Slightly off-topic...

but a definite boost has occurred in the emotional health of many Boston Red Sox fans, as the Sox have just won the 2007 World Series!!!

Fans will also see in an increase in sleep, now that they no longer have to stay up until midnight to see game endings.

Congratulations, Boston!! :-)

Vive les bicyclettes!

Yes, the title is French, which clashes with my Spanish theme, but it had to be done, because today I'm all about Paris.

The city is encouraging the use of bikes in an effort to reduce air pollution, and is making bikes available to anyone who wants them, for any amount of time. And I think it's an absolutely fabulous idea. At nearly 1,500 bike "stations" throughout the city, residents can rent bikes, leaving a credit card deposit that is refunded later in the day when the bike is returned.

Apparently the bikes are popular, which is not only helpful to the environment, but also means that the Parisians are getting some exercise. (not that they need it, because we all know French women don't get fat...).

I've heard that many American cities are considering similar programs, with the exception of San Francisco, for obvious reasons. I would worry about an increase in bike-related traffic accidents, as Paris has seen. But if drivers learn to share the road and bikers are careful, bikes could be a wonderful thing, not just for Paris, but for everyone.

Inter-blog promotion

Yesterday, Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, visited one of my classes...not so much to talk about his hospital as to talk about his blog. He gained at least one regular reader from the day -- me.

Levy said he started the blog in 2005 "on a lark, really," after reading an article mentioning that, of all of the Fortune 500 companies' CEOs, only one kept a blog. Levy said, "I thought, 'I'm a CEO. I run what I think is a very worthwhile organization. I can do that.'"

And so was born Running a Hospital, Levy's daily musings on his job, the health care industry, and the goings-on at BIDMC. As time went by, he began to add commentary on life in general: his experiences as a youth soccer coach, his family and his interests, including Red Sox baseball, of which BIDMC is proud to be "the official hospital." When he sees a charity that he finds interesting, or an artist whose work he enjoys, he will promote it on his blog as well, "so it became a community service in that way."

While Levy admitted to knowing almost nothing about blogging at first, he has developed his skills and built up an impressive readership in two years. His blog has become an unfiltered and honest source of news and publicity for BIDMC, as his posts are not seen or edited by anyone in the hospital's communications department before being published.

Levy is proud to say that his hospital is open and honest with the press. "I never want to see a story saying, 'Levy was unavailable for comment,'" he said. "If a story is newsworthy enough to be written about, I want our opinion in it. If you ask the Boston press, they would probably say that of all the hospitals, we are the best at that." Occasionally, he noted, he even beats the press to a story.

When our class ended, the person sitting next to me wondered aloud "what was the point of that?" but frankly, I Levy was the first of the five speakers we've had that was truly interesting to me. Probably because I have worked in health care before and would love to make a career of it in the future, I found him fascinating.

Levy clearly enjoys his job and enjoys blogging about it. Readers nation- and even worldwide check in with him daily, and from now on, I will, too.

Seriously?

The success of "The Biggest Loser" has spawned a few weight-loss-TV spinoffs, as is to be expected with pretty much any reality show in recent years. VH1 had "Celebrity Fit Club," the Food Network has "Weighing In," and now CMT (Country Music Television) is getting in on the act with "I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader Again." Yes, really.

It is, without a doubt, the worst reality spinoff yet, and not just because it has a title that's almost too long and cumbersome to say in one breath. While "The Biggest Loser" is intended to help its dangerously overweight contestants decrease their size to improve their health, the weight-loss efforts of "Cheerleader" are completely appearance-motivated. The ten contestants are women in their late twenties or early thirties who are simply displeased with the fact that they are no longer in the perfect shape they were at age 17. Since their days as hard-working, popular princesses of the high school world, they have obviously stopped working out nearly as much as they once did. Several of them have also had children, which naturally alters the condition of a woman's body. Are they overweight? Maybe a little. But weight is certainly not endangering their health or making their lives physically difficult. In fact, in this photo, most of them look to have bodies many women would envy.

The corresponding message board on CMT.com is filled with viewers cheering on the contestants (yeah, pun intended) and touting the show. On one level, I can see how this show could be an encouragement for women who want to get their post-baby bodies back into shape. Losing weight is not easy, and I'm sure it is helpful for these ten women to live in an environment where they have trainers to keep them in line and have each other for support.

