CRACKYL Magazine - Fall Issue No3

INTUITIVE TRAINING: THE T.E.D. COMPASS

HIGH MILEAGE MAN

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY...

HOW DO I GET SOME? COPING WITH THE LACK OF CALL CLOSURE TOGE T H E R THE THINGS ABOUT YOU

THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY ABOUT ME!

SLEEP HACKS THAT WORK

ADDING LIFE TO YOUR YEARS

STIPE MIOCIC F I R E F I G H T E R , U F C F I G H T E R & FA M I LY M A N

FA L L 2 0 2 1

FIREFIGHTING FOR TWO

FIREFIGHTING AND THE PARANORMAL

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Firefighters are 2x more likely to develop certain cancers

Helping you minimize your exposure to toxins and reducing the environmental impact while on the fire line.

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F E AT U R E D

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48 56 90 42 76 in this issue

SLEEP HACKS THAT WORK

FIREFIGHTING & THE PARANORMAL

HIGH MILEAGE MAN STIPE MIOCIC

THE T.E.D. COMPASS

FIREFIGHTING FOR TWO

COPING WITH A LACK OF CALL CLOSURE…

CO N T E N TS

1 0 M E E T C RACKYL

A message from the CRACKYL team

1 2 T H E H EALTH Y FI R E FIG H T I N G H EART

3 6 ADDING LIFE TO YOUR YEARS Health

3 8 W HAT

IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND HOW DO I GET SOME?

Health

1 4 C OPING COPING

WITH A LACK OF CALL CLOSURE… TOGETHER

Health

2 0 P R EV E N T MON EY PROB L EMS PR SO YOU N EV E R HAV E TO SOLV E T H EM Finances

40 GEAR I NG U P 42 T HE

Fitness

T.E.D. COMPASS

Health

48 F IREFIGHTER,

UFC FIGHTER AND FAMILY MAN STIPE MIOCIC

2 4 T H E B IG B RAI N DU MP

5 2 A C RASH I N T H E ARCT IC

F IREFIGHTING FOR TWO

3 0 T H E L E BE RT EQUAL I ZE R F U L L BODY WORKOU T Fitness

3 2 WHAT ’S T H E FUSS OV E R FATS ?

Real Life

5 4 MARR IED TO A FI R E FIGHT E R - PLAN ON NOT PLANNI NG Relationships

56

H IGH MILEAGE MAN

Health

Nutrition

62 HOW TO TALK ABOU T FI R E FIG HT E R SU IC I DE

3 4 T H E MOUSTACH E RY

66 T H E RU LE OF 72

Lifestyle

F IREFIGHTING AND THE PARANORMAL

80 SI DE H UST LE PE R FECT OR POISO N? Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Lifestyle

76

46 I NT E R M IT T E NT FAST I NG

Lifestyle

2 6 6

74 ALL ABOU T U NI V E RSAL ORLAN DO R ESORT

Lifestyle

2 2 T H E STORY OF A SMO K EJ U MP E R

Stress

Lifestyle

Health

Stress

1 6 BOOZE ’S SI L E N T TAK EOV E R

72 ON E FI R E FIG HT E R’S BAT T LE TO H EAL H E RSE L F

Finances

82 T HE THE

THINGS ABOUT YOU THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY ABOUT ME

Relationships

85 R EMEMBE R I NG OU R H E ROES AN D CH E R I SHI NG OU R F R E EDOMS Lifestyle

87 JAKEBR EAK COM IC 88 MEANI NGFU L MOV E M E NT FOR ME NTAL H EALT H Stress

90 S LEEP

HACKS THAT WORK

Health

94 CHIC KE N T E R IYAK I AN D V EGGIE BAKE Recipe

E DI TOR I AL PUBLISHER KORY PEARN KPEARN@CRACKYLBUSINESSMEDIA.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF LIZ FLEMING DIGITAL EDITOR LEAH SOBON COPY EDITOR MARTHA CHAPMAN SENIOR WRITER LUKE VANDERMEER EDITOR@CRACKYLBUSINESSMEDIA.COM

DESIGN EDITORIAL DESIGNER SARAH ROSS EDITORIAL DESIGNER NICOLE MANNELL

SA L E S INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING

BETH FLEETON

BFLEETON@CRACKYLBUSINESSMEDIA.COM INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER MATT RUMAS MRUMAS@CRACKYLBUSINESSMEDIA.COM

A LETTE R FROM TH E PU BLISH E R D O N ’ T YO U H AT E I T W H E N S O M E O N E C H A L L E N G E S YO U T O B E B E T T E R ? Are you one of those people who feels

attacked when criticized and shuts down when unsolicited advice is offered? As tough as that can be, you should actually be thanking those individuals for confronting you. Ultimately, they’re contributing to your overall well-being by making observations about your weaknesses. The Hobbit fans out there will tell you that even dragons have chinks in their armor, despite being perceived as invincible.

This issue is bursting at the seams with valuable ideas that explore the possibility of better understanding those around you and what they mean to you. Firefighters have always had the ability to absorb information and recall it at a moment’s notice, even under extreme pressure. But why do we end up fighting the same personal battles with ourselves and loved ones day in and day out – even though we know better? We want you to read this issue with the intention of learning about and questioning your tendencies and autopilot behaviors.

As the season changed, we turned our attention to the 20th anniversary of September 11th, the day we lost 2,977 victims, 412 emergency workers and 343 of our own brothers and sisters. Our hearts shattered on 9/11 and a pledge was made to “NEVER FORGET” what this day taught us about how fragile life is, and how important it is to protect the things we love.

The aftershock of that day is still a reality for many first responders who are dealing with chronic health complications and illnesses that continue to plague them. On pages 64-65 of this issue, you'll see an image of the Greenville City Stair Climb 2020, “We Climb Because They Climbed,” to honor that tragic day and pay homage to our lost members.

We are proud to announce that we have partnered with The Movember Foundation, a leading global charity that brings critical attention to what’s really killing men. Guys, when you grow the mustache this November, you are not only bringing awareness to prostate and testicular cancer, but to men’s suicide too. We encourage you to grow your moustache in support of this endemic problem that continues to shorten the lives of men globally. Mo Brothers and Sisters stand for their husbands, fathers, sons, brothers and friends in the fight for a healthier, longer life.

Falling feels like flying until you hit the ground.

Don’t confuse getting by with getting it done!

Kory Pearn PUBLISHER

CO N T R I B U TO RS KIMBRA BAKER, LINDSEY BROOKHART, MATTHEW BROOM, DANIELLE COOK, ERIN CROW, MARTHA CHAPMAN, ADAM STEENBURG CARRIE FLEETWOOD, LIZ FLEMING, GREG GORDONSON, STEVE HIRSCH, ALICE JOHNSTON, SIMON MATTHEWS, JIM MCDONALD, CLAIRE POMORSKI, RYAN PROVENCHER, LEAH SOBON, MAUREEN STOECKLEIN, BEN TANNER, LUKE VANDERMEER, TRISH VAN SICKLE, ANNETTE ZAPP

GEARING UP: PRODUCT RESEARCH GEAR LLC. JASON A. RAMOS GARMIN INTERNATIONAL INC.

COM I C CARTOONIST

JEFF MAKSUTA

M A R K E T I N G PA R T N E R FIRST ARRIVING DAVE IANNONE FIRST ARRIVING CHRIS HEBERT FIRST ARRIVING TIGER SCHMITTENDORF

CRACKYL Magazine is published four times a year by CRACKYL Media Inc. with copies delivered to firefighters across North America and beyond. No part of the content, including but not limited to editorial, advertising or photography, may be copied or reprinted without the permission of the publisher.

ISSN # 2563-612X PUBLISHED AND PRODUCED BY: CRACKYL MEDIA INC.

SU BSC R I PT I O N S ORDER A PRINT SUBSCRIPTION FOR ONE YEAR FOR $39.89 CRACKYLMAG.COM/SUBSCRIPTION TO ORDER MULTIPLE SUBSCRIPTIONS CONTACT: INFO@CRACKYLBUSINESSMEDIA.COM SIGN UP FOR A DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION CRACKYLMAG.COM The opinions presented in our magazine are those of the authors of the articles. We enjoy the opportunity to present a variety of viewpoints but do not necessarily endorse them.

ON THE COVER: STIPE MIOCIC PHOTO BY BENJAMIN MEYER

@ C RAC KYL MAG

W H Y T H E N A M E C R AC K Y L ?

The inspiration behind the name comes from a feeling firefighters experience in the middle of a structure fire when a sudden calm comes over you and when you hear a fire crackling all around a smoke-filled room, but can’t see it. The sound of a fire crackling is imprinted on every firefighter’s mind, and it roots us in this exhilarating and unpredictable profession. We want CRACKYL to become a sounding board for firefighters throughout their careers.

Firefighters are notorious for sitting around the firehall, discussing their problems and offering advice. But the truth is, many of us don’t have the answers. We don’t know why we all fight about the same problems with our spouses, never seem to have enough money left at the end of each month, and just can’t get along with the co-workers who are the most like us.

At CRACKYL, we want to be the firefighter in the hall who has a lot of those answers and provides accurate, practical, and life-changing solutions to the problems we all face.

T H E S P E L L I N G O F C R AC K Y L Although the name CRACKYL was chosen to reflect what a firefighter hears, the spelling also has a unique and specific meaning. The purpose of this magazine is to help firefighters create an immune system for the firehall and the home.

The human immune system is made up of “Y” shaped proteins called antibodies, which are responsible for fighting off illnesses and keeping us healthy. Much as the immune system is a separate function in our body, the letter “Y” functions separately in CRACKYL. It’s built into the masthead to symbolize the proactive health and wellness goals of the publication.

The yellow underline beneath the “C” in CRACKYL represents the need for caution and the importance of keeping firefighters in the caution zone of their lives. By staying safely in the yellow, we avoid any preventable tragedies represented by the thin red line. Much like a traffic light, yellow is our last chance to stop before running into a red.

M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T & G OA L S We want CRACKYL to be available and accessible to every firefighter across North America and beyond. Whether you’re a volunteer firefighter or are paid to do the job, we have ensured that everything inside our magazine is tailored to you. As firefighters, we spend the majority of our time working together and at CRACKYL we want to extend our team to include you and yours. We are thankful for your support and look forward to continuing to serve you and your team.

Stay safe.

T H E C R AC K Y L T E A M

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THE LOPSIDED ONE

THE DARN GOOD ONE

THE DISAPPOINTING ONE

THE ITCHY ONE

THE EPIC ONE

THE FIRST ONE

HEALTH

The healthy firefighting heart

By Jim McDonald, Firefighter/ Strength & Conditioning Professional

So the department says everyone needs to do a MET test and get 12 METS or better for VO2 Max to stay online. VO2 what?! And what is a MET, anyway? Sounds like scientific mumbo jumbo.

“What does it mean, and why is it important to me?” You might ask yourself these questions the next time you’re hooked up to an incline treadmill with what looks like ER life support.

So, here it is: VO2 Max (and METs), decoded.

WHAT IS A MET? A MET is a Metabolic Equivalent of a Task. It’s an objective measure of the ratio of the rate at which a person expends energy, relative to his or her mass, while performing some specific physical activity compared to a reference.

That reference is set by convention at 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram per minute, which is roughly equivalent to oxygen consumed when sitting quietly at rest. More simply put, it’s a measurement of how hard you’re working compared to when you are at rest.

For example, a typical human sitting quietly will consume 1 MET (3.5 ml/ kg/min) of oxygen. The standard for active duty firefighters is 12 METs or 42 ml/kg/min: 12 times more oxygen consumed than while at rest.

WHAT IS VO2 MAX? VO2 max is a measurement of how efficiently an individual’s body utilizes oxygen during a sustained period of maximum effort.

In other words, it’s a proxy for a measurement of cardiovascular fitness.

The standard of 12 METs is the same as a VO2 max of 42 ml/kg/min.

The average sedentary (inactive) male achieves a VO2 max of about 35 to 40 mL/kg/min. If you look at the firefighter standard of 42 ml/kg/min, you’ll see it’s not much higher than a sedentary individual.

This standard is easily achievable with moderate activity and a basic fitness program.

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WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

IS THAT ALL?

These standards were initiated to ensure that personnel are ready to perform their jobs, recover better when hurt, reduce those injuries, have long careers and hopefully enjoy retirement. Firefighting is a physically and mentally demanding occupation that requires strong cardiovascular fitness. We all know when it’s go time, you have to be ready!

The body needs to be in the best possible physical state of readiness to be able to perform and then recover from the tasks required of the job.

No, that’s not all. We’re talking about life and death here.

The leading cause of line of duty deaths for firefighters in the United States is sudden cardiac death. That’s the leading cause of line of duty deaths!

A fire doesn’t care if a firefighter is 20 years old or 60, male or female. The people needing to be saved don’t care either.

Someone trapped in a car doesn’t care. In every circumstance, those we’re rescuing care only that we’re performing at our best to get them out of the worst situation of their lives.

According to NFPA 1582, an aerobic capacity less than 12 METS (42 ml/kg/ min) is considered a “medical condition” for a firefighter.

An individual with a VO2 max less than 42 ml/kg/min is 2.2 times more likely to incur an injury than those above 42 ml/kg/min.

Substantiation: Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that the aerobic capacity required to perform firefighting tasks during simulated fire conditions is at least 12 METs (42 ml oxygen/ kg/min). Aerobic capacity less than 12 METs interferes with the candidate’s ability to safely train to be a firefighter and to safely perform essential job tasks.

These deaths are the result of a lack of physical preparedness and proper nutrition, obesity and the general deconditioning of the American/world population. This may sound very gloom and doom, but it’s reality. It’s a popular belief that when someone decides to take the oath to become a public servant, they lose the right to be out of shape. It’s part of the job to be physically and mentally ready to serve the community.

More than 70 percent of US firefighters are overweight or obese, exceeding the national average for adults. This is thanks to changes in culture, sedentary lifestyles, poor eating habits and so on in the United States and around the world

It’s tragic that sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of line of duty deaths because it is, for the most part, preventable by our own actions and decisions in life.

NFPA standards were developed to help guide departments as they address these issues, providing guidelines for annual health screening and fitness program creation: NFPA 1582, Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Programs for Fire Departments and NFPA 1583, Standard on HealthRelated Fitness Programs for Fire Department Members

A fire doesn’t care if a firefighter is 20 years old or 60, male or female.

The VO2 MAX is the most scientifically accurate way to measure cardiovascular health

and fitness in combination with other helpful parameters such as HR training zones, lactate threshold, respiratory exchange ratio (RER) – what type of fuel your body is burning, e.g. carb, fat, protein – and other valuable information exercise physiologists use.

This information is important in ensuring that your future training sessions are effective.

If you’re going to train, do so to the specific requirements of your body and make the most of your time in the gym or training center.

The moral of the story is we can change the leading cause of line of duty deaths (LODD) in North America and the fire industry around the world simply by making better life and fitness decisions. We don’t have to train like professional athletes. We can make simple yet profound lifestyle changes by following basic principles of healthy eating, working out regularly and taking control of our lives.

It sounds easy because it really is that easy.

RECOMMENDED GUIDELINES: Healthy adults aged 18 to 65 should participate in moderate intensity aerobic physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes, five days per week, or vigorous intensity aerobic activity for a minimum of 20 minutes, three days per week.

Every adult should perform activities that maintain or increase muscular strength and endurance a minimum of two days per week.

GOOD LUCK TRAINING!

FAL L 2021

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STRESS

Coping with a Lack CALL Closure... of Call Together W H AT E V E R H A P P E N E D TO TH EM?

Coping with a Lack of Call Closure...

Together

By Erin Craw, Doctoral Student, Chapman University

What happened to that family we rescued last week? How are those parents doing, the ones who lost their child in the car accident? Will that little boy we saved ever get to live a normal life?

Firefighters are solution-oriented.

They solve problems. You call 9-1-1, they respond and do everything they can to manage the scene, control the fire, and rescue victims.

B U T WH AT ABOUT TH E CALLS T HAT D O N ’ T H AVE A CLE AR EN DING?

Given that first responders have an innate desire to help, moving on from a call without closure can be traumatic.

But a critical aspect of the job is to keep moving. Firefighters must do their job at a call: put out the fire, perform the rescues and then move on to the next call. Often, firefighters save a person's life and then transfer care to someone else in order to get to the next call.

The void created by not knowing what happened to the many people you save or care for is an occupational stressor that’s rarely talked about.

R E SE A R C H SH OWS T H AT U NC E RTA INT Y C A N, IN T H E L ON G R U N, B E E IT H E R P O SIT IV E OR N E G AT I V E D E P E N D I N G O N H OW YOU EVALUATE T H E SIT UAT IO N .

We all have different reactions to uncertainty, and not all uncertain conditions are viewed in the same way.

Uncertain circumstances trigger various emotional responses. Some calls might spark optimism or hope. For instance, you might feel that not knowing exactly what happened to the burn victim or

that driver in the car accident might allow you to hope for their full recovery, even if you don’t have full closure. In these instances, remaining uncertain can actually allow you to move forward.

Some calls generate negative emotions, such as fear or worry, a sense of vulnerability and perhaps even helplessness. When individuals have adverse emotional responses to uncertainty, they may want additional information but lack the time or resources to followup. Some researchers refer to closure as a myth because there are so many situations in which a sense of finality isn’t possible, and uncertainty is long-lasting. The firefighter is left with a lack of call closure that can cause emotional and mental strain.

The lack of closure from call to call is often overlooked, as the focus remains on the protocols followed and steps taken on the scene. The fast-paced unpredictability of the job can have an array of adverse effects on mental health. Lingering feelings and thoughts about whether patients are safe and well, and where they are now, are natural. Experiencing lasting negative emotions related to specific calls that lacked closure is exhausting and it’s essential for that to be recognized. It’s important to recognize that feeling upset, distracted, or distressed about calls with negative uncertainty is a normal response.

Advising a firefighter to not allow a lack of closure to have an impact is futile, because the nature of the job makes this unavoidable. There is no secret to feeling better, and closure is not always possible for every call.

The best strategy for addressing a lack of closure is to explore ways to help you manage your uncertainty and keep moving forward. Try to remain open to strategies for managing uncertainty instead of attempting to suppress or avoid negative feelings. Supportive peers can help reduce uncertainty by providing opportunities for validation, venting, and reassessing the situation.

The role of social support in coping with uncertainty related to a lack of closure is key for first responders.

Sharing your own feelings or offering to allow a peer to vent might be simple but meaningful ways to help a fellow firefighter. Instead of focusing only on that traumatic call, remember to check in consistently with peers.

This doesn’t have to involve a formal sit-down. Look for opportunities to talk with others naturally while indicating that they can come to you if they need to vent or want reassurance that their emotional responses to a lack of closure are normal.

AT T H E E N D O F T H E D AY, P E R H A P S T H E O N LY T H I N G T H AT Y O U C A N B E S U R E A B O U T IN A JOB WITH SUCH HIGH L E V E L S O F U N C E R TA I N T Y I S THE SUPPORT OF FELLOW FIREFIGHTERS. THE MORE F R E Q U E N T LY Y O U C H E C K IN WITH PEERS, THE MORE N AT U R A L I T B E C O M E S .

Everyone experiences reactions to uncertainty. Acknowledging that is an important first step in managing the lack of call closure you will experience on the job.

THE BEST STRATEGY FOR ADDRESSING A LACK OF CLOSURE IS TO EXPLORE WAYS TO HELP YOU MANAGE YOUR UNCERTAINTY MOVINGFORWARD. FORWARD. AND KEEP MOVING FAL L 2021

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HEALTH

BOOZE’S TAKEOVER WHEN DOES ALCOHOL TURN FROM CRUTCH TO CURSE?

