cold season

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cold, cold season, getting sick, health, hot tea, oranges, staying healthy, Vitamin C

Like so many who stand in front of a class and teach getting sick is part of the course. After all when you are surrounded by pupils, no matter what the age, you’re bound to pick up a few bacteria and viruses, no matter how often you wash your hands.

Yesterday, as I was explaining how to create templates, I felt that unwelcome tickle at the back of my throat. As I took a sip of hot tea, my constant companion when I lecture is a flask filled with herbal tea, I had the sudden realisation that cold season is back.

Since I don’t have the time to get sick right now I decided to try and take it easy for the next few days, drink lots of fluids and make sure my vitamin C intake is high. After all we all know the best way to get rid of those pesky germs is to stay warm, hydrate and rest.

So as soon as I got home I put on a pair of woolly socks, cuddled up in my shawl and spent a few hours avoiding my desk while drinking honeyed tea and eating a few oranges. And I have to say I think it may have done the trick for now as today I feel so much better, the tickle is gone and I hope it stays away.

 

new cup – new habit

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black tea, Canadian artist Frank Johnston, cups, Frank Johnston, fruit tea, herbal tea, photo, photography, tea

Habits are hard to break, even harder when you’ve had years of building up the habit. For me it was cups and cups of black tea all day long. A while back I decided I had to try and and ween myself off this caffeine inducing habit and over the summer I was able to stick to my new herbal/fruit tea regime.

But once I settled back into my Dublin life again I fell back into my bad tea drinking habit. I found it hard to resit the call of yummy Irish tea – with a dash of milk the perfect hot source of comfort.  However, since my recent Canadian visitor left a beautiful bone china cup as a surprise gift behind I have been back to drinking herbals, fruit and licorice in the afternoon, and I feel better for it.

I’m not quite sure what made me switch again, maybe it’s the pretty forest scene (Sunset in the Bush c.1918) by Canadian artist Frank Johnston that makes me what herbal over black, maybe it’s because the tea tastes so much better when sipped from fine bone china, or maybe it’s the fact that the cup is square – not round.

Whatever the reason I have been enjoying my afternoons sitting at my desk, the flavours of herbs and fruit filling my nostrils looking at a beautiful cup and remembering a good friend.

my new fine bone china cup

sunny Saturday morning

Tags

endorphins, halo-effect, health, psychology, Saturday, summer, sunshine, vitamin d

It’s meant to be raining, according to the weather forecast, but the sun doesn’t seem to have gotten that memo. For now it is shining and keeping those rain clouds at bay.

Studies have shown that we become nicer when the sun is shining, we tend to be quicker to answer researchers, give directions more readily and we even reach further into our pockets and give larger tips. Even the stock-markets trade more and is three times more likely to go up when the sun shines. Yes, even traders and investors feel more positive on sunny days, but unlike us they don’t just buy an ice-cream cone but put their money into bonds.

This happiness and optimism that awakens in us when the sun comes out to play is called the “halo-effect”. Now the halo effect defines how we see things due to our knowledge of an other thing. So, if someone is good at say card games we assume they are good at dice games too, or if someone is bad at football we assume they are bad at basketball as well. And when the sun shines making endorphins bounce around in our brains we just assume everything is good, because we feel good.

Sadly the downside to summer frolicking is that the suicide rate goes up. The reason behind this is that someone who is feeling low sees lots of happy, jolly people and it makes them feel worse about themselves so they become more prone to seeking a permanent solution.

But with all that said I just think most of us love the luxury of letting the warmth of the sun caress our skins and enjoy wearing light summery clothes. Of course we have to be mindful to not burn but letting the sun tickle us helps produce Vitamin D and as our skin is highly efficient at doing just that only 15-30 minutes of sunshine creates the same amount as drinking 200 glasses of milk would.

I am not a fan of milk myself I think I may just treat myself to an ice-cream, let my skin take care of the vitamin D production and let my endorphins run wild – what a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

 sunshine inside a flower

hay fever alert

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antihistamnines, calcium, hay fever, health, magnesium, pills, sticky eyes

I woke up with  a little surprise in bed with me this morning, sticky eyes are back and that can only mean one thing: hay-fever season has arrived and settled in over night.

Hay-fever visits me every year, sometimes it is just little a bit annoying, sometimes it needs a bit more attention, and other times it takes over my life. I am not sure what the sneezer has planned for this year but if my sticky eyes and scratchy throat are anything to go by it definitely is an attention seeker.

