Look forward to more

1. Baby New Year Tradition
The tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year was started around 600 B.C by the ancient Greeks, who, at the start of a year would carry a baby around in a basket. The purpose of it was to honor Dionysus, the God of Fertility and symbolize his annual rebirth.

2. Hogmanay
The New Year in Scotland is called Hogmanay. The people in Scotland follow a ritual that appears nutty but actually has a great significance. One can find barrels of tar set afire and gradually rolled down the streets in the villages of Scotland. This ritual symbolizes that the old year is burned up and New Year is going to begin.

3. Burning “Mr. Old Year”
In Columbia, Cuba and Puerto Rico families stuff a life-size male doll with things and then they dress it up in old clothes from each family member. At the stroke of midnight, this ‘Mr. Old Year’ is set on fire. This is done with the simple belief that a doll thus stuffed have bad memories or sadness associated with them, and that the burning of these will help one to do away with all past grief’s and usher in happiness in life with the coming year.

4. Eating Noodles
Late on the evening of December 3 1, people of Japan would eat a bowl of buckwheat noodles called “toshikoshisoba” (”year-crossing noodles”) and listen for the sound of the Buddhist temple bells, which were rung 108 times at midnight. The sound of these bells is said to purify the listeners of the 108 sins or evil passions that plague every human being.

5. Eating 12 Grapes
In Spain people eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight (one each time the clock chimes) on New Year’s Eve. This peculiar ritual originated in the twentieth century when freak weather conditions resulted in an unseasonable bumper harvest of grapes. Not able to decide what to do about so many grapes at Christmas time, the King of Spain and the grape growers came up with the idea of the New Year ritual.

6. Gifts in Shoes
In Greece children leave their shoes by the fireside on New Year’s Day (also the Festival of Saint Basil in Greece) with the hope that Saint Basil, who was famous for his kindness, will come and fill their shoes with gifts.

7. Carrying a Suitcase
In Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico, those with hopes of traveling in the New Year carry a suitcase around the house at midnight. Some even carry it around the block to ensure traveling at greater distances.

8. Burning Crackers
The people in China believe that there are evil spirits that roam the earth. So on New Year they burn crackers to scare the evil spirits. The doors and windows of every home in china can be seen sealed with paper. This is to keep the evil demons out.

9. Times Square Celebrations
The first Ball Lowering celebration atop One Times Square was held on December 31, 1907 and is now a worldwide symbol of the turn of the New Year, seen via satellite by more than one billion people each year. The original New Year’s Eve Ball weighed 700 pounds and was 5 feet in diameter. It was made of iron and wood and was decorated with 100 25-watt light bulbs.

10. Foods
It was thought that one could affect the luck they would have throughout the coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year. It is still held in some regions that special New Year foods are the harbingers of luck. For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year’s Day will bring good fortune. The hog, and its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another “good luck” vegetable that is consumed on New Year’s Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year’s Day. The ancient Persians gave New Year’s gifts of eggs, which symbolized productiveness.

11. Black-eyed peas
Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the new year by consuming black-eyed peas. These legumes are typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures.

12. Rings
Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes “coming full circle,” completing a year’s cycle.

13. Wearing new slippers
In China, many people wear in the new year a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you.

14. Sealed doors & windows
During new year , the doors and windows of every home in china can be seen sealed with paper. The Chinese think that this will succeed in keep the evil demons out.

15. Jewish New Year
The Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah. It is a holy time when Jews recall the things they have done wrong in the past, and then promise to do better in the future. Special services are held in the synagogues, children are given new clothes and New Year loaves are baked to remind people of harvest time.

16. Japanese New Year
On New Year’s Day in Japan, everyone gets dressed in their new clothes. Homes are decorated with pine branches and bamboo, both of which are considered to be the symbols of long life.

17. American resolutions
40 to 45% of American adults make one or more New Year’s resolutions each year. And these range from debt reduction to giving up bad habits to what not? But the ones that are the most common deal with weight loss to exercise to giving up smoking.

Free Holiday celebration

“What’s the name of that guy who was in that film with…you know the one…he’s…no, no it’s not Denzel Washington, the other guy. Oh God, I know it, it’s right there. This is driving me crazy…! I can see his face. This is ridiculous! No, not Denzel Washington!”

The tip-of-the-tongue or ‘TOT’ phenomenon is now well-documented in psychology. It is a very common example of what Daniel L. Schacter calls ‘blocking’, one of the seven sins of memory (Schacter, 1999). It’s the subjective experience that the memory is right there and yet for some reason you can’t quite access it.

Sometimes all you can think about is something similar, say another actor who is often in the same types of films. It’s this memory that seems to block the retrieval of the one you really want. Other times there’s apparently nothing blocking the memory’s retrieval other than your mind’s stubborn refusal.

Studies on blocking have shown that around half of the time we will become ‘unblocked’ after about a minute. The rest of the time it may take days to recover the memory.

As anyone getting on in years will tell you, blocking increases with age. Older adults certainly experience more problems recalling names than younger adults. One study finds college students have one or two TOTs a week, while older adults have between two to four per week.

The taste of words on the tip of the tongue

One fascinating aspect of the ‘TOT’ phenomenon is the study of synaesthetes. Synaesthesia is a fairly common condition where people have a cross-wiring in their brains between senses. This means that people with synaesthesia may experience numbers as colours, sounds as images or even words as tastes.

