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There are so many benefits to strength training aside from sculpted muscles. Strength training can improve bone density, boost your brainpower and productivity,and you can squeeze it in every day, whether by carrying all your grocery bags in one trip or picking up your toddler.

When we feel strong, it fuels ourself-confidence.We feel empowered and encouraged by our strength gains. Setting realistic short- and long-term goals, following through with plans and programs, sticking to your schedule, and persevering when it's difficult will bring your success to life.

And don't forget about diet; fueling muscle mass is only possible when we're giving our bodies enough calories. The minimum amount our body needs to maintain its current state won't be enough to promote muscle growtha caloric surplus is necessary.

Lastly, it's always important to train smart. I tell my athletes, "Don't train your ego." Have fun with it, enjoy the process, and watch that form!

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A Full-Body Strength-Training Workout That Doesn't Require A Gym - mindbodygreen.com

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Teaching is not an easy job, and like any profession has its own unique stressors. Instructing special needs students is a departure from teaching in a traditional classroom environment, with particular circumstances and challenges that change the dynamic even more. Dawn Yeselavage, program coordinator at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit 22, knows the importance of stress relief and assistance for teachers. Yeselavage was a special education teacher for 16 years before moving on five years ago to program coordinator, and oversees 15 classrooms that include teachers who specialize in autistic support and emotional support. The students in these classrooms have a wide range of learning and developmental disabilities, and teachers must be able to adapt, she says. However, a lot of teachers dont receive the necessary preparation that enables them to believe they are doing the best job they can do for the student, she adds. A lot of classrooms have ratio of quite a few adults in the room, Yeselavage says. Not only are they teaching but also managing adults. I think that becomes stressful. I dont think a graduate right out of college realizes you are not only teaching, but having to manage different personalities. Yeselavage believes special education teachers are stressed because theres a shortage of teachers and instructional assistance, and they dont have enough support in the classroom. Teachers also must fulfill their students goals from their IPS play special attention to monitoring progress, which involves collecting data throughout the day while they are instructing. They go to an awful lot of meetings, she adds. It is taking more time away from their teaching responsibilities and from their students. Yeselavage believes additional support staff would be helpful for teachers, in addition to making sure that they get consistent prep time; having additional time to work on collecting data and completing paperwork; and ensuring they have professional development opportunities that are relevant to the students they are teaching. Fortunately for teachers in IU22, teachers have a support team to call on for assistance. In a crisis situation they have a large number of staff members that they can call upon: a supervisor, program coordinator, an educational consultant, a school psychologist, a social worker, behavioral analyst and also related service staff, Yeselavage explains. They also have health insurance that provides access to therapists. If theres an issue we support them with getting the help. The supervisor will direct them to whatever support they would need, she says. What Yeselavage has learned over during her career when it comes to managing stress is to exercise, eat clean, and use essential oils and holistic-type approaches to health. She recommends this to her staff, who are often amazed by her calmness, she adds. I can say in the beginning of my career I didnt utilize them, she says. It is so important when I go home to de-stress and be present for my family and children. Sometimes as educators we dont do that. It is important for educators to take care of themselves to be healthy and to be the best educator that they can be. Another piece of advice she gives her teachers is to walk away if they are feeling stressed and frustrated and that is perfectly okay. I think it would be awesome if there are more EAP programs for teachers, Yeselavage says. I havent come across many. A couple of years ago, she says, a couple of social workers did some training on mindfulness for the staff members, which she found beneficial and useful. Sometimes I worry about our teachers, she says. There is so much on their plate. They are working non-stop and burn out. Julie Rossi, benefits coordinator at IU22, says there are two programs being discussed that could help special education teachers. The best resource available through the [Bucks and Montgomery County School Health Consortium] medical plan would be the behavioral health benefit to seek behavioral health care, says Noreen Oswald, senior account manager at CEBS. If the individual entities have an EAP in place this would also be a good source. One consortium member, Quakertown School District, in 2019 implemented a program called Headspace. Quakertown People Services Director Janet Pallone and Technology Director Joe Kuzo spearheaded the effort. Headspace is an app that teaches you how to mediate. The app offers free access to all k-12 teachers, school administrators and supporting staff. Another program is Talkspace, which provides real-time access to a therapist through a mobile app on iOS and Android. I personally enjoy Headspace and use it from time to time, but not daily, says Zachary Garger, a k-12 instructional coach at Quakertown. I work with our New Teacher Academy and we have passed it on to our teachers there as well as our elementary school coaches. Garger says teachers are using Headspace in their classrooms. Some teachers are using it to build mindfulness and teach calming strategies during morning meeting and before big projects or assessments, he says. These teachers project the Headspace lessons on their whiteboards and have students follow along. Teaching is not an easy job, and like any profession has its own unique stressors. Instructing special needs students is a departure from teaching in a traditional classroom environment, with particular circumstances and challenges that change the dynamic even more. Dawn Yeselavage, program coordinator at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit 22, knows the importance of stress relief and assistance for teachers. Yeselavage was a special education teacher for 16 years before moving on five years ago to program coordinator, and oversees 15 classrooms that include teachers who specialize in autistic support and emotional support. The students in these classrooms have a wide range of learning and developmental disabilities, and teachers must be able to adapt, she says. However, a lot of teachers dont receive the necessary preparation that enables them to believe they are doing the best job they can do for the student, she adds. A lot of classrooms have ratio of quite a few adults in the room, Yeselavage says. Not only are they teaching but also managing adults. I think that becomes stressful. I dont think a graduate right out of college realizes you are not only teaching, but having to manage different personalities. Yeselavage believes special education teachers are stressed because theres a shortage of teachers and instructional assistance, and they dont have enough support in the classroom. Teachers also must fulfill their students goals from their IPS play special attention to monitoring progress, which involves collecting data throughout the day while they are instructing. They go to an awful lot of meetings, she adds. It is taking more time away from their teaching responsibilities and from their students. Yeselavage believes additional support staff would be helpful for teachers, in addition to making sure that they get consistent prep time; having additional time to work on collecting data and completing paperwork; and ensuring they have professional development opportunities that are relevant to the students they are teaching. Fortunately for teachers in IU22, teachers have a support team to call on for assistance. In a crisis situation they have a large number of staff members that they can call upon: a supervisor, program coordinator, an educational consultant, a school psychologist, a social worker, behavioral analyst and also related service staff, Yeselavage explains. They also have health insurance that provides access to therapists. If theres an issue we support them with getting the help. The supervisor will direct them to whatever support they would need, she says. What Yeselavage has learned over during her career when it comes to managing stress is to exercise, eat clean, and use essential oils and holistic-type approaches to health. She recommends this to her staff, who are often amazed by her calmness, she adds. I can say in the beginning of my career I didnt utilize them, she says. It is so important when I go home to de-stress and be present for my family and children. Sometimes as educators we dont do that. It is important for educators to take care of themselves to be healthy and to be the best educator that they can be. Another piece of advice she gives her teachers is to walk away if they are feeling stressed and frustrated and that is perfectly okay. I think it would be awesome if there are more EAP programs for teachers, Yeselavage says. I havent come across many. A couple of years ago, she says, a couple of social workers did some training on mindfulness for the staff members, which she found beneficial and useful. Sometimes I worry about our teachers, she says. There is so much on their plate. They are working non-stop and burn out. Julie Rossi, benefits coordinator at IU22, says there are two programs being discussed that could help special education teachers. The best resource available through the [Bucks and Montgomery County School Health Consortium] medical plan would be the behavioral health benefit to seek behavioral health care, says Noreen Oswald, senior account manager at CEBS. If the individual entities have an EAP in place this would also be a good source. One consortium member, Quakertown School District, in 2019 implemented a program called Headspace. Quakertown People Services Director Janet Pallone and Technology Director Joe Kuzo spearheaded the effort. Headspace is an app that teaches you how to mediate. The app offers free access to all k-12 teachers, school administrators and supporting staff. Another program is Talkspace, which provides real-time access to a therapist through a mobile app on iOS and Android. I personally enjoy Headspace and use it from time to time, but not daily, says Zachary Garger, a k-12 instructional coach at Quakertown. I work with our New Teacher Academy and we have passed it on to our teachers there as well as our elementary school coaches. Garger says teachers are using Headspace in their classrooms. Some teachers are using it to build mindfulness and teach calming strategies during morning meeting and before big projects or assessments, he says. These teachers project the Headspace lessons on their whiteboards and have students follow along.

