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Livin the Best Life - Spotlight #15

24/2/2018

1 Comment

 
Protein-Shakes, Detox-Teas and healthy lifestyle – this has been a very popular issue since a few years. Not only young people but also the elderly and lots of businessmen and women are following this trend. Many books have been published about different diets and the fitness blogger scene is booming as well but what’s important about nutrition and the role that weight training plays in our daily lives will be discussed in the following article.

Let’s start with nutrition, which is the base of a healthy lifestyle. There are different diets and ways to eat. E.g. low carb diet. At the moment a diet called intermittent fasting is booming. It means you fast during the most hours of the day for example 16 hours. During the left eight hours you are allowed to eat. That’s an option. But you can choose your own time periods of fasting and eating. Famous actors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Hugh Jackman got in shape with this method. Of course the diet isn’t successful if you eat crisps, candy or something similar. Protein, water, fruits and vegetables are priority number one – in every diet.

Protein is important for the muscles. The muscles will stay just if the body is fed with different sources of protein. Except for the obvious source meat, you find it in a lot of vegan or vegetarian options like tofu. Water is good for your metabolism; in actuality at least two liters of water per day are the minimum. For a healthy lifestyle water is good for detox.

Vegetables and fruits are filled with vitamins. They have sugar too but keep in mind that sugar in fruits is healthier than that in the other examples such as candy or jam. One of the most important things to bear in mind is the topic about detox. Tons of “detox teas” are on sale now. They are really expensive. Drink four cups of usual green tea per day and the result will be the same. You won’t lose weight just by drinking the tea. Focus on your nutrition and regular training should be done too.

On Instagram, Youtube and Facebook there is a plethora of fitness bloggers. They are showing different healthy lifestyles. So we have to decide which one is the best for us, which involves a special diet and what kind of sport we prefer e.g. weight lifting in the gym or exercising with our own body weight. The fitness bloggers are not showing us the exact right way, but they advice us when we are not sure how to manage all these things.

In summary three important things we learned: nutrition, sport and strict discipline. They are working together. About the internal content we can discuss as per our preference but focus on your strength and try not to look up to fitness bloggers or models who are trained like an Adonis. Because what our hobby is, it is their job. They get paid for showing different shakes, teas or clothing brands. Keep that in mind while thinking about that topic!

And now, let’s go to the gym!

Leo Rebecca Stutz,
Leo Club of Neckar-Franken,
​Germany.
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Stressed Out - Spotlight #14

18/2/2018

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During this week I was watching the news about a TV presenter, who because of stress suffered facial paralysis, and is not a person of 50 or 60 years, we are talking about a young man of 30 years. Therefore, this topic seems crucial to me to highlight.

At present we live in a world with many social changes, which generate situations that affect our day to day in family life, work, social and political, thus achieving that we generate stress.

Stress seems to be harmless, but What is stress? What would be its correct definition? In carrying out my research, I came across several definitions, which is why we will use the definition of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that defines stress in the following way:
The set of physiological reactions that prepare the body for action."
That is, stress would be an alarm, a stimulus that leads to action, a response necessary for survival, a response that may be consistent with the demands of the environment, or insufficient or exaggerated.

In fact, the diseases that can be acquired due to stress are many, for example:
• It affects the nervous system
• Sleep disorders
• Hair loss and weakness in the nails
• It affects the heart rhythm
• It affects our psychological state, which can generate depression, despair, among others.
• It affects our diet
• It affects our social environment, among others.


​It is considered one of the causes of death in the most common young people in this century. Moreover, World Health Organisation (WHO) considers the global pandemic of the future, noting that many more people will suffer and that not only generates an emotional cost but also an economic cost along with other diseases such as cancer, diabetes, among others.

The young people of today suffer from many diseases that in our grandparents and great-grandparents; time did not appear in the youth but in the elderly people these diseases.

Stress is currently in our environment, but it is greater in our workplace, where the work environment is usually toxic and generates stress having to cope in such a place, affecting our health and our social and family environment over time, that stress we keep until we get to our homes or meet with friends and can marry unnecessary conflicts.

Many people have died in their jobs because of this, most of them under 30; while others have died from some of the diseases that cause stress such as depression or despair or anxiety that the above can lead to suicide.

Many will tell me that it is impossible not to stress, if it is true, but we ourselves must stop and analyze the situation, because those affected are ourselves. It does not help to be a person who does everything excellent at work if you have a heart attack, at work they will remember the event only and they will replace you, while your family will suffer forever for the loss of the person.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been working with countries to make important changes in the work environment, which is the place where one is most affected by stress, in which they demand an adequate work environment, job security, insurance doctor, and better deals, but much remains to be achieved.

