Tag: health

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News

Studying the worldwide phenomenon of vaping and its dangers

In a puff of smoke, vaping has become a worldwide phenomenon. As more dimly-lit electronic cigarette stores set up shop across Montreal, Concordia University Health and Exercise Science masters students, Tasfia Tasbih and Florent Larue, aim to demystify the consequences of using e-cigarettes.

“People have the notion that [an e-cigarette] is really safe and that it’s not harmful like a regular cigarette, but it actually is,” Tasbih said. “Any amount of nicotine consumed is harmful. Smokers may not feel the impact today, but what I have found is that these products will gradually drag you toward addiction and different negative physiological responses.”

Some users misguidedly believe that vaping is more effective than conventional treatments to stop smoking altogether. However, there is no evidence of its harmlessness. The World Health Organization has consistently called for a regulation of e-cigarettes because of the lack of literature, and this past June, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes.

According to Tasbih and Larue, e-cigarettes are often promoted as being healthier because companies deceptively claim that they do not contain nicotine.

“More and more people are nowadays choosing electronic cigarettes to reduce their combustible cigarette consumption, unaware of the lack of knowledge we have about this device,” Larue said.

What makes e-cigarettes so appealing is that, unlike a traditional cigarette, as battery-powered vaporizers, they are more easily concealed than their tobacco-rolled counterpart. In 2018, the value of e-cigarettes was estimated at $15 billion worldwide, and their popularity continues to grow. In an attempt to attract more clients, companies have produced vapes in a variety of colours, sizes and designs, allowing users to customize their experience.

E-cigarette companies have also received backlash for developing different fruity flavours for vape juice, also referred to as “e-juice” or “e-liquid.” This juice is the fluid used in vaporizers to create vapour and varies in nicotine levels. Flavours available include peppermint, strawberry and raspberry, which are especially popular among younger clients.

While researchers have shown that using e-cigarettes leads to reduced respiratory function, Tasbih and Larue hope to take their work a step further. Over the course of their three-year project, the two graduate students will study how to approach smoking cessation treatment, as well as the impacts of e-cigarette consumption, according to sex differences.

For Larue, the research project is a way for he and his colleagues to confirm the impact of e-cigarettes on the autonomic nervous system’s stress response.

The research team, supervised by Dr. Simon Bacon, has already begun recruiting participants. Throughout the project, Tasbih and Larue plan to study 120 participants between the ages of 18 and 45 who don’t have chronic diseases. Ninety will be either e-cigarette or traditional cigarette smokers, and the remaining ones will be non-smokers.

Yet, conducting the pioneering study has presented its fair share of challenges. Although there are many ways to measure the autonomic nervous system, they are not easily feasible. Over the course of their work, Larue admits that he and his colleagues sometimes struggled to obtain a good signal to perform impedance cardiography assessments.

“One of the many [challenges] is to screen people with no smoking history and no underlying disease, to make sure that the effects we will see aren’t linked to something other than e-cig smoking,” Larue said. “We also have to be precise in our measurements since physiological changes observed can be small, but when lasting for years, they could still become meaningful or harmful.”

 

Photo by Britanny Clarke

Categories
Opinions

Health professionals attempting to Fight Weight Stigma

For far too long, weight has been used as a health indicator. This inaccurate measurement has irresponsible and widespread repercussions for both physical and mental health.

As our understanding of health and well-being develops, I believe we need to continue to think critically and resist the stigma that bigger bodies do not hold the same value as smaller bodies.

In my opinion, the stigma surrounding weight places healthcare professionals such as dieticians in a difficult position; as research about health care and body image continue to evolve, they are faced with the challenge of misinformation. As experts in this field, they are tasked with redefining wellness, while also dealing with the burden of undoing the incorrect assumptions that exist about weight bias. This in itself could be a full time job.

According to Obesity Canada, weight bias is a negative attitude and view targeted at those who are living in larger bodies. This bias seeps into every crevice of society, distorting our perception of health and beauty. According to ABC news, the stigma on larger bodies creates distain and impatience from society.

“Doctors have shorter appointments with fat patients and show less emotional rapport in the minutes they do have,” said Michael Hobbes in an article for the Huffington Post.

There is an implication that weight is a choice, and thinness equals health. We know that weight loss and health are not that simple. This misconception speaks to a systemic issue of idolizing smaller bodies and dehumanizing those in larger ones.

Bianca Santaromita-Villa, a Dietitian working in Ontario, explains that her job is often misconstrued as “diet police.” Santaromita-Villa says that the goal for her practice, as a health-at-every-size professional, has nothing to do with dieting. She helps support her clients by ensuring they are getting the nutrients they need on an individual basis.

