Are you overdoing it?

Our modern lives require more repetitive tasks with less overall physical activity.

If you’re like me and work with computers, or spend considerable amounts of time engaging in any repetitive movements, you may be prone to suffering Repetitive Strain Injury, otherwise known as Occupational Overuse Syndrome.

For prevention and treatment suggestions, try the resources in our catalogue and research health articles in The Source (to access the Source from home, enter your library card number and PIN.)

Most of all remember to take breaks, stretch, and keep general stress levels to a minimum.

 

Confessions of a reluctant runner

I’m still finding it hard to believe, but a month ago I took part in the relay in the Buller Marathon, running 10.55k. 10.55 kilometres!

It was about a year ago I started this running caper. At the time a neighbour asked if I would like to run the 6k in the City to Surf with her. ‘Like’ wasn’t quite the word I’d have chosen but it was time to try and shift some post preggy weight and get out and do some exercise.

But running? Not really my thing. Or so I thought. At the start different parts of my body certainly took turns in telling me how much it disliked this new activity I was subjecting it to. Initially, running with friends helped a lot as it was good motivation to A) show up in the first place and B) keep going when you really want to lie down and gasp. The secret saving grace of a beginner runner is the fact that no one can tell by your sweaty red faced state, how far (or little) you have actually run…

After awhile, going for a run every two or three days became a pattern or dare I say it, a habit. As with a lot of things, it’s all about your attitude and managing trick your brain into going along with this exercise nonsense.

In the process I’ve run in all sorts of weather, up hills, taken part in a duathlon and now, been part of a successful relay team. I won’t ever be in the league of “Running with the Kenyans” but running is a free form of exercise that’s strangely habit forming and even at times enjoyable! So, if you’ve got one of those new year’s resolutions that’s yet to be started, or you’ve thought about running but never got around to putting on the appropriate footwear, there’s lots of help out there if you need it. The library has loads of resources and links to community groups to get you started.

In the words of that huge multinational “just do it!”

 

How green is your mall?

Let’s hear it for mall walking!

“Are you from Milwaukee?” asked the assistant attending to my very early morning coffee needs at a mall near one of my favourite libraries. My brain raced into overdrive – did I look Milwaukeean? Had I in fact been to Milwaukee in this life or a past one and conveniently forgotten?

It was not yet 8:30 – and I could not answer the first question of the day. It looked set to be a challenging twenty four hours. But I got it in the end: “No, I’m not from Mall Walking” I replied, at which my coffee almost doubled in price.

We’re all in the grip of Rebuild Christchurch fever right now. You can’t open The Press nowadays without being hit around the chops with all things green. We want to walk along the Avon, bicycle our thighs into submission and grow vertical gardens.  And the library has the books for you to become something of an authority on this topic:

• Nature All Around Us (A 2013 Guide to Urban Ecology)
• My Green City (Back to Nature with Attitude and Style 2011)
• And my personal pick of the bunch: Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at A Time.

But what about our indoor spaces – how green are they? Winter is on its way and the call of the mall is strong. And this is where mall walking comes in. It’s a popular new trend, with both Northlands Mall and Westfield Mall allowing walkers in from 8am to walk in the safety and comfort of their deserted precincts.

In the interests of local research I joined a Mall Walking Group.  Initially it felt strange to be tramping in such a cavernous space with so many shuttered shops. I allowed myself a James Bond fantasy moment involving Daniel Craig, but was pulled quickly back to earth by the snippets of pensioner conversation that drifted past.

After a few laps I stopped for my legitimately earned reduced-price coffee. I thought how easy it would be to snidely deride the mall walkers. Yet were I in a foreign city watching early morning Tai Chi in a mall, I would be raising my cappuccino in support, whilst penning tetchy Letters to the Editor on the greening of our malls!

But, how about you - how green is your mall and will you be striding through it any time soon?

 

Happier at home

There really is no place like it, and with Gretchen Rubin’s help we are all about to become even Happier at Home.

You might remember Ms Rubin as the author of the hugely successful The Happiness Project. In that book she tackled her overall life happiness. Her book took the self-help world by storm, even though her approach is not like falling off the nearest log, and in no way subscribes to the “To-day is the first day of the rest of your life” school of thought. Ms Rubin’s makes you work for your breakthroughs and we seem to love her for it.

In this, her next offering, Ms Rubin focuses her attention on being happier at home. There are over 600 titles at Christchurch City Libraries that purport to help us become happier, wherever we are. Yet Gretchen Rubin’s books rank amongst the most popular of that genre. I’m only really going to start worrying about her if her next book is entitled Happiest at Work, and even then I’ll probably read it.

So, why have we taken to her in such a  big way?

It’s that “happier” that is the key. Because Rubin is already happy at home. She has a supportive husband, two lovely daughters, a very good job, no money problems, is more than passably good looking and appears to be in robust good health. Some of you nay-sayers out there will already be thinking: “V for Vomit – she is altogether too perfect for my poor tattered little life.” (In which case you may prefer How to be Happy, Dammit  or the palate cleansing The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking).

But think about it: if we are totally honest with ourselves,we really aren’t all that badly off. But, like Rubin, we just yearn for more. And who better to turn to than someone who has already got most of what we want?

Eventually – after you’ve read both books – Rubin boils it all down to eight “Splendid Truths” (I know, sometimes you do just want to give her a bit of a slap!). But I’m not going to spill my gut here by telling you what they are, because, since reading her books, one of my personal happiness projects is to become better friends with silence (this is fancy-pantsy-speak for shutting-up), in the hope that I will no longer have that desperate need to fill all conversational pauses.

