July/August 2016

For most people, much of what they do is aimed at improving happiness.

Careers can provide personal satisfaction and enhanced self-esteem from earning money and providing for others.

The same is true for many recreational activities, fulfilling marriages and some aspects of parenting (as a parent of three, I know firsthand that it’s not always fun, however).

Achieving happiness is often challenging. About one in six Americans experience anxiety for 15 to 30 days each month. Anxiety often results in feeling nervous, afraid or apprehensive. About 7 percent experience depression annually. Americans spend about $50 billion each year to treat depression. Anxiety and depression can lead to insomnia, pain, social withdrawal and poor health.

THE EXERCISE OPTION

Medications as well as psychotherapy can be effective for treating depression and anxiety. However, researchers from the University of Georgia studied another option: exercise. They found seven studies involving strength training in which anxiety levels were a measured outcome. Most people in the studies had moderate anxiety; two studies had people with high levels. All of the studies found that strength training reduced anxiety.

The research team looked at the effects of activity on depression. As a whole, physical activity reduces depression among all types of people (older adults, college students, cancer patients), Regardless of the initial depression level, strength training significantly cut depression. They found it was much more effective than low-intensity aerobic activities for reducing depression symptoms.

This leads to the next question: How does strength training improve mental health? Strength training increases the production of neurotransmitters, which are the chemical substances that send signals between nerve cells. One neurotransmitter is dopamine, which is responsible for delivering the message of joy that we feel after winning a game or receiving a gift. Strength training may also help create new blood vessels in the brain.

QUESTION: “The pain in my shoulder keeps me awake at night. What causes this, and what can I do?”

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ANSWER: One of the most common complaints I hear in my office is that a patient cannot sleep due to shoulder pain. It may seem that no matter what side you try to sleep on, it still hurts. Your shoulder might feel stiff, or a dull pain might become worse when you raise your arm or shift from side to side. You also might feel a muscle spasm or numbness and tingling in your fingers.

The shoulder is one of the most agile joints of the body, allowing movement in all directions. Because of this, it can be more susceptible to injury. Painful conditions also might arise from overuse because of a specific activity or shoulder motion that you make repetitively. Racquet and ball-throwing sports are some of the main culprits, but any repetitive shoulder motion can cause an overuse injury.

Typically, shoulder pain that gets worse at night might be caused by bursitis, tendinopathy or an injury to the rotator cuff.

Bursitis is an inflammation of the bursa, which is a fluid-filled pad that provides a cushion to the bones of the joint. When injured, fluid in the bursa increases, and this swelling can be painful.

Biceps tendinopathy is usually the result of long-term overuse and deterioration of the biceps tendon that connects muscles and bones in the shoulder joint. Tendons may also get less flexible as we age and are more prone to injury. Tendinopathy is often part of the aging process. Biceps tendinopathy can give sharp pains in the arm with certain motions like reaching behind you.

Rotator cuff injuries usually involve a tear in these tendons. The rotator cuff includes four muscles that come together as tendons and connect your humerus bone to the shoulder blade.

When Larry Theurer’s garden in Old Brooklyn wasn’t yielding as many vegetables as it used to, Larry and his wife Brenda recalled a PBS television special that showed an elderly Asian man hand-pollinating his pear trees in Japan. The area had lost all its honeybees from pollution.

The next day, Larry tried his hand at pollinating his own garden with a cotton-tipped swab dipped in water; the result was amazing.

“My garden exploded,” Larry says. “The big difference was in the yields. So my wife and I decided to find out more about honeybees. We checked out various beekeeper organizations in Medina County, Lorain County and a few more counties. That year, 2009, we also went to the Cuyahoga County Fair and met people from the Greater Cleveland Beekeepers Association. The association was only about six months old at the time.”

Larry and Brenda began attending beekeeper meetings at the Rocky River Nature Center. “The club was very warm and receptive,” he says. “And nobody wanted your annual dues up front until you were sure this was something you’d like to do. They genuinely wanted to see you succeed as a beekeeper.”

Larry is now president of the GCBA, one of the youngest and largest clubs in Northeast Ohio. Members meet the second Wednesday of the month with educational and networking sessions. The association holds an annual bee conference. This year’s event featured nationally known naturalist beekeeper Ross Conrad, a feature writer for Bee Culture Magazine, which is published in part by A.I. Root Company in Medina.

A POST-RETIREMENT HOBBY

Larry, 60, who retired in 2015 after 31 years with Cleveland Public Power, considers himself nearly a full-time beekeeper. Hives can require constant attention to keep up with the ever-producing honey yields, to protect hives from predators and to prevent colony collapse from pests such as varroa mites and hive beetles.

How do two people — one who is 6 feet 2 inches tall — fit three days of clothing, including theater attire, onto one motorcycle? And, with a black Honda Gold Wing motorcycle — a comfy cruiser — we’re the lucky ones with a trunk and two saddlebags.

The secret: dress in black, wear things twice and roll everything. All told, we had enough space to bring home four bottles of Canadian wine.

ON THE ROAD

We travel by motorcycle when possible to wring every sensual experience from a trip. Riding sensitizes. You see, smell, hear and feel deliberately.

