News at Tonic.com

More Proof of Meditation's Health Benefits

2009-11-22T14:49:00-07:00

A pair of medical stories that the Los Angeles Times reports to have been released this week strongly suggests that Om is where the heart is.

The first produced results described as so promising in reducing risk for heart disease one might have expected a powerful and powerfully effective new drug may have been involved. The benefits illuminated by this study were not due to medication, however, but to meditation.

Described as the first major long-term study of the health effects of Transcendental Meditation (TM), a team of researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University in Iowa followed a study population of black men and women during a period of nine years. Participants were assigned by random either a regimen of meditation or of attending a variety of classes on health and disease prevention during the nine-year period. The risk profile for heart disease and stroke among those who were in the meditation cohort was determined to be half of that of the group taking the health classes.

The Times quotes a statement provided in a press release by lead author Robert Schneider in framing the significance of the findings:

"Previous research on Transcendental Meditation has shown reductions in blood pressure, psychological stress, and other risk factors for heart disease, irrespective of ethnicity. But this is the first controlled clinical trial to show that long-term practice of this particular stress reduction program reduces the incidence of clinical cardiovascular events."

The second study cited by the Times came about through work performed by Maharishi University once again, this time in collaboration with American University. In looking at a study population of college students, a three-month regimen of TM practice was determined to bring about lowered blood pressure, reduced risk for developing hypertension in later years and improvement in stress reduction, depression and overall psychological health.

Photo courtesy of alicepopkorn, via Flickr

Feed the World: Start In Your Own Backyard

2009-11-22T14:47:00-07:00

Would you like to own a guitar autographed by Sarah McLachlan? What about a signed deluxe box set from the Dave Matthews Band?

You can, while also helping to feed the 36.2 million Americans who do not have enough to eat. That's right: 36.2 million of our neighbors go hungry every day, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

World Hunger Year (WHY) is an organization that raises money through its annual Hungerthon starting November 21 through November 24 in which items donated by various musicians are auctioned off on various New York radio stations.

If auctions aren't your thing, or you don't live in New York, you can still donate and/or volunteer. Click here to find out how you can help.

You can also donate to Hungerthon directly at http://www.hungerthon.org and when you do, you'll receive a free Imagine There's No Hunger gift.

Can you imagine a world without hunger?

Photo courtesy WhyHunger.org.

Bloggers in the Buff for the Greater Good

2009-11-22T13:51:00-07:00

When you daydream about whom you'd like to see naked, I bet the last thing that pops to mind is "computer nerds." Well, that's because you don't know what some computer nerds look like. Especially ones that live in London. Especially the particular Londoners who have posed in the buff for the Nude London Tech charity calendar.

I base my assessment on the picture of Web strategist Fabio de Bernadi in this Telegraph article, who poses alluringly with a computer across his lap. Is that a MacBook Pro or are you just happy to see me?

I know what (some of) you are thinking. No, they're not all men. For example, take a gander at this pic of tech queen Elizabeth Varley on the Guardian's technology blog. Another female gracing the pages is vlogger Poppy Dinsey. At least one of the pictures even offers some humor (see the guy to the right of the panel).

Oh, yeah, and the best part (OK, at least a good part): the proceeds of the calendar go to a charity called Take Heart India, which offers technology and business training to disabled people in India.

The calendar is available at Firebox.com for £10 ($16.63).

Photo courtesy of Remko van Dokkum, via Flickr

Adorably Honest Man Does the Right Thing to the Nth Degree

2009-11-21T14:17:00-07:00

What happened to this Brooklyn man sounds like the opening scene of an indie movie, set in, well, Brooklyn:

Walking near his home at 7:30 a.m., a 28-year-old grad student looks down to find a bunch of money. Instead of scurrying off heart thumping, with the new found stash of bills, John Larsen, waits around to see if the panicked person who dropped the wad will return. When the person doesn't show up, Larsen, then dutifully posts an ad on Craig's List hoping to return the money to the rightful owner.

(And then, in the movie version, all kinds of things would happen. Deep, esoteric things with myriad character lines that intersect and so forth. But this is real life, so ...)

Larsen is the honest man's honest man! Who would think, well, the money sort of smelled like perfume so it made me think it may have been a single mother's money? Larsen, that's who!

As New York magazine reports, it has already been two days and nobody has claimed the money (about a few hundred dollars), though two responses came in from the ad. (It didn't belong to either.)

Lest you think Larsen thinks he's so much better than all of us, he said that if the appropriate party doesn't surface, he'll consider keeping the money, in like, a month's time, which may have been the motivating factor for his posting the ad: to relieve the guilt of knowing he wanted to keep the money all along.