This last category, a rare form known as lexical-gustatory synaesthesia, provides an opportunity to study the TOT phenomenon in an unusual way. Simner and Ward (2006) figured that if the cross-wiring in synaesthetes’ brains turns words into tastes, perhaps they would literally be able to taste words that are on the tips of their tongues before they could even recall the word itself.

Magically, there’s evidence this really does happen.

Simner and Ward (2006) set about inducing TOT states in the lab by showing 6 participants with this rare form of synaesthesia pictures of unusual objects, such as a platypus. In some trials, the experimenters managed to successfully induce a TOT state in the synaesthetes.

Amazingly, these lexical-gustatory synaesthetes did actually feel a taste on their tongues as they struggled for the word to describe the picture. In one case a participant tasted tuna when she was trying to remember the word ‘castanet’.

To check the answers were correct, participants were asked after the study which taste they associated with each word in the study. The tastes they reported being on the tip of their tongues matched up with their word-taste associations.

But what if the synaesthetes are just making these tastes up? Well, to check, the experimenters called them up more than a year later in a surprise retest. Sure enough, the participant who reported that the word ‘castanets’ was associated with the taste of tuna, still did so, even after a year. Similarly, the other 5 synaesthetes in the study all consistently reported their particular connections between tastes and words.

While these sorts of experiences are alien to the majority of us, Simner and Ward suggest that this link between words and tastes may nevertheless be active in all of us, but at an unconscious level.

I’ve remembered, it’s Will Smith!

So how do we finally remember what’s on the tip of our tongues? One theory has it that our memory can be jogged by hearing a word that sounds similar. (James & Burke, 2000). While this is probably true, in real life it’s just plain good luck if our memory is jogged by the environment. Nowadays, though, we have a new tool for resolving those tip-of-the-tongue nuisances: look it up on the internet.

References

James, L. E., & Burke, D. M. (2000). Phonological priming effects on word retrieval and tip-of-the-tongue experiences in young and older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 1378-1391.

Schacter, D. L. (1999). The seven sins of memory. Insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience. American Psychologist, 54, 182-203.

Simner, J., & Ward, J. (2006). Synaesthesia: The taste of words on the tip of the tongue. Nature, 444, 438.

http://www.spring.org.uk

1. Knowing your skin type is one of the most important skin care tip. This is important because not every skin care product suits everyone. In fact, all the skin care products specify the type of skin they cater too.
2. ‘Drink a lot of water’. This will not keep your skin moist but will help in overall upkeep of your health (and in turn your skin). It might seem a bit awkward to some, however, this is an important skin care tip.
3. Cleanse your skin regularly (1-2 times everyday). A very effective skin care tip that helps in getting rid of the dirt and other harsh elements from your skin. Cleansing is especially important when you have been out of your house (and hence exposed to pollutants, dust etc). This skin care tip also advocates the use of Luke warm water for cleansing (hot and cold water, both, cause damage to your skin)
4. Be gentle, after all it’s your skin. Don’t scrub/exfoliate too hard or too often. Similarly, don’t apply too much or too many skin care products. A must-to-follow skin care tip.
5. Keep your skin moist at all times. This is one of the most important skin care tip. Don’t let your skin get dry. Dryness causes the outer layer of your skin to break, leading to a rough and unattractive appearance. Use moisturisers/ emollients. Moisturisers work best when applied while the skin is still damp.
6. Avoid the use of soap on your face. Soap should only be used from below the neck. A small but important skin care tip.
7. Use sunscreen to protect yourself from sun’s harmful UV radiations. You can use day-time moisturisers that have sunscreen built into them. Use them even when it’s cloudy. UV radiations are known to cause skin cancer, so follow this skin care tip without fail.
8. A bit of exercise and good sleep are essential too, not just for skin care but for your health as a whole. Lack of sleep can lead to formation of wrinkles below your eyes and lack of exercise can cause your skin to slack. Moreover, exercise and sleep also help in beating stress. So besides being a skin care tip, this is also a health care tip.
9. Treat skin dilemmas with care. This skin care tip is about not ignoring any skin dilemmas. Consult your dermatologist before you go on to use a skin care product (lest you do end up harming your skin even more).
10. Beat the stress. The harmful effects of stress are known to everyone, however, sometimes stating the obvious is essential too (and hence this skin care tip found its place here). Yes, stress harms skin too. So, take a break or indulge in a warm bubble bath or just get good sleep.

scin-care-tips.blogspot.com

Fact: This mother of all factoids is based on a fallacious feminist study commissioned by Ms. magazine. The researcher, Mary Koss, hand-picked by hard-line feminist Gloria Steinem, acknowledges that 73 percent of the young women she counted as rape victims were not aware they had been raped. Forty-three percent of them were dating their “attacker” again.

Rape is a uniquely horrible crime. That is why we need sober and responsible research. Women will not be helped by hyperbole and hysteria. Truth is no enemy of compassion, and falsehood is no friend.

