JULY 2010
VACATION TIPS
How to Make Your 2010 Vacation the Best!
TASTY RECIPES INSIDE!
THE BARONS
THE W3 LIFESTYLE M I N I Z I N E
TOP TEN BEACHES
COMMUNITY INFO - W3 LIFESTYLE 2
The Baron’s Community Manager
Assistant Community Manager
Letter from the Manager, As a W3 Lifestyle designated community our residents receive special discounts and incentives at various retailers and service providers all over. Periodically we email these specials out to our residents as well as list them on our Community Facebook page. Some specials are time sensitive so the best way for us to communicate them to you is directly via email. Please make sure we have your current email address on record at the Leasing Office to make sure you do not miss out on these great opportunities. We will also email you every month when your Community Minizine is published online for your viewing pleasure. We have been designated as the Best of The Best in apartment communities by committing to defined criteria with W3 Lifestyle. Along with this designation come many resident benefits and services. We hope to see you at our next Community Event so that we can show you how much we appreciate our residents…and most importantly – how much we appreciate YOU! See something in your Community Minizine that you think would interest a friend or family member? Feel free to forward it to anyone you know and share some of the valuable article information and event dates. After all, not everyone is as lucky as you are to live in a W3 Lifestyle designated community – make them jealous and show what your community does for YOU!
Leasing Consultant
Maintenance Supervisor
Leasing Technician
Phone (972) 613-9333 Fax (972) 613-4477 Email thebarons@pegasusresidential.com Web www.PegasusResidential.com
Newsletter Advertising Inquiries Todd Sherman 770-886-1881
todd@w3lifestyle.com
www.W3Lifestyle.com
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W3 FAN PAGE
Have a Review You Would Like to Share? Share with us your experience with a Movie, Restaurant, Night Club, or anything else you think your neighbors could benefit from. Email Your Review to: review@w3lifestyle.com Once your review is emailed it becomes property of W3 Lifestyle, LLC and may be published.
We Would Love to Hear from YOU! minizine
B
W3 Lifestyle means you are at the Best of the Best and receiving the Best of the Best in Communities! I take pride in making each and every W3 Lifestyle Monthly Minizne for each and every community. I want YOU to enjoy what you are reading as eing part of a
well as find the best of the best in service around you much like W3 offers.
W
thought to myself,
“Wouldn’t
I it
be great to hear from the people from the
Communities?” and that’s exactly what I would like to do! I would absolutely love to hear about reviews on movies, restaurants and places.
T
his is a great oppurtunity for you to let out a rave or a gripe as well as get
to know one another in your community. welcome photographs of your
wonderful community town!
personal to
your
area.
This
of course doesn’t mean
I
won’t stop reviewing, it
just means that you will receive more with your monthly minizine!
I
f you have a restaurant review, movie
hile writing reviews this month
Also I
even more
It’s
W3 Lifestyle approved and going-ons around your a great way to make your
3 W3 LIFESTYLE - Letter from W3
review, place/shopping review, recipe or
photograph you would like to share for your minizne just email me at sbennett@ w3lifestyle.com!
A
nd thank you for being with the
Best of the Best!
Sincerely, Sierra Bennett
Your Three Legged Stool Is Now A Pogo Stick? Arthur Benz Vice President, oXYGen Financial, Inc. President, oXYGen Financial Insurance,
of the stool was
I
really
around
t used to be that when most
any
people talked about their
personal
retirement, the expectation was
and
additional savings
investments.
to have a three legged stool
In
for deriving income when you
marketplace with
actually retired.
private companies
The
first leg
of the stool was really around
rapidly
the pension plan.
their
You
worked
plans,
for a company your entire life.
Some
of your parents or grandparents
worked for
30, 35, 40
years for the same
company and when they retired, there was the reward of a pension for all of those years of hard work. Pension only exist today
largely in jobs such as state, local, federal government, or education.
Very
few public
companies actually offer a full fledged pension plan.
T
he second leg of the stool would be
Social Security. The
way that
Social
Security was originally laid out was to give
today ’s
declining pension people
concerned about Social Security, it turns out that personal savings and your investments are really the pogo stick of your retirement.