Whatever the case, we still think it's pretty awesome.

Photo courtesy of Dan4th@Flickr.com.

Yep, That Really Is Galileo Giving You the Finger

2009-11-21T13:55:00-07:00

Souvenir seekers are often overjoyed to have anything pertaining to their idol. A coffee cup discarded by Robert Pattinson might become a tween's prized possession. And a group of 18^th century admirers of Galileo Galilei, that genius scientist who proved the Earth revolved around the Sun, was so enamored with the possibly studly astronomer that they snatched three fingers, a vertebra and a tooth from his corpse, a full 95 years after his death in 1642.

Although one finger and the vertebra were recovered shortly after the bizarre incident, two fingers and that tooth remained missing for centuries — until now.

According to The Associated Press, a container housing the three items recently turned up at auction and a private collector purchased them, wondering if they indeed belonged to the famed astronomer, even though the body parts had been given up for lost years earlier.

The buyer contacted the Museum of the History of Science in Florence, as well as Florence culture officials, who eventually determined the body parts were the real deal. It turns out an Italian marquis owned the fingers and tooth for years, and it passed through generations of the family before relatives forgot what it contained and sold it off.

However, in a big clue to its contents, the relics were inside an 18th-century blown-glass vase, which in turn was inside a wooden case topped with a wooden bust of Galileo, according to the Museum of the History of Science. The museum already showcases Galileo's previously recovered finger, and the additional digits and tooth will make their debut this spring.

It's been a good couple of decades for this long-dead astronomer. In the 1990s Pope John Paul II apologized to the scientist on behalf of the Catholic Church for condemning him back when he was alive. They believed in an Earth-centered universe, and Galileo's theory certainly did not jive.

So now, those recovered fingers can be posed in the V for Victory sign, because Galileo's legacy just got even better.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Real ER: A Nurse’s Insider Tips for Better Care

2009-11-21T11:06:00-07:00

Story by Shyla Batliwalla, first published on DivineCaroline.com, October 2009.

There are plenty of jobs I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do and others I know I could never do. For example, I don’t think I could be an engineer, a mathematician, or a flight attendant, but I know I could never be a nurse. Nursing, in my opinion, is one of the most selfless, powerful — and difficult — career choices. From human excrement to overstressed family members, nurses deal with the dark underbelly of humanity on a daily basis.

When patients and their families are heading to the hospital for emergency treatment or even checking in for routine surgery, manners and common sense sometimes escape them. I talked with Laura Johnson, a registered nurse in the state of California, to discuss what really goes on in a hospital, what advice she has for patients (and their families) to get optimum care, and what every American needs to know to get well soon.

When You Should Go to the ER

According to Laura, two of the most common problems hospitals face are overcrowding and dealing with ailments that a general practitioner can (and should) manage. People with common colds, anxiety or panic attacks, and non-emergency ailments often head straight to the ER. The main reason to avoid rushing there every time your nose is running is financial; an unwarranted trip can cost you thousands of dollars and negatively affect your insurance plan.

Laura says you should go to the ER in the following circumstances:

* If you have a fever of more than 101º F that refuses to subside
* If you are in uncontrollable pain
* If you have persistent nausea and vomiting
* If you have bloody vomit or stool
* If you are experiencing chest pain or shortness of breath
* If the patient is a baby or an individual who is unable to communicate what he or she is feeling

Laura also says that a plethora of patients flock to the hospital repeatedly for unwarranted care, and reveals that nurses call these patients “frequent fliers.” Frequent fliers are often alcohol and drug addicts, as well as elderly patients, and they all desire a level of care that they’re not getting at home.

How to Get into the ER

If you’ve ever been admitted to the ER, you know that the debacle of being let in can sometimes be more painful than the ailment itself. The last thing a patient wants to deal with when seeking emergency care is a dissertation’s worth of paperwork and hours of waiting. Laura says people who are experiencing the following conditions will be admitted to the ER immediately, so if you’re experiencing these symptoms, make sure to let the admitting staff know:

* Chest pain
* Shortness of breath

Name dropping also sometimes helps you get admitted faster. If you happen to know the name of the hospital’s president, CEO, or any other VIP, a casual, “What if I called John Jones?” might speed up the process for you.

If you feel your situation is more serious than the admitting staff recognizes, ask to speak to the emergency department director, the shift supervisor, or the nurse in charge and stress that you (or your loved one) has an emergency medical condition that must be evaluated straight away. If none of these people are available, ask if the on-duty triage nurse can conduct an examination to make sure the condition isn’t life-threatening.

