. But sleepy? We don’t give it a second thought.”
Persons with Moebius Syndrome have to work extra hard at this, sometimes; we can be plagued by night terrors and the various sleep issues that all people in this world seem to have. But continuing to work at getting required sleep is a must.
"You must have long-range goals to keep you from being
frustrated by short-range failures." -Charles C. Noble
Monday, July 18, 2011
TODAY'S BRAIN TALK
Seems that the "Google Effect" is altering our brains these days; that is, we don't necessarily remember facts nowadays--rather, we remember how to find it on the 'net:
"A new study confirms it: Google is altering your brain. More precisely, our growing dependence on the Internet has changed how -- and what -- our brains choose to remember.
When we know where to find information, we're less likely to remember it -- an amnesia dubbed "The Google Effect" by a team led by psychologist Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University.
Goodbye, soul-searching; hello, facts-at-fingertips.
The finding, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, doesn't prove that Google, Yahoo or other search engines are making us dumber, as some have asserted. We're still capable of remembering things that matter -- and are not easily found online, Sparrow said.
Rather, it suggests that the human memory is reorganizing where it goes for information, adapting to new computing technologies rather than relying purely on rote memory. We're outsourcing "search" from our brains to our computers.
"We're not thoughtless, empty-headed people who don't have memories anymore," Sparrow said. "But we are becoming particularly adept at remembering where to go find things. And that's kind of amazing."
In a series of four experiments at Columbia and Harvard, Sparrow and her team found that students are more likely to recall a trivial fact if they think it will be erased from the computer -- and forget it if they're assured it will be there.
Similarly, the team proved that people are better at remembering where to find facts rather than the facts themselves. The students, they found, recalled the names of files where information was stored rather than the information itself.
This creates a mental dependency on instant access to information, the team noted.
No wonder the loss of our Internet connection feels like losing a friend, researchers wrote."
This doesn't surprise me, as I think about it. It goes along with what I've noticed in my teaching. I always tell students, when you really need to remember something, write it down. The act of writing it down helps you remember things. That's why taking notes in class during a lecture, or on a book one is reading, helps so much. Maybe it has to do with the fact that you're doing some work with the material, adding some extra focus to it with your brain; maybe that is at least partly what helps with memory.
Meanwhile, with the internet, doesn't it seem like we most focus these days when we're googling for something? That's when we're working the hardest, when we're most focused. That's when the brain is paying the most attention. No wonder we remember it. Of course, it's also really not such a good thing that we're so dependent on the computer for retrieving certain facts. What if one day you don't have access to a computer? Well, anyway...once again we see how changing times alter our brains. But then, we with Moebius know our brains are very complex things...
A GOOD EXAMPLE OF INCLUSION
The article excerpt I include below actually has nothing directly to do with Moebius or facial differences; but what it does highlight is the kind of attitude I think all of us in this community want to see: doing one's best to make sure anyone with a difference feels included:
"Charlotte Jude Schwartz hates being allergic to peanuts and tree nuts but, thanks to her mother's creativity about food, it's not too hard to stick to her allergy-free regimen.
On Halloween in 2007, since trick-or-treating is challenging for kids with allergies, Mireille Schwartz rented a clear wedding tent, set it up in their cul de sac, decorated it like a haunted house and offered peanut-free and other allergy-sensitive treats. That way, anyone in the neighborhood could enjoy a party without worrying about getting an allergic reaction to those common candy ingredients
"After the tent had been disassembled, I lay in bed and I was thinking about other kids' Halloweens. And it just broke my heart," Schwartz said. "There had to be a way to keep children safe, and not just safe but enjoying and living vibrant and full lives."
The party became the seed of an idea that's become an important resource for food allergy sufferers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Schwartz started the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board, which matches people living with food allergies with doctors who can provide clear diagnoses and recommendations. The organization covers the costs for these medical expenses, including prescriptions, and offers advice on how to make and buy safe foods in a cost-effective manner.
Schwartz is among many parents of food allergic children who are putting in extra time and money to make sure that their kids feel included in normal activities. Those costs are in addition to medical expenses related to serious allergies, including refills of prescriptions for lifesaving epinephrine autoinjectors.
No one gets turned away, and some of the money comes out of Schwartz's own pocket. Charlotte, 11, also donates money to the cause from her allowance and dog-walking earnings. "There's so many people out there who have this problem, and if a dollar can help it, just one little bit, I'll give a million dollars!" she says enthusiastically."
"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." -Anna Freud
Seems that the "Google Effect" is altering our brains these days; that is, we don't necessarily remember facts nowadays--rather, we remember how to find it on the 'net:
"A new study confirms it: Google is altering your brain. More precisely, our growing dependence on the Internet has changed how -- and what -- our brains choose to remember.
When we know where to find information, we're less likely to remember it -- an amnesia dubbed "The Google Effect" by a team led by psychologist Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University.
Goodbye, soul-searching; hello, facts-at-fingertips.
The finding, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, doesn't prove that Google, Yahoo or other search engines are making us dumber, as some have asserted. We're still capable of remembering things that matter -- and are not easily found online, Sparrow said.
Rather, it suggests that the human memory is reorganizing where it goes for information, adapting to new computing technologies rather than relying purely on rote memory. We're outsourcing "search" from our brains to our computers.
"We're not thoughtless, empty-headed people who don't have memories anymore," Sparrow said. "But we are becoming particularly adept at remembering where to go find things. And that's kind of amazing."
In a series of four experiments at Columbia and Harvard, Sparrow and her team found that students are more likely to recall a trivial fact if they think it will be erased from the computer -- and forget it if they're assured it will be there.
Similarly, the team proved that people are better at remembering where to find facts rather than the facts themselves. The students, they found, recalled the names of files where information was stored rather than the information itself.
This creates a mental dependency on instant access to information, the team noted.
No wonder the loss of our Internet connection feels like losing a friend, researchers wrote."
This doesn't surprise me, as I think about it. It goes along with what I've noticed in my teaching. I always tell students, when you really need to remember something, write it down. The act of writing it down helps you remember things. That's why taking notes in class during a lecture, or on a book one is reading, helps so much. Maybe it has to do with the fact that you're doing some work with the material, adding some extra focus to it with your brain; maybe that is at least partly what helps with memory.
Meanwhile, with the internet, doesn't it seem like we most focus these days when we're googling for something? That's when we're working the hardest, when we're most focused. That's when the brain is paying the most attention. No wonder we remember it. Of course, it's also really not such a good thing that we're so dependent on the computer for retrieving certain facts. What if one day you don't have access to a computer? Well, anyway...once again we see how changing times alter our brains. But then, we with Moebius know our brains are very complex things...
A GOOD EXAMPLE OF INCLUSION
The article excerpt I include below actually has nothing directly to do with Moebius or facial differences; but what it does highlight is the kind of attitude I think all of us in this community want to see: doing one's best to make sure anyone with a difference feels included:
"Charlotte Jude Schwartz hates being allergic to peanuts and tree nuts but, thanks to her mother's creativity about food, it's not too hard to stick to her allergy-free regimen.
On Halloween in 2007, since trick-or-treating is challenging for kids with allergies, Mireille Schwartz rented a clear wedding tent, set it up in their cul de sac, decorated it like a haunted house and offered peanut-free and other allergy-sensitive treats. That way, anyone in the neighborhood could enjoy a party without worrying about getting an allergic reaction to those common candy ingredients
"After the tent had been disassembled, I lay in bed and I was thinking about other kids' Halloweens. And it just broke my heart," Schwartz said. "There had to be a way to keep children safe, and not just safe but enjoying and living vibrant and full lives."
The party became the seed of an idea that's become an important resource for food allergy sufferers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Schwartz started the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board, which matches people living with food allergies with doctors who can provide clear diagnoses and recommendations. The organization covers the costs for these medical expenses, including prescriptions, and offers advice on how to make and buy safe foods in a cost-effective manner.
Schwartz is among many parents of food allergic children who are putting in extra time and money to make sure that their kids feel included in normal activities. Those costs are in addition to medical expenses related to serious allergies, including refills of prescriptions for lifesaving epinephrine autoinjectors.
No one gets turned away, and some of the money comes out of Schwartz's own pocket. Charlotte, 11, also donates money to the cause from her allowance and dog-walking earnings. "There's so many people out there who have this problem, and if a dollar can help it, just one little bit, I'll give a million dollars!" she says enthusiastically."
"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." -Anna Freud
Friday, July 15, 2011
SOME GOOD DATING TIPS
Hey, all you men with Moebius Syndrome out there who want to date and meet women--here's some good tips for you:
"You have to think about picking up girls the exact same way you think about picking up a box. You just do it. Seriously. After working with thousands of men all around the world, I have found that the common issue holding men back with women is that "thing" on top of their shoulders. It thinks, analyzes and makes excuses, so rejection is self-inflicted before women even get a chance to do it.
Here are six secrets men need to know about women to help them stop that "thing" in their head from destroying their dating life:
Women have baggage, too, especially the attractive ones. You think insecurity and low confidence are only for those who are fat, bald and ugly? Not so, my friend. Just because a woman is hot does not mean that her life is perfect. Remember, beauty does not equal perfection. It's simply one thing about a woman that she literally wears on her sleeve.
Women prefer personality to looks. As a woman, I know this to be very true. But I also know it's a tough one for men to swallow. Obviously, in the first five seconds, she judges a man based on his looks. But after that, something interesting happens: A man's face shifts according to how he makes a woman feel. A hot man can become hideous, and an average-looking man can become the sexiest guy in the room. What women are really attracted to has nothing to do with appearance. It has to do with the character a man projects. A man who is calm, cool, collected, comfortable and confident will trump an Abercrombie model every time.
