Public bathing facilities was an option in Rome

Why not return to the days of public bath houses without the lead lined aqueducts of Roman times?

While traveling in warmer states I noticed that there does seem to be a larger percentage of homeless people than in colder areas and it would add to the need for housing and restrooms. Colder climates have warming rooms for the small numbers of homeless located in their areas – just spending one night at a rest stop in a warm urban area showed me that the transient sleep in the car population would overwhelm the warming room located in the rural location. Locating a camp ground style public bathing and rest room facility near areas where homeless people congregate/are allowed to congregate might support public health and the homeless person’s ability to find a job while trying to survive on limited income. It is hard to find a job when just trying to find a restroom is difficult.

Incorporating health research into the benefits of magnesium sulfate salt baths or foot-soaks for substance abuse and chronic illness or mental illness populations could be a coordinated goal that might help fund the facilities. Magnesium deficiency is associated with anxiety, paranoia and anger that can progress to rage and violence. Magnesium deficiency is also associated with many types of chronic illness conditions and is more of risk with a variety of commonly abused substances including alcohol. The advantage of providing it in a bath or foot-soak is that the intestines can become less adept at absorbing magnesium and the kidneys more prone to excreting it in favor of calcium being better absorbed by the intestines and retained by the kidneys.

Headaches and other types of chronic pain and muscle cramp conditions can also be relieved by a magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) or magnesium chloride topical soak or hand-cream type mixture. Working with a healthcare or insurance provider to test the efficacy of simply providing easier access to topical magnesium sulfate or magnesium chloride could help subsidize a homeless bathing facility or making the facility simply a pay to use community park addition could help subsidize it. charge a small fee for use of the shower or bath stalls. Truck stops charge around $12-14 dollars for use of nice quality shower area – that would likely be too costly for a homeless/low income person to be able to use very often. It is likely that a more campground style bathing facility could be provided for a lower cost to the individual purchaser of time in the facility while supporting the goal of improved public health. Making it a fee for use facility could help support cleaning staff for maintenance of the facility.

If research goals were incorporated then more support staff would be required to educate and obtain permission from participants in the project. Ethical medical research requires full disclosure of any potential risks of a research project as well as obtaining consent from the participants. The topical use of magnesium in the form of a bath or foot-soak can become too much of a good thing if used excessively or someone fell asleep in the bath. Twenty to forty minutes every few days is a beneficial amount when about a cup of Epsom salt is used in a bath or foot-soak.

Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.

Ethics guidance for mental health counselors

Government programs that serve clients have to follow Equal Opportunity policies and ethical policies regarding confidentiality of service.

An article directed towards psychiatrists and psychologists provides guidance that would also pertain to working in a government agency that serves clients. The author nicely summarizes ethical concerns regarding counseling relationships. The topic of multiple relationships and avoiding overlap between personal and professional contacts is reviewed as an initial pitfall to avoid. If business encounters are unavoidable due to limited availability of the type of business then some overlap of professional contacts might be more advisable than avoiding the professional relationship. It is always the standard recommendation to avoid mixing personal relationships with a patient who is in counseling relationship.  Documentation and other ethical considerations are also discussed with examples provided.

These topics are also recommended and covered in the ethical guidelines of dietetic counseling as well as in the provision of U.S. government equal opportunity programs.  Reviewing policies with all staff working in the program was an annual requirement in the agency where I worked and managed staff.

10 things I think are important:

/Disclosure: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes./

Cooperation and instinctual bias; a link

Our instincts are somewhat geared towards physical risks like the need to run away from a Saber Tooth Tiger and our bodies stress response is also geared towards preparing our bodies to run away or stand and fight. Stress can rev up blood flow and energy levels, which is great if there’s a Saber Tooth Tiger, but if it’s just the demands of a modern day desk job then the the physical stress response is less helpful and over time can increase chronic health risks. So take a break and a brief walk if you’re stressed at a desk job and it might help reduce stress levels to stare at relaxing image of nature for a moment.

There are physical reactions to stress that may be occurring in your body. [1] Walking in natural settings [2] or looking at images of nature [3] has been found helpful for calming the physical stress response, which is also known as the “fight or flight response.” (The links 1, 2, and 3 are from a previous post, they are not to the research article about cooperation. It is included later.)

Our instinctual expectations may also be affecting our expectations about cooperation from others. Research in game theory has been found helpful outside of the tech areas. In studying cooperation it was found that there are two basic styles – impulsive and immediate, “Yes, sure,” and a slower more rational based, “Maybe, but what exactly did you need?” The more immediate cooperation may be associated with increased trust in that person, possibly because of our Saber Tooth Tiger instincts.

In a dangerous physical reality a group would need complete trust in each others’ ability to act quickly if needed. When told run, you run, it might be a tiger; when told to jump, you jump, it might be a rock tumbling off a cliff behind you. But in an increasingly complex and technically fast-paced world sometimes it might actually be safer to have someone take the time to question whether the proposed action is the best one to take before impulsively agreeing, “Yes sure.”

Example from blogging: It is easy to post something but more difficult to un-post it, there may be copies all over the place even if you un-post the original.

So do you – Leap before you look? or Look before you leap? People might instinctively trust the person more who immediately says, “Yes sure,” — leaping before looking; but in the long run in our modern world the rational questions of “Where do you want me to run and how far and should I pack a water bottle and lunch?” may seem annoying and less trustworthy in the short term but they might save you from a worse problem later on.

I’m a Girl Scout by training and our motto is “Always be prepared.” or maybe that’s the boyscout motto. Okay, it is the Girl Scout motto but shorter “Be prepared.” I digress, my answer to the question of whether I would leap before looking or look before leaping is “It depends on the situation.” Recently I made a flying leap to football tackle my dog who can be protective and aggressive with other dogs sometimes. I bruised my knee and elbow slightly but caught the dog before anything bad had happened. More typically though I tend to ask the annoying questions of “Why, when and where, and how long, and are you really sure it is a good idea?

I blame my Girl Scout training and the motto, “Be prepared,” or my parents, or my health professional training and experience, for that rational tendency to generally question first and leap second. If it is a long run on a hot day then packing lunch and a water bottle will help you actually arrive at your destination and in healthy enough shape to do whatever it is that was necessary in the first place. But in the real world of interpersonal relations I have noticed that some people don’t seem to like to be questioned when they are asking you for help. They just want you to say, “Yes, sure.”

And the linked article and the research it discusses helps explain why – it’s our instincts which may be derived from our evolutionary expectations of physical dangers like Saber Tooth Tigers. The article however, doesn’t mention tigers, or looking or leaping, those examples are based on my interpretation of the article. It’s focus is a bit more on business ethics and the potential value of not blindly saying yes to requests that might lead down illegal or unethical paths. And maybe it suggests that the rationally ever questioning whistle-blower type might have value to a business even though that person might not seem as trustworthy to our instincts as the person who just says “Yes, sure.”

So pack your reusable stainless steel or BPA free plastic water bottle and Read more: “When last did you co operate without asking questions?”  http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=4e912ca40239fe6615cf58484&id=9fd8d696b4]

We live in a modern world, but our bodies are an ancient design.
We live in a modern world, but our bodies are an ancient design.

/Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and  the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes./