Here are the warning signs of vitamin D deficiency most people ignore! Over 40% of American adults, and approximately 1 billion people worldwide are deficient in vitamin D. That’s a lot of people walking around lacking in this vital nutrient. As you may already know, lack of vitamins or a vitamin deficiency can cause serious health consequences if not addressed.
Anyone with siblings likely remembers a childhood spent imitating just about everything their brothers and sisters did. But according to researchers from the University of Cologne, this isn’t something you grow out of. In fact, the influence a brother or sister has on a person’s life carries on well into adulthood. Their study—which was just published in Advances in Life Course Research—analyzed data from a 32-year timeframe, and their findings led researchers to discover that people will often get married, divorced, or become a parent after seeing their sibling do it first, The Daily Mail reports.
To come to this conclusion, the team collected data from 4,521 people from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) that contained marital and family life information from 1984 to 2016. The biggest discovery was actually related to siblings’ influence on marriage. “An individual’s propensity to marry increases after a sibling’s marriage and remain significant in the long-term,” the researchers said. “This finding is in line with the idea that a sibling’s entry into marriage may exert pressure, especially through parents, to form a family.”
Having kids of their own also pushes a sibling to become a parent—this influence only lasting for a few years, though. “Similar to previous research, we find this effect to be short-lived, peaking in the first three years [of a child’s life] and declining afterward,” the scientists noted. And when it comes to seeing a brother or sister getting a divorce, the researchers found that other siblings will be less likely to tie the knot themselves down the road.
Zafer Buyukkececi, the lead author for the study, noted that their findings reveal that sibling relationships are a cornerstone in a family dynamic: “Taken together, our results support the idea that the process of family formation is interdependent among siblings.”
Millions of people smoke, and to many, particularly those that have been smoking for some time, the prospect of quitting seems daunting. An addiction to nicotine is a serious one, and is multifaceted: there is a physical component, in that your body craves the nicotine the cigarettes contain, and a psychological one, in that many habits and situations become associated with cigarettes for the smoker. For these reasons it is important that you come up with a plan of attack in order to quit smoking: although the cold-turkey technique works for some people, the vast majority of smokers will have success only with a more comprehensive plan.
When you first consider the prospect of quitting smoking, it’s probably going to seem far fetched, but keep in mind that thousands of people – people that are no different from you – quit smoking every year. If they can do it, there’s no reason that you can’t. Many smokers also feel that after a certain age it is “too-late” to quit smoking. Simply put, this isn’t true, and should not be used as an excuse to avoid an attempt to quit smoking: the health benefits of quitting smoking begin the very day you stop.
Before you actually have your last cigarette, begin to build up your willpower. Your willpower is going to be your most important tool in quitting, and it’s very unlikely that you will be successful without it. Spend some time thinking of the reasons you want to quit smoking. Learn about the health benefits of quitting, for both yourself and the people around you. Do some math and come up with some figures for the amount of money you’ll save by not buying cigarettes, and think of something you’ll use that money for.
Once you’ve built up your willpower, it’s time to have your last cigarette. To keep your spirits up, understand that the human body is incredibly resilient, and your health will improve as soon as you stop smoking – literally. 8 hours after your last cigarette, carbon monoxide levels and oxygen levels in your blood stream will return to normal. At 24 hours after your last cigarette, you statistically reduce your chance of a heart attack. Only 48 hours after your last cigarette, your sense of taste and smell will improve as your nerve endings start growing.
As you continue to stay smoke free, think of the longer-term benefits to quitting in order to keep your willpower up: even after 2 weeks your lung power will begin to increase, and continue to do so over time. Other aspects of your health will continue to improve in various ways. The ultimate motivator should be the knowledge that 15 years after quitting, your risk of death is almost the same as someone who has never smoked – a remarkable fact that illustrates our the human body’s surprising ability to restore itself.
By coming up with a concrete plan to quit smoking you will greatly increase your chances of success. Crucial is understanding the important role that your willpower will play in the process, and planning to build up this willpower weeks before you attempt to quit. Once you’ve stopped you have to keep the strength of this willpower up, and to do so, remind yourself of the health benefits you will be privy to immediately after butting out that last cigarette.
One of the biggest challenges I face each year is finding a birthday present for Dad. Fathers can be difficult when it comes to gifts because most of them have just about everything they want. I asked my dad what he wanted one year and he said that if he wants something, he goes to the store to get it. This statement gave me an idea.