(Nara Schoenberg and Sam Roe, “The Making of an Epidemic,” Toledo Blade, October 10, 1993; and Neil Gilbert, “Examining the Facts: Advocacy Research Overstates the Incidence of Data and Acquaintance Rape,” Current Controversies in Family Violence eds. Richard Gelles and Donileen Loseke, Newbury Park, CA.: Sage Publications, 1993, pp.120-132; and Campus Crime and Security, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 1997. *According to this study, campus police reported 1,310 forcible sex offenses on U.S. campuses in one year. That works out to an average of fewer than one rape per campus.)

2. Myth: Women earn 75 cents for every dollar a man earns.

Fact: The 75 cent figure is terribly misleading. This statistic is a snapshot of all current full-time workers. It does not consider relevant factors like length of time in the workplace, education, occupation, and number of hours worked per week. (The experience gap is particularly large between older men and women in the workplace.) When economists do the proper controls, the so-called gender wage gap narrows to the point of vanishing.

(Essential reading: Women’s Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America, by Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Christine Stolba, published by the Independent Women’s Forum and the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C. 2000.)

3. Myth: 30 percent of emergency room visits by women each year are the result of injuries from domestic violence.

Fact: This incendiary statistic is promoted by gender feminists whose primary goal seems to be to impugn men. Two responsible government studies report that the nationwide figure is closer to one percent. While these studies may have missed some cases of domestic violence, the 30% figure is a wild exaggeration.

(National Center for Health Statistics, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 1992 Emergency Department Summary , Hyattsville, Maryland, March 1997; and U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Violence-Related Injuries Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments: Washington, D.C., August 1997.)

4. Myth: The phrase “rule of thumb” originated in a man’s right to beat his wife provided the stick was no wider than his thumb.

Fact: This is an urban legend that is still taken seriously by activist law professors and harassment workshoppers. The Oxford English Dictionary has more than twenty citations for phrase “rule of thumb” (the earliest from 1692), but not a single mention of beatings, sticks, or husbands and wives.

(For a definitive debunking of the hoax see Henry Ansgar Kelly, “Rule of Thumb and the Folklaw of the Husband’s Stick,” The Journal of Legal Education, September 1994.)

5. Myth: Women have been shortchanged in medical research.

Fact: The National Institutes of Health and drug companies routinely include women in clinical trials that test for effectiveness of medications. By 1979, over 90% of all NIH-funded trials included women. Beginning in 1985, when the NIH’s National Cancer Center began keeping track of specific cancer funding, it has annually spent more money on breast cancer than any other type of cancer. Currently, women represent over 60% of all subjects in NIH-funded clinical trails.

(Essential reading: Cathy Young and Sally Satel, “The Myth of Gender Bias in Medicine,” Washington, D.C.: The Women’s Freedom Network, 1997.)

6. Myth: Girls have been shortchanged in our gender-biased schools

Fact: No fair-minded person can review the education data and conclude that girls are the have-nots in our schools. Boys are slightly ahead of girls in math and science; girls are dramatically ahead in reading and writing. (The writing skills of 17-year-old boys are at the same level as 14-year- old girls.) Girls get better grades, they have higher aspirations, and they are more likely to go to college.

(See: Trends in Educational Equity of Girls & Women, Washington, D. C.: U.S. Department of Education, June 2000.)

7. Myth: “Our schools are training grounds for sexual harassment… boys are rarely punished, while girls are taught that it is their role to tolerate this humiliating conduct.”

(National Organization of Women, “Issue Report: Sexual Harassment,” April 1998.)

Fact: “Hostile Hallways,” is the best-known study of harassment in grades 8-11. It was commissioned by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in 1993, and is a favorite of many harassment experts. But this survey revealed that girls are doing almost as much harassing as the boys. According to the study, “85 percent of girls and 76 percent of boys surveyed say they have experienced unwanted and unwelcome sexual behavior that interferes with their lives.”

(Four scholars at the University of Michigan did a careful follow-up study of the AAUW data and concluded: “The majority of both genders (53%) described themselves as having been both victim and perpetrator of harassment — that is most students had been harassed and had harassed others.” And these researchers draw the right conclusion: “Our results led us to question the simple perpetrator-victim model…”)(See: American Education Research Journal, Summer 1996.)

8. Myth: Girls suffer a dramatic loss of self-esteem during adolescence.

Fact: This myth of the incredible shrinking girls was started by Carol Gilligan, professor of gender studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Gilligan has always enjoyed higher standing among feminist activists and journalists than among academic research psychologists. Scholars who follow the protocols of social science do not accept the reality of an adolescent “crisis” of confidence and “loss of voice.” In 1993, American Psychologist reported the new consensus among researchers in adolescent development: “It is now known that the majority of adolescents of both genders successfully negotiate this developmental period without any major psychological or emotional disorder [and] develop a positive sense of personal identity.”

(Anne C. Petersen et al. “Depression in Adolescence,” American Psychologist February 1993; see also, Daniel Offer, and Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, “Debunking the Myths of Adolescence: Findings from Recent Research,” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, November 1992.)

9. Myth: Gender is a social construction.

Fact: While environment and socialization do play a significant role in human life, a growing body of research in neuroscience, endocrinology, and psychology over the past 40 years suggests there is a biological basis for many sex differences in aptitudes and preferences. In general, males have better spatial reasoning skills; females better verbal skills. Males are greater risk takers; females are more nurturing.

