Get a Job

Monster has some tips for how to land one during a recession. Hopefully we aren't in the throes of a depression. I might have to post something else in that case.

Eight Tips for Job Hunting During the Recession

I can say that after receiving hundreds of applications for a job I posted, and then interviewing about 8 of those people, that the suggestions made in the Monster article would have helped some of the applicants a great deal.

I like this one, in particular -

Stay Positive

The most important thing when searching for a job in tough economic times is to retain a positive attitude, says Carol Vecchio, founder and executive director of Centerpoint Institute for Life and Career Renewal in Seattle. “Even in a job market with 10 percent unemployment, there’s 90 percent employment,” she says. “There is an average of over 3 million jobs available in the US per month -- and each job seeker is looking for one. Those are pretty good odds.”

HSA 2009

These are the new minimum deductibles and annual contribution limits for Health Savings Accounts in 2009.

Minimum Deductible -

Individual $1,150
Family $2,300

Annual Contribution Limit -

Individual $3,000
Family $5,950

If you're 55 or older, there's an additional $1,000 catch up contribution you can make to your HSA.

The maximum out-of-pocket amounts have been increased to $5,800 and $11,600. That's the entire in-network exposure you can have in a health insurance policy that is HSA-qualified.

You're Covered

^{This is a fairly recent Florida Statute that you should know about. Dependents are now covered until age 25 (and possibly extended to age 30), as long as they meet the requirements that historically have applied to university students.}

¹627.6562 Dependent coverage.--

(1) If an insurer offers coverage under a group, blanket, or franchise health insurance policy that insures dependent children of the policyholder or certificateholder, the policy must insure a dependent child of the policyholder or certificateholder at least until the end of the calendar year in which the child reaches the age of 25, if the child meets all of the following...

Read the entire statute here.

Super Stretch

I'm amazed that the most popular article on the New York Times website is not about Obama. It's about stretching. I learned back when I was playing squash in college that "static stretching" was considered no good anymore by those in the sports medicine world. Things like touching your toes and pulling your leg behind your butt.

But most people do not know that. You should really only stretch after sports. Beforehand you need to warm up your muscles and tendons. This is a great article and has some examples of "dynamic stretching", the kind you should be doing. Silly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?em

It'd Be A Good Start...

From Wall Street Journal's Health Blog -

"In a comment published online by the Lancet today, four physicians with the American Academy of Family Physicians argue that more attention should be paid to the dwindling ranks of primary-care docs. They write:

Our system is riddled with unconscionable disparities–geographical, socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial–in health care and health status, which could all be mitigated by consistent access to a medical home. A medical home is a health-care setting that facilitates partnerships between individual patients and their physicians. So, what we really need in this country is universal access to primary care.

Wake Up, Little Snoozy

There is so much helpful information on Men's Health's website that it's hard to read just one article and get back to work. I found this list of suggestions quite informative on reasons for sluggishness throughout the day along with ways to combat it.

In the morning, have some oatmeal.

For lunch, go easy on the carbs because they cause an insulin spike that tires you out.

In the afternoon, have some fruit as a snack.

Before your evening workout, drink Gatorade.

Don't lie down when watching TV and don't read in bed.

The suggestions all support the point that you need to develop a rhythm to your sleep and eating patterns to keep your energy levels up. Please read the full article here. I find it a little patronizing that Men's Health feels the need to publish so many articles as lists, but I guess that's what's happened to our collective attention span.

Turning Japanese

A study at Osaka University has concluded that people who eat quickly and until they feel full are much more likely to be overweight or obese. This comes from Japan, a country that has one of the lowest obesity rates in the developed world. Japan's obesity rate is around 3% to the USA's 30%. They are doing something better than we are and some of it is diet, some of it is custom.

Aside from eating lots of fish and cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli and cabbage), there is a Japanese custom embodied in the phrase "hara hachi bunme". It means "eat until 80% full". I've lived in Japan and it really seems like everyone there is thin.

From MSN Health & Fitness -

"Until recently, most adults didn't have the opportunity to consume enough energy to enable the body to store fat, according to background information in the study. But eating behaviors have changed due to increased availability of inexpensive food in larger portions, fast food, fewer families eating together, and eating while distracted (such as watching TV)."

I grew up having dinner with my parents and three brothers. I don't know how a family spends time together and family members know what's going on in every one else's life if not at dinner time. It's not going to happen sitting in front of the boob tube, that's for sure.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

This is fascinating -

"Whether the current economic slump will take a toll on your own health depends, in part, on your health habits when times are good. And economic studies suggest that people tend not to take care of themselves in boom times — drinking too much (especially before driving), dining on fat-laden restaurant meals and skipping exercise and doctors’ appointments because of work-related time commitments."

"Are Bad Times Healthy?" asks some good questions and weighs the health benefits of an economic downturn against the obvious downsides.

Hmm, this might offend some of my readers -

Health Revolution

Revolution Health, founded by AOL's Steve Case, has just merged with an ever-growing Waterfront Media. There's lots of good stuff on those sites.

In international news, here's some coming out of Europe that is disheartening. In Greece, 75% of adults are now overweight or obese. This New York Times article laments the waning popularity of the Mediterranean diet.

"Compared to traditional American menu — high in red meat and in butter and other dairy products — the Mediterranean diet is lower in saturated fat, more varied and often more satisfying."

Mamma Mia!

