Strength training increases your muscle mass, tones your muscles, and strengthens bones—they need the pull and tug of muscles against them to absorb calcium.

It also helps maintain strength for your everyday activities—lifting and carrying groceries, climbing stairs or getting up out of a comfortable chair.

Currently, the national guidelines recommend strengthening exercises at least twice a week.

One set of 8-12 repetitions per session is effective; some evidence suggests that two to three sets may be better.

Your muscles need at least 48 hours to recover between sessions.

Here are the tips as recommended by Harvard Medical School:

1.  Warm up and cool down for 5-10 minutes.  Walking is a good warm up, stretching a good cool down.

2.  Focus on form, not weight.  Poor form prompts injuries and slows gains.  Align your body properly, and move smoothly through each exercise.

At first, start with no weight or little weight and concentrate on slow, smooth lifts and controlled descents.

3.  Work at the right tempo.  Using momentum in lifting or lowering weight negates strength gain.  Use a count of 3 while lowering a weight, hold, then use a count of 3 while raising it to the starting position.

4.  Be mindful of your breathing.  Exhale as you work against resistance by lifting, pushing, or pulling, and inhale as you release.

5.  Slowly increase weight or resistance to keep challenging muscles.  Choose the right weight for you; it’s the weight that tires the targeted muscles by the last two repetitions but still allows you to maintain good form.

If you can’t do the last 2 reps, choose a lighter weight.  Once it feels too easy to complete the reps, add 1-2 pounds for arms, 2-5 pounds for legs.

Or you might add another set of reps, up to 3 sets.  After adding weight, you should be able to maintain good form, and the targeted muscles should feel fatigued after the last 2 reps.

6.  Stick with your routine, performing each component set of exercises 2-3 times per week.

7.  Most importantly, give muscles time off.  Strength training causes harmless but important tiny tears in muscles that require 48 hours to recover/heal between strength training sessions.  It’s the knitting up of the tears that grows stronger muscles.

My Take on the tips:  Form is of extreme importance.  During the 80s, I had my own exercise studio and a Cable TV exercise/wellness program.   Prominently displayed was a little poem I’d written:

Exercising precisely

Trims you very nicely.

The poem was inspired by one of my piano instructors, the late Dr Harold Fink of Lake Erie College, who taught me that practice didn’t make perfect; only perfect practice made perfect.

The same is true of any exercise routine.

Source:  Harvard Medical School Healthbeat, April 13, 2013

Remember the 2003 Mentor Marsh fire set by kids?

The Mentor Marsh Naturalist, Becky Donaldson, recently found evidence of vandalism in and around the deer exclosure erected by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History 12 years ago.

The vandals tore open the exclosure, trampled on fragile plants protected inside the exclosure, and set at least 3 fires inside the exclosure.

Becky confiscated machetes and knives, some duct-taped to poles to serve as lances, from the area.

The Marsh Board assumes it’s kids doing the vandalism, but fire on the Marsh grounds doesn’t kid around.  It’s serious.

Parents, please ask your children if they know anything about who might be engaged in the vandalism.

The Marsh Board asks anyone who’s heard anything about the identity of the vandals to call the Mentor Police Department at 255-1234.  You may leave your tip anonymously, if you choose. 

Mentor Marsh Nature Center programs are family friendly and all are invited. Activities will be held rain/snow or shine. Trails may be muddy this time of year, so please prepare and dress for the conditions. Reservations are requested. For questions or to make a reservation, please contact the Mentor Marsh Nature Center at 440-257-0777 or rdonalds@cmnh.org.

The Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve’s mission promotes stewardship of Mentor Marsh for its environmental and aesthetic value and provides educational, scientific and recreational opportunities for visitors to the unique ecosystem and interactive nature preserve. Visit the Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve web site at http://www.cmnh.org, search for Mentor Marsh.

Becky Donaldson

Mentor Marsh Naturalist Mentor Marsh Carol H. Sweet Nature Center 5185 Corduroy Road Mentor, Ohio 44060 (440) 257-0777 Direct

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle Cleveland, Ohio 44106-1767 http://www.cmnh.org 216-231-4600 x3505 Lv. mssg. 800-317-9155 x3505 Lv. mssg.