On the other hand, I can't help but point to this as just another example of America's obsession with the perfect body. The contestants on "The Biggest Loser" have inspirational reasons for their weight loss and want to make long-term improvements in their lives. In previous seasons, they have displayed their reasons on t-shirts made for the show: To watch my son grow up. To inspire my patients. To make my family proud. On "Cheerleader," the only goal seems to be I want to look hot...but I hate working out and I will complain about it every day...and I want a Snickers bar.

Sorry, chicas, I don't want to hear it.

Give Peas a Chance

On October 20th, the 12th annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival was held at the Reggie Lewis Center at Roxbury Community College.

I first attended this event three years ago, on the recommendation of a professor with whom I was taking a health- and environmentally-conscious honors seminar. This year, I honestly went mostly because I knew I might find some interesting people and things of which to take pictures.

In one of my online communities of Bostonians, a vegan who planned on attending the event mentioned that she "hoped to see non-vegetarians there, too," and I think that's a really good idea. I know many people who are vegetarians or vegans, and I know that they have plenty of food options beyond salad and tofu. Most of the exhibitors at the festival are from companies that make vegetarian or vegan foods -- everything from breakfast to dessert. Italian food, Greek food, Indian food...they can all be made vegetarian, or sometimes, vegan. Many exhibitors also sell cookbooks so that the visiting veg-heads can whip up meatless menus at home.

I also know that veganism is often not just a way of eating but a way of life. I think it would be interesting to see a less-informed non-vegetarian's reaction to the lengths some people will go to to protect animals. Vegan cleaning products, vegan cat litter, vegan toothpaste, vegan clothing and shoes...almost anything can be altered in some way so that it doesn't contain any animal products, and if it can't be altered, serious vegans will go without it. And while I'm on the subject, vegan baked goods are actually pretty tasty.

And, even though some vegans might like some animal-based foods, they often give them up because they are opposed to the way the animals are treated. People at the festival distributed information about farms that treat their animals in a more ethical manner, and about animal rescue organizations. These people seem to care genuinely about the well-being of animals, even if they are not animals that have any possibility of being used as food. As I exited the building, I met a group of people who were gathering signatures for a petition about greyhound racing. They were petitioning to put a provision on the ballot for the next election, allowing Massachusetts voters to vote for the ending of greyhound racing in the state. I am not a registered voter in Massachusetts, so I couldn't sign the petition, but I certainly would have if I were. I actually know a couple in my home state (one of whom is vegetarian and the other vegan) who have been participating in greyhound rescue programs for years. They keep retired racing greyhounds as pets and have made me want to do the same, because they are beautiful, fascinating dogs.

My favorite part of the festival is the way that so many people wear their veggie lifestyle loud and proud (see a few photos two posts ago). "Go Vegan, and no body gets hurt." "Tasty Eats Without the Meats." I was even tempted to buy the t-shirt that said "Eat Like You Give a Damn," but I made the unfortunate mistake of attending with only two dollars in my pocket -- the vendors at the festival can only accept cash.

Next year, you should all take an hour or so out of the third Saturday in October and check out the Vegetarian Food Festival, and in the meantime, keep an open mind about other people's food and lifestyle choices. I'm not suggesting that you put a Tofurky on your table this Thanksgiving, but it couldn't hurt...you or a turkey...to give it a shot.

Let's talk about...sleep

(assignment #3 -- podcast)

I originally recorded this post at 1 a.m. on October 23, the very early morning before an exam that was, quite honestly, the most nerve-wracking exam experience I have ever encountered. Now that that is over, I have actually found the time to load the file. (Audio requires Windows Media Player)

(Click here to hear this post)

It is one o'clock in the morning, and I am still awake, studying for what promises to be the most absurdly difficult midterm of my school career.

So, in honor of the midterms we all love so much, let's talk about what I'm not doing right now: Sleeping.

