Disney, are there really subliminal messages?

So, I’m sure everyone loves the wonderful Walt Disney movies. We all watched them in our youth and might still watch them at times because they remind us of our childhood! In high school I took a psychology class and we learned about subliminal messaging. Subliminal messages are hidden words or images in advertisements, movies, or music. It has been noticed that there are subliminal messages in some Disney movies such as The Lion King, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid.  Have you all seen heard of these messages being present in the Disney movies?

Here is an example of a subliminal message in Aladdin.

You must listen very closely, but Aladdin says, “Take off your clothes.”  Why would Disney put this into one of his movies that are meant for children?  What do you think?

Another movie is The Lion King.  While Simba lays down in the grass, dust flies up into the sky to spell the word sex.. watch closely in this video.

Finally, a third movie that has subliminal messages in it is The Little Mermaid.  At the end of the movie, when Prince Eric and Ursula are getting married the priest is having a little problem with his pants… here’s another video.

After watching these three examples of subliminal messaging in Disney movies, does it change your perspective on them? Do you think these are real or fake, there is much controversy between the subject so what is your opinion on it?

Need to Manage your Stress? Try Pilates!

There are many different ways that people can manage stress.  Sapolsky says that to cope with your stress there are: outlets for frustration, increase control, social support, religious affiliation, choosing the right strategy at the right time, and to finally get started!  Regular exercise such as pilates is a great way to release stress and frustration.  Pilates is a physical fitness system founded by a German man, Joseph Pilates.  This form of exercise is all about strengthening the core and using the mind to control the body and its muscles.

I am in a pilates class now in the Brock Center and it seriously is so helpful in releasing stress.  I take this class twice a week in the from 2pm-3pm.  This is the time of day usually when I’m just finishing classes really stressed out and look forward to it because I know how relaxing it is going to be.  However, even though Pilates is quite frequently confused with Yoga, I believe that Pilates is much more of a work out.  Many small exercises are done to tone and strengthen muscles, along with a series of stretches in between.  Yoga is more stretching than a conditioning routine.  Sometimes in my class at the end of our conditioning work out we lay in the dark, close our eyes, breathe, and stretch.  The instructor gives directions all in complete detail which is very relaxing because your mind and body work together to make sure that you feel every specific movement that you are going through.  For example: one specific work out is the spine stretch where you “lower one vertebrae at a time, articulating the spine.”  As you do this you breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth and when you’re finished relax.  Whenever I am go through each specific movement and motion I feel my body and muscles working, and breathing along with the exercise I feel much more relaxed, than with a regular work out.

If you are not a big gym-goer, I suggest trying pilates!  Don’t wait to do it, get started now!!  The Pilates exercise is very convenient because you can go to  without leaving your room to go to the gym.  Here is a video I found with a great Pilates work out that you should try NOW!  I promise, it’s worth it 🙂

Weddings can be stressful, Royal or not

The Royal Wedding has been all over the news the past week.  April 29, 2011 Prince William and Catherine were married in Westminster abbey.  The two had been engaged for ten years… talk about stressful!  Can you imagine how hard it must be to go from the average girl-next-door, to a princess then potentially a Queen?!  This is every girls’ dream, and Catherine has become the lucky one to have it come true.  The process of planning everything out and committing yourself to someone is a scary thing, especially if you are going to become royalty.  I definitely respect Catherine for her decision and taking so long to make sure she was making the right decision, and marrying William because she loved him, not just for the title.

Not only has this been a dream come true for her, but she has had her embarrassing moments.  During the wedding William was having some trouble putting on Catherine’s ring.  Below is a video of what exactly how much trouble he was having.  Can you imagine having people wake up all around the world at different times out of their normal sleeping patterns (like I know many of you did here) just to watch the wedding, and then have a moment like this happen.  This is something that will go down in history, and to have trouble putting on a ring I think is something I will never forget.