Women DO NOT like bad boys. Not sure who started this rumor, but they must be shot immediately. Women do not sit around with their girlfriends and say "Oh, Marni, I can't wait to meet a lazy, unreliable jerk who treats me poorly and feeds on my insecurities." Women like nice guys, not wimps, pushovers or pleasers; nice guys with a backbone and strong sense of self.
There's no "right" line, but there's a right way to say it. If I had four men approach me using the same, tried-and-tested pickup line, do you think I would be attracted to all four of them? Maybe, but highly unlikely. I can tell you that if the right man with the right character came up to me and said "banana, banana, banana," I would giggle like a little schoolgirl and instantly feel attraction for him.
There is never a bad time to approach a woman. Women want to be approached, as long as it's by the right person. If you see a girl you like, stop, breathe and think to yourself, "She's adorable. I want to talk to her and see if I like her." Notice the "I want" and the spirit of figuring out what you like. Until you get to know this girl, it's about you, not her.
Women want you to respect them, not admire them. So stop putting women you know nothing about on pedestals. Yes, they're hot, yes other men may want them, but that does not mean that all self-respect gets thrown out the door. Respect yourself first, and women will follow.
So use these lessons as the first step to eliminating the anxiety that "thing" produces. The second part is getting out there and practicing. Sitting on your couch watching "Law & Order" is not going to bring you results with women."
Yep--just do it. Get out there. And it will happen for you!
"It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It
does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again."
-Kettering
Hey, all you men with Moebius Syndrome out there who want to date and meet women--here's some good tips for you:
"You have to think about picking up girls the exact same way you think about picking up a box. You just do it. Seriously. After working with thousands of men all around the world, I have found that the common issue holding men back with women is that "thing" on top of their shoulders. It thinks, analyzes and makes excuses, so rejection is self-inflicted before women even get a chance to do it.
Here are six secrets men need to know about women to help them stop that "thing" in their head from destroying their dating life:
Women have baggage, too, especially the attractive ones. You think insecurity and low confidence are only for those who are fat, bald and ugly? Not so, my friend. Just because a woman is hot does not mean that her life is perfect. Remember, beauty does not equal perfection. It's simply one thing about a woman that she literally wears on her sleeve.
Women prefer personality to looks. As a woman, I know this to be very true. But I also know it's a tough one for men to swallow. Obviously, in the first five seconds, she judges a man based on his looks. But after that, something interesting happens: A man's face shifts according to how he makes a woman feel. A hot man can become hideous, and an average-looking man can become the sexiest guy in the room. What women are really attracted to has nothing to do with appearance. It has to do with the character a man projects. A man who is calm, cool, collected, comfortable and confident will trump an Abercrombie model every time.
Women DO NOT like bad boys. Not sure who started this rumor, but they must be shot immediately. Women do not sit around with their girlfriends and say "Oh, Marni, I can't wait to meet a lazy, unreliable jerk who treats me poorly and feeds on my insecurities." Women like nice guys, not wimps, pushovers or pleasers; nice guys with a backbone and strong sense of self.
There's no "right" line, but there's a right way to say it. If I had four men approach me using the same, tried-and-tested pickup line, do you think I would be attracted to all four of them? Maybe, but highly unlikely. I can tell you that if the right man with the right character came up to me and said "banana, banana, banana," I would giggle like a little schoolgirl and instantly feel attraction for him.
There is never a bad time to approach a woman. Women want to be approached, as long as it's by the right person. If you see a girl you like, stop, breathe and think to yourself, "She's adorable. I want to talk to her and see if I like her." Notice the "I want" and the spirit of figuring out what you like. Until you get to know this girl, it's about you, not her.
Women want you to respect them, not admire them. So stop putting women you know nothing about on pedestals. Yes, they're hot, yes other men may want them, but that does not mean that all self-respect gets thrown out the door. Respect yourself first, and women will follow.
So use these lessons as the first step to eliminating the anxiety that "thing" produces. The second part is getting out there and practicing. Sitting on your couch watching "Law & Order" is not going to bring you results with women."
Yep--just do it. Get out there. And it will happen for you!
"It doesn't matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It
does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again."
-Kettering
Thursday, July 14, 2011
GREAT WORK BEING DONE IN THE PHILIPPINES
And it's being done for children with physical and facial differences, by those trying to make a difference--note that a young lady with Moebius Syndrome is being helped:
"...[The group is called] the Philippine Society of Orphan Disorders (PSOD) who toured Manila Ocean Park and Museo Pambata. The special event, dubbed as “Rare Moments”, is another project of Photography with a Difference (PWD). PWD is led by renowned photographer and advocate John Chua who aims to create public awareness about persons with disabilities (PWDs) through beautiful photographs. This event was made possible by Canon Philippines, Canon A-Team, SM Program for Disability Affairs, Manila Ocean Park, and Museo Pambata.
...[PSOD is] a non-government organization that raises public awareness on these rare disorders. The organization assists patients and their families through support groups and by providing access to doctors and researchers in the management of these conditions.
“This is one great worry-free day for the kids and we are grateful to the team that organized this event. This is special for them because it is the first time for most of the kids to be at the Manila Ocean Park and Museo Pambata. Most of our members are from low-income families and they don’t have the resources to go to these places,”explains PSOD president Cynthia Magdaraog.
PSOD has a total of 147 members suffering from different, rare diseases, that include Rett Syndrome, a disorder in the nervous system that affects the expressive language and hand use; Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) that causes identical and abnormal physical features to the inflicted and also cause mental retardation; Maple Syrup Urine Disease that prevents the inflicted from consuming protein, which otherwise causes neurological damage.
Another patient, 11-year-old Bea Villalobos was so happy during the event since it was also her first time to set foot on those venues. “I was excited. I really like the fishes,” she says. Bea suffers from Moebius Syndrome, a neurological disorder that is characterized by facial paralysis. Bea was born cross-eyed and clubfooted. She is scheduled for operation on her feet. Like Gwen, she is also wheelchairbound.
What PSOD is ultimately aiming for is to establish a nationwide registry of relevant and material statistical information, medications, drug trials and all other pertinent information about orphan disorders. In a particular disorder, according to National Institute of Health, at least one in every 20,000 is inflicted, but it can also be as rare as one in 40,000, one in 60,000 and so on.
“We’re campaigning for registry because the more patients that we have, the more likely the government will help us. And also for pharmaceutical companies, encourage them to pursue developmental medicine. Worldwide, there is a campaign to increase registry,” Magdaraog says.
Established in 2006, PSOD has been pushing for reforms and understanding from both the society and the government. Medical professionals from the University of the Philippines, National Institute of Health, and Institute of Human Genetics have been consistently supporting the organization and its efforts.
“Most of our patients are referred to us by the Institute of Human Genetics for help. For example the family needs medicine and we direct them to sponsors and doctors who can provide proper care. We also have family support wherein we train parents, especially mothers on proper home care giving skills,” she shares.
She also says that there is a program instituted by the Institute of Human Genetics wherein they orient pediatricians about the symptoms of these rare diseases and how they can be detected.
PSOD wants to create awareness so as parents with children who are inflicted with these rare diseases won’t just abandon their children. In most cases, one of the parents tends to abandon their child or children inflicted with a rare disease. Since most of these diseases are due to genetics, some families have more than one child in the family inflicted with the condition.
“Our thrust now is to talk to the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to include this sector in their self and social welfare agendas. We need a seal of approval that this sector exists and needs to be taken care of. We also have a bill pending in the Senate, the rare disease act,” Magdaraog says.
“Our priority is the children, if they are not treated the right away, they will die or become severely mentally and physically challenged. We believe that everyone has a right to life and the right to live productively,” she ends."
"He who asks a question is a fool for a minute; he who does
not remains a fool forever." -Chinese proverb
And it's being done for children with physical and facial differences, by those trying to make a difference--note that a young lady with Moebius Syndrome is being helped:
"...[The group is called] the Philippine Society of Orphan Disorders (PSOD) who toured Manila Ocean Park and Museo Pambata. The special event, dubbed as “Rare Moments”, is another project of Photography with a Difference (PWD). PWD is led by renowned photographer and advocate John Chua who aims to create public awareness about persons with disabilities (PWDs) through beautiful photographs. This event was made possible by Canon Philippines, Canon A-Team, SM Program for Disability Affairs, Manila Ocean Park, and Museo Pambata.
...[PSOD is] a non-government organization that raises public awareness on these rare disorders. The organization assists patients and their families through support groups and by providing access to doctors and researchers in the management of these conditions.
“This is one great worry-free day for the kids and we are grateful to the team that organized this event. This is special for them because it is the first time for most of the kids to be at the Manila Ocean Park and Museo Pambata. Most of our members are from low-income families and they don’t have the resources to go to these places,”explains PSOD president Cynthia Magdaraog.
PSOD has a total of 147 members suffering from different, rare diseases, that include Rett Syndrome, a disorder in the nervous system that affects the expressive language and hand use; Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) that causes identical and abnormal physical features to the inflicted and also cause mental retardation; Maple Syrup Urine Disease that prevents the inflicted from consuming protein, which otherwise causes neurological damage.
Another patient, 11-year-old Bea Villalobos was so happy during the event since it was also her first time to set foot on those venues. “I was excited. I really like the fishes,” she says. Bea suffers from Moebius Syndrome, a neurological disorder that is characterized by facial paralysis. Bea was born cross-eyed and clubfooted. She is scheduled for operation on her feet. Like Gwen, she is also wheelchairbound.
What PSOD is ultimately aiming for is to establish a nationwide registry of relevant and material statistical information, medications, drug trials and all other pertinent information about orphan disorders. In a particular disorder, according to National Institute of Health, at least one in every 20,000 is inflicted, but it can also be as rare as one in 40,000, one in 60,000 and so on.
