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Fast­ing is of­ten not re­quired these days, be­cause an empty stom­ach isn’t needed for many rou­tine tests

• Montreal Gazette, Canada
• Sep 4, 2019
• Section A9

• CHRISTO­PHER LA­BOS Christo­pher La­bos is a Montreal doc­tor and an as­so­ciate with the McGill Of­fice for Sci­ence and So­ci­ety. He also co-hosts a pod­cast called The Body of Ev­i­dence.

For many years, peo­ple usu­ally did their rou­tine blood tests on an empty stom­ach. In­evitably, this caused a ma­jor con­ges­tion in the hos­pi­tal ev­ery morn­ing as peo­ple lined up at the blood test­ing cen­tre in a queue that would spi­ral around cor­ners and down hall­ways as peo­ple waited, some­times for hours, to get tested.

Get­ting your rou­tine blood tests on an empty stom­ach was im­por­tant mainly be­cause of the tests to check blood sugar and choles­terol. Most other blood tests, like he­mo­glo­bin lev­els, re­nal func­tion, liver func­tion, thy­roid hor­mones, sodium and potas­sium lev­els don’t need to be done on an empty stom­ach be­cause they do not change be­fore or af­ter meals to any mean­ing­ful de­gree.

Blood sugar, of course, does change with meals and will of­ten spike af­ter you eat some­thing, es­pe­cially some­thing very sug­ary or starchy. So, for many years, physi­cians used fast­ing blood sugar lev­els to test for and fol­low-up on di­a­betes. There are a few prob­lems with test­ing blood sugar lev­els, and over the past few years this has largely been re­placed by test­ing He­mo­glo­bin A1c (HbA1c). HbA1c gives you a three-month av­er­age of your blood sugar con­trol and is there­fore im­mune from the fluc­tu­a­tions that we of­ten see with sin­gle blood sugar mea­sure­ments. These don’t need to be done an empty stom­ach.

This left only choles­terol. Choles­terol, too, can be af­fected by eat­ing in the hours be­fore a blood test. This oc­curs be­cause the type of choles­terol peo­ple are usu­ally most in­ter­ested in, the LDL or bad choles­terol, is not ac­tu­ally mea­sured in your blood but cal­cu­lated us­ing a math­e­mat­i­cal for­mula. By mea­sur­ing the to­tal choles­terol, the HDL or good choles­terol and an­other type of choles­terol called triglyc­erides, the com­puter do­ing the anal­y­sis can au­to­mat­i­cally gen­er­ated a level for your LDL that is of­ten very ac­cu­rate. LDL can be mea­sured di­rectly in the blood, and some­times this is done in re­search pro­to­cols, but for prac­ti­cal rea­sons and rea­sons of econ­omy, cal­cu­lated LDL val­ues were usu­ally quite suf­fi­cient.

Still though, be­cause triglyc­erides can rise sharply af­ter a meal and be­cause high triglyc­eride lev­els can throw off the LDL cal­cu­la­tions, get­ting your choles­terol checked on an empty stom­ach was gen­er­ally rec­om­mended.

How­ever, the think­ing on this mat­ter has evolved re­cently. Over the past few years, re­search has shown that choles­terol lev­els change very lit­tle af­ter nor­mal meals. One study in cir­cu­la­tion found that af­ter meals the max­i­mum change in LDL was only 0.2 mmol/L, which is too small a change to be clin­i­cally mean­ing­ful.

Re­cently, an­other study in JAMA In­ter­nal Medicine tested fast­ing vs. non-fast­ing choles­terol lev­els. This study agreed with the prior re­search that there was lit­tle dif­fer­ence in choles­terol lev­els. When it came to clas­si­fy­ing peo­ple as high vs. low risk, in other words in de­cid­ing whether they needed to start med­i­ca­tion, they also found ex­cel­lent agree­ment be­tween fast­ing and non-fast­ing blood tests as the choles­terol tests were in agree­ment 94.8 per cent of the time.

There may be spe­cific sit­u­a­tions where early morn­ing blood tests are re­quired. Cer­tain hor­mones, like testos­terone or cor­ti­sol, need to be mea­sured in the early morn­ing in or­der to be in­ter­preted prop­erly be­cause they fluc­tu­ate quite a bit dur­ing the day. How­ever, they need to be done early in the morn­ing, not nec­es­sar­ily on an empty stom­ach.

