Facebook could be the best learning tool since pencil and paper, at least when it comes to health education.

Created in 2006, the free site is one component of Web 2.0 – interactive technologies including blogs, chat rooms, and YouTube – that allows learners to work through problems (Fischer, G., 2001). As a result, users become self-directed learners driven by life experience. (See Learning Theories.)

As an example of motivating through FB, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses interactive means: e-cards, reminding family and friends to get flu shots.

In layoring sensory and teaching strategies (debates, brainstorming, peer teaching, problem solving, pictures, and film), FB can be a health educator’s best friend because users read and then do something by clicking “like” or passing information. This is exciting considering that learners retain 90% of what they do and say versus 10% of what they read (Minelli, et al., 2009).

Note: 75 million American adults read at a Basic or Basic health literacy level (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion). Messages should avoid polysyllabic words above a fourth grade reading level (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006).

Finally, health educators should not compromise privacy or autonomy as highlighted in the Code of Ethics for the Health Education Profession. Thus, health educators must pay attention to sections in Article I: Responsibility to the Public. These sections include but are not limited to: “Health education specialists support the right of individuals to make informed decisions regarding health, as long as such decisions pose no threat to the health of others” (Coalition of National Health Education Organization, 1999).

Works Cited

Coalition of National Health Education Organization. (1999). Code of Ethics for the Health Education Profession.

Fischer, G. (2001). Lifelong Learning and its support with New Media,. In International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, (Vol. 13, pp. 8836–8840). London, UK: Elsevier.

Minelli, M.J. & Breckon, D.J. (2009). Community health education: Settings, roles, and skills for the 21st century (5th edition ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2006). The health literacy of America’s adults: Results from the 2003 national assessment of adult literacy.

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Healthy People 2010: Health Communication.

This hand gesture represents new beginnings and conflict resolution.

I recently met a female priest who used to be a mediator for the New York City court system. In her experience, two people in conflict will do anything to avoid direct confrontation. Warring parties –  who swear like machine guns – have nothing to say when left in silence.

Thus, she developed a technique that went something like this: “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ve left something in my office. Let me step out for a moment.” When she returned, this former mediator found part of her job was done: Two people who hated each other conducted a more honest discussion.

The word “mediation”, according to Websters Online dictionary, is ”the act or process of mediating; especially : intervention between conflicting parties to promote reconciliation, settlement, or compromise.” Interestingly enough, the term sounds like “meditation” When done in today’s aTwittered world, the act feels like battle.

I delighted in the menagerie of poses when I started yoga. I practiced handstands and forearm stands to the point of dizziness, but after a few years, those poses turned into meaningless gymnastics. With the Recession, I meditated five minutes before bed and five minutes in the morning. While this sounds simple, I would rather do a series of arm balances. Anything to avoid being alone with my own thoughts, to mediate with my worst chitta or mindstuff.

I force myself to sit, and I hate it. When I’m done, I feel what the ancient yogis called samtosa or contentment and what my new priest friend called mercy. Sometimes I’m melancholy. Other times I’m joyful, but the experience brings clarity.

The feeling translates into that physical edge, when I’m holding a lunge and wanting to die, that uncomfortable place that some yogis call blocked happiness. “You’re not being punished,” the priest had said in regards to reconciliation, “but it’s something you must do.” When I’m done with the pose or my meditation, samtosa sometimes overcomes me. Like she said, forgiveness can knock a person out for days.

http://gdaugherty.blogspot.com/2008/02/she-is-her-own-husband.html

http://pelham.patch.com/articles/strike-a-yoga-pose-to-fend-off-holiday-stress

I sighed with relief September 16 when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced plans to prevent smoking in public parks, beaches, walkways, and plazas. Along with bans on trans fats and smoking in restaurants, the proposed law promotes disease prevention, but why stop there? I suggest Mr. Bloomberg think beyond lungs and arteries and consider seven million aching backs. His first consideration should be subway ergonomics.

Americans spend $50 billion each year on lower back pain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Back pain is second to respiratory problems as a reason people visit doctors, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

As a 36-year-old teacher of yoga and Pilates who has great posture, I’m dying. A resident of the Bronx who teaches in Manhattan, I spend up to three hours a day riding the subway, undoing all the good I have done to my backbone. I try to “sit up,” but subway seats – especially orange molded benches — force me into a collapsed posterior tilt, when the lumbar or lower spine conforms to the slouchy curve of the chairs. In short, I’m in pain.

