Is Your Workplace an Obstacle to Your Good Health and Fitness?

Do you have cake for colleagues’ birthdays? Vending machines in your break room? Cookies at staff meetings? Did you know that between one-third and one-half of Americans working today are in jobs where they are sitting for most of the day? With unhealthy foods and lack of activity, your workplace may be an unexpected obstacle to your health and fitness.When I started teaching at Rutgers University in 1995 there were three options for lunch within a 5-minute walk from my office on campus: Pizza Hut, Dunkin’ Donuts, and a vending machine. To compensate for my pizza and doughnut diet in those early years, I started working-out at the gym on campus. My workplace gym ritual didn’t last long. All too frequently (usually at the very moment I was struggling under an embarrassingly-light bench press), a student from one of my classes would say “hey professor — is that you?” with a smirk. The day I heard “hey Prof, do you need a spot?” marked the end of my workplace work-outs.What are your challenges to healthy behaviors at work? Nationwide Better Health, a subsidiary of Nationwide, conducted a survey of American workers on their workplace eating habits and physical activity. Their study revealed that 72% report eating an unhealthy snack more than once per week at work (13% snacking on unhealthy food at work 5 or more times each week). Only 42% of those surveyed reported that their company offered healthy food options. (I am happy to report that my workplace did add a deli with healthy food options next to the pizza and doughnuts.)Are you searching for ways to improve your workplace eating habits and level of physical activity? If you would like to read more about the steps you can take toward better health and fitness at work, I’d recommend reading the two-page article from Nationwide Better Health Survey entitled “Source or solution?: The workplace’s role in an unhealthy lifestyle”.

Special Training For Brain Development Of Kids

Many researchers have proven the fact that functioning of brain cells of infants is twice active as adult’s brain. Neurons are the brain cells that connect together and power of neuron have the potential of a PC. Connectivity of neurons decides the smartness or intelligence of individuals. In human, brain development and the learning ability of an individual is 50% in the first four years of age. The nerves of individuals are reduced as they grow up and this is why the 1000 trillion nerves present in an 8 months baby are reduced to 500 trillion as it grows up. A child that has given more opportunities to explore will be much smart.

A majority of children, more than 90% of them use their left brain, but the imperative fact to remember is the right brain must also be utilized. Education system present in almost all the schools is designed to develop or use the left brain. Right brain is never the less significant because it is responsible for creativity, arts, feeling, imagination, visualizing, daydreaming, rhythm, holistic thinking and many others. Hence it is equally important to develop both side of brain. It is also most important to take steps to keep both the brain much active, by keeping them to perform analytically on an equal basis. It is the responsibility of parents to give activities to their children that ensures the involvement of both brain. If both brain used by children it is probable to enhance their learning power and they can also increase their brain power. If brain development programs are offered to children they can make most of the program and develop their skills to give work to both side of brain and remains high in intelligence level. Development of brain in human beings is based on the degree of how much it is used. If it is left unused there are more probabilities for individuals to lose as brain works on the basis of use it or lose it.

To ensure the progressive brain development in children, it is the role of parents to introduce their children with a reputable brain development program. Most of the experts suggest step by step educational program to the children which is systemic and efficient. Nowadays it is very simple to find out a lot of schools which not only gives importance to academic program, but they also boost the creativity of children through their extracurricular activities. It is probable to search internet and get hold of relevant schools that present with a variety of activities to stimulate the brain and encourage the development of children. A total development program to stimulate mental activity of children is also found out in the online sites and parents can try out these activities with their children while they are at home. Getting education from a school that implements total development program is much beneficial. Search for such schools and secure admission to enhance the future of the children and boosts in brain development.

New Orleans Education Post-Katrina

Education in the city of New Orleans has changed a great deal since hurricane Katrina took place in August of 2005. New Orleans education now revolves around the concept of charter schools. These schools were established out a need that arose in the wake of the natural tragedy. To date they have been shown to be of benefit to the children and adolescents being educating in them.

There is currently a move in the New Orleans Public Schools system to decentralize power that was previously held by the school board’s central bureaucracy before Katrina and give it to certain school boards and individual school principals. These reforms will make it possible for the charter schools to make many of their own decisions and to allow the parents of children attending public schools to enroll them in any school they wish to in the district. It is worth mentioning that at the present time the majority of public school students in the city of New Orleans attend these charters schools. New Orleans education has undergone a tremendous change in the post-Katrina days out of necessity. New Orleans is the only city in the United States where public charters dominate the educational system.

In attempting to understand the New Orleans education system in the wake of the hurricane that changed the way the citizens live their lives, it is important to understand what these schools are all about. Let us take a look at that now.

Charter schools have been garnering a great deal of attention in the past few years however they are not a brand new concept. These types of schools which are privately governed have been around for the past two decades. According to a survey published in 2009 there are more than 4,900 charter schools throughout the nation and as many as 1.5 million students are in attendance at these schools.

Charter schools resemble a type of educational reform that has not only affected New Orleans education but the education in other areas of the country as well. The state of California has chosen to embrace this new form of schooling as well. Charter schools offer a viable alternative to educating students and making sure that they obtain the best education that they possibly can.

Public charters are funded in much the same ways that public schools are funded. The difference is that charter schools are not governed by the state but in a private manner. While conventional public schools do not have to worry about being closed down if they do not yield successful results in their academics and teaching process, charter schools do have this worry placed on their shoulders from the start. Every charter school that opens its doors must be able to prove that it is successful and that its students are learning properly and learning well in order to be able to maintain their charter.

These schools are for all grades from kindergarten up to grade 12. While they are publicly funded they are open to accept private donations in the same way that public schools are. Every school charter that is established in the New Orleans educational system and elsewhere is free from some of the constraints placed on public schools. However there is a level of accountability inherent in every charter that specific results must be obtained in order for the charter to remain in place. A charter school is open to anyone who wishes to attend and these schools are not permitted to charge students fees to obtain their schooling. Be aware that these new types of schools are a component of the public education system.