HOME & LIVING
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022
SHOT
Continued from Page B1
Katarzyna Bialasiewicz/Dreamstime-TNS
Yoga can improve your balance and range of motion.
Mayo Clinic Q and A: What’s the beneﬁ t of yoga?
and strengthens the immune system.
Another beneﬁ t is reduced stress.
Mayo Clinic News Network
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I am a mother
of two, work full time and am also a breast
cancer survivor. I know physical exer-
cise is important, so I try to visit the gym
a few times a week for weight training
and to walk. A friend recently invited
me to a yoga class. I have never thought
about adding yoga to my ﬁ tness routine.
What are the beneﬁ ts, and how would I get
started?
ANSWER: Yoga is a wonderful form of
exercise that provides beneﬁ ts that walking
and strength training do not provide. In
Eastern cultures, yoga is not seen as exer-
cise, but rather “a moving meditation.”
In the Western world, many people know
power yoga or vinyasa yoga, which are
classiﬁ ed as exercise.
Regardless of the type, the practice of
yoga brings together physical and mental
disciplines that may help you achieve
peacefulness of body and mind, relax, and
manage the stress and anxiety associated
with being a busy mom and living with
cancer.
Yoga can provide three primary ben-
eﬁ ts that a typical gym routine may not
provide: improved nervous system func-
tion, improved joint range of motion and
improved dynamic balance.
Improved nervous system function
Since yoga is based on breathing,
parts of the nervous system are aﬀ ected
when you lengthen the amount of time
you exhale, and control your breathing.
This is cued throughout particular yoga
sequences. Speciﬁ cally, yoga can help
lower the ﬁ ght-or-ﬂ ight response and
improve the body’s “rest-and-digest”
response.
Practicing slow, controlled breathing
stimulates the body’s vagus nerve, which
takes information about the current
state of relaxation and relays it to
the rest of the body, including
the brain. One area aﬀ ected
when the vagal nerve is
stimulated is the para-
sympathic nervous
system, which controls
the body’s rest and diges-
tion functions.
The mindful breathing
practiced in yoga increases
the activity of the parasym-
pathic nervous system. As a
result, yoga lowers the heart rate,
improves digestion and quality of sleep,
SACKS
Continued from Page B1
The bags to which I have
referred, as well as con-
taining sugar and ﬂ our,
there were sacks for grain
or wheat and oats, heavy
gunnysacks for all sorts of
things including pine cones
for burning in the ﬁ replace,
and anything that needed
bundled for carrying con-
tained. The rough, heavy
gunnysacks were good for
dressing-up as a scarecrow
for Halloween or costume
parties.
Out of the bedroom came
pillowslips, the three-sided
slips that used to ﬁ t regu-
lar-size pillows, embroi-
dered by busy housewives
and young girls learning the
art. Given as gifts, the linen
closet could soon be over-
come with stacks of lovely
bed-linens. For those who
lacked adequate clothing,
stitches could be removed
in the portion for the neck-
line and sleeve openings.
Hanging free the garment
was then very nice for an
underskirt, or tied at the
Improved joint range of motion
The diﬀ erence between ﬂ exibility and
active range of motion is important. Think
of ﬂ exibility as how much a muscle can be
passively stretched. In contrast, range of
motion is how much muscles can be used
to control a joint’s movement.
It is not uncommon these days for
people to report neck and back pain,
and poor range of motion in their tho-
racic spine due to constant sitting, typing
on computers and looking down at cell-
phones. Yoga is excellent in improving
thoracic range of motion because many
poses involve extending the body through
the rib cage and using strength to hold
these postures.
Yoga incorporates all four motions of
the spine: ﬂ exion, extension, rotation and
side-bending. Therefore, yoga can prevent
stiﬀ ness and disuse that also can occur
with age. Being able to control the avail-
able range of motion in joints is crucial to
good posture and decreasing the risk of
injury.
Improved dynamic balance
Think of balance like a muscle. By
working hard at diﬀ erent exercises, bal-
ance can improve. This is similar to
improved strength by lifting weights.