Sleep is healthy and necessary, and all too often, people just don't get enough. College students in particular are usually sleep-deprived. We should each be getting seven to nine hours of sleep each night, but as we try to balance classes, jobs, and social lives, sleep becomes less of a priority. Morning after morning I wake up tired and vow to go to bed earlier that night, but when night comes I can almost always find something I would rather do than go to sleep, and I know I'm not the only one who has that experience.

But recently, I have been feeling the effects of too little sleep, as I'm sure many students do. I have trouble staying awake in class, become irritable at work, get headaches, and find it hard to concentrate on anything. Sleep can also have more serious consequences -- the National Sleep Foundation reports that more than one hundred thousand traffics accident annually result from a driver's lack of sleep.

I know I need to get more sleep, and if you've been feeling as tired as I have, you need it, too. Sleep strengthens your immune system and benefits your metabolism and your skin. Sleep improves your memory, makes you better able to concentrate, and ultimately improves your mood. Giving yourself an adequate amount of sleep is much like recharging the battery on your cell phone. A phone that's not recharged often enough will eventually stop working -- and so will your body.

Try putting sleep a little higher on your priority list -- above video games, above talking on the phone, above late-night TV. Don't get me wrong, I love Conan O'Brien, but the fact that I am watching his show right now signals to me that I should have been asleep an hour ago.

Sleep is a healthy habit. Get into it, and your body will thank you.
Good night.

Veg heads unite!

(assignment #2 -- pictures from the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival, October 20, 2007)

Pill controversy update

The distribution of birth control pills at a Maine middle school has gone from local controversy to national news item, picked up by MSNBC and discussed this morning on The Today Show.

At an meeting yesterday evening, the school board approved the plan for the creation of a student "health center" at the school, presumably giving the school health officials the authority to prescribe the contraceptives to female students. Students will need parental permission to sign up for health center services, but in accordance with the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA -- PDF), any further information as to the treatment the students receive there must be kept confidential, even from their parents. Birth control pills AND patches will be available to female students who request them and who first undergo a physical exam from a licensed nurse practitioner.

On this morning's Today Show, Dr. Nancy Snyderman cited a study that found 13 percent of middle school students polled said they were sexually active. At King Middle School specifically, a school nurse reported that five of the 134 female students who came to the school health center in 2006-07 said they were sexually active.

The school board voted 7-2, with one of the dissenters claiming that providing contraceptives was the responsibility of parents. But those who support this plan say many of these students lack responsible adults in their lives or would no feel comfortable discussing sex with their parents.

While opinions on the subject certainly vary, I think it's for the best. This school is going above and beyond in its effort to protect students.

The issues in question are young ages of the students and the fact that they will have access to contraception without their parents' knowledge.

So, what do YOU think? Anyone who stumbles across my blog this week, I'd like to know your opinion -- Are middle schoolers too young to have this option, or is it a necessary precaution?

Prevention or promotion?

A Portland, ME, middle school is considering distributing birth control pills to female students, according to WHDH News.

I first heard of this about half an hour ago, in a news tease during a prime-time commercial break. I find at least one spelling or grammatical error in a WHDH broadcast every day, and today, although it's a bit more picky than usual, the error was in this tease.

It said something along the lines of, "Hear how young one school is considering giving girls prescriptions." I understand the point of this sentence, but I think it misconstrues what the school district is planning to do. The school district cannot give a girl a prescription for an oral contraceptive; only her doctor can do that. The most the school can do, and what I assume King Middle School is planning to do, is to give out a single pack to each girl to show her that she has that option.

The school already gives out condoms to students. As I see it, there is not much difference between giving a male student one condom and giving a female student one pack of oral contraceptives. In either case, it gives the student an option to have sex safely, if he or she should choose to at all. The only difference for a female student is that, one she exhausts the one-month of pills from the school, she will have to ask her doctor for more (and, in effect, tell her mother she is sexually active).

The controversy in King Middle School's proposal is in the age of its students -- 11 to 13 years old. Those who oppose the distribution of the pills say the girls are too young, and that giving them oral contraceptives is like encouraging them to have sex too young. But in reality, American children and teens are becoming sexually active much sooner then they used to. Some will have sex at age 12 or 13, whether the issue is discussed in their schools or not. I think it is ultimately better to make these girls aware of their options, aware that they can protect themselves, than to ignore the issue altogether. Those who have no use for the pills will not use them, but at least those who choose to have sex might use them and prevent the much more serious issues that would arise if they did not.