By Luke Vandermeer

T

he job of a firefighter is fulfilling in ways other occupations could never rival, but they’re also intense, generally chaotic, and stressful. What we see and endure on a daily basis takes a toll, and if we don’t find a way to counteract that stress it can mean sleepless nights followed by days of knowing we aren’t operating at 100 percent.

In the past, daily stress could be offset by meeting up with friends, putting back a few drinks, enjoying a meal, and having some laughs. Over the past pandemic year, this has been a struggle. The friends that we’d normally meet up with aren’t around as much, and many of us are still dealing with social distancing. What’s the one remaining constant we can still enjoy during these crazy days?

B O O ZE .

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We may not always be able to enjoy it in a bar or restaurant, or call up our buddies to meet us, but what the hell – we can still enjoy that beer. And the next one. And possibly another after that.

Statistics for Canadian alcoholic beverage purchases reported dramatic increases in 2020, especially in the spring through summer months. It’s no surprise that many other countries were the same.

Some experts attributed these buying patterns to consumers stocking up, securing their drink of choice in case a lockdown were to cut off the supply.

Stockpiling also allowed people to skip a trip out of the house. All valid points but the reality is – we drank it.

Given the constant reminders of the outside world mixed with the daily challenges we face as firefighters, did we really think we were piling our liquor cabinets full of spirits and our garages full of beer cases "just in case"? Hell no!

Maybe take a moment to ask yourself: how much are you leaning on that crutch? Are you suddenly on a first name basis with the cashier where you buy your booze? Having trouble making it through a family zoom call without slurring? Even worse, is the crutch influencing how you feel during your shift? There comes a point where our medicine can become our poison. The body handles alcohol the same way it always did, and addiction is a sneaky adversary. It just might be hard to see if we’re focused on bigger stresses.

So, what’s the answer? Our job won’t be changing anytime soon, nor will it magically become stress and accident-free. The good news is that there are plenty of supports at our disposal that can help us throw that crutch to the ground.

Are you finding that an average night involves four or five beers? Try to space them out and keep it to two. Cracking a beer before your boots are put away when you get home? Maybe hold off and have your first one with dinner, cutting back the need for a refill with your meal. Substituting a new favorite non-alcoholic drink could help take the place of that rum and Coke.

Thinking of trying a new hobby? That could distract you from the six-pack hiding in the fridge. Meditation, walks, and even picking up a new book are all great strategies as well. Still having trouble putting that crutch down?

Professional support networks such as Alcoholics Anonymous (aa.org) are eager to offer a multitude of online resources at your fingertips.

A R E Y O U S U D D E N LY ON A FIRST NAME BASIS WITH THE CASHIER WHERE YOU BUY YOUR BOOZE?

Face-to-face get togethers with our friends, our family and a significant number of our normal pleasures were stripped away in 2020. That made it easy to have that second, third and/or fourth drink at the end of a long shift, even if we were having it at home. Not usually a solitary drinker? What choice did we have? Always been able to stop at one drink? Are you now finding it easier to crack another and leave that water bottle in the fridge? Hey, these are unprecedented times, as we’re constantly reminded. We’re under unprecedented stress, so it must be time for unprecedented drinking habits. Boom, let’s take that annoying word and use it to our benefit.

It’s at this stage that we can begin to call our newfound alcohol habits a crutch.

We aren’t necessarily addicted – we’re still in control, but given the extraordinary levels of stress in our lives, booze offers an easy release at the end of the day. It helps us make it through our day and have a bit of normalcy at home. It may not be a beer with a buddy, but it’s a beer and a reminder that not all has changed. That crutch can get us through until life gets a little better again.

The takeaway: as firefighters there’s no question that we have stressful careers, and sometimes need help to cope. Alcohol, enjoyed within reason, can be a release, but we need to be careful that it doesn’t hurt more than it helps. If that starts to be the case, it’s time to turn to other outlets to give your mind that much-needed break from daily life.

WE’RE HERE. WH E RE ARE

YOU? F O L L OW U S O N

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“ A C T L I K E Y O U D O N ’ T H AV E A S H E LT E R , S O Y O U M A K E BETTER DECISIONS JASON RAMOS

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AP OUN D OF CURE

FINANCES

By

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room, H Matthew B

LET’S FACE IT , YOU CAN ' T SOLV E EV E RY PROB L EM. BU T YOU CAN PR EV E NT A WHOLE H OST OF MO N EY PROB L EMS I F YOU J U MP ON TH EM EARLY.

cast

24/48 Pod

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In the words of inventor, statesman, printer and firefigher Benjamin Franklin, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." That statement is as true today as it was when Benjamin came up with it in 1734.

In our professional lives, we are the public's pound of cure. We are the problem solvers.

In your personal life, it's essential to focus on that ounce of prevention — particularly when it comes to your money. You must be a proficient problem solver on the job, but to be the best you can be off the job, you must be an effective problem preventer.

Who knows? If you handle your money well, you may not have to solve any financial problems. As blogger Shane Parrish says, "Problem preventers seem relaxed. They often go home on time. They take lots of time to think. We don't know how well they would deal with conflict because they never seem to experience any. The invisibility of the work they do to prevent problems in the first place makes it seem like their job isn't challenging."

Relaxed, thoughtful, and conflict-free. Sounds like a great way to manage your money!

Let's look at some of the significant problems you may face in your financial life and discuss ways to prevent them.

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DEBT I S A PRO BLEM FOR MANY OF US , AN D I T I S U N DOU BT EDLY A PROBLEM FOR MANY FIREFIGHTERS. Easy credit makes instant gratification easier than ever. The way we use debt reminds me a lot of that Oprah meme…you get a car, you get a car, you get a car!! And a whole bunch of debt.

Debt is a hole that’s easy to fall into and hard to get out of, especially as you dig yourself deeper and deeper. How do you prevent the debt problem?

Avoid it – especially high-interest debt. If you use credit cards, pay them off monthly. Pay cash for a vehicle. If that’s not possible, purchase an affordable used car, pay it off, and drive it until you can pay cash for your next vehicle. Don't buy more house than you can afford. Keep your housing costs — PITI (payments, insurance, taxes and interest) and upkeep costs to less than 30 percent of your monthly income. Plan to pay your home off instead of regularly trading up.

The only form of debt that I personally approve of and also utilize is a home mortgage – and I can't wait to pay it off. I tend to agree with Nassim Taleb, author of “The Black Swan” and “Skin in the Game” when he says, "I follow the ancient Romans' attitude that debtors are not free people." I will not be free until my home is paid for and I don't owe a dime to anyone.

And as billionaire investor Charlie Munger says, "It's really tough to get ahead when you're paying 18 percent interest." So, avoid debt and prevent it from ever becoming a problem.

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DOES YOU R DE PARTM E N T ST I L L HAVE A DEFIN ED BE N E FIT PE NSION PLAN? I F SO, CON GRATU LAT I ON S .

Your pension should be a significant benefit in retirement. But will your pension be enough? Do you have additional savings? For those of us who don't have a pension, are we saving enough? You can't do this job forever, and time is unrelenting.

How do you avoid the problem of having to delay retirement and continue working? Come on, Sherlock, you know the answer.

Save! Now. The earlier, the better. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago or…right now!

Don't delay. Start saving into tax-advantaged retirement accounts and utilize low-cost index funds. Then stick with it. Getting back to our fellow firefighter Ben Franklin, let's remember his wise words: "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Don't say you can't afford to save. You can't afford not to save. Don't find yourself mid-career, muttering the classic firefighter line, "I wish I’d started sooner." Start now and prevent ever having a retirement savings problem.

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L I V I N G WI TH I N YOU R M EAN S IS TH E K E Y TO PREV E N T I N G MO N E Y PROB L E M S . It doesn't matter how much

money you make. You can always overspend.

Just ask lottery winners and professional athletes.

Frugality is an oft-forgotten virtue. Being frugal doesn’t mean you’re a cheap, stingy, miserly jerk. A cheap person focuses only on price.

A frugal person understands that the price is what you pay while the value is what you get. Frugality, in essence, is being grateful for what you have, thoughtful about how you'll use it, and prudent in your execution.

Everyone wants to live a comfortable lifestyle.

I do. You do. We all do. But it’s important to avoid "lifestyle creep" as your income rises. Live comfortably, be grateful, and don't allow envy (i.e., keeping up with the Joneses) to drive your lifestyle choices. The accumulation of "stuff" is detrimental to long-term financial success, so keep it simple and frugal.

You can counteract the often low wages you earn as a firefighter and practice frugality while living a comfortable lifestyle. You have to budget your income, eliminate unnecessary spending, optimize necessary expenses, and then focus on earning more.

More money always seems like the obvious answer. But, if managed poorly, more money will still be stressful. Never mind that you'll probably be away from home more too. Focus on the foundation before building the rest of the house.

If you develop a solid financial foundation and practice frugality and discipline, you'll avoid cash flow problems altogether.

Don't allow poor decisions to compound into large problems. You probably already know what you need to do to better manage your money. Ask yourself, “What stupid thing am I doing with my money that I should stop?” If you answer that, you'll have step one laid out for you.

Whether you like it or not, you must be educated in financial matters, because money management is a required skill for successful living in the modern era. My money education started in a public library.

A library’s got everything you need, but so does the internet. Get educated, be proactive, and prevent money problems. In the words of Jay Z, you'll still have 99 problems, but money won't be one.

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LIFESTYLE

THE STORY OF A SMOKEJUMPER

By Leah Sobon

During his final parachute packing test, his trainer and examiner took Jason Ramos' pack and said, “OK kid, let's go jump this thing.” In the blink of an eye, with no margin for error, the results of six weeks of hellish training suddenly fell on someone else's shoulders. The trainer didn't put the pack on his rookie, but rather jumped wearing the chute himself.

Death has no bias, a lesson that every smokejumper must learn in order to make it back alive.

Being a career smokejumper – an elite group of firefighters who train to be dropped into remote wildland fires – Jason Ramos humbly acknowledges how lucky he has been to have a publisher approach him for a book deal, movie producers looking to option his story, and TEDx asking him to give a talk. Or to simply make it back safely from a raging wildland fire.

If you’re looking for a recipe for personal success, Ramos believes you should start that journey by looking in the mirror.

PHOTOS BY RICK STEWART

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Becoming a smokejumper isn't something that you’ll find at a career fair. It’s a volunteer position that represents not only dedication and passion, but also an intrinsic desire to perform one of the toughest, most dangerous jobs in the world. Ramos would be the first to say that the notoriety and elite image of the job does little to represent the heart that these firefighters bring to their work. With an extreme rookie training program that teaches potential smokejumpers about themselves and their capabilities, making it to the end is not only a success in physicality but also in

mental toughness. “The trainers need to see who wants it because once you become a smokejumper there is no more holding hands.

It's a weird recipe – they’ve been looking for the best of the best since 1939. They want you to succeed.

But there is a fine line: fewer than 6,000 jumpers have passed the course. It is a unique thing. Every jumper that I have met is very humble and successful in life. They are interesting human beings who are still going through it. I think the folks that stick around for a while – their recipe is definitely interesting.

The guys that have been jumping 10, 15, 20, even 30 years – they’re exceptional, interesting human beings when you talk to them. The way they wake up, the way they wear their clothes, what they like to eat – they’re an interesting group.”

The words “failure” and “washout” are terms that would be touchy for most would-be smokejumpers, as they signify varying degrees of let down. Ramos says that one of the biggest fears many rookies have is failing, then having to face those back at home who might have been less than supportive. Workplace teasing is often done with no intent to harm, but when it comes to joining this elite profession, failure can be carried heavily, and having it thrown in your face by your station mates really tells you a lot about who has your back.

“If you get hurt, your mind starts going crazy. Your old crew starts teasing and smack-talking you.

You get to the point where you don’t care what someone says about you.

so he could think it over. “We talked a little bit while I was on duty, and I remember writing notes on my chalk board. I said ‘Let’s date.’ This went on for months, and when I was off duty, I signed a contract for a book.”

But we are still human. So if you get hurt – you now have all these things in your brain. Do I have to go back to the crew that said I wouldn’t make it? You get to the point where you quickly learn who your friends are.”

Work ethic and self-regulation are two factors in Ramos’ recipe for success – and terms that he uses frequently to represent the sort of people he connects with and also the types of people he puts his trust in. Ramos is a strong believer in relationships, specifically dating.

Now don’t get the wrong idea here, as he is in a happy relationship.

But when it comes to business partners and connections, he stresses how important it is that every new business experience starts with a phase of “dating.”

The way he puts it, when you date, you begin to learn about someone, slowly. You learn about their communication skills, how they take feedback, and more specifically, how invested they are in you.

When Ramos originally connected with Peter Hubbard, his Harper Collins Literacy Associate, he was dumbfounded that there would be anyone interested in hearing his story. In fact, he was so caught off guard that he put Hubbard’s offer on the back burner for a few months

Ramos’ book “Smokejumper,” co-authored with Julian Smith, was released in 2015 and is presently Amazon’s Editor’s Pick for Best Biography and Memoirs. Perhaps more of a manual than a memoir, "Smokejumper" relates how Ramos grew up into a career smokejumper.

Firefighting was an early passion for him, as he became a volunteer at just 17. Fast forward to today and Ramos is in his 22nd year, with 14 of those actively jumping, now committing his efforts to search and rescue as well as design for his company Product Research Gear LLC (PRg).

“Everything for me is a project. This recipe works, if you just put yourself out there. Relationships, interviews, documentaries, and just getting out there is what made this happen.

If you do more of that, something else will happen.”

In his 2016 TedxCUNY talk, Ramos ended with the question, “What is your difference going to be?” Being a smokejumper is Jason’s story – but he encourages everyone to find their own recipe for success and to do so by working hard and showing up every day.

Ramos’ story is far from over.

What started as dedication to a profession has become a story about how success doesn’t happen overnight.

Staying committed to your passions and making valuable connections are part of Ramos’ recipe for success, something he recommends to anyone looking to better themselves personally and professionally.

“

I’m still changing today.

It is still a recipe that I look back to every day whether it’s a search and rescue situation or if I'm in the middle of nowhere.

It changes me every day.”

Trust is not only a critical factor in firefighting for Ramos, but in his company PRg, which has multiple specialties. When it comes to tough products, PRg gives a stamp of approval on products that consumers can trust – specifically those needing tough, lifelong guarantees on top-notch products.

Consulting for some of the biggest CEOs in the world, Ramos knows a thing or two about handling business dealings and coping with a busy schedule. He speaks seriously about the value of taking time to communicate properly. He theorizes that if we take the time to show others we care, we will foster stronger working relationships – and he isn’t wrong, as is demonstrated by his successes.

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STRESS

THE

Big 24

By Liz Fleming

Webster’s Dictionary defines brain dumping as “the act or an instance of comprehensively and uncritically expressing and recording one's thoughts and ideas.”

Brain

The most important word in that definition is "uncritically." When you do a brain dump, you pop open your mind and simply let every thought, worry, concern, idea and emotion slide out without examination or editing. Brain dumping is a first cousin to brain storming but the important difference is that you do it all on your own. There’s no collaboration involved and your thoughts are all yours.

Dump

What’s the point? Like creating clean space by finally sorting out all the junk you’ve been hoarding in your basement, a brain dump empties your mind of the bits and pieces that swirl endlessly, just beyond your conscious thoughts, causing you to feel distracted, disorganized and frustrated. Imagine the relief you’ll feel when you clear that mental clutter.

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0.1 Get Started

0.6 Junk and more junk

The good news is, you won’t need an appointment with a therapist to get this clean-out party started.

In fact, you won’t need anything other than a means of recording the results of your big dump. You can use your phone, your laptop or even just a notebook and a pen – it’s up to you.

When you write down the thoughts that have been cluttering your mind for weeks and months, you’ll be surprised by how trivial they seem.

Start by setting up a loose system for recording your thoughts using categories like "money", "family", "work", "future" etc. Then begin listing your thoughts – in point form. No one else is going to read this, so there’s no need to pretend you’re Shakespeare.

Some people like to sit down somewhere without distractions and let everything flow out at once.

Others prefer to carry their notebook or phone with them to capture thoughts as they occur.

Do whatever works best for you.

0.2 Go A Little Deeper As you’re listing the thoughts that fall into your first basic categories, you’re likely to become aware of issues that evoke more emotion that others. Maybe you’ll want to add "frustrations" or "challenges", or, on the other hand, "joys", "achievements" and "ambitions" to your list of categories. Write it all down – everything is important.

0.3 Don't edit!

This first phase is all about keeping the flow gushing freely so resist the temptation to edit anything you’re writing. As we’ve noted, the results of this brain dump are for your eyes only, so there’s no need to hold back or phrase things delicately. Just let it all out and capture every thought as it occurs to you.

0.4 Spit out that cud Simply recording your thoughts frees you from having to hold them in your mind – a process that’s called "ruminating." Here’s an interesting bit of word play – to ruminate is to “carefully think something over, ponder it or meditate on it. It can also mean to chew over and over again, as ruminant animals, like cows, do. In psychology, the term means to obsessively repeat thoughts or excessively think about problems.”

Imagine a cow, standing in a field, chewing and rechewing her cud. That’s what our minds do when we chew away at the same thoughts, day in and day out. Unlike the cow, however, who’s stuck with that same cud, we have the power to spit those thoughts out and chew on something fresh!

0.5 Next steps Dumping and collecting your thoughts is a great start, and sorting through is even more helpful.

“Front hedge needs trimming,” and “Where is my damned Phillips screwdriver?” Small, but annoying thoughts, particularly when they occur to you half a dozen times a day.

0.7 Change the things you can right now Pick off the low-hanging fruit first. Trim that hedge or hire someone else to do it. Root around in the garage until you find the elusive screwdriver or treat yourself to a new one. Solving a few of the issues unearthed in your brain dump will generate more satisfaction than you can imagine.

0.8 Now what?

Recognize that you aren’t going to solve all the issues you’ve dumped into your journal at once.

Nor are you going to solve them all in the next day, or week or year. What you are going to do is give your mind a break from feeling that it has to ruminate on those issues in order to keep them from being forgotten. You’ve captured everything on paper or digitally, so you can be confident that nothing will slip away.

0.9 Browse a bit Every day or so, take a quick look at your brain dump notes to see if there’s anything you have a new handle on. That document should remain a work in progress, so add new thoughts as they come to you.

0.10 Adjust Your Focus Once you’ve fixed the small things, re-evaluated the larger ones and made some plans for tackling the biggest challenges, turn the focus around and concentrate on everything that fell into the “joy” or “achievements” categories. Take time to be grateful for what makes you happy – like your family and friends, your good health and the career you enjoy. Be proud of your achievements.

You’re working hard, doing a great job, and you have colleagues who value you. You might even be in line for a promotion one of these days. Those are all thoughts that deserve attention but are all too often lost in the shuffle of day-to-day worries.

Pull them out of the brain dump pile, shine them up and be happy!

Brain dump?!

I N EV E R W R I T E T H I N GS DOW N …

You don’t need to dive right into the serious stuff if that’s making you feel a bit overwhelmed. Instead, try a few of these easy topics to get you started on your own brain dump.

• WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY • WHAT’S ON THE BOOKS FOR TOMORROW • THE LAST THING YOU THOUGHT ABOUT BEFORE YOU FELL ASLEEP LAST NIGHT • SONG LYRICS THAT ALWAYS MAKE YOU PAUSE TO LISTEN • MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES THAT HAVE STUCK IN YOUR MIND • GOALS - BIG AND SMALL • ASPIRATIONS - DOABLE AND TOTALLY WILD • WEBSITES OR YOUTUBE VIDEOS YOU’VE BEEN TOLD ABOUT BUT HAVEN’T YET CHECKED OUT • BOOKS YOU’VE ALWAYS MEANT TO READ

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LIFESTYLE

Firefighting tw o for

By Lindsey Brookhart

As an Ohio firefighter/paramedic, I’ve worked in the fire service for 11 years, seven of which have been fulltime. During that time, I’ve been through two complete pregnancies, maternity leaves and postpartum periods and am currently beginning a third go-round with growing a human.

When I started out in the fire service in my mid-20s, I was single and had never even considered the idea that pregnancy and fighting fires might be something I would deal with at the same time. It wasn’t until my husband and I began talking about having children that I realized things would have to change at work... but that didn’t seem impossible.

My mentality has always been “we’ll just figure it out” so I never saw the desire to expand our family as being something that could potentially cost me my career.

We’ve all heard stories over the years about females being discriminated against, pushed out of their departments or even fired because of the things their bodies do that men’s bodies just can’t. My experience as a female in the fire service, however, has been far more fortunate than other females I know. I have had (mostly) supportive departments, co-workers, and command staff. That being said, the approach I took with my pregnancies felt no different than any other potential “issue” with my employment as a female firefighter.

ANOTHER AREA THAT CHALLENGED ME WAS THE FIRST TRIMESTER WHEN ILLNESS AND EXHAUSTION WERE VERY REAL. I’D ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS TOTAL BS AND THAT PREGNANT WOMEN WERE JUST BEING PANSIES.

B E ING PR EGNANT IN T HE FIREFIGHT ING WO R LD IS NOT A N ORM AL SIT UAT ION. Most departments aren’t prepared and may have policies in place that are so outdated and unrealistic that they’re laughable. There are places in the fire service, however, that have begun to ensure that there are paths for women to feel secure in their jobs and still expand their families.

In my case, my chief was more than willing to work to accommodate my new challenges with my position.

NOPE. PHOTO BY BECCA ELLIS

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A true light duty position wasn’t an option given as a first line choice, nor did I want it.

Knowing that being pregnant technically prevented me from carrying out normal responsibilities such as interior firefighting had me questioning how protected I really was from being discharged. Let’s face it, if a man had a medical condition that prevented him from going interior, he probably wouldn’t be allowed to continue working.

(Note: pregnancy is usually viewed as a personal medical condition.)

Luckily, I was still able to be a D/O and could stay outside at a fire scene and operate as a paramedic. That meant I was able to fill those positions without any issue, despite not going interior. Many departments across the country don’t have these options, haven’t cross-trained their personnel, or don’t allow employees to step away from a single area for a set amount of time. The women in these positions have a much tougher time trying to keep their jobs while preventing potential harm to their unborn children.

When I first became pregnant, there was something I didn’t quite understand but am clear about now. A woman becomes instantly responsible for another human being’s life 100 percent of the time when she becomes a mom.

That’s a big load to carry. Worrying about the safety of everything I do – especially at work – is draining. Have you ever worried about your seatbelt harming or even killing someone else if you got into a fender bender?

There were other worries about being pregnant while in the fire world. Would my co-workers be happy for me or angry that their workload would increase? How would all of this play out? Would I still be able to keep working the whole time I was pregnant? I was determined to prove I could still do the job well, whether I was outside or in the back of the medic. The fire service has bred a culture of women always having to prove ourselves. I don’t know a single female in the fire service who doesn’t experience some level of “Say I can’t and I’ll prove you wrong” in her head and heart.

I had to remind not just myself but more importantly some of my co-workers that I was pregnant, not disabled. Reminders from them that they understood I could still do it all but that they were always ready if I needed help were vital.

The more pregnant I got, the more I gladly accepted those offers – not because I couldn’t do the work, but simply because it was easier not working around a big Buddha belly – and it was safer for my baby. I’d ask for help with some morning checks such as running the small engine equipment so I could limit the high decibel noise for the fetus. If there was

a ladder that needed climbing or something had to be collected from on top of the equipment, I gladly accepted assistance.

All of these things I could and would still do at a scene when needed, but having understanding co-workers who didn’t make it seem like a burden when I asked for help made me feel supported instead of cast out or looked down upon.

Another area that challenged me was the first trimester when illness and exhaustion were very real. I’d always thought it was total BS and that pregnant women were just being pansies. Nope. If I sat down in the afternoon for more than five minutes I was instantly asleep for at least two hours. I later realized that was partly the effect of my body learning how to grow another human and partly because I had low iron levels. I appreciated my colleagues letting me sleep unless we got a call and being willing to wake me up if something needed to happen.

They even let me catch some shut-eye on the cot in the back of the medic while we staged for hours in the middle of the night for a police standoff. Just knowing that they didn’t think I was lazy made a world of difference. I found it even more helpful when my co-workers asked questions or joked with me about the changes. Just a warning: women who are expecting can be superemotional, so if a pregnant colleague takes a joke the wrong way, don’t be surprised.

Feeling as if I could cry at a moment’s notice wasn’t ideal for me, nor was it a territory I was familiar with. The condition was also tiring, and constant nausea meant needing to stash small snacks like energy bars, baby food and almond butter everywhere. Some women also stash sickness bags to prepare for the constant, no-warning vomiting.

Another challenge I realized was that my male counterparts couldn’t really offer advice on uniforms. Since it’s probably been a while since you looked, let me tell you, I have yet to find a pair of tactical or duty maternity pants. Thankfully, we had a tailor in my hometown who offered a genius suggestion. We used thick ribbed elastic fabric to put in triangular panels that went from the waistband to below the hips in the side seams of my duty pants. At some point I also had to order larger pants and a bigger belt. It helped that the larger shirts and bunker pants were already available since I started my pregnancy being the smallest person on our department. I even had to give my leather boots a break and switch back to my larger rubber boots because of the Michelin Man-feet syndrome I developed.

There are lots of unknowns when you’re a pregnant firefighter. Even if there are policies in place, the research isn’t really

there to create guidelines for what's safe and what's not and why. With my first pregnancy, I didn’t tell my supervisor until I was roughly nine weeks along and had an ultrasound, but I’d known for almost three weeks that I was pregnant. Because it was my first, I think I wanted to make sure it was real before I took that step.

WIT H NO P O L IC IE S I N P L A C E , H OW WA S I TO KN OW WH E N I SH O U L D M A KE THE ANNOUNCEMENT? HOW NEGATIVE AN EFFECT DOES FIRE EXPOSURE IN E A R LY P R E G NA NC Y HAV E ON A F E T U S? H OW L O NG S HOULD I K E E P G O ING INT E RI OR? Because I like to identify as many possible outcomes as I can going into a situation, I had a conversation with my captain and chief prior to becoming pregnant to let them know that we planned to expand our family. My department was small and my pregnancy would change many things for our staffing and resources. I respected my superiors enough to let them know that my life decisions would likely be changing their work environment and I wanted to get a feel for my options.

Luckily, I was met with very straightforward, supportive answers, and when the time came to tell them I was pregnant, the news wasn’t unexpected. They were supportive and happy for me and had questions to ask. The decision about how long I felt I wanted to continue doing certain tasks was ultimately left up to me, and once I’d told them I was pregnant it was agreed that interior attack was best taken off the table.

Knowing what I know now, I have since told my employer as soon as I find out that I am pregnant. In my mind, there is no reason to wait. I have looked into the limited research about fire exposure in general for women and the risks for any type of toxic load for fetuses, and know the risk isn’t worth it. That level of fire exposure at any stage of fetal development is a bad idea.

I know women who don’t want to tell anyone they are pregnant until later because of the risk of miscarriage and the idea of having to go through that publicly.

I understand their emotional point of view, but know that increased toxic load can also increase the chance of things like miscarriage or birth defects: even more reason to let the cat out of the bag as soon as you know.

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LIFESTYLE I had a very supportive obstetrician who was willing to let me either continue to work as normal or ask for medical notes for light duty. Again, the decisions were left mostly up to me. While I was thankful for this freedom to make my own decisions, it also felt as if there was very little conversation from anyone involved on what the best practice was. To be honest, I don’t think anyone really knows, and most medical professionals don’t have a deep understanding of the physical requirements of our job or the level of risk we accept.

I was glad to at least be advised to “Trust your body. If it says you’re doing too much, then scale it back.” This also applied to physical exercise and lifting. Lifting heavy while pregnant can be unsafe but for reasons that aren’t obvious. Pregnant women become more “stretchy” as their body prepares for birth so it can be harder to do certain movements properly. The big belly and shifting pelvic bones also make proper form more difficult to maintain for safe, effective lifting. On the flip side, if you can ensure proper form and your body is comfortable with that weight, you can continue to lift just as you did before you were pregnant. During my third trimester, we had an extra person ride the medic to help with lifting patients. Other than that, not much changed.

I chose to work until the week before my due date, but given the overall discomfort I think it would have been best to have been off at least a few weeks before giving birth.

One of my co-workers nicknamed me the “egg with legs” because I got so round and waddled just like Humpty Dumpty.

There were a lot of new worries. Would I fall off the side of the engine or slip off a ladder – even just from the bottom step? What about combative patients?

Bloodborne pathogen exposure? Highway traffic incidents? Excessive noise exposure?

Even the limited carcinogen exposure from exterior attacks or wearing gear concerned me. I was most uncomfortable while unrestrained in the back of the medic as I provided serious patient care, but that never prevented me from doing so. Worry was always in the back of my mind.

Trust me, it feels nearly impossible to keep an unborn baby completely safe when the giant belly is always in the way and you have no way to shield it from whatever you’re doing. While we already have a heightened level of risk in our professional lives, being pregnant adds to that mental and emotional stress. While few people understand the challenges that pregnancy poses for a firefighter, the postpartum phase is even less talked about.

Although I live in a state that will protect a person’s job for up to 12 weeks for large family-shifting events such as the birth of a child, the state laws do not require employers to pay for that time off. Luckily, I had saved up enough paid time off to cover almost the entire time, because I couldn’t imagine going back to work before 12 weeks postpartum. I couldn’t be away from my child for 24 hours and I wasn’t yet physically ready to do my job as an interior firefighter. Childbirth, whether it’s vaginal or via cesarean, is a physically life-altering event and for a mother to be away from her first child for an entire 24 hours is nerve-wracking. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my husband to keep our child safe, but for the first three months, it was my sole responsibility to nourish that baby. Letting go of that sense of control was really tough.

Because my husband is a heavy sleeper, we actually got a baby monitor that was connected to the Wi-Fi so I could check in overnight when I was up.

Physically, getting back into shape was tough. From lack of sleep, to no physically strenuous activity for almost two months, to shifting hormones and a weak pelvic floor, working out for the first time postpartum made me feel like I was dying.

The huge shifts in hormones caused depression. Though I was prepared for the possibility, I didn’t understand how difficult that type of depression could be until I entered it. We all know our jobs tend to exacerbate mental health issues and postpartum depression is no different.

I was already doing whatever I could to stay physically healthy to maintain my mental, emotional, and hormonal health —but then came the added postpartum challenge of breastfeeding.

ONE OF MY CO-WORKERS NICKNAMED ME THE “EGG WITH LEGS” BECAUSE I GOT SO ROUND AND WADDLED JUST LIKE HUMPTY DUMPTY.

No woman knows what she’s doing when she goes back to work while breastfeeding and has to deal with an unpredictable schedule full of calls and long scene times while on shift that can make it difficult to keep to a pumping schedule. There’s also the challenge of finding a place where she can pump in privacy (hopefully not the bathroom!), a place to wash pump parts and a place to store breast milk safely for the entire shift. We had individual bunk rooms and a full kitchen, so for me those issues were handled easily. Pumping and breastfeeding challenges can also include mastitis which feels like you have the flu as well as a giant rock burning in your boob. It’s not fun.

I C A N SAY T H AT R E G A R D L E S S OF T H E M A NY C H A L L E NG E S I HAV E FA C E D WIT H B E ING P R E G NA N T IN T H E F IR E SE R V IC E , M Y D E PA RT M E NT A ND C O - WO R K ERS H AV E A L L B E E N V E RY SU P P ORTI V E A ND H AV E AT L E A ST AT T E M P TED TO B E U ND E R STA ND ING .

It’s easier for those who’ve seen a significant other go through pregnancy and the postpartum stage.

First-time moms are just as lost as the male counterparts who are trying to figure out how to support them. If a member of your team is pregnant, ask her questions, give her space if she needs it, try to get on the same page, and know that her world is a whirlwind right now that’s about to get even more chaotic in a few months!

FROM THE STARS OF SUPER TROOPERS

KICKING ASH AND TAKING FLAMES ALL NEW

THURS 10/9c

FITNESS

E, SAT IL V ERR T A BL E E PO F E C T IV & EF

THE LEBERT EQUALIZER FULL BODY WORKOUT VERSATILE, PORTABLE AND EFFECTIVE, THE EQUALIZER IS AN ESSENTIAL TOOL THAT CAN BE USED BY ANYONE AT ANY FITNESS LEVEL - FROM THE BEGINNER TO THE ELITE ATHLETE. USE IT TO TRANSITION EASILY THROUGH HUNDREDS OF EXERCISE OPTIONS THAT TARGET SPECIFIC MUSCLE GROUPS, ALL WHILE IMPROVING STABILITY AND EXPERIENCING A FULL BODY WORKOUT. E X PE R IENCE A FULL BODY WORKOUT Crafted from pure iron, the EQualizer provides a range of full bodyweight resistance exercises such as dips, push and pull ups, L-sits, knee and leg raises, stretches and more. Reposition or adjust your grip for more challenging and dynamic workouts: you’ll find it’s a simple yet effective tool to elevate your workout.

THE WORKOUT

oroughly, Warm-up th move for 30 ch ea perform en rest for th seconds and Repeat the 30 seconds. five times. to circuit three

INV ER TE D RO W • S tart between both EQualizers, place hands on both grips with palms facing each other • With feet flat on floor create a bridge • P ull your body from straight arm position to full flexion • S queeze mid-shoulder blades throughout the movement • Return to bottom position

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UATS S P L IT S Q

ASS IST ED DIP S

• S tand about two feet in front of your EQualizer (If needed hold onto the other EQualizer for added balance)

• P lace EQualizers parallel to each other • G rab the center of each bar, position yourself in a chair pose with elbows facing backwards

• L ift your right leg behind you, hooking your ankle over the top of the bar • B egin bending your left knee, lowering yourself towards the ground, keeping your chest up

• L ower yourself in a controlled manner to approximately 90 degree angle and press back up slowly

• W hen your left thigh is approximately parallel to the floor come back up to starting position

TR ICE P EX TE NS ION S • W hile on your knees, place hands on either side of the foam grip in the overhand position • W ith elbows facing the ground and keeping your core straight, lower yourself until your forehead touches the foam grip • E xtend your arms, returning to the star position

EQ S P U SH -U P • Start in high plank position with hands on EQualizer • K eeping your body in a straight line, lower yourself down as far as you can comfortably • Press back up using your chest and triceps to start position

L E B E RT F ITN ES S .C OM

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NUTRITION

h t e s fuss t a h w

By Maureen Stoecklein, RD

Avoid all fat! Replace butter with margarine!

No…wait!

Butter is better…coconut oil is healthy! No…coconut oil isn’t healthy!

Canola oil is the best! When you eat fat it turns to fat!

T HE N OISE SURROUNDI NG T H E R O L E O F FAT IN A HEALT HY DIET CA N B E C O NF U SING .

Social media feeds are flooded with volumes of persuasive and conflicting information making it hard to know what to believe.

The truth is, some fats are helpful and have important roles to play in our diets, while others can have a negative impact on our long-term health.

We now know that the types, and amounts, of fat we eat throughout the day make a difference, so let’s take a closer look at the facts on healthy fats and some of the easy ways they can be incorporated into our daily meals and snacks, both on shift and at home.

There are three main types of fats in our foods: trans fats, saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Trans fats are manufactured fats added to highly processed foods. These are worrying because they can raise unhealthy LDL (L is for lousy...and low-density lipoproteins) cholesterol while also lowering protective HDL (H is for “healthy”) cholesterol levels. Trans fats can be potentially even more harmful than saturated fat to the arteries but fortunately, for the most part, trans fats have been eliminated from the food supply. Always be sure to look at the ingredients listed on products you choose to eat: if a product contains “partially hydrogenated oil” it contains trans fat.

Saturated fat is found in high-fat dairy products such as full-fat yogurt, milk, ice cream, cheese, coconut and palm oil, red meat, butter and highly processed baked goods. Try to limit saturated fats to less than 10 percent of your total calories for the day and replace them with foods rich in unsaturated fats.

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P O LY U N S AT U R AT E D / O M E G A - 3 FAT T Y A C I D F O O D S O U R C E S U NS ATURATE D OR HEALT HY FAT S

include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fat associated with a number of potential health advantages. Some of the benefits of a diet rich in monounsaturated fats and Omega-3s include: reduced inflammation, lowered cholesterol levels in the blood, reduced heart disease risk, improved blood sugar control, improved brain, eye and nervous system health, enhanced mental health and decreased mental decline.

The three main Omega-3 fatty acids are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

The body can’t produce these Omega-3 fatty acids on its own so getting them from food or dietary supplements is the only practical way to increase levels.

FAT T Y F I S H

Wild caught salmon, mackerel, trout, herring or sardines.

Try to include these twice per week.

EGGS

Some chickens are given feed supplemented with Omega-3 sources resulting in eggs high in these good fatty acids. Free-range or pasture-raised eggs are also higher in Omega-3s than conventional eggs, and these are the ones you want. Be sure to check the packaging when you buy your eggs.

CHIA SEEDS

Chia seeds are a great source of fiber, protein and Omega-3 fatty acids.

Their flavor is light and they can be sprinkled on cereal and salads or added to smoothies and baked goods.

FLAX MEAL

Similar to chia seeds, flax is a great plant-based source of Omega-3s. Be sure to use ground flax meal since the seeds are not easily digested and broken down to utilize the beneficial oils in the seeds. Add flax meal to oatmeal, smoothies, baked goods, yogurt or casseroles.

WA L N U T S

Walnuts are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and are easily added to salads, baked goods and oatmeal or can be enjoyed right out of the bag.

HEMP SEEDS

Hemp seeds are a great source of plant-based protein and also rich in Omega-3s. They have a crunchy, nutty flavor and are great sprinkled on salads, added to smoothies or eaten raw.

M O N O U N S AT U R AT E D FAT F O O D S O U R C E S

ALMOND BUTTER

Almond butter is rich in monounsaturated fat and fiber. Try swapping your peanut butter for almond butter to gain an extra nutrition boost. Look for almond butter with just two ingredients: almonds and salt. Oil separation is normal so resist the urge to pour off the oil on the top. Give it a good stir and keep it in the fridge where it will stay mixed.

N UTS AN D SEEDS

Raw or salted nuts and seeds (especially pumpkin, sunflower and sesame) are a good source of healthy fats and protein and are also high in fiber and a variety of vitamins and minerals. This group tends to be high in calories so be mindful of your portion size. Also, be sure to avoid nuts or seeds coated in sugar and other seasonings. These varieties often have other oils added to them to get the seasonings to stick.

OILS

Olive oil and avocado oil are both great sources of monounsaturated fats.

Use either one of these oils in place of butter or any other vegetable oils when cooking or baking. Olive oil works well for salad dressings, marinades and cooking at lower temperatures. Avocado oil can handle higher temperatures when cooking as it has a higher smoke point than olive oil.

