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From Active Minds Blog @ https://www.activeminds.org/blog/

15 Autumn Wellness Tips to Keep You Healthy This Fall

ALYSE RURIANI

August 17th, 2015

The transition to the shorter and busier days of fall can be a challenge. To help ease the change, we’ve put together 15 Autumn Wellness Tips to get you ready for the colder months and keep your mental (and physical!) health in check.

1) Start taking a Vitamin D supplement. We get most of our Vitamin D from the sun, so our intake decreases when the weather is colder since we spend most of our time inside during the fall/winter seasons. If you find you are not getting outside much, a Vitamin D supplement can boost your mood and immune system!

2) Take some time to yourself. Autumn and winter are the Earth’s way of telling us to slow down. Start a journal or track your moods to get more in touch with how your feeling.

3) Get your flu shot and yearly check-up. Self explanatory! No one likes sniffling and aching and sneezing and coughing getting in the way of life. Yuck.You don’t want to be Sicky Vicky

4) Boost your immune system. You can do this by drinking plenty of water, washing your hands often to prevent sickness, and eating nutritious foods.

5) Get yourself ready for Daylight Savings Time. Go to bed earlier when you can, especially the week before the clocks change. Longer periods of darkness = longer periods of sleep!

Don’t forget to change any manual clocks (like an alarm clock!)

6) Make some plans for the cold months. In the winter, we tend to hibernate if we don’t have things to keep us busy.

7) Moisturize your skin. Harsh temperatures can make your skin dry. Also, you still should be wearing sunscreen.

8) Buy in-season food. Beets, broccoli, cabbage, eggplant, kale, pumpkin, broths, roasted squash, roots and sautéed dark leafy greens are all great choices.

I don’t think Pumpkin Spice Lattes count, but you do you.

9) Stay active! It can be easy to just sit around all the time, but it’s important to get in some movement throughout the day. Raking leaves or shoveling snow counts!

10) Wear layers and protect your body from the dropping temperature. Make sure you have gloves, a scarf, ear muffs, a winter coat, warm socks, and snow boots!

Don’t forget a snowsuit!

11) Do some “spring cleaning” in the fall. Clean out your closet, organize that back room, and rid yourself of things you don’t need.

12) Prepare your home for possible extreme weather conditions. Do you have a shovel and/or snow blower? Do your flashlights have batteries? Is your heat working okay?

13) Get some books to read and shows to watch. Who doesn’t want to sit by the fire on chilly winter nights and read a good book or binge-watch some Netflix?

Just don’t get too engrossed…  make sure to shower and change your clothes!

14) Keep a schedule. The cold months can seem to drag on and push us into isolation. Stay on track by scheduling time in your day to do things you like to do.

15) Be kind to yourself. The holidays can cause weight gain, the shorter days can cause low mood, and the flu season can cause sickness. Listen to your body and give it what it needs, and don’t beat yourself up! Try reframing negative thoughts into positive ones.

 

 

 

 

The Princeton Review

College Advice & Tips

Week of August 1, 2021

The articles here are good for not only good for college students but students of all ages – our children, grandchildren, nieces/nephews, neighbors, etc.  The tips can also be altered sightly to be useful for those of us who have stopped our FORMAL education.

12 Study Tips for Back to School

Now is the time to break out of your same-old homework habits. Try these study tips and get the brain boost you need for back to school.

Back to school study tips

1. You don’t need ONE study space.

A well-stocked desk in a quiet place at home is key, but sometimes you need variety. Coffee shops, libraries, parks, or even just moving to the kitchen table will give you a change of scenery which can prompt your brain to retain information better.

2. Track more than HW in your school planner.

Keeping a calendar helps you plan ahead—but you’ve got more going on than just homework assignments! Make sure you’re marking your extracurricular, work, and social commitments, too. (Tests, band practice, away games, SAT dates, half-days and holidays are just a few examples of reminders for your planner.)

3. Start small.

If you’ve got a big assignment looming, like a research paper, stay motivated by completing a piece of the project every few days. Write one paragraph each night. Or, do 5 algebra problems from your problem set at a time, and then take a break.

4. School supplies (alone) don’t make you organized.

Come up with a system and keep to it. Do you keep one big binder for all your classes with color-coded tabs? Or do you prefer to keep separate notebooks and a folder for handouts? Keep the system simple—if it’s too fancy or complicated, you are less likely to keep it up everyday.

5. Get into a routine.

When will you make the time to do your homework every day? Find the time of day that works best for you (this can change day-to-day, depending on your schedule!), and make a plan to hit the books.

6. Learn how to create a distraction-free zone.

A study on workplace distractions found that it takes workers an average of 25 minutes to return to what they were working on pre-interruption. Try turning off your phone notifications or blocking Twitter (temporarily) on your computer so you can concentrate on the homework tasks at hand.