Farmers talk about the influence of subtle climate changes. Check: We feel temperature shifts. Fields smell luscious and ripe during harvest season? Check: We smell them. Niagara Falls’ roar was apparent to us earlier than when we’re car captives. We see details in the seasonal shifts of wildflowers that dress the median strip.

Plus, motorcycles often enjoy better (and cheaper) parking. This was ano-brainer of a trip for us.

THE FALLS AND MORE

The Niagara region is much more than the Falls. It’s a gateway to cultural experiences — food, wine, theater — on the Niagara Peninsula between lakes Erie and Ontario.

While the Queen Elizabeth Way highway speeds visitors between destinations and navigation systems may select it, the Niagara Parkway is the better connector. The 14-mile stretch between the Falls and the Lake parallels the river and offers access to prime destinations such as the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, Floral Clock, Niagara Whirlpool and a few of the region’s wineries.

We’ve done this trip before, so we have a pattern. Leave work early and launch at mid-day. Hug Lake Erie’s south shore roads on the journey north. Enter Ontario, Canada. Then follow the Niagara Parkway to Lake Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake. Park our stuff at the hotel or bed and breakfast, and begin our adventures.

In a downtown warehouse, thousands of gently used children’s books are sorted and boxed by an army of volunteers. Their goal? To get 100,000 free books distributed monthly to children in need. In their first three months, they’ve passed out 61,718 books.

The Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank is a nonprofit group established by Judy Immerman Payne and Judi Kovach. Since opening in February, they’ve distributed more than 88,000 free, gently used, quality children’s books to Clevelanders. Among the program’s goals: Help teach at-risk new parents the importance of reading to their babies; teach family childcare providers to read with the children in their care; and establish creative youth programming.

In addition, 1,700 Cleveland public school students received books from AARP Experience Corps tutors, which is locally sponsored by Greater Cleveland Volunteers. The program recruits people 50 and older to tutor students.

As part of the program through a partnership with Discover Books, the nation’s second-largest online bookseller, the Kids’ Book Bank is repurposing hundreds of thousands of books that would otherwise end up in a recycling center.

The more books volunteers sort, the more that will get into the hands of kids in need. Interested in volunteering? Visit kidsbookbank.org or call Judy Immerman Payne at 216-417-1803.

SkyView Just open and point to the sky (indoors or out) and this app identifies constellations, planets, random space debris (satellites) and the International Space Station. It even has cool space music.

Pinterest Whenever I’m at a thrift store and see interesting items, I use this app to figure out what I can do with them.

Health If you don’t feel like dropping cash on a Fitbit, this app comes with newer iPhones. It keeps track of your steps and monitors other health information. You can download similar versions in the App Store if you have an older phone.

Venmo This is a great way to easily de-cash yourself. The app allows you to send money from your bank account to a friend’s. It’s great for splitting checks at dinner or sending grocery money to a needy college student you know.

TuneIn Radio Listen to any radio station in the country, live, any time of day. I love listening to sports talk radio. This makes it easy.

History Here Ever wonder what cool thing happened somewhere you’re passing through? The app pops up and tells you what you’re missing and why you should stop. The Sky’s the Limit From Stars to Sushi, Favorite Apps Point the Way Who doesn’t love a good cell phone app? Below are a few of the editor’s free favorites for iPhone.

Podcasts It’s the app for insomniacs, from the TED Radio Hour to America’s Test Kitchen Radio to The Moth storytelling podcast. I’ve spent hours (really) from 1 to 4 a.m. listening to smart people talk about interesting things.

Twitter By following local and national news sources (Washington Post, Fox 8 News, CNN, etc.), I get lots of news from my Twitter feed. And I’m just nerdy enough to love the Earthquake Alerts feed (@QuakesToday), with its real-time earthquake reports.

We’ve all met them: people who seem stuck in a rut. The older they get, the deeper the rut.

Habits are tough to break, especially when they’ve been honed over decades. In this issue we’re celebrating the anti-rut. “Discover” means to find something unexpectedly. Think about that for a moment; what was the last thing you discovered?

If you can’t think of anything, then you may pick up some suggestions from this issue. Why not start with hiking? Our region has terrific hiking spots for people of all ages and abilities. Sore knees? Lace up some sturdy boots and head to a flat trail along a lake or riverbed. Up for a challenge? We’ve got plenty of ledges and steep trails to explore, too. Our story on page 26 might spur you into discovering our parks and cities by foot.

Motorcycling is big with the over-50 crowd. I prefer to discover areas at a slower pace with my coaster-brake bicycle (which continues to be my all-time favorite gift from my husband). Yet I’m envious of motorcyclists who zip by, loaded with gear on a getaway trip. You’ll like our story about taking a quick trip by motorcycle to the Niagara region. If you haven’t seen the Falls since you were a kid, you’re in for a treat. The area is rich with wineries, great restaurants, boutique shops and natural beauty. It looks even better when experienced from the back of a motorcycle. Our story is on page 12.

Urban farming has taken off throughout the region. If you’re looking for a new hobby (and one that helps the environment), then consider beekeeping. We’ve got a profile of a couple who wanted to give their gardens a boost with better pollination. Find out what they discovered by reading our story on page 14.