“We’re campaigning for registry because the more patients that we have, the more likely the government will help us. And also for pharmaceutical companies, encourage them to pursue developmental medicine. Worldwide, there is a campaign to increase registry,” Magdaraog says.
Established in 2006, PSOD has been pushing for reforms and understanding from both the society and the government. Medical professionals from the University of the Philippines, National Institute of Health, and Institute of Human Genetics have been consistently supporting the organization and its efforts.
“Most of our patients are referred to us by the Institute of Human Genetics for help. For example the family needs medicine and we direct them to sponsors and doctors who can provide proper care. We also have family support wherein we train parents, especially mothers on proper home care giving skills,” she shares.
She also says that there is a program instituted by the Institute of Human Genetics wherein they orient pediatricians about the symptoms of these rare diseases and how they can be detected.
PSOD wants to create awareness so as parents with children who are inflicted with these rare diseases won’t just abandon their children. In most cases, one of the parents tends to abandon their child or children inflicted with a rare disease. Since most of these diseases are due to genetics, some families have more than one child in the family inflicted with the condition.
“Our thrust now is to talk to the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to include this sector in their self and social welfare agendas. We need a seal of approval that this sector exists and needs to be taken care of. We also have a bill pending in the Senate, the rare disease act,” Magdaraog says.
“Our priority is the children, if they are not treated the right away, they will die or become severely mentally and physically challenged. We believe that everyone has a right to life and the right to live productively,” she ends."
"He who asks a question is a fool for a minute; he who does
not remains a fool forever." -Chinese proverb
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
TREATMENT FOR KIDS WITH 'LAZY EYE'
This might be useful information for some of you moms and dads with Moebius children; occasionally "lazy eye" can be a part of a mild case of Moebius, if I remember right:
"Treating "lazy eye" is more likely to be successful the younger the child, but even older kids can benefit more than was previously believed, according to a large new study.
Researchers reviewed data on nearly 1,000 children treated for amblyopia, or lazy eye — diminished vision in one eye that can stem from a number of causes. They found that kids between the ages of three and seven were much more responsive to treatment than kids between seven and 13, especially in moderate to severe cases.
Despite older kids achieving less dramatic improvements than the younger groups, however, they did get somewhat better and in a few cases saw significant vision gains.
"Earlier is still better, but you still can treat late," said study co-author Dr. Michael Repka, an ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
A lazy eye is caused either by shortsightedness in one eye, or a misalignment of the eye that affects vision. If the condition is left untreated, the brain will eventually begin to ignore the images from the lazy eye, leading to permanent vision problems.
It is the leading cause of vision problems in children, affecting between two and four percent of all children.
Treatment begins by first addressing any underlying eye conditions that are responsible for the poor vision through surgery, eye exercises or eyeglasses. Next, the good eye is covered with a patch for two hours a day or given vision-blurring eye drops to force the weaker eye to work.
The treatment has no significant side effects and with it, "85 percent of children get to 20-30 vision or better," said Repka.
To see whether age makes a difference in how successful treatment will be, he and his colleagues in the multi-institution Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group reviewed the results of four previous studies that included 996 children.
The kids were divided into three groups: ages three to five, five to seven and seven to 13. They were also separated into two categories, moderate and severe, depending on the quality of vision in their affected eye.
Younger children showed a better response to treatment in both moderate and severe cases of lazy eye. Among moderate cases, children aged three to five improved their vision by 39 percent more than the oldest children and the kids between five and seven improved their vision 46 percent more.
Measuring vision improvements by a scale known as logMAR lines, which roughly reflects rows on a standard eye chart, kids between three and five gained an average of 2.29 lines, kids five to seven gained 2.41 lines and kids seven to 13 gained 1.65 lines.
More dramatic differences were observed in children with a severe lazy eye, although the authors caution that the study did not include many children with severe disease so the numbers may not be broadly representative.
In that category, children in the youngest age group improved their vision, on average, by 4.16 lines of visual acuity -- more than twice as much the oldest children who gained 1.99 lines.
The response to treatment for a lazy eye "is only important if they maintain that level" of vision, noted Dr. Norman Medow, director of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, who was not involved in the study.
The new results are important, but the patient's age may not predict whether they are likely to see long-term benefits from the treatment, he told Reuters Health.
Despite the advantage of earlier treatment, Repka observed that the benefits of the treatment for older children were better than previously thought. "A group that we didn't think is treatable is moderately treatable," he said."
HAVING A DOG OR CAT IS GOOD FOR YOU
And not just if you are lonely or ill, either, reports the Washington Post:
"Lots of research has indicated that having a dog or a cat can help people live happier, healthier lives. But it’s been unclear whether there really is a cause-and-effect relationship between pet ownership and better physical and mental health. Now, new research indicates that the benefits of having a canine or feline companion are real and broad.
A team of psychologists from Miami University and St. Louis University conducted a series of studies aimed at trying to tease out the benefits of pet ownership.
“Although there is correlational evidence that pets may help individuals facing significant life stressors, little is known about the well-being benefits of patterns for everyday people,” they wrote in a paper published online this week by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In the first part of the research, 217 people answered detailed questionnaires online designed to determine whether pet owners tend to be different from people who do not own pets. The survey assessed variables such as depression, loneliness, self-esteem, illness, activity level and their relationships with other people. The researchers found that, in fact, there were lots of differences, with pet owners faring much better overall. For example, pet owners tended to be less lonely, have higher self-esteem, get more exercise, be more extroverted and were less fearful about getting close to other people.
In the second part of the research, the researchers studied 56 dog owners. In addition to filling out the same questionnaire used in the first part of the study, the researchers also gathered detailed information about how they related to their dogs, and to other people. The owners tended to get the most benefit from having a canine companion when their dogs “complemented rather than competed” with humans in their lives, the researchers found.
“In fact ... we repeatedly observed evidence that people who enjoyed greater benefits from their pets also were closer to other important people in their lives and received more support from them, not less,” the researchers wrote.
Dogs that were less fearful, more active and less aggressive toward people and other animals seemed to fulfill their owners’ needs the best, the researchers found.
In the last experiment, the researchers brought 97 undergraduates into the laboratory and asked them to write about a time when they felt socially excluded and then write about a favorite pet or a favorite friend. Writing about pets was just as effective as writing about a friend in terms of minimizing feelings of rejection, the researchers found.
“In summary, pets can serve as important sources of social support, providing many positive psychological and physical benefits for their owners,” the researchers wrote."
This doesn't surprise me a bit. Think of how many of you out there with Moebius or with other physical differences have a pet of your own. Think of the satisfaction it gives you, no matter what else is going on in your life. No; this study doesn't surprise us at all.
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." -Dale Carnegie
This might be useful information for some of you moms and dads with Moebius children; occasionally "lazy eye" can be a part of a mild case of Moebius, if I remember right:
"Treating "lazy eye" is more likely to be successful the younger the child, but even older kids can benefit more than was previously believed, according to a large new study.
Researchers reviewed data on nearly 1,000 children treated for amblyopia, or lazy eye — diminished vision in one eye that can stem from a number of causes. They found that kids between the ages of three and seven were much more responsive to treatment than kids between seven and 13, especially in moderate to severe cases.
Despite older kids achieving less dramatic improvements than the younger groups, however, they did get somewhat better and in a few cases saw significant vision gains.
"Earlier is still better, but you still can treat late," said study co-author Dr. Michael Repka, an ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
A lazy eye is caused either by shortsightedness in one eye, or a misalignment of the eye that affects vision. If the condition is left untreated, the brain will eventually begin to ignore the images from the lazy eye, leading to permanent vision problems.
It is the leading cause of vision problems in children, affecting between two and four percent of all children.
Treatment begins by first addressing any underlying eye conditions that are responsible for the poor vision through surgery, eye exercises or eyeglasses. Next, the good eye is covered with a patch for two hours a day or given vision-blurring eye drops to force the weaker eye to work.
The treatment has no significant side effects and with it, "85 percent of children get to 20-30 vision or better," said Repka.
To see whether age makes a difference in how successful treatment will be, he and his colleagues in the multi-institution Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group reviewed the results of four previous studies that included 996 children.
The kids were divided into three groups: ages three to five, five to seven and seven to 13. They were also separated into two categories, moderate and severe, depending on the quality of vision in their affected eye.
Younger children showed a better response to treatment in both moderate and severe cases of lazy eye. Among moderate cases, children aged three to five improved their vision by 39 percent more than the oldest children and the kids between five and seven improved their vision 46 percent more.
Measuring vision improvements by a scale known as logMAR lines, which roughly reflects rows on a standard eye chart, kids between three and five gained an average of 2.29 lines, kids five to seven gained 2.41 lines and kids seven to 13 gained 1.65 lines.
More dramatic differences were observed in children with a severe lazy eye, although the authors caution that the study did not include many children with severe disease so the numbers may not be broadly representative.
In that category, children in the youngest age group improved their vision, on average, by 4.16 lines of visual acuity -- more than twice as much the oldest children who gained 1.99 lines.
The response to treatment for a lazy eye "is only important if they maintain that level" of vision, noted Dr. Norman Medow, director of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, who was not involved in the study.
The new results are important, but the patient's age may not predict whether they are likely to see long-term benefits from the treatment, he told Reuters Health.
Despite the advantage of earlier treatment, Repka observed that the benefits of the treatment for older children were better than previously thought. "A group that we didn't think is treatable is moderately treatable," he said."
