The number of clothing items purchased every year has doubled in the last 15 years. We're buying more clothes and we're also throwing away many of these purchases. Brands need to change the way clothes are made so they are more durable or recyclable, but we as consumers also have an essential role to play by changing how we consume.

Second-hand clothing

Shopping second-hand is becoming easier and more accessible than ever. Online thrifting is growing, and some believe the resale sector may become bigger than fast fashion. <ul><li>Buying vintage and second-hand provides a refreshing and more sustainable way to shop.</li><li>Buying pre-owned clothes prevents using additional resources in the manufacturing process.</li><li>Shopping second-hand is cheaper and more accessible.</li></ul>

The rise of second hand shopping

<ul><li>Poor quality fast fashion. Only a small percentage of donated clothing is of sufficient quality to be re-sold.</li><li>Outsourcing to developing nations. Developing countries are inundated with unwanted clothes. Some countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda have banned, or are considering banning, used clothing turning up on their doorstep.</li><li>Thrift flipping. Buying pre-owned items and customising them is a threat to disadvantaged people who used to benefit from second-hand items.</li></ul>

Issues with second hand

It is said to be one of the best things we can do to reduce the footprint of our wardrobes. So is shopping second hand sustainable?

fashion

Fashion & Beauty

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Is Shopping Second Hand Sustainable? - Good On You

If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar liquid would ooze out. But not all the contents of the pupa dissolve. Certain highly organized groups of cells known as imaginal discs survive the digestive process. These discs use the protein-rich liquid all around them to rapidly divide the cells needed to form the wings, antennae, legs, eyes, and all the other features of an adult butterfly or moth.

To become a butterfly, a caterpillar first digests itself

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly?

In an ideal situation, we would eat a healthy dinner, followed by something small and sweet. Then in a few hours, we would sleep all night. But the reality is different. We stay up later, eat a small dinner or are hungry without reason, and crave a bedtime snack. If you know that going without a bedtime snack will make your stomach rumble, consider the following healthy snacks.

Snacking at bedtime is common

A rumbling stomach at night is an indication that you need more calories and nutrients. So, aim to eat foods that give you better nutrition. Walnuts are a good option as it is full of calcium, magnesium, vitamin B, protein and heart-healthy fats like omega-3s. It can also prevent Type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases.

Walnuts

Bananas contain potassium, which is a natural muscle relaxant and can help you fall asleep. They also contain tryptophan, which can aid in a restful night's sleep. Bananas contain natural sugar that have less effects on your blood sugar than refined sugars.

Banana

Nuts contain blood-stabilizing proteins and healthy fats. The dark chocolate is just a good amount of sweet. Dark chocolate does contain some caffeine and may affect you. But if you know your sleep won't be affected, a handful of dark chocolate-covered nuts may be a good option.

Chocolate-covered nuts

Having something carb-based, protein-based, and fat-based before bed helps to stabilise the blood sugar and keeps your body from waking during the night. Greek yoghurt with almonds and berries has a balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat. The carbs are in the berries and yoghurt, the protein is in the yoghurt, and the fat is in the almonds.

Greek yoghurt with almonds and berries

Peanut butter has protein and fat, and rice cakes have carbs. That trio combination is great for keeping blood sugar balanced throughout the night.

Rice cake with peanut butter

Consuming sufficient amounts of calories can help to prevent getting hungry before bed. Don't wait until dinner to eat two-thirds of your food. Instead, aim to eat 30 grams of protein at your main meals and three to five servings of cruciferous or high-fibre vegetables at lunch and dinner. If we don't consider our nutritional inventory for the day, we may experience hunger at bedtime if the body feels undernourished.

How to avoid bedtime hunger

Snacking before sleep isn't often recommended, but sometimes it's necessary. Here's what to grab.

food

Food

health

Health

Hungry Before Bed? Here's Exactly What You Should Eat, According To Nutritionists.

A heatwave is a prolonged period of abnormally high surface temperatures compared to the average maximum temperature. Heatwaves may occur over several weeks and cause weather-related mortality.
Increased heatwaves are associated with climate change. Heatwaves are characterised by low humidity - which may worsen drought conditions, or high humidity, which may cause heat-related stress, which includes heat exhaustion, dehydration, and heatstroke.