Biggest Loser Recap

School concerns have left me with little attention to pay to "The Biggest Loser" in the past few weeks, but I have seen the players learn a few valuable lessons that I'd like to mention.

Week three most notably saw the Blue Team lose a weigh-in and vote out 63-year-old Jerry. As previously discussed, Jerry won the initial challenge and got to choose the team members himself. Because he held the "captain" position, was older than any other contestant in the show's history AND had a good weight-loss record, Jerry assumed his teammates would not want to vote him out. But no matter how good of a relationship the teammates build, this is a competition. Only one person can win, and in order to get closer to that goal they must vote out others who are a threat to their success.

A more important lesson in week three came to the Red Team -- when trainer Kim noticed them making some less-than-ideal food choices, she gave them a lesson in healthier cooking.

Week Five featured the ultimate challenge: handling weight concerns back in the real world. After a month on the secluded campus, the contestants went on a week-long trip with their trainers to Jamaica. But, as Jillian assured her team, "This is NOT a vacation!" The contestants were challenged with grueling workouts on the sand and in the pool and forced to find healthy food options at the all-inclusive resort's unlimited buffet. It was a true challenge for most of the contestants, and one Black Team member grew angry and defiant when Jillian told him she expected him not to drink alcohol on the trip.

While Jillian was confident in her team's ability to work out on the sand, the Black Team's previous experience with desert workouts was not enough to keep them from losing their first weigh-in. The team's set of twin brothers were split up as the team voted Jim out of the game.

The trip away from campus was an excellent chance for the contestants to practice keeping up healthy habits in a real world setting. Their trainers were present to push them through the workouts and help them make the best possible food choices, but they should all remember the lessons of this trip. At one time or another, they will each have to leave the campus and go home, where they will have to maintain their new physical selves while living in their old enviornment...which makes me think of another, similar topic I'd like to mention. But that's another post for another time.

Model Behavior

For four years and nine mini-seasons, "America's Next Top Model" has given its viewers -- and its inexperienced contestants -- an inside look at the rigors of the modeling industry. We have seen the models speculate about eating disorders among their peers, seen the judges insist that certain girls need to lose weight to succeed, and have even seen a couple of contestants collapse from exhaustion or dehydration.

Creator/Host Tyra Banks, a longtime supermodel herself, encourages her proteges to live healthy lives -- to eat well, sleep well, and embrace their physical quirks. But this season, she has gone beyond encouragement to insistence that the models set a healthy example for their viewers. In the second episode of the season, the models participated in a photo shoot depicting the dangers of smoking. Each girl was photographed sitting next to a mirror, holding a cigarette and looking as lovely as always. But each was then made-up to reflect a negative side effect of long-term smoking (from facial aging to hair loss from cancer to a tracheotomy), and the negative photo was edited to appear as her reflection in the mirror of the first photo.

The results were eerie and even disturbing. For the first time, upon realizing that a few of this season's contestants are indeed smokers, Banks banned smoking in the Top Model house, saying she did not want young viewers to see models smoking and assume it was acceptable behavior.

Smoking seems to be becoming the exception rather than the rule in America. With entire cities declaring their restaurants and bars smoke-free, and some posting signs beside the doors of buildings asking people not to smoke near building entrances, smokers are becoming outsiders in society. All the better, I say -- perhaps the social stigma will be enough to make the remaining smokers try to quit, if the knowledge of the damage they are doing to their bodies is not convincing enough.

Way to go, Tyra.

(The Top Models' "smoker" photos can be found in the Photos section of the ANTM website. Click on "Model Portfolios" -- the smoker photo will be the second photo in each portfolio.)

The ABC's of better health

(blog assignment #1)

Health A to Z is a very comprehensive website with a very appropriate name. It literally covers almost any health-related topic for which a person might search, and it has tools to help searchers personalize the site to their own needs.