I don’t know if it’s going to make me any happier at home, but so far no one else is complaining!

 

Time to get the kids outside

Do you find your kids hang about inside even when the weather is fabulous?

Let’s get them inspired to play outdoors:

• get into some outdoor games
• learn a sport
• dig in their own garden
• try some outdoor crafts
• read a good story under a tree with a picnic.

Kid’s say they’re bored of their books? Try searching a reading list for other authors that write stories like their favourites and they can join the Summertime Reading Club where they may win a prize!

Teens can check out The Pulse for what’s new and happening. Garden City SummerTimes is here and the World Buskers Festival is just around the corner so there’s no excuse for not getting out this summer!

 

Trim down this Summer

Summer’s here. It’s time to get out and enjoy the good weather. Maybe you’re a little worried how you’ll look in your lighter clothes or still feel sluggish after winter.

Try eating better to lose weight and get fit.

Join a dance class.

Get stuck into the garden.

Whatever you do this Summer, get out in it. Every little bit of exercise helps even just playing with the kids or the dog, but most of all – enjoy!

 

Alzheimers – The long goodbye

By this time my mother didn’t know what a daughter was, or a mother.

A beautiful graphic novel called Tangles by Sarah Leavitt tells the story of her mum Midge, their family, and how Alzheimers came into their lives. First it just seemed like a bit of forgetfulness. But then Alzheimers began its mean attrition.

Sarah kept notes and drew pictures from the pre-diagnosis days, to her mother’s death, and beyond. The story she tells has the honesty of observation. Some details are hard to take, but are instantly recognisable to anyone who has had a loved one with Alzheimers.

It’s a bloody brave book and it broke my heart open like a fruit.

• Search our catalogue for Alzheimers
• Alzheimers websites in our Internet Gateway
• Search for Alzheimers-related organisations in CINCH Community Information Christchurch
• Explore more fine graphic novel memoirs in the post Draw your life

 

Time to go awandering

The best thing about spring is being able to get outside and enjoy the fresh air without having to don hat, coat, gloves and three jerseys over head-to-toe polypropylene. Walking to work now seems more like a happy possibility than an inevitable grind. Gardens are flowering, birds are singing and fellow walkers pass with a cheery wave and ‘Morning!’ rather than a furrowed brow and a dripping nose.

Christchurch has some wonderful walkways which are well worth exploring. Many of these have been repaired since the earthquakes and they’re a great way of getting out and about in the city. There are walking groups catering for every level of fitness. Take for example the Sunday Walking Group which meets weekly or the thirty minute Walk and Talk programme for people wanting to combine exercise with some social interaction.

If you’re already fighting fit and in need of a challenge, there are tramping groups that head to the hills for day hikes or longer. Walking sports such as race or Nordic walking are guaranteed to give even the hardiest outdoor pursuiter a great workout. These groups are a great way of getting to know like-minded souls.

It seems the whole of Christchurch is getting into walking mode. The Breeze Walking Festival starts next weekend with a programme that celebrates everything the Eastern suburbs have to offer. There are 22 walks taking in the wildlife, local history, forest and coastline around Pegasus Bay and three ultimate walking prize packs to be won.

In the meantime, why not take a mellow stroll around the Christchurch Botanical Gardens? The blossoms are out and the magnolias are looking splendid. The Gardens would be my favourite walking spot. What’s yours?

 

Blue September and the Unsexy Cancer

Now, you could argue no cancer is sexy, but some get a lot more publicity, funding and sympathy than others.

My husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer early last year at the tender age of 49, six weeks before we got married. His dad was also was diagnosed with the same cancer but at a much older age.

September is marked as Blue September, a month for raising awareness for a cancer that kills as many men as breast cancer kills women each year, and that is also chronically un-diagnosed, and unrepresented in research and funding.

Every year over 500 men die in New Zealand of prostate cancer.  That is more than 500 fathers, sons, brothers, grandfathers – gone!

Men are often unaware just how dangerous the disease is, they often avoid seeing their doctor about it, they simply don’t do anything about it. The most important thing to know is that prostate cancer can be prevented if detected early enough.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation encourages people to paint their faces blue during September, donate money to the Prostate Cancer Foundation  or just spread the word.

My husband did go and see his doctor, did have the rectal exam men are so afraid of and a few uncomfortable ones besides… and after treatment, he is recovered and doing exceptionally well, with very few lingering side effects. So because he made the decision to ‘suck it up’ and see his doctor he is still with me and his children and friends and will be for many years to come.

We found a lot of helpful reading in the Christchurch City Library collection about the prostate and prostate cancer, and although it is frustrating when a specialist won’t just tell you which treatment to do, it really is important to do the research yourself, and the right treatment for you will emerge.

So if you know a man over 40, encourage, nay nag them to go for a check up, if you are a man over 40, go and have one yourself. You WILL survive the exam with your manhood and dignity intact and you just may save your own life, if not for yourself, but for the people who love you.

 

Surviving your child’s teenage years

As a parent of a teenager, I feel like I age a good five years each time he does something out of order. Something has got to be done! Here are some resources I’ve come up with:

• Books on parenting teens.
• Anger management for teens and parents. Learn to relax and manage your stress.
• Tough Love. Local support and informative groups for parents concerned about their children’s unacceptable adolescent behaviour.
• Community groups who offer parenting advice in CINCH (Community INformation CHristchurch).
• Parenting links in our Internet Gateway for parents. Including this article on living with teenagers.

Most of all, talk to other parents of teens to get ideas and support, and good luck!