My Last Blog!!!!

I have been struggling with what I should blog about for my last blog, and so I just thought I would talk about blogging in general. Personally, I have not been a fan of blogging. I do not know what to talk about, and I have been struggling every time I have had to blog to come up with something. I feel like I am not knowledgeable enough to be writing things, but I do like reading other people's blogs. I think it is fun to see what other people are thinking about certain health situations. However, personally, I do not think I will ever become a blogger. Even though we are done with our blogging project, I hope to continue to read blogs on: Healthy living, health, physical education, and exercise! I hope you all enjoyed blogging, and reading my blogs!

Stress Management

As we are rearing the end of the semester, it feel like all kinds of work and stress are piling on top of us. So how do we manage this? This is an important concept to understand, because if we do not start managing our stress now, it could cause health problems in the future. 

One of the best ways to manage stress is one that we should be doing everyday anyway, and that is physical activity. There is all kinds of researching backing this up. Physical activity is one of the best ways to cope with your stress. You can take about 10 minutes out of your studying to drop what you are doing and get some type of physical activity in to release your stress.

Another great way I believe to release stress may sound like a silly one, but it is dancing or singing it out. This is a form my roommates and I use a lot. Probably once a night, we all try to stop what we are doing and take about 10-15 minutes to blast music, and just sing, dance, laugh, and let go of everything for that short little time. Dancing it out helps us forget everything we have been worrying about that day, and allows us to have a few laughs while doing it. I highly suggest you try this method with your roommates or friends, you'd be surprised how good it actually makes you feel!

The last thing I would suggest as a stress management skill would be surrounding yourself around friends and people who love you, and can make you laugh and feel better. If it weren't for my roommates, I do not know what I would do, they are the best listeners, and friends I could ask for! We always support each other through every stressful moment we have, no matter how silly our problem is! I think this is another good way to deal with your stress, and it may be the simplest one! Thanks for reading and try not to get too stressed out! We are almost done with the semester, you can do it! 

Here's a quick photo of my amazing roommates and I!

Portion Control

When society thinks of dieting, they often believe that if they just cut out carbs, sugars, and skip meals, they will shed the pounds faster. They think they won't even have to really workout to lose they weight, but that is not the case. 

When trying to lose weight, you don't have to skip meals, and cut back on carbs and sugars. Carbohydrates and sugar are actually good to have in your diet, but in moderation. If society would read a little more into things, they would find the actually facts, and one of the best ways to lose weight and get healthy, and that is portion control.
Over the years, portion sizes at restaurants have increased, which has made portion sizes at home increase. Americans are eating more than ever before, and it is not a good thing. It is causing our generations to be extremely unfit and obese. Often times when people try to diet they skip meals and cut foods they think are "bad" for them out. When they do that they lose the weight rather fast, but when they add it back in, they gain all the weight they lost and often times more. With just a little bit of physical activity and making your portion sizes smaller, you will lose weight in a healthier manner, and you feel better when doing it. Your body will feel so much better because you won't be over feeding it.
 One way you can start is by not eating the whole meal the bring out to you at restaurants. A good way to not eat all the food on your plate is simply asking your waiter to box half of it up before they bring your food out. Then you have a meal for the next day as well! Another way you can start cutting back on your portions is by following the MyPlate guidelines. For more information on how to follow the MyPlate guidelines and portion control, you can visit, http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Thanks for reading!
 

Get to know your body!

Hello! My name is Julia Camps. I am a Health and Physical Education major at Slippery Rock! This is my first blog ever, so bare with me.

For those of you that know me, know that August of 2014, I underwent a very invasive, experimental surgery, a surgery that took almost two years of studying my body, and getting to know every muscle in my shoulder with my doctor before I had it done.
When it first all started my doctor diagnosed me with SICK Scapular syndrome, and I was put in physical therapy to try to strengthen my shoulder. When physical therapy didn't help, my doctor sent me to have nerve testing done, and that's when we found out it was a little more serious then we originally thought. I had severe nerve damage in multiple nerves that were causing my muscles to essentially be "dying off" and not being able to keep my Scapular in place. Once again, I was out back in physical therapy, and once again, the physical therapy did not help. Every time my doctor asked how the shoulder was feeling, it was always the same answer...Terrible. No matter what we did nothing seemed to help.
After much research, and finally feeling like we knew my body well enough, my doctor and I agreed to try an experimental surgery to try to repair my shoulder. This would only be my surgeons third time doing the surgery. On August 6, 2014, I had a pectoralis major transfer to stabilize my scapular. I was 1 of 51 patients in the United States for this surgery to be completed on, and thankfully, I was part of the success rate.
My point of sharing this with you all, is had I not been familiar with my body, and known that something did not feel right, I would still be suffering with chronic pain today. Knowing my body, and what feels right, allowed me to push my doctor, and myself, to find out more and to try something new! I hope you enjoyed my post!

The picture below shows my scapular before surgery (photo on the left) and my scapular 12 weeks post operation (photo on the right).