Smart Growth for a Healthy Heart

As my own community struggles with what seems like inevitable growth, many progressive-minded leaders are discussing "smart growth" options. The irony of smart growth is that in many ways these "revolutionary" ideas are quite old in nature. Efforts are being made to model new communities after the village concept of a couple hundred years ago, before the advent of cars, big box discount centers, shopping malls, and the notion that every new school should be built in the middle of large, vacant fields.

As schools were built on the peripheries of towns, new houses sprung up next to these schools, quickly followed by retail businesses - it became clear city centers were dying. This urban sprawl has had quite a few unfortunate results. Entire books have been written about this subject, but I would like to simply concentrate on a couple.

It pained me to no end when my own small, college town built its new middle school on the outskirts of town, effectively cutting it off from the downtown area it dominated for many decades. In all fairness, the new school is beautiful, and I am sure some town planners could convince me such a school could never have been built on the existing land at a reasonable cost. However, I am bothered by my own children's inability to walk, or even ride their bikes to this new school, due to the lack of safe paths and sidewalks.

Luckily, we still have a couple of elementary schools that are easily accessible by bike or foot traffic. Unfortunately, the old middle school site is now considered prime real estate for a shopping complex or high-end housing.

Coupled with the inability to walk or bike to school safely, the lack of centralized schools removes the green space and park-like settings offered to families who visit schools during non-school hours to play together or support a local sports team. How many more "walk-up' fans would attend middle and high school sporting events if they didn't require a drive across town?

I encourage you to look closely at your local school environments, and remain vigilant as new schools are discussed to see if we continue to support urban sprawl or take a second look at our historical villages and apply smart growth.

Jon Poole
Guest Secondary Section Editor

Walking & Biking to School for a Healthy Heart

The purpose of the Federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program is to empower communities to make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity once again. SRTS makes funding available for a wide variety of programs and projects, including building safer street crossings and establishing programs that encourage children and their parents to walk and bicycle safely to school.

Walking and bicycling to school were once part of everyday life. Today, however, over half of all children arrive at school in private automobiles with very few youngsters choosing to walk or ride their bikes. This decline in walking and bicycling has had an adverse effect on traffic congestion and air quality around schools, as well as pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Running on Ritalin: Abuse Rises on Campus
ADHD drugs are being abused by college students nationwide, learn more about Ritalin abuse on campus.

MP3 Players and Hearing Loss - MP3 players are changing the way people listen to music, and they may permanently change your ability to hear.

Teen Suicide: Too Young To Die
Suicide among our nation's youth has increased dramatically over the years, and is now the second leading cause of death in teenagers today. It's a disturbing statistic, but one which every parent should face.

Understanding Teen Suicide - What causes someone to go from thinking about suicide to attempting it? Dr. David Shaffer, the director of child and adolescent psychology at Columbia University and a leading expert on suicidal behavior, says that the causes may be complex, but the patterns are usually straightforward.

Asthma in Adolescents: Dealing With New Challenges - Being a teen can be difficult. Being a teen with asthma poses extra challenges. There may be changes in the characteristics of their symptoms due to puberty, and distractions may make them less aware. Listen as experts discuss how to help adolescents face asthma.

Ritalin Alert: As Abuse Rates Climb, Schools Are Scrutinized - The reports trickling out of rural towns, urban centers, and affluent suburbs have now become a steady drip: Prescription pills meant to treat ADHD in children are quietly being emptied out of vials and passed from hand to hand, given or sold to fellow students. Read more.

A recent article from the British magazine, Guardian Unlimited, shared information about the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, or CABE, a government advisory agency offering architectural services to town planners and housing development moguls who are examining creative ways to re-engineer structures for "fitness friendly" buildings.

The article notes that in many modern buildings, the stairs are hidden away as if a dirty little secret, while glass and mirrored elevators dominate. Reading over the article I learned two new terms: "obesogenic" and "eco-slob." Obesogenic refers to fat-making environments, which include those places where walking and/or bike riding are next to impossible, and residents are essentially forced to drive their cars for even the most mundane errands. The second, eco-slob, refers to the ironic beauty of high-density housing, which actually promotes walking and bike riding as a "path of least resistance" alternative to congested driving conditions. Read this article.

Reid Ewing of the National Center for Smart Growth and the University of Maryland served as lead author of a study which showed that American adults living in sprawling counties (i.e., low density, car-dependent housing) walked less, weighed more, were more likely to be obese, and were more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than otherwise comparable adults living in higher density, compact counties. This was the first study to show a link between urban form and the U.S. obesity epidemic.

Professor Ewing recommends the redesign of communities to promote physical activity as part of people's daily routines. Some examples include, walking to lunch, climbing stairs, and using transit which requires a walk at each end. This will require higher urban densities, finer mixes of residential and non-residential activities, stronger downtowns and other activity centers, and smaller blocks for better street accessibility.

Professor Ewing's landmark article, "The Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity," was published in the Sept/Oct. 2003 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Chronic Stress: The Mental Connection - This is a question and answer WebMD university course, posted on the WebMD website, between a moderator and their course instructor. They discuss mental health concerns that can result from stress.

Stress and the Cardiovascular System
This CME course is designed for physicians in all specialties who treat or counsel patients with cardiovascular risk factors, and is also appropriate for other health professionals.

