If you thought Virginia Tech research was all about fiber optics, composites, polymers, and biotechnology, think again. Tech faculty also are doing research you can use to improve your daily life. From considering a potential mate to managing your debt load and handling stress naturally, here are 10 tips by Tech experts to help you thrive.
Exercise harder and less
If you are healthy and reasonably fit, you can increase your strength and fitness without spending hours in the gym, according to psychology professor Richard Winett. He's perfected a way to build strength and endurance by performing shorter, less frequent, more intense workouts.
You progress in cardiovascular (aerobic) fitness as well as in strength by increasing intensity. That means if you walk, go a little faster each time and add more challenging, hilly terrain. If you lift weights, try to increase either the repetitions or resistance on each workout.
You don't need to exercise longer or more often. In fact, exercising daily to the point of exhaustion can make you less fit and can lead to the loss of muscle mass.
Working out two or three times per week for resistance (weight) training and an equal amount of aerobic activity is all that is necessary, Winett says. But, unless you're always performing more challenging tasks, you lose the gains you've made.
Whether you're male or female, you need both aerobic and resistance training, Winett says, for cardiovascular health and to prevent the loss of muscle mass and strength after age 30. He recommends finding someone who can teach the controlled movements necessary for resistance training, which can help prevent low back pain, sluggish metabolism, and loss of strength. Aerobic exercise alone is not enough to combat these tendencies, Winett says.
The method has worked for Winett. At 51, he can complete 22 full squats carrying a 330-pound barbell and do 10 chin-ups with 100 pounds strapped around his waist. He also did the equivalent of under a five-minute mile on an exercise climbing machine.
A health psychologist, Winett is director of the Center for Research in Health Behavior at Virginia Tech. His research, supported by $5.7 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, focuses on health promotion and disease prevention, including adoption of proper nutrition and exercise. He is author of Ageless Athlete and publisher of the Master Trainer newsletter.
Nature breaks lower the pressure
Contact with nature reduces stress. You've heard it before, but forestry professor Bruce Hull has found this to be true in controlled studies. Just visiting an urban park can decrease your feelings of stress and tiredness, he's found.
"Daily hassles, because of their high frequency and chronic nature, may be among the most serious causes of stress-related health effects," he says.
"Other researchers have documented that when people experience daily hassles or frustrations, they also experience a dampening of their immune systems."
But, according to a study done by Hull and a graduate student in College Station, Texas, a 30-minute break at a park can lift sagging energy levels, ease that stressed-out feeling, and improve bad moods. It doesn't seem to matter whether you jog, bicycle, walk, sunbathe, or just sit, the effect is the same.
Hull, who teaches forest recreation, says that for many, even the view of nature from their window or in realistic pictures on their walls has some effect on mitigating stress. And this has a positive effect on cognitive skills and creativity.
So when you're feeling stressed, schedule a break in a park or woodland.
Be career resilient
With the average American changing careers two, three, or even four times a lifetime, you have to be career resilient to thrive these days, says Carl McDaniels, education professor, director of the Virginia View career information project, and author of Career Compromises for a Changing Workforce and a Changing Workplace.
"In other words, you should take responsibility for your life and be ready for change. You should be preparing for your next career now," he says.
McDaniels recommends giving yourself a regular career check-up at least once a year in which you set goals for new skills, job accomplishments, and enriching experiences. McDaniels, one of the first educators to include leisure in a holistic definition of career, also urges you to consider fitness and recreational goals. "Good health is important; without it you don't accomplish anything," he says.
To be career resilient, you need to be a continuous learner, whether through university classes, courses over the Internet, or independent study. Seek to correct your weaknesses, such as a lack of computer skills, he says.
The career-resilient person, while looking forward, is fully committed to his or her job, McDaniels says. "Don't slack off when it looks like a downsizing is imminent. You want your references to say that you gave your best to that job," he says.
Manage your own morale, McDaniels urges. "Try to develop your sense of humor with humorous and insightful readings; you can't afford a depression caused by your own negative input," he says.
And lastly - be in a hurry, he advises. "Don't procrastinate. Keep a journal to see where your time is going, and study up on time management."
McDaniels has been following his own advice. On June 30, when he reluctantly retired from his professorial position after 27 years, he smoothly shifted into the job of revising several books, stepping up his fitness program, and improving his computer skills. He continues to run Virginia View.
Make small diet changes for lasting differences
"Easy does it" is the approach Extension nutrition professor Ruby Cox recommends as a result of her research on developing more healthful eating habits.
