Meditation: The Power of ONE

Meditation is very well known and practiced. For centuries, cultures across the world have used meditation as a means of calming the mind, reaching great realization, or even as a process of mental healing. Meditation is an exercise that requires no movement and involves reaching a level of focus that most are unaware is even possible. There have even been some that claim to have experience what is called an ‘out of body’ experience in which their consciousness ‘leaves their body’ and is able to roam about as the body would during usual consciousness. There has been no scientific evidence of this being possible; however, you can see how meditation may help you reach a level of focus that feels supernatural.

Author and Psychologist Dave Grossman states in his book On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace that the body’s heart rate is directly related to its capabilities at the moment. What he means by this is: your heart rate affects your minds processing ability. He states that there are several ‘zones’ that the heart rate reaches and they have an appropriate color to distinguish them as well. For instance: NASCAR racers operate in the orange-red zones. Red zone is when the heart rate is nearing maximum and motor function starts to deteriorate. Adrenaline allows you to make quick, yet not precise reactions and is a heart rate (HR) zone that is best for a near death encounter with an unarmed attacker that would otherwise over power you. This same heart rate does not work for SWAT team officers. At this HR Zone your body cannot control complex motor functions as precisely and leaves you susceptible to mistakes that could cost you or your team members lives. This is where meditation comes in. Dave Grossman’s studies have proven that through deep breathing or meditating you can calm the heart rate to the desired zone, therefore preventing loss of motor skills associated with being in the higher HR zones. This can be applied to many facets of everyday life as well.

The average person is not a soldier, especially not in the elite class of SWAT or Special Ops, however, their form of meditation can benefit anyone. The next time you have a big task or project that you must accomplish in a short amount of time or you are in a stressful situation, try breathing. It sounds self-explanatory, right? But most don’t use this. Take deep breaths in until you can feel your lungs stretch all the way down your abdomen, then exhale until you feel your lungs are completely empty. This breathing and clearing of the lungs will dramatically lower your heart rate because it allows your body to take in more oxygen; which in turn, relaxes you. The lower your (healthy) heart rate, the better you will be able to think and process. You don’t need anything other than your own mind and spirit to meditate, which makes it such a powerful tool for focus.

 

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Laptops are a Danger: A Silly Solution to a Serious Problem

Typically, if you see someone with a laptop they are on the go and are trying to either keep up with their entertainment or their work. In today’s technology age, more people are moving away from desktops and using laptops. The term ‘laptop’ refers to the size and usability of this type of compact computer. It’s called a laptop because it fits on your lap. Some researchers say that this placement of the devise is actually responsible for fertility issues.

A research report was published in the journal of Fertility and Sterility of which semen samples were taken from 29 healthy male donors. These male donors were Laptop users whom use their laptops in their lap. The research concluded that the most damage seems to be done when the Laptop has Wi-Fi enabled, resulting in decreased sperm motility and increased sperm DNA fragmentation. Other studies have also suggested that women that are pregnant should not place laptops on their laps either because of the Wi-Fi enabled devises' waves may effect the fetus.

Some researches feel that the solution to this problem is to just rename laptops to some other name. Seems like a nonsensical solution. If you renamed desktops to tabletops, people would still place them on their desk. The name is not the problem. If it is such a concern then they should make some kind of publication that warns both men and pregnant women of the possible dangers of placing your laptop near your vital and ‘not so vital’ organs.