For the rou­tine blood tests that most peo­ple get on an an­nual or semi-an­nual ba­sis, there seems to be lit­tle rea­son to ask for fast­ing blood tests and both the Cana­dian and U.S. choles­terol guide­lines seem to be en­dors­ing this view. While there may be spe­cific sit­u­a­tions where an early morn­ing fast­ing blood test is nec­es­sary, most peo­ple can prob­a­bly eat break­fast first. They can also prob­a­bly sleep in, too.

Today in history: Sept. 5

1755: The deportation of 14,000 Acadians from Nova Scotia begins. The British army destroyed their homes and forced the Acadians into exile in the Thirteen Colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia, while many ended up in Louisiana. People returned secretly over the years, and then openly after 1764, when they were granted permission to return.

1914: Future baseball legend Babe Ruth hits his first professional home run — his only one ever in the minors — in Toronto. Ruth connected in the sixth inning as his Providence Grays blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs 9-0. Ruth, a budding southpaw pitcher, also tossed a one-hitter that day.

1945: Canada’s first atomic reactor begins operating at Chalk River, Ont.

1972: The Munich hostage crisis begins at the Olympic Games in Germany. Two Israeli athletes were killed after eight Palestinian gunmen invaded the Israeli dormitory at the Olympic village. Nearly 24 hours later, nine Israeli hostages were killed and five terrorists died in an airport shootout with police. The three remaining terrorists were arrested, but freed later in the year to end the hijacking of a German plane.

1997: In a rare live television broadcast, Queen Elizabeth addresses the U.K. and the Commonwealth and pays tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, who was killed in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31.

https://www.techenhancedlife.com/explorers/isolated-and-lonely-how-can-we-avoid?utm_source=Tech-enhanced+Life+Updates&utm_campaign=c6b122f1ac-Welcome-articles&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d743fc6327-c6b122f1ac-448244005

 

How do you avoid becoming isolated and lonely as you get older?  Are there things you can do to help prevent this?  

Isolation and loneliness is a very real fear for many older adults.  Many of us know of someone suffering from it, and it can be very sad. Recently, we asked our Longevity Explorers about social isolation and loneliness.  This article summarizes those discussions, and lists their ideas for avoiding this as you get older, as well as what can cause it in the first place.

Overcoming Loneliness and Isolation: Takeaways

Our Longevity Explorer groups identified a number of ways to help combat isolation and loneliness in either our own lives or the lives of others, as we grow older.  Here is their list (in no particular order):

Pets.  Having your own pet, or helping someone else with their pet, can be very helpful.  For example, walking a neighbor’s dog everyday.  Pet responsibilities can help give people purpose and meaning.

Senior clubs.  Our explorers are aware of a number of great clubs, which often provide and arrange transportation as well.  Typically, the clubs offer a wide variety of arts, education, and physical exercise opportunities.

Affinity clubs or organizations.  Become a member of a formal or informal group that is united by a common theme or activity.  Find what you like to do, take the initiative to find like-minded people, and stick to it.  This will be a big help in mitigating social isolation and loneliness.

Cross-generational interactions.  Try to have interactions with different generations.  For example, living at an all-age residential hotel (vs. more age segregated).  Some older adults like the atmosphere and the energy they experience, and they often learn new things in their multigenerational experiences.   

Good neighbors.  People nearby that you can trust and that can check in on you periodically.  These simple interactions can be very valuable and oftentimes turn into genuine friendships.

Housing options.  Various community living and care arrangements which can help provide or facilitate companionship.  For example, multigenerational living facilities, co-housing with matched renters, and accessory-unit rentals can increase social contacts and interactions.

‘Buddy’ system, or a check-in system.  Having some sort of daily-checking routine can be very helpful and reassuring and combat isolation and loneliness.  For example, sending a text to a family member every day before lunch; or, making sure your living room curtains are open every morning (to let neighbors know that you are up and about).

Regular visitors, or social service program visitors.  Simple visitation can be a big help in fighting isolation and loneliness.  Whether it be a friend, family member, neighbor, or an assigned social service volunteer; their visits and conversations are often much anticipated and appreciated by older adults.

The internet.  Easy access to the internet can make a big difference.  It does not replace the need for social interactions, but it can be a good substitute sometimes, as well as a great source for interests and online activities.  People may need to be taught how to use the internet, and it can be expensive to some. 

