Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Being mindful might bring more joy into your life.
Lately, I’ve been getting on my own nerves. I find myself rushing through life trying to get it all done, so that I can relax. But it never all gets done, so I never really relax. I feel impatient, anxious and flustered. But the universe keeps throwing this word at me and I think I better start paying attention. The word is “mindfulness,” which I was put off by at first because it brought to mind an image of a new-agey guru. But the more I learn about it, the more intrigued I become. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs website, mindfulness can help you become more aware of your present experiences and increase your ability to cope with difficult emotions, such as anxiety and depression. There are two key parts to mindfulness …
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Lawn care doesn't have to involve toxic chemicals.
The crisp, cool days of autumn are here already. And I've noticed that fall also brings out the lawn chemical trucks and the toxic smell of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Brecksville's Horticulturist Charles Owen said that the first step to improve your lawn in the fall "shouldn't always be to open a bag of something and spread it on your lawn." He said that most of the homes in Brecksville have hard, clay soils and the best thing residents can do for their grass is a practice called core aeration. He explained that core aeration is a practice where plugs of your lawn are pulled up to allow for better air circulation and improved root growth. Owen also said that fall is the best time to fertilize, whether residents are using organic…
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
As the saying goes, only floss the teeth that you want to keep.
When I was little, my favorite activity was to climb up a tree and sit there while eating my favorite candy, the Astro Pop. It was a rocket-shaped lollipop that was somehow both very hard and very chewy. As you sucked on the thing it sort of melted, then hardened into a glass-like sugary shell on your back teeth. Like most kids, I wasn’t fond of brushing or flossing. Needless to say, I’ve had my share of dental problems, and even talking about this topic gives me a nervous tic. So I asked my dentist, Dr. Daina Matas, what she thinks is something everyone can do for their oral health that they may not be doing currently. “That’s simple,” she said. “Floss.” Everyone should brush twice a day with a soft-bristled brush and fluoride toothpaste…
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Sleep is vitally important to our overall health, not to mention our looks.
When my younger son was a baby, I got very little sleep. Some nights I only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep, and it was usually interrupted. I started to have a difficult time concentrating and remembering things, or even having a coherent conversation. And I also found out what they mean by "beauty sleep." I was aging in fast-motion. I developed bags under my eyes and wrinkles and my body ached. Now my boys are a little older, and they sleep through the night. But I still find myself sleep deprived because I stay up too late, or I wake up in the night and start thinking about all the things I need to get done. But getting enough sleep is vitally important for good health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website, …
41.31309
-81.626819
City of Brecksville Community Center
1 Community Dr, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-getting-enough-sleep
1084909
/locations/5265888
41.3443
-81.63157
Cuyahoga Valley Career Center
8001 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-getting-enough-sleep
1084723
/locations/5265889
41.31345
-81.62682
Brecksville Branch, Cuyahoga County Public Library
9089 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-getting-enough-sleep
1084716
/locations/5265890
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Eating breakfast can set you up for a more successful day.
My kids have been in school for four days so far this year, and I’m already struggling to get them out of bed and to the breakfast table. I thought we would have at least one week of cheerful mornings when school started. It seems like I always hit the snooze button, woke up late and skipped breakfast regularly as a kid. I also remember being tired, crabby and hungry in school, whenever I did. Children who eat breakfast perform better in school, according to the Ohio Department of Health's Help Me Grow program. The program's website also says that eating breakfast can impact how kids learn and play and how good they feel. Eating breakfast is good for everyone. According to the Ohio State University Extension, eating breakfast can help …
41.320091
-81.622743
Panera Bread
8447 Chippewa Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-the-importance-of-eating-breakfast
1084824
/locations/5218009
41.321273
-81.626838
Starbucks Coffee
8869 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-the-importance-of-eating-breakfast
1084675
/locations/5218010
41.31756
-81.62686
McDonald's
8998 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-the-importance-of-eating-breakfast
1084823
/locations/5218011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Summertime picnics bring up the concern of food safety.
