What is a MET?

Posted on March 15, 2017 by lindavel

Hi there! 

These past few months I have been interning at the Shady Grove Adventist  Center for Health and Fitness. What do we do there? It is a cardiac and pulmonry rehab facility that works with patients to increase their functional capacity and quality of life.

Functional capacity…what’s that? In simpler terms, it is the ability of a person to do work (and the amount of work needed) to complete everyday (“functional”) tasks. The MET, or metabolic equivalent, is the unit that is used to measure how hard your body is working at rest and during those functional activities. 1 MET is equivalent to how hard your body is working at rest…right now, reading this blog post! 🙂 

There are specific calculations that help compute how hard your body is working on certain pieces of exercise equipment. So if you are calculated of working at 3.5 METS on a treadmill…that means you are working 3.5 times harder than you are at rest! 

So what’s the big deal about all of this?…Well, at cardiac rehab, we encourage patients to care about their MET values. The staff keeps track of the MET level progression throughout the rehab program. We educate the patients that for every 1 MET increase in exercise intensity, it decreases a person’s mortality rate by 15%.  How awesome is that? This basically means that with each 1 MET Value increase during exercise, a person’s body is working and fighting against common risk factors that lead to heart disease. So if you’re curious on how to figure out your metabolic equivalents, reach out to the Salisbury Exercise Science department, or students. We are well versed in calculating and implementing MET Values for exercise. Our main resource of information is The American College of Sports Medicine. 
Check it out and keep up those MET Levels!

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Being Healthy, but Staying Delicious

Posted on March 14, 2017 by USG

Late night snacking, craving delicious food 24/7, and just loving to eat led me to search for healthy, but delicious options for my daily nourishment. Eating larger meals that are healthy and protein packed will keep you full and craving less junk food (although a bag of cheetos never hurt anyone).

I really care about building my body to be strong and healthy, but I also work full-time, am in grad school part-time, and have a social/personal life to balance. Below are 2 recipes that are healthy, filling, and delicious. I frequent these dishes because most of them take under 20 minutes to make (including preparation too)!

Recipe #1: Ranch chicken – I usually use Pam instead of olive oil. Adding lemon juice (fresh) also takes this recipe up a notch.

Recipe #2: Picadillo – I modify this one a bit more than #1. First I use 96% lean ground beef (Trader Joe’s or Harris Teeter). I use Pam instead of olive oil. I do not use: chorizo, bay leaves, nutmeg, cloves, raisins, or red-wine vinegar.

Other than these recipes, here are some awesome things to check out from Trader Joe’s:

  1.  World’s Puffiest White Cheddar Corn Puffs (snack)
  2. Trader Joe’s Veggie Sticks (snack)
  3. Frozen ready to eat edamame (snack)
  4. Sriracha Tuna Salad (lunch)
  5. Asian vegetable stir fry – fresh not frozen (recipe on container)
  6. Trader Joe’s Green Tea – Unsweetened and Bottled

I also have to rave about Halo Top ice cream, which can be found by the pint at Safeway. The nutrition and calorie count is unbelievable when you taste the ice cream. It can be a little pricey, but if you forgo buying your favorite flavor of Coldstone, you’ll probably break even.

All in all, I have a handful of recipes that are extremely healthy for dinner and lunches, and I’ve also found some good snacks that are somewhat healthy compared to Oreos and chips. If anyone wants some more recipes to try or snacks, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via Facebook! I’d love to chat.

 

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Please click on the link!

Posted on March 13, 2017 by ernieg

 

I love Tesla, not just because I am a business student but also because I believe in what they are doing to help save the world! Tesla is helping the world accelerate to sustainable energy products. I love my home how it is (Hawaii)! I don’t want Hawaii to change because it is a beautiful paradise that is green and peaceful. The fresh ocean breeze is always in the air and it’s a great smell that I miss. I don’t want my island to be polluted by fossil fuels which would destroy my paradise. As a business student, I read about C.E.O’s that say you have to do something you love because you if wake up and love what you do you will never dislike your job. I looked for internship’s but I was doing it to make my resume look better. The more job’s I applied for the more I found out that I was very unhappy! Until I decide to stop looking and apply somewhere I believed in and had the joy working for. It’s easy to get up now and go to work because when I talk about all the great things Tesla does I have a smile on my face! If you click on the link you will understand why I love my job! I do miss Hawaii but I know when I return I will be happy to smell that fresh CLEAN ocean breeze thanks to what Tesla is doing! We have to change how we treat our planet because if we don’t all the paradise’s around the world will be gone! It’s not always about profit! Doing the right thing has a better return for our future!