Television.  Even television can help reduce the feeling of social isolation and loneliness.  It gives you a connection with the outside world.  Its advantage is that it is familiar and can be easy to operate.

Robots; AI (artificial intelligence); Alexa.  These options seem to be primitive at this point, but they also seem to be getting better very quickly.  They can provide a partial solution to social isolation, but cannot truly replace human face-to-face social interaction.  Some explorers see a lot of potential here.

Community education courses for older adults.  Community classes for older adults can be very good for social interaction.  Not only that, but they are typically a lot of fun and very educational.  One example: the OLLI Lifelong Learning courses.

Causes of Isolation and Loneliness: Takeaways

There are a number of things that can contribute to social isolation and loneliness.  They can range from aspects of your mental and physical health, to where you live and your financial situation.  

Here are some causes mentioned by our Longevity Explorers.  Each one has the potential to limit human contact and thus increase the chances of social isolation.

Hearing.  This is a big one.  You may not be able to talk on the phone.  Group meetings or basic social interactions can be hard.  It could be very easy to lose contact with friends. 

Eyesight.  Deteriorating vision can limit driving, mobility, reading, and more.  Poor eyesight may cause you to stay in your room more; you may not feel as confident now as you used to when you could see better.  For example, you don’t go out as much because you feel more vulnerable and less secure.  This lack of mobility can make you feel like you are stuck in your own prison.

Poor physical health.  For example, a heart condition.  Poor health may prevent you from participating in your previous hobbies (e.g., golf).  Older adults may have to find new hobbies due to physical ailments.  This could contribute to greater social isolation.

Mobility issues.  Examples could include not being able to walk very well, not being able to drive anymore, and living somewhere with limited access to public transportation.  Obviously, factors that could lead to increased isolation.

Age-segregated communities.  The type of housing we occupy can greatly affect not only our physical but also our mental wellbeing.  Poorly designed housing complexes, coupled with an age-segregated population of older adults needing help with basic living, could contribute to unhappiness from a sense of isolation, decreased mobility, ill health, and cognitive decline.    

Cognitive or memory impairment.  Dementia can add a very complicated layer to the already-complicated issue of isolation and loneliness in older adults.  It can contribute to, as well as exacerbate, isolation and loneliness.  It makes loneliness mitigation attempts even more challenging and difficult.

Fixed income.  Unfortunately, having lower and fixed incomes can be limiting when you age.   Tight finances can limit the options and opportunities available to some older adults, thus possibly increasing isolation and maybe loneliness.  For example, affording home-care services, or the basic costs of leisurely endeavors.

Retired/empty nester.  The daily and weekly social interactions that you may have been used to, or happened kind of automatically at work or with previous household members, are now not there anymore.  Family may be farther away, making isolation more likely.

Death of a partner/spouse and friends.  It can be hard to replace old, longtime friends with new ones.  And even if you can, it often takes time.  Isolation and loneliness can sometimes creep in. 

Lack of purpose or meaning in life.  This can sometimes be a core reason for loneliness.  There’s an old saying that everyone needs something to make them get up and out of bed in the morning.

Difficulty making contact with others.  For some people, it can be hard to interact with other people.  Sometimes, you just need to get out of your comfort zone to initiate social connections.  It can be easy to talk oneself out of it.  Often times, it is the hardest part and you just need to force yourself to do it.

Digging Deeper

A few of the ideas mentioned earlier received deeper discussion from our Longevity Explorers.  If you are interested in those discussions, those topics are listed below, and you can find the discussion summaries after that.

• Basic Definition of Social Isolation and Loneliness
• Personal Motivation and Initiative 
• Technology and the Internet
• Dementia and Social Isolation and Loneliness
• Housing Solutions for Social Isolation

Basic Definition of “Social Isolation and Loneliness”

‘Social isolation and loneliness’ is a complex topic.  Loneliness is often experienced as more of an anxious or sad feeling.  However, you don’t necessarily have to be alone in order to experience it.  Sometimes you can feel lonely even when surrounded by other people.

And, being ‘alone’ could be good or bad; it doesn’t necessarily mean you are lonely.  We all want to be alone at least once in awhile; for example, when you feel tired and would like to take a nap.  Another example is that some people may prefer living alone versus living with others, and are perfectly content with that choice.

Personal Motivation and Initiative.  

One factor sometimes affecting isolation and loneliness in older adults is simply a person’s motivations and initiative.  Some people are fun, good people, but are not very good at ‘breaking the ice’.

