Category Archives: Health & Beauty

Over 100 London schools ditch the car on World Car Free Day to improve the Capital’s air

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Over 44,000 pupils are participating to make a greener journey for a greener London

“Walking and cycling to school is a great way to get active and tackle London’s toxic air crisis. On this World Car Free Day, and beyond, I would encourage as many Londoners as possible to give up four wheels in favour of going by foot or by bike”

Will Norman

Walking and Cycling Commissioner

Over 100 schools from 18 boroughs will be marking World Car Free Day today by encouraging parents and carers to substitute their car journeys to school with walking or cycling as part of TfL’s sustainable travel to school programme, STARS, to improve air quality in the Capital.

A number of schools across London have set up ‘car-free zones’ near their school gates, while others have ‘park and stride’ spots where parents park a distance from the school gate and walk the rest of the way.

There will also be ‘walking buses’ where children join an organised walk to school, picking up ‘passengers’ on the way as they learn about looking after the environment.

According to the Mayor of London’s research into the health impacts of cars in London, air pollution is a significant health issue with some of the worst pollution hotspots being around schools located on busy and congested roads.

Ambitious

Today’s event follows concerns around the increase in air pollution and congestion on London’s roads. The school run is a major source of traffic and air pollution with school journeys accounting for half the traffic in London between 8:00 and 9:00am during school terms.

The Mayor’s ambitious draft Transport Strategy sets out plans for improving air quality in London by reducing emissions from buses so that all double-deckers operating in the central Ultra Low Emission Zone comply with Euro VI Standard by 2019, ensuring no diesel taxis are granted a first time license in London from 1 January 2018, working to make London’s entire road transport system zero emission by 2050 at the latest and reducing car use on the journey to school.

The Mayor is also launching the toughest emission standard of any city in the world when the T-charge begins on 23rd October. The vast majority of pre-2006 vehicles will need to pay an additional £10 Emissions Surcharge to travel in the central London Congestion Charge zone.

Important first step

This is an important first step to implementing the Ultra Low Emission Zone, which will affect many more vehicles and is expected to reduce NOx emissions by around 50%.

TfL’s STARS programme has been hugely successful in helping primary and secondary school children adopt safe and sustainable ways of travelling, such as cycling, walking and public transport.

Now in its tenth year, the scheme has grown from 180 schools in 2007 to 1,430 in 2017, achieving an average of a 6% decrease in car use.

Just two ten minute walks a day can improve health and wellbeing and reduce the dangers of developing a range of health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

Great way to get active

Will Norman, Walking and Cycling Commissioner, said: ‘Walking and cycling to school is a great way to get active and tackle London’s toxic air crisis.

‘On this World Car Free Day, and beyond, I would encourage as many Londoners as possible to give up four wheels in favour of going by foot or by bike.’

Leon Daniels, TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, said: ‘Together with the Mayor and working with boroughs we are reducing congestion and improving air quality.

‘It’s great to see our future generations using our STARS programme and World Car Free Day to make the school run green.’

Safer and easier

Tompion Platt, Head of Policy and Communications, Living Streets, said: ‘Making it safer and easier for more families to walk to school is critical to improving air quality around the school gate.

‘Creating safe walking routes, introducing walk to school initiatives and closing school streets to traffic during drop off and pick up times are some of the ways we’re helping schools and parents to ditch the car and choose to walk.’

For further details on the STARS accreditation scheme and the full range of programmes TfL offers to schools and young people, visit tfl.gov.uk/stars or tfl.gov.uk/younglondon.

​3 NEW WAYS TO BEAT SAD THIS WINTER

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Days are about to get even darker, here are three scientifically backed ways to stop your mood from dropping.

As of 2am on Sunday (30th of October), days got darker. While it might mean an extra hour in bed, it can also translate into Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
SAD pretty much does what it says on the tin. The shortening of daylight hours and the lack of sunlight in winter can cause a biochemical imbalance in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus which regulates mood, appetite and sleep with half a million people in the UK both physically and mentally suffering.

The result? Sleep problems, anxiety, depression, lack of energy, and compulsive overeating.

 Here’s our guide to feeling happier when – and before – SAD strikes.

1. LIGHTEN UP
‘Make the most of natural light and take advantage of any opportunity to be exposed to natural light when possible,’ explains psychologist Elaine Slater.
If your office seat isn’t near a window and you haven’t got time for lunch, a light box packed with bright white fluorescent bulbs can give your serotonin levels a boost right when they need it and reset your internal clock to a more summery schedule.
Position the box just above your eyeline and angle it downwards for about 30 minutes each morning. A 10,000 lux bulb is best.

