Drink Your Way [WATER] For Bigger Muscles And Better S*X

According to The Journal of Physiology, 75 per cent of your body is made up of water. Not surprisingly, dehydration will make your life exhausting because you are depriving yourself of nutrients. And, more often than not, because thirst is a poor indication of dehydration, we often don’t realise we’re not drinking enough fluids until it’s a little too late.
Says Dr Maxime Buyckx, director of Health and Wellness Programs at the Global Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, The Coca- Cola Company: “Most people don’t realise it, but they do not have a sufficient intake of fluids during the day.” While eight glasses of water per day is a reliable guide, factors such as air-conditioning, diet and physical activity levels all influence the amount of fluids one needs to drink.

1. Boost Your Brainpower And Mood, And Enhance Your Performance
According to a study published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, losing just one to two per cent – the medical definition of mild dehydration – will affect your mood, thinking and performance. Research published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutritionalso found that mild dehydration decreases mathematical ability, your IQ, visual-motor function and short-term memory. Later studies also found adverse effects on perception and reaction time.

Drink Up
Don’t fight that thought to sip water frequently: Down the recommended 1.2 litres a day before thirst prevails – that’s six to eight glasses of fluids (water is best) other than booze. However, drinking more than 1½ litres of water within an hour may result in water intoxication and can be dangerous.

2. Beat Fatigue
If you consistently work out during lunchtime, being dehydrated can leave you dragging your feet instead of feeling energised. In a Tufts University study in the US, athletes who didn’t drink water during workouts felt angrier and more depressed later than those who did. Researchers say the dehydrated group’s “global negative mood” – including confusion, fatigue and decreased vigour, none of which will help a career – was one-third higher than the hydrated group’s. These symptoms, says the study’s coauthor, Kristen D’Anci, PhD, may be due to thirst and a slight shrinkage of the brain cells. This, in turn, affects your brain’s chemical balance, making you irritable or even triggering a headache.

Drink Up
Even if you’re not thirsty, drink 250ml of water every 30 minutes during your workout.

3. Get Better Skin
Although there is no hard and fast evidence that drinking excessive water directly correlates to better skin, in a US study, Dr Margaret E. Parsons, spokeswoman for the American Academy of Dermatology, says that when skin is dehydrated, fine wrinkles certainly seem to show up a bit more. So when skin cells are plumped up, your skin simply looks better.

Drink Up
A 2007 US study on the effects of hydration on the skin reports that drinking about two cups of water can increase blood flow to the skin.

4. Build Bigger Muscles
Warning: Dehydration saps testosterone, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Scientists found that men who were dehydrated prior to a workout had lower T-levels, compared to when they had consumed plenty of water beforehand. A potential mechanism: The water-depleted lifters also had higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that may depress testosterone, says study author Dan Judelson, PhD.

Drink Up
At least four hours before you lift weights, consume about 3ml of water per 0.45kg of body weight. Water is the best choice, but other beverages can help keep you hydrated, too.

5. Lose Weight
German scientists found that drinking water in the morning can boost your metabolism by as much as 24 per cent for 90 minutes afterwards. Moreover, water acts as an appetite suppressant and helps your body metabolise fat. When you’re dehydrated, your kidneys can’t function properly, so the load is shifted to your liver. This organ converts stored fat to energy, but won’t be able to do this job efficiently if it has to pick up the slack from your kidneys, which get overworked when you’re dehydrated.

Drink Up
To rev up your metabolism, drink at least 450ml of water the moment you wake up. (A smaller amount had no effect.) And to increase the weight loss effect of water, guzzle at least a gallon over the course of a day.

6. Fight Erectile Dysfunction
French researcher Simon Thornton suggests that the importance of blood volume – the amount of blood (both red blood cells and plasma) circulating in our bodies, which is directly correlated to the amount of fluids we consume – is overlooked in cases of erectile dysfunction.
In his study published in the Journal of s*xual Medicine, he highlights the relationship between blood volume and levels of the angiotensin, a hormone that’s linked to s*xual dysfunction. He suggests the level of angiotensin rises as our blood volume drops. Therefore, as proper hydration is one way to boost blood volume, so increased water intake may be a way to improve s*xual function.