Of course, this does not mean that women should be prevented from pursuing their goals in any field they choose; what it does suggest is that we should not expect parity in all fields. More women than men will continue to want to stay at home with small children and pursue careers in fields like early childhood education or psychology; men will continue to be over-represented in fields like helicopter mechanics and hydraulic engineering.

Warning: Most gender scholars in our universities have degrees in fields like English or comparative literature–not biology or neuroscience. These self-appointed experts on sexuality are scientifically illiterate. They substitute dogma and propaganda for reasoned scholarship.

(For a review of recent findings on sex differences see a special issue of The Scientific American “Men: The Scientific Truth,” Fall 2000.)

10. Myth: Women’s Studies Departments empowered women and gave them a voice in the academy.

Fact: Women’s Studies empowered a small group of like-minded careerists. They have created an old-girl network that is far more elitist, narrow and closed than any of the old-boy networks they rail against. Vast numbers of moderate or dissident women scholars have been marginalized, excluded and silenced.

(Essential reading: everything by Camille Paglia; Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge–Professing Feminism: Cautionary Tales from the Strange World of Women’s Studies; and Christina Hoff Sommers–Who Stole Feminism? How Women have Betrayed Women)

http://byrdeye.blogspot.com

Diet solution for dry and brittle hair:

If your hair is dry and breaks easily, it is probably a lack of essential fatty acids. By including plenty of good sources of essential fatty acids in your diet you can give your hair back its strength and lustre.
You can find these essential fatty acids in oily fish such as tuna, sardines, trout, salmon, herrings and mackeral. Also in seeds, nuts, olives and avocados. You should try to eat four servings of oily fish a week.
Sprinkling flaxseed oil and pumpkin seeds over your morning cereal is another great way to get these much needed essential fatty acids in your diet.

To keep your hair well hydrated, be sure to drink six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water ever day!
Another nutrient important for hair strength and growth is trace mineral silica. Silica is vital to the strength of hair, and can stop hair breakage, unfortunately many of the foods we eat in the western world lack this mineral. Through food processing and chemical soil treatments, trace minerals are rare in our diets.

When possible, always choose organic produce. Foods that a rich in silica are rice, oats, lettuce, parsnips, asparagus, onion, strawberry, cabbage, cucumber, leek, sunflower seeds, celery, rhubarb, cauliflower and green, leafy vegetables.

Diet solution for greasy and lanky hair:

A lack of vitamin B in ones diet can lead to oily, greasy hair. To fight off greasy hair, be sure to eat lots of whole grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products, eggs, wheatgrem, legumes and green, leafy vegetables. These are all great sources of B-complex vitamins.
Also steer clear of oily foods where possible.

Diet solution for hair starting to turn grey:

Although the link between premature greying and diet hasn’t been established, evidence does suggest the amino acid tyrosine - which acts as a precursor to color producing pigments in the hair and skin - can help!

Diet solution for hair that is starting to thin and fall out:

Thinning hair or hair loss may be a sign of iron deficiency. Be sure to eat plenty of iron rich foods, such as red meat, eggs, legumes, wholegrain cereals, dried fruits and green, leafy vegetables.
Since hair is composed mostly of protein, your hair will most likely respond well to the addition of high protein foods such as meats, eggs, cheese, seeds and nuts. These protein-rich foods can help reinforce the hair follicles and prevents the hair from falling out.

There is some evidence suggesting soya protein helps stimulate growth, so switch to soy milk and include some tofu, miso and soy beans in your diet.

Vitamin E is found in green, leafy vegetables, nuts and grains and can also help hair loss. Hair loss can also be a sign of thyroid dysfunction. To stimulate the thyroid gland, eat foods rich in iodine such as seafood and kelp.

Also including iron and B vitamins in your diet will help. Stick to a diet rich in antioxidants - fruit, vegetables and tea - to help slow the ageing process in general.

Foods, Vitamins and supplements to help hair growth:

Hair is mostly protein, so nutritionists advise those wanting healthy hair to eat well balanced diets that include healthy proteins, along with foods high in vitamin B, C, E, A and K.
Your hair will most likely respond well to the addition of high protein foods such as meats, eggs, cheese, seeds and nuts. Fish has good protein as well as essential fatty acids and natural oils.

• Vitamin B - Green vegetables, beans, sunflower seeds, nuts and peas.
• Vitamin C - Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, melons and berries.
• Vitamin E - Avocados, rice bran, nuts, dark green vegetables, legumes and whole grains.
• Vitamin A - Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, broccoli, cantaloupe and apricots.
• Vitamin K - Seafood, dairy, figs, asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, brussel sprouts, cabbage, dark green leafy vegetables, oatmeal, soybeans, wheat, yoghurt, egg yolks and liver.

http://www.hairstyle.com

Throughout all cultures, the magic of creation resides in the blood women gave forth in apparent harmony with the moon, and which sometimes stayed inside to create a baby. This blood was regarded with reverence: it had mysterious magical powers, was inexplicably shed without pain, and was wholly foreign to male experience. Early menstrual rites were perhaps the first expression of human culture.

