Tag: Health

Dry January Pearls

The Finns and Brits are ahead of the U.S. in limiting alcohol. Taking a month of the year to abstain from alcohol goes back to 1942 in Finland, but in 2012 Great Britain named “Dry January” as a public health initiative from Alcohol Change UK, a charity. According to one survey from University of Sussex, 71% of those who took part in Dry January reported sleeping better; 67% stated they had more energy, 58% lost weight, and 54% noticed skin improvements. Women may benefit most as their bodies take longer to break down alcohol, so they suffer greater risks in health and safety issues.

In spite of Dry January sounding simple — no alcohol from January 1-31 – most courageous people making this New Year’s resolution do not stay dry. The first Friday in the month appeared as the first common weak-link day last year. However, for those who keep their resolution, there are big rewards: improvement in a diabetes risk of nearly 30% and in Britain 49% reported losing weight (6-15 pounds) without drinking for a month. Additional health benefits include reduced blood pressure, a change in a marker of liver inflammation, and perhaps the most important finding in one British survey was that nearly 3 in 4 sustained lower drinking levels of drinking after Dry January.

Some prefer “Damp January.” They might follow the 1-2-3 drinking rule: 1) No more than 1 standard drink per hour; 2) No more than 2 standard drinks per occasion; 3) NEVER exceed 3 standard drinks per occasion. A “standard” drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of rum or vodka. While drinkers may notice some irritability when they stop drinking on New Year’s Day and go “cold turkey,” the benefits outweigh any temporary side effects. Alcohol can decrease stress hormone levels leading to a calmer vibe, but when an individual stops their drinking episode, stress hormones return and even spike higher.

Cardiologist and neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta states, “There is no amount of alcohol that is good for your health.”

In the U.S. 15-19% of adults resolved to engage in Dry January in recent years with Gen Z participants expressing most enthusiasm. This is good news, as 60 million adults reported binge drinking during the past month of holiday time (5 or more drinks for men, 4 or more for females within about 2 hours.) Reportedly, 1 in 4 binge drinkers have this weekly habit.

You might consider the part(s) of your personality that either resolved to make it a Dry January or now plan for a Clean February. Name that part of your personality that makes an intention. Center into calmness with elongated breath cycles. Be kind to any part(s) breaking your intention. Ask questions. There always is a worth-listening-to story when we change our minds.

 Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

259. When have you followed through successfully with an intention?   

260. When you ditch an intention, what do you do next?   

Pearls of Grace in the News

Why do we feed ourselves mostly on a diet of negative news? Studies suggest that the reason is physiological – the brain’s negativity bias is about survival. We simply pay more attention to negative information.

The odd phrase, “If it bleeds, it leads,” runs rampant in today’s news coverage. One study showed that on a “good news day” there was a 66% decrease in readership in an online Russian newspaper! However, news guru Arianna Huffington (founder of Huffington Post and CEO of Thrive Global), claims that readers want more positive news. She describes a journalist’s job as providing the “full picture” of what happens every day. She advocates for news that tells “…how people are…coming together, even in the midst of violence, poverty and loss…[and] all the other stories of innovation, creativity, ingenuity, compassion and grace.”

Perhaps others caught these pieces of positive news items from 2023, but I missed many of them and I watch a fair amount of TV news broadcasting.

