In the wake of the new FDA guidelines for sunscreen that came out this week I decided to look at the pros and cons of sun exposure. And to do that I took one of the most memorable campaigns I could think of.
In Australia in the early eighties the government launched the Slip-Slop-Slap campaign to ingrain the dangers of skin cancer into their outdoorsy population. Slip on a shirt, Slop on suncreen and Slap on a hat. It worked so well that in recent years they've added Seek shade and Slide on the sunnies (sunglasses) but when I read the results of the studies I was surprised to find that although the basic forms of skin cancer - basal cell and squamous carcenomas - decreased the incidence of melanoma increased. So did cases of Osteoporosis in adults.And in a few rare cases children who had been religiously protected from the sun since birth by their careful parents had developed rickets (see link at the base of this post).
Many scientists believe that a lack of vitamin D - known as the sunshine vitamin because we naturally produce it as a result of sun exposure is the answer. So how much exposure are we talking about. Opinions vary but to avoid being one of the 30 - 70 % of patients who are D deficient just 10-15 minutes of unprotected exposure is enough for the body to produce its daily quota of Vitamin D. For those who believe that no sun is the best way to go there are Vitamin D supplements (which I take in the winter when the winter sun is too weak to stimulate much production.)
Moderation would appear to be the key.
Please note that we are having a debate here - I'm not issuing medical advice because I'm not a Doctor, or a scientist but I noticed that all the media coverage focused on the sun giving you skin cancer and the other information got lost in the media shuffle.
http://www.bmj.com/content/318/7175/39.extract - NB the full article on rickets is subscription only but the extract gives the basic information.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Help! how do I turn down the positive reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement, according to my mini 3rd edition OED -
Positive meaning showing the presence rather than the absence of particular features
and
Reinforcement meaning the action of making stronger
When I did a quick internet search the first thing that came up was animal behaviour, reward your doggy with a treat. Of course the major use of positive reinforcement is in parenting. But while society tells us that this is a good method to train dogs and kids how much is too much and should we be carrying this 'good job!" attitude into adulthood?
Concepts like discipline and constructive criticism are so twenty years ago. I'm pretty sure that if I went back to school now, I could coast, and probably pass the subjects I failed because no one wants to be seen to be failing our kids. Problem is school may be social hell but the real world won't cosset you. If you don't turn in those monthly figures your boss requested he won't give you a lolly pop and say well done for trying, he will kick your ass - metaphorically speaking. He won't give you a hug if you muff that presentation to the Japanese conglomerate, he will fire your ass. If you fail at something, you either won't bother with it again or it'll spur you on to try harder. I'll give you an example I hated Latin - with a passion and I had the chance to drop it but my teacher told me in front of the rest of the class that I would be better off dropping the subject as I didn't have an aptitude for languages. He later told me that it was a calculated criticism on his part because he expected me to rise to the challenge, as the two languages I was studying at the time held their roots in Latin.
Saying 'I can't fail' is the same as saying 'the earth is flat' nothing is too big or too small to fail. But failure is also a tool, you can use your mistakes or that wrong answer to the chemistry question to look at another solution. Think of your first swimming lesson where you sucked in half the pool, or the first time you tried to ride a bicycle. We're human we make mistakes and its OK to compliment someone on a job well done. But it you do it every thirty seconds it has no meaning.
http://www.dogmanners.com/posreinforce.html
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=behavior§ion=main&subsection=classroom/positive
Positive meaning showing the presence rather than the absence of particular features
and
Reinforcement meaning the action of making stronger
When I did a quick internet search the first thing that came up was animal behaviour, reward your doggy with a treat. Of course the major use of positive reinforcement is in parenting. But while society tells us that this is a good method to train dogs and kids how much is too much and should we be carrying this 'good job!" attitude into adulthood?
