ATTENTION: NEW BLOG ADDRESS

After nearly a year blogging here on Blogger, I'm beginning an all-new and improved blog which I hope will better reflect my personal journey and personality. It's called Peace, Love, Lunges

I'll still maintain this blogsite for archival purposes, but please visit the new blog!

To visit my new blog, click here.

Peace, Love and Lunges...

SAM

Holiday Travel Tip #7: Unplug Those Ears

If you're trying to hear properly aboard an aircraft, remember that the air pressure on both sides of your eardrum should be roughly equal. The problem is, with most airplanes, the rapid changes in cabin pressure throw that balance off, resulting in less-than-optimal hearing. To fix this condition, try chewing some sugar-free gum, swallowing, or opening your mouth to help open the eustachian tube, which is connected to your middle ear. There's also a great brand of earplugs called EarPlanes (pictured above) which seem to help even out the air pressure by blocking the ear canal. I've used them many times with great success.

Holiday Travel Tip #6: Skip the Airline Food

The food served most passengers on flights these days is loaded with sugar, starch -- and you guessed it -- sodium. Sometimes you can call the airline ahead of time and request a vegetarian or kosher option, which is generally an improvement over the offerings made to the generic passenger. One quick improvement you can make is to remember to bring some fruit aboard. A little bag of raw almonds makes a healthy (and snappy!) alternative to those tiny bags of overly salted peanuts. Bring your own bottle of water as well.

Holiday Travel Tip #5: Open Those Vents!

Airplane air is notoriously stale and many clients of mine complain that the air itself makes them feel nauseous or gives them migraines. Others complain that the poor ventilation aboard airplanes actually transmits viruses and other airborne bacteria, making them physically sick. I ALWAYS start an in-flight journey by popping some vitamin C. I have a personal belief that this helps to fend off an infection.

Sometimes, pilots on older airplanes can manually adjust the ventilation rate. If you're feeling constrained or the aircraft is feeling stuffy, ask the flight attendant to increase the airflow. If not, turn the ventilation dial above your seat to a higher setting. In addition to recirculated air, outside air is also pumped through the vents to make your journey more comfortable.

If you're very concerned about the air you breathe, there are gadgets available to help. Amazon.com has the Air Supply Purifier - Mini for $130; Brookstone makes the Pure-Ion travel ionic air purifier for $60; You can also try the Cirrus AirRight air-nozzle filters for just $9.99 at cirrushealthcare.com or the tried and true 3M Sanding Respirator Masks (two-pack) at Acehardware.com for $7.99.

Soft Drink Guzzlers May Have Greater Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Habitually downing one soft drink after another may nearly double the risk of pancreatic cancer, according to investigators in Stockholm, Sweden.

Among more than 75,000 men and women without cancer or diabetes who were followed for more than seven years, those who reported eating more added sugar, soft drinks, and sweetened fruit soups or stewed fruit were significantly more likely to develop cancer of the pancreas, found Susanna C. Larsson, M.Sc., of the Karolinska Institute, and colleagues.

The increased risk may be related to sugar's effects on insulin action and glucose metabolism, the investigators suggested in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Evidence is mounting that abnormal glucose metabolism and hyperinsulinemia may be involved in the development of pancreatic cancer," they wrote. "Conditions such as diabetes mellitus, a high body mass index (BMI, in kg/m2), and physical inactivity, all hallmarks of insulin resistance, have been directly related to the risk of this malignancy."

Previous studies have reported that people in the highest categories of post-load plasma glucose, fasting serum glucose, or fasting insulin concentrations had about twice the risk of pancreatic cancer as people in the lowest categories, the authors noted.

To test the hypothesis that sugar in soft drinks -- the leading source of added sugar in American diets -- and other sweetened food could contribute to a pancreatic cancer risk, Dr. Larsson and colleagues drew on data collected in two large population-based studies. These were the Swedish Mammography Cohort and the Cohort of Swedish men.

In both studies, participants filled out a 96-item food-frequency questionnaires and other highly detailed questionnaires on lifestyle, health, and medical history. Potentially confounding the results of the study, however, was the fact that the questionnaires did not nail down whether participants drank sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages.

The authors calculated sugar consumption using standard serving sizes, such as one teaspoon or one lump of sugar (5 to 7 g), and one glass of soda (250 to 300 g).

