Birth Control May Boost Risk of Carrying Staph Bacteria
Birth Control May Boost Risk of Carrying Staph Bacteria |
- Birth Control May Boost Risk of Carrying Staph Bacteria
- Big-Soda Ban Clears in NYC: Will the City Be Healthier?
- The Zen of Work
- The neuroscience of wellbeing
- Early Morning Spiritual Consciousness Inspiration - 9/13/2012
- Some students choose meditation over recess
- Dalai Lama tells his Facebook friends that religion “is no longer adequate”
- The real three marks of conditioned existence
- I'm asked questions about Sant Mat. I answer them.
| Birth Control May Boost Risk of Carrying Staph Bacteria Posted: 13 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT
Taking birth control pills may make women's bodies more hospitable to staph bacteria, a new study from Germany suggests. In the study, women taking hormonal contraception were about twice as likely to persistently harbor staph bacteria in their nasal passages compared with women not taking hormonal contraception. The findings suggest that the widespread use of birth control increases the "pool" of people harboring the bacteria, which in turn, may contribute to its spread to people susceptible to getting sick from an infection, said study researcher Dennis Nurjadi, of the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Tübingen. The women in the study did not have staph infections. Many people carry the bacteria, called Staphylococcus aureus, on their skin or in their nasal passages without any problems. However, the bacteria can cause skin infections, particularly inside cuts and scratches, and infections can be lethal if they enter the bloodstream, according to the Mayo Clinic. People with weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible to staph infections. The study only found an association, and not a direct cause-effect link between taking birth control and harboring staph. But if the findings hold up in future studies, it would mean that about 20 percent of women who carry the bacteria do so because they use hormonal contraception, the researchers said. The study was published Sept. 5 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Nurjadi and colleagues analyzed information from 1,180 young men and women who were seeking health advice before traveling to subtropical regions and provided two nasal swabs at least a month apart. About 22 percent of participants carried Staphylococcus aureus in their nasal passages on both occasions, and were considered "persistent" carriers. Women who took hormonal contraception were 1.9 times more likely to be persistent carriers compared with women who did not take hormonal contraception. Additionally, the study showed that men were more likely to carry the bacteria than women who were not taking contraception. However, women taking contraception were more likely to carry the bacteria than men. The findings held after the researchers took into account factors that could affect the likelihood of carrying the bacteria, including age, animal contact, smoking habits and history of skin infections. Previous studies have found women with high estrogen levels are more likely to carry Staphylococcus aureus compared with women who have lower levels. It could be that high hormone levels affect the immune system, and in turn, make women more prone to carrying the bacteria, the researchers said. A study published last year found women in Africa who used hormonal contraception were at increased risk of acquiring HIV. Because the study included mostly young people, it is important to reproduce the results in other populations, the researchers said. Pass it on: Use of birth control may increase the risk of carrying staph bacteria. Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner, orMyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+.  Read More @ Source 
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| Big-Soda Ban Clears in NYC: Will the City Be Healthier? Posted: 13 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT
New York City's Board of Health voted today (Sept. 13) to approve the "soda ban" that limits the sale of large sugary drinks within the city, according to tweets from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Under the measure, people will not be able to buy sugar-sweetened drinks larger than 16 ounces at fast-food restaurants, movie theaters and certain other venues. (The limit does not apply to grocery stores and other venues or to dairy-based drinks such as milkshakes). "[Six] months from today, our city will be an even healthier place," Bloomberg tweeted. However, experts say it remains to be seen whether the city will actually be healthier. Critics have pointed out that people could just buy two 16-ounce drinks rather than a 32-ounce drink. One recent study attempting to look at what effect the law might have showed that the new measure could reduce New Yorker's average calorie consumption, but only if at least 40 percent of people make changes in their drink consumption. The researchers, who analyzed the receipts of about 1,600 fast-food restaurant customers in East Coast cities, found that if all consumers who had been buying larger sizes switched to a single 16-ounce drink (and none bought two 16-ounce beverages), the average calorie intake would drop by 63 calories per meal. However, if only 30 percent of consumers switched, no decrease in the average calories consumed per meal would occur, the researchers said. The magic number needed to see any effect was 40 percent — if that percentage of consumers switched to a single 16-ounce beverage, then overall calorie consumption would decrease by close to 10 calories, according to the study, which was published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine. Bloomberg