Rather than trying out every new health idea that comes along, Cox recommends concentrating on making a few changes. Getting exercise, for overall health and stress reduction, is first on her list. Then change three or four dietary habits.
Cox suggests reducing fat intake, not by counting fat grams, but by eating smaller portions of high-fat foods. And if you eat more fruits, vegetables, dried beans, and other sources of fiber while decreasing meats, you're getting good sources of antioxidants, which help prevent cancer and heart disease.
Next, Cox says, eat smaller portions and smaller, more frequent meals. Finally, include foods rich in calcium (milk, cheese, yogurt) and take a calcium/vitamin D supplement (the only supplement she says may be necessary even if you eat a balanced diet). Calcium reduces the risk of osteoporosis and may lower high blood pressure. The recent emphasis on avoiding direct sunlight can lead to vitamin D deficiency, Cox says, since sunlight stimulates its production in the body.
Manage your mind
Management professor and marathon runner Christopher Neck believes that what you put into your mind is just as important as what you feed your body, for both athletic and mental performance.
Borrowing techniques from sports psychology, Neck has developed techniques that involve imagery, positive self-talk, and eradicating self-defeating thought patterns. He calls these strategies thought self-leadership.
"You lead yourself by creating productive thought patterns," he says. "You can have opportunity thinking, which sees challenges, or obstacle thinking, which only sees reasons to give up on problems."
Neck recommends imagining executing a task successfully before you do it, to improve performance in areas such as teaching, decision-making, negotiating, and other mental activities. The visualization is most effective, he says, if you can relax, incorporate vivid details, and feel yourself acting in the situation, rather than merely observing it.
"It works because you have learned during the visualization stage and increased your confidence by practicing in a relaxed state," he says.
Listen and record what you say to yourself about a behavior you want to change - for instance, unhealthful eating habits, Neck says.
"Ask yourself, 'How functional is it if I tell myself I might as well eat the whole pint of ice cream just because I ate more than I should today?'" he says. "Doesn't every calorie count?"
Neck asks participants to identify their type of dysfunctional thinking (e.g. all-or-nothing thinking, over-generalization, jumping to conclusions) from a list of 10 categories specified by psychologist David Burns. "Confront these types of thinking and replace them with more rational thoughts," Neck says. "Tell yourself, 'I slipped up on my diet, but I caught myself.'"
Develop constructive self-statements to combine with positive images, Neck says. "This kind of input distracts you from fatigue and renews your resolve to finish things successfully."
Plan for your financial future
The keys to financial health - according to Irene Leech (CT '80, MHFD M.S. '82, HIDM Ph.D. '88), assistant professor and Extension specialist in consumer education - are organization and planning.
"It may seem simplistic," Leech says, "but if you don't know where all your records are, including insurance policies and credit card numbers, you'll have major problems in the case of accident, theft, or loss." She recommends keeping records, including tax information and receipts, in a central place, with copies in another location.
To really thrive, Leech says, you need to make financial goals for what you have determined is important in your life. Too often, she says, we're more concerned with what we can buy today than with what we'll need tomorrow. Prepare to pay for your own retirement, she says, since Social Security won't be able to provide for all those who'll retire in the next few decades. In addition, she recommends setting aside an accessible fund equal to three to six months' take-home pay for emergencies.
You can save a lot more if you limit your credit spending to not more than 15 percent of your take-home pay, Leech says. This category includes car payments, but not your home mortgage.
Finally, Leech recommends accumulating knowledge on financial planning through workshops, community college or Cooperative Extension courses, and self-help books on financial planning.
Leech, whose research includes bankruptcy, is a specialist in consumer education. She evaluates and designs programs, including financial advice for youth, and adults, especially women, through the Extension division.
Plant some pollution preventers
Horticulture Extension specialist Diane Relf is always eager to talk about the therapeutic properties of plants, whether as part of a horticulture therapy program, stress-reducing landscaping, or as agents counteracting indoor air pollution.
Those of us who spend a lot of time indoors would do well to have our air cleaned naturally by indoor plants, she says. "Through an in-depth study sponsored by NASA, it was determined that indoor plants in a closed, controlled environment were able to extract pollutants from the air," she says.
The foliage removes low levels of pollution, while the roots, assisted by an activated carbon filter, removed higher concentrations of air pollutants. The study demonstrated that plants reduced air pollution from gases, such as formaldehyde and benzene, that are often found in intensely energy efficient buildings. Other studies are determining plants' efficacy in cleaning up larger particle pollutants, such as asbestos, carbon monoxide, solvents, cleaning fluids, fungi, and tobacco smoke.