#Hawaiiisingreathands #Teslapowerwall #Cleanenergy

 

 

 

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The Opioid Epidemic & Our Community

Posted on March 11, 2017 by USG

Each spring, the Universities at Shady Grove’s Office of Student Services (OSS), in collaboration with student organizations, hosts a Civic Engagement Series event that brings attention to a critical issue of interest to our community. Successful past events have focused on issues such as domestic violence, vaccine hesitancy, and human trafficking.

This year, OSS is partnering with Students Engaged in Public Health (SEIPH), APhA-ASP Generation Rx, Criminology and Criminal Justice Student Association (CRIMSA), and the Student Section of the Maryland Public Health Association (SMdPHA) to bring attention to the current opioid epidemic, which has become nothing short of a deadly, public health crisis. Just to give you some perspective, according to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the number of deaths related to heroin per year has increased by more than 5 times between 2010 and 2016, from 170 to 918. And the number of deaths related to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is much more potent than heroin, has increased by more than 23 times in that same time period, from 31 to 738. But that’s just Maryland. The epidemic has hit states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania even harder.

Rather than say more now about the state of this crisis and what’s driving the worsening of illicit and prescription opioid abuse, I’d like to encourage you to attend The Opioid Epidemic and Our Community: A Multidisciplinary Panel Discussion where experts we have invited will bring awareness to the urgency of this issue, as well as give the audience insight into what is currently being done and what still remains to be done in addressing it at the local, state, and federal levels. What our role can be in this as students, staff, and faculty will also be explored. Following the panel discussion, there will be a Q&A session as well as a resource fair featuring organizations that include The Tree House CAC of Montgomery County Maryland, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 

We are so excited to be hosting this event (it falls perfectly during National Public Health Week too!) and intend for it to have a huge impact. Please extend this invitation to your friends and family, as all are welcome to attend!

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Grammar Day

Posted on March 9, 2017 by USG

Hi everyone,

The semester may seem long and tedious. You might be busy writing papers, doing homework. For those who are managing well – good job! If you may be struggling, don’t forget – SAS is here to help!

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As part of the Center for Academic Success’s (CAS) mission to help students succeed academically, they held an event by the Ping Pong room on 3/7/17. Grammar Day was an event to inform students about grammar mistakes that are common . There were several games and a few workshops. Hopefully students left the event with a better understanding of English grammar.

When students checked in, then were given a punch card. They got to play 3 different games. Playing games and attending a workshop earned students punches on their cards. By getting four punches, the student was entered into a special raffle.

Students may not be aware of some common mistakes made when writing. The games were designed to help students understand the common mistakes and how to correct them. When I attended the event, I learned some mistakes that I make when writing. Until Grammar Day, I hadn’t thought of them as mistakes.

If you had attended the event and tried some of the games, you may have learned a thing or two. Hopefully you won’t need to schedule an appointment to catch a mistake that you can catch on your own.

Remember CAS’s motto – “Study Smarter, Not Harder”

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Look Around

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Elizabeth

 

With technology at our fingertips it’s easy to become distracted and/or distant. Walking around campus with our headphones on, we close ourselves off to meeting new people and engaging with the world around us. I am the first to say that I am guilty of doing exactly that, sometimes I just want to focus on my destination and I feel the need to close myself off to others. Other times I just don’t want to be bothered and put my earphones in even if I’m not listening to anything.

This semester I made a commitment to become more involved with school activities and organizations. At the beginning of the semester I had no clue how I was going to accomplish my goals and it truly seemed impossible. That is until I received an email from the Gilman Advisors to be part of a panel for study abroad and I quickly jumped at that opportunity. After that I made it a priority to open and read all my school emails (I know we get a ton but its worth it) and to slow down while I walked across campus.

The campus walls and even sidewalks are filled with valuable information. Everything from financial aid to campus forums, donation and volunteer opportunities to dance classes. You never know what opportunities are available till you look around. I know we tend to become very focused on the end game (finishing a paper, studying for an exam) but there is a lot to take advantage of while we are here. You might even have the opportunity to give life or help a future student realize their goals.