Native American (Lakota):

“Follow your Grandmother Moon. Her illuminating cycles will transform your spirit.” Begin with the Grandmother Moon at her brightest and most open. This is a time of outward activity and high energy. Sleep where the moonlight touches you. Walk outside where there are no artificial lights. Feel joy and creativity. As the Grandmother begins to cover her face, begin to withdraw into a quieter, less social place. Move to that inward place that is more about “being” than “doing.” In the dark of the moon, when bleeding, the veil between you and the Great Mystery is the thinnest. Be receptive to visions, insights, intuitions. Go to a quiet separate place such as a Moon Lodge. Later, come out of the dark, a woman with a cleansed body. As the moon returns, come back out into the world, carrying your vision.

Customs and Traditions

• Indians of South American said all humans were made of “moon blood” in the beginning.
• In Mesopotamia, the Great Goddess created people out of clay and infused them with her blood of life. She taught women to form clay dolls and smear them with menstrual blood. Adam translates as bloody clay.
• In Hindu theory, as the Great Mother created the earth, solid matter coalesced into a clot with a crust. Women use this same method to produce new life.
• The Greeks believed the wisdom of man or god was centered in his blood which came from his mother.
• Egyptian pharaohs became divine by ingesting the blood of Isis called sa. Its hieroglyphic sign was the same as the sign of the vulva, a yonic loop like the one on the ankh.
• From the 8th to the 11th centuries, Christian churches refused communion to menstruating women.
• In ancient societies, menstrual blood carried authority, transmitting lineage of the clan or tribe.
• Among the Ashanti, girl children are more prized than boys because a girl is the carrier of the blood.
• Chinese sages called menstrual blood the essence of Mother Earth, the yin principle giving life to all things.
• Some African tribes believed that menstrual blood kept in a covered pot for nine months had the power to turn itself into a baby.
• Easter eggs, classic womb-symbols, were dyed red and laid on graves to strengthen the dead.
• A born-again ceremony from Australia showed the Aborigines linked rebirth with blood of the womb.
• Post-menopausal women were often the wisest because they retained their “wise blood.” In the 17th century these old women were constantly persecuted for witch craft because their menstrual blood remained in their veins.

Calendars:

The Roman Goddess of measurement, numbers, calendars, and record-keeping; derived from the Moon-goddess as the inventor of numerical systems; measurer of time.

It has been shown that calendar consciousness developed first in women because their natural body rhythms corresponded to observations of the moon. Chinese women established a lunar calendar 3000 years ago. Mayan women understood the great Maya calendar was based on menstrual cycles. Romans called the calculation of time menstruation, meaning knowledge of the menses. In Gaelic, menstruation and calendar are the same word.

The lunar calendar’s thirteen 28-day months had four 7-day weeks, marking the new, waxing, full, and waning moons. Thirteen months is 364 days. Pagan traditions describe an annual cycle as a 13 months and a day. Even today, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The 13 month calendar also led to pagan reverence for the number 13 and the Christian attempts to demolish it. Generally, the ancient symbols of matriarchy were the night, moon and 13. Patriarchy (under Christianity) honored the day, the sun and 12.

http://www.fwhc.org

• Every woman’s cycle is or should be 28 days long.
• Every woman will or should bleed every month.
• Every woman will or should ovulate every cycle.
• If a woman bleeds, she is not pregnant.
• A woman cannot ovulate or get pregnant while she is menstruating.

The above statements are myths. Every woman is different.

It’s true that most women will have cycles that are around 28 days. But, a woman can be healthy and normal and have just 3 or 4 cycles a year. [However, while variations might be healthy and normal, they could also be a sign of a serious underlying problem. For example, a recent news article suggested that irregular menstrual cycles may predict Type 2 Diabetes.]

Ovulation occurs about 14-16 days before women have their period (not 14 days after the start of their period). The second half of the cycle, ovulation to menstruation, is fairly consistently the same length, but the first part changes from person to person and from cycle to cycle. In rare cases, a women may ovulate twice in a month, once from each ovary.

Conception/Fertilization of an egg, can only occur after ovulation. The egg stays alive for about 24 hours once released from the ovary. Sperm can stay alive inside a woman’s body for 3-4 days, but possibly as long as 6-7 days. If a couple has intercourse before or after ovulation occurs, they can get pregnant, since the live sperm are already inside the woman’s body when ovulation occurs. Thus a woman can become pregnant from intercourse for about 7-10 days in the middle of her cycle. (See Fertility Awareness for a complete description of visible signs of ovulation.)

Fertility Awareness is a birth control method where women monitor their cycles daily to identify ovulation. They are learning to predict ovulation to prevent or encourage pregnancy. It requires training and diligent record keeping.

From our work providing abortion services, we know that some women can be pregnant and continue to have periods at the same time. We also know of cases where women have gotten pregnant during their menstrual period.

Menopause

Technically menopause is the last menstrual flow of a woman’s life and the climacteric is period of time preceding and following this event. In general usage, menopause refers to the whole process. For most women, menopause occurs between the ages of forty and sixty and takes place over a period from 6 months to three years.

The menstrual cycle usually goes through many changes, some slow and some sudden, before stopping altogether. A woman’s periods may become erratic, closer together, or further apart. She may skip a period or two, or have spotting at other times in her cycle.

A common experience is loss of large amounts of blood with a period and passage of large clots. When a woman nears the cessation of her periods, she may not ovulate for one cycle or several cycles. In this case, the endometrium doesn’t receive the chemical message to stop thickening. It grows and grows until its heavy bulk causes a heavy flow.