A total of 77,797 men and women ages 45 to 83 had completed the questionnaires by 1997, and were followed through June of 2005. At the time they filled out the questionnaires the participants had not had a diagnosis of cancer or diabetes.

In all, 131 incident cases of pancreatic cancer were reported during the mean 7.2-year follow-up.

"The consumption of added sugar, soft drinks, and sweetened fruit soups or stewed fruit was positively associated with the risk of pancreatic cancer," the investigators found.

Participants who reported drinking five or more soft drinks per day had a nearly twofold risk for cancer of the pancreas. Any significant elevated risk associated with soft-drink consumption pertained only to people who drank at least two servings per day, the authors noted.

In addition, those who took their fruit soups or stewed fruits with extra sugar had about a 50% greater risk for pancreatic cancer.

The investigators did not, however, find any associations between consumption of jams, marmalades, or candies and pancreatic cancer risk, possibly because people tend to eat such food less frequently and in smaller portions.

They pin the blame for the elevated risk on sugar's ability to induce hyperinsulinemia.

"Consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks, which contain large amounts of rapidly absorbable sugars, induces a rapid and dramatic increase in both blood glucose and insulin concentrations," they wrote. "A state of relative postprandial hyperglycemia and primary hyperinsulinemia may cause insulin resistance, which in turn usually leads to compensatory hyperinsulinemia."

They noted that hyperinsulinemia has been shown to increase local blood flow and cell division within the pancreas, and that the condition exposes the exocrine cells of the pancreas to extremely high insulin concentrations, because their blood supply passes through the beta-islet cells.

In addition, sugar-induced elevated insulin levels could allow for more freely available insulin-like growth factor 1, which has been shown to stimulate growth of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro, they wrote.

The authors acknowledged that although the prospective design of the study avoids the problem of recall bias, their findings are limited by the relatively short follow-up and small number of incident cases.

They also noted a major limitation of the study related to composition of soft drinks. The study did not distinguish between the use of regular sugar-sweetened soft drinks and artificially sweetened soft drinks (diet sodas), and relied on self-reported questionnaires, which were non-specific and could lead to misclassification of food consumption.

Holiday Travel Tip #4: Bring Your Own Blanket

If you're traveling and concerned about the germs aboard the aircrafts, consider BRINGING YOUR OWN AIRPLANE BLANKET and pillow along with you. Here's why:

Believe it or not, there are no federal guidelines for washing airplane pillows or blankets. Some airlines say they "clean them as needed" (hardly good enough for me!) So if you're trying to stay "germ free," avoid putting the blanket and pillow near your nose and mouth. If you're especially nervous, bring your own blanket and pillow. A good option is the Plane Warm Travel Blanket from ProTravelGear.com, $24.95 for a packet of five or the Inflatable Pocket Pillow from pocket-pillow.com, $19.95

Holiday Travel Tip #3: Do Airplane Yoga

If your travel plans call for a long flight, try Airplane Yoga to help you preserve your health and sanity:

Very long periods of in-flight inactivity can lead to "coach-class syndrome" (medically known as deep-vein thrombosis). This condition can actually become dangerous, leading to (yikes!) a pulmonary embolism if a blood clot breaks away and lodges in the lungs. Tightly-arranged coach class seats just make the condition worse, and here's the kicker: the longer you remain seated, the greater your risk of developing this condition, with the risk being greatest on flights 12 hours or longer.

Only about 1 in every 2.4 million passengers actually develops a blot clot. Some people, higher at risk, wear special compression socks that improve blood flow to the lower half of your body. But you can do other things to lower your risk of developing these conditions. Most research shows that the people who develop pulmonary embolisms generally sit through the entire flight. So, just getting up and walking around during long flights can really help.

It's also crucial to drink lots of water and juice and keep your body well hydrated. As we all know, that stale airplane air does have dehydrating effects, and dehydration increases the chances of a blood clot. Avoid caffeine and alcohol because they increase dehydration and pull fluid out of your blood.

Eating Fish Reduces Coronary Deaths by 36%

The Harvard School of Public Health has just released a study which states that that consumption of fish reduces the risk of coronary death by 36 percent and total mortality by 17 percent.

The Harvard study (to be published by the Journal of the American Medical Association) stated that the consumption of fish, especially those high in Omega-3's strongly outweighed the risks from contaminants like PCB's and dioxin.

"Seafood is likely the single most important food one can consume for good health," says the author of the study.