AV O C A D O S

Avocados are packed with fiber, potassium, B vitamins, vitamin C, fat soluble vitamin E and monounsaturated fats. They have a smooth texture and can be used as a spread on toast, a creamy dressing or a topping for your salad or eggs.

M O NO U NSAT U R AT E D FATS

in food may improve cardiac risk factors by helping to maintain or raise your good cholesterol (HDL) while lowering your total and LDL cholesterol. When consumed in moderation, these fats can have a positive effect on your health.

Remember all fats have nine calories per gram so be mindful of portion size and use sparingly.

A little bit of oil goes a long way when baking, stir-frying, roasting or sautéing.

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LIFESTYLE

the

moustachery The moustache has evolved from a roughly cut block of hair in prehistoric times into a genuine work of art. Moustaches have theoretically been possible since flint razors were first fashioned around 30,000 BC. The status of the moustache in society has enjoyed a long journey full of ups and downs, but has proven itself for the most part resilient. Recently, just when people had thought it had been hung up, a cultural revolution swung the pendulum back and ushered in a new day for moustaches.

Check out our style guide to get some ideas for your own upper-lip topiary this Movember!

styling tips

1

Invest in the right tools for the job. A man committed to serious moustachery should have the following: a pair of barber scissors for precise trimming, a set of clippers for uniformity, a fine toothed comb for guidance, a large mirror for a good view, a trusty razor, a steady hand and a determined mind.

2

Dampen the moustache hair to trim—wet hair is easier to cut and dry hair is easier to trim.

It is important to note that wet hair does bounce up (i.e. look shorter) when dry.

3

Using a fine-toothed comb, gently rake your moustache so the hairs all run in one direction.

Rein in any strays that walk to the beat of their own drum.

4

Using the barber scissors, trim the long or stray hairs on the outer edge and bottom line of your moustache. You may wish to use a finger or comb to restrain your Mo while you snip away. Remember to trim conservatively—you can always go over it again.

5

Run the clippers over the body of the Mo, clip those tips, and get a consistent and even level of bush and bounce.

6

Foam up, then run a sharp razor along the outer edge and make that Mo stand out.

mo facts

• ON AVERAGE, a man with a Mo touches it 760 times a day.

• AVERAGE AVERAGE HUMAN HAIR at a rate of 0.014 inches a day, or about 5 or 6 inches a year.

• WOMEN ARE MORE attracted to men with moustaches. Fact.

• A ONE-MONTH-OLD MOUSTACHE is capable of holding approximately one ounce of liquid before leaking its contents down its owner's face.

• POLICE IN A DISTRICT in India's Madhya Pradesh state are being paid to grow a moustache because bosses believe it makes them command more respect.

• U.S. U.S. MARINES are not permitted to grow moustaches longer than half an inch.

• THE WORLD'S LONGEST MOUSTACHE is believed to be a 14 foot monster, measured in March 2010, belonging to Ram Singh Chauhan of Rajastan India, who massages it with oil to keep it healthy.

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• FROTHY COFFEE • FROTHY • • GLASS GLASS OF MILK • • TOFFEE TOFFEE APPLES • • CANDY CANDY FLOSS • • EGG EGG YOLK • • SOUP SOUP • • BBQ BBQ RIBS

• KEBABS • KEBABS • • DOUGHNUTS DOUGHNUTS • • TACOS TACOS • • ALE, ALE, GUINNESS OR ANY BREW SERVED WITH A FINE CREAMY HEAD

movember style guide

th e tru c k e r

th e con noi s s e ur

th e rock sta r

Character Traits: Manly - Spunky - Enjoys mud rallies and four-wheeling, camo is his favourite colour

Character Traits: Sophisticated - Refined - Undoubtedly a member of the league of extraordinary gentlemen

Character Traits: Bad Ass - Unapologetic Most likely to get kicked out of a social event

Men who sport this edgy back trails design are not afraid to get dirty in every sense of the word. This no-shame, confidence-boosting, adventure-seeking moustache makes sure that everyone around you knows that you’re the guy to hang out with at the next bush party.

Not much comes between a man and his stache wax with this fashion-forward design. Your bathroom time to create this masterpiece doesn’t go unnoticed by all members of your household who might be wanting use of the toilet. Sporting the connoisseur will score you entry into most black tie events - or at least support you in your fashionable exit.

This stache doesn’t discriminate and can be worn by every species of mustache grower—regardless of age, profession, and style. Matching everything from a blazer to a ball cap, this stache is sure to get you dates, product affiliations, and friends.

th e abracadab r a

th e r ege nt

Character Traits: Whimsical - Confident - A master of illusion, magic, and all things unexplainable

Character Traits: Committed - Professional - This resting moustache face (RMF) will have everyone guessing whether you are impressed or not

No wand required to rock this lighter than average, majestic piece. You grew this from infancy and take care of it like the masterpiece it truly is. Requiring a higher degree of commitment, this stache is likely to score brownie points at all the PTA meetings.

A moustache normally found on those who have already ridden the hard roads of life, this symbol of maturity and experience will ensure that those requiring life advice will know that you are the ultimate giver of wisdom.

Movember is the leading charity changing the face of men’s health on a global scale. The charity raises funds to deliver innovative, breakthrough research and support programs that enable men to live happier, healthier and longer lives. Committed to disrupting the status quo, millions have joined the movement, helping fund over 1,250 projects focusing on mental health and suicide prevention as well as prostate and testicular cancers. In addition to tackling key health issues faced by men, Movember is working to encourage men to stay healthy in all areas of their life, with a focus on men staying socially connected and becoming more open to discussing their health and significant moments in their lives. The charity’s vision is to have an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health. To donate or learn more, please visit movember.com

1

HEALTH

Adding

life years

The general recommendation for pretty much every human on the planet is to do at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity.

Moderate intensity is easy to measure: it means you can only just keep a conversation going while you’re exercising.

To Your

By Simon Matthews, CEO Wellcoaches Australia & Singapore

Not so long ago, keeping your health in top shape was generally a matter of doing your day-to-day work. Most people had manual labor jobs that involved a lot of physical activity and they slept well at night simply because they were tired. There were no electronic devices to keep them sedentary or disturb their sleep.

Pre-packaged processed meals didn’t exist and food was either grown on their own property or traded with neighbors.

It’s a very different story now, and staying healthy means thinking carefully about the daily choices that we make. Today, the illnesses most likely to make you seriously sick, or even cause death, are chronic or “lifestyle” diseases. These include heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, respiratory disease, arthritis, obesity and a number of cancers.

2

Eat a whole food, plant-based diet. What does this mean? It means as far as you can, eat foods that look the way they did when they were grown. Minimize highly processed foods.

While processing involves a lot of different things, depending on the food that you’re talking about, it typically means that some elements of the food that are beneficial to our health (such as dietary fibre) are stripped out and other things are added (frequently salts and sugars).

Any addictive substance can be harmful to health, so eliminating tobacco altogether can drastically lower your risk of chronic disease.

Being careful about alcohol intake will do likewise.

Nearly half the US population has at least one chronic disease resulting in about 70 percent of all deaths.

The good news is that there are steps that you can take right now to help keep you healthy and prevent chronic disease or combat it, if it’s something that you’re already dealing with in your life. I’m speaking about the principles of lifestyle medicine. Lifestyle medicine revolves around six straightforward guidelines that you can either introduce to or increase in your day-to-day life.

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3

6 Having and maintaining really good relationships with family and friends helps to keep us psychologically and physically resilient.

Relationships really matter and we all benefit when we take the time to cultivate positive relationships with family and friends.

Remember: there’s a strong link between social isolation and mortality.

This is the biggest challenge for many people, particularly if you do any sort of shift work, because trying to establish a regular sleep pattern can be very difficult. Every so often we read about people who seem to thrive on not much sleep at all – historical figures such as past presidents, prime ministers or famous inventors come to mind. But here’s the thing: these people are the exception, not the rule and most of us need seven to nine hours per night of good, restorative sleep.

Learning healthy strategies to manage day-today stresses as well as the really big events in life helps us to stay healthy. Not managing stress not only impacts our mental health and well-being but also our physical health. Did you know there’s a clear association between poor stress management and obesity?

4

If you are already managing most or all of these areas of your life well – congratulations! You’ve taken a big step towards not only minimizing your risk of chronic disease, but also maximizing your opportunity to thrive and flourish in your daily life. If you’re reading this article and asking yourself “Where do I even begin?” or “I know all this – I just can’t seem to keep it going in my life,” here are two suggestions to get you started:

5

First, consider using a health coach the same way you’d use a personal trainer.

Health coaches are expert facilitators and cultivators of behavioral change.

Health coaching helps you to identify not just what matters to you but why.

“Why?” is really the big motivator of behavior change. If you already know about health coaching and would like to take a step towards improved vitality, energy and enjoyment in your life, look for a nationally board-certified coach using the search tool at nbhwc.org – the website of the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching.

Or, if you’re not sure if a coach is for you, take a few minutes to do a simple audit of your lifestyle to help identify where some help might be most valuable. Start by looking at the six categories featured here and rate yourself on each one using a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 meaning “Not managing this area of lifestyle well at all” and 10 meaning “Acing it.” Now rank them in order from the area you’re managing best through to the area where you have the most opportunity for change.

Pick somewhere to start – it literally doesn’t matter where. Improvement in any category will be a benefit as you begin bettering your underlying well-being and minimizing the likelihood of being affected by chronic disease as you get older.

Remember – when you take the time to look after your health and wellbeing, you not only add years to your life but you also add life to your years.

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HEALTH

WHAT IS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND HOW DO I GET SOME?

By Greg Gordonson

The past two pandemic years have heaped stress on the already over-laden plates of those in the fire service, and have left many searching for solutions. Could positive psychology be the answer?

According to Psychology Today Magazine, positivity refers to “our tendency to be optimistic in life.

This is in contrast to negativity, which is all about thinking, feeling, and doing negative things.”

Sounds pretty straightforward, but what does the whole positivity mindset actually involve? On the next page are seven tips for putting a positive spin on your thinking, and your life.

N EGAT I VITY

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BEWARE TH E TOX IC POSIT I VITY TRAP! Positivity is important but you can actually go overboard. Toxic positivity is an obsession with positive thinking that prevents any realistic assessment of a difficult or even tragic situation. It tries to quell negative emotions, minimizes or ignores one’s own grief and the grief experienced by others, and imposes an unreasonable expectation that everyone be happy, no matter how upsetting the circumstances.

You’ve seen toxic positivity in play, when those whose lives are in shambles pretend that all is well. You might even have thought those people

were brave, keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of pain and disappointment.

But you might not have been so admiring when the spotlight of toxic positivity was turned your way and there was no acknowledgment of pain you might have been suffering. Those caught in a cycle of toxic positivity imagine they’re offering support, but in fact, they’re ignoring the suffering of others. You’ve heard it at funerals when, instead of offering sincere condolences, someone says, “Well, at least he’s not suffering anymore.

And you’re strong – you’ll be fine.”

Perhaps you’ve overheard a toxic comment offered to a couple who’ve experienced a miscarriage, “There must have been something wrong

with the baby so it’s better this way. At least you know you can get pregnant.”

In both cases, grieving people are given the message that the pain they’re feeling isn’t valid and should be left behind as they move forward into a positive future.

Beware the demands that toxic positivity imposes on people, despite the challenges they face, causing them to smother their emotions and often preventing them from getting the social support they need. Be sensitive to both your own emotional situation and to the circumstances of those around you, and balance positivity with compassion.

POSIT I VITY

1

BE K I N DE R TO YOU RSE L F How often do you berate yourself for small mistakes? “You idiot! How could you be so stupid?” Ask yourself if you’d ever speak to a child you loved in the same unkind tone you use for your own self-talk, then dial it back. Remember that making mistakes is human and give yourself a break. Instead of saying “I’m an idiot”, say “I’m not perfect, but I’m doing my best.”

F I L L YO U R

2 3 4 5 6 7

BET ON GOOD THI NGS FOR TH E FU TU RE At the moment, tomorrow has yet to arrive so we have no way of knowing what it will bring. Simply expecting good things rather than bad can give your mood a lift. Optimism is as easy to adopt as pessimism – and it’s a whole lot less depressing.

ADOPT AN ATT ITU DE OF GRAT ITU DE Adopt an attitude of gratitude and be appreciative of the people and things that make your life good. Did your partner arrange a special anniversary celebration? Did your kids give you a hug before bed last night? Was dinner last night delicious? Counting up the good things helps you feel that your life is rich.

PLAN REWARDS AN D TREATS Plan rewards and treats to get you through the tough days. “When I’m off-shift tomorrow, I’m going to take a long bike ride by the lake.”

POSITIVITY TANK A large part of having a positive attitude boils down to getting our thoughts out of the negative groove we sometimes fall into. When the bleak vibes arise, try asking yourself a few questions designed to put you in a positive frame of mind.

WHAT WOU L D MY FI R E HALL FAM I LY SAY THAT I’M REALLY GOOD AT? Just imagining your friends and colleagues saying good things is a boost – even if you never actually hear the praise spoken aloud. You know what people think you’re good at!

WHAT STRE NGTHS CAN I CALL ON I N A TOUGH SITUAT ION?

TRY REAPPRAISI NG TH E SITUAT IONS THAT F RUSTRAT E YOU MOST Maybe you’re angry that it’s your turn to clean up the kitchen at the firehall – again.

Instead of seething with anger, see it as down time, stick in your earbuds and listen to your fave playlist or podcast.

As a firefighter, you know you have a cool head in an emergency and you’re probably so well-trained that you can work a call without even thinking about what you’re doing. Those are strengths that only a very small percentage of the population share.

TRY A POSIT I VITY MEDITAT ION You can find loads of them on YouTube or you can simply sit quietly, focus on your breathing and send positive vibes to the people you love the most.

LIST E N TO “TH E HAPPI N ESS LAB"

WHAT ARE YOU LOOK I NG FORWARD TO? If the answer is not much, then start planning a vacation – even if it’s just a weekend away. You deserve it and you’ll enjoy looking forward to it almost as much as you’ll enjoy the actual vacation.

Listen to “The Happiness Lab,”a podcast by Yale professor Laurie Santos in which she interviews scientists, psychologists, psychiatrists and others about the realities, myths and misconceptions that surround our understanding of happiness. Not only will you be entertained but you’ll also come away with solid suggestions for upping your happiness quotient.

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GEARING CAMPER VAN CHIC With all the amenities of a big motorhome, a Field Van converted vehicle makes you feel as if you’ve relocated your home to a mountain meadow or the shores of a shimmering lake. Relax in the luxurious bed and enjoy the comforts of a full-size bathroom with shower – what more could you ask for? Field Van’s Meadow series is a true leader in the Class B RV market. fieldvan.com

THE ELITE BLADE Named for the Elite Emperors’ Praetorian Guards who served as personal protectors of the Roman Emperors, the MKT Praetorian T is a knife that beautifully combines form and function, featuring a .190 blade thickness, as well as .125 thick solid Titanium frames, .250 pivots and hardware and a D2, NP3 coated tempered-glass breaking pommel.

We believe that 2000 years from now, archaeologists will be amazed by the hand tools our civilization once crafted! medfordknife.com

GET COOKING! The GoSun Sport® solar oven can reach temperatures of 550 degrees F under direct sun and can bake, roast or steam a meal for two in just 20 minutes. Designed to be light and compact for cooking on the move, the durable GoSun Sport® is easy to set up and collapses for easy storage. gosun.co/products

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Because RoGO’s mission is to provide life-saving technology in areas with no cellular service, the company has developed a patented, integrated satellite communications system called FACTS that uses SATCOM and GPS-enabled devices to display vital scene information and communications for first responders and others working in isolated areas. Using a RoGO’s SATCOM-enabled tablet device allows crews working in remote areas without cell service to access real-time communications and weather information, locate crews and resources, and message between groups. rogocom.com

ICY COLD The Dometic CFX3 75DZ Powered Cooler, 75 l produces impressive cooling/freezing that allows you to bring more of the food and drinks you love with you wherever you go. Built for tough outdoor use, the CFX3 features a robust design and ExoFrame construction as well as the convenience of an app that puts the cooling control at your fingertips. dometic.com

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NO CELL SERVICE? NO PROBLEM!

MAKE IT A SMART SCALE Whether you’re an athlete in training or just trying to maintain a healthy weight, The Garmin Index S2 smart scale measures a wide range of biometrics all in a sleek, slim design with a hi-res color display that can accommodate up to 16 users. Key features include: • M etrics measured: body fat percentage, skeletal muscle mass, bone mass, body water percentage, weight and BMI (with option to view only weight) • W eight Trend graph: See how your weight has changed over the past 30 days with a handy on-scale graph.

• M ultiple Daily Weigh-Ins: For those monitoring hydration levels, the Index S2 conveniently displays on-screen the difference between the current weighin and the previous weigh-in.

buy.garmin.com

MAKE IT MONTANA With routable mapping for roads and trails, the Montana 700 handheld GPS brings advanced outdoor features into a sturdy 5” format that’s ideal for navigation on foot, bike, kayak, ATV and more. buy.garmin.com

GO WITH YOUR INSTINCT Instinct Solar is a GPS smartwatch built to break convention, conquer the elements and endure. Experience unprecedented battery life with solar charging and get up to 54 days in smartwatch mode. Military standard toughness lets you play rough without worry and built-in sports apps right on your wrist allow you to train smarter. buy.garmin.com

LOAD ‘ER UP! LoadTamer™ Cargo Nets provide the kind of worry-free hauling you need to handle all shapes and sizes of loads.

Whether you’re moving household goods, furniture and appliances, landscaping supplies, automotive parts, trash, debris or building materials, LoadTamer™ Cargo Nets are the answer. Made to fit any and all sizes of pickup trucks, utility trailers and stake trucks, they attach quickly and easily with the accompanying hardware, and hold down tarps.

THE FIREFIGHTER’S EXTINGUISHER The Rusoh® Eliminator® is the only self-service, multi-purpose, reloadable, dry chemical fire extinguisher that meets the toughest expectations of professional firefighters looking for home protection. Designed to be pressurized only when needed for ultra-reliable fire protection, the Rusoh ® Eliminator ®’s self–service feature eliminates costly service calls, while its patented Rusoh ® wheel fluffing system assures the extinguishing agent is fluffed and ready to use when you need it most! rusoh.com

cargonets.com

FULL FORECAST The KestrelMet 6000 Cellular Weather Station offers a full suite of commercial sensors for accurately monitoring conditions, measuring wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, relative humidity, temperature and rainfall. Ready to start reporting right out of the box, the KestrelMet 6000 comes pre-configured for quick and easy installation, making hyper-local weather monitoring simple, affordable and easy. kestrelmeters.com

↑

FITNESS

THRE E PRINCIPLES FOR OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE AN D REDUCING RISK FOR I N J U RY

When you signed on to become a firefighter, you knew that the physical demands and risk of injury would be greater than that in most other occupations. Firefighters work in difficult, dynamic environments where the physical, mental and emotional demands are enormous.

THE T.E.D. COMPASS

By Ryan Provencher, TACFIT Firefighter Division Chief

The stats tell the story. From 2004 to 2009, the annual injury incidence rate averaged 17.7 per 100 employees. Ten years later, an estimated 60,825 firefighter injuries occurred in the line of duty in 2019. Onethird of all injuries (32.9 percent) resulted from physical activities.

When you look at these numbers, you might feel that getting injured at some point is just part of the job and ultimately unavoidable. The good news is there is a tool that can help you perform at a high level while greatly reducing the risk of injury during exercise, firefighter training and emergency response. And if injury is absolutely unavoidable, this same tool will help you to optimize your recovery.

