Finals Week- movie reviews

Well I am very proud of how well I am handling finals week for second semester- MUCH MUCH better than 1st. I am totally chill, had a dinner party the night before my first exam, and watched Talladega Nights- the ballad of ricky bobby- another will ferrell movie, this one poking fun at rednecks and nascar- totally hillarious! Today I celebrated the completion of my 7th exam by treating myself to a sugary soda, potato chips and cookies for an afternoon snack/pre dinner (organic and gluten free of course) I didn't go totally crazy here. Then I turned up the heat and curled up in a big comfy chair to watch the movie Kinky Boots- very cute film about a very traditional shoe factory that starts making boots for transvestities to save the business. So I'd say finals are going well.

Random Bits #1 The Subtleties of Shivering

So most of us know shivering as the body's way of keeping us warm by using our muscles to generate heat. What you may not know is what I learned today. What actually generates the heat is not a rapid contraction and relaxation of the muscle- rather it is the isometric contraction (tightening of the muscle fibers without movement of a joint). For example holding yourself up in position about to do a push up, or clenching your jaw- that clenching uses energy and generates heat to keep you warm. The shivering is the reaction of your muscle to being held so long in that contracted state. So to use the push up example, if you held that position a long time or any other static position where you are keeping a muscle tight, you would eventually start to shake. So the next time you are cold take notice to whether your jaw is clenched BEFORE you start to shiver!