"Kindness is the jewel of the soul, so wear it daily."
-Mike K.
Did you know that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made a commitment to help in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic by contributing up to $100 million?
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Thank you to Doctors Without Borders for their efforts in providing assistance in 70 countries for the COVID-19 pandemic!
By: Ria and Rohan
We recently surveyed a group of 20 randomly selected people (10 males and 10 females of diverse backgrounds) aged 18-50 years old in our local community. We asked them the question: from March 2020 until now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, what did you do to keep your mind and body healthy?
The results were as follows:
-Exercise (6 participants; answers included: lacrosse practice, jogging, walking, weightlifting, running on a track, and general exercise)
-Helping others with staying positive and following guidelines (4 participants)
-Meditation (1 participant)
-Eating healthier (1 participant)
-Looking forward to future travel (1 participant)
-Looking forward to going to work daily (1 participant)
-Staying busy by cooking healthy food and making fresh juices for all family members at home (1 participant)
-Listening to music and doing yoga (1 participant)
-Uplifting others and motivating people who he encounters on his walking path to keep walking (1 participant)
-Giving more cash tips to those who work in food service (1 participant)
-Drawing and selling art prints (1 participant)
-Online shopping and online browsing (1 participant)
Statistical analysis is a popular tool used in many fields, including the healthcare field, to analyze information that can answer a research question.
To do a significant study, a sample size that is 10% of the representative population that the results will be generalized to must be surveyed. In the healthcare field, where clinical trials and research are being conducted, larger sample sizes may be included to increase the legitimacy of the study. Some of these studies involve prescription medication trials and thus, these studies utilize randomized trials in which the sample is diverse. Such trials can be prospective or retrospective, depending on the research question being addressed.
Our study was not statistically significant due to the sample size but the results gave us an idea of what the residents of our local town were doing during the pandemic. There was no selection bias or response bias that we were aware of. The survey was well-received by the survey participants.
We hope that you take these ideas on how to stay healthy and happy and implement them into your daily lives!
What is Music Therapy? This video by the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine provides a brief explanation of the effects of music therapy.
This is a fantastic track from the Music Therapy Program at the Holtz Children's Hospital in Florida
The Use of Visualization to Form Good Memories and Enhance Learning
By: Ria
What is “visualization,” commonly referred to as “guided imagery?” It involves using guidance externally to catalyze internal production of images which can then generate responses in the body that benefit emotional and physical well-being.
So how do these visualized images transform into chemical responses in the body that become internal images and memories? As light enters the eye, it activates the retina; the retina consists of two types of cells (photoreceptors) that absorb light: rods (responsible for low-light vision) and cones (responsible for high-light vision and color). There are series of interneuron interactions that occur after the light is absorbed and ultimately, the signal travels from ganglion cells, which are projection neurons of the retina, to the optic nerve. The optic nerve is made up of axons of the ganglion cells of neurons. Eventually, the signals find themselves at the occipital cortex of the brain, which also has other connections and this is how memories of our experiences and visualizations are formed. The occipital lobe of the brain tells us what the images are and decodes them; this information is also stored in the hippocampus, our brain’s memory bank.
This explains why I vividly remember beautiful images from my trips to the Himalayas, Niagara Falls and the beaches of California. Although I prefer natural scenery for my visualizations, guided imagery can be anything, including smells, sounds, tastes or any memory that effectively transfers attention from your current circumstance to an ideal circumstance.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine journal Health, one main visualization technique used today is guided imagery. Studies have shown that visualization in this way can help manage anxiety, stress and depression, reduce pain, lessen nausea, and lower blood pressure. One study found that athletes who visualized green imagery had lower levels of anxiety when in a competition state. These guided imagery techniques are also being used in cancer patients to treat common cancer-related side effects. Most likely, it increases the parasympathetic response in the body to achieve these results.
A spin-off on visualization techniques that I have personally used is using imagery to learn complex educational material and about medical procedures. An example can be seen below.
This video uses visualization to explain a complex cardiovascular procedure to allow individuals to be able to properly visualize the structures and vasculature in the heart for the procedure.
Please refer to this video for amazing scenes from nature.
This is also a scenic video with peaceful flute sounds that can be used for imagery.
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