O
ne of the things we discuss with clients is the thought process of considering
setting up your own type of pension plan.
One way to do this is through the use of cash value life insurance. Of course, you’re going to need to consider your tax bracket, your time frame, and your overall risk tolerances. But even if you don’t have a physical need for life insurance in terms of the traditional
you the opportunity to get that supplemental
sense of death protection, there may be an
income in addition to your pension plan to be
opportunity to use life insurance especially
able to enjoy your retirement.
if you are a high wage earner or business
The third leg
4 W3 LIFESTYLE - oXYgen FINANCIAL
owner to set up a supplemental pension plan.
The
thought process behind this is really
about putting in more cash than just the part that pays for the cost of insurance.
All
retire. Generation X and Generation Y people
don’t think like this about their retirement when doing financial planning.
You
should
consider with these policies that if you pull
of your cash value will grow on a tax
out too much money and run out of cash
7702 of
value, you may create a considerable taxable
build up, somewhere down the road you may
correctly by your insurance agent, these
deferred basis as laid out in section the internal revenue code.
Once these assets
event to yourself. In addition, if not managed
have the opportunity to pull
policies may end up being
the money out on a tax free
more costly than the benefit
basis, which would be under
you receive.
section
72A
and
72E
in
S
the internal revenue code.
o,
One part of the withdrawal
where
pension
your
coming
in retirement?
process is to pull your basis
is
from
Without
a
of your insurance contract
pension, you’ll have to hop
out on a tax free basis and
that pogo stick of personal
one part is about physically
savings and investments to
taking a loan from yourself
your retirement dreams.
from the cash value in your insurance policy that you would not pay tax on due to the fact it is a loan.
This
concept of a supplemental
pension plan using cash value life insurance
Request a FREE Financial consultation: abenz@oxygenfinancial.net or (678) 5517945
should be an important consideration for high wage earners.
O
ne way or another, the reality is that these policies can be very complicated
to understand.
There
are both good parts
and bad parts to the policies. You may want to consider this as part of your overall strategy in retirement.
One
question you
oXYGen
Financial, Inc. Vice President & oXYGen Financial Insurance, Inc. President Arthur Benz is one of the foremost knowledgeable
professionals
in
giving
X and Y Generation. Unless sources are noted, the information is the opinion of the author. financial advice to the
need to ask yourself is which part of your investment portfolio is really carved out to be your “pension plan” when you actually
oXYgen FINANCIAL - W3 LIFESTYLE 5
5 Ways to Save Money on Your Summer Vacation By: Jennifer Mason, associatedcontent.com
W
ith summer right around the corner, people
From visits,
are
planning
tropical destinations to big city airfare,
entertainment
and
hotels, rental
car costs really start to add
up.
Vacations
don’t
have to be as expensive as you think they do!
vacations.
Here are five great ways
on which dates, and plan accordingly.
“The best way to save is to do your research!”
to save money on everything
it skyrockets.
from airfare to entertainment.
Finally,
http://www.farecast.
com uses historical airline data to tell you the best time to book your flight.
Prices
the date approaches.
change as
Sometimes
the price goes down, sometimes
Farecast
uses past data to
accurately predict whether the flight price you
1- Thoroughly
research airfare costs.
tend to be cheaper midweek than on
Flights weekends.
Mondays and Fridays can be the most expensive days to fly. When planning your trip, get creative with the days of departure and return. Many websites allow you to select a range of dates to search for. Try this, and you’ll find that you
$100 per ticket by flying on days you may not have considered. can save upwards of
Another great way to save money on airfare is by searching as many airlines as possible at once. Http://www.kayak.com searches the website of almost all of the airlines, as well as most of the wholesale websites, such as Expedia and Orbitz, all at once. You can see who is cheapest 6 W3 LIFESTYLE - TRAVEL FINANCIAL
are seeing is the best you can get. If it’s not, the website will tell you when you should book your flight. It’s a great money-saving tool.