The Health Effects of Stress and Increased Cortisol - Stress causes chemical changes in the body that, left unchecked, can have negative effects on both mental and physical health. High levels of stress contribute to health issues as diverse as depression, insomnia, heart disease, skin disorders and headaches. Read more.

Signs, Symptoms, Types, and Risk Factors
Feeling down from time to time is a normal part of life. But major depression is more than just the temporary “blues.” The lows of major depression are more severe and can last for months on end, causing disruptions to your daily functioning. Read some very good information at this site.

Adrenal fatigue - the effects of stress and high cortisol levels: Our patients' most common symptoms are fatigue, insomnia, weight gain, and depression. Does that sound like you? If so, your underlying problem may be adrenal fatigue. Find out more.

Daryl Hannah's Mission: Ending Sex Slavery - Daryl Hannah has made it her personal mission to not only rescue these sex slaves from the pimps and madams who illegally own them, but to spread the word about the growing problem by making a documentary about the issue.

Teen Girls' Stories of Sex Trafficking in U.S. International Sex Trafficking Is a Well-Known Problem, But It Happens Here as Well. Fifteen-year-old "Debbie" is the middle child in a close-knit Air Force family from suburban Phoenix, and a straight-A student - the last person most of us would expect to be forced into the seamy world of sex trafficking. Read this scary news from ABC.

Child Sex Trafficking: The Facts - Think it's not happening in your neighborhood? Think again. Get the facts on child sex trafficking, and let your voice be heard.

Open the Door to a Healthy Heart

Take stock of what's inside. Once a month, pull everything out of your cupboards and refrigerator and separate the better-for-you foods from the rest. Make sure you have more low-fat, high-fiber, and low sugar foods than other types, and if not, consider gradually reducing the number. Choose more low-fat and fat-free dressings, condiments, and sauces instead of full-fat ones.

Hide desserts. Stow away desserts and other indulgent foods in the crisper, so they're "out of sight, out of mind." Most of the time, healthier foods like fruits and vegetables are the ones that perish the quickest and, therefore, should be kept on the refrigerator shelf where you can see and eat them. (Americans on average waste about $10 a week on produce that spoils.)

Organize by "more” and "less." Divide your refrigerator into different sections of "choose more often" and "choose less often." This could be by shelf or within the shelf, always keeping healthier foods up front and less-healthy foods toward the back.

Substitute lower-fat foods for higher-fat ones. Some examples include skim or 1% milk for whole milk; soft margarine for butter; and lean meats, chicken and fish for ribs, ground meat and other fattier meats. A simple substitution like soft margarine for butter over a week's time can save you an entire day's worth of saturated fat.

Make healthy eating fun for the family by color-coding foods with stars or heart stickers - use green for heart-healthy, and red for less healthy.

Make healthy food appealing. Keep an indulgent topping or accompaniment next to a healthy food to make it more appetizing. Next time you want a snack, you'll be more likely to eat something healthy if the mixed nuts are next to the low-fat yogurt, or the chocolate syrup is beside the skim milk, ready to be mixed together.

Prepare leftovers as a meal for the next day. Put the entree with the vegetables and other side items on a plate and cover for the next day's lunch or dinner to create a do-it-yourself balanced "TV" dinner.

Prepare foods as "ready to eat" meals when you come home from grocery shopping. Cut up vegetables and fruits and store them in containers, so they'll be ready for the next meal, or for when you come looking for a ready-to-eat snack.

Freeze foods in portion sizes to make healthy eating easier. Did you know the recommended serving of cooked meat is 3 ounces, similar in size to a deck of playing cards? The standard serving size for pasta is one cup (or the size of a Walkman) and half a cup for vegetables (about the size of a tennis ball).

Freeze fruit for fun. Freeze fruits such as bananas, grapes, and orange slices to make them more fun to eat for children. Next time they want a sweet snack offer them frozen fruit rather than ice cream.

Source: "Open the Door to Healthy Heart" campaign.

Tragic Tale of Teen Dating Violence. Is Your Daughter Vulnerable to an Abusive Relationship? Nov. 10, 2006 - "20/20" reported a disturbing story on teen-dating violence, April 5, 2005. The story was so powerful we wanted to air it again with updates. Here you'll see the positive reaction of one mother to a devastating event. Also, read the dating violence facts.

Teen Dating Violence Website - We've developed this web site to help teens and the people who care about them understand relationship abuse. Building awareness is one of the best ways to combat this all-too-pervasive problem. See another resource website at SafeYouth.

Dating Violence - Teenagers often experience violence in dating relationships. Statistics show that one in three teenagers has experienced violence in a dating relationship. In dating violence, one partner tries to maintain power and control over the other through abuse. Dating violence crosses all racial, economic and social lines. Most victims are young women, who are also at greater risk for serious injury. Young women need a dating safety plan. Find out more.

Teen Dating Violence - Stop The Silence
Teenagers today are experiencing many of life's trials and triumphs. In the US, 89 percent of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 say they have been in dating relationships, and many of them are caught in a devastating cycle of violence. What's even more devastating is that many teens don't even realize that they are in an abusive relationship and sometimes even rationalize their partner's actions constantly. Read more...