Good for you

In the spirit of fitness, here’s an NY Times story on how taking walking breaks while running could actually be good for you.  That’s right, good for you.  Not that that’s the name of this blog or anything.

philip pannenko/FLICKR

The Chicago Tribune’s Julie Dearorff wrote on Monday about the dangers of running your first marathon through charity organizations. Deardorf reports that while charities often provide training programs for runners, their programs are often lacking.

Still, according to Deardorff, charities may be the only way to sign up for the Chicago marathon past deadline.

For those out there thinking of joining a charity run, the Tribune offers these training tips:

*Respect the distance: 26.2 miles.

*Choose a charity that helps a cause you feel a connection with emotionally. That will give you added motivation.

*Make sure you can raise the money or donate it yourself. Otherwise you won’t get your race number.

*If you can’t run 6 miles right now, consider signing up with a charity that offers a winter or spring event, rather than a fall marathon.

*Get race experience. Do a half-marathon before trying a marathon.

*If you’re training with a group, find someone with similar goals and abilities. If you don’t like the group, seek another or download programs online. The official marathon training program, which is run by Nike, is free.

SALUDE: Healthing Through the Arts/Radio Art Website

Check out this audio piece by Radio Arte reporter Jonathan Bucio on sex ed workshops geared toward Chicago’s Hispanic community: Download Jonathan Bucio - Neighborhood Group Talks About Health

Radio Arte is a Latino public radio station owned by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.  Bucio’s report is part of Radio Arte’s SALUD: Healing Through the Arts program which brings community youths together to use art to explore the connection between immigration and health.

Listen to Bucio’s report to see how SALUD is gearing its sex ed. workshops to the Latino community.

This morning, NPR’s Morning Edition aired a piece about how a town in California is almost out of water, and water they’re doing about it.

It made me think of a post I did a few weeks ago where I interviewed water expert Josh Ellis about the water situation in Illinois.   Mind you, Illinois isn’t running out of water, but Bolinas, Calif. is an example of what you have to do when the wells start to go dry.

The report includes these tips from Bolinas-Stinson Elementary School students:

• put a bucket in the shower and use that to flush the toilet
• don’t leave faucets running while your brushing your teeth
• bring a water bottle to school because when you drink out of the drinking fountain, 25 percent of the water goes down the drain
• if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down

madame.impossible/Flckr

NBC Chicago reported yesterday on possible health risks related to skinny jeans.

Meralgia paresthetica, or “tingling thigh syndrome”, can cause pain and numbness in thights and is often brought about by constant pressue on a sensory nerve in your thigh.  According to the story, the condition is common among construction workers, police officers, pregnant women, obese people and apparently also fashionistas.

The AP is reporting that the Chicago City Council voted today to ban the sale of  baby bottles and sippy cups containing BPA in Chicago.  This is very good for babies.

Check out NYTimes‘ Mark Bittman’s video on how to stock up your kitchen with the cooking tools you actually need.

tschorda/FLICKR

This morning’s All Things Considered featured a brainy piece about mind exercise by Linton Weeks.

Some of the things we learned:

• more sleep, less food, and lots of exercise can make you smarter
• one way to improve your memory is to give it a workout by (drum roll please…….) remembering things
• you can improve sensory memory by closing your eyes and smelling everything in your kitchen
• working memory can be improved by doing something I’m pretty sure no one reading this will actually try:

Name the U.S. presidents, going backward from Barack Obama to John F. Kennedy. Then, arrange them in chronological order starting with Kennedy, assigning each his proper party affiliation (so, Kennedy — Democrat; Johnson — Democrat; etc.). Next, list them alphabetically.