Through her experience, Santaromita-Villa has learned that the topic of body image and weight is emotional for a client. Some health care professionals simply focus on weight when it comes to health advice. Santaromita-Villa explains that this approach reinforces the weight stigma, and evidence shows that it is damaging for a client’s health, psychologically and socially.
Santaromita-Villa uses the example of a patient with knee pain. If a doctor simply tells a patient to lose weight, it frustrates them, and will likely result in them blaming themselves for their situation.

Alternatively, Santaromita-Villa explains, this same patient could have arthritis, which could be unrelated to losing weight, contrary to the doctor’s oversimplification.

Weight is not a health indicator. There are many factors that influence weight, and to project a conclusive health analysis using weight is deceptive and irresponsible. Santaromita-Villa explains, “someone in a larger body could be consuming the exact same thing as someone in a smaller body, doing the same exercises, and they are still going to live in that larger body.”

Moving away from using weight as a measurement of success, one of the strategies Santaromita-Villa uses is to provide the client with “modifiable factors.” These are tangible factors that the client can use to track their progress. For example, they could measure their simple sugar intake using the amount of pop they drink, and track their consumption over a two month period.

She explains that these “modifiable factors” allow the client to measure their progress with elements that they can control. “Weight can go where it wants to go, sometimes it’s in our control, sometimes it’s not.”

For every weight loss ad, juice cleanse, and photoshopped beauty magazine, there’s a healthcare expert trying their best to push an agenda of healthy and sustainable living, by removing the element of weight. Santaromita-Villa says that the shift toward a healthier concept of wellness starts with small changes and informing ourselves on how these misconceptions are dangerous not only to our bodies, but our self worth as well.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

Categories
Opinions

The life and hard times of a Concordia student

Graphic by Wednesday Laplante

Here are some tips on how to become a better version of yourself this semester

Welcome all Concordians, old and new, to the fall semester! As a new academic year kicks off, the campuses are buzzing with students as we swarm the halls and classrooms. Some of us are back to conquer yet another year, and the rest of you are beginning your journey as a Concordian. Either way, after a long summer off from school, we all need some time to mentally prepare and readjust to student life.

I don’t know about you, but even after a few weeks, I’m still having trouble accepting the busy semester ahead. But denial won’t get me anywhere. The semester is here; there is no stopping this train. After five years of experience as a Concordia student—I’m finishing my master’s in environment—the best advice I can give you is to dive in head first.

Now, some of you might be afraid to do this. You may be wondering if you’ll sink or swim. That is a valid question, but my answer is simple.

How can you sink when you’re surrounded by life preservers? If you’re struggling to stay afloat and on top of your academic work, just reach out and grab one. We’re surrounded by so much support, you just have to know where to look.

First thing’s first: Get with the program, literally. We may dread, at least a little bit, the idea of starting another semester, but at the university level, we’re here because we want to be. And if you’re going to do anything, do it right! It’s important to remember we signed up for this life of learning, and we’re so lucky to be in an environment that allows us to grow intellectually, socially and personally.

To take advantage of a full Concordia experience, here are some tips on how to excel as a Concordia student and tap into your inner nerd.

Start by balancing your social and academic lives. You need to be able to do both in order to stay sane. Detach every so often and redirect your energy so you can perform better when you return to  your studies. Try joining a student club or association, attend campus events, or volunteer. These are great opportunities to learn new skills outside of the classroom. Get involved in something you enjoy.

Take care of your physical and mental health. As students, it’s easy to live off of coffee and Timmie’s bagels for extended periods of time. But a healthy body and mind will help you with your studies. Be mindful of what you eat and how much you’re sleeping.

As for dealing with the inevitable roller coaster of emotions, stress and anxiety that come with being a student, know that you’re not alone. We’re all going through the same thing, and what you’re experiencing is normal. You can also check out Concordia’s Counselling and Psychological Services for more tips or if you want to speak with a professional.

But before all else, to excel as a student, you must adopt a student mindset. Get back on track, stop procrastinating and do those readings. Be the best student you can be. Be curious and dare to ask the questions no one is asking. Think outside the box and challenge your professors. Understand that they are people too, and they’re not always right. Be open to other student’s perspectives; you can learn a lot from your peers. And take advantage of the services available to us for help in all areas of student life. If you’re not sure what help you need or where to find it, stop by the Welcome Crew offices on either campus and a student mentor (maybe even me, if I’m on shift) will be happy to help.

Lastly, make the right friends for the right things. Who you hang out with and when is key to being a good student. Form study groups for your classes, and find like-minded people to motivate you through your studies and push you to do better. When studying, embrace your inner Concordia nerd. Remember that sometimes (not always) there needs to be a distinction between the friends you have for your academic life and the people in your social life. Your study friends are your study friends and your Reggies friends are your Reggies friends, but you’ll need both to kill it at Concordia.