HAVING A DOG OR CAT IS GOOD FOR YOU
And not just if you are lonely or ill, either, reports the Washington Post:
"Lots of research has indicated that having a dog or a cat can help people live happier, healthier lives. But it’s been unclear whether there really is a cause-and-effect relationship between pet ownership and better physical and mental health. Now, new research indicates that the benefits of having a canine or feline companion are real and broad.
A team of psychologists from Miami University and St. Louis University conducted a series of studies aimed at trying to tease out the benefits of pet ownership.
“Although there is correlational evidence that pets may help individuals facing significant life stressors, little is known about the well-being benefits of patterns for everyday people,” they wrote in a paper published online this week by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In the first part of the research, 217 people answered detailed questionnaires online designed to determine whether pet owners tend to be different from people who do not own pets. The survey assessed variables such as depression, loneliness, self-esteem, illness, activity level and their relationships with other people. The researchers found that, in fact, there were lots of differences, with pet owners faring much better overall. For example, pet owners tended to be less lonely, have higher self-esteem, get more exercise, be more extroverted and were less fearful about getting close to other people.
In the second part of the research, the researchers studied 56 dog owners. In addition to filling out the same questionnaire used in the first part of the study, the researchers also gathered detailed information about how they related to their dogs, and to other people. The owners tended to get the most benefit from having a canine companion when their dogs “complemented rather than competed” with humans in their lives, the researchers found.
“In fact ... we repeatedly observed evidence that people who enjoyed greater benefits from their pets also were closer to other important people in their lives and received more support from them, not less,” the researchers wrote.
Dogs that were less fearful, more active and less aggressive toward people and other animals seemed to fulfill their owners’ needs the best, the researchers found.
In the last experiment, the researchers brought 97 undergraduates into the laboratory and asked them to write about a time when they felt socially excluded and then write about a favorite pet or a favorite friend. Writing about pets was just as effective as writing about a friend in terms of minimizing feelings of rejection, the researchers found.
“In summary, pets can serve as important sources of social support, providing many positive psychological and physical benefits for their owners,” the researchers wrote."
This doesn't surprise me a bit. Think of how many of you out there with Moebius or with other physical differences have a pet of your own. Think of the satisfaction it gives you, no matter what else is going on in your life. No; this study doesn't surprise us at all.
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." -Dale Carnegie
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
DISABILITIES IN THE NEWS
Well, if true, this is very sad--and we would certainly sympathize with the aide to the congresswoman in question:
"Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's former legislative director is suing the Democratic congresswoman, claiming she made "humiliating" comments about her vision disability while refusing to do anything to accommodate her.
At one point, the lawsuit claims, the congresswoman told her: "I don't care anything about your disability."
The lawsuit, filed last month in District of Columbia federal court, seeks unspecified damages in the form of "back and front pay," as well as punitive damages. Former aide Mona Floyd claims Jackson Lee's treatment of her amounted to "unlawful discrimination" and contributed to her resignation last fall.
The suit states that Floyd suffers from "monocular vision," causing eye fatigue and reducing reading speed -- symptoms that worsen without adequate rest during the day.
Floyd claims that after she came to work for Jackson Lee as legislative director and chief counsel in early 2010, the congresswoman did not follow through on a pledge from her office to "accommodate her disability."
She specifically claimed the congresswoman piled her with reading assignments, often forcing her to work from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. without breaks to get it all done. Floyd claimed she was rebuffed when she asked for more time to rest her eyes. In April 2010, the suit claims, Jackson Lee told her, "It should not take 10 years to get them done," in reference to a reading assignment.
The suit went on to question Jackson Lee's legislative efforts on behalf of disabled Americans, saying her treatment of Floyd showed she "only paid lip service to that constituency."
Asked for comment, Jackson Lee's office did not respond directly to the allegations in the suit.
"The office of U.S. Representative Jackson Lee considers internal personnel matters confidential and will not comment publicly on the allegations at this time, except to say that the office fully embraces and fully practices equal employment opportunities for all," Chief of Staff Glenn Rushing said in a statement.
Floyd first came to work under Jackson Lee in 2006, when she was a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation fellow assigned to her office. She later became an aide to Jackson Lee until late 2007, when she left to work for a nonprofit. She came back to work for the congresswoman in February 2010.
The suit did not describe any run-ins with Jackson Lee during her time as an aide in 2006 and 2007."
There was obviously some kind of problem there. This goes yet again to show how important it is to build awareness of Moebius Syndrome, and the many other examples of physical differences that there are in the world today. And everyone needs to work on this. I can recall those with Moebius Syndrome telling me stories of how even members of their own families would get frustrated with them--because someone with Moebius could not see as much, or as well, as others; or would not be able to see something pointed out to them. Those who don't have Moebius or other physical differences sometimes get frustrated with that. But don't get frustrated, folks. Instead, be aware.
"Natural ability without education has more often raised a
man to glory and virtue than education without natural
ability." -Cicero
Well, if true, this is very sad--and we would certainly sympathize with the aide to the congresswoman in question:
"Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's former legislative director is suing the Democratic congresswoman, claiming she made "humiliating" comments about her vision disability while refusing to do anything to accommodate her.
At one point, the lawsuit claims, the congresswoman told her: "I don't care anything about your disability."
The lawsuit, filed last month in District of Columbia federal court, seeks unspecified damages in the form of "back and front pay," as well as punitive damages. Former aide Mona Floyd claims Jackson Lee's treatment of her amounted to "unlawful discrimination" and contributed to her resignation last fall.
The suit states that Floyd suffers from "monocular vision," causing eye fatigue and reducing reading speed -- symptoms that worsen without adequate rest during the day.
Floyd claims that after she came to work for Jackson Lee as legislative director and chief counsel in early 2010, the congresswoman did not follow through on a pledge from her office to "accommodate her disability."
She specifically claimed the congresswoman piled her with reading assignments, often forcing her to work from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. without breaks to get it all done. Floyd claimed she was rebuffed when she asked for more time to rest her eyes. In April 2010, the suit claims, Jackson Lee told her, "It should not take 10 years to get them done," in reference to a reading assignment.
The suit went on to question Jackson Lee's legislative efforts on behalf of disabled Americans, saying her treatment of Floyd showed she "only paid lip service to that constituency."
Asked for comment, Jackson Lee's office did not respond directly to the allegations in the suit.
"The office of U.S. Representative Jackson Lee considers internal personnel matters confidential and will not comment publicly on the allegations at this time, except to say that the office fully embraces and fully practices equal employment opportunities for all," Chief of Staff Glenn Rushing said in a statement.
Floyd first came to work under Jackson Lee in 2006, when she was a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation fellow assigned to her office. She later became an aide to Jackson Lee until late 2007, when she left to work for a nonprofit. She came back to work for the congresswoman in February 2010.
The suit did not describe any run-ins with Jackson Lee during her time as an aide in 2006 and 2007."
There was obviously some kind of problem there. This goes yet again to show how important it is to build awareness of Moebius Syndrome, and the many other examples of physical differences that there are in the world today. And everyone needs to work on this. I can recall those with Moebius Syndrome telling me stories of how even members of their own families would get frustrated with them--because someone with Moebius could not see as much, or as well, as others; or would not be able to see something pointed out to them. Those who don't have Moebius or other physical differences sometimes get frustrated with that. But don't get frustrated, folks. Instead, be aware.
"Natural ability without education has more often raised a
man to glory and virtue than education without natural
ability." -Cicero
Monday, July 11, 2011
SOME RESEARCH ON PARKINSON'S DISEASE THAT MAY IMPACT MOEBIUS SYNDROME
Check it out--our good friend Kathleen Bogart, who is involved in this research, passed this on:
"Doctors and other health practitioners may need to pay more attention to their own biases when seeing people with Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that affects muscle control.
It's not always easy for those caring for people with Parkinson's to judge how the patients are coping with the condition because of the way it can interfere with how they express emotion.
The phenomenon, called facial masking, can make patients look as if they're unfeeling, indifferent, sad or even hostile. That could lead to an inaccurate diagnosis of depression or something else. And cultural differences between doctors and patients as well as stereotypes can complicate matters even more, according to a recent study in Social Science & Medicine.
"Facial masking is socially isolating," said Tufts University's Dr. Linda Tickle-Degnen, one of the researchers behind the study. "Walking is social, talking is social, and your face is social. It's like a big puzzle that's starting to come together in Parkinson's disease."
For a look at what she's talking about, Tickle-Degnen suggested watching the Parkinson's video featuring Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali.
In her study, 284 American and Taiwanese health practitioners watched 24 American and Taiwanese men and women with Parkinson's disease in videotaped interviews. Half the videos showed patients with moderate masking, and the other half showed patients with almost no masking.
She and her colleagues found the health professionals in both countries were more likely to judge patients with greater facial masking to be depressed or less sociable than those with little masking.
Doctors appeared to be more biased by masking when they judged the sociability of Americans versus the Taiwanese, the study found, expecting American patients to be more expressive. Female stereotypes also played a role in how the doctors judged the study participants.
"We want doctors to understand the person," Tickle-Degnen told Shots. She hopes that the study will encourage doctors to be much more patient-centered. "We've got to realize that doctors — who are nice people — have stereotypes," she said. "Those values affect us even if we have objective training."
Bingo. People with Moebius Syndrome have a hard time displaying their emotions and other feelings via their facial expressions, too; one has to believe this can affect medical professionals and how they interact and judge Moebius patients, if they are not aware of Moebius Syndrome. Let's hope this research helps create more awareness, for those with Parkinson's--and others...like us!
What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life by him who interests his heart in everything. -Laurence Sterne
Check it out--our good friend Kathleen Bogart, who is involved in this research, passed this on:
"Doctors and other health practitioners may need to pay more attention to their own biases when seeing people with Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that affects muscle control.
It's not always easy for those caring for people with Parkinson's to judge how the patients are coping with the condition because of the way it can interfere with how they express emotion.
The phenomenon, called facial masking, can make patients look as if they're unfeeling, indifferent, sad or even hostile. That could lead to an inaccurate diagnosis of depression or something else. And cultural differences between doctors and patients as well as stereotypes can complicate matters even more, according to a recent study in Social Science & Medicine.
"Facial masking is socially isolating," said Tufts University's Dr. Linda Tickle-Degnen, one of the researchers behind the study. "Walking is social, talking is social, and your face is social. It's like a big puzzle that's starting to come together in Parkinson's disease."
For a look at what she's talking about, Tickle-Degnen suggested watching the Parkinson's video featuring Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali.
In her study, 284 American and Taiwanese health practitioners watched 24 American and Taiwanese men and women with Parkinson's disease in videotaped interviews. Half the videos showed patients with moderate masking, and the other half showed patients with almost no masking.
She and her colleagues found the health professionals in both countries were more likely to judge patients with greater facial masking to be depressed or less sociable than those with little masking.
Doctors appeared to be more biased by masking when they judged the sociability of Americans versus the Taiwanese, the study found, expecting American patients to be more expressive. Female stereotypes also played a role in how the doctors judged the study participants.
"We want doctors to understand the person," Tickle-Degnen told Shots. She hopes that the study will encourage doctors to be much more patient-centered. "We've got to realize that doctors — who are nice people — have stereotypes," she said. "Those values affect us even if we have objective training."
Bingo. People with Moebius Syndrome have a hard time displaying their emotions and other feelings via their facial expressions, too; one has to believe this can affect medical professionals and how they interact and judge Moebius patients, if they are not aware of Moebius Syndrome. Let's hope this research helps create more awareness, for those with Parkinson's--and others...like us!
What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life by him who interests his heart in everything. -Laurence Sterne
Friday, July 8, 2011
HURRAY FOR ZUMBA--BUT BE CAREFUL, TOO
I know a number of you out there in the Moebius world either have taken, or are taking, Zumba classes, for exercise and better health. Great--but, as this piece I found today cautions, be careful too:
"THE craze for Zumba, that gym class cum Latin dance party, just keeps growing — and so, some experts fear, may the number of injuries among its devotees.
Created in the late 1990s in Colombia by the fitness instructor Alberto Perez, Zumba is a high-energy aerobic workout based on dance steps borrowed from merengue, salsa and other dances. An estimated 12 million fitness buffs worldwide are taking Zumba classes at about 110,000 locations; these sessions are taught at big city health clubs and storefront yoga studios, in church basements and school auditoriums — even in nightclubs during the day.
Zumba’s allure derives in part from the perception that it’s more a dance party than an exercise routine. But its popularity has come at a price. Zumba classes can be enormous, filled with enthusiastic but inexperienced exercisers who may be led by instructors with limited experience.
“As with any fad exercise regime, we see an uptick in injuries,” said Luke Bongiorno, a physical therapist at New York Sports Med, a sports medicine clinic in Manhattan. Ankle sprains, hamstring injuries, muscle spasms and calf injuries are the most common Zumba-related injuries treated at the clinic. “The brief warm-ups and lateral movements in Zumba can create conditions of instability,” said Mr. Bongiorno.
Still, Zumba is reaching for new participants: recent incarnations include Aqua Zumba, Zumba Gold for older or beginning exercisers, a muscle-toning version and classes for kids. So to make sure you get the most for your money and avoid injury, here’s some advice from fitness experts about doing Zumba right.
FUN BUT FRENZIED Zumba’s marketing is all about fun first, with slogans like, “Ditch the workout, join the party,” and “Party yourself into shape.” The hope, of course, is to attract people, mainly women, who aren’t into traditional exercise. Exercise classes like Zumba tend to attract people “who have been sedentary for a while or are sedentary all day at work,” said Mr. Bongiorno.
But the classes are fast-paced and can be quite strenuous. Few participants leave without being drenched in sweat and at least a little bit out of breath.
You should always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise regime. If you are pregnant or have a major cardiovascular, pulmonary or metabolic condition, traditional Zumba is probably not appropriate for you. (Zumba Gold, the low-impact version, however, may be fine.)
People with knee, hip or ankle problems should also consult a doctor, as they may need to modify the routine — avoiding jumps, for instance, or fast hip movements.
THE RIGHT SHOES Luckily for the pocketbook, Zumba doesn’t require any fancy equipment (although Zumba enthusiasts are prone to donning some extremely colorful outfits). Any thinly soled sneakers or comfortable workout shoes will do.
But running shoes, which tend to have thick treads, are inappropriate, because they are designed only for forward movement. The treads get in the way when doing Zumba’s many side-to-side and pivot moves.
HEAD OF THE CLASS Instructors are certified to teach basic Zumba after a one-day training course that teaches the basic moves and rhythms. Certification for the specialized courses entails additional training, and instructors are also often certified in other fitness areas.
Zumba has become so popular so quickly that gyms and dance studios have had trouble hiring and keeping good instructors, noted Jessica Davis, the group fitness manager at Equinox gym on the Upper West Side.
Before joining a Zumba class, ask how long the instructor has been teaching and about his or her background, including fitness certifications. The best instructors have a dance background and an understanding of Latin steps, as well as a strong background in fitness, said Dr. Pamela Peeke, a spokeswoman for the American College of Sports Medicine.
Good instructors also will ask who is a beginner and whether anyone is pregnant or has special health concerns. To find a licensed Zumba instructor in your area, go to Zumba.com.
ROOM TO MOVE Because of the party ambience, many fitness facilities take a “more the merrier” attitude toward Zumba. “It’s more fun to have a lot of people,” said Ms. Davis of Equinox. “Who wants to go to a party that’s not popular?”
Equinox adjusts the choreography of each class to make sure there is enough space for all the participants to move safely, Ms. Davis said. Elsewhere, though, opinion is divided on the ideal class size.
“I’ve seen people rent halls and conduct classes for a hundred people," said Wilhyn Larsen, owner of Namaste Yoga of Kensington in Brooklyn, which began offering Zumba classes two years ago. “That’s a real safety issue. If the instructor can’t see you and can’t see how each person is doing the moves, you’re going to have an injury.”
Ms. Larsen recommends an optimal class size of no more than 25 participants with two instructors, one teaching and one walking around the room offering individualized help. At her studio, because of the space and manpower available, she allows only 15 to 18 people per Zumba class.
Zumba classes are usually an hour long, and prices range from $15 to $25, usually included in most health club memberships.
THE RIGHT PACE Zumba classes often get off to a fast start without an adequate warm-up, said Mr. Bongiorno. In addition, Zumba includes a lot of pivoting, as well as side-to-side and fast rotating hip movements that can be painful if you are not used to them.
“The most common reason people drop out or get hurt is because they start too fast,” said Dr. Peeke.
If your class doesn’t offer warm-up stretches and other moves, be sure to do some calf, hamstring and abdominal stretches on your own before you begin, advised Mr. Bongiorno. (Though there has been some controversy over how useful stretches are for athletes, they do seem helpful for dancers.)
Move at your own pace, and don’t get too caught up in the whirlwind around you. The beauty of a dance class is that you can easily move in place or just do the basic moves while you become familiar with the more complicated dance steps. “It’s easy to get carried away with the music and the atmosphere during a Zumba class and then overdo it,” said Dr. Peeke."
"Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we shall soon see them in their proper figures. "-Joseph Addison
I know a number of you out there in the Moebius world either have taken, or are taking, Zumba classes, for exercise and better health. Great--but, as this piece I found today cautions, be careful too:
"THE craze for Zumba, that gym class cum Latin dance party, just keeps growing — and so, some experts fear, may the number of injuries among its devotees.
Created in the late 1990s in Colombia by the fitness instructor Alberto Perez, Zumba is a high-energy aerobic workout based on dance steps borrowed from merengue, salsa and other dances. An estimated 12 million fitness buffs worldwide are taking Zumba classes at about 110,000 locations; these sessions are taught at big city health clubs and storefront yoga studios, in church basements and school auditoriums — even in nightclubs during the day.
Zumba’s allure derives in part from the perception that it’s more a dance party than an exercise routine. But its popularity has come at a price. Zumba classes can be enormous, filled with enthusiastic but inexperienced exercisers who may be led by instructors with limited experience.
“As with any fad exercise regime, we see an uptick in injuries,” said Luke Bongiorno, a physical therapist at New York Sports Med, a sports medicine clinic in Manhattan. Ankle sprains, hamstring injuries, muscle spasms and calf injuries are the most common Zumba-related injuries treated at the clinic. “The brief warm-ups and lateral movements in Zumba can create conditions of instability,” said Mr. Bongiorno.
Still, Zumba is reaching for new participants: recent incarnations include Aqua Zumba, Zumba Gold for older or beginning exercisers, a muscle-toning version and classes for kids. So to make sure you get the most for your money and avoid injury, here’s some advice from fitness experts about doing Zumba right.
FUN BUT FRENZIED Zumba’s marketing is all about fun first, with slogans like, “Ditch the workout, join the party,” and “Party yourself into shape.” The hope, of course, is to attract people, mainly women, who aren’t into traditional exercise. Exercise classes like Zumba tend to attract people “who have been sedentary for a while or are sedentary all day at work,” said Mr. Bongiorno.
But the classes are fast-paced and can be quite strenuous. Few participants leave without being drenched in sweat and at least a little bit out of breath.
You should always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise regime. If you are pregnant or have a major cardiovascular, pulmonary or metabolic condition, traditional Zumba is probably not appropriate for you. (Zumba Gold, the low-impact version, however, may be fine.)