Signals of menopause include hot flashes or flushes, changes in sleep patterns, headaches or migraines, high energy, high creativity, and/or mood changes. As with PMS, some of these symptoms are hormone imbalances caused by poor nutrition.

Did You Know?

• Women lose between 20 and 80 cc’s (1-2 ounces) of blood during a normal period.
• One in six fertilized eggs naturally results in miscarriage, some of which are reabsorbed by the body and the woman is not aware she’s been pregnant.
• The length of a woman’s menstrual cycle (the number of days from the first day of one period to the first day of the next) is determined by the number of days it takes her ovary to release an egg. Once an egg is released, it is about 14 days until menstruation, for nearly all women.

Alternatives for Handling Menstrual Flow

1. Chlorine-free biodegradable 100% cotton tampons recently hit the market in response to environmentally conscious feminists. Studies have shown that organochlorines can be linked to cancer. Women using chlorine-free tampons are not putting chlorine into their bodies, nor are they supporting an industry which produces enormous volumes of industrial waste containing chlorine. If your regular pad or tampon isn’t chlorine-free, write and urge them to make 100% cotton pads and tampons without chlorine.
2. Natural sponges from the ocean (not cellulose) are used by some women. They are dampened then inserted directly into the vagina. When full, they are removed, washed with water, and reused. Washable reusable cloth pads are also available.
3. The menstrual cap is another reusable alternative. It is similar to the cervical cap, but worn near the vaginal opening in the same place as a tampon. When full, it is simply removed, washed and reinserted. A cervical cap has also been used successfully in this manner.
4. The Keeper - a specially made reusable device for catching monthly flow.
5. Cloth (washable) pads - this is what most women around the word have always used.

http://www.fwhc.org

The philosophic foundation of the Feminist Women’s Health Center is “Knowledge is Power.” We believe when women have complete, unbiased information, they are empowered to make their own decisions leading to healthy whole lives. An important role of the FWHC is to provide information, resources for additional information, and give an analysis of the information we present. Here we describe a typical 28 day menstrual cycle and we begin to challenge the dominant American cultural assumptions about menses.

Consider for a moment all you’ve heard about menstruation. Who first told you? What did they call it? How is menstruation viewed by your culture? What taboos have influenced you? How does your partner feel about your period? What impact has advertising had on your knowledge and attitude? What is the motivation of the advertiser? Is your experience different now compared to earlier in your life?

First we’ll discuss the basic biology of menstruation, then we’ll look at ancient traditions.

Basic Biology: the cycle begins

Did you know that when a baby girl is born, she has all the eggs her body will ever use, and many more, perhaps as many as 450,000? They are stored in her ovaries, each inside its own sac called a follicle. As she matures into puberty, her body begins producing various hormones that cause the eggs to mature. This is the beginning of her first cycle; it’s a cycle that will repeat throughout her life until the end of menopause.

Let’s start with the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a gland in the brain responsible for regulating the body’s thirst, hunger, sleep patterns, libido and endocrine functions. It releases the chemical messenger Follicle Stimulating Hormone Releasing Factor (FSH-RF) to tell the pituitary, another gland in the brain, to do its job. The pituitary then secretes Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and a little Leutenizing Hormone (LH) into the bloodstream which cause the follicles to begin to mature.

The maturing follicles then release another hormone, estrogen. As the follicles ripen over a period of about seven days, they secrete more and more estrogen into the bloodstream. Estrogen causes the lining of the uterus to thicken. It causes the cervical mucous to change. When the estrogen level reaches a certain point it causes the hypothalmus to release Leutenizing Hormone Releasing Factor (LH-RF) causing the pituitary to release a large amount of Leutenizing Hormone (LH). This surge of LH triggers the one most mature follicle to burst open and release an egg. This is called ovulation. [Many birth control pills work by blocking this LH surge, thus inhibiting the release of an egg.]

Ovulation

As ovulation approaches, the blood supply to the ovary increases and the ligaments contract, pulling the ovary closer to the Fallopian tube, allowing the egg, once released, to find its way into the tube. Just before ovulation, a woman’s cervix secretes an abundance of clear “fertile mucous” which is characteristically stretchy. Fertile mucous helps facilitate the sperm’s movement toward the egg. Some women use daily mucous monitoring to determine when they are most likely to become pregnant. Mid cycle, some women also experience cramping or other sensations. Basal body temperature rises right after ovulation and stays higher by about .4 degrees F until a few days before the next period.

Inside the Fallopian tube, the egg is carried along by tiny, hairlike projections, called “cilia” toward the uterus. Fertilization occurs if sperm are present as the live egg reaches the uterus. [A tubal pregnancy (ectopic pregnancy) is the rare situation where the egg is fertilized inside the tube. It is a dangerous life-threatening situation. If an fertilized egg begins to develop into an embryo inside the tube it will rupture the tube causing internal bleeding. Surgery is required if the tube ruptures. If the pregnancy is discovered before the tube ruptures, medication (Methotrexate) can be used to stop the development of the embryo.]

A woman can use a speculum to monitor her own ovulation and use this information to avoid or encourage a pregnancy. This is the all-natural fertility awareness method (FAM) of family planning.