Graphic by Wednesday Laplante

 

Categories
News

Instability of work is cause of stress for Concordia’s part-time faculty union

Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association new collective agreement will reduce number of credits necessary for health care coverage. Photo by Alex Hutchins

New collective agreement will reduce number of credits necessary for health care coverage

Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA) chair of communications Laurie Milner left a tenure position at Vancouver’s Emily Carr University of Art and Design for a part-time faculty position at Concordia.

It’s a unique situation, she admitted, but she “wanted other things in life, other than being inside one academic community.” While being a part-time faculty member allows her to work outside the university, it is also a lot more unstable than working full-time.

“The stresses for a part-time faculty member can be pretty high in terms of job security,” Milner told The Concordian. That’s because part-time teachers apply for courses at the beginning of every year, no matter how long they’ve been working at Concordia. Milner said part-time faculty often start with only three or six teaching credits a year, the equivalent of just one or two classes.

This issue is compounded by the fact that CUPFA members are only eligible for health care coverage after 50 credits of seniority, a condition agreed upon in their last collective agreement signed in April 2012.

Milner said “part-time faculty often [don’t] have coverage for nine to 10 years” because of that condition.

The union’s new collective agreement with the school—which has to be approved by Concordia’s Board of Governors—will reduce the number of credits necessary to obtain coverage from 50 to 45. The health care plan includes access to psychologists and other mental health professionals.

In a statement, Concordia University vice-president of services Roger Côté said the agreement between both sides was a “representation of the teamwork and positive contributions of all parties.”  Milner said CUPFA members are happy with the agreement, but wished the number of credits to qualify was even lower.

CUPFA’s chair of communications added that the topic of mental health has been discussed in the Department of Studio Arts’ appraisal committee where Milner said departments do a “very intensive self-reflective analysis of where we are and where we want to be.”

The topic of mental health was also discussed in a Fine Arts Faculty Council Steering Committee by the faculty’s dean, Rebecca Duclos. Milner said “she was very happy […] it was raised as one of the issues we should focus on more.”

Duclos was a part-time faculty member herself at Concordia and eventually became the dean of graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before returning to Concordia in August 2015.

Milner, who described Duclos as “sensitive to part-time [faculty],” said department chairs and deans have a big influence. “It’s possible that you have a chair who is not particularly sensitive or supportive of part-time faculty, and they set things up in ways that suddenly exclude you from courses that you’ve been teaching for a very long time,” Milner explained.

According to Milner, the university has lost about 100 part-time faculty members in the last 10 years because of the increase in limited-term appointments or LTAs.

These positions are described by the Concordia University Faculty Association as appointments “limited to a stated term and which carries no implication that the appointee [will] be reappointed or considered for tenure.” Milner told The Concordian that LTAs have a heavy workload which consists of six courses in their first year and seven in their second and third, which pales in comparison to the workload of part-time faculty members.

“If [part-time faculty] have been there awhile, they’re not only losing money—they’re losing the health insurance if they had it, they lose their access to the library to continue their research,” Milner said. “So the stakes are so high for people.”

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Categories
Student Life

My personal experience with anorexia

Graphic by Thom Bell

One Concordia student talks about her struggles with body dysmorphia and self-esteem

At 14, I was diagnosed with anorexia.

It all started during the summer of 2008. My family and I often visited the Old Port and went to see movies together. During these family outings, whenever I wore a tight-fitting T-shirt, my sisters and brother would comment on my belly fat. I started to feel extremely self-conscious. “You need to stop eating junk food because you are getting fat,” they would tell me.

Thinking back, yes, I had gained a bit of weight in my stomach area, but I wasn’t overweight. Yet back then, I was disgusted with myself. I would stand in front of the mirror and push my belly in, hoping it would just disappear.

People sometimes don’t realize how the things they say can hurt someone. I felt as if there was something wrong with me because of my obsessive thoughts about my body, my weight and my physical features.

I just wanted to feel “normal,” and feel good about myself. When I started grade eight that September, I slowly stopped eating—I used to skip breakfast and lunch. At night, I would only eat a small snack, like an apple or yogurt, just so that my stomach would not growl all night.

I used to admire the models in magazines, and I wanted more than anything to look like them. I wanted to be skinny—I equated that to being pretty.

I also equated skinniness to being healthy. But at 15, my family doctor told me my skinniness was far from healthy. At 5’2, I weighed only 90 pounds. “You need to start eating or else you’ll die,” he told me. That was my wake-up call. He made me keep a food journal to keep track of my eating habits, and to make sure I was eating.

He also advised my mom to watch me, to make sure I was eating three meals a day. At that time, I was getting bullied at school. People would say I was too skinny and ugly. Those were the darkest days of my life. I felt frustrated when my mom started supervising me. However, even though she had never given me emotional support, I knew this was her way of showing she cared about me. My brother used to call me names because I was skinny. My second sister was actively supporting my recovery, though.

The second wake-up call was when my eldest sister cried. “You are malnourished, I can tell just by looking at you,” she said. At that point, somewhere deep down, I knew I wanted to get better. I wanted to be in good health.