also tweeted, "Portion size drives consumption." Here, studies do support the mayor's point. For instance, Simone French, associate director of the University of Minnesota Obesity Prevention Center, told MyHealthNewsDaily in an interview in May that when people are presented with large portions, they tend not to consume "just enough" to meet their bodies' needs, and instead eat the entire portion as a single serving. Since the Coca-Cola Co. began selling its products, the bottles that are often consumed as a single serving have grown from 6.5 ounces to 20 ounces, she said. "We need to have a cultural shift back to more modest, reasonable, appropriate portion sizes if we want to help reduce the obesity epidemic," French said. Experts also note that a lack of physical activity plays an important role in the obesity epidemic, and the ban won't affect this. A study published this week in the journal Pediatrics showed that, in fact, overweight and obese teenagers consume fewer calories on average than their healthy-weight peers. "For older children and teenagers, increasing involvement in physical activity may be more important to weight and health than is their child's diet," said study researcher Asheley Cockrell Skinner, an assistant professor of health policy and pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Pass it on: NYC's limit on the sale of sugary drinks will go into effect in six months. What effect it will have the city's health remains to be seen. FollowMyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read More @ Source 
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| Posted: 13 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT
Post written by Leo Babauta.At work, we often face stressful situations, dreaded projects, irritating co-workers, frustrating bosses, an overwhelming number of tasks and messages, boring work we don't enjoy. These problems have one simple cause: we're holding on. The work itself isn't stressful — it's just action that's taken or that needs to be taken. It's our reaction to the work that causes the stress: our holding on to a wish that things were different. It's not the constant stream of interruptions that is frustrating — they are just events that happen around us, like a leaf falling or a bird flying by. It's our holding on, in our minds, to the task we were doing before we were interrupted that causes the frustration. We wish we weren't interrupted from the task, and we resent anything that interrupts us, and our minds are still half on the previous task. Our co-workers and boss aren't the problem either: they're just other human beings trying to do the best they can in this world. It's our holding on to the idea that they should somehow behave a certain way, that they should do their best to make us happy, that causes us anger and irritation. It's not that we have an overwhelming number of tasks and messages that causes us to be stressed out — it's our reaction to that number. It's just a list of things, or a phone ringing, or an inbox with a list of messages. Those things are harmless. But when we hold on to the idea that we can do everything, and that we have to deal with all this at once, we become stressed, because obviously we can't. We can only do one thing, though our minds are on all of them. So what's the solution? It's letting go. This is the Zen of Work. Learning to Let GoWhen you let go of these ideas of how things should be, how other people should behave to make you happy, how you can do everything at once … then the problems go away. They simply don't exist. There are other problems, of course — you still need to do the work. But the frustrations, stress, anger, irritation, feelings of overwhelm … those are all caused by holding on, and they're in our minds. We also hold on to things that happened earlier — something someone did that wasn't nice, a meeting where we said something embarrassing, a mistake we made on our project — and of course this only compounds the pain, keeps the pain replaying on an endless loop. Letting go allows the problems to disappear. It's that simple, and yet letting go isn't always easy. It's a learning process. First you have to learn mindfulness, which is the key to the whole shebang. Mindfulness allows us to see these thought processes that are causing us pain, allows us to delve into what we're holding on to. Mindfulness also helps us return to the moment, so that all those things running around in our heads can fade away, and we live in what's actually happening, right now. We do a task without holding on to other tasks, or offenses made by other people. We do a task, and then let go of it, and move on to the next task. This takes practice, and so I suggest starting with a simple practice, like 5 minutes of meditation, and working from there. Once you get good at this simple practice, you can expand mindfulness to other tasks. Eventually you'll get pretty good at it, and the problems will start to dissolve on their own. The Zen of Work CourseI've created an online course, with my friend and Zen teacher Susan O'Connell of San Francisco Zen Center, called The Zen of Work. The course is designed to help people to let go, to learn mindfulness habits, and to bring mindfulness to work tasks, meetings, email, to-do lists, dealing with co-workers, and problems like stress and procrastination. We'll teach you how to form the habit of meditation, and simple mindfulness practices you can do on your own and then carry into your work life. We'll have a group challenge to help you stick to the mindfulness habits, and Susan and I will answer your questions as the course progresses. The course runs for four weeks starting Oct. 1, and you can register today. Learn more: The Zen of Work. Read More @ Source