 

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Flamin' Hot Chips are in the Hot Seat

An extremely popular flavor of Cheetos called “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos,” is under fire in recent news. School districts in three states are banning the chips because, officials say, the snack is too high in fat, calories, and sodium for them to be a safe snack for children to eat. Officials also believe that these chips are far too spicy to be safely consumed.
                                              
                   (Child whose nose is running and his mouth is burning from eating cheetos)

I remember these chips myself. I remember eating them in class, through the halls, as I was walking out of school, eating them at home…..I guess eating them everywhere really. For the uninitiated, these chips are bright red and stain your hands (and anything else you touch) but they are seemingly addictive. It seems that these traits of the snack are what parents and officials are concerned about. Teachers and parents have complained about children leaving little bright red fingerprints in their classrooms and on their clothing. Apparently, they are so notorious that they have caused unneccesary visits to the hospital. Children and adults alike will go to the emergency room because they ‘found blood’ in their stool. Upon analysis, however, doctors are often able to determine that the bright red coloring of the stool is in direct relation to the bright red dye in the chips.

                                           (Red stained fingers from eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos)

Until a couple of years ago, chips were always sold in a pretty sizealbe bag and they had several servings in each bag. Even though millions of people in this country are perfectly capable of reading, no one ever read the bag and saw that these colossal sized sodium assault treats had more than one serving per bag. Needless to say, children were eating 3-4 servings of these chips at a time.

                                      (Nutrition label for a popular bag size of these chips)

This one bag of chips has enough salt to bring your blood pressure to that of a whistling tea pot. It would seem that some people have said “enough is enough,” and are trying to drive for a food reform. It’s about time. The biggest of these food wars should be fought in our schools. If more districts get on board with the cause, maybe we can all put an end to the salt ridden addiction.
 

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Natural and Quick Dish Detergent

Many people dont know it, but some dish detergents contain harmful chemicals which leave residue on your dishes that should not be ingested. To avoid this, watch this video for a quick and economical alternative to traditional dish detergent. http://goo.gl/KQcZR

Nike Alpha Strength Hand Grips

Review for Nike Alpha Strength Hand Grips                                                       Rating- 3 out of 5

Nike has always been known for their ingenuity and flashy designs in all of their sports wares. Their designs have been nothing less than groundbreaking at times, so when they came out with the Alpha Strength Hand Grips I was pretty excited to try them out.

Upon arriving at the store to buy this unorthodox equipment, the first thing I noticed was the flashy packaging. It was a silver box that was made of high quality materials and even had pictures of the enclosed product and the details of its’ design. They only came in black and red (my favorite colors).  Add the fact that it was only $25.00 and I was sold on the spot.

I couldn’t wait until my next workout to use them; however, when I finally was able to put them to the test I couldn’t wait until my workout was over. In theory, they are more ergonomic and allow a much better grip when lifting weight. In execution, that theory goes out of the window.

I am not here to bash the Nike Hand Grips. I do want to point out some of their flaws. Firstly, upon looking online to see if anyone else was having some of the same problems I was, I ran into a review in which a user said that he normally wears an XL in workout gloves but was able to fit a large in the Nike Hand Grips. This tells me that this product runs large in sizes. This is normally not too much of a problem but I will explain why this makes the world of difference at a later time. Secondly, the grooves on the gloves are a bit too deep. This makes it awkward to do many exercises, and therefore, makes it hard to solely include this equipment into your routine. When doing moves such as bent over rows, deadlifts, Lat pull-downs, or any kind of bar curls, it seems to work just fine. If you do a move like squats, pull-ups, dumbbell curls, or triceps extensions (bar or dumbbells) it is quite uncomfortable. Lastly, the grips do not truly secure your hands properly in order to lift heavy weight.

The little strap that you see on the back of the grips secures just under your knuckles

On my hands it looks slightly too big, and it is. I believe that the fact that there is plenty of material missing from these “gloves” they slide around on your hands throughout dynamic moves. When using heavy weight, this is highly undesirable. Due to the fact that they shift around on your hand, the weight creates pressure points in your hands and I would assume may possible cause micro fractures. After doing deadlifts with 300ibs I noticed that my hands were killing me. I have never had this problem when lifting bare handed or with traditional gloves.

Due to its faults, I will rate this product a 3 out of 5. It needs to have the kinks worked out a bit. The concept is an interesting one, but some concepts should never make it off of the designers’ notebook.