Quayule, a desert shrub, successfully growing at Ohio State University’s South Centers at Piketon.  The plant produces hypoallergenic rubber and a hydrocarbon that can be converted into a diesel-like transportation fuel.

Researchers at OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CVAES) have been evaluating several “bioenergy crops” for their suitability to regions of the state, their biomass yield and for their potential to become value-added crops for farmers.

Rafiq Islam, a soil, water and bioenergy specialist with OSU’s South Centers at Piketon, says, “These crops can grow on marginal land and will not take away good land from food production.

“Our idea is to use all degraded soils and marginal land not suitable to grow food crops for bioenergy production.

“We are even pursuing the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the governor’s office to use highway right-of-ways for growing biomass energy crops in Ohio.”

Islam is heading several bioenergy crop trials in Piketon and in the hilly terrain and strip-mined land in the eastern part of the state, areas that could be used to grow these new crops.  His team is evaluating the suitability of switchgrass, various prairie grasses, miscanthus, hybrid willow, Sudan sorghum grass, sweet sorghum and quayule.

The US Department of Energy’s NortheastSunGrant Initiative is funding the growing of miscanthus, switchgrass and big blue stem grass on a one-acre plot of degraded pastureland where corn and other food crops can’t grow.  To increase the exhausted soil’s fertility, biological activity and drainage, OSU researchers apply municipal biosolids from the cities of Piketon and Waverly as well as gypsum from coal-fired power plants.

Source:    OSU News from the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, April 10, 2013

Old Sober originated in Korea and was imported to New Orleans by servicemen returning from the Korean War where they’d experienced the life-restoring properties of the ancient hangover cure.  The men knew it by its Korean name, Yakmein.

More recently, Allyson E Mitchell, PhD, the University of California, Davis, gave the imprimatur of science to Old Sober, saying that it works because salts, protein and other ingredients in the concoction replace some nutrients the body loses during the consumption of ethanol.

A steaming bowl of Yakmein  Photo Credit Gary Stevens

Yakmein is made with a salty beef- and soy sauce-base broth, a carbohydrate such as noodles; protein from beef, chicken or shrimp; onions or chopped green onions; and a sliced, hard-boiled egg.

Here are Mitchell’s suggestions for avoiding hangovers:

1.  Eat eggs.  They’re rich in cysteine, which helps remove acetyldehyde from the body.

2.  Drink broth.  The salts help replace sodium, potassium and other salts lost in the urine from the diuretic effects of alcohol.  Sports drinks might help.

3.  Don’t drink coffee.  It’s a diuretic and will add to the dehydration caused by the alcohol.

4. Take vitamin B1.  It prevents the buildup of glutarate, linked to the next morning’s headache.

5.  Slow down alcohol intake.  The body metabolizes about a half ounce of pure alcohol per hour, equivalent to one 12-ounce beer, five ounces of wine or one ounce of distilled spirits per hour.

6.  Eat fatty foods before drinking.  They slow down alcohol absorption.

7. Avoid congeners.  They’re created during the fermentation and aging processes and add to the suffering caused by a hangover.

Dark liquors, such as brandy, tequila, whiskey and red wine have much higher concentrations of congeners than do clear liquors, such as vodka and gin.

Source:   examiner, April 9, 2013     Paper presented at the National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society, April 9, 2013

As I drove down the gravel/dirt driveway off Rte 283 yesterday morning, I saw no sign of the Ospreys at the cell tower.  A hundred feet further down, one flew in and perched just in time for its photo opp.

All well and good, but then it got better:  I saw the Osprey mate’s wing fluttering below the perching Osprey (above), meaning it was down to business on the nest on the cell tower platform.

I don’t know how high those towers are, but from the ground, the perching bird looked like a sparrow.

Ospreys first breed when they’re 3-4 years old, mating for life.  Eggs are brooded for 5 weeks, so let’s all keep an eye out for activity around the middle of June.

Ospreys nest near fresh water sources and are also known as Fish Hawks.

Smaller than eagles, they’re about 24” long with a wingspan of almost 6’.   They generally live for 5-7 years.