Maybe we shouldn’t try to get gifts for fathers that they actually want. I went on a quest this year to find a birthday present for Dad that he doesn’t know that he wants but he will want it when he sees it. Sound confusing? Bear with me. It will all come together after you discover what I found.
There are a ton of great gift ideas for fathers that are cutting edge innovations that most dads have no idea even exist. Spending a little time on the Internet can help you find some a great birthday present for Dad that will leave him speechless. He may possibly ask what it is, too.
Following are my top picks for my birthday present for Dad. They range in style and price but I do think that I found the perfect gift in this bunch. These are just a few of the many options available for kids and adults who are looking for the perfect token for their dads.
My father is a coffee drinker so the first item that caught my eye was a Plug n’ Heat Coffee Mug. He loves coffee but he is always complaining that it seems to loose heat way too fast even in his favorite thermos. The Plug n’ Heat Coffee Mug plugs into your cigarette lighter in your vehicle and keeps the beverage at a nice, warm temperature no matter how cold it is outside.
This gift for fathers is great but I wanted something a little more unusual. I think that the massage socks are fantastic but the Sudoku toilet paper was really standing out. The socks are great but it wasn’t the perfect birthday gift for Dad. The Sudoku toilet paper would have been good for a laugh but not much more than that.
The winner of the perfect birthday present for Dad is the T-Qualizer. This innovative t-shirt works like an equalizer panel on a stereo. The great thing about the T-Qualizer is that it actually works with the sounds in the room.
I gave this birthday present for Dad with pride and I accompanied the package with a CD of his favorite music. His shirt bounced to the beat and he was delighted with the product. He didn’t even know how much he wanted it.
On Sept. 13, 2018, hundreds of thousands of people will come together in prayer during the 25th annual Unity World Day of Prayer. This interfaith event is open to people of all faiths and all walks of life. It will be held at Unity World Headquarters at Unity Village and broadcast to Unity and New Thought communities and homes around the world.
Unity is a worldwide movement founded in 1889 that helps people of all faiths apply positive spiritual principles to their daily lives. It is best known for Daily Word, a monthly magazine of inspirational messages that is distributed to about 1 million people in 175 countries.
Since 1994, millions of people have joined in a partnership of prayer during World Day of Prayer vigils held at many of the nearly 900 Unity churches and centers around the world.
To learn more about the Unity World Day of Prayer, to submit names of friends and family members for the prayer vigil, and to enjoy an affirmation set to sound and motion, visit www.worlddayofprayer.org/news. You can also find Unity churches that serve as host centers for local World Day of Prayer activities.
A greeting card that does a world of good for children around the world will now be available year-round.
For the first time ever, greeting cards carrying the logo of UNICEF-The United Nations Children’s Fund-will be available all through the year at participating Hallmark Gold Crown® stores. UNICEF has been raising money for its programs from the sale of greeting cards since 1949. To date, over 4 billion cards have been sold.
The new collection will feature 20 different varieties of boxed cards packaged in keepsake boxes with an African Kuba-cloth-patterned bottom. Birthday cards, thank-you cards, thinking-of-you cards and blank cards will be included in the collection-the first produced for UNICEF by Hallmark. Most boxes have four designs per box. The cards will be priced between $10 and $20 and come in groups of eight cards with nine envelopes or groups of 20 cards with 21 envelopes.
Since 1947, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF has supported the work of the United Nations Children’s Fund by raising support for its programs and increasing public awareness of the challenges facing the world’s children.
UNICEF’s programs are funded entirely by voluntary contributions and have made a tangible difference in the lives of children in 155 countries and territories. For example:
• $10 can provide a box of 200 disposable syringes for use during immunization campaigns.
• $12 can provide two long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets, protecting families from malaria, which kills one African child every 30 seconds.
• $12 can provide 20 packets of high-energy biscuits, specially developed for malnourished children in emergency situations.
• $17 can immunize one child for life against the six major childhood diseases: diphtheria, measles, polio, tetanus, tuberculosis and whooping cough.
• $20 can buy blankets to protect five small children from the cold.
Kansas City-based Hallmark is known throughout the world for its greeting cards, related personal expression products, and one of television’s most honored and enduring dramatic series, “Hallmark Hall of Fame.” The company publishes products in more than 30 languages and distributes them in more than 100 countries.