2- Use online wholesalers only to research hotel rates. Many people think that the best hotel rates are found on online wholesaler websites, such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. This is not true. They are a great tool for researching rates and availability, but 99% of the time, the best rates are found through the hotel directly. If you find a rate online that is higher than the rate the hotel itself offers you, let the hotel know, and ask if they can match or beat the rate. They almost always will. They make more money when they book you directly, and a 10 or 20
dollar discount is still saving them significantly, versus the
25-35%
the online wholesalers
charge a hotel to book the room.
In
addition to saving you money, by booking
through
the
hotel
you
have
recourse
something goes wrong during your stay. hotel has no way to issue you a refund if you book through a website, as you paid the website for your stay.
The
hotel, in turn,
bills the website.
Most
business. If you have a card with airline miles or hotel benefits, use them!
Many people don’t realize how fast those miles add up, and you may have more than you think. Use those points or miles on your vacation. You earned them!
if
The
Another
“You don’t have to break the bank on a vacation”
of the sites have clauses in their terms of service absolving them from any responsibility and specifically forbidding refunds.
You
thing some people don’t consider is
should always book your room
through the hotel directly.
3- Use National Parks as destinations, rather than side trips. You can camp, fish, cook, hike, sleep and explore in many of our National Parks for under $20.00 per day! Some are even free. The most beautiful locations in the U.S. are within our National Parks... they were specifically selected for their beautiful views, activities and historical value. They are made for vacations, but many families don’t even consider them. With over 390 areas in the National Park Service, and a park in every state except Delaware, you don’t even have far to go. Visit http://www.nps. gov/ for information on all of the parks in the system, including costs and travel information. 4- Get familiar with your credit card benefits. Credit card companies are extremely competitive, and have added many benefits to their cardholder ’s in order to attract and keep
rental car benefits.
A
large part
of rental car cost is the insurance you buy when you rent the car.
You
may not need to buy that
at all!
Check
with your credit
card company to see if your card includes insurance on rental car
costs.
Many do. Many car insurance policies do as well, so if your card doesn’t, you may already be covered by your regular insurance. If you’re covered, you will save half the cost of the rental usually. That insurance is expensive! 5- Take advantage of the free things cities have to offer. They are often better than the expensive things. For fine arts, check local universities’ summer schedules. Many performances by the fine arts departments are free. Stroll the city and soak up the culture. Ask a local where they go when they want to go out. Museums often have free admission days. Art galleries are always free, and no one says you have to buy anything. Check out the historical sites! Most are free or very inexpensive. You don’t have to break the bank on a vacation if you think creatively and do your research. The internet is at your fingertips. Use it to your advantage, and you’ll save a lot more than you expect. Have a great vacation!
TRAVEL FINANCIAL - W3 LIFESTYLE 7
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Round Two with p90x By: Sierra Bennett
P
90x
is
one
of newest workout
systems that has come out in the
past
few
years.
When I
think of
workout
videos
I think of Jane Fonda and other eighties favorites. This is not that. P90x is very modern and cool with the trainer, Tony Horton and his partners wearing actually new workout clothes. The whole series is very streamlined and has great graphics to go along with the system. Needless to say p90x is promoted well and right to the
new generation of people wanting to lose weight.
W
hen p90x came in
skipping workouts. I must say I worked out for
2 months and saw no results from the scale. Other people noticed that I looked slimmer and I noticed my clothes fitting better. This was all in the beginning of April. almost
I
t is now
July
and
I
am starting all over
again, which is usually hard but the p90x
system makes it easy to get back on with the
I
got a package of
11 dvds for each workout, a workout schedule and diet plan. I must say the first workout I did was out of order beacause I waiting to start the schedule til it was able to go along with my schedule.
I did Plyometrics
which probably wasn’t the best one to start
diet plan and workout plan. result sooner this time.
F
rom
reviews
online,
I
just hope
p90x
has
been
lot of groups of p90x users to follow and see their results.
O
I
looking forward to seeing results from.
t was nice to have a set schedule to go by
see
successful wth a lot of people. There are a
I was literally sore for the rest of the weekend. It kicked my butt and I felt every inch of muscle pain. with because
I
verall p90x is a great workout and is a lifestyle change not just a diet and
workout plan.