People with knee, hip or ankle problems should also consult a doctor, as they may need to modify the routine — avoiding jumps, for instance, or fast hip movements.
THE RIGHT SHOES Luckily for the pocketbook, Zumba doesn’t require any fancy equipment (although Zumba enthusiasts are prone to donning some extremely colorful outfits). Any thinly soled sneakers or comfortable workout shoes will do.
But running shoes, which tend to have thick treads, are inappropriate, because they are designed only for forward movement. The treads get in the way when doing Zumba’s many side-to-side and pivot moves.
HEAD OF THE CLASS Instructors are certified to teach basic Zumba after a one-day training course that teaches the basic moves and rhythms. Certification for the specialized courses entails additional training, and instructors are also often certified in other fitness areas.
Zumba has become so popular so quickly that gyms and dance studios have had trouble hiring and keeping good instructors, noted Jessica Davis, the group fitness manager at Equinox gym on the Upper West Side.
Before joining a Zumba class, ask how long the instructor has been teaching and about his or her background, including fitness certifications. The best instructors have a dance background and an understanding of Latin steps, as well as a strong background in fitness, said Dr. Pamela Peeke, a spokeswoman for the American College of Sports Medicine.
Good instructors also will ask who is a beginner and whether anyone is pregnant or has special health concerns. To find a licensed Zumba instructor in your area, go to Zumba.com.
ROOM TO MOVE Because of the party ambience, many fitness facilities take a “more the merrier” attitude toward Zumba. “It’s more fun to have a lot of people,” said Ms. Davis of Equinox. “Who wants to go to a party that’s not popular?”
Equinox adjusts the choreography of each class to make sure there is enough space for all the participants to move safely, Ms. Davis said. Elsewhere, though, opinion is divided on the ideal class size.
“I’ve seen people rent halls and conduct classes for a hundred people," said Wilhyn Larsen, owner of Namaste Yoga of Kensington in Brooklyn, which began offering Zumba classes two years ago. “That’s a real safety issue. If the instructor can’t see you and can’t see how each person is doing the moves, you’re going to have an injury.”
Ms. Larsen recommends an optimal class size of no more than 25 participants with two instructors, one teaching and one walking around the room offering individualized help. At her studio, because of the space and manpower available, she allows only 15 to 18 people per Zumba class.
Zumba classes are usually an hour long, and prices range from $15 to $25, usually included in most health club memberships.
THE RIGHT PACE Zumba classes often get off to a fast start without an adequate warm-up, said Mr. Bongiorno. In addition, Zumba includes a lot of pivoting, as well as side-to-side and fast rotating hip movements that can be painful if you are not used to them.
“The most common reason people drop out or get hurt is because they start too fast,” said Dr. Peeke.
If your class doesn’t offer warm-up stretches and other moves, be sure to do some calf, hamstring and abdominal stretches on your own before you begin, advised Mr. Bongiorno. (Though there has been some controversy over how useful stretches are for athletes, they do seem helpful for dancers.)
Move at your own pace, and don’t get too caught up in the whirlwind around you. The beauty of a dance class is that you can easily move in place or just do the basic moves while you become familiar with the more complicated dance steps. “It’s easy to get carried away with the music and the atmosphere during a Zumba class and then overdo it,” said Dr. Peeke."
"Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we shall soon see them in their proper figures. "-Joseph Addison
Thursday, July 7, 2011
SOME BAD HABITS THAT NEED NOT BE BROKEN
Really? Yes, there are some; mainly, they help you relax and let go of stress:
"The dictionary definition of “venting” appears to insinuate that it’s always associated with anger. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Holding in anger can contribute to hypertension and a host of other illnesses, so learning to vent healthfully is a plus.
“Healthy expression has been shown to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress, increase feelings of relief and improve immunity,” says Barbara Neitlich, a Beverly Hills, Calif., psychotherapist. Yelling and screaming? Not so helpful. “Although people wish that once they ‘vent’ their feelings they will be rid of the anger, this is a complete misconception. Anger begets anger,” says Neitlich.
The idea is to convey your thoughts in a calm, clear way so you feel heard. And the goal is to feel as if you are moving forward rather than drowning in feelings of frustration and anger. Some good ways to vent: Screaming (in private or in the face of earsplitting noise, like an airplane takeoff, or a train at full speed), punching pillows, taking 10 deep breaths and then conveying your feelings in a calm way. Additionally, physical activity can help in the venting process. Try jabbing a punching bag, running quick sprints, or a kickboxing workout.
Drinking (a little)
Despite the back and forth on whether drinking is a do or a don't, research from the American Heart Association says moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. A bit of booze can slash your risk of heart attack and stroke, lower the incidence of Type-2 diabetes, reduce overall cancer risk and prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
The key to healthy alcohol consumption is to have a little bit each day. The most widely accepted standard for healthful drinking is one drink per day for women and two for men. (A drink is a 12-ounce glass of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, and 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.)
“The ethanol is the active ingredient in alcohol that increases HDL, your good cholesterol, and protects against plaque formation,” says Dr. John M. Kennedy, co-author of “The 15 Minute Heart Cure: The Natural Way to Release Stress and Heal Your Heart in Just Minutes a Day. “Red wine is packed with antioxidants that act as a natural diuretic, which may help prevent arteries from becoming clogged with fatty blockages.”
If you don’t drink, don’t start. You can find those same antioxidants in grapes, chocolate and coffee. But if you enjoy a cocktail, sip away.
Fidgeting
Can’t sit still? Relax! Fidgeting is good for you. Studies find people who fidget burn more calories, have better circulation and less back and joint pain. Even better, fidgeters think and remember more effectively when fidgeting.
“We’re designed to move and we’ve evolved in an environment where we move a lot to solve new problems,” says Sarah Wright, an Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder coach and author of “Fidget to Focus.” “We don’t really know why fidgeting works to facilitate working memory, but we do know the more stimulus there is around something we’re learning, the more likely we are to remember it.”
Fidgeting consists of performing a mindless activity that uses a sense other than the one you are using for your primary activity. If you’re writing, the fidget may be to chew gum or twirl your pen, if you are listening, the fidget may be to knit or twiddle your thumbs. Fidgeters can jiggle a leg, drum fingers, wiggle toes, doodle or pace while talking on the phone."
"The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready
at any moment to give up what you are for what you might
become." -W.E.B. Du Bois
Really? Yes, there are some; mainly, they help you relax and let go of stress:
"The dictionary definition of “venting” appears to insinuate that it’s always associated with anger. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Holding in anger can contribute to hypertension and a host of other illnesses, so learning to vent healthfully is a plus.
“Healthy expression has been shown to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress, increase feelings of relief and improve immunity,” says Barbara Neitlich, a Beverly Hills, Calif., psychotherapist. Yelling and screaming? Not so helpful. “Although people wish that once they ‘vent’ their feelings they will be rid of the anger, this is a complete misconception. Anger begets anger,” says Neitlich.
The idea is to convey your thoughts in a calm, clear way so you feel heard. And the goal is to feel as if you are moving forward rather than drowning in feelings of frustration and anger. Some good ways to vent: Screaming (in private or in the face of earsplitting noise, like an airplane takeoff, or a train at full speed), punching pillows, taking 10 deep breaths and then conveying your feelings in a calm way. Additionally, physical activity can help in the venting process. Try jabbing a punching bag, running quick sprints, or a kickboxing workout.
Drinking (a little)
Despite the back and forth on whether drinking is a do or a don't, research from the American Heart Association says moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. A bit of booze can slash your risk of heart attack and stroke, lower the incidence of Type-2 diabetes, reduce overall cancer risk and prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
The key to healthy alcohol consumption is to have a little bit each day. The most widely accepted standard for healthful drinking is one drink per day for women and two for men. (A drink is a 12-ounce glass of beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, and 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.)
“The ethanol is the active ingredient in alcohol that increases HDL, your good cholesterol, and protects against plaque formation,” says Dr. John M. Kennedy, co-author of “The 15 Minute Heart Cure: The Natural Way to Release Stress and Heal Your Heart in Just Minutes a Day. “Red wine is packed with antioxidants that act as a natural diuretic, which may help prevent arteries from becoming clogged with fatty blockages.”
If you don’t drink, don’t start. You can find those same antioxidants in grapes, chocolate and coffee. But if you enjoy a cocktail, sip away.
Fidgeting
Can’t sit still? Relax! Fidgeting is good for you. Studies find people who fidget burn more calories, have better circulation and less back and joint pain. Even better, fidgeters think and remember more effectively when fidgeting.
“We’re designed to move and we’ve evolved in an environment where we move a lot to solve new problems,” says Sarah Wright, an Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder coach and author of “Fidget to Focus.” “We don’t really know why fidgeting works to facilitate working memory, but we do know the more stimulus there is around something we’re learning, the more likely we are to remember it.”
Fidgeting consists of performing a mindless activity that uses a sense other than the one you are using for your primary activity. If you’re writing, the fidget may be to chew gum or twirl your pen, if you are listening, the fidget may be to knit or twiddle your thumbs. Fidgeters can jiggle a leg, drum fingers, wiggle toes, doodle or pace while talking on the phone."
"The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready
at any moment to give up what you are for what you might
become." -W.E.B. Du Bois
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
WHY DOES EXERCISE MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD?
Well, according to the latest research, exercising at least somewhat regularly--though it doesn't at all have to be intense, hours-daily exercise--keeps those neurons firing in your brain:
"Why does exercise make us happy and calm? Almost everyone agrees that it generally does, a conclusion supported by research. A survey by Norwegian researchers published this month, for instance, found that those who engaged in any exercise, even a small amount, reported improved mental health compared with Norwegians who, despite the tempting nearness of mountains and fjords, never got out and exercised. A separate study, presented last month at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, showed that six weeks of bicycle riding or weight training eased symptoms in women who’d received a diagnosis of anxiety disorder. The weight training was especially effective at reducing feelings of irritability, perhaps (and this is my own interpretation) because the women felt capable now of pounding whomever or whatever was irritating them.