Holiday Travel Tip #2: Beat Jet Lag With Light

The holiday season is an especially tough time to travel, not to mention those cramped coach seats, recirculated air, and crossing multiple time zones. If you're having difficulty overcoming jet-lag, try this:

LIGHT THERAPY

Your body's "internal clock" isn't largely changed by outside forces, but one thing does have an impact: light. This is because the retina of your eye is connected to the hypothalamus, the part of your brain that controls the "time-keeping" aspect of your glands and organs. Simply stated: You can use bright light to help you overcome jet lag!

Let's say you've traveled east, from California to New York (or Newark to London), it will help your body to get outside or expose yourself to artificial bright indoor light for 30 minutes or more in the morning. If you've traveled in the opposite direction (say from Dublin to Detroit) then expose yourself to the bright light in the evening hours. This actually helps move your body's internal clock back, helping you stay in sync with the new time zone.

It's a tiny bit different if you travel through more than six time zones at a time (for instance, Los Angeles to London). If you've traveled eastward through more than 6 time zones, you should AVOID bright light in the morning. Conversely, if you've traveled more than 6 time zones westward, then avoid bright light in the evening for the first several days of your trip.

I've recommended Melatonin to countless working travelers and business professionals. It's a popular supplement often used to treat jet lag. Available in nutrition stores everywhere, melatonin is a naturally-secreted hormone produced by your pineal gland (which, like the hypothalamus, is connected to nerve pathways activated by light). In a nutshell, melatonin helps to pull your biological clock into the nightly phases of its natural, daily rhythm. Most experts I've found recommend taking 2 to 5 mg dose at bedtime to help relieve the symptoms of jet lag. This might be worth doing on the first two to four days of your visit.

Holiday Travel Tip #1: Work Out At The Airport

AH, THE HOLIDAYS. THEY'RE AN ESPECIALLY ROUGH TIME FOR TRAVEL, with those cramped coach seats, recirculated air, and crossing multiple time zones. These factors combine to leave you more stressed, and wishing you'd never left home in the first place.

Try this to help you preserve your health and sanity:

WORK OUT AT THE AIRPORT

That's right! Many airports around the world are now offering "mini-gym" or "mini-spa" memberships for travelers who are stuck in a city on an unexpected layover, or have a long connection time between flights. Offerings range from a fancy, spa-style massage, to a "cardio/shower/shave" class, chair massages, to "mini pedicures."

Many airport gyms have showers, steam rooms, saunas and most even supply towels to guests. You can work off some of the stress of traveling and you don't even have to deal with going through security again!

Instead of settling down for that Big Mac and super-sized fries, settle into a treadmill or a shower while you wait for that flight.

More information at: airportgyms.com

Study: Most People are Monogamous, Married Have More Sex

You've heard the concerns — "men are naturally promiscuous," or, "sex in marriage never lasts." Not so, according to authors of the first global study of human sexuality.

Not only are most people monogamous, but the people who are married are actually the most sexually active.

Research suggests that the concerns about rises in promiscuity and pre-marital sex in modern society are unfounded, with monogamy still the dominant pattern of behavior, according to the Times of London.

The survey, published this month's The Lancet, also states that there is no universal trend toward early sexual intercourse, non-monogamy, or polyamory.

More than 59 countries were included in the study, showing that most people only had one "recent sexual partner" and most parts of the world shift strongly to either marriage, domestic partnership, or cohabitation.

The research comes just days after Britain released its own statistics which show that country is a broadly monogamous society. Brtitain's Office of National Statistics found that seven out of 10 men and eight of 10 women have had just one sexual partner in the past year.

“Most people are married, and married people have the most sex,” the authors say. “Sexual activity among young single people tends to be sporadic, but is greater in industrialised countries.”

Exercise of the Day: Hack Calf Raise

This is one of the best exercises known to man for building the roundness and fullness of your calves. I use hack squats regularly as part of my own personal training regimen.

Here's how to do the exercise properly:

1. Position shoulders under the extended portion of the hack machine.
2. Grasp the bar on each side, laying forearms against the pad.
3. Facing the machine, stand on the slanted platform erect with back straight, head up, and legs locked.
4. Do not let your hips move backward or forward while performing the exercise.
5. Exhale and raise up on toes as high as possible.
6. Hold position for a short time and return to starting position exhaling.