The most obvious element of the site is a list of "conditions A to Z." A reader can select any illness or disease, from Alzheimer's Disease to West Nile Virus, and be presented with a full overview of that illness, including a definition, symptoms, causes, risk factors, treatment, prevention methods, possible medications and tests, and a page of guidance to help the reader decide if he or she needs to see a doctor about the problem. A similar feature devoted to medications provides detailed information about hundreds of medications from A to Z, including possible adverse reactions that could result from combining each one with other drugs.

For the weight-conscious web surfer, the site includes tools such as a BMI calculator and a healthy weight calculator, healthy recipes, and an "Ask the Nutritionist" column. Readers can also register with the site to keep a "personal health record" and receive advice from a "personal health coach."

A feature that worries me a little is the "symptom checker." I've seen several sites with similar features, which allow visitors to the site to type in "symptoms" they have that they fear might be symbolic of a larger problem. Sometimes a persistent headache or abnormal fatigue can be a sign that a more serious illness is on the way...and sometimes not. A tool like this one has the potential to turn some people into hypochondriacs. While it may be beneficial for the few who will suspect an illness, call their doctors, and catch a disease in an early, easily-treatable stage, it could become very stressful for others who will search every time they feel slightly abnormal and will worry that a headache really signals a brain tumor. The internet has caused an increase in people sort of becoming their own doctors, finding an illness they think they have or a drug they think they need, and calling their doctors to suggest it. Thankfully, it's still up to the real doctors to confirm illnesses and choose the best course of treatment.

Health A to Z's "Lifestyles" page breaks the health information down into the demographic-specific categories of men's health, women's health, children's health, and seniors' health, especially useful because men and women have very different health concerns and needs, as do people of all different ages. The Lifestyles page also has sections on topics like parenting, fitness, nutrition, and safety and prevention.

The "Encyclopedia" section allows readers to search for information on hundreds of topics including diseases, medical terms, and even procedures. I think this could be especially helpful and reassuring for a patient who was soon to undergo a procedure but wanted to know more details about it. Entries in the encyclopedia contain all of the necessary complicated medical terms, but the explanations are otherwise presented in straightforward, non-intimidating language, so that a reader who might not know much about medicine and health would be able to understand the information.

The site also has a mental health center and a "complementary and alternative medicine center" for those looking for a remedy beyond the usual medications and doctor visits.

I found this site completely arbitrarily while browsing through health-related sites and blogs, but I think it is a valuable tool for anyone in search of almost any kind of health information.

October 10 is World Mental Health Day

...but unless you looked it up, you probably wouldn't know it.

When I Googled it, I found a few sites explaining the meaning of the day, and a few links to news articles about the ways in which it is observed in some places.

I am a member of a few online communities of Bostonians, and people in those communities will announce and promote every possible local event that they host or hear about...but no one mentioned any events to mark this day. In some ways, I suppose that makes sense...mental health is a somewhat taboo issue, one that people may not be willing to talk much about...and when one really thinks about it, what could people do to observe the day?

World Mental Health Day is a nice idea, but mental health is an issue and an obstacle in many people's lives every day. And, unfortunately, mental health problems carry a considerable societal stigma. "Healthy" people often feel uncomfortable around individuals whom they know have psychological issues. In turn, those who have psychological problems are often made to feel terribly different from others when all they really want is to feel normal and accepted for who they are.

Sometimes the best medicine for a mental health issue, aside from the sometimes-essential medication, is to talk about it, which can be difficult for both the speaker and the listeners. So, in honor of World Mental Health Day, I ask you all to try to have open ears and an open mind toward anyone you know who may have a mental illness. Sometimes just being there and listening is more valuable than you can imagine.

Roaches and room temp and mold -- Oh My!

If you caught this article in the Boston Herald this morning, it may have made you push your breakfast away in digust. It mentions unsanitary food-preparation and storage practices in several Boston restaurants...and a few lines in the newspaper may be only the beginning.

Apparently, the city of Boston is considering a new website that will track the health inspection ratings of thousands of area restaurants. The site is expected to operate in nearly "real time," as inspectors will be posting their reports quickly after completing them.

Some city officials and restaurant owners worry that releasing this information to potential patrons will "hurt" the city's multimillion-dollar dining industry. But after health code violations in swanky South End dining spots were revealed (by two Northeastern graduates -- yea!) in an August Boston Globe piece, I say it's about time. Isn't it a little unnerving that restauranteurs are more worried about the negative impact on their revenue than about the possible negative impact on their customers?