Teaching is not an easy job, and like any profession has its own unique stressors. Instructing special needs students is a departure from teaching in a traditional classroom environment, with particular circumstances and challenges that change the dynamic even more.

Dawn Yeselavage, program coordinator at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit 22, knows the importance of stress relief and assistance for teachers. Yeselavage was a special education teacher for 16 years before moving on five years ago to program coordinator, and oversees 15 classrooms that include teachers who specialize in autistic support and emotional support. The students in these classrooms have a wide range of learning and developmental disabilities, and teachers must be able to adapt, she says. However, a lot of teachers dont receive the necessary preparation that enables them to believe they are doing the best job they can do for the student, she adds. A lot of classrooms have ratio of quite a few adults in the room, Yeselavage says. Not only are they teaching but also managing adults. I think that becomes stressful. I dont think a graduate right out of college realizes you are not only teaching, but having to manage different personalities. Yeselavage believes special education teachers are stressed because theres a shortage of teachers and instructional assistance, and they dont have enough support in the classroom. Teachers also must fulfill their students goals from their IPS play special attention to monitoring progress, which involves collecting data throughout the day while they are instructing. They go to an awful lot of meetings, she adds. It is taking more time away from their teaching responsibilities and from their students. Yeselavage believes additional support staff would be helpful for teachers, in addition to making sure that they get consistent prep time; having additional time to work on collecting data and completing paperwork; and ensuring they have professional development opportunities that are relevant to the students they are teaching. Fortunately for teachers in IU22, teachers have a support team to call on for assistance. In a crisis situation they have a large number of staff members that they can call upon: a supervisor, program coordinator, an educational consultant, a school psychologist, a social worker, behavioral analyst and also related service staff, Yeselavage explains. They also have health insurance that provides access to therapists. If theres an issue we support them with getting the help. The supervisor will direct them to whatever support they would need, she says. What Yeselavage has learned over during her career when it comes to managing stress is to exercise, eat clean, and use essential oils and holistic-type approaches to health. She recommends this to her staff, who are often amazed by her calmness, she adds. I can say in the beginning of my career I didnt utilize them, she says. It is so important when I go home to de-stress and be present for my family and children. Sometimes as educators we dont do that. It is important for educators to take care of themselves to be healthy and to be the best educator that they can be. Another piece of advice she gives her teachers is to walk away if they are feeling stressed and frustrated and that is perfectly okay. I think it would be awesome if there are more EAP programs for teachers, Yeselavage says. I havent come across many. A couple of years ago, she says, a couple of social workers did some training on mindfulness for the staff members, which she found beneficial and useful. Sometimes I worry about our teachers, she says. There is so much on their plate. They are working non-stop and burn out. Julie Rossi, benefits coordinator at IU22, says there are two programs being discussed that could help special education teachers. The best resource available through the [Bucks and Montgomery County School Health Consortium] medical plan would be the behavioral health benefit to seek behavioral health care, says Noreen Oswald, senior account manager at CEBS. If the individual entities have an EAP in place this would also be a good source. One consortium member, Quakertown School District, in 2019 implemented a program called Headspace. Quakertown People Services Director Janet Pallone and Technology Director Joe Kuzo spearheaded the effort. Headspace is an app that teaches you how to mediate. The app offers free access to all k-12 teachers, school administrators and supporting staff. Another program is Talkspace, which provides real-time access to a therapist through a mobile app on iOS and Android. I personally enjoy Headspace and use it from time to time, but not daily, says Zachary Garger, a k-12 instructional coach at Quakertown. I work with our New Teacher Academy and we have passed it on to our teachers there as well as our elementary school coaches. Garger says teachers are using Headspace in their classrooms. Some teachers are using it to build mindfulness and teach calming strategies during morning meeting and before big projects or assessments, he says. These teachers project the Headspace lessons on their whiteboards and have students follow along.