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| Posted: 13 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT
Modern neurobiology hypothesizes that what we experience subjectively as a mood or emotion is underpinned by complex, systemic interactions of chemicals called neurotransmitters in the brain. Take, for example, antidepressants: they … Read the original article » Read More @ Source
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| Early Morning Spiritual Consciousness Inspiration - 9/13/2012 Posted: 13 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT  "Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue." ~The Buddha       Read More @ Source 
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| Some students choose meditation over recess Posted: 13 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT WREG, Memphis: You could hear a pin drop Tuesday during recess at Lausanne Collegiate School. A group of middle schoolers decided to opt out of recess to meditate. The 5th through 8th graders sit in complete silence once a week to help improve their concentration in class. Lausanne's Middle School principal says about fifty kids have signed-up for the "unplugged session." "The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive," said Greg Graber. "The kids say not only do they enjoy it but it helps them concentrate and to focus and to feel better. They feel re-energized." "After you do it, you just feel a lot more relaxed, and you feel like a lot better about yourself and how the day's going to go," said 11-Year-Old Henry Clayton. Lausanne Collegiate is the first school in the Mid-South to offer meditation instead of recess. The school says it has a waiting list of fifty children who want to enroll. Read More @ Source
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| Dalai Lama tells his Facebook friends that religion “is no longer adequate” Posted: 13 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT
The Dalai Lama's advice sounds startling familiar — one that echos the sentiment put forth by outspoken … Read the original article » Read More @ Source
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| The real three marks of conditioned existence Posted: 13 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT Are impermanence (annica/anitya), suffering (dukkha/duhkha), and nonself (anattâ/anâtman) the real three marks of conditioned existence? I would have to say for now, no. So far, I have not found a complete passage in the canon where impermanence, suffering and nonself are specified to be the three marks of conditioned existence. What we find, instead, is from the Dhammapada: "All created things are impermanent" (277). "All created things are suffering" (278). and lastly, "All things (sabbe dhammâ) are nonself" (279). These are three separate verses. Whoever came up with the three marks of conditioned existence, using impermanence, suffering and nonself, apparently cobbled them together; who may have been unaware of the Anguttara-Nikaya's Sankhattalakkhana Sutta, from The Book of Threes, which is clearly about the three conditioned marks.
Looking at the Pali of this Sutta, anicca, dukkha, and anattâ are not found. Instead, we find origin (S., utpâda), passing away (S., vyaya) and change of state (S., sthity anyathâtvam). This same Sutta continues and ends with the following:
Whatever is the reason for creating a new three marks of that which is conditioned, we can only speculate. Still, it is interesting to observe that our thoughts, since they arise (utpâda) pass away and change, are conditioned (S., samskrita) whereas pure Mind is unconditioned (asamskrita), not being readily perceptible as to arising, passing away and change. To borrow a line from Plato, the conditioned is the moving image of the unconditioned which is the One Mind (ekacitta) which is absolute. 
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| I'm asked questions about Sant Mat. I answer them. Posted: 12 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT Recently I got an email from someone who shared ideas about Sant Mat, the Indian philosophy I used to believe in. My correspondent also asked me some questions. Here's what the person said, in italics, and my responses, in regular type preceded by a "ME." A lot of this won't make sense to anyone who isn't into the intricacies of the Sant Mat teachings. But quite a few visitors to this blog are, so I figured that I might as well share the comments/questions and my responses. ----------------------------- ME: I used to think that myself. Now I doubt it. But spirituality is a very personal affair. Whatever works for you, hold on to it. What doesn't, discard. I should say that Life Is Fair is one of the books that I swear by. It makes sense and explains a lot of things or rather it opens the mind somewhat, so I don't think you should beat yourself up for writing it because even the most perfect book has its negative aspects. It should teach you though not to be too eager on the computer keypad. ME: Well, Life is Fair was edited, re-edited, and re-re-edited. Both by me, and quite a few RSSB publications department reviewers. So whatever I don't like in the book now wasn't caused by over-eager writing. Rather, my views have changed on certain subjects. I'm no longer so eager to conclude that what I believe, or want to believe, really is true. I'm much more comfortable with simply saying "I don't know." You raise a lot of legitimate concerns though concerning BEAS, because I have always wondered when I read Sar Bachaan as to where "our" lineage of Masters originate because Swami ji does not make a mention. It would be nice to get a