Heatwave

<ul><li>In 2010, the Russian heatwave, which covered 1,036,000 square km (400,000 square miles), killed 55,000 people.</li><li>The 2003 European heatwave killed over 30,000 people.</li><li>The U.S. heatwave and drought of 1988 killed more than 4,000 people.</li><li>In 2015, the Indian heatwave killed about 2,500 people.</li></ul>

Notable heat waves

Heat wave, period of prolonged abnormally high surface temperatures relative to those normally expected. Heat waves may span several days to several weeks and are significant causes of weather-related mortality, affecting developed and developing countries alike. Globally, the increasing frequency

Heat wave | meteorology

If you’ve felt that nagging pain behind your eyes after staring at your digital devices all day, you’ve probably experienced it, too. Often, it manifests in the form of:<ul><li>Achy, tired, itchy, burning, dry, or watery eyes</li><li>Blurred vision</li><li>Difficulty concentrating</li><li>Trouble keeping your eyes open</li><li>Heightened light sensitivity</li><li>Headaches, especially a dull ache around your eyes.</li></ul>

Eye fatigue 

<ul><li>The main culprit of eye fatigue is blue light. The devices we use — phones, tablets, laptops, TV, or even LEDs and fluorescent lighting — emit a strong blue light. </li><li>Eye fatigue isn’t limited to screen exposure; it can also happen if you’re reading a book for long hours.</li><li>When you view something up close, a muscle inside your eye — known as the ciliary muscle — contracts and changes the shape of your lens to help you focus and see clearly. This function is called accommodation. After hours of being contracted, that muscle gets tired and begins to ache.</li></ul>

Causes of eye fatigue

<ul><li>Put more space between yourself and your computer screen. The monitor should be about <a href="https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/computer-usage">25 inches away</a> from your face. This will also help with your posture.</li><li>Tilt your screen slightly downwards. This can help reduce glare, which often contributes to eye strain. You can also use a blue-light-blocking screen cover for your laptop or wear glasses that block blue light to help reduce any glare. </li><li>As you work, check your screen’s brightness and compare it to the lighting around you.</li><li>Set your devices’ night-time preferences to warm (or get yellow-lens glasses).</li><li>When you’re working on a laptop, take a break every 20 minutes. Look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds to give your eyes a chance to relax.</li></ul>

Preventing eye fatigue

Eight ways to take better care of yourself.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

timemanagement

Time Management

Is Too Much Screen Time Giving You Eye Fatigue?

We become unfit much quicker than it took to get in shape. To understand how the body becomes unfit, we need to understand how we become fit. 
The key to becoming fitter is to do more than our body is used to. The stress from this makes us become more tolerant, leading to higher fitness levels. Some studies show that just six sessions of interval training can increase maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) and improve the body's ability to fuel itself.

Losing fitness

Cardiorespiratory fitness - shown by a person's VO2 max will decrease around 10% in the first four weeks after a person stops exercising. The rate of decline continues but eventually evens out.
Highly trained athletes (like a marathon runner) will maintain a VO2 higher than average. But the average person will fall back to pre-training levels in less than eight weeks.

Cardiovascular fitness

Blood and plasma volumes can decrease by as much as 12% in the first four weeks after a person stops training. Plasma and blood volume decrease due to the lack of stress put on our heart and muscles.
Plasma volume can reduce to about 5% within the first 48 hours of stopping training as less blood is pumped around the body with each heartbeat.

The reason VO2 max declines

Some gains in muscle force can appear in two weeks, but gains in muscle size won't be seen until around eight to 12 weeks.
12 Weeks without training causes a significant decrease in the amount of weight we can lift, but only a minimal reduction in the size of the muscle fibres. We will maintain some of the strength we gained. We lose muscle strength because the muscles are not put under stress, effectively becoming "lazy".

Strength training

For weight training, it takes just 12 weeks for the amount you can lift to decline significantly – but some of your original strength will linger on.

exerciseandfitness

Exercise & Fitness

How soon do we become unfit when we stop exercising?