Teaching is not an easy job, and like any profession has its own unique stressors. Instructing special needs students is a departure from teaching in a traditional classroom environment, with particular circumstances and challenges that change the dynamic even more.

Dawn Yeselavage, program coordinator at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit 22, knows the importance of stress relief and assistance for teachers. Yeselavage was a special education teacher for 16 years before moving on five years ago to program coordinator, and oversees 15 classrooms that include teachers who specialize in autistic support and emotional support.

The students in these classrooms have a wide range of learning and developmental disabilities, and teachers must be able to adapt, she says. However, a lot of teachers dont receive the necessary preparation that enables them to believe they are doing the best job they can do for the student, she adds.

A lot of classrooms have ratio of quite a few adults in the room, Yeselavage says. Not only are they teaching but also managing adults. I think that becomes stressful. I dont think a graduate right out of college realizes you are not only teaching, but having to manage different personalities.

Yeselavage believes special education teachers are stressed because theres a shortage of teachers and instructional assistance, and they dont have enough support in the classroom. Teachers also must fulfill their students goals from their IPS play special attention to monitoring progress, which involves collecting data throughout the day while they are instructing.

They go to an awful lot of meetings, she adds. It is taking more time away from their teaching responsibilities and from their students.

Yeselavage believes additional support staff would be helpful for teachers, in addition to making sure that they get consistent prep time; having additional time to work on collecting data and completing paperwork; and ensuring they have professional development opportunities that are relevant to the students they are teaching.

Fortunately for teachers in IU22, teachers have a support team to call on for assistance.

In a crisis situation they have a large number of staff members that they can call upon: a supervisor, program coordinator, an educational consultant, a school psychologist, a social worker, behavioral analyst and also related service staff, Yeselavage explains.

They also have health insurance that provides access to therapists.

If theres an issue we support them with getting the help. The supervisor will direct them to whatever support they would need, she says.

What Yeselavage has learned over during her career when it comes to managing stress is to exercise, eat clean, and use essential oils and holistic-type approaches to health. She recommends this to her staff, who are often amazed by her calmness, she adds.

I can say in the beginning of my career I didnt utilize them, she says. It is so important when I go home to de-stress and be present for my family and children. Sometimes as educators we dont do that. It is important for educators to take care of themselves to be healthy and to be the best educator that they can be.

Another piece of advice she gives her teachers is to walk away if they are feeling stressed and frustrated and that is perfectly okay.

I think it would be awesome if there are more EAP programs for teachers, Yeselavage says. I havent come across many.

A couple of years ago, she says, a couple of social workers did some training on mindfulness for the staff members, which she found beneficial and useful.

Sometimes I worry about our teachers, she says. There is so much on their plate. They are working non-stop and burn out.

Julie Rossi, benefits coordinator at IU22, says there are two programs being discussed that could help special education teachers.

The best resource available through the [Bucks and Montgomery County School Health Consortium] medical plan would be the behavioral health benefit to seek behavioral health care, says Noreen Oswald, senior account manager at CEBS. If the individual entities have an EAP in place this would also be a good source.

One consortium member, Quakertown School District, in 2019 implemented a program called Headspace. Quakertown People Services Director Janet Pallone and Technology Director Joe Kuzo spearheaded the effort.

Headspace is an app that teaches you how to mediate. The app offers free access to all k-12 teachers, school administrators and supporting staff. Another program is Talkspace, which provides real-time access to a therapist through a mobile app on iOS and Android.

I personally enjoy Headspace and use it from time to time, but not daily, says Zachary Garger, a k-12 instructional coach at Quakertown. I work with our New Teacher Academy and we have passed it on to our teachers there as well as our elementary school coaches.

Garger says teachers are using Headspace in their classrooms.

Some teachers are using it to build mindfulness and teach calming strategies during morning meeting and before big projects or assessments, he says. These teachers project the Headspace lessons on their whiteboards and have students follow along.

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Headspace and Stress | Inspiration - Bradford Era

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KEEPING fit is what Meagan and Robert Wood believe is the secret to a long and happy marriage.

The pair have been participating in exercise classes run through the Ipswich Hospital Foundations Fit4Life program for the last two years.

Fit4Life is an initiative providing low cost fitness sessions for people aged 16 and over. The classes are run by qualified personal trainers and are suitable for all fitness levels. Classes include boxing, yoga, pilates, aqua fitness, low circuit, zumba, running and walking, as well a mums and bubs group.

Mrs Wood said her favourite class is boxercise, as she gets to rough up her partner.

I love to beat Robert up. I get to smack him around a little bit, she said.

It makes for a good laugh. Its a lot of fun and a good mix between a great, sweaty workout.

The 50 year old was first introduced to the Fit4Life program by a friend, who insisted she give it a try.

I didnt want to get into a big gym, its a bit daunting, she said.

I wanted to be a little healthier and a little stronger while having fun, so I gave Fit4Life a go.

Mrs Wood said she quickly become hooked to regular exercise and started going to multiple classes every week.

Keeping fit is important to us, especially as we start to get older and our joints start to go, she said.

Its important to have a little bit of fitness and flexibility at least.

But its not just about the fitness and getting sweaty - theres a social side as well.

Weve made some new friends and you get to know your community a little more too.

Ipswich Hospital Foundation marketing and health promotion manager Brendan Modini said Fit4Life is just one of our preventive health programs to keep people healthier and out of hospital.