Taking a more intentional and mindful approach to fitness and firefighting will help you to “Be Response Ready” when the bell rings.

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INTUITIVE TRAINING PRINCIPLES

Intuitive Training is the ability to evaluate variables that may contribute to both performance outcome and injury prevention and help you to train accordingly. The “TED Compass” is a tool used in the TACFIT System to incorporate Intuitive Training principles into workouts, firefighter training and emergency responses. The goal is to learn to target your intensity level precisely without diminishing technique required for optimal performance and health or exceeding discomfort levels that may be a warning that injury is imminent. This tool is used in recruit academies specifically to help recruits optimize their performance on the drill ground while eliminating exercise-related injuries.

The three Intuitive Training Principles in the TED Compass are:

no.1 TECHNIQUE:

no.2 EFFORT:

no.3 DISCOMFORT:

Your evaluation of proper biomechanics for each movement on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best possible form in that exercise.

Your evaluation of how much stress you are experiencing and/or resisting on a scale of 1 -10 with 10 being the hardest you’ve ever worked.

Your evaluation of your pain level on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst pain you’ve ever experienced.

• 1-2 very sloppy form • 3-4 poor form • 5-6 adequate form • 7-8 good form • 9-10 extremely good form - optimal

• 1-2 very easy • 3-4 somewhat easy • 5-6 hard • 7-8 very difficult • 9-10 extremely difficult

• 1-2 no discomfort - optimal • 3-4 mild discomfort • 5-6 uncomfortable • 7-8 very uncomfortable • 9-10 extremely painful

If your technique falls below 8/10, slow down the tempo of your movement, reduce the load, change the movement, or stop and quickly recover so that you can continue working without allowing your body to be in non-optimal position. Do not “power through” poor technique.

Be mindful of your effort and make adjustments in your movement if you exceed the effort that you had planned for the day. Heart rate monitoring and establishing target heart rate zones will also help you to stay on target while getting a sense of how your body feels at specific percentages of heart rate maximum.

If your discomfort is above 3-4, slow down the tempo of your movement, reduce the load, change the movement, or stop and quickly recover so that you may continue working without getting hurt. Do not “power through” specific discomfort.

HIGH

e x e rt

disc

ion

LOW

HIGH

o m fo rt

OVERUSE LOW

FLOW LOW

HIGH

DISUSE LOW

MISUSE HIGH

technique

LOW

Each workout session is an opportunity to apply these Intuitive Training principles. You’ll find that with experience, it will be easier to feel technique, effort, and discomfort without having to think about it. Be mindful in applying these principles in firefighter training and emergency response as well. Make note of how your body feels and how your performance improves as you work towards mastery. Think about the race car driver who lets off the gas just enough to make the turn without crashing.

The TED Compass has been used with great success with individual firefighters, groups of firefighters on shift, and in the recruit academy setting. I’m confident that mindful application of these Intuitive Training principles will lead to higher performance with reduced risk of injury for you personally, and, if they are applied on a broader scale, for your fire department.

THIS IS ON E MORE TOOL I N T H E T O O L B O X T H AT W I L L H E L P YO U TO B E R E S P O N S E R E A DY .

FITNESS

Using the TED Compass In order to make this tool work for you, you’ll first need to learn how to use it. It takes a bit of diligence in the beginning, but by keeping a record of your training, and rating these three variables, you’ll better understand your body and how to calibrate your performance. You’ll learn how to make subtle adjustments in your movement to manage the physical challenges you’re experiencing. This will require specific mindfulness and intention.

The skill of rating your performance becomes more finely honed each time, until eventually you’ll barely have to think about it. The rigors of firefighting will push you to your limits, and it’s critical that you have the ability to manage the stress imposed in any situation. We have developed a workout to help you practise your Intuitive Training with the TED Compass:

T RAI NI NG PROTOCOL • The (20/10 x 8) x 4 Training Protocol taps into Anaerobic Energy Systems (ATP-CP/Glycolytic) • Considered burst-recover-burst metabolic conditioning • The objective is to maximize recovery in the shortest time possible before resuming intense work

T RAI NI NG EXE RC ISES • Exercise 1: Kettlebell Press One Arm (alternate each set) • Exercise 2: Front Lunge • Exercise 3: Kettlebell Sumo Squat Row (alternate each set) • Exercise 4: Bodyweight Squat

WOR KOU T I NST RUCT IONS • Complete a dynamic warm-up • Perform eight sets in a row for each exercise, 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rapid recovery • Recover for one minute between exercises • Be mindful of exercise technique, effort, and discomfort as you perform each repetition

SCOR I NG • Write down your reps for each exercise set • Record Heart Rate, Rating of Perceived Technique (RPT), Rating of Perceived Effort (RPE), and Rating of Perceived Discomfort (RPD) and Lowest Reps for the exercise during the one-minute recovery between exercises • Record sum of Low Reps for each exercise • Record Average Heart Rate, RPT, RPE and RPD, for the workout when you have completed all four exercises • Complete a comprehensive cool-down

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HEALTH

Intermittent

fasting

WH Y S H I F T I N G YOU R DIETARY HABITS CAN WORK FOR FI R E FI G H T E RS & OT H E R FI RST R E S PO N DE RS

By Ben Tanner - Emergency Medicine PA-C

It’s no surprise that stressful jobs such as firefighting are associated with a high risk of heart disease and other chronic health conditions. Intermittent fasting – the practice of restricting eating to limited hours – can be helpful, since it tends to lower the risk of diabetes and other heart-related risk factors. But how exactly can you put intermittent fasting into practice?

Try these tips to get a smooth start, and turn it into a sustainable lifestyle.

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Start slowly – make it easy

Gradually reduce processed foods

Like most things, intermittent fasting is easier and more sustainable if you start gradually. Don't think of it like a New Year's resolution, which most people quit after a week, but consider it a new lifestyle that you want to adopt gradually, so you can stick with it for the long haul.

You don’t have to eat a low-carb diet in order to fast but if you do, it will make intermittent fasting easier. If you start by reducing carb intake, you’ll get some of the carb “withdrawals” out of the way. Maybe you can do a little of both, at the same time.

Start your fasting slowly by delaying your first meal of the day a little bit, or eat your last meal of the day somewhat earlier. For example, if you normally have breakfast at 8 a.m., try eating it at 8:30 - or skip it altogether one day a week. There are various ways to go about this, but the overall point is to start slowly and see if you can stick with a simple, easy change for at least a few weeks. Soon you'll have a new habit that you can build on gradually.

One simple step is to cut out foods that are really high in processed sugar and other processed carbohydrates. This would include things like sweets, white bread, potato products, soda and juice. Replace them with whole, unprocessed foods such as nuts, cheese, vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. This gives you a huge number of options! Not only will this dietary adjustment start to make fasting easier, but cutting out processed foods will also lower your risk of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses. Now that’s a win-win!

You’ll probably experience some withdrawal symptoms and have crazy cravings now and then as you reduce your processed carb intake. So start gradually, and make it easy on yourself.

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TO P T I PS 1. Get your ketones up in advance

(Note: When the body does not have enough glucose for energy, it burns stored fats instead. This results in a buildup of acids called ketones within the body.)

2. Stay hydrated 3. Consume some extra salt

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Eat satisfying meals before and during your shifts

If you work swing or night shift, try TO not eat afterwards

Eventually, consider trying longer fasts

Sometimes, right before my ER shifts, I’ll eat a really big meal full of protein and healthy fats.When I do, I’m not hungry again for many hours and I can go the whole 10 hour shift without getting hungry.

That makes it pretty easy for me to do some intermittent fasting while I work in the ER. Even if you don't take it quite as far as I do, eating a really satisfying meal before your shift will probably enable you to wait several hours before eating again, without experiencing hunger.

Shift work comes with a higher risk of various chronic illnesses because anything that disrupts your circadian rhythm (physical and mental patterns during a 24 hour period) can cause your body to stop functioning normally. That only gets worse if you go out and eat junk food when your shift is over. After hours, some nurses I work with in the ER regularly go out for a breakfast of processed junk food including pancakes, juice, hash browns and sweets. They’d be far better off to go home and sleep after their shift is over, because eating that kind of food actually makes it harder to get good quality sleep.

As a general rule, on work days I eat two main meals instead of three – one right before work and the other near the midpoint of my shift. I keep the timing flexible in case something comes up. That approach makes it pretty easy to practice intermittent fasting on work days.

If you eat a satisfying meal in the middle of your shift, you won't be hungry when your shift is over, and going home to sleep will be an easier decision.

Your health status may indicate the need for medical tests before you try any longer fasts to give you a better idea of how to handle your electrolytes and related issues.

You don't need to do it right away, but you should consider the additional health benefits you’ll enjoy by doing longer fasts. Fasts of 24 hours or more, for example, are even more effective than short-term daily fasting for lowering your risk of diabetes and other chronic medical conditions.

Once you've worked up to it and have some experience, you may even be able to fast through your entire shift. I’ve done so quite a few times in the ER. Don’t get me wrong - you don’t need to go out and fast through your work shift right away, or ever. But once you have a few months of experience of intermittent fasting, you may feel you want to try it. You may even want to try a 24-hour fast on a day when you're not working, and that's totally fine as well.

FI N A L T H OU G H TS asting offers a number of benefits and can help mitigate the health risks associated with shift work and stressful jobs in F general. Any type of fasting can seem daunting at first, so the best approach is to start slowly. Make it easy on yourself at the beginning so you can slowly gain experience and develop a sustainable habit. Gradually build on your successes by doing a little bit more fasting as time goes on.

Cutting out processed foods will not only make fasting easier, but will also benefit your overall health. asting at work is often easier than at home. You’ll forget about food and before you know it, the shift will be over. But F whether you do it at home or at work, fasting can be a great tool to improve your chances of living a long and fulfilling life.

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LIFESTYLE

FIREFIGHTER, UFC FIGHTER & FAMILY MAN STIPE MIOCIC

By Leah Sobon

WE LIVE IN A TIME WHEN FEW PEOPLE ARE TIED TO A SINGLE JOB – BUT THERE’S NO ONE WHO MAKES THE MULTIPROFESSIONAL WORLD MORE EXCITING THAN SIX-TIME FORMER UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION STIPE MIOCIC.

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ALL PHOTOGRAPHY OF STIPE MIOCIC TAKEN AT VALLEY VIEW FIREHALL

BY BENJAMIN MEYER

Widely recognized as the alltime best heavyweight fighter in the UFC, this giant of the octagon also has a whole host of other skills he’s learned at the firehall. Be it fires, CPRS, or inserting an IV, Miocic is full of surprises and has stories to share, just like every other first responder.

So how does a high profile fighter in the UFC also manage to work for a bustling Cleveland fire department?

Ask Miocic and he’ll tell you that it’s all about what draws men and women to the fire service in the first place. “I love helping people. I remember being helped as a kid and I just want to give back. I love the unity and camaraderie.

It’s great.”

When it comes to passions and getting into firefighting and the UFC in the first place, Miocic

speaks candidly about the helper mentality and explains that it was middle school wrestling that ultimately kicked off his life. “I trained at the gym and had my first fight while I was in the fire academy. I did the course for 10 weeks, three days a week, so I could still work and make money at the same time.

I won the fight but when I went for my second fight, the guy cancelled. So, I went to study in paramedic school!”

T IM E M ANAGEM E NT IS A DELICAT E BALANC E F O R M IOCIC AN D HE VA L U E S T HE HOURS SPENT AT T H E FIREHALL AS MUC H A S T H E T IM E HE SPENDS T R A INING FOR T HE OCTAGON. He strongly believes in the value of tackling one task and one challenge at a time,

knowing things will always work themselves out. Miocic and his wife Ryan take on only what they can balance, which is now more important than ever as they welcomed their second child, son Mateo, into the family this past summer.

For Miocic, fire hall life is important, even though his team mates there do their best to remind him just how normal he is. He doesn’t struggle with ego; in fact, he’s as humble and down to earth as they come. “The guys at work don’t talk with me about fighting. They support me and watch the fights, but when we’re there, we talk about work.

It’s a breath of fresh air.”

When Miocic was working for Oakland Village, another fire service, he received some valuable advice from his then-chief about scheduling.

The chief, who saw Miocic’s dedication to the fire service, but was also aware of his successes in the octagon, told him to take some time away from work to make a name for himself in the UFC – which he has done with great success. While that kind of support might seem rare, those around Miocic have always respected and valued his devotion to both firefighting and fighting, with neither being a threat to the other.

Miocic enjoys firefighting as much as paramedicine; however, the greater number of medical calls over fire calls results in his spending a lot of his time on patient care. He’s had some close calls at work with violent patients who got away with a free punch or two. Despite his strength and ability, he understands that when he is in uniform, he is the consummate professional.

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When it comes to dealing with the dynamics and difficulties of the job, Miocic relies on the same coping mechanisms as every other first responder in the world. Dark humor is key and he strongly believes in the value of being able to laugh with a patient or make them laugh at his own expense. “When you get back from a call, joking in a dark way helps get it out. I love helping people with humor and making them laugh.”

At 6’5” and 250 lbs, this is a guy who has little to prove when it comes to handling himself in the octagon. But when it comes to training and rank at the firehall, he is just like everyone

else. Well, maybe he’s a bit more intimidating, given his official UFC fight record of 20 wins (14 of those ending in a TKO/KO) and just four losses. His long-term goals in firefighting are always on his mind, but he isn’t ready to settle in full time yet.

“ I’ M G E T T ING T H E R E BUT I ’M H AV ING F U N A ND F E E LI N G G R E AT. I’ M F E E L ING BETTER T H A N I E V E R H AV E . I’M N OT G O ING TO G IV E IT U P.” The three-month training camps for his UFC fights are no joke, and a heavy week of training is often capped off with a weekend of work at the firehall.

I LOVE HELPING PEOPLE. I REMEMBER BEING HELPED AS A KID AND I JUST WANT TO GIVE BACK. I LOVE THE UNITY AND CAMARADERIE. IT’S GREAT.” While some might assume that working as a firefighter and paramedic is stressful, it’s just what the doctor ordered when it comes to creating a balance. “I’ve been doing this for a long time and there are days when I'm sore. But that’s why weekends are so nice. A lot of guys don't like to work weekends. I work roughly 60 hours a month, in four to five shifts, alongside the camp, and sometimes I’ll pick up a shift during the week if I have to, but I always make it work out. I love the firefighting side,

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and I will definitely want to go full-time one day. If God forbid something happens to me, my children and wife will be taken care of.”

If you’re curious as to what a typical three month training camp in the UFC looks like,

IM AGINE GET T ING INTO THE BEST SHAPE POSSIBLE FOR A FIGHT THAT HAS THE POT EN T IAL TO MAKE O R BREAK YOUR CAREER.

Strength and conditioning are high on the list of training priorities, but strategy and research are other important factors that contribute to this incredibly intense training regime. Every fighter hopes to come away from the camp experience with a win in the octagon.

It comes as no surprise that Miocic has great advice for those hoping to balance a schedule as full and busy as his. He says he takes life one step at a time and knows

that one day he will be ready to slow things down.

Until then, Stipe Miocic is laser-focused on the things about life that bring him happiness: his family, his firehall life, and of course, battling it out as the best heavyweight fighter in the UFC.

WHEN YOU GET BACK FROM A CALL, JOKING IN A DARK WAY HELPS GET IT OUT. I LOVE HELPING PEOPLE WITH HUMOR AND MAKING THEM LAUGH.

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REAL LIFE

A CRASH IN THE ARCTIC

By Adam Steenburg

IT WAS 9:40 A.M. ON AUGUST 20, 2011 WHEN CANADIAN CARRIER FIRST AIR FLIGHT 6560 LEFT THE ARCTIC CITY OF YELLOWKNIFE, HEADED FOR RESOLUTE BAY, A HAMLET SOME 970 MILES NORTH. ON BOARD WERE 11 PASSENGERS, FOUR CREW MEMBERS AND FREIGHT. IT WAS AN UNEVENTFUL FLIGHT UNTIL THE BOEING 737-200 BEGAN ITS DESCENT INTO RESOLUTE BAY.

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Disaster struck. As the plane descended, something went terribly wrong and the aircraft slammed into a hill blanketed in clouds.

military exercise to test their capabilities to respond to a catastrophic event. One of those rescuers recalled that day for CRACKYL readers.

When Flight 6560 collided with the hillside, about a half-mile from the runway, it broke into three main sections. An intense post-crash fire consumed most of the center section. Both pilots, two flight attendants and eight of the 11 passengers were killed on impact.

“It was during a deployment to the Arctic – Resolute Bay in Nunavut Territory. We were there on an exercise as part of OpNanook. The exercise consisted of different agencies including the Canadian coast guard, air force, army, navy, Parks Canada, local governments and I believe even the Danish navy was involved.

“The Resolute Bay area is, by definition, an arctic desert landscape: very rocky, mountainous, and pretty dry during the summer months.

We were there in August so we could take advantage of the 24hour daylight – in the winter months, the landscape changes completely and it would have been too dark to operate safely.

Although the 24 hour daylight took its toll on some of the guys’ mental health, we carried on.

The purpose of the deployment was to test our capabilities to respond to a

"There are civilian scientists who study northern issues such as climate change and

In an astonishing coincidence, Canadian Forces members were temporarily stationed at Resolute as part of the 2011 Operation Nanook

catastrophic event – in this case, it was an air disaster.

DISASTER STRUCK. AS THE PLANE DESCENDED, SOMETHING WENT TERRIBLY WRONG AND THE AIRCRAFT SLAMMED INTO A HILL BLANKETED IN CLOUDS.

live in government-funded facilities in Nunavut. And there are local Inuit who live there…maybe 200 in this tiny village. Because they are separated from the mainland, they have to order their food supplies ahead of the winter and these are usually brought in by plane or boat. There is an airfield that was built back in WWII but later abandoned (in the 50’s I believe), so now the Department of National Defense uses it to fly aircraft in and out and civilian charters use it transport people to and from the mainland, and to bring in groceries, etc.

air force fire department was there with us, and the sirens on their trucks were used as our warning system for an emergency in or around the camp. I was in my tent getting ready for the day when I heard those sirens and horns. Lots of horns.

“The weather can turn on a dime! The sun is out at one moment, but ten minutes later, the fog rolls in off the ocean and you can’t see 100 feet in front of you. It’s crazy. But very cool at the same time.

“SOM ET HIN G WAS O N T H AT ROCK FACE AND IT WA S SMOKIN G. AND YO U JU ST KNEW: T HIS IS BA D. JU ST TALKING ABOUT I T, I ST IL L GET BUT T ERFLIES.

“On the day of the crash, I’ll never forget the sirens. The

“As we got closer, we could see that a civilian aircraft

“A bunch of us emerged from our tents and headed to our muster area to get our orders.

You could see something was going on in the rock face about a mile east of the air field.

There was a Griffon helicopter heading out that way along with some Canadian Rangers.

had slammed into the side of the rock face and debris was strewn across what looked like a few hundred feet.

“We didn’t know how many people had been on board, who they were, or what was on the plane – but it was our task to go and find out. We had to look for survivors. Before we even reached the crash site, word came down that this was a recovery mission.

“There had been 15 souls on that plane. One little girl survived and I know she was alive when we packaged her…. and an adult female who I believe died of her injuries later.

To this day I don’t know what happened to that little girl.

“There was food in the cargo bay on board that plane so we needed to have 24-hour sentries to keep the polar bears away since, by law, only Rangers are authorized to put

down a polar bear. Horribly, the bears were getting too close to the wreckage where the bodies were being kept in place for the investigation.