It
is something
I
know
I’m
and the p90x schedule kept me in line. things
started getting busier in my life and
I started
Wellness - W3 LIFESTYLE 9
Soup, Salads and Breadsticks, Oh My! By: Sierra Bennett
sauce
O
live a
Garden is truly family
restaurant
Who
favorite
for
most.
doesn’t love thier
delicious
salads
is simply to die for it’s so good.
and
breadsticks? But seriously
Olive Garden the
few
A
is one of
restaurants
my friends, family and
I
agree on.
They
lso offered is new culinary
masterpieces from
Olive Garden. I
offer
great cuisine while not being overpricing like
like to detour from my usual and try something
many Italian restaurants with the same quality
new and most often that doesn’t always work
do. there is also something for everyone.
Even
my finicky friend can find something she likes
Olive Garden. Also kids are welcome which is always a plus, with crayons and fun menu puzzles. at
T
Olive Gardens so whether I’m in Myrtle Beach, S.C. or in Athens, G.A. I can find an Olive Gardent to go to and know that I will be enjoying my meal. here are also plenty of
M
y personal favorite dish is the apricot chicken, yes it doesn’t exactly sound
italian but it is refreshing through the sea of heavier pastas. The apricot chicen is fruity and is
one of the lighter menu items, it has a little olive branch for healthiness.
I also love the addition of broccoli and tomatos for the side. The apricot 11 W3 LIFESTYLE - Restaurant Review
out in my favor except at olive garden.
T
I went to Olive Garden I tried Lasagna Rollata Al Forno. So
he last time their new
good and went wonderful with the salad and breadstics offered with the meal. I was literally
licking the sauce off the plate (embarrassingly enough).
I also was welcomed with prompt and extremely friendly service. you could tell that
the server knew what she was doing and cared what we needed. The water was never empty and we always had fresh bread.
O
f course to top it all off, my friend and
I
enjoyed a cup of expresso served with a
Black Tie Mousse Cake. Ending with an Andes Mint. biscotti and the
PRETZEL-CRUSTED “FRIED” CHICKEN BY Cheryl Slocum, countryliving.com
Information
Serves: 5 Yields: 5 (2-piece) servings Total Time: 1 hr 10 min Prep Time: 20 min Oven Temp: 350
(per serving) Calories
425
Total Fat
7g
Saturated Fat
--
2. Place pretzels in a Sodium 960mg heavy-duty, resealable plastic bag and crush into Total Carbohydrate 53g Ingredients coarse crumbs. Mix in Dietary Fiber 2g paprika, 1 1/4 teaspoons Protein 37g salt, and 2 teaspoons • 1 whole(s) (3-pound) pepper. Divide pretzel chicken crumbs between 2 shallow dishes. • 1 pound(s) unsalted fat-free 3. In a bowl, whisk together sourdough pretzels buttermilk, egg whites, mustard, and • 2 tablespoon(s) paprika 1/4 teaspoon salt. Working with 1 piece • Salt at a time , dredge chicken in pretzel crumbs from first dish, then dip into • Freshly ground pepper buttermilk mixture, shaking off excess. • 1 cup(s) low-fat buttermilk Coat thoroughly with crumbs from • 2 egg whites second dish. • 2 tablespoon(s) Dijon mustard 4. Place on parchment-lined baking Cholesterol
93mg
pan and bake until chicken crust is crispy and an instant- read thermometer Directions inserted into meat registers 165 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut degrees F, 40 to 50 minutes depending chicken into 10 pieces: 2 drumsticks, 2 on piece. thighs , 2 wings, and 2 breasts (cut in half to yield 4 pieces). Remove skin and trim any fat. Set chicken aside. 12 W3 LIFESTYLE - FOOD RECIPE
PASTA E FAGIOLI WITH PESTO countryliving.com
Serves: 8
Nutritional Information
Ingredients
(per serving)
U.S. Metric Conversion chart
Calories 414
1/2 pound(s) borlotti (or cranberry) beans
Total Fat 19g
3 cup(s) (loosely packed) basil leaves 5 tablespoon(s) lemon juice 2 clove(s) garlic
Saturated Fat -Cholesterol 7mg Sodium 515mg
3/4 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese
Total Carbohydrate 47g
1 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
Dietary Fiber 6g
1/2 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground pepper
Protein 13g
1/2 cup(s) olive oil 1 tablespoon(s) olive oil 3/4 pound(s) pasta, such as strozzapreti or penne 1 large (13-ounce) sweet onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick 8 ounce(s) green beans, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces 1/3 cup(s) white wine 8 ounce(s) cherry or grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
Directions 1.Cook the dried beans: Place the dried beans in a medium pot and fill with 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 1 hour. Drain the beans, discard the liquid and return the beans to the pot. Add 3 inches of water and 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer until the beans are tender -- about 45 minutes. Strain, reserving the cooking liquid, and keep warm.