If our community was healthier, they could save themselves a few trips to the hospital in later years, he said.

In the past, weve had doctors and GPs referring their patients to Fit4Life just as a way of keeping them healthier.

Fit4Life programs run all year round, with summer and winter timetables.

The classes are run by qualified personal trainers and suitable for all fitness levels. No bookings are required.

Costs range from $2-$7. Alternatively, an IHF Membership is $21 per fortnight to attend unlimited sessions.

To find a program near you, log onto http://www.ihfoundation.org.au/get-active.

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How to stay fit for less than the price of a cup of coffee - Ipswich Advertiser

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Stress, distraction, unhealthy use of technology and rising rates of mental illness life is increasingly tough for teenagers today, and educating them is a challenge at best. But researchers at UC Santa Barbara have found success in a new program to address those four themes, which stand out as struggles for the majority of high school students in the United States.

A new, evidence-based, online course that provides students with personalized attention training is being developed at the Center for Mindfulness & Human Potential (CMHP), part of the universitys Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. The course teaches students to focus their minds and manage their emotions so they can succeed academically.

Twenty-five high schools around the country are currently using the course.

We are quite encouraged by the enthusiasm that our program has received from both students and teachers. We are also heartened by preliminary findings of benefits for students who participate in the program, said Jonathan Schooler, CMHP director and a professor of psychology.

In one study, published in the journal Education Sciences, the researchers surveyed 190 high school students before and after they completed the 22-day course. They found that students improved their ability to manage stress and regulate emotions. The study also revealed that students came to view their ability to focus as a trainable skill, and they felt more motivated and confident to train this ability. We found that among the 82% of students who initially reported paying attention in class less than they felt they should, classroom focus significantly improved following our intervention, Schooler said.

Teachers everywhere are reporting that its increasingly hard to get students to actually pay attention, noted Michael Mrazek, CMHP research director. Weve interviewed more than 200 high school teachers and principals over the last two years to understand their biggest challenges as well as their perspective about current challenges for teens. Theres a palpable sense of concern around increasing distraction, stress and mental illness. Individually, those are each distinct and important problems. Yet a lot of research has shown that mindfulness-based attention training is an elegant solution that can help address each of those issues. Thats why were so excited about finding the most effective way to bring this training into high school settings.

The project is primarily funded by a development and innovation grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of the grant is to use empirical research to iteratively refine a digital course that can ultimately scale to provide evidence-based training to millions of high school students in the United States. The online course includes not only four 12-minute lessons and daily 4-minute exercises for students, but also a teacher interface that makes it easy for teachers to enroll students and monitor their progress.

We deliberately designed this resource so that teachers dont need to become topic experts to be able to share attention training with their students, Mrazek said. When a teacher creates an account, they get access to facilitator training as well as their own personalized 22-day course. Time is a precious resource for teachers, so the course is largely plug-and-play.

Music plays an important role in most of the daily exercises. As Alissa Mrazek, a senior postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences, explained, the researchers have partnered with dozens of famous musicians to create training exercises for students. Students learn to focus their attention by listening deeply to music that is personalized to their preferred genre. We ask students to try to keep their attention focused on the sounds they hear, she explained. Then when distractions arise, as they inevitably do, its an opportunity to practice letting go of that distraction and coming back to the music.

Music plays an important role in most of the daily exercises.

Keeping the students engaged in the lessons is critical but also challenging, noted Michael Mrazek. Were constantly striving to use all of the best practices from educational psychology that optimize learning, and to implement them in fast-paced videos that resonate with a teenage audience, he said. Its a delicate balance, and its forced us to develop a unique style that can both captivate and educate.

I was skeptical initially, just because I thought that pairing a digital format with mindfulness is kind of antithetical, that digital programs are really one of the largest distractions for our teens, said Gabriel Villegas, a teacher at Central Coast New Tech High School in Nipomo, which uses the course. The program soon won him over. I tried it with some of our students, and they loved the music options that were chosen and they loved the lessons.

In Santa Barbara, San Marcos High School teacher Jeffrey Bailey is also a fan. The feedback that I got from the students was that they felt, especially when they had a stressful day, the program helped them to recalibrate and refocus, as well as to be able to notice their emotions a little bit more without judging themselves.

Each exercise is designed to help students achieve a mental state of calm and focus. What weve heard from students and seen in some of our data is that these 4-minute exercises give students an immediate way to relax, Alissa Mrazek said. Weve also had teachers say that when they start class with an exercise, students are suddenly more present and receptive to learning because theyve let go of some of the anxiety that they had before class.

Center for Mindfulness & Human Potential (CMHP) app.

The exercises help you relax in the moment, she continued, but they also train underlying skills that can be used to regulate your focus anytime you start getting worked up about something.

The program is designed to be a tier-one universal intervention that can teach preventative techniques to every single student in a high school, Alissa Mrazek said. All students experience stress and emotional challenges, and they all need access to evidence-based tools that help them understand and care for their own minds.

Noted Villegas, I think there is a movement in schools to be teaching the whole child, kind of a more holistic style instead of just academics. Were realizing that hasnt worked very well with all of the anxiety, depression and suicide rates.

But how would training your focus improve your mental health? Most people think about attention in terms of how long you can concentrate, but its much more than that, Michael Mrazek explained. Attention is a fundamental cognitive capacity that works like a spotlight, influencing what you actually experience in any given moment. If you train that fundamental skill, it not only allows you to focus better on a test but also gives you much more influence over how you relate to your entire inner world.

I'm so excited about this project, he continued. What were trying to accomplish is very challenging, but all of my life I wanted to do something that really makes a difference in the world. When we were awarded this grant it was the first time I felt like we had a genuine opportunity to do it.

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Surviving the Era of Unlimited Distraction - The UCSB Current

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Among devout Orthodox Jews, the intense study of Talmud is no longer just a man's world. Women are increasingly delving into this central religious work, and American expats in Israel are at the forefront of the trend.