Balance is a complex system, requiring
three parts: the sensation of the foot on
the ground, or proprioception; vision; and
the inner ear, or vestibular system. These
three parts tell the brain where the head
is in space. These three components work
together to control both static and dynamic
balance.
Yoga trains the proprioception and
visual systems to improve balance.
Depending on the pose, cues are sent to
focus, for instance, on the foot rooted to
the ground. By concentrating in an attempt
to maintain contact, the big toe, little toe
and heel form a tripod of sorts, which in
turn helps focus the proprioception portion
of balance.
In yoga, you may hear the term
“drishti,” which refers to obtaining a
focused gaze or focus in the mind. The
concept comes into play as people aim to
hold a pose with their eyes closed. Certain
poses become more challenging with eyes
closed, which improves the visual part of
balance.
Also, moving back and forth between
poses without fully touching a limb to the
ground can increase the ability to dynam-
ically move and not lose balance. Over
time, this will reduce the risk of falling
while walking on uneven ground or
turning quickly.
Is yoga right for you?
If you choose to try yoga, go slow and
try diﬀ erent kinds to ﬁ nd what works for
you. Although you can learn yoga from
books and videos, beginners usually ﬁ nd
it helpful to learn with an instructor. Vis-
iting a class with your friend may be more
enjoyable in that it will oﬀ er support to
you and time together, which is just as
important to overall well-being as ﬁ tness.
When you ﬁ nd a class that sounds inter-
esting, talk with the instructor so that you
know what to expect. You may want to
speak to the instructor in advance about
expectations for the class. And remember,
you don’t have to do every pose. If a
pose is uncomfortable or you can’t hold
it as long as the instructor requests, don’t
do it. Good instructors will understand
and encourage you to explore — but not
exceed — your personal limits.
While it may be hard to add
one more thing to your busy
life routine, incorporating
yoga into your ﬁ tness rou-
tine can beneﬁ t your stress
level, mobility and bal-
ance in ways that may not
be achieved from your
regular gym routine.
— Compiled by Mayo
Clinic staﬀ
When starting yoga, many ﬁ nd it best to
do so in a class setting, often with friends.
123RF
Even from the rag-bag, washed clean and ironed, torn into
strips, and braided into rugs, there was a way to waste not, want
not. And, for what you didn’t have the money to pay, you went
without.
One learned these things at an early age. You also learned to
save until you could aﬀ ord the cherished item.
waist it could be a cool
summer dress decorated in
chosen colors of embroidery
ﬂ oss.
It was amazing how
many items could be used in
so many ways during those
days of memory. Being out-
grown, clothing was a hand-
me-down and appreciated
as something new. Likewise
articles in which particles
arrived could still be usable.
Like the food sacks, par-
ticularly sugar and ﬂ our,
which came into the kitchen
and were emptied into the
bin table that would hold
larger quantities and also
be of convenient reach of
those preparing food. Now
so contained elsewhere, the
sack or bag was not to be
thrown away, discarded in
the trash as though useless,
but folded and stored for
yet another helpful use, per-
haps pulled over the head
with circles cut for eyes as a
mask or wrapping paper for
packages or coloring paper
for toddlers.
The bin table into which
the foodstuﬀ s were stored
held four drawers — two
small pull-out drawers for
utensils and two bins sloped
and lined with tin to aid in
drawing out the stored sugar
or ﬂ our emptied from the
100-pound sacks now safe
from mice.
My bin table doesn’t have
the usual cupboard above
it meant to hold eating or
cooking utensils, long ago
removed before coming into
M ICHAEL
541-786-8463
M. Curtiss PN-7077A CCB# 183649
Serving Union and Baker Counties
A C ERTIFIED M ASTER A RBORIST
A September shot will create anti-
bodies that can persist long enough to help
fend oﬀ a later infection, experts said. And
even if they don’t, you’ll get less seriously
ill than if you weren’t vaccinated at all.
“I’m going to try to get my ﬂ u vaccine
at the earliest opportunity,” said Dr. Bali
Pulendran, professor of immunology at
Stanford University School of Medicine
“Even if the durability of the antibody
response is just a few months, I should be
good throughout the season,” he said.