2. POP A HAPPY PILL
No we aren’t suggesting you self-medicate. But supplementing your diet might do you the world of good.
‘SAD can trigger cravings for carbohydrates, but you can nix that by being more mindful about nutrition during SAD season,’ explains Slater.
Vitamin D is the obvious choice when it gets darker but why not try 5-HTP. Derived from tryptophan (also found in turkey and chickpeas), it can aid sleep and is then converted by the body into the happy hormone serotonin.
Take two before you hit the hay to wake up smiling – even if the streetlights are still on.

3. NEGATIVE ATMOSPHERE, POSITIVE VIBE
Science from Columbia University has revealed that negative ions may be the key to fighting the winter blues.
Negative ions are most prevalent in outdoor summer air, but a slump of them in winter can make your mood spiral downwards.

Use an electrical ionizer machine (like the HeavenFresh HF100 Black Negative ion generator) to mimic summer air.
Just 90 minutes a day should do the trick. You can almost smell the Ambre Solaire

Get fit the Royal Canadian Air Force Way in only 11 minutes a day

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Download the Royal Canadian Air Force Get Fit Pamphlet

https://markylon.co.uk/blog/fitplan.pdf

 

LONDON AQUATICS CENTRE Opens 1st March – Book sessions from Monday 20th January

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The London Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will be a vibrant and accessible facility open to the whole community. Following its transformation after the Games the facility will open on 1st March 2014.

The world class former Olympic venue will house two 50m pools, a 25m diving pool, a state-of-the-art gym and a creche. We are working with British Swimming / Amateur Swimming Association to develop performance programmes for all Aquatic disciplines based on the successful Beacon model. We are also working with British Swimming who are planning to use the centre regularly as an international training venue for elite athletes.

In addition we will be playing host to a number of National and International sporting events throughout the year. The venue also includes catering and meeting room facilities.View the timelapse build of the iconic venue.

Activities

Swimming

  • 01 Mar 2014 – 20 Mar 2019

The Aquatics Centre will have a 50m x 10-lane Olympic competition pool and a 50m x 8-lane training pool. Both pools have moveable floors and booms for greater flexibility.

Diving

  • 01 Mar 2014 – 31 Mar 2019

A separate 25m diving pool with 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m platforms, along with 1m and 3m springboards. There will also be also a separate dry land training facility with trampoline, springboards, foam pits and harness.

Gym

  • 01 Mar 2014 – 31 Mar 2019

A 50 station gym with state-of-the-art Technogym kit with stretch and free weights area will be installed for public use with a fantastic view of the competition pool. Affordable memberships will be available to purchase in advance from 20th January. Keep an eye on the website for further updates.

Study explains why women feel urge to eat babies

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Women: Have you ever snuggled a baby in your arms and had an overwhelming urge to actually eat it? As soon as you catch a whiff of that sweet newborn skin you feel compelled to put your mouth on it? A team of researchers have found that this feeling is entirely normal. It’s part of the maternal instinct—and explains why we often find ourselves describing babies as “delicious” and “yummy” and saying things like, “You’re so cute! I could gobble you up!”

Scientists at the University of Montreal found that a newborn’s scent triggers the reward circuit in women’s brains, causing the release of dopamine and activating the same part of the brain that craves certain foods. The researchers found that women had the same feeling even when they were holding a baby who wasn’t their own.

“The olfactory—thus non-verbal and non-visual—chemical signals for communication between mother and child are intense,” explains Johannes Frasnelli, a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Montreal’s Department of Psychology. “What we have shown for the first time is that the odor of newborns, which is part of these signals, activates the neurological reward circuit in mothers. These circuits may especially be activated when you eat while being very hungry, but also in a craving addict receiving his drug. It is in fact the sating of desire.”

(In case you were wondering: While women get this urge to eat babies, they don’t literally do it.)

For this small study, the researchers formed two groups of 15 non-smoking women: One group of women who’d recently given birth and another who’d never had children. Both groups were presented with newborn smells while undergoing brain imaging scans. All of the women received the odors with the same intensity but the scans showed that the mothers’ brains had a stronger reaction.

The researchers concluded: “These results show that the odor of newborns undoubtedly plays a role in the development of motivational and emotional responses between mother and child by eliciting maternal care functions such as breastfeeding and protection. The mother-child bond that is part of the feeling of maternal love is a product of evolution through natural selection in an environment where such a bond is essential for the newborn’s survival.”

January Sales or Huge Con?