2.Make the pesto: Combine the basil, lemon juice, 1 whole garlic clove, parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the bowl of a food processor and puree. Add 1/2 cup olive oil in a slow, steady stream and continue to process for 1 more minute until well pureed. Set aside.
3.Cook the pasta: Bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil over high heat, in a large saucepan. Add 1 tablespoon of coarse salt. Place 3/4 pound of the strozzapreti or penne pasta in the water and cook (maintaining a medium boil) until just al dente -- about 9 minutes. Drain the pasta immediately (do not rinse). Set aside. 4.Cook the vegetables: Finely chop the remaining garlic clove. Heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are deep golden brown -- 5 to 7 minutes. Add the green beans and remaining salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute more. Add the wine, borlotti beans, and 1/2 cup of the reserved bean cooking liquid. Cover and cook until beans are warmed and green beans are tender -- 2 to 3 more minutes. 5.Assemble the dish: Place the pasta in a large serving bowl, add the bean mixture and pesto, and toss. Top with the tomatoes and serve warm.
Food Recipe - W3 LIFESTYLE 13
www.MBUSA.com
It’s Complicated By: Sierra Bennett
I
t’s
I
Complicated just came out
on dvd and it wasn’t a movie expected to see to be quite
honest.
However
on e of my
friends mentioned she enjoyed thought it was very funny.
I
ended up watching it with my mom since it had some of her
favorite actors in it. I was really surpised to find it funny and
Toy Story 3
charming.
By: Sierra Bennett
T
oy
Story 3
I
was afraid it was
going to be predictable. Some parts were but there were enough funny
was a delight to see, it was fun and
fresh while keeping the characters and storyline
m o m e n t s and
twists
it I got the oppertunity to see Toy Story 3 in 3D which is something I suggest everyone doing. This entertaining. installment focuses on the toys, Woody, Buzz and the t e v e gang feeling sad that their owner Andy doesn’t play Martin with them as much since he has grown up. The movie has always starts off with a cute montage of kid Andy playing been one of my with his toys, then to present day of Andy getting ready favorite comic to go off to college. The toys are prepared to go up actors and his to the attic, which they are sad about. While packing per formance them Andy accidently puts the toys in a garbage bag was no and his mom picks it up. The toys end up getting in the exception. donation box to sunnyville daycare. The story begins There was a where Woody wants to get back to Andy and the party scene, other toys are okay with being donated because they that I can’t feel left out. Along the way, Woody tries to the gang give away, to realize Andy does what them. that was relatable.
to
keep
S
I
don’t know what it is about
Toy Story 3
but it
brought me back to my childhood and how much
fun it was to be carefree. It made me want to be a child again. I also like the analogy they toys had with what a parent might feel when their child goes to college.
extremely funny and had my mom and
I
rolling in
laughter. Meryl Streep was also of course wonderful and natural as a divorcee/mother. me was
The stand out to
The Office’s John Krasinski as the soon to be He was witty and sharp tounged.
son-in-law.
T
his is a great movie for children and adults alike, it’s not cheesy or keeps a short attention span.
Coming Up Next Month: Also Pixar again does a great job with animation and I look forward to seeing what is coming up next with Grown Ups and Inception Pixar!