“If you think of the spine like an accordion or a telescope, it should be extended most of the time,” said Dr. Elton Strauss, Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma and Adult Reconstructive Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Dr. Strauss said that 80 to 85 percent of his clients have back complaints, but everyone is susceptible. Humans, unlike animals, have upright spinal columns balanced on two legs instead of four. Irregular exercise, slouching, and aging discs (cushions between vertebrae) make bones slide together like “sandpaper on sandpaper instead of ice on ice,” said Dr. Strauss.

“The problem is that the posterior tilt shifts weight bearing to the lumbar discs,” said New York chiropractor Dr. Errol Toran.

Whole body vibration – experienced by long-distance truck drivers (and possibly commuters) – accelerates disc deterioration through a principle of liquefaction, being jostled to the point of instability, Dr. Toran said. As a result of poor lumbar support, sitting may cause herniations and a variety of muscle strains and lumbar joint sprains, he said.

A daily exerciser, I predict my discomfort is caused by natural aging and the train. Almost 5’10’’, I am a Size 6 who barely fits inside the 16 ¼ inch-wide contours. My hips match, but my upper body doesn’t. To fit, I wilt into the seat and round my shoulders.

This leads to the immobility I feel in myself and see in my students. Most lifestyles require sitting: commuting to and from desk jobs in an endless chair parade with a high cost to health.

Mayor Bloomberg, thank you for the breath of air, but please watch our hearts, lungs, and backs. Since subways are the backbone of New York and New York the pulse of the country, why not lead the way in seat design, or at least abandon molded chairs in favor of flat benches?

Pregnant women are refreshingly frank.

As an non-pregnant woman in a prenatal class, I delighted in the teacher asking, “How do you feel?” Rather than the usual “fine,” these ladies said, “I feel pregnant” or “yuck.” When the teacher asked for names, length of pregnancy, and one nice thing for the day, I knew my secret would be revealed. Fortunately, I was last but imagined something pushing at my ribs and bladder.

I loved what the ladies said about their nice things for the day. One woman said, “These yoga pants are so much more comfortable than the ones I had on before.” Another said, “My husband and son dropped me off here and just kept driving.” When my turn came, I said, “I am 0 weeks pregnant but want to learn how to teach pregnant ladies.” I didn’t know how I felt except that “0 weeks pregnant” is a new phrase for me.

Luckily, the teacher said that she was also 0 weeks pregnant but was on the first day of her menstrual cycle. Having cleared that, we practiced, and even though I don’t have a baby, I loved being cued to nurture the life within me.

I was impressed with triathlete Brendan Brazier, who spoke at Jivamukti Yoga Center September 17. Eloquent and thoughtful, he inspired me to make a giant salad, complete with nuts and seeds and all the trimmings.

Voted VegNews’ Favorite Vegetarian Athlete, Brazier suggested that one big daily salad prevents bone loss. In eating such nutrient dense alkaline foods, he said we offset the effects of acidic items — like coffee and meats — which can eat at bone.

Although I’m not quite ready to go vegetarian or vegan — this action takes thought and meal planning — I have been eating more and more plant-based foods on my long-distance hikes. A handful of dates or raisins packs a bigger endurance punch than ham on rye bread, which gets crushed and takes up backpack space. I also feel less muscles soreness and inflammation between workouts, a must in my fitness profession. Brendan explained that working out tears down the muscles, which repair bigger and stronger when we sleep at night. As a result, we need foods that encourage repair rather than aggravation.

He also that a plant-based diet helps people avoid the sugar/caffeine crash that turns people into zombies and poor sleepers. “We need to more sharply define that line between sleep and awake,” he said.

Brazier is author of Thrive Fitness and the Thrive Vegan Nutrition Diet. His research on nutrient dense food sheds light on why some obese people are also malnourished.

As a new hiker, I’m feeling the benefits: fresh air, a sense of accomplishment, and team spirit that continues from trail head to suds in the local bar. I’ve also experienced side effects.

During last week’s moonlight hike on Breakneck Ridge, my partner and I accidentally wandered off the trail and into the dark brush. It was a hot night, and I wore shorts against my better judgment. By Monday, I was covered in the tell-tale dots of poison ivy, something I haven’t had since my days as a camp counselor.

The rash was almost gone when I sprained my left ankle going down Algonquin Peak. By Sunday evening, I had a dark bruise and a swollen outer ankle, tell-tale signs of a Grade I inversion sprain (the most common form that overstretches the ligaments of the outer ankle). According to About.com, ankle sprains are the most common foot and ankle injuries.