Health

Learn about your food - where it comes from, how it's made, and the history of how and why we started to eat what we eat - with some of these informative documentaries.

This film shows how human desires are an essential, intricate part of natural history by exploring the natural history of four plants -the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato - and the corresponding human desires - sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control. This two-hour documentary begins in Michael Pollan's garden, and roams the world, from the fields of Iowa to the apple forests of Kazakhstan, from a medical marijuana hot house to the tulip markets of Amsterdam.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These simple words go to the heart of food journalist Pollan's thesis. Humans used to know how to eat well, he argues, but the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists. As a result, we face today a complex culinary landscape dense with bad advice and foods that are not "real." Indeed, plain old eating is being replaced by an obsession with nutrition that is, paradoxically, ruining our health, not to mention our meals. Pollan's advice is: "Don't eat anything that your great-great grandmother would not recognize as food."

Dance Your Fanny Off

This post contains suggestions for how to earn your Hit the Road: On the Scene badge.
Learn more and earn badges on the Connect Your Summer page.

Shake a tailfeather with your little one at Dance Your Fanny Off. We'll play thirty minutes of songs to get you movin' and groovin' to the beat. Each session will feature themed music so you can claim one of your Connect Your Summer On-the-Scene badges.

No registration required.

 

[Disco Ball by dichohecho is licensed under CC BY 2.0]

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Animal Lover Yoga: All Ages

This post contains suggestions for how to earn your Animal Lover: On the Scene badge.
Learn more and earn badges on the Connect Your Summer page.

Exercise like an animal! Stretch out like a puppy or relax like a butterfly in this 1-hour family-friendly yoga session, led by certified instructor Alyssa Beesley of West End Yoga. No experience necessary. Bring a mat or towel and join us in the Community Room for an all-ages tour through the animal kingdom! No Registration Required!

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

Getting enough sleep helps you stay healthy and alert. Many older people don’t sleep well, but getting older doesn’t mean you have to feel tired all the time. There are many things you can do to help you sleep better:

  • Follow a regular sleep schedule. Go to sleep and get up at the same time each day, even on weekends.
  • Develop a bedtime routine. Take time to relax before bedtime each night.
  • Exercise at regular times each day but not within 3 hours of your bedtime.

Neuroscientist Penny Lewis explores the latest research into the nighttime brain to understand the real benefits of sleep, showing how, while our body rests, the brain practices tasks it learned during the day, replays traumatic events to mollify them, and forges connections between distant concepts.

This month's selections include a variety of formats and topics, fiction and non-fiction.

A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante's inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists.

Brotherhood in death by J. D. Robb
Also available in: e-book | audiobook | large print

Dennis Mira just had two unpleasant surprises. First he learned that his cousin Edward was secretly meeting with a real estate agent about their late grandfather's magnificent West Village brownstone, despite the promise they both made to keep it in the family. Then, when he went to the house to confront Edward about it, he got a blunt object to the back of the head. Luckily Dennis is married to Charlotte Mira, the NYPSD's top profiler and a good friend of Lieutenant Eve Dallas. When the two arrive on the scene, he explains that the last thing he saw was Edward in a chair, bruised and bloody. When he came to, his cousin was gone. With the mess cleaned up and the security disks removed, there's nothing left behind but a few traces for forensics to analyze. As a former lawyer, judge, and senator, Edward Mira mingled with the elite and crossed paths with criminals, making enemies on a regular basis. Like so many politicians, he also made some very close friends behind closed-- and locked-- doors. But a badge and a billionaire husband can get you into places others can't go, and Eve intends to shine some light on the dirty deals and dark motives behind the disappearance of a powerful man, the family discord over a multimillion-dollar piece of real estate . . . and a new case that no one saw coming.

Raja Yoga Meditation helps you reach a deeper understanding of yourself, your intrinsic positive qualities and your innate value. There is beauty in all of us and through meditation the inner beauty not only is revealed to the self, but also to the people around us. On Saturday, March 26 from 4:00-5:45PM, join practitioners from the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University to explore these universal concepts and encourage your inner spiritual development toward a fresh perspective on values such as justice, freedom, respect and love. Sessions will be interactive and experiential, where your tools for the inward journey will be explored and shared.

February is American Heart Month.  High blood pressure is a secret killer, often showing no signs or symptoms. Uncontrolled high blood pressure is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke. In fact, more than 67 million Americans have high blood pressure. People with high blood pressure are 4 times more likely to die from a stroke and 3 times more likely to die from heart disease, compared to those with normal blood pressure.  It is easy to get your blood pressure checked: ask your doctor, check your local drugstore, or purchase a home blood pressure monitor.

Renowned specialists, heart surgeon Dr. Marc Gillinov and cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen, use decades of clinical experience, along with up-to-the-minute medical research, to debunk myths about cardiovascular disease, and provide the knowledge and tools needed to live a long and heart-healthy life.

"A breakthrough mind-body program to build a strong, healthy, and happy heart, for women at risk for or diagnosed with heart disease, from the Harvard-trained cardiologist behind the Women's Heart Health Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Heart disease is the number-one killer of American women, and prevention and healing require integrative approaches to address the whole heart--physical, emotional, and spiritual. Smart at Heart's holistic program includes strategies to improve heart health by addressing ten bridges that link the physical and emotional hearts, including the mental health, relationship, and communication bridges. This book guides readers through evaluating their current state of physical and emotional health and then empowers them with solutions to strengthen each bridge to create a healthy, whole heart"--.

Puberty and sex can be challenging topics to bring up with your child, but if you need some resources to help you, take a look at these. As with many nonfiction topics, these books will be located by others on the same or similar topics.

Not all books will be suitable for all readers.

Books for Younger Children

"One doctor's passionate and profound memoir of his experience grappling with race, bias, and the unique health problems of black AmericansWhen Damon Tweedy begins medical school,he envisions a bright future where his segregated, working-class background will become largely irrelevant. Instead, he finds that he has joined a new world where race is front and center. The recipient of a scholarship designed to increase black student enrollment, Tweedy soon meets a professor who bluntly questions whether he belongs in medical school, a moment that crystallizes the challenges he will face throughout his career. Making matters worse, in lecture after lecture the common refrain for numerous diseases resounds, "More common in blacks than whites." Black Man in a White Coat examines the complex ways in which both black doctors and patients must navigate the difficult and often contradictory terrain of race and medicine. As Tweedy transforms from student to practicing physician, he discovers how often race influences his encounters with patients. Through their stories, he illustrates the complex social, cultural, and economic factors at the root of most health problems in the black community. These issues take on greater meaning when Tweedy is himself diagnosed with a chronic disease far more common among black people. In this powerful, moving, and deeply empathic book, Tweedy explores the challenges confronting black doctors, and the disproportionate health burdens faced by black patients, ultimately seeking a way forward to better treatment and more compassionate care"--.

Raja Yoga Meditation helps you reach a deeper understanding of yourself, your intrinsic positive qualities and your innate value. There is beauty in all of us and through meditation the inner beauty not only is revealed to the self, but also to the people around us. On Saturday, January 30 from 4:00-5:45PM, join practitioners from the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University to explore these universal concepts and encourage your inner spiritual development toward a fresh perspective on values such as justice, freedom, respect and love. Sessions will be interactive and experiential, where your tools for the inward journey will be explored and shared.

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