march 25

Is there something you’re so afraid of that just the thought of it makes you cringe, shake your head in disgust and then cover in eyes?

I’m terrified of snakes and spiders. I'm also absolutely terrified of someone opening the door while I'm flying on a plane. I realize that the former are fears are extremely common among people, but there is something about the slithering and the creeping and the crawling that curls my skin like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Over the years, I’ve talked to people about what they’re petrified of, and I find myself surprised at the number of people who have “phobias” and what they are. Some are afraid of the sound balloons popping and I even know a girl who is terrified of the word coupon - what?

Phobias can be nothing more than shying away from whatever it is your afraid of. But if it takes over your life it's become a mental health issue that needs to be addressed in order to stay healthy.

The snow is gone, but is it too early to celebrate?

This weekend was GORGEOUS and the week is shaping up to be much of the same. On Saturday the temperature reached a snow melting ten degrees, plus ten! Most of the snow around the city and all the snow in my backyard is gone, really gone, and it’s only mid March. As you can imagine, I’m really happy about this. So happy in fact that getting into a fight with my boyfriend and having difficulties with the ENG cameras were only minor inconveniences. This lead me to wonder, are people happier when it’s nice outside? Of course they seem like they are, but are they?

I mean I’m happy in the winter when we set our clocks back an hour and not when I lose an hour when the clocks move ahead. But, this doesn’t last long because there is less daylight, and when it gets dark outside I’m less motivated to do, well, anything. I’m much happier, however, when it’s warmer and a lot less likely to let anything get me down.

Like the other day I was talking to my grandma and we were talking like we always do about the weather. She said to me, “I won’t be surprised if we get a snow storm before it gets too nice.” “Really, grandma,” I said. “Even with all this El Nino stuff?” Oh course, she went on to say. This made me feel a small tinge of apprehension. Yuck, I didn’t want winter to come again after it just went down the drain I just started to feel a lot better about, well, everything.

I wanted to find out just how much the weather affects emotional health, so with the help of Google Scholar, I found an academic paper on the winter blues called Winter Blues: A SAD Stock Market Cycle. And you’ll never guess what the first few lines of the paper say. It says “Depression has been linked to seasonal affective disorder, (that’s what SAD stands for) a condition that affects many people during the seasons of relatively fewer hours of daylight.” Wow, this is actually a disorder. Then I started to wonder, what can be done about this? Move somewhere warm 12 months a year; that’s not going to happen anytime soon. So then what? What can we do to help alleviate seasonal affective disorder?

Olympics bring Canadians together like never before

The 2010 Winter Olympics have come to an end. After 17 days of events, Canada truly owned the podium winning a record breaking 14 gold medals at home creating a sense of community among a nation that has struggled to feel united. One question that seems to be on the mind of many is, does Canada feel more united because of the games? Personally, as someone who watched ridiculous amounts of Olympic coverage, I feel that Canadians are more connected after these last 17 days because of the sense of pride we feel towards our athletes regardless of winning a gold medal or any medal at all. I am amazed that a sporting event can bring a country together.

As a Canadian I feel like it's always been a struggle to unite the country because of the enourmous geographic distance between us as well as a lack of identity among us. But somehow sport seems to bridge the gap between people who have little in common. As Canadians around the country and the world sat in front of their TVs or stood in the stands in Vancouver, I believe we felt like we where achieveing a common goal; We wanted our athletes to do the best they could and we wanted the rest of the world to experience the amazing and wonderful things that we love about our country.

I wonder would it feel different if the Olympics were held in a different country? Did having the games at home create a magnitude of feeling that just cannot be replicated any where else?

Feeling the burn while in the comfort of your home

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the gym. With such a busy school schedule it gets hard to make that trip. I plan to go an hour and I end up spending 2 hours by the time I get there and back and cleaned-up. So instead of going to the gym, I’ve decided to work out at home with Beachbody’s P90X extreme home fitness program. This work out is a butt-kicker. It works using muscle confusion to ensure your body pushes past a plateau in your workouts and moves beyod boring workouts. That means when you’ve worked out the chest you then go ahead and work on your back. The program includes 13 DVDs to work out the butt, the back, chest, arms, cardio, abs and flexibility in all sorts of different ways while pushing your body to its limits. The DVDs focus mainly on using your own body weight as resistance to build strength, power and endurance, and every once in a while throws in dumbbells for a little something extra.

Now these workouts are tough. The toughest I’ve ever done. I’ll admit I’ve never had the guts to push my body to the extent P90X does, but now I’m willing to try. I’ve just finished my first week of the program and I was sore every day. But I pressed on even if I couldn’t finish all the different moves or had to modify some of the exercises so I could actually do them. 6 days a week this program works you out hard. In the first week I kinda dreaded doing the workouts, but after I finished I felt awesome and glad I got through it.

The creator behind P90X is Tony Horton. He’s a great guy to have around when I really want to quit. He keeps me motivated by yelling through my TV: telling me to keep going, add more resistance or that I’m half way there. Before P90X I would go to the gym to do my thing and get out. I never had anyone but myself to get motivated and work hard, and now that I think about it I may have just half-assed it.

So I know I just started, but so far I love using this program. I get my hour work out done and then can get right into all the school work I need to do - this is the best thing about it. P90X may not be the workout for you, but I think the important part is to make time anyway you can to get some exercise into your life. Home workouts are a great idea, because they give you freedom and flexibility to workout any time you want. There is lots of great workout DVDs out there to help you burn calories and build strength at home, so give one of them a try. It can be cheaper than joining the gym, and if you don’t like one just switch to another with no cancellation fees.