Some recommendations that can be made to reduce stress levels are the following:
• Organise your schedule of what you will do in your workday, so you will have a better control of your activities.
• Exercise is a good way to reduce stress levels, take 5 to 10 minutes in the morning or afternoon to perform them.
• Organise your weekend outings with your family and friends.
• Work problems do not take them home.
• Take about 5 minutes during the workday to close your eyes and take a deep breath, that will help to lower your stress a little.
• Never skip your lunch hour, it's your time to share, relax, or have a moment with yourself.
• Listen to the type of music that relaxes you, in many jobs they allow people to listen to music, that helps.
• Get out of the routine from time to time, take field trips on weekends, go out with friends, take relaxing massages, watch a movie, among others.

These are some of the recommendations that can be offered to reduce stress levels, but take into account that each one must also do his part, because the moment he continues to think that he generates stress, nothing will make the recommendations; that is, disconnect for a time from them. Never forget, that all problems and situations have some solutions, all except death.

Leo Kimberly Saldaña
Leo Club of San Francisco Panama


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Can We Identify People Via Their Cultures? - Spotlight #13

12/2/2018

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What is culture?

“Culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterise a society or a social group. It includes not only arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs.”
-World Conference on Cultural Policies

In general, we identify culture as enduring behaviours, thoughts and values shared by a group of people which passed down the generations and subjected to change and evolving. Let’s see how the cultural variables touch a person’s behaviour. According to the psychological studies we can identify main three areas affected by the culture such as Social behaviour, Personality and Cognition.

Social behaviour
  1. Social perception: Thinking about ourselves and others
  2. Social interaction: Connecting to others
  3. Social influence: Changing attitudes and behaviour
  4. Gender behaviour

​​Personality
  1. Traits across culture
  2. Emotion
  3. Intelligence and specific abilities

​​Cognition
  1. Thinking styles
  2. Language and memory
  3. Learning
  4. Sensation and perception
Social perception is the way we form impressions about others and our attribution styles, self-serving biases, stereo types etc. The social perception patterns can influence us on how we think as a part of a team or a group which in turn may reflect as group or cultural features. How two or more people relate to each other by exchanging thoughts, ideas or even behaviour is known as Social interaction. Social interactions and relationships seem more related to the upbringing of a child (the upbringing may have cultural influences) and the relationship with the parent. Social influences explain how one set of people can change or influence the behaviour or cognition of another. Certain social influences such as conformity, co-operation and social loafing show differences according in different cultures. Most of these cultural differences are now challenged and are changing due to mixing of cultures, expansion of knowledge and globalisation.

The question is whether there is a difference in the social behaviour according to the gender and if so does culture play a role in it?
Studies show a gender difference in social behaviour; as an example, females are more supportive in listening and males in helping an old lady to carry a bag; but they do not seem to be always culturally influenced. Cultures assign traditional gender roles and then there will be an influence on social behaviour depending on the culture and the gender. There are universal/global gender related and accepted social behavioural patterns. The extent of the applicability of these behaviours may change depending on culture, for example women having less personal autonomy, Men’s work versus women’s work at home and work place.

Personality is a relatively unique way of thinking and behaviour of a person which is usually consistent throughout life. There are many personality traits (relatively stable characteristics) identified in psychology. Studying different personality traits and their existence in groups, will lead to a link between how culture emerges with different personalities. Measures of personality traits and behaviour will show a lower relationship in Asian cultures.

Does culture shape the emotional expressions of people?
Studies are done on basic emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise. Studies attempt to seek how verbal as well as non-verbal emotional expressions differ across cultures. There are notable similarities of emotions such as eye contact-attraction, body reactions for sadness/happiness across cultures. Some emotions seem to be more determined from culture than biology. Interpretation of the emotions too may be culturally influenced (through the cultural glasses of the observer). Studies show that many basic emotions are shared across cultures and they probably may be serving and evolutionary roots shared by all humans. Positive emotions are more recognised by persons within a culture.

Can we have a uniform measure of intelligence so that we can compare the cultural influence on the intelligence cross culturally?
The outcome of intelligence measures will depend on the experience, stimulations and the schooling the person is exposed to. The level of intelligence and special abilities seem to influence culture at times and vice versa.

When we consider about cognition of a person, culture clearly touch the thinking styles of a person. Main difference in the thinking styles of East Asians and the Westerners is that western persons are more analytical, logical whereas the Asians are more holistic. Different thinking styles will influence reasoning and behaviour. Studies have shown that these different thinking styles work well in their own cultural setups.