Directions to the driveway:  From the traffic light at the intersection of Heisley Rd and Rte 283, drive East for 4-500’.  The driveway is on the right/South side of 283 between a brown MAX building and a green roadside mailbox.

The cell towers will be on your left.  You can turn around at the end of the drive, where you’ll find a fence and a No Trespassing sign with the added disincentive of “Trespassers will be shot.”

The only scarier No Trespassing sign I once saw read, “Violators will be violated.”  Sounds like Old Testament ideas.

I took this photo last Tuesday, May 7, 2013, and was surprised by two things:  First, that both Bald Eagles were perched in trees near the nest, rather than on the nest, and second, that this Eagle looked so bedraggled, almost beaten up.

No matter which way it twisted its body, I could see that feathers covering its neck, wings and back gave the bird a disheveled look.  The other Eagle looked fine.

Dunno why it looks so bad or why one or both of them aren’t tending their nest rather than looking at it.

There’s more to nature than meets the ear.

And when the calls of birds, insects and amphibians are recorded and translated by noted musician, educator and naturalist Lisa Rainsong, I promise that you’ll experience the calls of the natural world in a new dimension.

Here’s the link to Lisa’s latest blog:  http://listeninginnature.blogspot.com/2013/04/thats-titmouse.html

Lisa is an interesting and entertaining speaker; you can contact her through her website.

That’s right; according to Chmura Economics & Analytics, the abrupt leap forward cost us just under half a billion dollars in 2010.

Chmura researchers used data cited from the sources listed below to assess the impact of daylight saving time (DST) on the incidence of heart attacks, construction-related work injuries and on “cyber loafing,” the tendency of employees and others to engage in aimlessly surfing the internet.

The information was then broken down by region to create the Lost-Hour Economic Index, a measure of the financial loss suffered by 360 major cities in the US.  The average loss was $1.70 per capita.

Chris Chmura, President and Chief Economist for Chmura Economics & Analytics said, “The markets that see the largest per capita economic loss in this index are heavily concentrated in West Virginia and Florida where it appears higher heart attack rates and the impacts of workplace injury due to mining and construction are most acute.”

While the main point of losing an hour of sleep was to save energy, research from Indiana, in which until recently only 15 of the state’s 92 counties observed DST, suggests DST fails to deliver that benefit.

University of California-Santa Barbara researchers compared the electric meter readings registered during the time period before springing forward to the overall usage after the time change.  They found that residents had paid $8.6 million more than they would have had they stayed on Standard time.

These findings point to the extent to which the US has become an indoor society, squandering that extra hour of sunlight on using lights, TVs, air conditioners, computers and other electronic gadgets that are as much a part of our way of life as are the clothes we wear.

Source:   Smart Planet Daily, March 13, 2013               Study based on data from articles published in The New England Journal of Medicine and The Journal of Applied Psychology

The .74 wetlands acre filled in (stories high) at Diamond Center by Shamrock Business Center (SBC) without a permit and for which SBC asks permission to maintain and fill in more acres of wetlands.  Photo (c) Carole Clement.

The Mentor Marsh is a designated Important Birding Area, a designated National Natural Landmark, portions of which are dedicated State of Ohio Nature Preserve, and a City of Mentor Nature Preserve and Marina.

Development is an important component of a community’s long-term health and growth.  Development can exist side by side with healthy ecosystems if planning enacts options that have little or no negative impact on adjacent areas.

As proposed, Phase II of the development of Diamond Center upstream from the Marsh could have deleterious impacts on the Lake Erie/Mentor Marsh watershed. 

There are options, presently not under consideration, that could mitigate impacts of Phase II.

Studies (Rand Corp, 1969; Jones, 1975; Whipple, 1997) document the sensitivity of the Mentor Marsh to activities upstream of the Marsh watershed. 

Shamrock Business Center, Ltd. (SBC), applied to the US Army Engineer Corps (USACE) on April 15, 2013, regarding further development of land adjacent to Diamond Centre Dr and Brookstone Blvd, an area which is the headwaters of Blackbrook Creek and upstream of the Mentor Marsh.