Concepts like discipline and constructive criticism are so twenty years ago. I'm pretty sure that if I went back to school now, I could coast, and probably pass the subjects I failed because no one wants to be seen to be failing our kids. Problem is school may be social hell but the real world won't cosset you. If you don't turn in those monthly figures your boss requested he won't give you a lolly pop and say well done for trying, he will kick your ass - metaphorically speaking. He won't give you a hug if you muff that presentation to the Japanese conglomerate, he will fire your ass. If you fail at something, you either won't bother with it again or it'll spur you on to try harder. I'll give you an example I hated Latin - with a passion and I had the chance to drop it but my teacher told me in front of the rest of the class that I would be better off dropping the subject as I didn't have an aptitude for languages. He later told me that it was a calculated criticism on his part because he expected me to rise to the challenge, as the two languages I was studying at the time held their roots in Latin.
Saying 'I can't fail' is the same as saying 'the earth is flat' nothing is too big or too small to fail. But failure is also a tool, you can use your mistakes or that wrong answer to the chemistry question to look at another solution. Think of your first swimming lesson where you sucked in half the pool, or the first time you tried to ride a bicycle. We're human we make mistakes and its OK to compliment someone on a job well done. But it you do it every thirty seconds it has no meaning.
http://www.dogmanners.com/posreinforce.html
http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=behavior§ion=main&subsection=classroom/positive
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
About subtle - or not so sublte cultural differences
This has been bugging me for weeks so now I'm throwing it out there. If you are a recent arrival in another country or even if you've been living in a foreign country for years are there things that you just expect to obtain without use of the internet, local foods that you grew up with, the school system, the rubbish collection system, transport, sales tax, healthcare, things that shouldn't broadside you but do?
In my case I've been trying to drink less soda. Easy, I thought, I can still have fizzy drinks, I'll just buy a sodastream and drink fizzy squash all summer. Buying the sodastream wasn't a problem. Squash however was. The squash I am referring too isn't the sport, or the vegetable it is a fruity concentrate (usually orange) that you dilute with water to make a drink.
It's a staple in England, in fact we never had coke or pepsi in the house that's why I still have teeth.
None of the supermarkets had it, they had plenty of fruit juice, crystal light (which sounded like a plan until I read the ingredients) pre-mixed drinks, and of course the dreaded coke aisle but while fruit juice kind of works, it's not squash. So off I went to Whole Foods (or whole paycheck as my friends call it) juices galore but no squash. Luckily for me we have the London Market and the Old Dutch Store in Utah, both of whom sell squash in various flavours but because it is imported it is not cheap.
So here's what I want to know. Is this a Utah thing or a whole of America thing.
5/16 Several suggestions from fb and e-mail for Mio - a liquid water enhancer (Is there a solid water enhancer?) I checked it out and having read the back and not even found the strawberry flavouring in the strawberry watermelon variety five ingredients in I think I'll pass. Thanks for the suggestions though - oh and apparently in the US they don't call it squash they call it cordial. I stand corrected.
7/13 Torino make syrups which you can use to flavour Italian sodas, my current favourite is the sugar free vanilla. A tiny amount goes a long way.
In my case I've been trying to drink less soda. Easy, I thought, I can still have fizzy drinks, I'll just buy a sodastream and drink fizzy squash all summer. Buying the sodastream wasn't a problem. Squash however was. The squash I am referring too isn't the sport, or the vegetable it is a fruity concentrate (usually orange) that you dilute with water to make a drink.
It's a staple in England, in fact we never had coke or pepsi in the house that's why I still have teeth.
None of the supermarkets had it, they had plenty of fruit juice, crystal light (which sounded like a plan until I read the ingredients) pre-mixed drinks, and of course the dreaded coke aisle but while fruit juice kind of works, it's not squash. So off I went to Whole Foods (or whole paycheck as my friends call it) juices galore but no squash. Luckily for me we have the London Market and the Old Dutch Store in Utah, both of whom sell squash in various flavours but because it is imported it is not cheap.
So here's what I want to know. Is this a Utah thing or a whole of America thing.
5/16 Several suggestions from fb and e-mail for Mio - a liquid water enhancer (Is there a solid water enhancer?) I checked it out and having read the back and not even found the strawberry flavouring in the strawberry watermelon variety five ingredients in I think I'll pass. Thanks for the suggestions though - oh and apparently in the US they don't call it squash they call it cordial. I stand corrected.
7/13 Torino make syrups which you can use to flavour Italian sodas, my current favourite is the sugar free vanilla. A tiny amount goes a long way.
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