The suggestion of this website raises an interesting question to Boston-area diners themselves: Would you want to know? If a favorite restaurant, one you'd been eating at without issue for months or years, was handling food in an unsanitary manner, would you rather hear about it or continue dining in ignorant bliss? And if you heard negative feedback about your favorite place, would you continue eating there?

Boston residents seem to say yes, they would check up on local eateries. Some say public knowledge of health inspection ratings would probably make the rich restaurants richer and the poor ones poorer. Eateries that got high marks would likely see an increase in business, and those that scored low would have to work to clear their names and ensure patrons that their food was safe.

City officials say online restaurant reports may be available as soon as December.

Campus Health Scare numero dos...otra vez

A Bentley College freshman died of bacterical meningitis over the weekend. She began showing symptoms while spending the weekend at home in New York state, but most likely contracted the disease on campus. Within only a few days, she was dead.

I discussed meningitis in a previous entry. College students seem to be magnets for this fast-moving, frequently deadly illness. The American College Health Association recommends that all first-year college students get the vaccine, and I recommend it no matter what year you are.

Where's the beef? Not at Topps.

Newsworthy events often seem to happen in clusters. In the past few years, I've seen multiple local sexual assaults, multiple taser incidents, and multiple pet shop dog-nappings within a few days of each other.

Lately, the cluster has been food-related illness scares, but unlike the previous incidents, this one has actually brought a company down.

Yesterday I came across this article from the Philadelphia CBS affiliate. In the previous week or so, I had heard about a meat recall involving Topps frozen hamburgers that may be infected with e. coli. At first it didn't sound like much, but the recall was soon expanded to a much larger amount of meat. Apparently, that expansion earned it the title of "the second largest beef recall in U.S. history," totaling "21.7 million pounds...an entire year's worth of work."

In that "entire year," much of the infected meat had already been purchased and eaten, and many people had gotten sick...a few are now suing the company.

And so, within ten days of the original recall, the 67-year-old company shut down. Note their defunct website.

It's pretty unbelievable to me that an entire year went by without any real notice of this problem. "The New York State Department of Health issued an alert" on September 25, but why did they not know about it before then?

If you have any Topps hamburgers in your freezer, I might suggest you not eat them. But then again, cooking meat to a proper temperature usually kills off any harmful bacteria. If millions of pounds of hamburgers were infected and only 32 people reported illness after eating them, those people could be to blame for not cooking their burgers the right way. And frankly, I feel bad for all the people who no longer have jobs because of it.

But in all honesty, those cookie-cuttered pucks of frozen processed meat have always disturbed me just a little anyway.

Houston, Wii have a problem

A few weeks ago, The Northeastern News ran an article called "Gaming to lose a Wii bit of extra weight." The article mentioned a study that found a person could burn 150 calories an hour by playing the Wii Sports game that comes with the Nintendo Wii game system. It also mentioned a website called Workout With Wii, whose creator suggests that a daily regimen of Wii-play could actually help a person drop a few pounds.

Before I'd even read the article, the headline made me laugh. It is unfortunate that so many kids, teens, and even some adults in today's society spend so much time sitting down and playing video games and so little time doing more physical activities. The overall increase in "screen time" has certainly contributed to the increase in obesity in recent years. But I actually think it would be even more unfortunate for those people to think they could use video games as a form of exercise. It's almost as discomfiting as the Burger King "apple fries" that I mentioned a few weeks ago. We have to disguise healthy food as unhealthy to get kids to eat it, and we have to create a form of exercise that requires being in front of a TV in order to get kids to do it? Of course it's better that gamers be standing up and moving a little while playing games, rather than sitting down, but an effective workout from the Wii? I don't think so.

When I did read the article, I found that members of the NU community who were quoted in it are as skeptical as I am about the workout potential of the Wii. But apparently the folks at Nintendo plan to "expand the options available for those who want to work out with the system." That's noble of you, Nintendo...but I don't think virtual sports will put much more than a wii dent in anyone's weight loss goal. How about real sports instead?