Uterine Changes

Between midcycle and menstruation, the follicle from which the egg burst becomes the corpus luteum (yellow body). As it heals, it produces the hormones estrogen and, in larger amounts, progesterone which is necessary for the maintenance of a pregnancy. [RU-486 works by blocking progesterone production.] In the later stages of healing, if the uterus is not pregnant, the follicle turns white and is called the corpus albicans.

Estrogen and progesterone are sometimes called “female” hormones, but both men and women have them, just in different concentrations.

Progesterone causes the surface of the uterine lining, the endometrium, to become covered with mucous, secreted from glands within the lining itself. If fertilization and implantation do not occur, the spiral arteries of the lining close off, stopping blood flow to the surface of the lining. The blood pools into “venous lakes” which, once full, burst and, with the endometrial lining, form the menstrual flow. Most periods last 4 to 8 days but this length varies over the course of a lifetime.

Bleeding - A New Theory

Some researchers view menses as the natural monthly cleansing of the uterus and vagina of sperm and bacteria they carried.

Cramps and Other Sensations

Women can experience a variety of sensations before, during or after their menses. Common complaints include backache, pain in the inner thighs, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, headaches, breast tenderness, irritability, and other mood changes. Women also experience positive sensations such as relief, release, euphoria, new beginning, invigoration, connection with nature, creative energy, exhilaration, increased sex drive and more intense orgasms.

Uterine cramping is one of the most common uncomfortable sensations women may have during menstruation. There are two kinds of cramping. Spasmodic cramping is probably caused by prostaglandins, chemicals that affect muscle tension. Some prostaglandins cause relaxation, and some cause constriction. A diet high in linoleic and liblenic acids, found in vegetables and fish, increases the prostaglandins for aiding muscle relaxation.

Congestive cramping causes the body to retain fluids and salt. To counter congestive cramping, avoid wheat and dairy products, alcohol, caffeine, and refined sugar.

Natural options to alleviate cramping:

• Increase exercise. This will improve blood and oxygen circulation throughout the body, including the pelvis.
• Try not using tampons. Many women find tampons increase cramping. Don’t select an IUD (intrauterine device) as your birth control method.
• Avoid red meat, refined sugars, milk, and fatty foods.
• Eat lots of fresh vegetables, whole grains (especially if you experience constipation or indigestion), nuts, seeds and fruit.
• Avoid caffeine. It constricts blood vessels and increases tension.
• Meditate, get a massage.
• Have an orgasm (alone or with a partner).
• Drink ginger root tea (especially if you experience fatigue).
• Put cayenne pepper on food. It is a vasodilator and improves circulation.
• Breathe deeply, relax, notice where you hold tension in your body and let it go.
• Ovarian Kung Fu alleviates or even eliminates menstrual cramps and PMS, it also ensures smooth transition through menopause
• Take time for yourself!

Anecdotal information suggests eliminating Nutra-Sweet from the diet will significantly relieve menstrual cramps. If you drink sugar-free sodas or other forms of Nutra-Sweet, try eliminating them completely for two months and see what happens.

Lifestyle

The hormones in our bodies are especially sensitive to diet and nutrition. PMS and menstrual cramping are not diseases, but rather, symptoms of poor nutrition.

Premenstrual Syndrome or PMS

PMS has been known by women for many many years. However, within the past 30 or so years, pharmaceutical companies have targeted and created a market to treat this normal part of a woman’s cycle as a disease. These companies then benefit from the sale of drugs and treatments.

Premenstrual syndrome refers to the collection of symptoms or sensations women experience as a result of high hormone levels before, and sometimes during, their periods.

One type of PMS is characterized by anxiety, irritability and mood swings. These feelings are usually relieved with the onset of bleeding. Most likely, this type relates to the balance between estrogen and progesterone. If estrogen predominates, anxiety occurs. If there’s more progesterone, depression may be a complaint.

Sugar craving, fatigue and headaches signify a different type of PMS. In addition to sugar, women may crave chocolate, white bread, white rice, pastries, and noodles. These food cravings may be caused by the increased responsiveness to insulin related to increased hormone levels before menstruation. In this circumstance, women may experience symptoms of low blood sugar; their brains are signaling a need for fuel. A consistent diet that includes complex carbohydrates will provide a steady flow of energy to the brain and counter the ups and downs of blood sugar variations.

http://www.fwhc.org

Want to convince your spouse that your vacation spot is the best? Persuade your coworkers that your new business plan will succeed? Negotiate a raise in your allowance?

Want the top 10 keys right now? Keep reading and you’ll learn 10 important techniques to perfect the art of persuasion.

1. Know your audience.

The emotional state, morals, goals and personality of your audience all influence how they will perceive your message. Knowing as many intimate details about your audience as possible gives you insight into how you should present your message so it will be understood. You will also know what types of examples to use or stories to tell to strike a chord with them.

2. Be confident.

Studies have found that people judge a message’s reliability based on the confidence with which it is expressed. Further, speakers come off as more confident the more certain they are about what they are saying. The bottom line is, if you are going to persuade somebody of something, make sure you yourself believe it first.

3. Use facts.

The best way to drive home your argument is to use cold, hard facts. While ideas, strategies and proposals can all be dismissed if a person does not see it your way, it is hard to argue with numbers, statistics, figures and other facts. Saturating your persuasive piece with facts also makes it obvious that you have done your homework on the issue and are therefore more credible and reliable. In other words, facts are the evidence you need to back up your argument.