7. Get real.

When you’re looking at the homework you have to get done tonight, be realistic about how long things actually take. Gauging that reading a history chapter will take an hour and writing a response will take another 30 minutes will help you plan how you spend your time.

8. Use class time wisely.

Is your teacher finished lecturing, but you still have 10 minutes of class left? Get a jump on your chemistry homework while it’s still fresh in your mind. Or use the time to ask your teacher about concepts that were fuzzy the first time.

9. Look over your notes each night to make sure you've got it.

Fill in details, edit the parts that don’t make sense, and star or highlight the bits of information that you know are most important. Interacting with your notes will help you remember them. You can also use Homework Help to get your questions answered 24/7.

10. Study a little every day.

Cramming Spanish vocabulary for a quiz might work in the short-term, but when comes time to study for midterms, you’ll be back at square 1. You might remember the vocab list long enough to ace the quiz, but reviewing the terms later will help you store them for the long haul.

11. Don’t let a bad grade keep you down.

A rough start to the semester doesn’t have to sink your GPA. Take proactive steps by checking your grades regularly online and getting a tutor if you need one.

12. Make a friend in every class.

Find a few people you can contact from each of your classes if you have a homework question or had to miss class (and do the same for them!).  Then when it comes time to study for exams, you'll already have a study group.

 

From AARP

10 Tricks Grocers Use to Get You to Spend More — and How to Beat Them

All those special deals might not be all that special

by Bruce Horovitz, AARP, July 1, 2021

During the pandemic, many concerned consumers developed the habit of spending less time in the grocery store. Before the pandemic, the typical shopper went to the store 2.5 times weekly and spent 22 minutes there on each visit. Now the typical shopper is going just once weekly — and remains eager to leave as quickly as possible, says Phil Lempert, founder and editor of SupermarketGuru.com. As a result, some grocers are reaching deeper into their bags of tricks to get shoppers to stay longer and buy more. Here are 10 of the most effective of those tricks.

1. Making a display look like it's offering a special deal when it isn't

How it works: Consumers are accustomed to finding special supermarket promotions stacked on so-called “endcaps” at the very beginning and end of supermarket shopping aisles. But only about half the time are these products actually on sale, says Lempert. “Just because it's piled high doesn't mean they are selling it cheap,” he says.

How to avoid the trick — but still save: First, of course, you should read the fine print and see if the product is really on sale. Another option, says Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings expert, is to walk down the aisle to where the product is usually sold and compare the price with other similar options. That way you can make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck.

2. Displaying complementary items next to each other

How it works: Few supermarket displays are more enticing in summer than the ones that place fresh strawberries, whipped cream and pastry shells on the same display in the produce section. But this practice, often called “cross merchandising,” has one purpose only: to get you to buy items you weren't expecting to purchase at all, says Lempert.

How to avoid the trick — but still save: Stick with your list. If you came into the store to buy strawberries, go with the strawberries — and bag the sideshow, says Lempert.

3. Placing essential items like milk and eggs in the back of the store

How it works: By placing necessities in the very rear of the store, grocery chains force shoppers to walk the entire length of the store — up and down at least two aisles — to get what they want. In the process, it's all too easy to be distracted by some other impulse purchase that catches your eye. These kinds of purchases account for nearly 50 percent of grocery store purchases, says Woroch.

How to avoid the trick — but still save: Don't run into the supermarket when you need only a few essentials like milk and eggs. Instead, says Woroch, consider picking those things up at the corner drugstore when you're picking up a prescription or some other necessities. Most of the time, she says, drugstores charge relatively fair prices for milk and eggs.

4. Spraying mist on vegetables to make them appear fresh

How it works: Many chains have installed pricey automatic misting devices that spray a light mist on things like broccoli, kale, and spinach to give them the appearance of freshness. This savvy ploy, however, can actually reduce the quality of the vegetables and even lead to potential bacterial issues from spray nozzles that are rarely cleaned, says Lempert. “It's one of the biggest food sanity nightmares in the store,” he says. On top of that, the water often soaks into the vegetables and makes them heavier — so you'll pay more for them, he says.

How to avoid the trick — but still save: Do not purchase any misted produce. “Misting does nothing to help produce that's already picked,” says Lempert. Instead, suggests Woroch, and particularly if it's not produce you plan to use immediately, it can be better to purchase frozen vegetables, because they don't lose their nutrients as quickly.

5. Sampling to encourage purchases

How it works: Who hasn't walked by the fresh bakery section of the grocery store and seen those bite-sized cookie samples (often individually wrapped post-COVID) that seem to be screaming your name. Don't take one. Not only is eating that sample an instant trigger to buy that cookie, but those who sample junk food spend an average of 60 percent more on junk food (cookies, chips and candy) at the grocery store than do those who don't take samples, says Brian Wansink, former director of the Food & Brand Lab at Cornell University.