They're following a custom called Daf Yomi, Hebrew for "daily page," which involves reading a page a day of this centuries-old, multivolume collection of rabbinic teachings, debates and interpretations of Judaism. It takes about seven years and five months to read all 2,711 pages.

In early January, as Orthodox Jewish men held gatherings to mark the end of the cycle, called Siyum HaShas, Orthodox women in Israel held their own large-scale Talmud celebration for the first time. Some 3,000 women of all ages cheered in a Jerusalem convention center, according to the event's organizers, Hadran.

"I never thought I would live to see this day," said Tamar Stern, a Chicago native, sitting in the second-to-last row at the celebration. She attended Orthodox Jewish schools in the 1960s and 1970s, never allowed to learn Talmud with the boys.

Sitting in the first row, Sherri Saperstein, 49, was beaming. She grew up in New York and Boston and now lives in the Israeli town of Ramat Beit Shemesh, home to a community of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who avoid contact with female strangers and still see Talmud as a man's pursuit.

"I was sitting in the post office," Saperstein recalled. "Two men behind me, who would probably never talk to me, were sitting behind me. They were talking about the 'Daf.' I knew exactly what they were talking about because I am in this process, I am learning the 'Daf'!"

The women's Siyum HaShas was co-organized by Michelle Farber, 47, a New York native who teaches a daily Talmud class for women from her living room table in Raanana, a quiet suburb north of Tel Aviv.

Men wrote the Talmud and, for centuries, it has mostly been men who have studied it. Today, Talmud study groups and even related podcasts are almost all exclusively delivered by men.

"Because they're given by men, they're not actually kind of seen from a woman's perspective," said Farber. "When I teach, I think a lot about the women's issues on the page."

One part of the Talmud discusses the ancient practice of dedicating money to the Temple in Jerusalem, in which Jews should give an amount relative to what the text considers to be their individual worth. In her classes, Farber notes the historical context. "This was written in a time where women were valued as less because women weren't educated and women weren't working," Farber said.

The modern-day Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism have long embraced a more egalitarian approach, ordaining women as rabbis and allowing equal participation in leading prayer and study. Some progressive Orthodox communities in the last few decades have widened women's roles in leading prayer and participating in Talmud study, and women are expanding the boundaries more and more.

American immigrants like Farber are helping lead the push for women's Talmud study in Israel, in part because many were exposed to Talmud early on. Some Orthodox schools in the United States began teaching the sacred text to girls in the 1950s.

At 8:15 a.m. on a recent Tuesday, a dozen women, mostly U.S.-born, pored over Talmud books as Farber used a whiteboard to explain the day's page: a complex discussion about women's menstruation, which, according to Orthodox practice, affects when a woman may have sex with her husband.

Each page of Talmud is a small block of mostly Aramaic text surrounded by commentaries, which are nestled in yet another layer of commentaries.

"A brain workout, right?" said Geula Zamist, who flew in from New Jersey to attend Farber's class and the big women's Talmud celebration. "It's such a great way to start a day. It's such a spiritual exercise to use your brain in such a completely different way."

Farber hosts a daily Talmud podcast called Daf Yomi For Women, in English and Hebrew, with about 250 subscribers. Her aim is to make the Talmud more approachable for women.

One of her podcast listeners is U.S.-born Ilana Kurshan, the author of a memoir about studying Talmud. Even with their dated assumptions about gender and class, she says, Talmud stories are worth learning.

"There is a story about a man who mistook his wife for a prostitute. A story about a man who was so engaged by his Torah study that he neglected to come home to his wife for years and years. They're stories that just make you think differently about so many aspects of human experience, and in that sense these texts are really timeless," Kurshan said in an interview at her home in Jerusalem.

The new trend of Talmud study is not limited to Orthodox women.

Nonreligious "secular yeshiva" programs in Israel teach Talmud, while the organization Svara runs a Talmud camp in U.S. cities for "queer, straight, trans, aleph bet beginners, experienced Talmudists, secular, religious, Jews [and] non-Jews."

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Orthodox Jewish Women Take A New Lead In Talmud Study In Israel - WAMC

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The average American spends as much as 90 percent of their day indoors. Modern lifestyle doesnt give us a lot of opportunities to naturally spend our time outside. This means that we need to make conscious decisions to go outdoors.

For someone in recovery, its essential to spend at least 20 minutes outside each day. Nature therapy is considered to bring significant benefits for people in treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. It helps them manage many of the issues that can put them at risk of relapse.

NATURE ACTIVITY OPTIONSNature therapy (also green therapy or ecotherapy) is some kind of free drug rehab centers: no-cost facilities. Nature is everywhere and available to everyone. The fresh air, the light wind, the natural light, and the sounds bring us a sense of peace and freedom. Incorporating outdoor activities into your daily routine will encourage your sobriety and improve your overall well-being. Here are a range of activities to try:

Getting outside in the bad weather may seem a bad idea. Dont let the cold temperatures force you to stay indoors. In winter, you can enjoy other activities:

Ask family members and friends who support your decision to quit drinking or taking drugs to participate in these activities with you. Spending time together will help to restore trust and improve your relationship that might have been ruined during the time of abusing. If you are still getting free drug addiction treatment in some rehab, there may be some outdoor activities included in the program.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF SPENDING TIME IN NATURE DURING RECOVERYAddiction affects the body, the mind, and the spirit. Thus, recovery requires a complex approach that focuses on physical, mental and emotional healing. Nature therapy leads to improvements in these three aspects which decreases the risk of relapse. They are as follows:

1. The immune system strengthens.If a person stays indoors all the time, their immune system is exposed to the same threats. Without exposure to new ones, the body cant develop new forms of resistance. Spending time outdoors helps to build stronger immunity, which is one of the main goals of any free drug rehabilitation center.