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People go crazy for the January sales, but that item you’ve had your eye on for a long time will probably never be in the sale.
I used to work in a huge department store many years ago and this is how the sales work:

Firstly, most stores have two seasons, Winter and Summer, hence why you have Winter Sales and Summer Sales. It’s an excuse for the retailer to get rid of excess stock to make room and free up the money to buy the next season’s stock.

Stores only put items on sale that are not selling. If they can’t move it, they have to reduce it.

End of line electrical goods, to make room for the newer improved feature rich product, that new Sony TV will NOT be in the sale, the old model that you don’t really want will probably be in the sale, but only because they want to get rid of it to make room for the new one, often the discount will be more the longer the item is on sale, if the store can’t sell it at -10% then towards the end of the sale they might reduce it -30%. The store is desperate to get rid of it (but it’s an old model remember.)

Stores use the sales to get rid of stock that is slightly imperfect or has packaging damage. So when you buy something in a store and get it home then realise you don’t like it anymore and the store refunds it, they can’t sell it as new, as the packaging is damaged etc, these kind of items will go in the sale.

When I worked in that department store we would be paid double money to come in on Boxing Day and clear out the China Department of all the good stock, pack it away and send it back to the warehouse. Then the pallets would turn up with all the sale stock. Slightly damaged stock, slight imperfections, printing errors where the pattern wasn’t quite perfect. All the good stuff was safely packaged away ready to be brought back out once the sales were over.

Same with shoes, all the shoes would be sent to the warehouse and all the imperfect ones would be brought out and thrown on the shelves in a jumble. Stitching errors and badly glued fabrics, look carefully at your bargain shoe, I bet the quality is poor. At the end of the sale, what’s left would be shipped back to the warehouse and the good stock sent back to the store.

All sale stock is “Sold as Seen”, you still have the same statutory rights, but if you’re aware it’s “seconds” or slightly imperfect you can’t return it. The shops normal “good will” to customer returns goes out the window during the sales.
If you buy something in a sale such as that old model new Sony TV, you still have all the same legal rights to a refund/repair as if it wasn’t in the sale. Stores that say NO REFUND on sales items are breaking the law. You can still get a refund if the item is faulty or doesn’t match the description or is not fit for purpose.

The other sales trick, is to put the price up a few weeks before Christmas only to bring it down in the sales. Sounds like a bargain, but it was just as cheap a month or so away.

Stores also package and group items together to make it sound like more of a bargain. Put three lotions and potions in a basket wrapped in cling film and throw it in a end of aisle bin dump and the customers can’t buy enough of them. They wouldn’t dream of buying these items normally.

Lastly the biggest trick for retailers is to have one big discount item that sounds too good to be true. For example a £5000 TV for £599. This item does exist, but only one of them and it’s probably already reserved by the store manager. These kind of items are used in promotional adverts and TV news stories to make the sales sound so amazing, this gets the people queuing over night. But I guarantee you won’t get that big name bargain and guess what, because you’ve queued over night you have to buy something, or you’d have wasted your time, and you’ll believe yourself that you have got lots of bargains, but really, you probably haven’t.

You may get some items at discount in the sale, but probably none of the items, you really wanted or needed, but “we can’t resist a bargain” even if it’s not a genuine one.

Items neatly on a shelf don’t attract our attention. Put a big sale sticker on it and mess them up in a basket and people can’t get enough of them.

Fools and their money are soon parted.

How to Dramatically Increase the Life of Your Shaver Razor Blade Cartridges or Disposable Razors

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Today I found out how to dramatically increase the life of your shaver razor blades, such as Gillette or Wilkinson razors. This trick is incredibly simple and incredibly effective. It will also save you a nice chunk of cash over time.

Materials Needed:

Pair of Jeans (old or new, it doesn’t matter; just needs to have one of the trouser legs intact)

Shaver like Gillette or Wilkinson razors or other disposable razors.

Before you shave place your jeans on a hard flat surface; then run the razor up the trouser leg about 10-15 times quickly; then repeat running it down the trouser leg 10-15 times quickly. No need to press that hard, but a little pressure is necessary. In both instances, you want to point the top of the razor in the direction you are rubbing the shaver on the trousers. In other words, don’t “shave” the jeans; point the razor the other way, so that the blades glide over the surface of the jeans and don’t try to cut them.

The threads on the jeans then will very effectively both fix any tiny bends in the blades that inevitably happen and will also sharpen the blades on your shaver cartridge. For an already dull blade, you can sharpen it up pretty effectively by doing 50-100 swipes both ways to get it back up to “like new” condition, but only 10-15 times swiped both ways should be necessary to maintain sharpness.

Let me know how you get on. 😀