“The worst irony was that we were supposed to be training for an event just like this but of course we had no idea something would happen while we were there. How could we have known? I don’t know the outcome of the investigation, but I believe it was pilot error in that intense fog.”

Note: A subsequent investigation showed that the cause of the crash of First Air Flight 6560 may have involved several factors, including an inadvertent partial disengagement of the autopilot as the plane prepared to land, poor communication between flight crew, and a drift in the aircraft compass system. It was a tragic combination of problems that led to the crash, and a dramatic introduction to northern rescue for the members of OpNanook.

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RELATIONSHIPS

r e t o h t g i f d e e i r i r r F a a M P L A N ON NOT PLANNI NG

By Kimbra Baker

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H IS W EE K ’S BEEN A ST RANGE ON E FOR O U R FA M ILY. THERE’S A LOT TO JUGGLE. I WORK FULL-TIME, MY HUS BAND IS ON CALL TO GO FIGHT WILD F IR E S AS WELL AS WORK HIS REGULAR SHIFTS, AND W E H AVE TWO KIDS WHO ARE HIGHLY EN GAG E D IN S PORTS , F R IEN DS, AN D ACT IVIT IES.

Take this past summer. Typically, summertime beckons with a multitude of open weeks during which we can be flexible with plans, days filled with opportunity, and a whole lot of activities we don’t normally have time for. In my mind, I had visions of family excursions and outings to the mountains and the lakes, exploring and learning new hobbies during our downtime as we enjoyed the nice weather.

But the reality was more chaotic than anticipated, and the plans that I had to master mountain biking or enjoy paddle boarding every sunny day were squelched by the commitment that we made as a family to serve our community. We had to say no to our loved ones more than we were able to say yes. We had to tell friends we couldn’t make a birthday party. I had to tell my mom we couldn’t have her when she wanted to fly out to see us. We had to scale down the level of commitment we wanted to make to the people we care about, because we needed to dial it back and care for our family first.

F I RS T R ES POND ERS LIVE IN T HE U NE X PE CTE D , T HE UN KNOWN , AND TH E IMMEDIACY OF T HE NOW. As spouses and family members, we support our communities by slowing down and allowing breathing room to be a family in a culture that is hard-wired to be filled with commitments.

We’ve often heard it said that one yes is worth a hundred nos and that’s really

a loaded statement. We are a society hard-wired on FOMO, YOLO and the ever-increasing pace of a 24/7/365 world – and there’s so much to love! We have our friends and family, and endless invitations to upcoming events through our social media and local connections.

Before we know it, our seven-day week is overbooked with activities – dinners, practices, meetings, fantasy team drafts, and a schedule that never seems to stop.

This is true even for those who work in industries with built-in flexibility and rhythm.

IT ’S HA R D TO R E L AT E TO A FIRST- R E SP O ND E R ’ S FA M ILY. We don’t live life on a schedule with the routines and rhythms that a typical software engineer or accountant might enjoy. It’s important to remember that our families are uniquely formed to serve when the unexpected arises, which means that we aren’t always able to commit to the everyday norms of those working a 9-to-5 job. And, that’s okay. I wrestled with this truth for a long time, living in a region filled with people who work flexible schedules and partners who make enough money for one of them to afford to stay home.

Committing to the yes that works for your family is key to creating thriving, successful homes that foster healthy boundaries. The yes will come for us all at some point, but we can’t say yes to everything. We simply don’t know when the next late night or early morning will be. We don’t know when we’ll be single

parenting for chunks of time while our spouses are off serving others. The mental capacity it takes to manage the unexpected is exponentially larger than if we were working a Monday-to-Friday normal schedule.

Committing to the yes means saying no to others who may not understand the nature of the beast that is firefighting.

And that’s okay. It’s okay if people don’t truly understand the reality that we live day-by-day in the world of uncertainty.

Each shift brings a different set of social, emotional and physiological challenges that our spouses or loved ones need to handle before they are able to go out and be normal people again. Regardless of understanding or offence, it’s important to make prioritizing commitments and saying no to over-committing (even if it is to a family member) a part of daily life.

Sometimes our people need to sleep.

Sometimes they just need some downtime to decompress with their kids or friends. Sometimes they need to reschedule plans and get outside for some fresh air after a rough night. All of these alternatives are reasonable in the line of work that they are called to.

While our culture tells us that tradition requires a commitment to certain norms, fire families can stand firm in the knowledge that balancing service to our communities and caring for our families looks a bit different.

IT M AY NOT B E “ NO R M A L.” B U T IT ’ S O U R K IND O F N ORM A L.

KIMBRA BAKER IS AN ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATOR AND WIFE OF A FIRST RESPONDER IN THE SEATTLE AREA.

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HEALTH

High Mileage Man

The

AGE IS A FACT, GETTING OLD IS A CHOICE.

By Alice Johnston

IT ’ S SA ID T H AT T H E T R IC K TO A G ING G R A C E F U L LY IS TO SIM P LY E NJOY IT. B U T SIN C E WH E N C O U L D WE IG H T G A IN , BA L D ING , A L OW SE X D R IV E A ND P E R P E T UA L E X H A U ST I ON E V E R B E D E SC R IB E D A S E NJOYA B L E ?

Are you aging gracefully or are you the guy who always said he’d worry about it later?

Without the help of a time machine, it’s our job to make sure that we understand our bodies and take the best possible care of ourselves when it counts the most.

No one wants to spend their retirement in the gym working off 45 years of “I’ll get to it later.”

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HEART

Your ticker beats approximately three billion times in an average lifetime. We can either make our hearts work hard or not – both routes being hugely dependent on healthy lifestyle decisions and genetics. Many of us are unlucky in the genetic category, so we need to make sure we take good care of our single most important organ.

Blood pressure: You can blame genetics, but you can also point the finger at your last burger and fries and your daily indulgence in sweets.

Foods high in fat and sugar often contain high amounts of sodium (aka salt). A high salt intake tells the body to retain fluids (water) which then increases your body's overall fluid volume and ultimately, your blood pressure. It’s important to note that blood pressure changes happen progressively over time. Diet can be considered a significant contributor to the problem, as can the presence or absence of exercise, as well as co-morbidities – the simultaneous presence of two or more conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

How quickly do we feel winded? Do we have decreased cardiovascular endurance, early exercise fatigue or – worst case scenario – chest pain and shortness of breath? Take care of your heart at every stage of life, not just when a cardiologist tells you to.

AL CO H OL ABUSE IS T HE L EADING CAUSE OF LIVER DIS E AS E IN NORT H AMERICA Why should you care about your liver? Technically, you shouldn’t have to, unless you abuse it with drugs, high fat foods, and alcohol.

Ever wondered what your liver actually does?

It is a high-functioning filtration system that is also responsible for the creation of bile. Not only that, but the liver is also responsible for the conversion of glucose into glycogen (and the reverse), which ultimately produces energy for cellular use. Did you know that your liver is bigger than your brain, consists of almost 96 percent water, weighs approximately three pounds, and, in the event of damage, can regenerate by dividing cells to regrow itself?

We get on the wrong path when we assume that our lifestyle habits have no effect on our organs.

After all, we only indulge occasionally! But alcohol abuse is the leading cause of liver disease in North America and that nugget of information might leave you wondering how much is too much.

Chronic alcohol abuse can lead to liver damage which ultimately results in unpleasant side effects such as yellowing of skin, enlarged liver, ascites, weakness, fatigue and weight loss. Alcohol is toxic to liver cells, but if it were completely deadly, few of us would be alive. Your liver is your ally and should be treated just as well as your heart. The key to liver health lies in moderation and making other healthy living choices.

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SEX DRIVE

Your partner was convinced you would always be a stud, but there have been signs that your sex drive might not be living up to its reputation. We aren’t 20 years old forever. Few males take such problems lightly and even fewer feel comfortable booking an appointment to talk to their MD about sexual dysfunction concerns.

Experts suggest almost one third of North American men suffer from erectile dysfunction. Given that the North American male population is approximately 11.2 million, that means that you and 3.7 million other males are potentially suffering from similar problems.

Is low sex drive your biggest concern? Lowered testosterone levels might be contributing to a decreased sex drive. Other contributors such as depression, high levels of stress, and prescription medications can also be the culprit.

Once you get the all clear that it’s not you (well, the physiological you) resources such as intimacy coaches or sex therapists might come in handy, and would be a great way to get your partner involved.

ALMOST O NE T H IR D O F NORT H A M E R IC A N M E N SUFFER F R O M E R E C T IL E DYSFUN C T IO N

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PROSTATE No “dropping the soap” jokes here. This walnutsized gland, located through an unpleasant clinical procedure that involves a sterile glove and a forceful cough, has important functions that should be checked regularly once you hit that age mile marker. Like a backup singer in the big band of the male reproductive system, your prostate gland produces prostate fluid, one of the components of semen. The gland becomes a problem only when irritating signs and symptoms arise. Painful or frequent “dribbly” urination can be signs of an enlarged prostate – not your pea-sized bladder that you continue to blame for all your new urinary symptoms.

Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in males and thankfully, if caught early, one of the most treatable. Regular checks with your MD will help to set your mind at ease that your prostate is in good working order. If you do discover that you have an enlarged prostate with symptoms that make your day-to-day life difficult, there is an array of treatments/ medications available to ease that discomfort.

Don’t let embarrassment about getting checked keep you out of the doctor's office: take courage from all those mustaches in November and go get checked!

PROSTAT E CAN CER IS T HE M OST PREVALENT CANCER IN MALES AN D T HANKFULLY, IF CAUGHT EARLY, ONE OF T HE M OST T REATABLE

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HEALTH

MUSCLES, BONES & JOINTS Sadly, despite our best efforts, physiques change as we age – and often not for the better. Muscle mass begins to atrophy, bones weaken, and joints continue to stiffen. All of these natural phenomena vary and your overall health will be a major contributor.

Experts suggest that men lose 3 to 5 percent of their muscle mass with each decade, which means if you are retiring at 65, you’ve already lost approximately 33 percent. Don’t fret.

Losing muscle mass doesn’t mean that you are incapable of putting it back on.

With the right diet and fitness plan, you could put Arnold in his place (or at least come in a close second). A personal trainer who specializes in dealing with an older crowd might be the answer.

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Joint problems can start as early as childhood and haunt you throughout life, regardless of how much physiotherapy you do or how careful you are about your weight. As we age, joints become stiffer and less flexible, mostly because we aren’t producing as much lubricating fluid and our joint cartilage is thinning.

While it is definitely to your benefit to not be overweight, even those who are within a healthy weight range can have joint problems. If joint pain or arthritis has you down, work with your MD to discuss a pain treatment plan. Then get clearance to work with a personal trainer and nutritionist who can both help you strengthen those joints with physical therapy and suggest a healthy diet rich in nutrients and vitamins that will avoid foods known to cause inflammation and

incorporate others that will support a healthy immune system.

Men have a higher peak bone mass than women, which gives them an advantage in thwarting bone weakening issues such as osteoarthritis. But don’t take your party hat out too early! The avoidance of bone density concerns lasts only til you are around 70, when most of us hope to be well into retirement, traveling, and living the good life. Pain can be a buzzkill so it goes without saying that good life choices pay themselves forward. Eat healthily and exercise early in your life so your golf swing after retirement doesn’t require two Advils and a heating pad.

M E N L O SE 3 TO 5 P E R C E NT O F T H E IR M U SC L E M A SS WIT H E A C H D E C A D E

HAIR, NAILS & SKIN If the topic of male pattern baldness has you heading for your electric shaver, you’re not alone. Also known as androgenetic alopecia, this genetic condition affects approximately 80 million North American men. Resulting in thinning around the crown and the creation of a receding hairline, this genetic condition has many men desperate for a solution that doesn’t involve expensive surgery. We know what balding is, but what causes it? As usual, testosterone comes into play – or rather a byproduct of testosterone that causes a genetic sensitivity.

Most men will experience male pattern baldness in their lifetime, some starting as young as 21. Less aggressive and invasive prevention strategies include quitting smoking, reducing stress, eating a vitamin-rich diet, medications, scalp massages, and laser treatments. Or maybe you should simply embrace the razor and get used to people touching your bald head because it looks so smooth.

As we age, our once-lustrous skin starts to thin and becomes more sensitive to elements that result in dryness and damage, and this is true for the scalp as well. Ever notice your skin flaking or your nails breaking? Our nail matrix (or nail growth plate) ages as we do. Conditions that compromise blood flow, various disease processes, nutritional deficiencies and exposure to chemicals can all affect our nail growth and presentation. Nails have been called the window to overall health – how do yours look?

MOST MEN WILL EXPERIENCE M A L E PAT T E R N B A L D N E S S I N THEIR LIFETIME, SOME STARTING A S E A R LY A S 2 1 Y E A R S - O L D

HORMONES Testosterone levels and the need to have them checked as we age are important topics as we learn about the impact of low T. Influencing everything from our tempers to our sex drive, our hormones play an important role in our aging process and can be the difference between living in denial and finding a solution.

A decrease in this hormone is a natural part of aging – and if it makes you feel any better, you probably reached your peak testosterone back when you were 18 or 19. Information is your ally and if you are concerned about declining muscle mass, low sex drive or a decrease in energy, this hormone might be the culprit. The good news is that a host of different treatments are available, ranging from topical to injectable, so there’s likely a solution for your problem.

A L L Y O U NE E D TO D O IS TA K E T H E T IM E TO INVEST IN YOURSELF!

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How to Talk About

FIRE FIGHTER SUICIDE Because suicide can be misunderstood — and because people who die by suicide are sometimes judged negatively — it can be difficult to talk about the suicide of someone you care about.

PRINCIPLES TO CONSIDER • You have a right to privacy. To talk — or not — about any topic is up to you. You can insist on your preference without needing to explain your choice.

• If you choose not to say that your loved one died by suicide, then others may come to their own conclusions. That’s OK — if you’re all right with it.

• Your loved one’s life is about more than how they died. This will include happy and sad memories, good times and bad — just as with anyone’s life.

• The suffering of a person who dies by suicide is like suffering from any severe illness. You can speak of the person’s suffering from that perspective.

• Talking about the suicide of a loved one with safe, trusted people can be healing. Doing so can help you explore and tell the story of your understanding of what happened.

• Your loved one was a precious human being.

That’s just true, and you don’t have to prove it — and nothing anyone says or does can change it.

EXPLAINING SUICIDE TO OTHERS

• “My loved one died by suicide, which means it could happen to anyone because they were a good, loving, caring person.”

• “What happened to my loved one was terrible, and it shouldn’t happen to anyone. I am going to miss them forever.”

• “Suicide is complex. I didn’t realize their struggles were life-threatening or that they couldn’t tell me that suicide is what might happen to them.”

IF YOU NEED TO SPEAK OUT People may ask prying or inappropriate questions. Consider these responses: • “I think that question is too personal. That’s just not the sort of thing I want to talk about.”

• “These things you’re asking are very upsetting to me. I just need to mourn my loss and not have to answer questions like that.”

• “My family and I are going through a terrible tragedy, and it is very painful for me to talk about what happened.”

• “My loved one died of a mental illness, and that is truly no different than when someone dies of a physical illness.”

These statements illustrate various ways people might explain what happened:

• “I really am not asking for advice: I just need to know that you care about me.”

• “My loved one died by suicide after a courageous struggle with depression. They didn’t see any other way out of their pain.”

• “I don’t want to talk about how my loved one died. I want to talk about how they lived.”

• “I believe my loved one died from PTSD, and it is awful that they could not get the help they needed.”

• “Suicide took my loved one away from me even though they were getting all of the help they could — and I don’t understand how that could be.”

• “My loved one was overcome by emotional pain so severe that they ended their life, and there is nothing about it that I’m ashamed of.”

• “Alcoholism killed my loved one, and I wish they could have gotten sober even in the face of everything that was overwhelming them.”

• I am choosing to think of the positive things about their life and how much I love them, not about how or why this happened.”

• “It’s just too hard for me to talk about any of this right now. Please excuse me.”

WHAT ABOUT SPIRITUAL ISSUES? The death of a loved one by suicide is a powerful and tragic experience that can elicit deep feelings about spiritual matters.

Modern science views suicide as being caused by unbearable psychological pain combined with a person’s mistaken conclusion that killing themselves is the only way to end their suffering.

International Association of Fire Fighters • www.iaff.org

“It’s long past time that we pay attention to fire fighter mental health.”

– IAFF General President Edward A. Kelly

Most modern religions view people who die by suicide no differently than they view people who die from an accident or physical disease.

However, some survivors encounter people, including members of their own faith community, who judge suicide harshly — even as being sinful — and who do not treat survivors with compassion and understanding. This contributes to some survivors struggling with their beliefs or even leaving their faith. It compels others to seek support and healing in a new faith community.

One of the most valuable resources on the topic of suicide and spiritual beliefs is talking to other survivors of suicide loss who have dealt with these issues. Share your spiritual journey with survivors you relate to — and ask them about their search for answers and the conclusions they have reached. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) Healing Conversations Program can connect you with others who have lost a loved one to suicide

IN CRISIS?

Call the Lifeline US: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) Canada: 1-833-456-4566 If you’re unable to function because of your grief, if your grief feels relentless, or if you’re using alcohol or other harmful means to cope with grief, contact a peer supporter, behavioral health professional, employee assistance program or your physician.

For more information, email behavioralhealth@iaff.org

AT T E N T I O N F I R E D E PA R T M E N T S

LET'S GET CRACKYL TO every station WE ARE H E RE TO H E LP FI RE FIGHT E RS I N TH EI R JOU RN EY TO H EALTH AN D WE LLN ESS F ROM TH E FI REHALL TO TH EI R HOMES AN D F ROM TH EI R CREW TO TH EI R FAM I LY. Join our large community of fire departments who are already sharing CRACKYL Magazine with their members – putting invaluable resources in the hands of firefighters.

AS K ABOU T OU R BU LK DI SCOU NTS TO GET EACH OF YOU R STAT IONS S I GN ED U P TODAY! TO LEAR N MOR E, CONTACT I NFO@CRACKYLBUS I N ESSMEDIA .COM

WE WILL NOT ii FORGET 2 0 T H ANNI V E RSARY OF 9/ 1 1

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THE PRE-STAIR CLIMB CEREMONY HONORING THE FIRST RESPONDERS WHO DIED AS A RESULT OF 9/11. THE MOTTO READS: "WE CLIMB BECAUSE THEY CLIMBED." 2021 MARKS THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11.

FINANCES

THE

RULE

72

OF

By Trish Van Sickle LLQP, CSC Financial Coach

As firefighters, we spend much of our time helping others, whether we’re volunteering for local charities, hospitals or food banks, teaching fire safety or risking our lives at an active event or fire. Understanding the rules of fire and fire safety is essential. It’s critical to know how to be proactive in preventing fires, how to react to an active fire, and how to manage the after-effects.

It’s equally critical to have an awareness of other important aspects of your life - like money. We need to understand it, to plan for and manage it and to reassess our strategies, if need be, to gain control of it.

Understanding money and how it works can be confusing and sometimes quite overwhelming. We look around to see what others are doing financially, but don’t want to ask for details. Conversations around money seem to be a “no-go zone” for many of us, and we can only speculate about why.

It may be that as children, we sensed that money was a taboo topic. Or perhaps it’s because we spent so little time learning about money when we were in school. Today, people talk openly about many subjects that once were taboo, but when the subject is personal finance, most of us run or clam up.