But just how, at a deep, cellular level, exercise affects anxiety and other moods has been difficult to pin down. The brain is physically inaccessible and dauntingly complex. But a recent animal study from researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health provides some intriguing new clues into how exercise intertwines with emotions, along with the soothing message that it may not require much physical activity to provide lasting emotional resilience.
For the experiment, researchers at the institute gathered two types of male mice. Some were strong and aggressive; the others were less so. The alpha mice got private cages. Male mice in the wild are territorial loners. So when then the punier mice were later slipped into the same cages as the aggressive rodents, separated only by a clear partition, the big mice acted like thugs. They employed every animal intimidation technique and, during daily, five-minute periods when the partition was removed, had to be restrained from harming the smaller mice, which, in the face of such treatment, became predictably twitchy and submissive.
After two weeks of cohabitation, many of these weaker mice were nervous wrecks. When the researchers tested them in a series of stressful situations away from the cages, the mice responded with, as the scientists call it, “anxiety-like behavior.” They froze or ran for dark corners. Everything upset them. “We don’t use words like ‘depressed’ to describe the animals’ condition,” said Michael L. Lehmann, a postdoctoral fellow at the institute and lead author of the study. But in effect, those mice had responded to the repeated stress by becoming depressed.
But that was not true for a subgroup of mice that had been allowed access to running wheels and nifty, explorable tubes in their cages for several weeks before they were housed with the aggressive mice. These mice, although wisely submissive when confronted by the bullies, rallied nicely when away from them. They didn’t freeze or cling to dark spaces in unfamiliar situations. They explored. They appeared to be, Dr. Lehmann said, “stress-resistant.”
“In people, we know that repeated applications of stress can lead to anxiety disorders and depression,” Dr. Lehmann said. “But one of the mysteries” of mental illness “is why some people respond pathologically to stress and some seem to be stress-resistant.”
To discern what was different, physiologically, about the stress-resistant mice, the scientists looked at brain cells using stains and other techniques. They determined that neurons in part of the rodents’ medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in emotional processing in animals and people, had been firing often and rapidly in recent weeks, as had neurons in other, linked parts of the brain, including the amygdala, which is known to handle feelings of fear and anxiety.
The animals that had not run before moving in with the mean mice showed much less neuronal activity in these portions of the brain.
Dr. Lehmann said that he believed that the running was key to the exercised animals’ ability to bounce back from their unpleasant housing conditions.
Of course, as we all know, mice are not people. But the scientists believe that this particular experiment is a fair representation of human interpersonal relations, Dr. Lehmann said. Hierarchies, marked by bullying and resulting stress, are found among people all the time. Think of your own most dysfunctional office job. (Interestingly, the same experiment cannot be conducted on female mice, who like being housed together, Dr. Lehmann said, so he and his colleagues are testing a female-centric version, in which “cage mates are swapped out continuously,” to the consternation and grief of the female mice left behind.)
Perhaps best of all, Dr. Lehmann does not believe that hours of daily exercise are needed or desirable to achieve emotional resilience. The mice in his lab ran only when and for as long as they wished, over the course of several weeks. Other animal experiments have intimated that too much exercise could contribute to anxiety, and Dr. Lehmann agrees that that outcome is possible. Moderate levels of exercise seem to provide the most stress-relieving benefits, he said. Dr. Lehmann does not have a car and walks everywhere, and although he lives in Washington, a cauldron of stress induction, he describes himself as a “pretty calm guy.”
I know in my case, I always do my most intense exercising in the morning, just after I wake up. To me, it helps me with my metabolism, with (for example) working off last night's dinner. It helps me wake up, and feel more ready to take on the day. But maybe all those feelings are just a result of my neurons firing off and getting active...
"Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid."
-Dorothea Brande
Well, according to the latest research, exercising at least somewhat regularly--though it doesn't at all have to be intense, hours-daily exercise--keeps those neurons firing in your brain:
"Why does exercise make us happy and calm? Almost everyone agrees that it generally does, a conclusion supported by research. A survey by Norwegian researchers published this month, for instance, found that those who engaged in any exercise, even a small amount, reported improved mental health compared with Norwegians who, despite the tempting nearness of mountains and fjords, never got out and exercised. A separate study, presented last month at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, showed that six weeks of bicycle riding or weight training eased symptoms in women who’d received a diagnosis of anxiety disorder. The weight training was especially effective at reducing feelings of irritability, perhaps (and this is my own interpretation) because the women felt capable now of pounding whomever or whatever was irritating them.
But just how, at a deep, cellular level, exercise affects anxiety and other moods has been difficult to pin down. The brain is physically inaccessible and dauntingly complex. But a recent animal study from researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health provides some intriguing new clues into how exercise intertwines with emotions, along with the soothing message that it may not require much physical activity to provide lasting emotional resilience.
For the experiment, researchers at the institute gathered two types of male mice. Some were strong and aggressive; the others were less so. The alpha mice got private cages. Male mice in the wild are territorial loners. So when then the punier mice were later slipped into the same cages as the aggressive rodents, separated only by a clear partition, the big mice acted like thugs. They employed every animal intimidation technique and, during daily, five-minute periods when the partition was removed, had to be restrained from harming the smaller mice, which, in the face of such treatment, became predictably twitchy and submissive.
After two weeks of cohabitation, many of these weaker mice were nervous wrecks. When the researchers tested them in a series of stressful situations away from the cages, the mice responded with, as the scientists call it, “anxiety-like behavior.” They froze or ran for dark corners. Everything upset them. “We don’t use words like ‘depressed’ to describe the animals’ condition,” said Michael L. Lehmann, a postdoctoral fellow at the institute and lead author of the study. But in effect, those mice had responded to the repeated stress by becoming depressed.
But that was not true for a subgroup of mice that had been allowed access to running wheels and nifty, explorable tubes in their cages for several weeks before they were housed with the aggressive mice. These mice, although wisely submissive when confronted by the bullies, rallied nicely when away from them. They didn’t freeze or cling to dark spaces in unfamiliar situations. They explored. They appeared to be, Dr. Lehmann said, “stress-resistant.”
“In people, we know that repeated applications of stress can lead to anxiety disorders and depression,” Dr. Lehmann said. “But one of the mysteries” of mental illness “is why some people respond pathologically to stress and some seem to be stress-resistant.”
To discern what was different, physiologically, about the stress-resistant mice, the scientists looked at brain cells using stains and other techniques. They determined that neurons in part of the rodents’ medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in emotional processing in animals and people, had been firing often and rapidly in recent weeks, as had neurons in other, linked parts of the brain, including the amygdala, which is known to handle feelings of fear and anxiety.
The animals that had not run before moving in with the mean mice showed much less neuronal activity in these portions of the brain.
Dr. Lehmann said that he believed that the running was key to the exercised animals’ ability to bounce back from their unpleasant housing conditions.
Of course, as we all know, mice are not people. But the scientists believe that this particular experiment is a fair representation of human interpersonal relations, Dr. Lehmann said. Hierarchies, marked by bullying and resulting stress, are found among people all the time. Think of your own most dysfunctional office job. (Interestingly, the same experiment cannot be conducted on female mice, who like being housed together, Dr. Lehmann said, so he and his colleagues are testing a female-centric version, in which “cage mates are swapped out continuously,” to the consternation and grief of the female mice left behind.)
Perhaps best of all, Dr. Lehmann does not believe that hours of daily exercise are needed or desirable to achieve emotional resilience. The mice in his lab ran only when and for as long as they wished, over the course of several weeks. Other animal experiments have intimated that too much exercise could contribute to anxiety, and Dr. Lehmann agrees that that outcome is possible. Moderate levels of exercise seem to provide the most stress-relieving benefits, he said. Dr. Lehmann does not have a car and walks everywhere, and although he lives in Washington, a cauldron of stress induction, he describes himself as a “pretty calm guy.”
I know in my case, I always do my most intense exercising in the morning, just after I wake up. To me, it helps me with my metabolism, with (for example) working off last night's dinner. It helps me wake up, and feel more ready to take on the day. But maybe all those feelings are just a result of my neurons firing off and getting active...
"Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid."
-Dorothea Brande
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
GOT ANY BACK PAIN?
I know some of you out there do; or have pains in other places. So here's some interesting info on what might help:
"Americans spend at least $50 billion each year to to treat lower back pain, the second most common neurological problem in the U.S. after headaches, according to the National Institutes of Health.
A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that massage may be an effective therapy for treating lower back pain, when compared with conventional medical treatment.
When patients visit the doctor with lower back pain, the usual treatments include medications for pain, inflammation, and muscle spasms, as well as prescribing physical therapy, back exercises and educating patients about possible causes of back pain and methods for preventing future injuries.
But many people seek out alternative therapies for lower back pain relief, and massage is one of the most popular, accounting for over one-third of the more than 100 million annual massage therapy visits, according to the study. The authors note that while recent studies have found limited evidence that massage helps chronic back pain, none compared different massage methods for lower back pain relief against usual medical therapy, which is what the researchers did in this study.
The study included 401 participants 20 to 65 years old who had chronic low back pain whose cause was not known. They were randomly divided into three groups: 133 participants received usual medical care without massage, 132 participants received structural massage, which identifies and massages muscular and skeletal causes of lower back pain, and 136 participants received relaxation massage, which is also called Swedish massage, and is intended to produce a general relaxed state.
