Training Helps Bust Teacher Burnout


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eaching is tough, and teachers that stick with the profession have higher than average rates of stress and burnout than most other college-educated workers. A new study published by the journal Emotion explores how Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB), a training approach that combines Buddhist practices of meditation and compassion with education drawn from Western psychology about emotion, can help. Teachers that participated in an eight-week CEB program showed a strong drop in feelings of depression and an increase in positive states of mind.


Elderberry Elixir: Backyard Medicine Chest


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ew research is turning up another natural remedy to mend what ails us. Native to both North America and Europe and historically appreciated by Hippocrates as “nature’s


medicine chest,” elderberries are especially rich in antioxidants, putting them near the top of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) list. Both the flowers and fruit are used to make tea, juice, wine, preserves and nutraceutical products to treat a variety of ills. International herbalist James Duke, Ph.D., author of The Green Pharmacy, recognizes


the elderberry’s age-old reputation as a remedy for viral infections and for treating cough, flu and tonsillitis. It’s even being studied for its activity against HIV and for regulating blood sugar.


Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia are examining its


potential for preventing strokes and prostate cancer, reducing inflamma- tion and boosting resistance to infectious diseases. They’re set to host the first International Symposium on the Elderberry, from June 9 to 14, 2013. Terry Durham, a farmer and conservationist in Ashland, Mis- souri, describes elderberries—which are typically harvested in late August through early September—as “the superfruit in our own backyard.”


Mom’s Diet Can Boost Baby’s Immunity


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hat a new mom eats during her pregnancy affects her unborn baby’s


immunity, especially vis-a-vis allergies, reports new research in The Journal of Physiology. The research found that if a mother’s diet contains a certain group of polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as those found in fish, walnut oil or flaxseed, the baby’s gut develops differently. These substances are thought to improve the way gut immune cells respond to bacteria and foreign substances, making the baby less likely to suffer from allergies.


Cheap Bling is Bad News


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esearch from the Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental organization, discloses that more than half of low-cost metal adult and children’s jewelry contain large amounts of toxic chemicals, including lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium and chlorine (from polyvinyl chloride, or PVC). The report notes that these chemicals have been linked in animal and some human studies to acute allergies and long-term health impacts such as birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity and cancer. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, young children should not be given or allowed to play with cheap metal jewelry, especially when unsupervised.


Source: HealthyStuff.org


WALKING + TEXTING = FORGETTING


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alking on a cell phone or texting


might have an


unexpectedly troubling downside. Researchers at Stony Brook University, in New York, studied young people that were texting while walking and discovered that they walked slower, veered off course more and experienced decreased working memory.


natural awakenings August 2012 9


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