A number of individuals don’t seem to have that initiative or ability to initiate an interaction.  They are often fine and fun to be with when someone else takes the initiative to start an interaction.  But if someone else does not initiate the connection or interaction, the interaction never takes place.  Once they get over that initial first step, they are often fine.

Insights/Advice:

• Each individual needs to take the initiative, but some don’t know how or are really incapable of doing that.  Oftentimes, this lack of motivation or initiative is a personality-related issue that can be hard to change.  It is part of why they are isolated.  
• It can be a hard job to get some people motivated to participate.  Some are scared; possibly afraid of rejection.  Some don’t want to ‘compete’ socially; they feel inadequate or uncomfortable.  
• Opportunities are out there for older adults; find your interests.  Take the initiative to get an association or connection, and be persistent; stick to it for a while.  Be open to opportunities; break out of your comfort zone.  Be more proactive on calling people/friends. 

One caveat: Sociability, or the lack of, can be situational.  There are times, for example, when you just don’t want to join other people for dinner.  A couple may want to eat alone or just dine with each other.  There are times, too, when you may be tired and just don’t want to interact with people.  ‘Situational sociability’ is quite different from social isolation and loneliness.

Technology and the Internet.  

There is a lot of potential for technology to help us battle isolation and loneliness among older adults.  Some of the examples brought up during discussions include:

• Robotics.  One example that was cited: Robots exist that can read the same books as you, and can actually discuss the book with you.  An interesting new option that is still primitive at this point, but is getting better fast.
• Smart-Phone and Computer Apps.  Currently, there are apps that can alert you, for example, that someone is nearby that is interested in meeting to get coffee.  Or, other affinity-related apps for alerting you that I’m available and nearby for a walk, etc.
• Alexa/Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Taking the above affinity apps one step further, Alexa or similar AI capabilities allow a person to ask it to find others that want (e.g.) coffee, or other affinities.  ‘Alexa’, by requiring just talking or speaking, can make these activities or benefits even easier to do.

Woven into these discussions, though, is the caveat that older adults wanted and needed better and simpler setups for using this technology.  Simplicity, good instruction, and ease of use were critical to them, otherwise, these barriers can deter many older adults from using these technologies. 

Dementia and Social Isolation and Loneliness.  

Dementia can add a very complicated layer to the already-complicated issue of isolation and loneliness in older adults.  

Oftentimes with dementia sufferers, the problem with communication and connection is the initiation of the interaction.  Good conversations can and do happen with dementia patients, but just relying on the patient to get the interaction started can be the stumbling block.  

Novel solution ideas. 

As part of the discussions, our explorers came up with a couple of novel ideas for helping dementia sufferers kickstart or initiate interactions.

Robots.  Build or program a robot to get a dementia sufferer’s attention.  For example, when a remote family member wants to talk to the person on the phone, the robot would be programmed to approach the dementia-ed person and then just start talking or initiating the phone conversation.  Thus, the interaction is initiated remotely for the family member via the robot and it is easy for the dementia sufferer to join in.

A lower tech option: A big sign.  For the same goal of helping to remotely initiate the interaction, you could also use a large sign on the wall in the room.  So, when a phone call from a family member comes in for the dementia sufferer, a special noise will be created.  Correspondingly, a large sign on the wall of the room will say “If you hear a noise, then press the red button on your pad.”  This will help the dementia sufferer get started in the interaction, from a remote location.

Other interesting points made by the explorer groups regarding dementia were:

• Visitors may need advice and instruction.  Interacting with dementia sufferers can be difficult and challenging at times.  Not all well-intentioned visitors know how to interact with folks with dementia.  Thus, visitation can be boring and awkward.  Basic advice and instruction could be helpful and keep visitors interested in coming back again.
• Pets and music can also be beneficial for making a connection with a dementia sufferer.  If regular personal or family visits are not very successful, pets or music may be an option that opens the door to connection and communication.
• A final note is explorer acknowledgment that dementia and isolation/loneliness is a very big and complicated topic!

Housing Solutions for Social Isolation.  

Some interesting options in housing can help combat isolation and loneliness among older adults.  Especially as we get older, the type of housing we occupy can greatly affect not only our physical but also our mental wellbeing. 

Our explorers discussed a few of the various community living and care arrangements which can help provide companionship. 