Precautions to Take When Visiting a Loved One in the Hospital

Laura emphasizes that “hospitals are not as clean as you think.” She recommends using an antibacterial gel and washing your hands obsessively when visiting a hospital. When you return home, she advises washing your clothes immediately with hot water and soap. Laura doesn’t even wear her hospital shoes in her house — she leaves them outside on her porch and uses medical cleansing wipes to remove germs each night — so cleaning your footwear is another consideration when you get home.

“Do not come to the hospital if you are sick, and do not bring your kids to the hospital if they are sick,” she adds. If a visitor’s immune system is already compromised by an existing illness, the visitor not only runs the risk of getting sicker but also may infect the patients.

How to Get the Best Treatment

The most foolproof way to ensure that you’ll get the best possible treatment during an extended stay in the hospital is to be nice to your nurse. After all, he or she will be the one to manage your care on an hourly basis and the first to treat you in an emergency situation. Just as important as the patient’s treatment of the nurse, though, is the way the patient’s family treats the nurse. A perfect example Laura cites is a recent case where a patient’s family member kept ringing the call button every twenty minutes for a can of soda for the patient. “There was a vending machine just down the hall,” Laura says. “It’s things like that that frustrate nurses. I wish patients and their families would be more considerate about knowing when to exercise the need for medical attention. Although I wouldn’t want my patients to know this, when they overuse their call button for non-emergency issues, we sometimes hide it or put it out of reach!” The last thing Laura wants patients to consider is that they should remember to call their nurse to take them to the bathroom before they go to the bathroom in their bed. “Happens every day,” she says.

Laura claims that nothing makes her and her fellow nurses happier than receiving acknowledgments of appreciation. “Although it doesn’t happen often, we love cards and notes. I keep every token of appreciation a patient has ever given me.”

The Ethical Issues

The toughest part of being a nurs e— besides dealing with death, which Laura says “never gets easier” — is the ethical issues nurses face on a daily basis. “Doctors make misdiagnoses 24/7,” she says. “It’s hard to see the roller coaster of emotions families go through when this happens.” One patient of Laura’s is HIV-positive. He refuses to tell his wife and family about his diagnosis, and by law, Laura cannot inform them of his status. For patients and their families to realize how important it is to treat their nurses with respect, they need to develop a better understanding of these types of predicaments nurses deal with all the time.

“You never become immune to death, but you do get more accepting,” Laura says. “We have relationships with our patients, and it’s tough to say goodbye every single time. It makes you question why you do what you do.” So why does she do it? Without a moment’s pause, she answers, “The rewards outweigh everything. For every negative patient, there are five that truly appreciate the work we do.”

I know I, for one, am grateful for everything Laura and her fellow nurses do on a daily basis to keep us healthy, happy, and cared for.

Goldman Cleans Up

2009-11-20T23:13:00-07:00

Investment bank Goldman Sachs is known for raking in the profits. But this Thanksgiving, employees at the firm will be taking out the garbage.

The Associated Press reports that the New York City firm, which emerged from the financial crisis a winner after scooping up the business its fallen rivals left behind, is taking part in a program organized by the Salvation Army giving out free dinners this Thanksgiving.

Just because it’s free doesn’t mean the meal will be cheap. The food will be catered by Great Performances, caterers who feed patrons of the Plaza Hotel and the culinary team is being led by Mark Spooner who was a contestant on the Food Network’s "Chopped." And when everyone’s rubbing their bellies, satisfied and watching football, the onerous task of cleaning up — including taking out the garbage — will go to Goldman Sachs volunteers.

If only we could have gotten them to do the same after the financial mess.

Photo courtesy Adrian Miles via Flickr.

Indexing Tastes

2009-11-20T23:10:00-07:00

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used to measure inflation. It includes the prices of various common goods and services and looks at the way this fluctuates in relation to the cost of living, according to Investopedia.

The index will include things that most people buy like clothes, gas, insurance, postage stamps and haircuts.

Business Insider took a look at whether other countries have less boring tastes than we do stateside and they were looking in the right place when they investigated China’s CPI — and uncovered an index full of wacky foods.

Not surprisingly, people in China have different goods that are common to them. Among them, there are staples like pork belly meat, fresh frozen duck, bean curd and mutton leg. There’s also two kinds of carp.

All we have is breakfast cereal, milk, coffee and chicken.

It may highlight the differences in our diets, but there is one true, mutual and abiding love that we both share: our devotion to the Colonel.

Photo courtesy Deb Roby via Flickr.