Drink Up
More studies are being carried out to establish the relationship between erectile dysfunction and water. But several experts say it’s considered one of the best natural remedies available, as it can boost the body’s circulation levels, as well as flush toxins and cholesterol out of the body.

Naija.com

Gov flags-off Bike Riders’ Loan/Ins Scheme (EDOMEMCIS)

Edo State Motor-Cycle Riders

Empowerment/Microcredit and Insurance Scheme (EDOMEMCIS) was formally flagged-off yesterday in Benin City.

Speaking at the ceremony, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomholerepresented by his Deputy, Dr. Pius Egberanmwen Odubu, stated, that EDOMEMCIS is designed to economically empower the masses, especially motor-cycle riders in EdoState.

He assured that the package (EDOMEMCIS) will achieve the desired result of looking after the welfare of bike riders who are expected to graduate to taxi owners, adding that the state government in order to ensure the success of the scheme has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a commercial bank, a communication outfit and an insurance company.

While noting that the state government will fulfil all its obligations under the agreement, Comrade Oshiomhole stated that the commercial bank involved in the scheme is expected to provide an initial sum of three billion naira to finance the purchase of brand new cars which will be used as taxi cabs under the credit aspect of the scheme.

Earlier , the spokesman of Okada Riders Unions in Edo State, Peter Adoroh, appreciated the state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for his continuous interest and effort to empower Okada riders in Edo State, and thanked him for flagging off the Okada Riders Empowerment Scheme in the state, the first of its kind in the country.

EdoGovWebsite

Danielle Powell, Grace University Student Kicked Out For Being Lesbian, Must Repay Thousands

Danielle Powell was close to getting her bachelor's degree when she was kicked out of her university for being gay in 2012, and now says the only way the school will transfer her credits to another school is if she agrees to pay $6,300. In response, Powell has launched an online petition to pressure the school to forgive the debt.

Powell was a student at Grace University in early 2011 when she began her first same-sex relationship. Up until that point, neither she nor her then-girlfriend identified as lesbian. When Grace, a religious university in Omaha, Neb., found out about the relationship through a spiritual adviser at the school, they brought Powell before a judiciary board to decide whether she should be allowed to stay enrolled.

"At that time, my family had no idea, so I had to come out to my family sooner than I would've wanted," Powell told The Huffington Post.

Michael James, executive vice president at Grace, told The Huffington Post that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prevents them from discussing any student's particular case. But he did confirm the student handbook states that "Any student involved in sexually immoral behavior, including premarital sex, adultery, and homosexual acts, is at minimum placed on University probation and may be subject to a Judiciary Hearing."

Powell said the board asked her why she did what she did and whether she was remorseful, treating her, in her words, "like a sexual predator." The university ultimately decided in March 2011 to suspend her and not allow her to finish the semester. Powell said she was also told she now owed Grace just over $6,000 after an academic scholarship she'd been awarded was revoked.

Powell said that the university told her she could participate in a restoration program, involving counseling and regular church attendance, to get readmitted, but she would have to live off campus and could not stay overnight in the dorms. She began the restoration process in the summer of 2011, so as not to jeopardize work that she was afraid she might lose by transferring to another institution.

But shortly before the start of the spring 2012 semester, Grace decided not to readmit her because she was still dating women.

"They were doing a witch hunt," Powell said, "calling around to see if I was in a same-sex relationship."

James told Powell in a letter, a copy of which was provided to HuffPost, that she was being "deceitful" and said it would be "unethical" for the university to readmit her since it "would be impossible for the faculty of Grace University to affirm your Christian character, a requirement for degree conferral."

By October 2012, as Powell was looking into attending another college, she said she was told that Grace would only transfer the credits from her three and a half years if she paid a $6,300 tuition bill from the semester during which she was suspended for being gay. The university denies they have withheld her transcripts, but Powell said she's only been offered a student copy she cannot use to transfer.

James said anyone who withdraws before the semester is 60 percent complete will usually owe a balance, because federal law obligates Grace to return Title IV funds -- federal grants, loans and work-study funds -- on behalf of the withdrawn student. "Suspension or expulsion constitutes withdrawal," James said in an email.