At 16, after over a year of following a strict food regimen, I attained a healthy body weight. I was eating healthy and exercising, so not only was I in my healthy weight range, but I was also getting fit. During my recovery, I started swimming. It was very therapeutic for me, a kind of escape.

I was proud of myself: I was eating well, exercising and overcoming the things that had been tearing me down. At first, it was hard to not hate my own body. After every meal, I felt fat. But when I started gaining a healthier weight, I looked at myself in the mirror, in a swimsuit, and I felt beautiful.

If there is one thing I’ve learned about my experience, it would be that life is short—it’s better to live a long healthy life than die young because of anorexia. You should never feel ashamed of your body. You are beautiful. Health is beautiful. Happiness is beautiful. Always remember that you are not alone and that you are worthy.

If you are feeling down about your self-image, or experiencing obsessive thoughts about your weight, body or food, please speak up or call for help.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Student Life

What is the real key to happiness?

Photo by Ana Hernandez

A University of the Streets Café discussion reflects on the “pursuit of happiness”

University of the Streets Café hosted yet another edition of its public discussions at Café Aux Deux Marie on St-Denis Street last Wednesday to discuss a hefty topic—the illusive pursuit of happiness.

The talk was moderated by Anurag Dhir, a community engagement coordinator for McGill University’s Social Equity and Diversity Education Office. The event featured speakers who explored the idea of purposefulness and happiness in their line of work: Peter Hartman and Juniper Belshaw. Hartman is a motivational speaker and founder of Happy For A Change, an organization that looks to spread the word about positive global initiative. Belshaw currently works for the Cirque du Soleil as a senior advisor for talent management, but she used to work and volunteer a lot in the  non-profit sector.

The atmosphere of the talk was quite relaxed. Once the speakers made their preliminary addresses, participants were encouraged to join in on the discussion.

While the intention of the talk was to discuss how to lead a life of impact within a community, the natural course of discussion led to the attendees sharing their views on what happiness means to them, and how to achieve a life of happiness. Most of the audience members agreed that living a life of happiness begins with the acceptance that things happen, and one can’t control everything.

There was a general consensus that, to live a life of positive impact, one must first find positivity in their own life. This echoed the sentiments of Belshaw, who at the end of her introduction said “maybe tonight I’m hoping to talk about how we build sustainable social change where we’re creating the world we want, but also living it as we do it.”

Peter Hartman, who also organizes discussions about finding a purpose in life through his organization Happy For A Change, said he’s used to hearing a lot of discussions turn into talks about the pursuit of happiness.

“There is overwhelmingly this focus on happiness,” he said. “I was hoping we would get beyond that… but I find it so useful, because every time we have that conversation we get a little bit further,” into what it means to lead a life of purpose.

Photo by Ana Hernandez

Hartman explained that, for him, living a life of purpose means living a life of meaningful action. “It’s when there is intention behind the actions that you do,” he said. “It’s not just that you have relationships—it’s the manner in which you have relationships that contribute to your overall purpose.”

Relationships, Hartman added, can be as basic as the contact a person has with a store clerk.

This and other guiding principles are the basis of Happy for A Change—what he calls a philosophy and a movement—with the goal of using people’s own search for happiness to make a positive change in the world.

“We understand that everybody is different and people want to work on different things, so we’re trying to find the lowest common denominator, what is the smallest action possible that we can convince people to do that would create change?” said Hartman. For the speaker, that action is going on social media. Hartman believes that going on social media is something that practically everyone does every day and he tries to harness its power by convincing people in the self-help industry to use their financial means to promote and market ideas that create a better society on social media.

Attendees discussed their thoughts on finding happiness through community engagement. Photo by Ana Hernandez

University of the Streets Café is a program part of Concordia’s Office of Community Engagement, which has existed for 15 years. According to Alex Megelas, the organizer of University of the Street Café programming, their mandate is to “promote a culture of community engagement at Concordia.” They do so by creating links between staff, students and different community based groups and organizations. University of the Streets Café is one of their initiatives.

Megelas said his principle role is to create discussions that reflect the goal of the program. This year, their goal is to look at city engagement and, more specifically, “how we live in cities as, individuals and together, [and] create shared experiences.”

The next University of the Streets Café discussion called “Representative Democracy: How do we foster citizenship literacy”, and will be held on March 9 at 7 p.m. at Temps Libre at 5606 De Gaspé St.

Categories
Student Life

Disconnect virtually to reconnect to reality

Photo by Danielle Gasher

How a social media detox might benefit everyone’s health

For many of us, our phones are the first thing we look at when we wake up and the last thing we look at before going to sleep. According to a 2014 report conducted by the Media Technology Monitor, social media is widely used on a daily basis in Canada. In fact, over half of Canadians are signed up to at least one social media platform, and over 79 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 16 and 26 are connected to at least one platform.