  •   Malaria vaccine – The World Health Organization approved a new vaccine for malaria; a pilot program shows that it reduces deaths among children by 13%. Every year nearly half a million children die from malaria.
  •        Medical firsts – Bahrain, U.K. and the U.S. have all approved Casgevy, a therapy for the blood diseases sickle cell and beta thalassaemia. It is a gene-editing treatment which merited the Nobel Prize (2020). The first vaccine for RSV, a respiratory virus serious for children and elders, rolled out (I received this vaccine, thanks to researchers) and was instrumental in finding a new class of antibiotics.
  •        LGBTQ+ rights – Same-sex couples in Taiwan can adopt children now. Same-sex marriage is newly instated or about to become legal in Nepal, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Poland. Japan’s Supreme Court addressed transgender rights; surgical sterilization is no longer a prerequisite to change one’s gender.
  •        Criminal justice reform – The death penalty was abolished in Ghana (the 124th country to take this action). While the U.S. still maintains the death penalty, it is used with less frequency and there is a trend toward decarceration with no corresponding rise in crime.
  •        Some reduction of weapons of mass destruction – Peru, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and South Africa destroyed their final cluster munition stockpiles, the last countries of 112 that had agreed to do so in 2008. The U.S. is one of 191 countries committed to destroying chemical weapon stockpiles; a final rocket with sarin nerve agent was destroyed in Kentucky.
  •        Global wealth equality is increasing and poverty is decreasing – Global median wealth increased by 3%; the Swiss bank UBS’s reporting predicts that global wealth will grow 38% in the next 5 years due to middle-income countries like India.
  •        Climate advancements – Electric vehicles are more present. Deforestation in the Amazon is on a decline.

Like my bumper sticker says, “Grace happens.” Let’s inch closer and notice.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

253. How might you increase conversation about positive news?

254. What steps can you take to problem-solve negatives in your community?

Legacy of True Thanks

Great-grandmother, Oakland, Maryland

A legacy has 3 ingredients: learning the truth about the past, living in the present, and building for the future, although people frequently substitute learning truths for embellished myths and then live in that past delusion, not in present moments.

This week of Thanksgiving, I keep gathering a long list of things that I am truly thankful for in this moment of time. I am especially thankful for my family, including ancestors with their legacy of strong values. While none are famous in the popular sense of fame, they possessed hero and heroine status in their own everyday ways.

The Wampanoag people who established sophisticated communities for 13,000 years — prior to the 1620 English immigration to “Plymouth” in “Massachusetts” — were everyday heroes and heroines too. (The new settlers named “Plymouth” for the port of Plymouth in England where they had set sail; “Massachusetts” was the first of many U. S. states to be given a Native American name.) 

Truthfully, it was due to the Wampanoag sharing of hunting and planting strategies that kept the Pilgrims from starvation. In October, 1621, 90 Wampanoag Native Americans and 52 Mayflower survivors gathered for a three-day feast. It was the Wampanoag’s daily legacy of giving thanks for nature’s bounty that predates the Pilgrim version of Thanksgiving.

The true Thanksgiving story contains tragedy for both the Pilgrims and Native Americans, but this is rarely the story told to school children. The reason for the Puritan passage was a desire for religious freedom, however an anticipated legacy of future freedom was short-lived for many. Out of 102 passengers (and 30-40 crew members) of the Mayflower’s December arrival, some died enroute and nearly half of the Pilgrims could not survive their first winter of religious freedom in America.

As told by Stephen C. O’Neill (The Life of Peregrine White), one young family’s plight seems poignant. William and Susanna White were Mayflower passengers with their 5-year-old son. Suzanna was pregnant and brought a wicker cradle onboard for baby Peregrine who was the first Pilgrim birth in the “new” land. Dad William died in February.   

The Pilgrims docked at an abandoned village where corn had been planted. Thankful for perceived good fortune, they had no idea that their “discovered” land was abandoned by Native Americans due to a rampaging illness (believed to be leptospirosis spread by rat urine contaminating standing fresh water).

Later, yellow fever was lethal to many English settlers but was especially devastating to the Native Americans. One estimation is that 45,000 Wampanoag, or two-thirds of these heroic people, succumbed to this epidemic.

The legacy of our ancestor stories is a cornerstone in our personalities, yet no one wants to talk about legacies of ancestor illness. For those of us truly fortunate to survive the COVID pandemic, let’s give thanks for health, a wealth far greater than any other.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

239. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving week?

240. How might you search for true stories of your ancestors?