The Press-Dispatch
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A-10 Local Wednesday, December 26, 2018 The Press-Dispatch What do you give the person who has everything? The Gift of Energy 1.800.227.1376 | www.vectren.com Through Vectren's Gift of Energy program you can make a payment toward the energy bill of a friend, loved one or neighbor. There is no minimum or maximum amount associated with the monetary pledge. To give the Gift of Energy, visit the Assistance section on Vectren.com or call 1.800.227.1376. MOOSE LODGE 115 Pike Ave., Petersburg EVE N e w Y e a r ' s MONDAY, DEC. 31 Doors open at 6 p.m. $25 per person Dinner, Dance, Party Favors, Prizes and Breakfast Shuttle Service Available For more information, call 812-354-9480. More Than 20 Years of Service Karen Thacker, AFSP Owner 704 E. Haub Street Haubstadt, IN 47639 THACKER TAX SERVICE 512 S. 8th Avenue Haubstadt, IN 47639 812-615-0071 (office) 812-789-3852 (cell) kthacker01@gmail.com SAME DAY SERVICE • Complete plastic lab on premises • Quality eyewear by Karen Memering, Optician • Professional eyecare by Dr. Steve Gregory • Most insurance plans accepted WE FILL ALL DOCTOR'S PRESCRIPTIONS Complete Contact Lens Care & Service *In most cases **Some restrictions apply. Call for details. 812-254-6594 Corner of Hwy. 50 & 57, Washington, IN VALLEY OPTICAL 812-254-6594 10, 9, 8, 7, 6... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... HAPPY NEW YEAR! As we count down to the New Year, we're also counting our blessings and your kind patronage is at the top of the list! For all the goodwill and friendship you've shown us, we will always be grateful, and we wish each and every one of you a wonderful year. 905 Vincennes Ave., Petersburg, IN New Year's traditions around the world Each December 31st, people anxiously await and count down to the arrival of the new year. January 1 of- ten is a time for reflection and for making future plans. It also is a holiday full of tra- dition. Notable New Year's tradi- tions include kissing one's sweetheart at midnight and making resolutions to bet- ter oneself in the year ahead. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day traditions vary across the globe. The fol- lowing is a look at the unique ways people ring in the new year throughout the world. • Filipinos embrace round fruits for the new year. The custom includes gathering 12 different round fruits for each month of the year. The round shape symbolizes wealth and prosperity. • Around Stonehaven, Scotland, people wield large fireballs for the Hogmanay festival on New Year's Eve. The idea is to ward off evil spirits by swinging balls of fires over the heads of trained professionals and then tossing them into the sea. The tradition has en- dured for more than 100 years. • In the Eastern Ortho- dox Greek Church, Christ- mas isn't celebrated until January 7. Aghios Vassil- is, the Greek Santa Claus, makes his rounds on New Year's Day. • Chilean families cele- brate the arrival of the new year by commemorating deceased friends and fam- ily members. It is common for those in Chile to set up chairs next to graves in the cemetery. • Burmese people end the Thingyan water festival on New Year's Day. Since April, they have celebrated the arrival of Thagyamin, a celestial Buddhist figure, with the firing of water can- nons. The water-logged rev- elry ends with the new year. • Siberians celebrate the new year's with the planting of the "New Year's Tree" un- derneath frozen lakes. This "yolka" is said to symbolize the coming of Father Frost, but also represents starting over. • Grapes are a hallmark of Spanish New Year's cele- brations. Throughout Spain, revelers gobble a grape per second as they count down the last 12 seconds of the year. Each grape corre- sponds to good luck for the 12 months of the new year. • In Denmark, residents break old dishes on the door- steps of family and friends on New Year's Day. The bigger the pile, the more friends and good will in the new year. • In China, where the new year is celebrated on Febru- ary 5 this year according to the lunar calendar, cele- brants paint their doors red or hang red curtains or cut- outs on windows to symbol- ize good luck. Why personal training? Each year on January 1, many people resolve to lose weight and get healthy. Ac- cording to the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- vention, almost 70 percent of Americans over the age of 20 are overweight, including 35 percent who are consid- ered obese. A fter the holiday sea- son, when social schedules ramp up and diets might be ignored, it's no surprise that many people are ready to start new fitness regimens. While it's easy to push oneself into the toughest and