September also oﬀ ers a practical
advantage: It’s easier to get an appoint-
ment. Everyone won’t all be rushing in
at once, as could happen once the virus
arrives.
October is the optimal time from an
immunological perspective, experts said.
Like all cells, antibodies die of old age. A
Kaiser study found a 16% increase in the
odds of catching the ﬂ u every additional
28 days after peak protection.
That’s especially true for older adults,
who experience a greater waning of pro-
tection than younger people.
“Just don’t forget,” said Moore. “When
the opportunity arises, get it.”
If you’re not vaccinated by October, it’s
not too late. Vaccines help as long as ﬂ u
viruses are circulating.
Once spring comes, you may be wor-
ried about protection. But don’t get a
second ﬂ u vaccine, said Smith.
Forecasting a ﬂ u season is always a
challenge. It can vary in diﬀ erent parts of
the country. Every year is diﬀ erent.
Because COVID has changed our
behaviors, “the old rules — what we knew
about when ﬂ u starts, when it ends — may
not work this year,” said UCSC infectious
disease expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, who
aims to get his shot in mid-October.
“I wouldn’t game the system,” he said.
“If the ﬂ u has a slow burn, you’ll want it
before it peaks.”
There are three reasons to be cautious,
said Smith.
Based on this year’s experience in the
Southern Hemisphere, ﬂ u season could
come early. U.S. health oﬃ cials look to
Australian trends for guidance — and
cases there started in April instead of the
usual June.
It also was a worse season than the two
previous years when people were masked
and distancing, said Kaiser’s Smith.
Behaviors have changed. People are going
out more.
Finally, we have less overall immunity
to the ﬂ u because we’ve been sitting it out
for two years, with lower vaccination rates
and reduced exposure to the ﬂ u virus.
Last year, ﬂ u season was mild but ran
long. Experts were surprised by a second
small peak, with cases jumping in April
and May.
Infectious disease trends “are all
whacked out,” said Chin-Hong. It’s not
just ﬂ u — the timing of the common
respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), mon-
keypox and other pathogens have proved
startling, he said.
To be sure, ﬂ u vaccines are far from
perfect. CDC data shows that eﬃ cacy
ranges widely from year to year, falling
to 19% in 2014-15 and climbing to 52% in
2013-14. This year’s vaccines are “quadri-
valent,” meaning they target four diﬀ erent
strains of the ﬂ u virus; of these, two are
diﬀ erent from last year’s shot.
Circulating viruses may also geneti-
cally drift over time, so a vaccine that is
well matched in September may be mis-
matched in March.
Scientists are now striving to build a
better ﬂ u vaccine, so it’s less critical to
time shots perfectly, said Pulendran.
The biggest worry now is not whether
the shots are perfectly scheduled — but
that people will skip the vaccines alto-
gether, or just forget, said Moore.
“If you sit down at the Thanksgiving
table with someone who is sick,” she said,
“it’s too late.”
the possession of a friend,
Dave Straight, whom I still
appreciate for having given
the table to me some many
years ago.
The table no longer holds
quantities of sugar or ﬂ our
but serves as an island in my
kitchen with two pull-out
boards which I think are
marvelously convenient.
I propose that all workta-
bles or countertops should
include such boards for busy
households who need an
occasional extra space or
helping hands, thus folded
neatly away when unneeded
for working bread dough,
pies, or cookies. Mine are
primarily used for baking
or slicing homemade bread
or biscuits which each day
I say I’m going to do again,
maybe tomorrow.
With all of the marvelous
ways of doing things in this
modern world, I quite often
think of how we used to do
things, and I get a warm
yearning for how it used to
be and the love that came
from and with the big cotton
sack of sugar or ﬂ our, the
days of make-do and the
hands of the person who
turned the ingredients into
gifts of food and love.
█
Dorothy Swart Fleshman is the
author of Dory’s Diary occasionally
published in The Observer and
Baker City Herald. She is a resident
of La Grande.
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