Social media platforms were engineered with the goal of helping people communicate and connect them together. However, it seems the opposite might be happening. Psychological and sociological research is increasingly linking anxiety and depression to social media.

A 2016 study conducted by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found a direct correlation between heavy social media use and depression in young adults.  The effects are also being felt in the halls of schools. Research conducted by sociology and anthropology Concordia professor, Francine Tremblay, found the engagement of students in school has been affected by technology. “Students seem to be detached,” said Tremblay.

In Tremblay’s opinion, students should focus more of their time and energy prioritizing their well-being and their studies. “You are studying to succeed… A bachelor’s degree is extremely demanding. You are the most important thing right now,” said Tremblay.

It’s no wonder some students need a break from technology. Alexa Pepper, a communication studies student at Concordia, decided it was time for a detox when she noticed how much her social media use was feeding her anxiety. She decided cut herself off from social media for a week, and for her, it was a very positive experience. “I needed to focus on me… I was doing fun things and I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything,” said Pepper about her experience.

Pepper said the break taught her that she didn’t actually need social media to function and be happy, but she likes the idea of being able to log in when she wants to. “It teaches you self-control,” said Pepper.

For political science student Emma Nablsi, as she embarked on her detox mission, she thought: “If previous generations could do it, why can’t I?” When she felt social media was weighing her mood down and affecting her sleep, Nablsi decided to go on a month-long social media detox. “It was honestly the best time I’ve ever had…because you can live life the way you’re supposed to. I was more social, and I felt that I was in contact with people,” said Nablsi.

Photo by Danielle Gasher

She said she detoxed to challenge herself and to focus more on her real, non-virtual social life.  “It’s like a medicine, a treatment, a kind of therapy. It heals you from the inside and the outside,” said Nablsi.

Performance creation major Tiernan Cornford believes she’s never missed out on anything in the ‘real world’ because she limits her social media use. Cornford is only active on Snapchat. She believes this has permitted her to have a controlled relationship with social media.

“I didn’t want to be on it all the time and be on this crutch. I like talking to people in person,” she said. Cornford said, when you don’t have social media, or decide not to go on it for a while, the people who want to get in touch with you, will. This ‘fear of missing out’ is a common source of stress among young adults.

For Nablsi, the social media detox was “an eye-opening experience.” Nablsi and Pepper said they now realize that the virtual world of social media just isn’t that important. It took them taking a break from it to realize it.

Research conducted in 2016 by McMaster University researchers found that most students can’t control themselves when it comes to social media. The survey found 48 per cent of McMaster’s students couldn’t control their social media use, and 29 per cent weren’t able to control their instant messaging.

“[Today], everything is being turned into an urgent matter,” said Tremblay. She said social media has become a compulsion for many young adults, and of course, a health issue. While the students mentioned above have been able to detach themselves from social media, it is becoming increasingly hard for most students to do so.

If keeping up with social media is making you feel anxious, stressed or depressed, know that it’s something you can put a stop to. You can try your own social media detox, or talk to a health specialist at Concordia’s Health Services.

We asked Concordia students what they think about a social media detox. Watch below for their reactions.

Categories
Student Life

The healthy side with Fardad

Graphic by Thom Bell

The human balance: How does our body achieve balance?

The human body is a crazy, fascinating thing. It works hard to keep all its systems balanced.  As students, we know it’s not easy to be balanced.  Let’s look at how the human body works, and how it is able to keep that balance.

As with many other complex life forms, humans are made of living biological units called cells. Cells are basic units of life—all living things are made up of one or more cells.

  • Humans are made up of more than 30 trillion cells—of many different types. Your muscle cells and brain cells are worlds apart.
  • Similar cells in your body with similar functions and structures work together to form tissue, like muscle tissue or nerve tissue. Tissues work together to do a particular job. For example, your heart pumps blood throughout your body, and your lungs oxygenate your blood. These tissues are collectively called organs.
  • Different organs also work together. Your circulatory system, which includes your heart, your blood and blood vessels, and your lungs, transports nutrients and oxygen through your body, among other functions. These organs are collectively called organ systems.
  • Finally, an organism is a collection of organ systems working together to form an entity, such as humans, animals, plants, fungi or bacteria.

As you see, the human body is a very complex system. All humans are formed from a marriage between two cells: a sperm and an egg.  Doesn’t it make you wonder how all these different types of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems cooperate and coordinate with each other in almost perfect harmony? How did we develop to be this complex machine with a high cognitive function?  And what happens when a part in this complex machine fails?

Let’s define health and disease. A human is healthy when all these parts work well and in harmony with each other. This is called homeostasis—keeping a relatively stable environment, suitable for continual maintenance and growth. The keyword here is relatively, which is important because, depending on the specific system, the body is tolerant towards some turbulence. For example, your body can tolerate a dramatic change in external temperature. When the environmental temperature changes suddenly, your body will immediately work to compensate the negative change and return your body to a favourable temperature.