4. Give compliments (and be charming).

The old proverb “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar” could not be more true. You want your audience to like you, so pointing out the good in them is always a wise choice. While you should go out of your way to make your audience feel good, you should avoid, at all costs, alienating any of them with insults or criticizing comments.

5. Listen.

Only when you are willing to listen to and entertain the ideas of your fellow man will he or she be willing to entertain yours. If concerns are raised about your position, always address them head-on, rather than skirting around them.

6. Remember your focus.

When using persuasion, only attempt to persuade one issue at a time. Choose your issue, then stick to it, and nothing else, in your arguments. If you try to persuade too many things at once, people may start to question your reliability and commitment to your cause.

7. Make it interesting.

Although adults are supposed to have impeccable attention spans, don’t be fooled. If you are speaking to a captive audience, for instance at a seminar, you should not assume that everyone who is looking at you is listening to you. Use vivid language, gestures, visual images, various speakers and anything else that applies to capture your audience’s attention.

8. Make it easy.

If you are trying to persuade someone to do something, always make it easy for them to do so. Want your dinner club members to sign a petition? Bring the forms and the pens. Want to sell your kid’s cookies at work? Bring the form right to your coworkers, rather than expecting them to come to you.

9. Make the benefits clear.

While keeping the focus of your argument in mind, be sure your audience is aware of the good things that will come from agreeing with you. Say them once in the beginning and again at the end, and probably a few times in between.

10. Try a cup of coffee?

You may be well served by having that persuasive conversation over a good cup of coffee. Why? A study at the Queensland University of Technology found that “caffeine increases persuasion through instigating systematic processing of the message.” In other words, the caffeine in the equivalent of two cups of coffee improved study participants’ ability to process information and listen to a persuasive message.

It also put the participants in better spirits, which, researchers said, makes it more likely that they’ll agree with the message.

Finally, remember that while the art of persuasion can be used in the name of malice and deceit, it is meant to be used to bring about positive changes for the good of yourself and others.

http://www.sixwise.com

Although we’ve been conditioned to think that low-fat diets are the best way to lose weight, the results didn’t bear that out. On average, those on the low-fat diet only lost 6.5 pounds, compared with 10 pounds on the Mediterranean diet and 10.3 pounds on the low-carb diet.

While the diets proved equal at helping inflammatory and liver function biomarkers, other results varied greatly. The low-carb diet increased levels of good cholesterol and cut levels of atherosclerosis-causing triglycerides the most. The low-fat diet increased fasting glucose, high levels of which are a sign of diabetes, while the Mediterranean diet caused a decrease.

“The importance of this study,” says Iris Shai, the study’s leader and a researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, “is that there is no one solution for everybody.”

Sticking With the Program
In fact, experts say a wide variety of diets can work–if only people can choose programs that are sustainable for them and find ways to stick it out.

People commonly derail their diets from the get-go, says Heidi Skolnik, a certified nutritionist and health-fitness instructor at the Hospital for Special Surgery, by having unrealistic expectations about how much weight they’ll lose–and how quickly they’ll do so. They also want the process to be easy. When that doesn’t happen, they give up and move on to the next thing, a process that isn’t good for the body or mind.

“Yo-yo dieting messes with your head,” Skolnik says. “It’s very demoralizing. Each new time, you’re more reluctant to get your hopes up, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Skolnik recommends figuring out your ideal body, taking into account your height and frame, and then thinking about what’s going to be realistic for you to achieve and maintain.

You’ve also got to consider your food preferences, goals and diet histories and consult your doctor before starting anything, says Shai. For instance, if a diet calls for you to cut back on your carbs drastically and you love bread and pasta, the likelihood of your success is low.

As great as a diet may be, if you can’t think about it as a long-term strategy, it’s probably not worth trying. Likewise, if you want to lower your cholesterol levels or control your diabetes, you’ll want to factor that into your decision.

And if you’ve tried diets in the past and failed to see results–who hasn’t?–examine what went wrong. What kind of diet has worked for you?

Your personality plays a role, too, Skolnik says.

Do you respond better in situations that are structured or more flexible? Do you perform better when you’re backed by a support network or when you’re on your own? Honestly answering these questions can help you figure out if you would be better off buying a diet book or participating in a weight-loss program that offers regular meetings.

Before choosing a diet you should also look for a few key factors, says Stacey Snelling, a registered dietitian and an associate professor at American University in the health and fitness department. Those include scientific evidence backing up the diet’s effectiveness and some component of physical activity to help you maintain your weight loss down the road.

On the other hand, diets that recommend the use of supplements are worth questioning since they might be lacking in nutritional adequacy. Furthermore, it’s not clear whether pills provide the same health benefits as the foods from which they’re derived.

The Bottom Line
For those who are still dieting, or whose ears can’t help but perk up when news of the next diet fad hits, there is hope. It’s possible dieters can improve their odds of success, experts say, if they spend time upfront making sure they pick sound diets that match their goals and personalities.

“You should know which diet you can live with,” Shai says, “not a dramatic diet for the short term, but for the long term.”

http://www.aabgu.org