2. Being outdoors encourages exercise.Being outside will encourage you to move walk or run around, or at least stroll and check things out. Physical activity has been shown to reduce withdrawal symptoms in people who have an addiction to alcohol, illegal drugs, and nicotine. Besides, doing physical outdoor activities and exercising is an excellent way to get into better shape.

3. It improves the quality of sleep and makes you more energetic.Individuals with addiction are 5 to 10 times more likely to have sleep disorders. And green therapy can help to deal with this problem.

Our circadian rhythms are naturally linked to the suns schedule. So, much exposure to natural sunlight, particularly early morning rays, can fix our natural rhythms.

4. Spending time in nature helps to manage stress.In 2014, Swedish psychologist Terry Hartig conducted an interesting study. At first, the participants had to complete a 40-minute sequence of cognitive tasks designed to reach mental fatigue. After that, they were randomly asked to spend 40 minutes walking in a local natural environment, walking in an urban environment or sitting quietly while reading a magazine and listening to soft music.

As a result, the group who had walked in the nature settings reported less anger and more positive emotions than the other two groups. Ecotherapy is included in free substance abuse programs because it teaches people to cope with stress.

5. Brain function improves.Another Terry Hartigs study revealed that a simple walkthrough nature can have a restorative effect. Researchers from Stanford University found out that walking can promote creative thinking. And Australian scientists found that spending time outdoors improves focus, cognitive function, and problem-solving skills.

THE RISKS OF SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME INDOORSStaying indoors for long periods is associated with several dangers. They may include the following:

Though traditional treatment methods like behavioral therapy are more researched and there is substantial evidence on their effectiveness, you shouldnt underestimate the power of the holistic approach. Nature therapy is relatively an emerging field, but many free rehab centers incorporate it into their programs. In some cases, especially when clients have problems with socialization, it can be even more helpful than conventional therapy.

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This is part ofCanadian Health and Wellness, a series in which Corus radio stations nationwide dig into health issues facing Canadians with the help of some of todays most respected diet and exercise practitioners. Read the rest of the series here.

By 2023, an additional 1.7 million Canadians will be obese, according to a 2017 study from the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report estimates 25 per cent of the population is currently obese thats about 9.35 million people.

With just three years until the OECD milestone, people are attempting to fight the battle of the waistline bulge, and many are exploring the keto diet as an option to lose weight.

A ketogenic diet is rich in proteins and fats, and it usually includes plenty of meats, eggs, sausages, cheeses, fish, nuts, butter, oils, seeds and fibrous vegetables.

The keto diet forces the body to burn ketones from fat instead of glucose from carbohydrates, and during that transition, a persons body can experience something called the keto flu. As the name suggests, it leads to symptoms like nausea, vomiting, headaches, constipation, diarrhea and irritability, among others.

Tammy Crowley of Welland, Ont., is one of them.

Shes been following the ketogenic diet for two years.

Crowley says she has lost 35 pounds and kept it off. Over the years, shes tried everything from diet programs to more drastic measures.

I dont want to specifically say any one program, Crowley says. Everyone is different, and whatever works for you is great. I just found something that finally worked for me. Ive actually, through the years, Ive had gastric bypass (surgery) for losing weight, and yes, that was great in the beginning, but you put it back on.

Its not an easy fix. Unless you learn properly whats good for you, thats the best way to go, Crowley continues. Im not running any of the other programs down. This just works for me. Ive never felt better. Im going to be 60 soon and I have more energy now that when I was in my 20s.

The effectiveness of the keto diet as part of a long-term lifestyle change is still unknown, but there are medical uses for the regimen. For example, the keto diet is being used to help treat children with epilepsy.

Jennifer Fabe, a registered nutritionist with the Division of Pediatric Neurology at McMaster Childrens Hospital, says the therapeutic ketogenic diet has been used as a treatment for epilepsy for nearly a century.

However, she stresses, it is customized for each patient and only used when people meet certain medical criteria. Fabe says the diet is monitored regularly for effectiveness, tolerance and side effects at home and by a medical team.

Fabe is also the president of Matthews Friends, a charity that specializes in ketogenic dietary therapies for children and adults with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Dr. Andrew Mente, an epidemiologist with the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., says the keto diet can also have benefits for those with Type 2 diabetes.

Conceptually, it is a diet that is high in fat, adequate in protein and very low in carbohydrates, Mente explains. And conceptually, this diet would make sense for people with carbohydrate intolerance, i.e. people with Type 2 diabetes, in controlling their glucose levels and possibly even reversing their diabetes.

There is evidence that when people are assigned to a ketogenic diet if they have Type 2 diabetes, they are able to normalize their glucose levels and possibly reverse diabetes, he adds. In people from general populations, generally healthy populations without diabetes, the evidence is less clear. So, what we would need going forward is more study to investigate both the effectiveness and safety of a ketogenic diet in general populations.

Mente says the ketogenic diet is one approach for Type 2 diabetes, but its not the only diet for people with Type 2 diabetes. Its too soon to say what the long-term impacts of the diet will be on both those with Type 2 diabetes and the general population.

According to Mente, the best idea for those without medical issues requiring a ketogenic diet is to eat a balanced diet.

A nuanced approached is seldomly promoted. Everybody seems to take an extreme position on a variety of matters, and diet is no different, Mente says. For general populations, I would say a nuanced approach is more appropriate going forward until we get the evidence (on the long-term impact of keto) because we want to make recommendations that are evidenced-based.

But what about using the keto diet for weight loss?

Dan Tisi, registered dietitian at St. Josephs Health Care in Hamilton, says there are some pros and cons to losing weight with the keto diet. If theres a medical indication there are some benefits, like epilepsy, then the keto diet can have a positive impact. However, for weight loss, Tisi views it as another tool in the toolbox.

With ketogenics having an emphasis on certain fats and proteins, people need to be aware of the nutrition that may be missing if they are on keto, Tisi says.

A lot of people will have to do supplementation of some kind with higher-quality supplements because there tends to be a B vitamin deficiency. Electrolytes are the most common thing thats missing, usually.