So while I spent a huge chunk of my morning un-gunking my eyes, yes I had those awfully gooey bits of yellow sleepy-eye gluing my eyelashes together and keeping me in semi-darkness, I was wondering if it was time to start popping pills and save myself from sneeze attacks. The problem is most antihistamines effect me more than just a little on the side.

Some make me so drowsy that I can’t string sentences together and just want to sleep, some effect my skin (I have eczema)  and leave me with itchiness and sometimes red patches of flakiness. Other pills have been known to make me a little high, a little depressed or just don’t work. But I do own some white oval pills that do the job and only make me sluggish, turning work into a bit of a herculean task. Sadly as I have quite a lot to do today I don’t think those little friendly helpers are an option and I will just have to keep tissues by my side and try not to spray my computer.

But while I was contemplating my possibilities I wondered about alternative options, I have tried acupuncture and homeopathy in the past and they didn’t work, although I do know that others have had more success. I have tried upping my calcium and magnesium intake and it does partially work as it makes the sneezes less moist and my eyes a little clearer. So as I munch on a banana and spoon some yogurt I am hoping it will help me be less irritated and keep Mr Hay-fever at bay.

fruit envy and greengrocers

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food, fruit, fruit envy, greengrocers, healthy, oranges, pears, snacks

Sitting across from my colleague I was faced with a new sensation when she pulled out a beautiful pink grapefruit: fruit envy! It was just past twelve and lunch was still a bit away so the sight of a juicy ripe piece of fruity yummyness literally made my mouth water.

After watching her for a while I decided I really wanted some fruit too. So I popped down to the lovely greengrocers across the road and stocked up on some fruity goodness.

Now the greengrocer is an experience in it self – it is one of those garage style places with an open front and just boxes and crates filled with fruit and veg in all their shapes and sizes. The owner listens to loud music that tends to vary somewhere between jazz, musicals and the occasional opera. He is full of banter and smiles, sings along to what ever is playing (loud and off-key) and loves a bit of a flirt.

Of course I ended up buying more than I needed, I just couldn’t resist the pale pink South African pears or the succulent clementines, and the owner even popped in an extra pear and an extra banana into my bag too – must have been my willingness to flirt right back and laugh at his jokes.

Back in the office another colleague noticed my bag of fruit and I realized – fruit envy is contagious. So I offered him some of my extra goodies. As we all sat an munched on our fruit I was delighted at how healthy we all were.

I just hope she doesn’t pull out a bar of chocolate today – chocolate envy is way to bad for me!

healthy snack before lunch

early rising and sunshine

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alarm, early rising, getting up, mornings, sleep, sleep cycle, stages of sleep, sunshine

It is so much easier to get up when you are woken by sunny skies. This morning the sun tickled my nose before the alarm went off and I enjoyed a few minutes stretching in bed.

Being woken in this gentle way is not only much better for us but seems to be the way nature intended it to be. Loud ringing, buzzing or screeching alarms are not only really annoying they are also not good for us as they often interrupt us during our deep sleep and REM phases. Since our bodies are designed to wake up in our light phases of sleep, either before or after an REM, if we are pulled out of our deep sleep we feel groggy and tired. It also means that we start the day with or bodies already feeling stressed.

There are actually five stages of sleep in a cycle, and each sleep cycle is about 90 minutes long. The first two stages are considered light , the next two (three and four) are deep and the final stage is REM ((rapid eye movement), in which you dream. It is fine when you are woken up out of the first two stages of sleep, you feel rested and  good – that is why short naps work – but once you are pulled out of one of the last three stages it’s a different story. You will feel more tempted to press the snooze button and long for more time in bed.

That is why it is always better to allow your body to wake up naturally – even if it is early – you will feel more rested for the rest of the day and you won’t feel drained or stressed before you’ve had your breakfast. And of course everything is better when the sun is shining!

hiccuping my way through the day

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health, hiccups, mammals, quotes, remedies, thoughts, trapped air

Yesterday, I had a hiccup attack. I don’t get them very often but they can be somewhat persistent. The involuntary contractions of my diaphragm muscle seemed to be settling in for a while so I tried all the usual tricks:I held my breath, drank some water really quickly and from the wrong side of the glass, a spoon full of sugar (yuck) and one of peanut butter (yum) and I even tried pulling my tongue (not as easy as it sounds). I couldn’t quite surprise or scare myself but I did make an attempt.