You have hardwired mechanisms that counterbalance negative changes in your body. Some of these changes encompass a relatively generous range, as with temperature, but some encompass a much narrower range. For instance, blood pH (i.e. its acidity) is tightly controlled between 7.35 and 7.45. Your body keeps a close eye on these levels. A sudden change in pH can be fatal: think alcohol intoxication, as an example. If you binge drink too fast, there may be no coming back. Unfortunately, this is not as uncommon as we’d like to think.

Basically, for all intents and purposes, homeostasis means health. A severe deviation from a homeostatic state causes unease… so we call it a disease.  Diseases can be caused by a multitude of sources. It can be external such as viruses, bacteria and fungi or internal such as cancer, genetics and old age.

Fardad is a science student here at Concordia. He wants to share his research and learning about the science field with the Concordia community.

Categories
Student Life

Making city living responsible living

Graphic by Thom Bell

University of the Streets Café hosted a talk on urban health, environment and social problems

University of the Streets Café held a discussion on the impacts of city living for Montrealers, and invited attendees to share their thoughts, experiences and ideas about how to improve all aspects of city living.

“We tend to forget that we live in the city at the cost of someone else,” said Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay, a guest speaker for the bilingual conversation, which took place at Montreal’s downtown YMCA on Oct. 10. Mukhopadhyay is a family doctor in Northern Ontario, a volunteer physician with Médecins du Monde Montreal and the co-coordinator of the Canadian chapter of the People’s Health.

Mukhopadhyay said that people tend to believe that cities like Montreal are self-sustainable urban organisms.  However, he said most resources come from outside the city, and cities may not actually be the healthiest places to live. “Cities are not the centre of our society,” he said.

For example, he explained that a lot of food travels a long way to get to cities, and as a result, it is often more processed than the food that gets shipped to rural or suburban areas.

Other factors, such as housing and public transit infrastructure in cities, can be damaging to physical health and have major influence on people’s well-being, said Mukhopadhyay.  These factors can result in sickness, such as asthma in kids.

Robyn Maynard, a Montreal-based activist, educator and writer, addressed the social and economic inequalities suffered by communities within Montreal every day. Maynard’s research focuses on gender and race issues, and her fieldwork experience includes street work within the disadvantaged communities of Montreal.  She said the city can be a discriminating place for minorities, and the at-risk population, which includes homeless people, drug addicts and sex workers. She noted that part of the population is often denied security.

She and Mukhopadhyay agreed what people think makes a city healthy may actually make it unhealthy.

Attendees discussed who is responsible for addressing these problems, and brainstormed solutions for making the city a better, healthier and safer place to live.

One of the proposed solutions was for people to attend their neighbourhood and city council meetings. Attendees discussed this solution as a good starting point for getting involved in the conversation of city health and security, and opposing elitist urban planning.

Abby Lippman, the event moderator, discussed violence and its toxic effects on Montreal and other cities. Lippman is an associate researcher at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute and a long-time feminist activist.

“I think about violence as what the system is doing to people. I think the system is being violent by taking money, by taking health away, by putting up lousy housing,” she said.  She suggested that if society and authorities worked on bettering people’s health, then violence control would naturally occur.

The next University of the Streets Café conversation will take place on Oct. 27 at Aux Deux Marie, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aux Deux Maries is located at 4329 St-Denis St. The conversation will explore the topic of rebuilding communities.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Student Life

Exploring the healthy side with Fardad

Graphic by Thom Bell

Debunking stress eating: Tis’ the season of midterms and takeout

Midterm season is officially here, and stress is creeping up on many students. Although people respond to stressful situations differently, a lot of us have a common struggle: stress eating.

Emotional eating can happen for a variety of reasons, but this week we will specifically analyze stress as a cause.

When your body is put under prolonged stress, a multitude of physiological changes happen, namely, your body releases a hormone called cortisol.

Cortisol plays a key role in human survival—think about it from an evolutionary standpoint. Your body registers stress as a “fight or flight” situation. When your body thinks it’s in a life or death situation, it “panics” and urges you to consume calories for strength and survival, when really, all you need is a deep breath.

Needless to say, exam period is a stressful time. Seeking refuge in the glory of pizza or greasy fries when the workload gets overwhelming is something a lot of us can relate to.

While this may provide momentarily relief—due to the release of other hormones like dopamine—the underlying cause of your stress still remains.

Additionally, feelings of guilt about eating too much may enter into the equation and end up adding to your initial stress.

But how can you tell the difference between being actually hungry or just feeling stressed?