They are also responsible for things like the keto flu that people experience in the beginning, especially the electrolytes part, and magnesium has to be added to that as well. Although, most North Americans are already deficient in magnesium, Tisi explains.

Its best if you are going ahead with keto to do it with the assistance of someone that can really assess your situation and help you determine if this is the tool you should be reaching for.

For someone like Crowley, who has struggled with weight issues for most of her life, she is not willing to easily let go of something that has worked.

She says she is aware that some cardiologists have concerns about ketos emphasis on full fat and high protein, and so does she. Crowleys father died at 51 from a heart attack, and she says that plays on her mind. She says she did a lot of research before starting keto, and Crowley is willing to shoulder the medical risk.

Id rather feel as good as I feel right now and only live another five years than live another 10 years and feel like crap.

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Docket Number: FDA-2012-D-0307 Issued by:

Guidance Issuing Office

Office of Medical Products and Tobacco, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research

We, FDA, are issuing this guidance document to provide you, blood establishments that collect blood and blood components, with revised recommendations intended to reduce the possible risk of transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) by blood and blood components. The recommendations in this guidance apply to the collection of Whole Blood and blood components intended for transfusion or for use in further manufacturing, including Source Plasma. We are revising or removing our recommendations to screen blood donors for: 1) geographic risk of possible exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, including time spent on United States (U.S.) military bases in Europe; 2) receipt of a blood transfusion in certain vCJD risk countries; 3) risk factors for iatrogenic CJD (i.e., a history of taking human cadaveric pituitary-derived growth hormone (hGH)); 4) having blood relatives with CJD; and 5) a history of injecting bovine insulin. These changes are summarized in the Appendix of this guidance.

You can submit online or written comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5))

If unable to submit comments online, please mail written comments to:

Dockets ManagementFood and Drug Administration5630 Fishers Lane, Rm 1061Rockville, MD 20852

All written comments should be identified with this document's docket number: FDA-2012-D-0307.

01/31/2020

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Vegetarianism is having a moment in the sun. Record numbers of people are giving it a try, the number of places offering vegetarian food is ever-increasing, and the variety and quality of vegetarian alternatives to meat products are rising with it.

But, is this all just misplaced environmental concern, sentimentality, and hippie mumbo jumbo? After all, the stereotype of a vegetarian remains less than flattering. Or is there a method to the bacon-denying madness? Today, we'll look at three philosophies that endorse vegetarianism, look at their arguments, and consider if you should put that piece of steak down.

Peter Singer is an Australian philosopher well known for his work in Utilitarian ethics. His 1975 book Animal Liberation is a groundbreaking work in the field of animal rights and presents a bold program for treating animals much better than we currently do.

He begins with a simple idea; that animals have interests that should be considered equal to the similar interests of human beings. If it is wrong to inflict unnecessary pain on human beings, then it is also wrong to do it to animals.

While it is true that many arguments have been made to separate humans and animals because of differences between them, Singer points out that we never apply them to other members of the human race. If we can't hurt and eat people with very low intelligence or who cannot use language, then why do we justify eating animals because they don't use syntax? Since animals clearly can feel, why should we not consider them as equal when calculating the net pleasure and pain caused by an action?

He argues that any attempt to morally separate humans from other animals when it comes to whose pain matters is based primarily on speciesism, prejudice against other animals, rather than a consistent logic and should be rejected. He then concludes, given the nature of industrial farming and the suffering many animals endure because of it, that we should switch to vegetarian and vegan diets to maximize the total happiness.

There are two subtleties to his arguments that must be remembered. The first is that he is not talking about "animal rights" in the pure sense. He certainly isn't arguing that an elephant be given the right to vote. He is arguing only that the difference between pain in humans and elephants is morally irrelevant and that the elephant's interests should be considered as equal to a humans' when deciding what to do.

Secondly, he is a utilitarian, and some apparent contradictions come with that. Most notably, he argues that some medical experimentation on animals is morally justifiable, as the benefits of the research will significantly outweigh the pain caused to the animal in the laboratory. Similarly, while he likes free-range farming as an idea, he doesn't encourage it in all cases as it can be worse for the environment than factory farming. The cost to benefit ratio doesn't quite work out for him.

His work has been widely influential, and most of the modern animal liberation movement cites him as a major influence. However, some philosophers, such as Richard Sorabji, have argued that his moral theory is simplistic and gives rise to strange moral instructions in some situations.

Many religions have lines of scripture that are commonly interpreted as encouraging or even mandating vegetarianism.

The Dharmic Religions of India are well known for their tendency towards vegetarianism. In Jainism, vegetarianism is mandatory, as harming animals is considered bad karma. Hinduism and Buddhism also have scripture forbidding violence against animals, but how much that applies to the killing of animals for food is still debated. For those who do eat meat, ritualized methods of minimizing the suffering of the animal before death exist.

A third of Hindus are vegetarians. The number of vegetarian Buddhists is not known with certainty. The Dali Lama tried the diet for a while himself but was forced back to omnivorism again for health reasons. He continues to encourage vegetarianism in the name of reducing the suffering of animals.

Pythagoras, of the theorem, encouraged an entire way of life named for him which included vegetarianism. This was perhaps motivated by his belief in reincarnation and aversion to violence.

Lastly, many more recent thinkers have put forward arguments based on the environmental costs of industrial animal farming as a reason to cut back on our animal consumption. Thinkers like Steve Best and Peter Singer have made this argument. They point to studies like one in Nature, which reminds us of how much of the carbon footprint of meat production we'll have to cut back on if we want to reach our goals in the fight against climate change.

You might have noticed that most of these schools and thinkers share a common theme; they tend to object to the production of meat, the killing and suffering of the animal, rather than the actual act of eating it. Some people make arguments along these lines, but they are in the minority.