Here are two great opportunities for you to become involved with school activities!

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Remember to acknowledge the women who have impacted your life today. Happy International Women’s Day!

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To Be, Or Not To Be Idle

Posted on March 7, 2017 by M

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The other day, I was talking to a good friend of mine and he asked, “How can I become a better writer?” I suddenly had a flash back to two semesters ago when I was in my business writing class. Every single day, before my professor started the class discussion, she would ask us:

“What have you guys read this week?”

And after a few mumbled replies, she proceeded to repeat the same thing she lectured every class about how it is important to read and be exposed to more vocabulary in order to become a great writer. And initially I thought yes reading helps, but to what extent?

And that’s when I realized: I was merely fostering this idle status.

To clarify my thoughts, imagine our brain. It is filled with a vast amount of knowledge from everything we have learned and taken in throughout the years. However, I believe this knowledge can be divided into active and inactive knowledge.

The active knowledge contains everything we repeatedly practice. An accountant’s knowledge of taxes and accounting policies remains active. A doctor’s knowledge of illnesses remains active. The geometry learned back in the day, for many, is inactive. Why? Unless we are trying to become mathematicians, or just love doing geometry every day, we simply are not actively trying to refresh our minds with the information.

It is idle.

Now what my business writing professor kept repeating every single class made a little more sense (perhaps repetition was her way of making her words become active in the minds of us, college students).

We see, but we don’t read. We skim, but we don’t analyze. We hear, but we don’t listen. Information constantly flows into our minds but we choose to send it to the inactive side. It’s an open application in our minds that we have chosen to minimize. It is present. It is running. It has the potential to be used.

So we, ourselves, have to make the conscientious decision to stop minimizing, to stop idling.

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Active Citizens

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Christine

Have you heard of Alternative Breaks? It enables students to participate in short-term service-learning experiences that challenge social, political and economic structures of our global community. I’ve been part of this community for several years now, and I love it! I feel that this also helped grow into a better person and a much better public health professional. My favorite term I learned from my experience with Alternative Breaks (AB) is called “Active Citizens”.

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AB in Bahamas: Environmental Sustainability & Eco-tourism

Many people in our community, our country, and even in our world today are aware of the local and global issues that are happening thanks to the social media and news outlets. I know a few people who knows about every new developments in the world. That’s great, but being the active person that I am, all I can think is “You know so much about these issues. Why aren’t you doing something about it?” I understand that people are different. Some just have so much general knowledge and concern for their communities, but they don’t have the personalities to do anything about it.

Being involved in a local or global community doesn’t mean you have to do big projects or risky political statements. Sometimes, it can be as simple as supporting a local charity or helping out at a soup kitchen. There are many ways to be involved in issues that we care about without putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations. Alternative Breaks gave me that opportunity too. Before participating in it, I was just volunteering here and there without much global knowledge even though I wanted to work in the global health field. After becoming a part of it, I became an active citizen in the community and a much better globally-conscious citizen too.

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AB in Guatemala: Community Development and Sustainability

…but like I said, we can start anywhere.

For example, there is a Blood Drive on Thursday, March 9th at USG in the Multipurpose Room from 10am-3:30pm. This is a great opportunity to donate blood to help save lives or to volunteer at the event to support in saving lives. You can register online or contact Francine Baker or Michael Luong for more details.

Now that you get the idea, let’s become (more) active citizens!

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Ask a profess(or)ional.

Posted on March 3, 2017 by Rebecca Gale

For the first three years of my undergraduate experience, I was terrified of talking to professors. Thankfully, I was at a small school, so most of my professors knew who their students were, but I avoided ever going into office hours to talk to a prof unless I had a really urgent question.