There are a few telltale signs. Here are the most important ones:

  • We usually turn to comfort foods or unhealthy foods when we are stressed. Let’s just say cauliflower and broccoli aren’t the food of choice when cramming for an exam.
  • According to Harvard Health, consuming comfort food triggers two changes in the brain. First, it stimulates the reward centre of the brain by releasing feel-good hormones. Second, it has been shown to temporarily counter the effects of the stress-producing and processing hormones. So not only does comfort food provide a “happy fix,” but it also temporarily takes the stress away.
  • According to American pediatrics doctor Dr. Mary Gavin, and many other experts, contrary to stress cravings, physical hunger isn’t instant. It takes time for the digestive system to process food.
  • According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, when you feel physiological hunger, it’s due to the gradual release of the hunger hormone, ghrelin. Ghrelin itself is released over time, thanks to “feedback” provided by sensory nerve endings in the digestive tract, including the intestine and colon. So if you suddenly have a “need” for a bag of chips, take a second to reflect on how stressed you are in that moment. You might just need to relax and take a deep breath.

Here are a few things you can do to help combat stress eating during exam time: 

  • Get moving. Exercise releases endorphins so hop to it. Physical activity also releases those feel-good hormones and it gets fresh blood flowing to the brain, making you feel more awake.
  • Drink a lot of water, regularly. Dehydration oftentimes manifests as hunger. Staying hydrated helps keep your body healthy and your brain active.
  • Call a loved one or a friend—but make sure you don’t end up talking about studying or exams. The aim here is to take your mind off all the stress by hearing a familiar voice and maybe cracking a joke or two. Tell the person in advance that you don’t want to be talking about school.

Fardad is a science student here at Concordia. He wants to share his research and learning about the science field with the Concordia community.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Student Life

My experience with mental health

Graphic by Florence Yee

Dealing with depression, binge eating disorder and attention disorders

I used to try to pinpoint when it all started, but I have come to realize that there is no precise beginning to my experience with mental illness.

In my case, it was just an accumulation of things, like drops that accumulate in a glass until it inevitably overflows.

I grew up in Annecy, France, surrounded by mountains, lakes, nature and caring friends and relatives—a perfect environment.

Everything began crumbling apart when my parents divorced.

I first met with a psychologist when I was seven, to help me understand and accept my parents’ situation.

My parents eventually remarried, and I ended up moving to Paris with my mother in the eighth grade. That is when I truly started to feel my glass begin to overflow.

I faced rejection. I faced rejection because of my fashion style, because of the place I came from. Most importantly, I faced rejection because I made the mistake of being open about my homosexuality. I dealt with daily looks of disgust.

At the age of 14, I began binge eating. It started as a nasty habit, and turned into an addiction that I still fight. I would come home, walk straight to the kitchen, sit on the floor with my bag and jacket still on and stare at the wall as I compulsively stuffed my face with food.

I developed perfectionism and attention problems in high school. School has always been a challenge for me. Seeing my grades drop due to all my emotional struggles only generated more stress linked to failure and limited my attention span even more. I found myself in a vicious circle. My glass was overflowing. It was too much.

During my last year of high school, I asked my mother to help me find a psychiatrist who could help me, at the very least, with my attention deficit. The psychiatrist ended up diagnosing me with depression, and I was prescribed a daily dose of antidepressants.

It was then that my life started to slowly piece itself back together.

After six months, I had stopped taking the medication.  The pills helped and I started focusing on the things I loved in my life again. I started feeling better.

During my healing process, I talked to friends who could relate and help, or at least listen.  I eliminated toxic relationships from my life. I focused on doing things I truly loved. I did photography and drawing. I watched anime. I skateboarded and baked.  Over time, focusing on my hobbies and passions made me feel better.

These were all things I had left behind during my dark time. It took me time to realize that these things were what I was missing to help myself heal.

Most of all, I wouldn’t have gotten better without working on self-love. It took baby steps to gain back my confidence but every day, no matter how hard, I would tell myself that I should love myself for who I am.

I still have downs, and I have accepted that I always will. I don’t believe there are any immediate or magical solutions to mental illness. It was little and then progressively bigger steps that helped me towards remission. That’s what it takes. Open up to someone, surround yourself with the people who love you, do what you enjoy and work on being healthy.

Graphic by Florence Yee

Categories
Student Life

Blend your way to a better body?

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

Are smoothie cleanses all they’re cracked up to be?

Valentine’s day just passed and spring break is fast approaching. If you have a special someone, then they probably gifted you chocolates, of which you ate eight times the “recommended serving size”. If you spent everyone’s favourite corporately sponsored holiday alone, then you probably drank too much and woke up face down in a heart-shaped box filled with empty wrappers and regret. Either way, you’ve got to clean up your act, lest even Instagram filters fail to hide your shame.

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

 

Cleanses and detoxes are all the rage. Celebrities swear by them and food bloggers praise them. Rumours about the dangers of fat, salt, sugar, gluten, soy, dairy, and meat abound, with many (often self-proclaimed) health experts recommending the banishment of these substances from our diets. Detox cleanses promise improved energy, better digestion, better concentration, clearer skin and, most importantly: weight loss.