Lack of Sleep Ends in Insanity

Have you ever pulled an all-nighter?  Maybe it was because you had to study for a test and you got all hyped up on caffeine?  Well, for my group’s Above and Beyond project we decided to stay up all night and see how stressed out we would be the next day.  Right now it is 6:00 a.m. and all that has resulted is us going crazy.  We have made our Sheetz and Macon Coffee runs to get caffeine and stay awake, but the lack of sleep has stressed us out and begun to make us go crazy.  If it wasn’t for all the caffeine we would not have been able to stay up, and would not be nearly as loopy as we all are.  Two out of three people had caffeinated drinks and were acting very strange at the end of the night.  Not only did I not sleep this past night, but am running on four hours of sleep from the night before.  Sleep is really important and helps keep all of our levels in balance.  I have a feeling that having only four hours of sleep within two days will result in a very long recovery, and hard time to catch back up on the sleep I have missed.

Studies show that a good night’s sleep allows you to perform better and remain less stressed.  So remember, when everyone says, “you sleep when you’re dead” it is still super important to keep a regular sleep pattern to remain healthy and stress-free!

Does Weather Really Affect our Mood?

Have you everthought about the weather affecting your mood?  Experiencing these random rainy days we’ve had over the past few weeks, I have realized how much my mood has been changing.  Every time there has been a rainy day, I am more depressed or upset and angry.  However, the nice, sunny weather we have had on occasion I have experienced much more positive feelings.  Am I the only one, or are more people experiencing these mood swings going along with the weather?  I could be in denial, just waiting for spring break to come, but I believe it’s much more than that.  On rainy days like today, that is exactly how I feel.  All I want to do is curl up in bed and sleep.  Why is that?  Why don’t we want to go out and play in the rain like we used to do when we were 5?

Is it really just a decrease in Vitamin-D (which is released from the sun, which usually makes us happy).  It is typical for people to be happier in the summer, but I always assumed it was just because everyone was on vacation.  Could it really be from the increase in Vitamin-D in our lives?  Here is an interesting website that shows a study on weather affecting moods of people.

http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20081016/how-the-weather-affects-our-moods

Obesity: Not Only An American Epidemic

A chronic, or long term disease, obesity is the accumulation of extra fat on the body.  Of course we all have fat on our body and in that case must have fat in order to live, but those considered obese are 20% over their total body fat.  Morbidly obese is when one is 50%-100% over normal body weight.  Now, why is this such an issue in today’s society?  Well, of course we have all the wonderful fast food chains and “to-go” restaurants to make getting food more convenient since everyone is always on the go nowadays.  However, with all this convenient food comes consequences.  People don’t realize that they are getting what they pay for.  For example, with the “Dollar Menu” on many fast food places’ menus, the quality of the meat is of little to no nutritional value.  Although some people may already consider this factor, they are not doing much about it.  They are just shoving this food down their children’s throats because it will shut them up and it is easy to retrieve for dinners.

I know when I was younger, it was a treat to go to McDonald’s or Burger King and get a happy meal.  Then the happy meal turned into the mighty kids’ meal and the portions got bigger, and the food lower quality.  Instead of being fed fast food every once in a while, it is found around children almost all the time.  I don’t know about you, but seeing childhood obesity is a major stressor for me.  Seeing children about 8 years old five times the size of me, makes me upset and frustrated about the way America is turning out.  We are not a healthy country at all, but recently I cam across an article I had to read in one of my other classes, and found out that we are not the only ones… I read an article on Childhood Obesity in the Pacific Islands and found that maybe we are not as bad as other places.  While some parents still enforce the fact that their children eat their fruits and vegetables, people in the Pacific Islands find thinness to be unattractive so they do not make their children eat vegetables.  Even considering this stresses me out because not eating vegetables is no way to go about raising your children to make sure they are getting the nutrition they need!

Overall, childhood obesity can definitely be resolved.  We just need to get all the stupid fast food chains out so that the temptation is not there.  In reality, when is that really going to happen…?  What do you all think we can do to end this terrible epidemic?