<ul>
<li>Asking the sommelier or server to recommend the best wine to go with the ordered food is based on the idea that asking a wine professional will provide a pairing that will unlock the full potential of the food, and of course, taste delicious.</li>
<li>Having a recommended type of wine with a certain dish is now outdated due to our changed eating habits (now many people go for shared plates for example and the sommelier has the impossible task of finding one bottle that pairs with seven different things).</li>
<li>There is no secret code for choosing wine. People’s palates are inherently personal (we have different sensitivities to certain flavors and aromas), so there is no such thing as an objectively perfect pairing.</li>
</ul>

Pairing Of The Wine With The Dish

<ol>
<li>Pair according to the vibe, not the food. The occasion should be the primary criteria while deciding on which wine to drink in the first place. A family reunion deserves a different wine from what one would have at a friends beach party.</li>
<li>One can update the way the wines are described, going beyond the traditional ways the wine taste is explained. This allows the person to experiment and explore new pairings of wine that may be better than the predefined ones.</li>
<li>Just drink whatever wine you want to drink, not being bothered about how awful it tastes while paired with the food on the plate. It is not the end of the world if the pairing isn’t established by wine experts. Do your own thing.</li>
</ol>

New Rules To Pair Wine With Food

It’s time to rethink the old rules of food and wine pairing, to move on from what we "should" be drinking to what we want to drink.

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

It’s Time to Forget the Old Rules of Wine Pairing

According to a meta-analysis, about 40% of the population has had sleep problems during the pandemic.
We know to keep a consistent schedule, avoid alcohol, caffeine and bright lights before bed and practice other sleep habits. But it is not enough to solve chronic insomnia. Our brains need to feel safe and secure to be able to fall asleep.

When sleeping problems are increasing

We have insomnia if we have difficulty falling or staying asleep three or more times a week, which lasts for months, leading to fatigue, mood changes or difficulty concentrating.
Insomnia is partly triggered by the fear and anxiety we have about not sleeping. When we start to chase after sleep - waking up later, taking naps, going to bed too early, it decreases our sleep drive. Our brain then begins to associate the bed with anxiety about falling asleep.

The negative spiral of insomnia

<ul>
<li>Try to sleep for seven to nine hours a night.</li>
<li>Keep consistent wake-up and bedtimes.</li>
<li>Keep the bedroom cool, quiet and dark.</li>
<li>Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and exercise before bed.</li>
<li>Turn off your screens 30 to 60 minutes before you need to sleep.</li>
</ul>

Practice good sleep hygiene

<ul>
<li>Don't chase sleep. Don't go to bed early or sleep late. Don't nap. </li>
<li>Don't go to be until you're sleepy. Sleepiness is when your eyes are drooping.</li>
<li>Don't stay in bed unless you're asleep.</li>
<li>Establish consistent daily routines and bedtime routines.</li>
<li>Recognise when you sleep best, then stick with it.</li>
<li>Don't tell yourself you won't be able to sleep. Instead, say that a bad night of sleep is okay.</li>
<li>Keep a journal. Write down all the things you don't want to forget.</li>
<li>If you start to ruminate in bed, think about the things you're grateful for.</li>
<li>Listen to someone else's voice, like an unexciting audiobook.</li>
</ul>

Tips to help you sleep

habits

Habits

Can’t Sleep? Here Are Some Surprising Strategies That Actually Work

<ul>
<li>A hot compress. Applying heat to the area is an effective way to treat muscle pain. It can be a hot-water bottle or a microwaveable bean bag.</li>
<li>Refrain from pressing on tight, sore spots. It most likely will only give you short-term results and be uncomfortable. Exercising seems to provide longer-term improvement.</li>
<li>Weight lifting. Research suggests the most effective way of treating muscle pain is low-intensity weight training.</li>
</ul>

Treating muscle pain

Applying heat and a little light resistance work will soothe your aching muscles

Fitness tips: how to treat muscle pain

Nowadays, vitamins are often perceived as being essential to humans' daily diet. Therefore, there is a variety of regimens based on them and provided by numerous companies that promise to ensure an improved functioning of our organism.

The need to vitaminize 

As applied to any other subject, when it comes to vitamins people should be careful too. Taking too much of a certain vitamin might lead to disequilibrium in your immune system and not only. So, better safe than sorry, make sure to check with a doctor before starting any diet based on vitamins.

Is Shopping Second Hand Sustainable? - Good On You

How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly?

Hungry Before Bed? Here's Exactly What You Should Eat, According To Nutritionists.

Heat wave | meteorology

Is Too Much Screen Time Giving You Eye Fatigue?

Brianna R.