Here at the Universities at Shady Grove, I’ve been so impressed with how helpful the staff are and what great professors we have to teach us. But I’ve also learned that it’s not just enough to take notes and pay attention in class – it’s also so important to form relationships with professors outside the classroom. Here’s just a few reasons why:

  • You will need letters of recommendation from them for jobs, internships, and grad school applications. If a professor knows you, he/she is usually a lot more willing to serve as a reference and will write a much more positive letter. I’ve been told by professors that if they don’t know a student much, they will make that clear in their recommendation.
  • They can give you advice and guidance. Professors have a lot of life experience and knowledge of the field you’re studying, so if you’re looking for career advice or tips on how to improve your performance in classes, ask a prof. They’re there to help and are usually more than happy to point students in the right direction.
  • They will be more understanding. Unfortunately, many of us will encounter some rough spots along the road of our college experience: illness, family troubles, relationship issues, or having five papers due in one day. If a professor knows you, she/he is much more likely to cut you some slack should thing arise that prevent you from meeting deadlines or doing as well in class. (Of course, it’s best to communicate with professors about these things so they know you’re struggling.)
  •  It will enrich your college experience. Knowing professors can help you feel more comfortable participating in class and more connected to school. It can also be personally enriching to have longer discussions about class material outside of lectures.

I’ve found it helpful to ask about my professor’s career path to get some guidance about my own future. I’ve also gotten advice from them on revising cover letters and finding places to apply for grad school. If you want to get more in touch with these great resources, here are some steps you can take to start to get to know your professors better:

  • Talk more in class. This can put you on a professor’s radar as someone who is engaged in class and interested in the subject. It also helps them to get to know more about you and your interests, and it can help you get more comfortable interacting with the professor.
  • Stay after class. If a professor mentions something in the lecture that you find intriguing, consider asking them a couple questions after class about that to break the ice.
  • Go into office hours. Come up with a few questions – whether it be about class material, career choices, grad school, your course selections for the coming semester, or whatever – to ask your professor and see where the conversation goes.

Professors can be great mentors. Of course, you won’t like every one you have, but if you enjoy a certain professor’s class or find them very approachable, it’s definitely worth it to forge a relationship with him or her.

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And I said to myself, self…

Posted on March 2, 2017 by USG

Through this blog, my goals are to share my experiences and perspectives. Now that we are half way through this new semester, aside from hoping that everyone is having a successful Spring 2017, I cannot help but do a little self-evaluation. I guess this is fueled by the fact that it is also the time for evaluations here at the Universities at Shady Grove. I have spent the past few days completing evaluations for various matters regarding the institution I attend, University Of Maryland Eastern Shore.  mirror-image

The wise words I heard last semester at the Executive Leadership Panel and Networking Event hosted by USG’s Career and Internship Center, seem most appropriate when doing the self-evaluation. At this event, Mr. Beverly, President, and CEO, Social and Scientific Systems, Inc., said to me that I need to really look at myself and ask myself why do I do it. At the moment I was very distracted by the explosion of flavors that was happening in my mouth. As I bit into the delicious snacks prepared by the Culin Art Group for this event coordinated by the staff at USG’s Conference and Events Center, so his words of wisdom did not register immediately, and I made a mental note to revisit this. Pictures of this amazing event can be seen here.untitled

A few days later, while putting together my schedule for the Spring semester and trying to figure out time slots for mental breaks, his words came to me. So, I pulled out the bottle of Windex from beneath the sink, cleaned off the mirror, looked straight in the face and said “Self, why do you blog, why are you on the student council and why do you work for USG?” and myself said “Hmmm”. The short answer was because I want to do all these things.

Managing these things is no small feat, and I know many of you probably ask yourself the same question. With many items to handle in your daily lives and deadlines to meet, you often wonder if you are as effective as possible. This is where a little self-evaluation comes in useful. Below is a list of things I learned from my self-evaluation that has made me more effective, and I wanted to share with you in the hope that it can be of some benefit:

  1. Necessary Evil- meetings are a necessary evil, there really is no avoiding them.
  2. Positivity- stay positive, things do not always work out as planned but do your best and always be positive.
  3. Be open- keep an open environment that fosters communication, allow people to feel comfortable asking questions.
  4. Patience- very challenging but absolutely necessary to have patience.
  5. Teamwork- understand that you are only as good as the people you work with and foster good relationships.

Looking back at the content that I have written, the comments received and the feedback given in person, I am very pleased that I have successfully achieved my goals. I am happy that my posts did inspire new insights and created some debate. I look forward to continuing all my roles in 2017 and I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to take some time to reflect and do your own self-evaluation before the trials of Spring 2017 starts to get to you.keep-calm-do-your-self-evaluation

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