How to avoid this trick — but still save: This doesn't mean you shouldn't take any samples. In fact, Wansink encourages taking fresh fruit samples, like apples. Those who took apple samples in a Cornell study spent an average of 30 percent more on fresh produce, says Wansink. That's actually good, because not only is fresh fruit better for you than junk food, it typically costs way less, he says.

6. Eye-popping promotions placed in printed weekly circulars

How it works: Big grocery chains tend to print weekly circulars with coupons for tremendous deals that either land in your mailbox or get placed inside the local newspaper midweek. It's usually best to ignore them, warns Trae Bodge, smart shopping expert at Truetrae.com. Because these promotions are intentionally dated to expire in just a few days, they often incentivize grocery shoppers to purchase stuff they don't want or need.

How to avoid this trick — but still save: Instead of clipping coupons from the circular, Bodge suggests using coupon apps that will serve up specific coupons when you're ready to go to the store — not when the store is ready for you. (She likes the coupon apps Flipp, Dosh and Ibotta.)

7. Placing the refrigerated drink case at the very front of the store

How it works: Those cold single-serve drinks sure look tasty — and convenient — after spending an hour or so grocery shopping. And the case is usually placed right near the cash register, so you can't miss it. But think hard before buying that cold drink, warns Lempert. He was recently in a New York City grocery store where the $2.99 single-serve cold soft drink was the exact same price as a six-pack of soft drinks on the beverage aisle.

How to avoid this trick — but still save: If you're that thirsty, Lempert suggests, go back and get the six-pack and drink a can with some ice when you get home.

8. Multiple deals

How it works: Sometimes it's three for $5. Or even 10 for $10. Whatever you call it, it's rarely the deal it's made out to be, warns Woroch. For example, those signs that advertise 10 for $10 typically fail to mention that you also can purchase one for $1.

How to avoid this trick — but still save: If you need only one, well, just buy one — and save the other $9, advises Woroch.

9. Enticing shoppers with wonderful aromas

How it works: We shoppers are victims of our own senses — and the grocers all know that. This is why the bakery is often located near the front of the store, where the smell of fresh-baked cookies or hot bread is incredibly alluring. These cravings — set off by your senses — can cause you to buy stuff you don't really want, says Wansink.

How to avoid this trick — but still save: Chew gum while shopping. That might sound silly, but it works, insists Wansink. If you have gum in your mouth, it's much harder for you to imagine the taste, flavor or texture of whatever you're smelling as you walk by the bakery. If you don't chew gum, trying sucking on a piece of hard candy — or even sipping on a bottle of water, he suggests. “Not only will this save you money,” he says, “but it may keep you from eating something you shouldn't be eating."

10. Placing pricey stuff at eye level

How it works: Most grocery shoppers are lazy. Roughly 60 percent of the items we purchase at the supermarket are at eye level — or within 12 inches of it, says Wansink. That's why manufacturers often pay special “slotting fees” to have their products displayed at eye level, he says. “It's the front-row seats for people's eyes."

How to avoid this trick — but still save: Look down. From a pure savings perspective, the often-cheaper private label brands are typically placed on or near the bottom shelves. That's where you'll usually find the best deals, says Wansink.

Bruce Horovitz is a contributing writer who covers personal finance and caregiving. He previously wrote for The Los Angeles Times and USA TODAY. Horovitz regularly writes for The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Investor's Business Daily, AARP Magazine, AARP Bulletin, Kaiser Health News, and PBS Next Avenue.

 

 

The 7 Worst Habits for Your Brain

Bad choices and everyday missteps could harm your cognition. Here's how to combat several of them.

by Nicole Pajer, AARP, August 6, 2021

 

You already know that a bad diet and a permanent indentation on the couch aren't good for your brain. But there are some lesser-known daily routines that could be undermining your cognition, says Jessica Caldwell, a neuropsychologist and director of the Women's Alzheimer's Movement Prevention Center at the Cleveland Clinic. Altering just one of these habits could change how your brain works — and help you age healthier and better. And it's never too late to start. Even people with memory issues can benefit from altering harmful behaviors.

1. You accentuate the negative

Ruminating on grudges, resentments and negative thoughts won't just keep you in a pessimistic mood; it has also been linked to a decline in cognition and memory in people 55 and older, according to a study in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. Participants who repeatedly dwelled on negative thoughts had more amyloid and tau deposits in their brain, the biological markers of Alzheimer's disease.