With no money and no other recourse, Powell's wife, Michelle Rogers, started a petition to persuade Grace University to forgive Powell's debt.

The idea for a petition came after video of Powell's proposal to Rogers at a Macklemore concert in in December 2012 went viral. (They married in Iowa.) Rogers said that they had been asked if they were involved in any LGBT activism, and thought this could be a way to make a difference.

"I feel that it's important that kind of discrimination should not happen towards an individual," Rogers said, adding that she wants to "shed light on Grace University's discriminatory disciplinary system."

The petition, launched over the weekend, already has more than 10,000 signatures, up from 2,500 on Monday afternoon.

"College was always kind of one of those things I never thought was an option for me because of my financial background," Powell said, noting she'd be the first in her family to get a degree. "It's something I've invested too much in to not finish."

CLARIFICATION: This post has been updated to add additional comment from the university and clarify sourcing. Grace University said they are limited in discussing particulars of the case, citing federal privacy laws.

HuffingtonPost

The U.S. Needs $354 Billion To Repair Decrepit Pipes And Keep Drinking Water Clean

By Aviva Shen

(Credit: Shutterstock)

The nation’s crumbling infrastructure was made strikingly obvious by a recent string of collapsing bridges and train derailments. A newly released report highlights a less visible but equally urgent time bomb:deteriorating drinking water systems. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that $384 billion over the next 17 years is needed to repair and replace thousands of miles of pipes, thousands of water treatment plants, storage tanks, and water distribution systems. Without this investment, millions of Americans will lose the clean drinking water we currently take for granted.

Most of the drinking water infrastructure in the nation is 50 to 100 years old, and the risk of contamination grows as pipes age and break down further. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water are lost every day because of leaky pipes. In order to address this growing problem, every state needed at least $1 billion to fix their drinking water infrastructure. Most require between $3 and $10 billion, while nine states need more than $10 billion.

California, already struggling with severe water shortages that will only worsen with climate change, needs the most rehabilitation. Repairing and updating California’s drinking water system will cost at least $44.5 billion, up from 2007′s estimate of $44.2 billion. That’s $10 billion more than Texas and $22 billion more than New York.

The report also noted that virtually no states are planning for climate change’s impact on drinking water. Forward-thinking projects focusing on conservation and water efficiency are few and far between. Just 164 climate readiness projects have been planned in 44 of the nation’s 73,400 water systems.

The effects of decrepit water infrastructure are already manifesting themselves. For instance, the city of Baltimore, where more than 95 percent of the water mains have been in use for 65 years without inspection, endures about a thousand water main breaks every year, flooding streets and destroying properties. Many of the water mains have been in service for over a century. Because of the deteriorated system, the city loses about 20 percent of its finished water revenue each day — enough water to fill Baltimore’s World Trade Center every day.

At the same time, the price of water is exploding across the country at a far faster rate than other utilities. This is largely because treating water has become more expensive. And if water quality continues to decline, more treatment, more chemicals, and more energy will be needed to make it clean enough for drinking, making prices soar.

Though the drinking water situation is rapidly reaching crisis mode, Congress regularly fails to provide the necessary funding. The EPA estimates that between 2000 and 2019, funding to address water infrastructure needs will likely fall short by as much as $263 billion, or even more over the next 20 years as demand for water increases.

TP

Lionel Messi, Father Accused Of €4m Tax Fraud

World’s Best Footballer Lionel Messi and his father have been accused by Spanish tax authorities of defrauding the state of more than €4m.

Barcelona’s world player of the year and his father Jorge allegedly filed fraudulent tax returns for the years 2007-2009, according to a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office for tax crimes in Catalonia.

The complaint, signed by the prosecutor Raquel Amado, has been submitted for trial at the courthouse in Gava, the Barcelona district where the Argentina forward lives.

Messi and his father are accused of three offences against the public purse.

A judge must accept the prosecutor’s lawsuit before any charges could be brought.

In a statement released via his Facebook page, Messi said: “We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about the news, because we have never committed any infringement.