One of the things that I love about late summer is the last of the season's pool parties and picnics. But, if you’re like me, you may not love the potato salad. Why is it that one bad experience with a particular food makes it never quite as appealing again? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, foodborne diseases sicken millions each year and causes billions of dollars in health care-related costs annually. Handling food properly can help prevent most episodes of food sickness, but according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health website, a national survey found that less than 60 percent of adults practice safe food handling. Be Food Safe was developed by the Partnership for Food Safety Education and …
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The heat of summer can be dangerous for your pet.
These are the dog days of summer, which might sound like a time of celebration for our canine friends, but what a cruel misnomer! My dog is miserable. His lovely, head-to-toe fur coat, which serves him well for what seems like nine months of winter each year, must be sweltering right about now. He’s not enjoying this weather one bit. I recently spoke with Cliffette Thacker, the animal warden for the city of Brecksville. She emphatically said that her number one concern for dogs in the summer is to make sure they’re not left inside parked cars. She also said that I'd be surprised by how often she sees it. According to the National Weather Service, the temperature inside a parked vehicle can very quickly become dangerous for both humans and …
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
They're beautiful to look at, but interacting with them isn't wise.
There is a squirrel who visits our back yard regularly, and we have affectionately named him Stubby. He appears to have lost the majority of his tail in some kind of wild animal mishap that I shudder to think about. One of my sons has repeatedly said that he would love to pet Stubby, and I know what he means -- the little guy looks so innocent and lovable. So I’ve been warning him about Stubby’s razor sharp teeth, parasites and contagious diseases. A quick search of the term “wild animals” on the website for the Ohio Department of Health will scare the living daylights out of you with words like rabies, tularemia and plague showing up in the results. But the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has some recommendations to help keep wild …
41.31524
-81.6268
Police Department
9069 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-wild-animals-are-best-left-alone
1832964
/locations/4928704
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Picking up after your dog is the polite thing to do, and it's the law.
We have a container in our garage where we store used plastic grocery bags. My dog loves them. The poor little guy is partly deaf, or maybe entirely deaf. But he could be in a deep sleep at the furthest corner of the house, with a fan blowing right next to his head and he would hear the rattle of the grocery bags. He would hear it if I even thought about pulling one out of the container. I think it’s actually more of a psychic ability than hearing. The reason, of course, is because the bags signify that it’s time to go for a walk. And all of us dog-walkers are familiar with the strange feeling of walking through our neighborhoods while carrying a bag full of dog poop. CBS News, via the Associated Press, reported last year that even …
41.31345
-81.62682
Brecksville Branch, Cuyahoga County Public Library
9089 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-picking-up-after-your-dog
1084716
/locations/4816774
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Heat is the deadliest weather in the United States, according to the National Weather Service.
We wait all winter and spring for the summer weather to arrive, and every year I promise that I’m not going to complain about the hot weather. But inevitably, when the temperature rises above 90 degrees, most of us start to whine. But summer heat can be more than just a nuisance; it can be downright dangerous. Extreme heat causes more fatalities per year in the United States than floods, tornadoes, lightning and hurricanes combined, according to the National Weather Service. The website for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health says that the elderly, the very young and those who are overweight, have a mental illness or live alone are especially affected by high heat. They also say that people can suffer from several types of illness from …
41.31345
-81.62682
Brecksville Branch, Cuyahoga County Public Library
9089 Brecksville Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-summer-heat-can-be-dangerous
1084716
/locations/4716142
41.31309
-81.626819
City of Brecksville Community Center
1 Community Dr, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-summer-heat-can-be-dangerous
1084909
/locations/4716143
41.31309
-81.626766
Human Services Center
2 Community Dr, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-summer-heat-can-be-dangerous
1832364
/locations/4716144
41.320077
-81.622772
Heinen's Fine Foods
8383 Chippewa Rd, Brecksville, OH
/articles/everyday-wellness-in-brecksville-summer-heat-can-be-dangerous
1084632
/locations/4716145
Dorota
10:20 pm on Tuesday, September 20, 2011
So what should we do now if the bald patches on our lawns are getting uglier and uglier but we don't want to use chemicals? Apart from mulching fall leaves? more ›