Participants in the two massage groups received about one hour of massage per week for 10 weeks. All participants answered questionnaires at baseline, 10 weeks, 26 weeks, and 52 weeks to rate how bothersome their back pain was.
The study revealed that both types of massage therapy resulted in less pain and better mobility than usual care patients after 10 weeks. Both types of massage showed improved function at 26 weeks, but their benefits were of questionable significance at the one-year mark. The authors are careful to note that the reasons for the benefits are unclear, but they speculate that massage may trigger beneficial tissue and nervous system responses. Another possibility is that being touched in a relaxing environment produces the positive effects that the massage groups experienced."
In my case, I'm lucky; I really don't have any chronic muscle pains. As I get older, though, I do find that my muscles and body parts more easily get stiff if I sit in one place or in one position too long. Ah, getting old...
MOEBIUS SYNDROME IN THE NEWS
Here meanwhile is a beautiful story about young mother Abby Ryan, whose son, Riley, was born with Moebius Syndrome. Some urged Abby to abort her child. She didn't, and now Riley has a chance at a great life:
"Determined Abby Ryan shatters the stereotype of the irresponsible teen mum – by juggling nappies with exams and working towards a career.
Not only that but her son Riley was diagnosed with brain damage before birth. Brave Abby, 16, refused a termination aged 15, and has no regrets, despite Riley’s neurological condition. She even went on to take 13 GCSEs.
“Being a mum at any age is hard – especially to a disabled child,” Abby admits. “But I don’t regret my decision. I’ll finish my education and get a career. Teen mums aren’t all irresponsible.”
Despite taking the Pill, Abby from Farnborough, Hampshire – who’d been with her boyfriend Jake Faulkner, 17, for five months – missed her period aged 15 after taking antibiotics, which can stop the Pill working effectively.
Revealing her mum, Lara, 42, cried when the pregnancy test was positive – and Jake “went quiet” – Abby says: “I was terrified – but I felt abortion was wrong, and Jake said he’d stand by me.”
The pair decided Jake would finish college and work part-time, while Abby would live with her mum and finish school.
“We were so excited,” says Abby, who has a sister Paige, 10, and twin siblings, Emily and Charlie, three. Her dad Lee, 40, split from Lara when she was two.
But, heartbreakingly, Abby’s 20-week scan showed her son had swelling on the brain.
Doctors couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong, but tests revealed there was an 80 per cent chance he’d be severely disabled.
Abby says: “I was hysterical – doctors advised a termination and for a second I thought I couldn’t cope with a disabled baby. But when they said I’d have to take a tablet to stop his heart, I couldn’t. I’d already named him and bought a cot – he was my baby.”
Abby’s family and friends supported her decision.
When Riley was born naturally last June he wasn’t breathing due to a lung infection, so he was put on a ventilator.
Abby says: “He looked perfect. It broke my heart seeing him covered in tubes.”
Riley had club feet, webbed fingers and enlarge cavities in his brain, but, incredibly, he was discharged a week later, though doctors warned more symptoms could emerge.
Abby admits motherhood was a struggle. She says: “Riley didn’t feed easily and I was so tired. I’d break down sometimes, but being a mum felt natural. Jake stayed over and Mum helped loads.”
Three weeks after his birth, Riley was fitted with plaster casts to correct his feet. And, two months later, Abby returned to school to study for her exams.
“It was difficult – I’d be up all night with Riley, then off to school,” she says, revealing her mum claims income support so she can care for Riley while she’s at school. “But I had to get on with it – Riley is relying on me.”
Riley was recently diagnosed with Moebius Syndrome, a brain condition that means he struggles to form facial expressions and sit up, and will take longer to walk.
He regularly attends hospital appointments and physiotherapy, but has astounded doctors with his progress. He’ll have an op on his webbed fingers next year.
Abby says: “He’ll take longer to learn things, but he should live a normal life. He’s adorable and cheeky, and starting to babble.”
Abby says Jake often stays over to help, and reveals they’ll live together when they can afford to. She adds: “I’ll study beauty at college. I want a job. You hear about teen mums who have more kids and claim benefits, but it doesn’t have to be like that. I wouldn’t recommend having a baby in your teens, but you can make it work.”
"Sometimes you've got to jump off cliffs and grow wings on
the way down." -Ray Bradbury
I know some of you out there do; or have pains in other places. So here's some interesting info on what might help:
"Americans spend at least $50 billion each year to to treat lower back pain, the second most common neurological problem in the U.S. after headaches, according to the National Institutes of Health.
A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that massage may be an effective therapy for treating lower back pain, when compared with conventional medical treatment.
When patients visit the doctor with lower back pain, the usual treatments include medications for pain, inflammation, and muscle spasms, as well as prescribing physical therapy, back exercises and educating patients about possible causes of back pain and methods for preventing future injuries.
But many people seek out alternative therapies for lower back pain relief, and massage is one of the most popular, accounting for over one-third of the more than 100 million annual massage therapy visits, according to the study. The authors note that while recent studies have found limited evidence that massage helps chronic back pain, none compared different massage methods for lower back pain relief against usual medical therapy, which is what the researchers did in this study.
The study included 401 participants 20 to 65 years old who had chronic low back pain whose cause was not known. They were randomly divided into three groups: 133 participants received usual medical care without massage, 132 participants received structural massage, which identifies and massages muscular and skeletal causes of lower back pain, and 136 participants received relaxation massage, which is also called Swedish massage, and is intended to produce a general relaxed state.
Participants in the two massage groups received about one hour of massage per week for 10 weeks. All participants answered questionnaires at baseline, 10 weeks, 26 weeks, and 52 weeks to rate how bothersome their back pain was.
The study revealed that both types of massage therapy resulted in less pain and better mobility than usual care patients after 10 weeks. Both types of massage showed improved function at 26 weeks, but their benefits were of questionable significance at the one-year mark. The authors are careful to note that the reasons for the benefits are unclear, but they speculate that massage may trigger beneficial tissue and nervous system responses. Another possibility is that being touched in a relaxing environment produces the positive effects that the massage groups experienced."
In my case, I'm lucky; I really don't have any chronic muscle pains. As I get older, though, I do find that my muscles and body parts more easily get stiff if I sit in one place or in one position too long. Ah, getting old...
MOEBIUS SYNDROME IN THE NEWS
Here meanwhile is a beautiful story about young mother Abby Ryan, whose son, Riley, was born with Moebius Syndrome. Some urged Abby to abort her child. She didn't, and now Riley has a chance at a great life:
"Determined Abby Ryan shatters the stereotype of the irresponsible teen mum – by juggling nappies with exams and working towards a career.
Not only that but her son Riley was diagnosed with brain damage before birth. Brave Abby, 16, refused a termination aged 15, and has no regrets, despite Riley’s neurological condition. She even went on to take 13 GCSEs.
“Being a mum at any age is hard – especially to a disabled child,” Abby admits. “But I don’t regret my decision. I’ll finish my education and get a career. Teen mums aren’t all irresponsible.”
Despite taking the Pill, Abby from Farnborough, Hampshire – who’d been with her boyfriend Jake Faulkner, 17, for five months – missed her period aged 15 after taking antibiotics, which can stop the Pill working effectively.
Revealing her mum, Lara, 42, cried when the pregnancy test was positive – and Jake “went quiet” – Abby says: “I was terrified – but I felt abortion was wrong, and Jake said he’d stand by me.”
The pair decided Jake would finish college and work part-time, while Abby would live with her mum and finish school.
“We were so excited,” says Abby, who has a sister Paige, 10, and twin siblings, Emily and Charlie, three. Her dad Lee, 40, split from Lara when she was two.
But, heartbreakingly, Abby’s 20-week scan showed her son had swelling on the brain.
Doctors couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong, but tests revealed there was an 80 per cent chance he’d be severely disabled.
Abby says: “I was hysterical – doctors advised a termination and for a second I thought I couldn’t cope with a disabled baby. But when they said I’d have to take a tablet to stop his heart, I couldn’t. I’d already named him and bought a cot – he was my baby.”
Abby’s family and friends supported her decision.
When Riley was born naturally last June he wasn’t breathing due to a lung infection, so he was put on a ventilator.
Abby says: “He looked perfect. It broke my heart seeing him covered in tubes.”
Riley had club feet, webbed fingers and enlarge cavities in his brain, but, incredibly, he was discharged a week later, though doctors warned more symptoms could emerge.
Abby admits motherhood was a struggle. She says: “Riley didn’t feed easily and I was so tired. I’d break down sometimes, but being a mum felt natural. Jake stayed over and Mum helped loads.”
Three weeks after his birth, Riley was fitted with plaster casts to correct his feet. And, two months later, Abby returned to school to study for her exams.
“It was difficult – I’d be up all night with Riley, then off to school,” she says, revealing her mum claims income support so she can care for Riley while she’s at school. “But I had to get on with it – Riley is relying on me.”
Riley was recently diagnosed with Moebius Syndrome, a brain condition that means he struggles to form facial expressions and sit up, and will take longer to walk.
He regularly attends hospital appointments and physiotherapy, but has astounded doctors with his progress. He’ll have an op on his webbed fingers next year.
Abby says: “He’ll take longer to learn things, but he should live a normal life. He’s adorable and cheeky, and starting to babble.”
Abby says Jake often stays over to help, and reveals they’ll live together when they can afford to. She adds: “I’ll study beauty at college. I want a job. You hear about teen mums who have more kids and claim benefits, but it doesn’t have to be like that. I wouldn’t recommend having a baby in your teens, but you can make it work.”
"Sometimes you've got to jump off cliffs and grow wings on
the way down." -Ray Bradbury
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