All-age residential hotels.  Some explorers spoke highly of ‘all age’ living facilities, compared to more age-segregated communities.  More specifically, they like the atmosphere and higher energy, as well as the increased opportunities to connect with different ages and learn new things.    

Accessory unit rentals.  As one becomes older, and as family situations change, a current house could become too big for one person.  Accessory units (or ‘granny units’) on the property can be rented out, or maybe separate living quarters can be made of current house space.  Housing rental could also be exchanged for home maintenance, help, and companionship.  Graduate students would be good candidates for this option.  Discussions also included the importance of careful screening for this housing option.

Co-housing.  Somewhat of a newer option that seems well received thus far is co-housing, where residents (old and young) share living facilities.  The benefits for older adults are shared help, companionship and contact with younger generations.  However, such facilities are few in a number of areas, and efforts need to be made to ensure residents are harmonious with each other.

Apartment-complex social programs.  Some apartment complexes also provide organized social programs, which can provide multigenerational contacts to avoid isolation.

DNA RESEARCH

Excerpt from an article by Aaron Kase

We have long sought to understand memory and heredity, nature vs. nurture and how much information parents actually transmit to their children. The nature study is another step toward answering our questions about exactly what, and how much of our fore-bearers’ experiences get passed down through DNA.

Recent studies have provided evidence that memories of fear are one of many things our fore-bearers pass down to us through our DNA. Another study found that unborn crickets whose mothers were stalked by wolf spiders showed more fear of spiders after they were born than control crickets — not to mention a higher survival rate. At this point there’s little doubt that fear gets passed down through the generations — now we’re learning about how.

A study from Emory University in 2013 found that mice trained to fear a specific odour would pass their emotions on to their offspring and future generations. Scientists applied electric shocks to mice as they exposed them to the smell of cherry blossoms. The mice then bred, and both the children and grandchildren of the affected rodents demonstrated a fear of cherry blossoms the first time they smelled them.

Dr. Brian Dias of the Emory University department of psychiatry study went further. Scientists  looked at the brains of the animals and found physical changes in the areas that process odours, and also found a marker on the odor gene of the mouse DNA. The experiment worked even when the researchers used artificial insemination in place of allowing the mice to breed naturally. The scientists still aren’t sure how the fear imprint makes it into the sperm —whether the smell itself passes through the blood, or the brain processes the odour and sends its own signal.

Polish Professor of Pedogogy Andrzej Szyszko-Bohusz has worked since the 1960s to promote a theory of genetic immortality in which parental consciousness is transmitted to children along with DNA and other hereditary information.

Primordial Fears; There is already a growing body of research about how humans and other animals inherit fear from their ancestors. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013 found that primates’ brains are uniquely tuned to recognize snakes, suggesting that we gained an innate fear of the reptiles over the course of our evolutionary development.

A 2011 study in Current Directions in Psychological Science found that human infants aren’t necessarily afraid of snakes from birth, but they learn to fear them more quickly than they learn to fear other more innocuous stimuli like flowers and rabbits. “What we’re suggesting is that we have these biases to detect things like snakes and spiders really quickly, and to associate them with things that are yucky or bad, like a fearful voice,” study co-author Vanessa LoBue of Rutgers University said in a press release.

The research built on previous work by LoBue and her team that showed that people were able to identify snakes and spiders more quickly than other animals and objects. There’s even evidence that primates actually developed large brains and keen eyesight as a defence measure to avoid falling prey to snakes.

Another study found that unborn crickets whose mothers were stalked by wolf spiders showed more fear of spiders after they were born than control crickets — not to mention a higher survival rate. At this point there’s little doubt that fear gets passed down through the generations — now we’re learning about how.

Rewriting the DNA: Fear isn’t the only thing that gets imprinted in our genes. Recent break-troughs have made big strides in understanding epigenetics- how our DNA gets changed by environmental factors. A study published in 2013 revealed details about how certain aspects of DNA can be turned on or turned off, and therefore passed on to offspring or not.

Polish Professor of Pedogogy Andrzej Szyszko-Bohusz has worked since the 1960s to promote a theory of genetic immortality in which parental consciousness is transmitted to children along with DNA and other hereditary information. More recently, University of Virginia (UVA) professor Jim Tucker hypothesizes that consciousness needs no physical binding at all to pass on. Tucker, who studies children who have memories of past lives, claims that quantum physics suggests that our physical world is created by our consciousness. Therefore, consciousness doesn’t need the world, let alone a brain, to exist, and could simply affix itself to a new brain once it passes out of a dying one.