Outside our homes and offices, trees and other plants act as remedies for smog and other air pollution by absorbing carbon dioxide and converting it to oxygen during photosynthesis. During this process, tree foliage also removes from the atmosphere other chemicals, such as nitrogen oxides, airborne ammonia, some sulfur dioxide and ozone, that are part of the smog and greenhouse-effect problems. "Bad air" conditions in urban locations can be improved by increasing the numbers of trees in these areas. For example, an 80-foot beech tree has been shown to remove daily carbon dioxide amounts equivalent to that produced by two single-family dwellings.
Share friends and share values for lasting union
How can you make a good marriage? Well, forget that romantic notion about opposites, sociologist John Edwards says; they may attract, but those with like backgrounds and values are more likely to stay married.
Since 1980, Edwards and other researchers have been following more than 2,000 married people to learn what does and doesn't seem to work for marriage longevity. Edwards doesn't tell anyone how to have a good marriage, but he does share the characteristics those who have long marriages hold in common.
Some are rather startling. Children, working wives, and long courtships are "destabilizing" factors, he says. Both children and wife's work that claims more than 40 hours a week tend to unbalance the division of labor and create more dissatisfaction for the wives among many couples.
Edwards' group also finds that couples who linger too long before marriage, either in courtship or in life in general, tend to have more divorces. He finds the same true of couples who rush into marriage or marry in their teenage years. Those with successful marriages had one- to two-year courtships. Those who marry too young (average age is 24 for women; 27 for men) tend to miss some stage of development and have unstable subsequent marriages, he says.
Edward's study found that having common friends with stable marriages, participating in community activities together, going to church together, and accumulating financial assets during a marriage (unless the wife has to work more than 40 hours a week to do so) make for longer, more stable marriages.
Edwards' study also gives points for hanging in there. If you've been married more than seven years, the marriage becomes more stable, he says.
Deal openly with children's fears
If you want your child to enter the world with self-assurance and a basic level of trust, respond openly and confidently to his or her fears. Psychology professor Tom Ollendick, who directs the university's Child Study Center and researches child and adolescent phobias and anxiety, says fears are a normal part of development.
Children's fears result from their attempts to make sense of their world, Ollendick says. They must learn to trust and to differentiate real from imaginary dangers.
You can help your child move into confident adolescence and adulthood by listening to your child, giving reassurance, acknowledging the fear, and suggesting how to overcome it. For example, if your child cries when you leave the house, explain where you're going and when you'll be back. Be clear and loving, but firm. Then follow through. Help the child to process what has happened by talking about it afterward, he says. Praise brave behavior.
Discussing fearful situations and role playing ways of dealing with them may be helpful. Gently coax the child to confront the fear. Don't try to fool your child by sneaking out of the house or making him confront a fearful situation without preparation.
Most importantly - expect your child to overcome fears, says Ollendick. Instill confidence. If you give in to the fears, the child can become the center of attention and can disrupt normal family life.
If fears become more intense, more persistent, and more frequent, Ollendick says, they may have become phobias and professional help may be needed.
It takes a village
Tech professor Elizabeth Fine says that when the people living around you see themselves as part of a community, rather than as unconnected individuals, it makes all the difference.
As coordinator of Tech's Appalachian Studies program, Fine teaches a class on Appalachian communities that examines what creates or weakens the sense of community. Community, she says, give its members a sense of security and connectedness. "You have a sense of social support - of knowing someone will be there for you in times of crisis," she says.
But community doesn't just happen. "You build it through active participation," Fine says. "You often build it in small ways, like being caring toward other people and their property, checking on elderly neighbors, and supporting school fund raisers, whether you have children or not. Children will be the leaders in the local economy, so nurture them. Pay taxes for good schools; educated children will pay the taxes to support us when we're old."
Fine's other tips for building community include treating clerks and other service personal with friendly civility, supporting local merchants (who are most responsive to the community), and looking out for the rights of neighbors. Democracy keeps the community healthy, she says. "Make sure decisions that affect the area are made locally."
Fine has come to define community in terms of all the creatures in our environment, and says we need to examine our land-use practices with their co-existence in mind. If we destroy the native plants and animals in our habitat, we are so much the poorer, she says.
Community is our last chance for survival as a species, she says. "If we lose our vision of community, we lose our ecological and social support system," she says. "We find ourselves in an increasingly mean-spirited world where more random acts of violence by isolated individuals are likely to occur. It all comes back, whatever we put into the system."