For the sake of the Marsh’s fragile ecosystem, residents and persons concerned about the area need more time to review, understand and comment on the work proposed by SBC’s Application #1997-5010004.

Here are some of SBC’s proposals that can have an impact on areas upstream from Blackbrook Creek, the Mentor Marsh and the entire Lake Erie/Mentor Marsh Watershed:

!.)  SBC seeks authorization to maintain .74 acres of on-site fill (filled between 2004-09 within Wetland 14 without proper Department of the Army authorization).   

2.) SBC seeks permission to fill an additional 14.9 acres of on-site wetlands; to fill 8486 linear feet of the remaining 14, 809 feet of on-site streams; to create a 7501 linear feet long channel along south, east and north sides of the SBC site for stream mitigation,

THE PROBLEM:  Changing the natural drainage system of the area increases the volume and velocity of upstream water flow, Increasing the potential for flooding and adverse alterations in stream form and function.   In the storm of 2006, the modified area of Blackbrook Creek and overflowed into the south end of Headlands State Park, flooding the parking lots.  When the fast-moving waters hit the sandy beach, they ripped a wide, deep channel down to the lake.

3) In keeping with the law, SBC seeks permission to mitigate their wetland destruction at Diamond Center by creating equal acreage of wetlands off-site in Leroy Township.

THE PROBLEM:  Additional wetlands in Leroy are a net gain for the Grand River watershed but do nothing to mitigate the potential for flooding or erosion in areas downstream of Diamond Center in the Lake Erie/Mentor Marsh watershed. 

To be effective, mitigation should occur on-site, preferably at the north end of SBC’s proposed expansion.  Instead, SBC filled in .74 acre of wetland and seeks permission to fill in an additional 14.9 wetland acres of the area.

Please lend your voice to protect the voiceless, fragile ecosystem of the Mentor Marsh.

Contact the US Army Corps of Engineers at the address below by May 14, 2013, with your comments on SBC’s proposed development plans.

Shamrock Business Center’s application + pertinent maps are at  http://www.lrb.usace.army.mil/Portals/45/docs/regulatory/publicnotices/April2013/PN1997-5010004Oh.pdf

USACE CONTACT INFORMATION:

Michael W. Smith, (716) 879-4262     OR     michael.w.smith@usace.army.mil

OR

Michael W. Smith

US Army Corps of Engineers,                                                           

Buffalo District, Regulatory Branch                                                                

1776 Niagara Street

Buffalo NY 14207-3199

 MUST INCLUDE:  Re. Application #1997-5010004

SUGGESTED INCLUSIONS:

Because a public hearing isn’t a given, please request a public hearing re. the above Application #.

Because the deadline for submitting comments is May 14, 2013, please request an extension of that deadline.

Because some comments slip through the cracks, please state that you want your comments to become part of the public record re. the above Application #.

Neither honey nor vinegar will gain your argument any points, so please talk nicely but firmly and keep your commentary brief and to the point.

 Please direct questions to the Mentor Marsh at 440 257-0777.      

Researchers at King’s College London and Anhui Medical University in China conducted a study of 5,921 Chinese people over the age of 60.  They reviewed information about the participants’ dementia statuses, smoking habits and exposure to secondhand smoke.  They found that 10% suffered from severe dementia.

“The increased risk of severe dementia syndromes in those exposed to passive smoking is similar to increased risk of coronary heart disease—suggesting that urgent preventive measures should be taken, not just in China but many other countries,” said study researcher Dr Ruoling Chen, a senior public health lecturer at King’s College London.

Chen continued, “Passive smoking should be considered an important risk factor for severe dementia syndromes, as this study in China shows.  Avoiding exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) may reduce the risk of severe dementia syndromes.”

Another study found the mental decline of a 50-year-old smoking man the same as that of a 60-year-old non-smoking man.

Last December a study concluded that smoking rots the brain, in that it damages parts of the brain responsible for reasoning, memory and learning.

My Take on the information:  Here’s the only sure remedy:

11005

SOURCE:  University of CA, Berkeley Wellness Letter, April 2013    Huffington Post.com, January 17, 2013   Studies published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, in Age and Aging, in Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and in Archives in General Psychiatry