“I understand the leap it takes to conclude there is something beyond what we can see and touch,” Tucker said to UVA Magazine. “But there is this evidence here that needs to be accounted for, and when we look at these cases carefully, some sort of carry-over of memories often makes the most sense. “He calls it the science of reincarnation. Whether he is on the right track, or we discover that memories are passed down by DNA all along, or there is some other mechanism we don’t know about.                    -30 –

I found Aaron Kase had an interesting point of view. The article raises many questions for me! What about our dreams? Are they a part of an ancestor’s memory passed down to us through DNA?  And when we feel we have been somewhere before or heard a conversation previously, could that be a memory from a past life? Is my love of the ocean, my fear of mice and ghosts, parts of my personality passed down to me through DNA?  Or are they learned behaviours?  What say you?

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/5-things-you-should-do-to-become-a-thought-leader-in-your-industry-with-ann-noder/

Recap overview … in case you want to just right in the core of the article …

….. Ok. Now that we have that behind us, we’d love to hear your thoughts about how to eventually become a thought leader. Can you share 5 strategies that a person should implement to become known as a thought leader in their industry. Please tell us a story or example (ideally from your own experience) for each.

1. Have a distinct point-of-view. Thought leaders have a unique perspective. A voice that is true and authentic. This means taking a stand, especially on issues that might have multiple views. You must be willing to have an opinion to be a thought leader.
2. Be willing to share. Thought leaders share knowledge and expertise — true takeaways for others to learn from. Being a thought leader is not about self-promotion (touting yourself and your company), but instead helping others learn. The more information you give away, the better.
3. Look forward, not back. Experts reflect on what’s happened. Thought leaders provide insight into what’s ahead. In order to truly have this designation, you need to provide insight into what’s next.
4. Don’t limit yourself. Narrowing down your expertise limits potential. Think broader and bigger. Be willing to say yes to opportunities that might not seem like the perfect fit. It helps you build a track record of success as you move on to bigger and better things.
5. Be quick to act. Thought leaders know that opportunity to share expertise can be fleeting and quick in today’s media climate. Saying “yes” to opportunities is crucial. Saying “when” is equally important. Be fast to react to chances to share your story and insight or the media will move on to someone else. They need it now.

……

The down­sides of screen use for kids are well known, yet di­rec­tion from adults is lack­ing

• Montreal Gazette, Canada
• Sep 3, 2019
• Section A9
• Calvin White writes.

Cre­ators of the tech world pre­vent or re­strict their own kids’ use of the de­vices.

When did we be­come so help­less? And more im­por­tantly, when and how did we come to ac­cept we are so help­less? I’m re­fer­ring to our at­ti­tudes and ac­tions in re­gard to per­sonal tech­nol­ogy and our kids.

Each year at this time, our kids re­turn to schools across the na­tion. That they are be­ing ed­u­cated is taken for granted. And yet our kids are im­mersed in so­cial me­dia and gam­ing that we ab­so­lutely see is steal­ing their vi­tal­ity, their so­cial, emo­tional and in­tel­lec­tual well-be­ing. We shake our heads in aghast re­ac­tion at how per­va­sive and de­struc­tive the tech re­al­ity is. Work­shops are at­tended warn­ing us, “train­ing” us, up­dat­ing us on all the threats and harm­ful ram­i­fi­ca­tions. And then we go about our own in­dul­gence. We per­sist in ush­er­ing, at times even or­der­ing, our kids to go on their de­vices to “learn,” to uti­lize the “tool,” and, in so do­ing, put the lie to all the urg­ings and tsk-tsk­ing we dis­play reg­u­larly to these same kids about their ad­dic­tion to gad­gets.

We know some of the cre­ators of the tech world pre­vent or re­strict their own kids’ use of the de­vices. We know there has been ad­mis­sion by the cre­ators that they knew ad­dic­tive­ness was be­ing built into the ever-re­fin­ing tech­nol­ogy. We know how the var­i­ous so­cial me­dia and on-line sites are de­signed specif­i­cally with al­go­rithms to mon­i­tor, un­der­stand and cap­ture our pro­cliv­i­ties and per­son­al­i­ties, and this so as to sell to us and con­trol us. This is all agreed-on pub­lic knowl­edge.