So, what do we do? We mimic what we see. Our parents got mortgages, bought vehicles, secured life insurance, purchased retirement plans, and some even set a budget.

They went about their lives, in essence working for their money. Very few people were taught to understand how to get their money to work for them.

I often say to people, “Money isn’t hard. Understanding just a few simple concepts can make a huge difference in your financial future.” In this article, I’d like to share some important concepts and show how you can easily apply them to your life.

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THE RULE OF 72 WHAT IS IT, AND HOW CAN IT WORK FOR YOU?

Famed physicist Albert Einstein once said, “Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.” Now imagine applying that “most powerful force” to your investments! Understanding the rule of 72 can truly be a game changer.

The Rule of 72 is a simple, useful calculation to determine how long an investment will take to double. Simply divide the number 72 by your annual rate of return, and it will provide you the approximate number of years for your investment to double.

THE FIRST $10,000 OPTION A

T H E S ECO N D $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 O PT I O N B

THE THIRD $10,000 OPTION C

The first $10,000 is invested at an average rate of return of 3%. 72 divided by 3 equals 24, which means in 24 years that $10,000 will be $20,000. If we wait another 24 years (for a total 48 years), that original $10,000 will now be $40,000. Not bad turning $10,000 into $40,000 without ever contributing more to it. Or is it?

The second $10,000 is invested at an average rate of return of 6%. 72 divided by 6 equals 12, which means in 12 years that $10,000 will be $20,000. In 24 years it will be $40,000; in 36 years it will be $80,000, and in 48 years it will grow to $160,000. That offers a little more comfort at retirement time, doesn’t it?

The third $10,000 is invested at an average rate of return of 12%. 72 divided by 12 equals 6, which means in 6 years, your $10,000 investment will be $20,000; in 12 years it will be $40,000, and in 18 years it will be $80,000.

Jump ahead to 36 yrs and it will be $640,000, crossing the 48 year finish line as $2,560,000!

Now that would make retirement much more exciting, wouldn’t it?

YOUR MONEY WILL DOUBLE AT A CERTAIN POINT DETERMINED BY DIVIDING 72 BY THE PERCENT OF INTEREST Based on the Rule of 72, a one-time contribution of $10,000 doubles six more times at 12% than at 3%

*This table serves as demonstration of how the Rule of 72 concept works from a mathmatical standpoint. It is not intended to represent an investment. The chart uses constant rates of return, unlike actual investment which will fluctuate in value. It does not include fees or taxes, which would lower performance. It is unlikely that an investment would grow 10% or more on a consistent basis

YEARS

3%

6%

12%

0

$10,000

$10,000

$10,000

6

-

-

$20,000

12

-

$20,000

$40,000

18

-

-

$80,000

24

$20,000

$40,000

$160,000

30

-

-

$320,000

36

-

$80,000

$640,000

42

-

-

$1,280,000

48

$40,000

$160,000

$2,560,000

“COMPOUND INTEREST IS THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE.” ~ ALBERT EINSTEIN

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FINANCES

IT PAYS TO START INVESTING EARLY

Suppose Paul’s parents had deposited $1,000 for him on the day he was born. If he left the account untouched until he turned 65 and it paid a 9% rate of return, that $1,000 would have grown to $339,737—without him ever having to add another penny!

Using a one-time investment of $1,000 with a 9% rate of return:

AMOUNT ACCUMULATED BY AGE 65 I N V E S T E D AT B I R T H

$339,737

I N V E S T E D AT AG E 1 6

$80,972

I N V E S T E D AT AG E 4 0

$9,408

THE POWER OF COMPOUND INTEREST

*The rate values to the left are at age 65 and for illustrative purposes only and do not represent an actual investment. This example uses a constant rate of return. Actual investments will fluctuate in value. The illustration does not include fees and taxes that would lower results.

The 9% rate of return is a nominal interest rate compounded on a monthly basis. Investing entails risk including loss of principle. Units, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original value.

Let’s use the example above of the parents who deposited $1,000 at a hypothetical rate of return of 9% when their child was born. The annual interest would be $90.

And $90 per year, multiplied by 67 years, is $6,030. Yet how did their son’s account balance grow to $406,000 by the time he turned 67? It was thanks to the power of compound interest.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: The first year’s interest on the investment, 9% ($90), was credited to the $1,000 to make $1,090. The next year, $98 was earned on the $1,090. The total in the account was then $1,188. As the account grew each year, the interest payment was calculated based on the total in the account, including all the past interest payments. The compound interest is what helped $1,000 grow to more than $406,000. If you put the power of compound interest at work for you, you will be amazed at how quickly a few hundred dollars can become a thousand.

JUST A LITTLE MORE GROWS EVEN FASTER This chart illustrates the difference between saving $20 versus $100 a month. While saving $80 more a month may be a challenge financially, the increased dollar amount pays off. Just $100 a month compounding at a hypothetical 9% rate totals more than $470,000 after 40 years.

*This is a hypothetical and does not represent an actual investment. Actual investments will fluctuate in value. It does not include fees and taxes which would lower results. Rate of return is a constant 9% nominal rate, compounded monthly. Investing entails risk including loss of principle. Units, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original value.

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M O N T H LY C O N T R I B U T I O N YEARS

$20

$100

10

$3,900

$19,500

20

$13,460

$67,300

30

$36,890

$184,450

40

$94,330

$471,650

THE IMPORTANCE OF RATE OF RETURN

There is another critical key to building financial security that is often overlooked: interest rate (sometimes referred to as the rate of return). The difference of a few percentage points may seem minor, but the impact of the rate of return in combination with time is significant. You might think that if you could earn a 10% rate of return instead of 5%, your money would double. Not so! Remember the “power of compound interest”? That 5% difference will add up to much more over time – and can mean thousands of dollars to you and your family.

Let’s use the example of the parents who invested $1,000 at their child’s birth and consider their one-time $1,000 investment with a 3%, 6% and 9% rate of return. Look what that child's account would have grown to by age 65, given various rates of return.

Using a one-time investment of $1,000 with a 3%, 6% and 9% rate of return:

9% 6% 3%

THE TIME VALUE OF MONEY

$339,700 $48,900 $7,000

*Hypothetical percentage rates and value.

Rate of return is a nominal interest rate compounded on a monthly basis. These results are not indicative of any specific investment and show a constant rate of return, where an actual investment will fluctuate in value. It does not include fees and taxes, which would lower results.

Investing entails risk including loss of principal. Units, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original value.

It cannot be stressed enough: the sooner you start to save, the less you will need to put away. Look at how opening a retirement investment account today can help you secure a comfortable retirement.

Think about this. If Individual A starts saving $5,000 per year at the age of 22 for 8 consecutive years, he or she would contribute a total of $40,000. If no additional contributions were made and invested at a hypothetical average rate of return of 9%, he or she will have accumulated $1,542,700 by age 65.

Now if Individual B starts 8 years later at the age of 30, he or she would have to invest $5,000 per year for every year consecutively for 35 years for a total contribution of $180,000. At a hypothetical average rate of return of 9%, his or her accumulation would be $1,412,450 by the age of 65. Person B will have accumulated $130,250 less then Person A.

If you have not started saving, get started! If you have, check those statements for your rates of return and if possible, bump up your contributions. Lastly, if you’re expecting a child in the near future, get that $1,000 together and ready to invest!

IT CANNOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH:

THE SOONER YOU START TO SAVE, THE LESS YOU WILL NEED TO PUT AWAY.

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THANK YOU, FIRST RESPONDERS. First Responders Children’s Foundation provides college scholarships to children of first responders who have lost a parent in the line of duty while offering grant support to first responder families facing financial hardship.

1strcf.org // @1stRCF

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LIFESTYLE

One firefighter’s battle to heal herself

By Martha Chapman

E

very day, hundreds of patients undergo knee surgery. There’s some pain, some recovery time, and – all being well – the patient goes back to leading a normal life, a scar or two the only souvenir of the event.

BU T K AY L I N M AR S HA L L WAS N’ T S O L U C K Y. In August 2017, the Indianapolis firefighter was injured during a call and told she had “blown out” her knee.

The problem, fairly routine it seemed, could be fixed with one or two surgeries.

“I’ve been an athlete all my life – working out, soccer, basketball, and I even made the Junior Olympics in power tumbling at age 10 – so I’ve been hurt a hundred times.

Normally I’m super cool with pain,” she recalls today. “But that first surgery knocked me down hard.”

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PHOTO CREDIT: INDIANAPOLIS FIRE DEPARTMENT

Self-pity doesn’t seem to be part of Marshall’s make-up. Yet what she has endured during the years since that surgery would bring tears to the eyes of even the toughest athlete.

Within two weeks of the surgery she was experiencing extreme pain that no medication could ease. Perplexed, her doctors concluded she had complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and there was nothing they could do for her.

And so Marshall’s journey to become pain-free began, with her acting as captain, co-pilot and navigator, as it seemed she had to be in control of her fate.

“Of course, the first thing I did was Google CRPS. I was shocked to see it described as ‘the suicide syndrome.’ I went into a deep dive, I couldn’t sleep to the point where I was suffering from severe depression, nausea and chronic sleep deprivation which in turn brought on hallucinations.” Marshall visited doctor after doctor and was prescribed medication after medication. “None of it helped even a little bit. I was wondering where my life was headed.

“Finally it was decided that a spinal cord stimulator would help, and one was implanted, but even that didn’t work and actually caused huge edema spots in my back. Nothing, but nothing, would go my way.”

Desperately wanting her life back, Marshall’s ceaseless pain continued and even six visits a week to various medical

COURTNEY REED AND KAYLIN MARSHALL TIE THE KNOT, OCTOBER 3, 2020 PHOTO CREDIT: ABBEY ELAINE PHOTOGRAPHY

professionals didn’t make a dent.

At one point, she begged the doctors to cut her leg off.

“Finally, in June of 2018, my wife and I decided to just take a break and went to Washington, D.C. to visit friends. For some reason, that break in routine gave me a fresh mindset and I decided to start training myself to work through the pain. We built a full gym in our garage and the training started to help.”

But not without more sacrifices.

“I tried a new procedure – day surgery to freeze the nerves in the leg. I was on five different pain meds and valium and still I never slept.”

At one point, she begged the doctors to cut her leg off.

But slowly, slowly the selfimposed training schedule started to work. Marshall had decided that no matter how hard the struggle, she had to get her life back. “I decided nobody else could do it for me.” Nine months later, she celebrated when she could at last crawl on one knee.

She cannot say enough about her wife Courtney Reed, currently a probationary firefighter with the Indianapolis Fire Department.

“Courtney never let me give up on myself, and more importantly, she never gave up on me. She had more than the weight of the

world on her shoulders every single day, between her career, the house, our dogs and me. I was helpless a lot of the time, and I was not easy to deal with.

But she loved me through it every single day, even when I couldn’t love myself.”

She also speaks with gratitude of a number of people who helped her through what must have seemed an endless battle, including Chief Ernest V. Malone of the Indianapolis Fire Department, her physical therapist Matt Thomas and Doctors Klootwyk and Swofford.

Marshall has been back at work two years now, riding the back step, and while still dealing with a sympathetic nerve issue, is proud that she was able to take her life back.

She works out five or six days a week for 60 to 90 minutes, concentrating on strength and circuit-like training.

Clearly emotional as she describes what CRPS has cost her, Marshall says the one message she’d like to share with others who are dealing with daily pain is that: “Today’s not final. The way you feel today is not final.”

And she adds: “I will never not have CRPS, but this is me not letting what I have define me.

This is acceptance.

TH I S I S M Y L I F E , M Y S TO RY, AND I ’ M G O I NG TO F I ND A WAY TO BE M E AG AI N, O NLY BE T TE R .”

What is CRPS? According to the Mayo Clinic, complex regional pain syndrome is a form of complex pain that usually affects an arm or a leg and develops after an injury, surgery or heart attack. It’s rare and the cause isn’t clearly understood, but the pain is out of proportion with the severity of the initial injury.

Symptoms vary from patient to patient but can include continuous pain in the limb; sensitivity to touch or cold; swelling; stiffness; spasms, tremors, weakness and atrophy; and decreased ability to move the affected part.

CRPS may also spread from its source to, for example, the opposite limb.

In some people, the symptoms may go away on their own; in others they can persist for years.

The Clinic recommends that if you experience constant, severe pain that affects a limb and makes touching or moving that limb seem intolerable, see your doctor immediately. Early treatment is important.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR THEME PARK HOLIDAY

ALL ABOUT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT

By Greg Gordonson

Didn’t do a big theme park holiday with the kids last year? Neither did we…and neither did anyone else! We’ll bet the pent-up eagerness to ride a roller coaster, shake hands with a giant mascot and fill your face with some good old-fashioned junk-foodyou-promise-not-to-eat-any-other-time is pretty overwhelming by now.

Guess what? We’re here to help! We thought Florida’s Universal Orlando Studios was a great candidate for a return to the theme park holiday world so we reached out for their best tips and tricks to get the most out of your holiday.

CO U N T O N T H E C H AT B O T & T H E I N T E R AC T I V E M A P

S TA R T BY G O I N G D I G I TA L While you can certainly leave your cell phone in your hotel room and do the park old-school style, why not make life a whole lot easier? Instead, download the Universal app and take the easy approach.

Buy your tickets on the app and they’ll be on your phone when you need them.

Save the hassle of printing and then wondering where you put them!

R U B S H O U L D E R S W I T H YO U R H E R O E S A N D C AT C H A L L T H E B E S T S H OWS If photo ops and meet-and-greets with fave Universal characters tops the list of things-yourkids-want-to-do, the app will show you when and where the stars will be appearing. While you’re at it, check out the start time for the best shows so you can be sure of a front row seat.

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If you get lost, no worries. If you can’t spot one of the many roving Guest Services Team Members, there’s an in-app Chatbot who’s just dying to answer all your questions in real time. There’s also an interactive map with a detailed layout of all three parks that you can sort by ride names, types of rides, shows, dining, shopping, wait times, and restroom locations. You can also find ride height restrictions, and even dietary options — very handy!

DO N ’ T B R EA K T H E BAN K It’s very easy to lose track of your budget once you and the kids are dazzled by the park, so take advantage of the individual spending limits you can set on the Universal app for every member of the family. The kids will feel they have the autonomy they want and you’ll be sure no one’s breaking the bank. Make it clear that the spending amount is to cover whatever treats they choose – but there won’t be any top-ups. If your child chooses to blow it all on one huge stuffed toy, that’s it.

They won’t be able to buy anything else. By stressing that at the beginning of the day, you’ll encourage some forethought – and that’s never a bad thing!

S TAY AT A U N I V E R SA L H O T E L Not only will you be able to slip back to the pool for a cool -off mid-day, but you’ll also be entitled to early admission to the park, while the weather will be at its coolest.

T RY S O M E I N D O O R R I D E S Yes, the giant roller coasters are fun, but they’re in exposed locations and in the heat of the day, you might just want to try out some of the indoor rides such as “Revenge of the Mummy” or “Skull Island: Reign of King Kong” to get out of the sun for a bit. When it’s time to eat, find an indoor venue so you can cool off.

W H AT S H O U L D YO U B R I N G ?

Be sure to pack a change of clothes, hats, a bathing suit and towel for Volcano Bay (the water park) as well as a light jacket for everyone – spills happen and weather can change quickly, so it’s best to come prepared.

Wet, dirty, sticky clothes will make a mess of your tote, so bring a couple of plastic bags to manage them.

Remember sunscreen because it will be more expensive if you have to buy it in the park, and pack plastic water bottles you’ve filled and frozen the night before for everyone. There will be water fountains where you can refill them later and it might reduce the amount of pop that’s consumed over the course of the day.

E AT W H E N YO U ’ R E H U N G RY Set up the app before you arrive in the park so you’ll be ready to order your food in advance to avoid lineups, bored kids and hangry adults. Mobile food and drink ordering is fast, contact-less and designed to work at any food outlet in Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Universal’s Volcano Bay, and Universal CityWalk. Pick your dining location, check out the menu, place your order, pay using the TapTu feature in the app, and let the kitchen know when you arrive at the venue. It’s that easy.

Great tip: Don’t pay for drinks every time. Buy a Coca-Cola Freestyle Souvenir Cup at the beginning of the fun and enjoy free refills instead.

N E V E R S TA N D I N L I N E Forewarned is forearmed. Use the “Wait Time Alert” feature on the app to see how long the line is at a favorite attraction before you walk all the way over to it. Better yet, use the “Virtual Line” feature to reserve your spot so you’ll never have to wait at all!

While strollers are available for rent, you might want to bring your own lightweight one from home. You’ll save money and the familiarity might just convince your little one to nod off at nap time.

Genius tip: Don’t forget to fully charge your phones before arriving and bring a phone charger for every cell owner. You don’t want to be standing around, sharing one cord while everyone tries to recharge.

PLAN AHEAD Whether you’re spending one day or a whole week, the best thing you can do as a family is to talk about and plan the best ways to enjoy your Universal holiday.

Not only will you be ready to make the most of every minute, but you’ll also have the fun of dreaming about your trip for months ahead.

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FI REFIGHTI NG

AN D

ST R E TC H I N G FROM TH IS WOR LD I N TO T H E NEXT

TH E

By Liz Fleming

PaRAN O R MA L Have you ever had an experience you just couldn’t explain?

Perhaps you've walked into an empty room at the firehall and had the inexplicable feeling that you weren’t alone. Maybe the air felt strangely cold.

Did you glimpse a face in the window when you knew no one was there? Have you found equipment in the station that’s been mysteriously moved?

Don’t worry:you’re neither crazy nor alone. Many firefighters experience strange phenomena that leave them feeling just a little spooked.

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If you’re looking for someone with extensive knowledge in the field of the paranormal and the extra-terrestrial, talk to Micah Hanks. Whether or not you’re a believer, you’ll be guaranteed an interesting conversation that could cover topics ranging from life after death to future-forecasting dreams, and even out of body experiences.

M I CAH, HOS T OF T HE T HE MICAH H ANKS SHOW PODCAS T AND A P ROLIFIC W RITER AND LE CTURER, T E LLS CR ACK YL THAT H E ALWAYS S TART S HIS I N VE S TIGATIONS OF S TR ANGE S IGHTINGS AN D E VENTS AT TH E MOST BA S IC L EVE L: CULT URE. If someone asks Micah to look into a peculiar occurrence and report his findings, he’ll begin by considering the folklore and culture that surround it. He points out, for example, that almost every culture around the world has stories that involve life after death, people restored to life, communication with the nether world and so on. Surely this can’t be a coincidence.

Equally common are reports of dreams that foreshadow strange events or convince the dreamer of the return of a dead loved one. Some cultures even believe that unborn children appear first to their mothers in dreams, asking to be born into this life. All of these experiences are things Micah would categorize as spiritual phenomena and he finds them fascinating.

Micah is also interested in what he calls “electronic phenomena.” When I told him the story of a radio talk show host friend who showed up to work at the station in the early hours of the morning to have the password-protected email account of a recently deceased colleague suddenly open on his computer, Micah wasn’t surprised. He says he’s aware of very compelling evidence of devices such as computers being operated by unseen hands. He’s also heard of family members who’ve received phone calls from those who’ve died.

Were these hoaxes?

Micah is quick to emphasize his respect for firefighters who lay their lives on the line, sometimes even giving their lives for others. He believes

it’s understandable that people who experience such things may have a special connection to life after death. Common manifestations experienced by firefighters in a firehall can include seeing or hearing the voice of what they perceive to be a colleague lost in the line of duty. Micah mentions that, as they work through their grief, the family of the deceased may also experience similar physical or auditory phenomena as well as dreams in which the lost one appears.