Movie Reviews - W3 LIFESTYLE 17
Offbeat Shopping Streets Eclectic Boutiques Abound by Terry Ward, travelchannel.com
R
odeo
Brimming
Drive. Worth Avenue. Oxford Street. The Champs-Élysées. with luxury items that lure the well-heeled into
their upper echelon retail realms, the high streets of the shopping world make no secret of their purchasing priorities:
Luxury goods destined for A-listers and moneyed mavens and misters with a preference for big-name brands pulled straight from celebrity backs and glossy magazines. If your shopping tastes tend more to the one-off and eclectic end of the spectrum (not to mention the affordable), give the
“where you can set your sights on retail therapy of the nonchain genre.”
high streets a miss and make tracks for the offbeat shopping locales instead, where the emphasis is on styles with organic and local inspiration.
Have faith, shoppers -- not everything has gone mass market! Here are 4 offbeat shopping streets, sourced from around the planet, where you can set your sights on retail therapy of the non-chain genre. Upper King Street -- Charleston, South Carolina Inject some Southern style into your wardrobe with a visit to King Street -- but be sure you have your bearings right if it’s edgy you’re after. The lower end of King Street (handily called Lower King) offers little out of the ordinary -- chain retailers found in most major American malls abound, with a crowd mostly of the Abercrombie & Fitch and Gap variety. But the farther you venture along, the edgier the shops and the shoppers get. Upper King Street is flat-out funky. From independent jewelry ateliers to hat boutiques like Magar Hatworks -- where the head-candy is folded like so much velvet origami and embellished with peacock and pheasant feathers -- it’s a meeting of design-oriented minds. Get lost in a world of boho-chic and ultra-femme women’s threads at B’zar, a fashion boutique that also sells quirky gifts in the form of vinyl toys from Japan and unusual books. North Orange Avenue -- Orlando, Florida The city of myriad outlet malls and endless theme-park diversions is the last place most plastic-pushing patrons think to exercise their freedom to charge. But what the European tourists who descend in droves on the upscale Mall at Millenia miss is one of Orlando’s little known zany shopping streets close to downtown on North Orange Avenue. Don’t let the string of antique shops make you think it’s all fuddy-duddy here. Dotted between those dusty denizens are unique boutiques such as Déjà Vu Vintage (no website), a tiny shop that looks like an overstuffed closet accessed by time travel. The proprietress, a lanky redhead who goes by the name Red Robin (“I’m not sitting here making it,” she’ll laugh, if you ask where she finds all her stuff ), is your guide as you rifle through racks to find that perfect vintage kimono, antique hatpin or ‘70s party getup. A few doors down at Boom-Art (no website), a husband and wife
furnishings, cross the street to
team who were once circus clowns breathe new life into vintage furnishings and décor items by livening them up
with
comic-strip
art.
For
exotic home
Living Morocco, where camel-leather
lamps painted with henna and elaborate mosaic tables are sourced during the owner ’s buying trips to
Marrakech and Fes.
Josefstrasse -- Zurich, Switzerland It’s amazing the difference a 180-degree turn can make in Switzerland’s banking capital. Head south out of the main train station in Zurich, and you’ll find yourself in the uber-chichi shopping zone of the Bahnhofstrasse, home to Prada, Gucci, Bulgari and all their bigname cousins. But set your sights north of the Hauptbahnhof, to the neighborhood of Zurich West, and surprise yourself with Zurich’s hottest fledgling design scene instead. Knitwear gets the X-factor at Beige Swiss Styling, a women’s fashion boutique where the highlights are skirts and dresses in luscious merino wool rendered with eye popping retro patterns. A few doors down, at Swallow-d, designer Tamara Rist creates colorful handbags and wallets from deck-chair canvas and vinyl. And for Swiss-chic home decor, hit Einzigart, with its curious range of haute -design lighting fixtures and furnishings and out-there gag gifts such as whoopee cushions. Ponsonby Road -- Auckland, New Zealand New Zealand’s biggest city may be overshadowed on the fashion front by its brassy and beachy trans-Tasman cousin, Sydney, but Auckland’s burgeoning design scene is nothing to scoff at, with talented antipodean designers cropping up faster than a New Zealand minute (but slower than a New York one) in the hip downtown hood of Ponsonby. If you can tear yourself away from the cozy cafes serving killer coffee (speak like a Kiwi and order a “flat white” if a latte is your usual preference) along Ponsonby Road, the retail therapy will not disappoint. Super feminine dresses in light-as-air fabrics and vintage jewelry star at women’s clothing shop Widdess, home to Auckland designer Yvonna Vanhulzen’s designs. And for one-of-a-kind handmade shell jewelry wrought from New Zealand’s impossibly beautiful blue and green paua shells, hit Shell Shock, a few doors down.