history on Jaimal as to ascertain where he falls in, and why he regarded himself as a Master. In a letter to Sawan he mentions that he sent a lady (is it Swami ji's wife?) to take Sawan across the three regions; I have always wondered why he didn't do that himself, but maybe there is a logical explanation. ME: I don't think logic is what's needed. Logic can be used to justify anything. Just look at all of the Christian logical arguments for believing in the Christian God. Evidence has to support logic. Otherwise logical assumptions can't be trusted. This is why science works, and religion doesn't. You question the 10% percent [of souls] that have to go back [to God] (is it really 10%?). I too have my reservation on that, but maybe again there is a logical explanation for that. ME: Again, logic isn't the issue. The real question is whether consciousness survives death, whether reincarnation is reality, those sorts of things. This requires evidence, not logic. I don't find the whole "science" to be a sham as when collaborated with Eastern and Christian content, it does prove somewhat to be something worth "looking" into". ME: Of course. Anything is possible. But not everything is true or real. We can fit together stories that make sense to us, whether religious or otherwise. This doesn't make that true or real, except in our own mind. Have you done any research on vegetarianism as to ascertain it relation to Karma? I find Karma the explanation to make better sense than the big bang theory. ME: Not sure what you mean. The big bang theory has lots of evidence behind it. Karma, in the sense of cause and effect, is obviously part of how the universe works. But "supernatural" karma isn't proven. It's a hypothesis. If Swami Ji was a real Master, then following his real lineage wouldn't be altogether futile. What do you think of that? Apparently the Agra sect were building a tomb/memorial which is not very much in line with the Masters' teaching; that is why I didn't bother researching the Agra lineage. What do you think of the Agra lineage? ME: I have almost zero interest in Sant Mat history. What's the point? It's like delving into Einstein's childhood life in an attempt to determine whether the theory of relativity is true. Truth, pretty much, stands on its own. There's a world apart from the human brain. The quest of science is to understand that reality, using the human brain. Our own internal world isn't very relevant to that quest, except insofar as (obviously) the human brain is how we experience everything, including the outside world. I have never come across Kabir talking about the sixth Word. Can you help me with that. If the five names belong to Kal then does it matter?; considering that Sohang and Satnam are beyond Kal. Am I wrong there? ME: I have no idea. This sort of question isn't very interesting to me, though I can understand why it is to you. Every religion is interested in its own history. I have just about zero interest in the history of Christianity, and the same level of interest in the history of "saints." VERY IMPORTANT ME: You're assuming the territory exists. You're assuming there is something beyond this world that can be, and needs to be, explored. This is an example of how logic fails. You're assuming the Inner Light exists, and that Inner Realms exist, then asking how one goes about experiencing the light and realms. In my opinion, the basic question is whether these things exist at all. I'm sorry that I should give you so many questions as I was not initiated by you, but you have been there a while and you wrote one of the books so I guess I am not totally out of place when I hold you somehow "responsible." ME: Questions are good. No reason to apologize for them. Keep on questioning. This includes questioning your own questioning. Ask yourself whether your questions are the best ones. Are there more fundamental questions that need to be asked and answered before your questions make sense? It likes logic, even when a premise doesn't make sense. For example: 1. All monkeys climb trees. The obvious response here is, "But the dog isn't a monkey!" Iain McGilchrist, the book's author, writes: When asked if the conclusion is true, the intact individual displays a common sense reaction: 'I agree it seems to suggest so [by logic], but I know in fact it's wrong [by experience]'. The right hemisphere dismisses the false premises and deductions as absurd. But the left hemisphere sticks to the false conclusion, replying calmly to the effect that 'that's what it says here.' So Sant Mat, along with all religions, has it's own left brain logic. For example: 1. A guide is good when traveling unknown territory. The logic is fine. The premise in 2 and conclusion in 3 are highly questionable. This is why I recommended that the person who sent me the email question more deeply his/her questions. If they are founded on false premises, it's the premises that need to be questioned.
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Jock Gilchrist, The Review: Meditation has been a central component of religious traditions for millennia. Various methods exist, but it generally consists of quieting the mind to achieve a state of relaxation and clarity. Mindfulnesss use it to cultivate virtuous qualities like compassion and equanimity because in the meditative state, the mind is compared to malleable gold. As it turns out, the sages of old actually tapped into quite a literal truth.
George Dvorsky, io9: This past Monday, people who have the Dalai Lama as a Facebook friend found this little gem in their newsfeed.| You are subscribed to email updates from BuddhaRocks ☸ To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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