most intense workouts in order to super-charge weight loss or fitness gains, this could be a mistake that raises the average person's risk of injury. Instead, peo- ple should work with a per- sonal trainer who can guide their workouts. Personal trainers are fit- ness professionals who are trained to teach others how to exercise. These people are educated in correct pos- ture and technique so that they can instruct how to do exercises correctly and effi- ciently. Furthermore, per- sonal trainers can help peo- ple reach their fitness goals with an understanding of how to exercise safely with various chronic conditions or injuries. There are many other rea- sons to work with a person- al trainer. • Motivation: Personal trainers can offer encour- agement to get a person started and continue with a workout routine. Further- more, knowing someone is there to hold them account- able can ensure the client is consistent in showing up to do the work necessary. • Define fitness goals: Personal trainers can help people focus on goals that are specific and realistic to achieve measurable suc- cess. • Showcase proper form: Understanding how to do ex- ercises properly reduces the risk of injury and increases the efficacy of workouts. • Offer variety: Some- times workouts can become boring, and people become complacent. Personal train- ers may alter routines to keep clients interested. • Make time work: Ex- perienced personal train- ers will know how to max- imize the time clients have. This can be advantageous for people who have limited time to exercise. Personal trainers can help fitness fans achieve maxi- mum results, exercise prop- erly and form good habits. Screen time tied to health issues Do you feel panicked if you leave home without mobile phone in hand? Do you find it difficult to sit in the house without brows- ing the internet on your de- vices? Are your children spending much of their classroom hours on tab- lets? Screen time has tak- en over most people's dai- ly lives, but at what cost? A 2014 report from Nielsen found that adults log a total of 11 hours of screen time per day. Del- aney Ruston, a physician and creator of the docu- mentary "Screenagers," which explores young peo- ple's use of digital devic- es, discovered kids spend an average of 6.5 to eight hours per day looking at screens. All of this time glued to digital devices has profound effects on physi- cal and mental health, and many experts are advising people to cut back on the time they spend on their devices. BRAIN DAMAGE Multiple studies indi- cate that spending consid- erable time on screens can produce atrophy (shrink- age or loss of tissue vol- ume) in gray matter areas of the brain, according to reports in Psychology To- day. These are regions of the brain where process- ing occurs. One of the most affected areas in- cludes the frontal lobe, which governs executive functions like planning, prioritizing, organizing, and impulse control. An- other vulnerable area is the insula, which is tied to a person's capacity to de- velop empathy and com- passion for others. Re- search also shows that white matter can be com- promised, which trans- lates into loss of commu- nication between cogni- tive and emotional centers within the brain. VISION PROBLEMS Staring into screens for extended periods of time can damage areas of the eyes and result in com- puter vision syndrome, which is characterized by trained eyes, blurred vi- sion and headaches. The Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Disease Study, conducted by researchers and clini- cians from the USC Eye Institute at Keck Medi- cine in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, has found that ex- aggerated screen time and insufficient sunlight expo- sure has more than dou- bled incidences of myopia (nearsightedness) among American children in re- cent years. SLEEP DISTURBANCES University of Gothen- burg psychologist Sara Thomée, a lead research- er into the effects of screen time on the body, says the blue light from digital devices suppresses the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, keeping people from having restful sleeps. OVERSTIMULATION Screen time can cause hyperarousal, which may be more notable in chil- dren than adults, accord- ing to research published in Psychology Today. Reg- ular amounts of screen time can cause the brain to be in a state of chronic stress, which can short cir- cuit the frontal lobe. This may lead to addictive be- haviors, rage, inability to recover from minor frus- trations, and hyperactivity. Screen time is profound and may be hurting minds and bodies. Many peo- ple have set goals to re- duce the time they spend on electronics to improve their personal health.