And noth­ing happens to in­ter­fere or ad­dress the in­un­da­tion and whole­sale em­brac­ing of ev­ery new de­vel­op­ment put at our fin­ger­tips.

Crazy-mak­ing has never been more il­lus­trated in such a com­plete and far-reach­ing sce­nario. A par­al­lel would be if we un­der­stood the dan­ger of al­co­hol use for our kids, took train­ing on it, and then turned around and bought our kids booze and watched them drink it with a mere shrug of the shoul­ders.

Teach­ers and school per­son­nel have known for years that there is a se­ri­ous prob­lem with gad­get use by kids yet we per­sist in help­ing them en­gage all the more in the tech­nol­ogy un­der the false premise that speed and im­me­di­ate ac­cess to “knowl­edge” out­weighs the sketch­i­ness of the “knowl­edge” and its lack of vet­ting or con­tex­tu­al­iz­ing. And de­spite the con­se­quence of reg­u­lar school use fur­ther­ing the free-time ha­bit­u­a­tion and ad­dic­tion.

But now the re­search is in on how screen us­age at­ro­phies our at­ten­tion spans, our deep learn­ing, and our crit­i­cal and dis­cern­ing re­ten­tion of what mat­ters. Maryanne Wolf, pro­fes­sor of child study and de­vel­op­ment at Tufts Univer­sity and au­thor of Reader Come Home: The Read­ing Brain in a Dig­i­tal World, de­tails what we now re­al­ize about the brain shift from our gad­gets. Yet, de­spite this clear ev­i­dence of brain slug­gish­ness, a ver­i­fi­able at­ro­phy­ing of brain ca­pac­ity, we carry on as though it doesn’t mat­ter!

This is not to men­tion the other equally dev­as­tat­ing com­po­nents of screen ad­dic­tion for our kids. The bul­ly­ing. The lone­li­ness. The re­place­ment of real life so­cial in­ter­ac­tion skills with fin­ger-on-keys skills. The hi­jack­ing of our kids’ sex­u­al­ity by in­ter­net pornog­ra­phy.

So, the ques­tion is, what ren­ders us so help­less? Why do we not want to see the car­nage? Our kids have only us, the par­ents and adults of the world, es­pe­cially in our schools, to set the guide. The laws that run our so­ci­ety come from us adults. For the most part, we have al­ways tried to live up to that man­date as best we can as we learned of the need. What’s stop­ping us now?

Calvin White, who holds a grad­u­ate de­gree in coun­selling psy­chol­ogy and was a high school coun­sel­lor for more than 30 years, is the au­thor of The Se­cret Life of Teenagers.

Jean-Paul Bedard’s story re­minds those strug­gling with men­tal ill­ness that help is avail­able and a bright fu­ture is pos­si­ble

• Montreal Gazette, Canada
• Sep 3, 2019
• Section C2
• Craig Kiel­burger is co-founder of the WE Move­ment, which in­cludes WE Char­ity, ME to WE So­cial En­ter­prise and WE Day.

THE CANA­DIAN PRESS Jean-Paul Bedard’s story re­minds those strug­gling with men­tal ill­ness that help is avail­able and a bright fu­ture is pos­si­ble.

If you want to un­der­stand re­silience, Jean-Paul Bedard is a per­fect case study.

With a decades-long his­tory of ad­dic­tion and men­tal health is­sues, he’s faced sui­ci­dal thoughts and lived with the trauma of abuse.

Now a cel­e­brated ath­lete and au­thor, he’s us­ing his story to help oth­ers and sub­vert the myths about how peo­ple adapt to cri­sis.

Bedard says the way we think about re­silience is wrong.

“(Re­silience) has noth­ing to do with bounc­ing back or be­ing bul­let­proof,” he ex­plains, dis­miss­ing the two most com­mon analo­gies.

It’s not a per­son­al­ity trait, but the prod­uct of work and com­mit­ment.

Even the most out­wardly re­silient peo­ple of­ten fail to see the qual­ity in them­selves, mean­ing that our own re­serves of strength might only come to light in re­la­tion to oth­ers. Re­silience de­pends on com­mu­nity and the sto­ries we share.

Bedard’s trauma started at an early age with vi­o­lence in his fam­ily home.

At age nine, he says, he was sex­u­ally as­saulted by a hockey coach, then again by two men when he was 12. His life went off the rails when he turned to drugs and at­tempted sui­cide.