Health = Wealth

Today's Nightingale-Conant quote of the day -

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

Mahatma Gandhi

And this comes from Men's Health -

"Be as Healthy as the Wealthy"

The Costco Effect

I've often wondered, as I think many people do, whether or not one actually saves money by shopping at a place like Costco.

From Wall Street Journal Personal Finance -

"People are often price-sensitive about an initial purchase. But after the money has been spent, there's a tendency to view the stash -- be it a pile of bagels or imported stout -- as manna from heaven."

This was a great point (and something about which to be cautious)-

"Costco, in particular, specializes in stocking unexpected gourmet food and luxury items that spur impulse buys. It isn't hard to drop $300 or $400. Even if you're getting a deal, that's a lot of money."

Chopin for the Soul

Lucky, I Guess

Today's WSJ has an article called Secrets of the "Wellderly" (thanks Dad) in which the author profiles a bunch of centenarians and describes the unhealthy lifestyle choices many of them have made during their unusually long lives.

It turns out there are some lucky people out there who can do whatever they want and get away with it. There is a Brazilian woman who is 106 and has been smoking for 91 years. Many of them had periods of obesity and none was a vegetarian.

[Of course, I don't think vegetarianism is healthy, as I tell many people. As an exercise, think of the people you know who are vegetarians. Are they robust, healthy people? Are they fit? Conversely, think of the really healthy, strong people you know. Do they eat meat?]

So, some people just have better genes than others and researchers are looking for ways to alter genes to increase longevity in humans. It's probably really easy to do.

The article does point out, however, that even if you're unlikely to make it to 100, whether you have healthy habits or not, you do stand to significantly lengthen your life expectancy by doing certain things -

"Earlier this year, researchers at the U.K.'s University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council reported that people who exercise regularly, don't smoke, limit their alcohol intake and eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day live, on average, 14 years longer than people who didn't."

Man you keep eating those - you’re going to turn into a chicken...

There's an article in the last SparkPeople newsletter about the healthy choices you can make when dining at a fast food restaurant.

As I opened the email, I thought to myself "it's just going to be the grilled chicken menu items".

Uh, that's all it was. A list of grilled chicken sandwiches (hold the mayo!) and salads. If you don't get it from what you just read, feel free to spend more time learning this here.

Everything in Moderation

Doctors are reticent when it comes to recommending that their patients consume alcohol regularly, worrying that it could lead to substance abuse. However, study after study shows that men should be drinking 2 alcoholic drinks per day and women should be drinking 1.

From those wicked smaht guys in Cambridge, Mass. -

"A study by Harvard University researchers suggests that... even among men who are models of health, moderate drinking was associated with a lower risk of heart attack. Those who had one-half to two drinks a day had the lowest heart attack risk -- 40 percent to 60 percent lower than healthy men who didn't drink. And that was true no matter whether they were drinking beer, wine or liquor."

"'These results tend to refute the oft-quoted hypothesis that lower coronary heart disease seen among moderate drinkers is due to their associated healthy lifestyle habits, and not to their alcohol consumption,' wrote Dr. R. Curtis Ellison, director of the Institute on Lifestyle and Health at Boston University School of Medicine, and co-author of a critique of the study." Read the article on MSN Health & Fitness.

Money Can Buy Happiness (sort of)

"10 Secrets That Millionaires Keep"

"Concomitantly, rates of depression are lower among the wealthy, according to the Wharton study, and the rich tend to have better health than the rest of the population, says James Smith, senior labor economist at the Rand Corporation. In fact, health and happiness are as closely correlated as wealth and happiness, Smith says."

"The wealthy even seem to smile and laugh more often, according to the Wharton study, to say nothing of getting treated with more respect and eating better food."

Practice Pooches

Hmmm, the reader and veterinarian's comments suggest that this is not good for the dogs, but it's an interesting phenomenon. People are beginning to share dog ownership (not so bad) and there are services that have sprung up that allow members to rent dogs (that one's tough on the doggies). People are doing it because they want to enjoy the companionship of a dog, but are unable or unwilling to care for one all the time. One interviewee puts it this way -

"It's sanity time. It's very relaxing. It energizes you."

Here's the article from the Chicago-area Daily Herald.

Mmm, Deep-Fried Southern Favorites...

"Alabama, pushed to second in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat."

State employees will begin paying $25/month for their health insurance if their BMIs are at or above 35 (which would put them well into the "obese" category that starts at 30). There are problems with the BMI as a measuring tool, since the only components are weight and height, and just because you're thin does not mean you're healthy. Anyway, it's an interesting trend and one to watch for in other states and nations (and I guess nation states).

Here's the article, by the way. I, like, totally almost forgot.

Donorcycles (Revisited)

I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news comes from an article that discusses the decrease in car crash fatalities in 2007. There were 1,000 fewer than in 2006, when they had actually gone up from the previous year. Read the article here if you like.

The bad news is this -

"Motorcycle deaths increased for the 10th straight year. There were 5,154 motorcycle deaths last year, compared with 4,837 in 2006."

Please, please, please don't ride a motorcycle. If you must, then wear a helmet. You look way cooler when your head's connected to your body and your brain's inside your skull.

Coffee Time

As tends to be the case in the world of nutrition, you have likely heard arguments for and against the consumption of coffee over the years. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (they published that list of "X-treme Meals" you should avoid) has made public a recent study of the long term effects of coffee, and they're almost all beneficial.

From what I've read over the past couple of years, it's good for you to drink up to three cups of coffee a day. It's a hell of a lot better for you than drinking sodas (even diet ones!) all day, that's for sure. You can find the New York Times Health article here.