But my myoclonic jerk just wouldn’t stop. Now I know that it isn’t really clear why we hiccup but what I didn’t know is that only milk-drinking mammals hiccup. And the latest theory (Howes 2012) is that hiccups have evolved to allow mammals to coordinate suckling milk while breathing. Somehow hiccups are there to allow for trapped air burbles to escape from the stomach while babies drink, making it possible for more milk to be ingested.What confuses me is, that I wasn’t drinking milk – or anything for that matter – and I’m definitely not a baby. But since hiccups do seem to be also linked to stress, excessive laughter, too much food and drink, eating and drinking too quickly, swallowing air, taking opiates and chewing gum, I am sure one of those reasons was possibly to blame.

Since we call our small daily mishaps hiccups I began to wonder if maybe those involuntary jerks of life may have reasons as simple and surprising as their namesake. But maybe it is all just trapped air.

The universe hiccups and we poor fools try to figure out why.

Writer Mathew Quick

battling the bug below the duvet

Tags

being sick, bug, cold, duvet, flu, health, ill

After three days and most of today spent with a fever under my duvet I think it’s time to win my battle against this bug. And I have to admit I am quite fed up with having the flu (we are talking proper not being able to move flu, not just a bad cold)  – I couldn’t even read as I was shivering and had a headache, so I spent way too much time sleeping and  watching TV. The upside on that, I suppose, is I have caught up with a lot of series, both good and bad.

But I am fed up for another reason – I feel duped! I took all the vitamins and potions I could and they just didn’t do their job – the bug was stronger. So while I do seem to be coming out from crouching under my bed-covers, and the fever has subsided, I am still not feeling quite like myself. My nose is still stuffy, my chest congested and for some reason my right eye has decided to join in on the fun and has gone all red and puffy – yes I do look a treat.

So being fed up, for now, really just means I’ll be moving from the duvet to my armchair with my hundredth and one cup of hot herbal tea hoping that this bug will soon give up and annoy someone else.

unpleasant U TI(me)

Tags

antibiotics, doctor, feeling sick, fever, health, photo, photography, unwell, UTI

We all enjoy a little me-time, especially when it wasn’t time that we had planned, for time that just suddenly opens up. That happened to me me yesterday, but the reason is not so pleasant. I awoke with a fever and some abdominal pain so I had to stay home from college and go to the doctor.

Yes, I have somehow contracted an uncomfortable UTI – how, who knows but being a woman there are many ways this could have happened – just having cold feet can be one of them. So now I have had to spend the last two days at home taking antibiotics and feeling low.

But hopefully by drinking lots of mugs of hot tea and sleeping more than usual(why do antibiotic make you so tired?) I will soon be back to my normal self. And while I do admit I have somewhat enjoyed spending some time at home in the middle of the week I hope the next time I find myself with some unexpected me-time it won’t involve tablets and doctor visits.

writing and reading, two different worlds

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alexia, BBC, BBC One, documentary, Dr. Oliver Sacks, Howard Engel, neurology, reading, sight, The Man Who Forgot how to Read and Other Stories., writing

Imagine waking up one morning in a house filled with books and discovering you had forgotten how to read. This may seem a very unlikely scenario but it happened to Canadian crime writer Howard Engel in the year 2000.

Engel discovered he had suffered a stroke during the night and was diagnosed with a rare condition called alexia, also known as word-blindness. The stroke had effected his visual cortex, making it inaccessible for his brain to recognize letters, rendering it impossible for him to read.

However he soon discovered that while reading was no longer possible, he could still write. So write he did: in 2001 he published two books – more since then. Interstingly  he could briefly read what he had just written, but within a few minutes even his own handwriting turn into a mystery to him.

As time went by Engel discovered if he allowed his hand to retrace the letters he couldn’t visually identify, his brain could translate the unrecognizable symbols through movement into words, and he could understand, read. Maybe slowly, but the world of reading was no longer a closed book to him.

Engel then developed a technique in which he traces the letters he sees on a pages with his tongue pressed up against his teeth. By doing so his brain identifies the movement and translates it, allowing him to read, still very slowly but no longer impossible.

This fascinating story was just one of the incredible tales world famous neurologist and author Dr. Oliver Sacks talked about in the unusual BBC documentary: The Man Who Forgot how to Read and Other Stories. The documentary looks at how we as humans translate the visual world around us and how it effects who we are.

Dr Oliver Sacks was an incredible inspiration for all who long to understand what makes our minds work. And while his recent death is a great loss to the world of Neurology his stories, like in the BBC documentary will live on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012b42j