“We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations, following the advice of our tax consultants who will take care of clarifying this situation.”

Messi signed an extended contract with Barcelona earlier this year, with his salary, which is heavily driven by incentives, understood to begin at around €11m (£8.5m) a year net. Barcelona declined to comment on the complaint.

Messi played for his national team in Quito on Tuesday, where Argentina drew 1-1 with Ecuador in a World Cup qualifier – a match in which Javier Mascherano was sent off for kicking the driver of a medical buggy.

Alejandro Sabella, the Argentina coach, said Messi is expected to play in a friendly against Guatemala on Friday.

InformationNigeria

Wamakko Calls PDP Chairman Bamanga Tukur A ‘Political Prostitute', May Join APC, Source Says

Gov. Aliyu Wamakko

By SaharaReporters, New York

As the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues to come apart at the seams, one of its suspended governors, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto State, today came down hard and heavy on National Chairman Bamanga Tukur, denouncing him as a political prostitute whose mission is to destroy the party and north.
Addressing a mammoth crowd at Government House, Wamakko said that people like Bamanga Tukur and Ahmed Gulak, the Special Adviser on Political Matters to the President, have no business in PDP and ought to be sacked by President Goodluck Jonathan.
On his suspension from the PDP, Governor Wamakko vehemently dismissed the development, saying he has no regrets and no apology whatsoever.”
Furthermore, he stressed, “I will never support Godswill Akpabio, the Chairman of PDP Governors Forum.”
Wamakko called on Mr. Jonathan to bring back, Ahmadu Ali and Abubakar Kawu Baraje, to continue as Chairman and Secretary of the party.
The governor, who was flanked by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said, “When we took over PDP in 2011, the party has no single elected person from Sokoto state. Today we have won all the 234 seats of the Councilors as well as all the 23 local government chairmen. We have won all the 30 members of the state house of assembly, all the 11 members of the national assembly, all the 3 senators as well as the governor and his deputy, therefore the peoples of Sokoto state are ardent lovers and supporters of Alu not PDP.”
Governor Wamakko’s scorched-earth criticism of his party’s chairman comes as sources say he may dump the PDP for the yet to be registered All Progressive Congress (APC).
The sources said the governor held a closed-door meeting with Bola Ahmed Tinibu in Lagos upon his arrival from The Netherlands, where he attended an investment forum along with the Kwara State Governor, Ahmed Abdulfatah.
The source confided a SaharaReporters correspondent that Wamakko spent over three hours with Tinubu to discuss the terms of his joining the APC.

Emily Harris, 9-Year-Old Girl, Clears Customs With Toy Passport Identifying Her As Unicorn (PHOTO)

According to childhood legend, it's no secret that unicorns can fly. Once they've reached their destination, though, how do they clear customs?

As Emily Harris found out, apparently unicorns have no difficulty using passports just like the rest of us. During a trip to Turkey in late May, the 9-year-old girl likely came to that realization after entering the country on a toy passport, which identified her as a unicorn.

The girl's mother, Nicky, had accidentally mixed in Emily's toy passport with the restof the family's legitimate documents, reports the South Wales Argus.

When the customs official at Turkey's Antalya Airport reviewed them, apparently the photo of "Lily," a bright purple unicorn identified as having black-colored eyes, a height of 37cm, and -- tellingly -- a giant horn, didn't raise suspicions. Indeed, a stamp admitting the creature into the country can clearly be seen in a photo of the passport's lower right corner.

“I didn’t realise until I was putting the passports away. There was a moment of panic when I thought someone would come chasing after us, but nothing,” Nicky told the Argus, adding, “We saw the funny side and laughed at the fact that the officer had even stamped the passport."

The story earned mixed reactions on Antalya Expats, a Facebook page for English speakers in Turkey's Antalya region.

Writes one man, Stephen Layton: "Doesn't sound right! Every time I come and go from the country, they not only stamp the passport, but scan it too!" Though he eventually relents: "I suppose they still charged the £10 for a visa."

PHOTO of Emily, her toy passport and Lily the unicorn:

HuffingtonPost