Ask for Conflict-Free Electronics

2009-11-20T22:57:00-07:00

As if worrying about the health effects of long-term cell phone use weren't enough, now we're learning that our phones are actually contributing to the appalling violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We've told you before about the Enough Project, an initiative of the Center for American Progress that aims to raise awareness of (and put an end to) the conflict in the Congo. In May, the project launched a YouTube campaign dubbed Come Clean 4 Congo, inviting aspiring videographers to do their part in raising awareness of the root causes of violence in the area.

Now, the project is asking consumers to urge lawmakers and electronic industry leaders to ban conflict minerals.

Since 1996, the Congo has been home to the deadliest conflict since World War II. More than 5.5 million people have died and countless women have been raped as armed groups work to intimidate the people in order to control the area's vast natural resources.

But just what does any of this have to do with our iPhones and Blackberries? Plenty.

The four main minerals used in consumer electronics — gold, tantalum, tungsten, and tin (known as the three Ts) — are found in rich supply in the Congo. Armed groups make millions each year illegally taxing, smuggling and trading these minerals to countries in Asia to buy weapons. Acting much like a mafia, the groups control the extraction and export of the minerals, using intimidation tactics to keep the profitable natural resources within their control.

The good news is, action can follow awareness. Just this week, the Conflict Minerals Trade Act of 2009 was introduced in the US House of Representatives. If passed, the bill would put in place a system of audits and regulations that would prohibit companies from importing conflict minerals into the United Sates. Click here if you'd like to send a letter to your representative urging him or her to support this bill.

But as consumers, we can also vote with our wallets, demanding conflict-free products from our electronics manufacturers. For starters, you can send this letter urging industry leaders to make conflict-free products only.

Watch the video below for more information on conflict-free minerals.

Photo courtesy of compujeramey via Flickr.

Step Up, Big Apple: Be a Bone Marrow Donor This Weekend

2009-11-20T18:29:00-07:00

Alan Cohen is a regular guy, a family man. The father of two twin girls and a much loved husband and friend, it's doubtful that Cohen ever expected to find himself searching desperately for a bone marrow match.

Life doesn't always make sense, though, and his man who never thought it could happen to him is now battling acute erythroleukemia. Not yet 50, Cohen needs the right donor to make sure he can live out the many years he should have remaining.

Throughout the next week in New York City, Be The Match Registry is hosting donation drives and testing sites in hopes of securing a donor match willing and able to help Cohen fight for recovery.

The process is probably not what you think, so make sure you separate the myths from the facts on how easy and safe it is. Bone marrow donation is often associated with painful procedures and self-sacrifice; but times have changed and the process is much easier. Donors can opt for a simple outpatient surgical extraction of marrow directly from the bone or opt for the newer peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) harvesting that isn't much different than giving plasma. With PBSC — now the more preferred method of donation — stem cells are separated from the bloodstream by a preparatory medication, then blood is drawn with no surgery necessary.

Before you even think about the donation process, however, why not take a tiny first step? All it takes is a 10 second swab of your cheeks and you're done — DNA goes in the hopper and your name is placed on a list. If your particular blood cells can be of use down the line, they'll call you to see if you're game. Anyone between the ages of 18 and 80 can donate and, of course, it doesn't cost a thing.

If you can't make it to one of the designated testing locations this weekend for Cohen, it's easy to have a kit mailed to you, either via the Jewish Registry (use the code SAVEALAN) or the National Registry (use the code alancohen). Even with a flood of support, organizers need thousands of people to step up and get tested. It's often difficult to find an exact match and in Alan's case, time is of the essence. Alternately, you can donate money to help test and process the swabs quickly. Click here for more information.

If you're in the New York area, get out for some fresh air and say "ahhhh" for a swab this weekend. And if you're not, be sure to visit Be The Match Registry for more information on how you can get tested and stored in the database for potential future donations.

Upcoming drives and locations:

Sat., Nov. 21, 2009
Bronx - Riverdale
Riverdale Country School
5250 Fieldston Road
Bronx, NY
10 AM – 3:30 PM
contact: mantonucci@riverdale.edu

Sun. Nov. 22, 2009
Westchester County, New York
Temple Beth Abraham
25 Leroy Avenue
Tarrytown, NY 10591
9am-1pm
Contact: (888) 638-2870

Sun., Nov. 22, 2009
New York City – Upper East Side
General Bone Marrow Drive for “Mitzvah Day”
Park Avenue Synagogue
50 East 87th Street
Contact: ericachoset@gmail.com

Sun., Nov. 22, 2009
Montreal, Canada
Gelber Conference Centre
5151 Cote Street Catherine Road
10am-4pm
Contact: rabbi@ckbj.com