Al­though Bedard was strug­gling, he reached out for help and sought coun­selling.

When he re­placed his ad­dic­tion with the rush of en­dor­phins, he found suc­cess in elite ath­let­ics, run­ning mul­ti­ple marathons. Soon, he was do­ing outreach, shar­ing his story and be­ing ap­proached by peo­ple who’d tell him how in­spi­ra­tional he was.

“Peo­ple saw me as this per­son who’d fig­ured it out,” he re­calls. “But I’d go home and cry. I’d feel alone, like a fraud.”

He couldn’t un­der­stand the gulf be­tween what he felt and what peo­ple saw in him, so he started in­ter­view­ing oth­ers. He spoke with par­ents who had lost chil­dren to gun vi­o­lence, peo­ple who lived through geno­cide and sur­vivors of sex­ual abuse. There was a com­mon thread: like Bedard, no one rec­og­nized re­silience in them­selves. Bedard dis­cov­ered you don’t have to feel like a hero to get bet­ter.

We need to tell sto­ries about re­cov­ery from trauma, and I’m telling this one to mark World Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion Day on Sept. 10. Hear­ing sto­ries of re­silience can be con­ta­gious — you can find more in Unsink­able, a new story-shar­ing project from for­mer Olympian Silken Lau­mann. They can help avert tragedy.

With waves of men­tal health crises crash­ing down in Canada, sto­ries of re­silience like Bedard’s re­mind those strug­gling that there is help and hope. What’s more, they can help prime your brain to fo­cus on the good. Re­flect­ing on up­lift­ing sto­ries and ex­pe­ri­ences helps us iden­tify and con­cen­trate more on pos­i­tive thoughts.

If you’re spi­ralling, it’s un­der­stand­able to see Bedard as a hero. But he doesn’t see him­self that way. He goes to 12-step meet­ings ev­ery week to curb his ad­dic­tion and sees a coun­sel­lor for post-trau­matic stress dis­or­der; he runs for hours ev­ery morn­ing to keep his mind in check and at­tends church, he says, “for my soul.” His re­silience is re­made anew ev­ery day. Ev­ery­one strug­gling has that po­ten­tial. No one’s story has to end in tragedy.

Note: Men­tal health is­sues are treat­able and there­fore sui­cide is pre­ventable. If you or some­one you know is in cri­sis, help is avail­able. Reach out to Cri­sis Ser­vices Canada at 1-833-456-4566.

Today in history: Sept. 4

1882: American inventor Thomas Edison turns on the world’s first commercial electric lighting, in New York’s Grand Central Station.

1944: British and Canadian troops liberate Brussels and Antwerp during the Second World War.

1963: The desegregation of public schools in Birmingham, Ala., leads to racial riots.

1984: The Progressive Conservative Party under Brian Mulroney amasses the largest majority in Canadian electoral history, winning 211 seats in the 282-seat House of Commons.

2016: Pope Francis declares Mother Teresa a saint, honouring the nun who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor and infirm.

2018: Amazon becomes the second publicly traded company to be worth $1 trillion US, hot on the heels of Apple.

Today in history: Sept. 3

1189: Richard I — known as Richard the Lionhearted — is crowned King of England.

1879: The Toronto Industrial Exhibition, later to become the Canadian National Exhibition, opens for the first time.

1894: Labour Day is first celebrated in Canada and the United States to honour working men and women. The contribution of organized labour to Canadian society has been recognized since 1872, when parades and rallies were staged in Ottawa, and Toronto. Parliament proclaimed the first Monday in September as Labour Day.

1962: Prime Minister John Diefenbaker officially opens the Trans-Canada Highway from the summit of Rogers Pass, B.C. The total cost at the time of the highway, which stretched 7,821 kilometres from St. John’s to Victoria, was more than $1 billion. The target for completion was 1956, but the highway was not finished until 1970.

1999: French magistrates close the book on the 1997 Paris car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, and her companion, Dodi Fayed. They rule driver Henri Paul was to blame, and the accident was caused by a combination of drugs, alcohol and speed. They said there were no grounds to charge the nine photographers and a media motorcyclist who were chasing Diana at the time.

2004: Russian commandos storm a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, and battle Chechen separatists holding more than 1,200 people hostage, ending the 53-hour siege in a bloodbath. At least 350 people were killed, nearly half of them children. The hostage-takers had been demanding independence for Chechnya.