Everyone engages in repetitive negative thinking to some degree. “It's part of the human experience, and not everyone will develop Alzheimer's,” says lead researcher and research psychologist Natalie Marchant. But it's also a changeable behavior, according to Patti Johnson, a psychologist in Los Angeles and creator of the anxiety-relief app EmMa, the Emotional Manager for Anxiety. She suggests that, the next time you're overtaken by negative thoughts, you should do the following:

Make a list of five specific things that you are grateful for, and focus on those.

Take some deep belly breaths, try a new task, or change your focus to something in your environment.

Greet a negative thought when it pops up with “Hello,” then verbally tell it “Goodbye.”

2. You skip your vaccines

It's estimated that more than half of Americans blew off the flu shot during the 2018–19 flu season, and we know how many people are hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. But opting out of vaccinations may be a missed opportunity in the fight against dementia. For people between the ages of 75 and 84, influenza vaccination was associated with a reduced likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to research led by Paul Schulz, M.D., a neurologist at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Other researchers have found that people ages 65 to 75 who had received the pneumonia vaccination had a 25 to 30 percent reduction in their chance of developing Alzheimer's.

More research is needed to understand whether vaccinations play a role in protecting cognition, says Rebecca Edelmayer, senior director of scientific engagement for the Alzheimer's Association. But the takeaway here, Edelmayer says, is that “vaccinations are one of the most studied and well-tested preventive care measures for your health."

3. You drink sugary beverages

If your usual breakfast includes a tall glass of orange juice, take note. A 2017 study associated sugary beverage consumption with poorer episodic memory as well as lower total brain volume and hippocampal volume. So avoid soda and sweet tea, and take it easy on the juice. “Even though fruit juice retains some beneficial phytonutrients, it's primarily a sugary drink without the benefit of fiber,” says Annie Fenn, M.D., the founder of Brain Health Kitchen, a cooking school and community for Alzheimer's prevention. Consuming sugary drinks may lead to spiking blood sugar and an exaggerated insulin response in many people, which, she says, may trigger chronic inflammation in the brain.

It may be far better to eat whole fruits, not their juices. “A small orange provides 2.5 grams of fiber to balance its 9 grams of sugar,” Fenn explains. “When you consume the equivalent amount of orange juice, the fiber has been strained out.”

4. You have unhealthy sleep habits

Quality sleep is crucial to a sharp and productive mind, according to the Global Council on Brain Health. Consistency is one important marker of good quality sleep: Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Shift work, changing time zones, chronic stress and too much caffeine or alcohol can all throw off your rhythm. So, too, can sleeping in a room that's not cool or dark enough. And if you have symptoms of sleep apnea, such as snoring or daytime sleepiness, see a doctor. “Abnormalities in oxygen level can be damaging to nerve cells, which may accelerate over time and contribute to more memory and cognitive issues,” says Alon Avidan, M.D., director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.

5. You crank up your headphones

If it's bad for your ears, it could very well be bad for your brain. In a study of 639 adults ages 36 to 90, mild hearing loss was associated with a nearly twofold likelihood of dementia.

As a rule, if someone else can hear sound from your earbuds, they're too loud, says Nicholas Reed, assis-tant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also recommends carrying a pair of foam earplugs with you and using them at concerts or sporting events, and removing yourself from loud environments when possible. “If you are standing within 3 feet of someone and you can't hear them, the world around you is too loud,” he says.

6. You regularly take this type of medicine

A wide array of drugs — including tricyclic antidepressants, some overactive bladder medications and some over-the-counter antihistamines — can block the actions of acetylcholine, a brain chemical important for learning and memory. A study found that a higher cumulative use of these drugs was associated with increased incidence of dementia.

If you regularly take a drug in one of these categories, don't panic, says Yuko Hara, director of aging and Alzheimer's prevention at the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. But if you regularly take a number of these, it makes sense to ask your doctor about the risk of anticholinergics and to discuss whether you should explore alternate medications or other options.

7. You don't have a sense of purpose

Bosses, kids, spouses — when we're younger, it seems like everyone is relying on us. But when we get older, freedom from those responsibilities can have a darker side, as well. “Having a reason to get up in the morning, knowing that people are depending upon you, feeling that you are making important contributions can contribute to healthy aging,” explains Scott Kaiser, M.D., a geriatrician at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Researchers at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago found an association in people who scored high on a purpose-in-life assessment: They were approximately 2.4 times more likely to remain Alzheimer's-free than those with low scores.

If you're feeling a distinct lack of purpose, do your brain a huge favor by embracing some new responsibilities, says Carla Marie Manly, a clinical psychologist in Santa Rosa, California. “Find a new opportunity by using the time and energy not spent on child-rearing or working to get a pet, explore a passion project, volunteer or travel,” she says.

Nicole Pajer writes about health and culture for The New York Times and other publications.