SHOPPING - W3 LIFESTYLE 19
Acid Reflux May Disrupt Sleep
C
hronic acid reflux may frequently wake people up at night, even when
it doesn’t cause heartburn symptoms, a
Tucson.
small study suggests.
The study, of 39 adults with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and nine GERD-free adults, found that those with the digestive disorder tended to wake up more often during the night -- an average of three times per night, versus just under twice per night for their
GERD-free counterparts. Their
reflux episodes, as measured by a probe that was placed in the esophagus overnight.
Yet, the study found, most of the awakenings were not spurred by perceived heartburn
GERD
symptoms in only disruptions.
patients reported sensing
16
percent of their sleep
The findings, though based on a small group of patients, suggest that GERD may be contributing to poor sleep more often than has been suspected, said senior researcher
Dr.
Ronnie Fass, chief of gastroenterology at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System in 20 W3 LIFESTYLE - Health
an interview,
Fass
pointed out that when
doctors evaluate patients for nighttime GERD problems, they typically ask about symptoms.
However, the current findings suggest that “some wakings will be symptomatic, but many will not be,” he said. Fass
sleep disruptions were often related to
symptoms;
In
suggested that people with
GERD
tell
their doctors if they are waking up frequently during the night, even if they do not feel that heartburn symptoms are the cause.
Then
they might see whether gaining better
control of the
Fass said.
GERD
improves their sleep,
Some ways of managing GERD include weight loss, if needed; avoiding foods that spur symptoms and eating smaller, more frequent meals; and, for nighttime problems, raising the head of the bed 6 to 8 inches using wooden blocks under the bedposts. Medications
for
symptom
relief
include
antacids and acid-reducing drugs known as
H2 blockers -- such as ranitidine (Zantac) and cimetidine (Tagamet). Another class of drugs, known as proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), can be prescribed to help prevent acid reflux episodes, particularly in people with more -severe GERD. The current study, published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology, was partly funded by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which makes the PPI medication Prevacid. Fass serves as a consultant and researcher for the company.
The
an acid-reflux episode.
In
the healthy comparison group,
percent
woke up at least once, but never in relation to acid reflux.
Fass and his colleagues also found that in GERD patients, the reflux episodes usually came not before, but after they woke up. If the acid reflux usually happened after, and most awakenings were not accompanied by heartburn symptoms, it is not clear why tended to wake up more
39 GERD
78
the researchers.
GERD patients often, according to
findings are based on
middle -aged adults with
who had been having at least three heartburn episodes per week for the previous three months, along with nine healthy adults.
“Study shows that adults with
GERD wake up on an average of three times per night
All
participants
overnight
sleep
underwent monitoring,
versus those who are
where a device worn on the wrist recorded their movements and a probe placed
One possibility, they say, is that nervous-system activity that helps
stimulate
acid
reflux
actually rouses people from sleep before the reflux occurs.
Why
these episodes would so
often be symptom-free is also unclear, but one theory is that
sleep reduces the sensitivity of the esophagus to stomach acid.
in the esophagus measured instances of acid reflux.
Those
on
H2
blockers stopped using
However, Fass
and
his
colleagues
note,
the medications at least three days prior to
some past studies have found that the large
entering the study, and any PPI use was stopped
majority of acid reflux episodes seen in GERD,
at least three weeks beforehand.
Overall, the study found, 90 percent of GERD patients woke up at least once during overnight monitoring, with the majority of the awakenings (52 percent) being associated with
regardless of the time of day, may actually not trigger clear symptoms.
SOURCE: http://link.reuters.com/reb53m Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology, online May 31, 2010.
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