 

I decided to try out the Dr. Oz 3-Day Detox Cleanse.This one is doctor recommended (and presumably Oprah-approved). The detox calls for four massive smoothies per day composed of whole fruits, vegetables, and various add-ins – conveniently allowing this detox to meet my personal criteria of not starving to death. According to Dr. Oz’s website, the idea is to remove artificial flavours and chemical substances from your diet to give your body a better shot at optimal health. It’s also pretty convenient: all the ingredients are readily available at local stores.

 

See you on the other side, vodka and falafel.

 

Day 1: The first smoothie of the detox is pretty tasty—but the redness of the raspberries isn’t enough to overpower the almond butter and spinach, resulting in an unattractive, sludgy-looking colour. The second smoothie is a beautiful green colour, but is horrifying in taste. The flavour of the four stalks of celery, whole cucumber, and kale really cut through the tastier components. I sip the smoothie from about noon until 6 p.m., grimacing every time. I skip the “snack smoothie” (a repeat of your favourite drink). The dinner smoothie is delicious, despite the weird spiciness of the cayenne pepper. Evaluation: I don’t know if I can face the celery drink again. Maybe I can learn to love my acne and muffin-top.

 

Day 2: Got to pee. This is a constant theme throughout the day. The lunch drink goes down much easier today and my confidence is renewed. Alas, after the dinner drink I crack and make some kale chips. That’s not cheating—there’s kale in this diet, right? Evaluation: I skipped the snack smoothie again because I was just too full from the lunch smoothie. I feel pity toward the less evolved humans who still depend on solid food.

 

Day 3: The breakfast smoothie was excellent today. But disaster strikes when I’m too busy to drink the lunch smoothie (it still takes a lot of concentration to down). I go out to a social commitment around 9 p.m. with a headache, an empty stomach, and a now completely unappetizing, lukewarm kale/celery/cucumber smoothie in hand. I ceded defeat for the evening, going to bed hungry. Evaluation: Eating essentially nothing all day except for the breakfast smoothie is terrible. Urination remained an important theme throughout the day.

 

Final thoughts: I’m happy to be chewing food again. I didn’t lose any weight, but I do feel full of energy and the persistent patch of acne on my cheek has disappeared. I’m calling this a win.

 

“I think that we value health, even though in many ways it doesn’t play out in our life, but it’s something we know is innately important,” said Gabriella Szabo, a nurse and health promotion specialist at Concordia Health Services. “[Detox] seems to be the trend now, and purification has been part of human ritual for all of time. The idea of being cleansed and purified connects with us somehow.”

 

However, Szabo is quick to warn me of the false promises a detox holds: “A lot of detox cleanses—if they’re not dangerous—are expensive and a waste of funds. Or they’re very imbalanced when it comes to nutrients.”

 

Indeed, Szabo examined the Dr. Oz 3-Day Detox Cleanse and, although it did very well on vegetable and fruit servings, it lacked fat and protein. Any weight loss experienced during this diet is just water weight because of its low sodium content, Szabo explained. As for the notion that our bodies need to be “detoxed,” Szabo says that a well-functioning human body takes care of its own clean-up.

 

In reality, this detox probably made me feel so good because it forced me to consume foods that most of us don’t normally get enough of: fruits and vegetables. Szabo mentions that this is the first thing she suggests when students approach her for advice on eating a healthy balanced diet. She noted that a balanced diet is a special challenge for students when a piece of fruit costs a few dollars on campus, while a few steps away are nearly equally priced hamburgers.

 

In sum, Dr. Oz taught me the value of eating a healthy serving of fruits and vegetables on the regular. Szabo’s recommendation for optimal health is to consistently eat a diet that meets the standards outlined by Health Canada and to exercise regularly. Also, I had a revelation: the limiting factor to how many vegetables I can consume has been the amount I am willing to chew in a day. For this reason, I’ll continue blending veggies into  my morning smoothies, but I’ll stick to solid food the rest of the day.

 

Breakfast smoothie:

1 cup water

1 tbsp. flax seed (ground, unless you have a very powerful blender)

1 cup raspberries

1 banana (freeze this the night before, it will cool your smoothie)

¼ c spinach (stop lying to yourself and pack the spinach down)

1 tbsp. almond butter

2 tsp. lemon

 

Lunch smoothie:

4 celery stalks

1 cucumber

1 cup kale leaves (pack it down, you pansy)

½ green apple

½ lime

1 tbsp. coconut oil

½ cup almond milk

1 cup pineapple

 

Snack smoothie:

Repeat favourite drink

 

Dinner smoothie:

½ cup mango

1 cup blueberries

1 ½ cups coconut water

1 cup kale

1 tbsp. lemon

¼ avocado

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tbsp. flax seeds

 

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