Language has always been influencing the thinking patterns and passing over the thinking styles among the others. So, it contributes to the construction of a culture as well as evolution of culture. Learning a language is influenced by social interactions and then inevitably the languages will have unique cultural features embedded in it. Studies show that people will have better memory for culturally closer things. Approaches to teaching and learning has large amount of cultural differences. These cultural differences are seen in locus of control, self-concept and attribution styles in achievements and failures. The content taught and learnt at different ages will also be different cross culturally. When it comes to sensation and perception, different cultures perceive the same phenomenon differently.

Without adequate knowledge and understanding of different cultures’ styles of interactions and responses, a person might misinterpret another person’s behaviour. It is incredible how the culture has such a big influence on human behaviour among them and attitude towards life in general.

Leo Iroshima Ponnamperuma
Leo Club of Colombo Host.

References

  1. Current issues in cross-cultural psychology: Research topics, applications and perspectives by Miriam Spering, Institute of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
  2. A dynamic constructivist approach to culture: Lessons learned from personality psychology by Ying-yi Hong and LeeAnn M Mallorie.

​
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The Addiction's Real - Spotlight #12

6/2/2018

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In the recent times social media had become a significant part of our lives. Most of the people are using social media and this usage is increasing day by day. Some people use it for entertainment ,some people use it for interact with others.

Social media is defined as a platform that helps user to interact with other users. Such as, updating a profile, Instagram posts about their holidays, tweets about their feelings ,snapchat stories, chatting and etc. What if like everything else, more social media usage had become an addiction or an obsession? According to some researches, people spend an average of 2-3 hours a day on social media. The problem comes when you overspend your time on those social media platforms. If you find yourself missing on social media platforms while looking for something different or if you constantly check what people share in social media, then you are showing signs of social media addiction.

Some people feel anxiety when they are in a place with no internet access. If you just want to spend your time on social media rather then your daily activities and responsibilities, you should know that something is wrong. The more time you spend on social media, the more socially isolated you will be.

The problem is that without control, social media can control your life rather than you control it. The important thing is to consciously use social media. It is up to you to how social media affects you life. What you can do is replace your usual free time that you overused for social media for other things. You can make yourself busy so that you will have no free time to check on social media.

In conclusion, social media is a great way to connect with people. Do not forget, this technology is here to help us move forward, it is not created to waste our time. What you have to do is gain back the control over your life and use social media without deviating from its purpose.

Leo Aybuke Ceylan
Social Media Team Leader,
Agora Leo Club, Turkey

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Through the Looking Mirror - Spotlight #11

1/2/2018

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“According to WHO, 80% of visual impairment including BLINDNESS IS AVOIDABLE.”

Recently, our club had organised a cricket tournament for the blind and partially blind people. It was unbelievable to see the level of their enthusiasm and zeal while playing. After interacting with them I realised that they were people just like me and you, but due to their financial conditions were not able to get proper and timely eye care or they chose to neglect it as many people do and later ended up with serious damage to their vision.

Globally, 285 million people are visually impaired of which 39 million people are blind. According to WHO, 80% of visual impairment including blindness can be prevented or cured if taken appropriate eye treatment. Un-operated cataract remains the leading cause of blindness in low and middle-income countries.81% people who are blind or have moderate to severe vision impairment are aged 50 years and above. With an increasing population of older people, more people will be at risk of vision impairment due to chronic eye diseases.

So, how can we as an individual make a difference?
  • In just about any home, one can find a pair of eyeglasses that are no longer being used. That same pair of eyeglasses can change another person’s life. Imagine if you could help a child read. An adult succeed in his job. A senior maintain her independence. We as an individual or at club level can volunteer to collect used eyeglasses from our locality and mail it to the eyeglass recycling centres where they are cleaned, sorted by prescription strength, packaged and distributed to people in need in low and middle- income communities where they will have the greatest impact. Some Eyeglass recycling centres are mentioned here and you can mail the eyeglasses to them via your local Lions club. Link
  • We can increase awareness about the eye health organisations in our locality and encourage people to take regular eye checkups and timely treatment of diabetic eye diseases and educate people about risk of eye diseases and encourage them to seek appropriate treatment.
  • We can pledge our eyes to the nearest eye bank in our locality. The eye bank team removes the transparent section of the eye called cornea and not the complete eye ball of the deceased person. One pair of eyes gives vision to 2 corneal bind people.
  • We can lend our eyes to the visually impaired people via a live video call, on platforms such as Be My Eyes, and help them solve challenges both big and small in their lives. Link

​Sources: Lions International & WHO

Leo Akshay Shah
Social Media Director,
Leo Club of Juhu.

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