Most, if not all, of the thinkers mentioned above would undoubtedly be fine with lab-grown meat if the energy costs of producing it could be lowered. Similarly, many debates over if it is alright to eat oysters, which probably can't feel pain and are rather plant-like, have taken place as part of the broader discussion of moral vegetarianism.

There you have it; serious thinkers are often behind vegetarianism, and they make very good arguments as to why you should eat less meat -if any at all. While they won't convince everybody to switch to tofu, they do provide an excellent starting point for any discussion of what an ethical diet is.

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Its known that drinking more water can help lower the likelihood of urinary tract infections (UTIs) by flushing out bacteria present in the urinary tract. But what about the food we consume? Can what we eat (or avoid) help reduce the risk of a UTI?

The answer is yes, according to new research, published January 30 in Scientific Reports, which found that the overall risk of developing a UTI was lower in vegetarians compared with meat eaters.

RELATED: Is There a UTI-Causing Superbug Lurking in Your Gut?

The study took place in Taiwan, where investigators recruited participants from among volunteers of Tzu Chi, an organization of Buddhists who participate in a variety of charity and disaster-relief efforts. About one-third of the members are vegetarians, and all volunteers must agree to swear off alcohol and smoking to join the group.

Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire, which included whether they identified as a vegetarian. Individuals who said they were vegetarian but reported eating meat or fish as part of their diet were classified as non-vegetarians. After researchers excluded people under 20, those with incomplete questionnaires, and those with a history of UTI, 9,724 subjects remained: 3,257 vegetarians and 6,467 non-vegetarians.

Investigators followed participants from 2005 to 2014 through the National Health Insurance Program, which covers nearly 100 percent of the population, to identify any diagnosis of a UTI. At the end of the study period, 217 people in the vegetarian group had been diagnosed with a UTI compared with 444 people in the non-vegetarian group.

RELATED: What Is a Flexitarian Diet? What to Eat and How to Follow the Plan

That difference translated into a 16 percent lower overall risk of UTI for vegetarians compared with non-vegetarians. In a further subgroup analysis, a vegetarian diet was significantly associated with a reduced risk of UTI mainly in females, according to the authors.

After adjusting for various chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol, the vegetarian diet seemed to have a protective effect against UTIs for women, but no distinct difference was found in males, the authors write. The risk reduction was also present in nonsmokers for uncomplicated UTIs which are those that crop up in otherwise healthy people.

Women are more likely than men to get a UTI; 60 percent of women will have at least one UTI in their lifetime compared with only 12 percent of men. This is because women have shorter urethras than men, meaning that bacteria has a shorter distance to travel to get to the bladder, according to the Urology Care Foundation.

Because vegetarian diets are associated with different bacteria flora in the gastrointestinal system, it isnt surprising that the risk of UTI was lower in this group, says Chin-Lon Lin, MD, the lead author and a professor at Tzu Chi University in Taiwan.

Dr. Lin suspects that the risk reduction is due to the combination of more vegetables and the elimination of meat. But we do think meat plays a more important role because it changes the intestinal flora, says Lin.

The strains of E. coli that cause the majority of UTIs are known as extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC), and they can colonize and infect normally sterile body sites. Researchers theorize that by eliminating meat, particularly pork and poultry, which are known to contain these strains of E. coli bacteria, people are less likely to introduce the bacteria into their bowel and therefore lower the risk that the bacteria will travel to the urethra.

Another potential contributor could be the high fiber content in vegetarian diets. Because of the way fiber is metabolized, it decreases the pH in the gut, which in turn may inhibit the growth of E. coli, the authors write.

RELATED: 9 Things You Should Know Before You Go Vegetarian

Although these findings are intriguing, there are a number of other factors in the Buddhist lifestyle beyond dietary ones, says Yufang Lin, MD, an integrative internal medicine doctor at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who was not involved in this research. This makes it difficult to attribute the reductions in urinary tract infections to the effects of diet alone, she says. While I dont think this study provides conclusive evidence that a vegetarian diet reduces UTI risk, there are a number of things about the vegetarian diet that can support the reduction of UTI, says Dr. Lin.

The study authors acknowledge their findings have a few key limitations. They based the presence (or absence) of a UTI on the coding of the healthcare provider (ICD-9) rather than the gold standard, which would have been clinical symptoms and lab tests, including a urine culture. Factors that are known to influence UTIs, such as water intake and sexual activity, were not measured or accounted for in the findings.

According to Dr. Chin-Lon Lin, further research should include more analysis of the strains of bacteria that are responsible for UTI, which will shed light on the mechanism of the apparent protective effect of vegetarian diets.

In addition to reducing exposure to E. coli by eliminating meat, there are ways that eating more vegetables can reduce the risk of UTI, according to Dr. Yufang Lin. Many plant-based foods, particularly herbs or bitter foods, have antimicrobial properties and are also antioxidants, she says.

A vegetarian diet is often rich in components that are antimicrobial, says Lin. Antimicrobial means it has the ability to fight the presence of microbes, including bacteria. These work to suppress bacterial growth in the food that we eat as well as suppress bacterial growth in the gut, she says.

This is combination reduces the amount of bacteria in our intestinal environment, which in turn reduces the possibility of bacteria going to our bladder, she explains. This is how a vegetarian diet that has a lot of antimicrobials can be very beneficial, says Lin.

As part of the vegetarian diet youre also going to get a lot of foods that are antioxidants, says Lin. They are also supportive of our own immune system and as a result can also promote our ability to fight off infection, she says.

Finally, fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients, which help support the bodys functions in general, says Lin. There are a lot of factors that support having a plant-based diet. You dont necessarily have to be a vegan for better health, she adds.

I absolutely think when you eat lots of whole foods, vegetables, fresh fruits, things of that nature, youre going to get multiple benefits and the potential to reduce UTIs, Lin says. For someone whose immune system is a little bit weaker, she recommends cooking with lots of spices such as garlic, onion, rosemary, thyme, oregano, ginger, all of which are antimicrobials and antioxidants, she says.

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