IF A F IR E F IG H T E R IS AT A C A L L WH E N SO M E O NE L O SE S T H E IR L IF E , M IG H T T H AT SP IR IT AT TA C H IT SE L F TO T H E P E R SO N WH O WA S WIT H T H E M IN T H E IR L A ST M O M E NT S? According to Micah, in many cultures people believe that spirits do attach themselves to living people, particularly during disasters. What if a firefighter senses some sort of paranormal activity following a fatal call? Where does this come from? Micah acknowledges that many people do come away from witnessing a tragic death in, for example, a fire, feeling

that they’ve been accompanied or visited later by those who perished.

Attaching yourself to someone while you’re alive, is, after all, not unusual behavior. We human beings are social creatures who want to talk and share our feelings.

If someone has experienced bodily death but some part of his or her spirit remains, Micah thinks it makes good sense that the firefighter who was there in the last moments might experience some kind of a connection.

Why do some people experience paranormal phenomena, while others never see or hear a thing they can’t explain? People can be more receptive or less, but Micah feels that may be the result of interpretation. If you live in an old house, for example, and hear noises when no earthly agent seems to be responsible, a receptive person might wonder about spirits, while a less receptive person will blame the cat or chalk the sounds up to the settling-in-for-thenight creaks and groans of old buildings.

SO . WH AT IF Y OU’V E SE E N SO M E T H I N G Y OU C A N’ T E X P L A IN A N D YO U ’ R E ST R U G GLI N G TO D E A L WIT H IT ?

COMMON MANIFESTATIONS EXPERIENCED

BY FIREFIGHTERS IN A FIREHALL CAN INCLUDE SEEING OR HEARING THE VOICE OF WHAT THEY PERCEIVE TO BE A COLLEAGUE LOST IN THE LINE OF DUTY. FAL L 2021

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LIFESTYLE Micah says what’s important is how that sighting is affecting you as an individual.

Firefighters lead lives that are fraught with stress and tension, so if that paranormal experience is troubling you, he believes that your first step should be to see a psychologist.

Micah is quick to clarify that he’s not suggesting you’re suffering from delusions or having some sort of breakdown.

He’s simply acknowledging the fact that experiences such as seeing a full-blown apparition are unsettling and troubling, and you might need to share your reactions with someone other than a friend or family member – someone like a clinical professional who can help you deal with your responses and interpret what the experience meant for you.

AS H E PU TS IT, “IT ’S I MPORTANT TO NORMALIZE G OOD ME NTAL HEALT H.” Micah offers the example of people who, decades before any significant research had been done in this area, experienced vivid apparitions in their dreams and woke to find themselves paralyzed.

For years, doctors interpreted these experiences as minor psychotic breaks and prescribed various antipsychotic meds. Later, research showed that such episodes, known as sleep paralysis, are experienced by many people – including medical clinicians – around the world.

Sleep paralysis is now wellrecognized, treatable and no longer considered a form of mental illness. If you’re worried

about something you’ve seen, heard or experienced but can’t adequately explain, speak to a professional to help you learn from and process it in a positive way. If such issues aren’t dealt with properly, they can become burdens.

What if, on the other hand, you’ve had such an experience and are eager to learn more about what happened? Where can you look for help? Micah recommends the Rhine Research Center, founded at Duke University in 1930 and today a reputable, independent organization that studies all paranormal experiences that relate to consciousness.

The Psychic Experiences Group (PEG) meets every month at the Rhine as well as in independent chapters across the United States.

According to the site, “PEG provides a safe and supportive environment for people to talk about their experiences and listen to the experiences of others.” You’ll find them at rhineonline.org

as firefighting definitely does.

Don’t allow yourself to be bullied or teased but instead share your experiences.

What you have to say may well help to move us forward in understanding these fascinating phenomena.

...IT’S A GOOD IDEA NOT TO STIGMATIZE BUT RATHER TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT THESE EXPERIENCES, PARTICULARLY IF YOUR JOB PLACES YOU IN INTENSE SITUATIONS, AS FIREFIGHTING DEFINITELY DOES.

Says Micah, “It’s important to talk about those experiences.

Why does our materialistic culture stigmatize them? We find evidence of paranormal activity in the earliest writings of almost every culture around the world, but we seem to think we should make fun of them.”

Micah believes that, on the other hand, it’s a good idea not to stigmatize but rather to encourage people to talk about these experiences, particularly if your job places you in intense situations,

B E S U R E TO L I ST E N TO T H E M I CA H H A N KS P ROG RA M , A W E E K LY P O D CAS T .

MICAHHANKS.COM

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YOUTUBE.COM/MICAHHANKS

@MICAHHANKS

MICAHHANKSOFFICIAL

@CRACKYLMAG

VISIT CRACKYLMAG.COM FOR EVEN MORE CONTENT

LIFESTYLE

Side Hustle Perfect or Poison?

By Martha Chapman

I T’S NO S EC RE T THAT TH OUSAN DS OF FI RE FI GH T E RS AROU N D TH E WORL D HAV E SI DE H USTL ES : PART T I ME JOBS TH E Y DO DU R I N G TH E I R T I M E OF F .

While many side hustles entail working for someone else – bartending is one popular choice – the concept of a side hustle clearly brings out the entrepreneur in many firefighters. Some options are connected to firefighting (safety consultant or fire-proofing expert), but many are in a completely different world. You can find firefighters working in landscaping, car detailing, fitness training, dogwalking, or setting up bouncy castles for kids’ birthday parties.

And like civilians who pivoted during the pandemic, many see a side hustle as a wonderful opportunity to pursue an interest or passion while reaping extra cash. For many, it makes perfect sense but for others, the answer to a fulfilled life is not a side hustle that can be seen as robbing them of their well-deserved time off. We’re looking at both sides of the coin to help you make up your mind: is a side hustle perfect or poison?

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E V E R Y D AY I ' M H U S T L I N ' One firefighter who has found tremendous satisfaction – and significant additional income from his side hustle – is Luke Schneider, a firefighter with 12 years under his belt and founder and CEO of Fire Department Coffee. What started as a simple love of coffee (aided by a barista wife who trained him in the ins and outs of coffee tasting) has turned into a sizeable business that ships up to 20,000 orders per day – that’s six million pounds of coffee a year - from a 36,000 square food facility in Rockford, Ill. “Firefighters drink a lot of coffee, and I wanted to do something I’d love and that connected with that career. Working a 24-on-48-off schedule gave me the time to investigate that. We started as an e-commerce company five years ago, flying by the seat of our pants in an 800 square foot location with a five kilo roaster. Very quickly it turned into a 24/7 operation where we even had people overnighting in sleeping bags. I’d go off shift, roast coffee and fulfill orders.”

Fire Department Coffee now has a team of 25 including active and retired firefighters. The chief operating officer is a full-time firefighter and the chief roaster is a retired fire captain. “I love being part of a team and growing a company,” says Schneider. “I really feel there is no barrier to how far you can go.”

The company has even expanded into “merch,” with an array of branded items such as coffee mugs, T-shirts and keyrings.

Schneider says he is also very proud that, while Fire Department Coffee focuses on high quality coffee, it has a charitable foundation and directs 10 percent of net proceeds to sick and injured firefighters.

“I ’V E BE E N V E RY B L ESSED TO HAV E GR EAT OPPORT U NIT IES TO COMBI N E TWO OF T H E T H I NGS I LOV E I N L IFE: FI R E FI GH T I NG AN D COFFE E.”

Thanks - but no thanks For our “thanks - but no thanks” angle, we spoke with a veteran fire captain who has experienced both sides of the fence.

He spent virtually all of his 20s preparing and hoping to get into the fire service, taking up scuba diving, learning electronics, volunteer firefighting, even joining the navy. His last gig before finally being accepted was fire alarm inspector, servicing large commercial entities such as schools and government buildings.

A perfect side hustle, but not, he says, for him.

“The thinking was that you should focus on your firefighting career for the first few years, then look at options for a part time job to add to the mix. So I did that. I installed roofs and planted trees, but those jobs felt like work and frankly they didn’t pay well enough to make it worth it.

“What other career offers you generous time off and good money as well? I really believe that if you can’t make it on $100,000 a year you won’t make it on $120,000. And to earn that extra $20,000 you have to make so many sacrifices. Why not use your time off to enjoy your kids and your hobbies? In my view, any firefighter in North America is paid more than enough to get by.”

He’s clearly thoughtful about money. His wife was a stay-at-home mom when the kids were small, so his salary had to stretch even further. “But we always made it work, even on one salary. We have a modest home, buy second-hand cars, and I’m pretty handy around the house.” He’ll use his time off to shop around for new equipment or gear and doesn’t mind driving a good distance to collect them – because he has the time.

He has used time off for family vacations by camper and houseboat and he’s had motorcycle vacations to Utah and Colorado. He says he’d rather spend a day golfing with friends than roofing a house for an hourly wage. “And I don’t even golf!”

He isn’t totally anti-side hustle, saying if it’s something that’s a hobby or passion, and if it’s something you love as much as firefighting, then that changes the conversation.

It’s easier to adjust your lifestyle to enjoy your time on earth, which a firefighting career allows.

“ NO ON E ’S E PI TAPH READS ‘I WI S H I HAD S PE N T MORE T I M E AT WORK .’ NO ON E .”

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RELATIONSHIPS

By Carrie Fleetwood B.A., M.Ed., R.P., O.A.M.H.P.

relationships are rarely easy.

Each partner brings an array of hopes, realities, disappointments, challenges, rewards, and successes to the table. And we all have expectations we place on ourselves and on our partners. Ideally, we work as a team to meet those expectations but all too often, we fail miserably.

Things get particularly challenging when one partner is gone half the month or more, isn’t home for the frequent small or occasional big decisions, and can have a set of expectations that might be realistic at work, but not at home. Sound familiar?

First responders work in intense environments with little to no margin for error, and where repetition, practice, and perfection are key to the best outcome. While dealing in absolutes is expected at work, it can become a detriment to home life. Why is it so hard for a first responder to let the small things go at home – knowing well enough that perfectionistic behaviour is a relationship-killer?

When you get home from work, do you ever catch yourself on the edge of anger at the sight of a sink full of dishes? Try as you might, does the edge in your voice still sneak out? Does a pile of laundry and a mess of toys make you feel frustrated and disappointed? Surely your partner had the time, or should have made the time to clean. You know you would have!

Why is there such a feeling of disappointment when our expectations aren’t met? Rest easy – you’re not alone.

Let’s break down these reactions to some basics that every first responder couple should understand.

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boundaries: When you feel anger it’s usually because a boundary is being crossed.

It’s important to use that anger as information – not to react to it – but to communicate and negotiate boundaries. Learn to use the simple phrase "I feel X when you do/don’t do Y" but wait until you’ve calmed down before you speak.

Listen carefully to what your partner is expressing and, rather than responding defensively (a huge relationship-killer), look for things you can empathize with and ways you can express appreciation.

Then respectfully make a boundary request: e.g. "When you‘re home and I arrive with groceries, would you mind carrying them in while I begin putting them away?"

take responsibility for your own emotions: Keep in mind that you were probably attracted to your spouse initially because they had qualities you didn`t. Maybe one of you was more flexible, easy-going, and socially adept while the other was more rigid, organized, and socially anxious.

After the honeymoon phase of your relationship, did these qualities surprisingly start to feel like laziness or control-seeking?

When you feel strong emotions, learn to make requests. If something is that important to you, it can wait a few hours or even days until you’ve moved past the intense emotion phase and can present a request calmly. "Honey, since we have very different styles in the way we approach the kids and the housework – and neither is necessarily right or wrong – I’m wondering if you would be willing to help me re-enter homelife after work by having the dishes put away (or toys stored, tea made, laundry folded, etc.)?" Make one specific request, not three or four.

When you feel resentment creeping up inside, it’s usually a sign that you need to make a request so don’t ignore it.

arrange a time to talk: Since you each likely have your own history of trauma, the last thing you need is to be side-swiped by something you hadn’t anticipated.

By arranging a time to discuss sensitive feelings, you’re showing respect for your partner. Just because "now" would be the best time for you, doesn’t mean it’s the best moment for your spouse. Younger ears in the room shouldn’t have to listen to uncensored banter that can too easily escalate to a loud, long, hurtful "emotion dump" so choose your times carefully.

On a happier note, make it a priority to have fun together! Enjoy outdoor activities whenever possible without the kids. You might already feel guilty for the time you spend away from them for work but remember – it’s essential to safeguard the "coupleship" and not make your relationship all about work and the children. Dinner and a movie is great occasionally but outdoor activity enables you to breathe fresh air and get your body moving to increase your serotonin levels naturally. Doing that with the one you love helps you feel that natural "high" together.

tone: In my work with couples, I like to settle the question of tone early: If your spouse says you have a tone – you have one! This can short circuit the endless “I didn’t like your tone/I didn’t have a tone” argument. If you can’t say what you want to say without sounding sarcastic, condescending, or angry then save it for a time when you can be more in control of your emotions.

put guardrails around your relationship: Working as a first responder means constantly thinking about challenging situations and feeling intense emotions. Someone you work with can understand that far more easily than your spouse, who doesn’t work in this field. But try to avoid having those long, deep conversations with a colleague who could potentially affirm you and listen to you in ways that your spouse doesn’t or hasn’t for a long time. Many first responders spend more waking hours with their work mates than with their spouses so if you feel attracted to someone you work with, don’t be alarmed, but don’t keep it a secret.

Find a good friend or a therapist to help you come back to reality and take the power out of the fantasy.

Learning how to listen to your partner’s concerns and to communicate your own thoughts well is a sign of respect that shows you’re willing to be an active part of dealing with both sets of expectations and mending any bridges you may have unintentionally burned by attacking/blaming or disparagng your partner. A first responder’s job isn’t easy, but neither is the job of a partner who has a career of his or her own or is home all day managing the responsibilities you can’t, simply because you’re not there. Have the courage to admit where you’ve gone wrong.

Humble yourself, apologize and begin practising some of the strategies we’ve just discussed while adding a healthy dose of forgiveness. You might just begin to see again the person that you once fell in love with!

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We

Remember

H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H 20 years after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) remembers and honors the sacrifices made by first responders to save the lives of others. Each and every day, volunteer firefighters, EMS providers, and rescue workers across our nation demonstrate the same selflessness by dedicating their time and risking their safety to protect their communities.

The NVFC appreciates all you do. This National Preparedness Month, utilize our free resources to help your department and community be ready for the next emergency.

- PREPARE YOUR DEPARTMENT by helping personnel focus on health and safety with resources through the Serve Strong campaign.

- PREPARE YOURSELF with health and fitness resources from the Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program and behavioral health support from the Share the Load Program.

- PREPARE YOUR COMMUNITY through the use of Fire Corps volunteers to provide emergency preparedness and fire prevention education, develop preparedness plans, conduct home safety checks and smoke alarm installations, assist with disaster drills, and more.

- PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE with the Make Me A Firefighter Program recruitment and retention campaign and National Junior Firefighter Program.

- PREPARE YOUR RESPONDERS with online courses and webinars in the NVFC Virtual Classroom.

- PREPARE FOR WILDFIRES with training, tools, and resources from the Wildland Fire Assessment Program.

9/11

LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE NVFC AT WWW.NVFC.ORG.

H H H H H H H H H H H H H

LIFESTYLE

Remembering Our Heroes & Cherishing Our Freedoms

9/11

By Steve Hirsch, Chair of the National Volunteer Fire Councill

On September 11, 1814, during the conflict known as the War of 1812, a nation not yet 50 years old called up its best citizen sailors to repel the British during the Battle of Lake Champlain.

During that battle, which was led by Commodore Thomas Macdonough, several Americans died to preserve their country’s freedoms.

Almost 300 years later on September 11, 2001, America was again attacked and thousands of citizens died, including 343 New York City firefighters. Back in 1814, America

had been at war and knew it. In 2001, America was at war but was, for the most part, unaware of the reasons why anyone would attack.

The battles have similarities: both occurred because of the freedoms Americans have.

And both resulted in the ultimate price being paid for those freedoms.

Citizens of a fledgling nation in 1814, Americans were tired of foreign interference in their freedom to trade around the world. 300 years later, the 9/11 attacks were caused by others who were angered by the freedoms

enjoyed by Americans. Like the sailors who died on September 11, 1814, the firefighters who gave their lives on September 11, 2001, were carrying out a job that they loved. They too gave their lives for freedom and that’s a pretty noble cause to die for. Yes, our firefighters died because buildings were on fire and they recognized their duty and obligation to try and save as many as they could. But they also died for freedom – the freedom of our citizens to freely associate, to worship, and to travel.

During the Revolutionary War, the British couldn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to live under the rule of the King or would want the freedoms we now cherish so greatly. Both that war and the War of 1812 were fought for freedom.

At 8:46 on the morning of September 11, 2001, a commercial airplane flew into the north tower of New York City’s World Trade Center, followed at 9:03 by another crashing into the south tower. Yet another flew into Washington’s Pentagon Building at 9:37. Just minutes later, the south tower of the Trade Center collapsed, and less than a half hour later the north tower fell.

I remember very vividly hearing the news of the south tower collapsing.

You knew in an instant that many people – and many firefighters – had been killed. And in the interim, at 10:07, a flight crashed into the countryside in Pennsylvania – because a band of patriots aboard knew what freedom meant and, learning of the other attacks via

cellphone, attempted to retake the plane, refusing to allow another symbol of America to be damaged or destroyed.

Was it worth it? Well, back in 1814, those hundred or so sailors set the stage for the Treaty of Ghent which finally settled the differences between Great Britain and the United States – resulting in a relationship that now is among the strongest in the world. Twenty years ago this year, 343 fire families were left without a person they loved very dearly. And the events of that day resulted in a global war on terrorism that still is being fought. Americans understand how precious the freedoms enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are, how easily they can be lost and how hard it would be to regain them. Time and time again, our citizens make the sacrifice for freedom – not for themselves, but for the rest of us.

They do it as a sacrifice and they do it without hesitation. In 2001 terrorists lashed out at the U.S. and the country responded instantly to the call – first the firefighters and then the armed forces.

On September 11 we mourn and we remember, but we should also celebrate the lives of those who gave so much. We need to lift up the families of those lost in service to this country, whether they were carrying fire hoses or rifles. Those who died did so in order that their country can build on a legacy of freedom for all.

C O M I C S

STRESS

By Annette Zapp, NSCA CSCS TSAC-F, FireSQfitness

Moving your body has a great impact on physical health. Health benefits of meaningful physical activity are well documented and correlated with many noncommunicable illnesses including cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Physical activity is also critical for building and maintaining muscle and bone mass, controlling blood glucose, and optimizing many other biomarkers.

But there’s more. Did you know that inadequate physical exercise has also been demonstrated to have a negative impact on mental health? Hippocrates knew this when, over 1600 years ago, he suggested going for a walk when you are in a rotten mood.

Both aerobic and anaerobic training are recognized means of decreasing both state and trait anxiety.

(State anxiety is a temporary adverse reaction to an event, such as when a student is preparing for an important exam; while trait anxiety is a personality feature that is more consistent, for example an athlete who always gets an upset stomach prior to competition.) According to textbook published in 2020, there is a very strong correlation between depression and activity. In this case, less truly is more. Less physical activity tends to correlate with more depression.

The great news, however, is that we have the power to partially modulate our outcomes with physical activity. Although we could get deep in the weeds in terms of intensity, mode, length of sessions, frequency of training and many other variables, let’s keep this simple: meaningful daily movement of your body is beneficial, so let’s figure out some strategies to get that done!

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Designing the perfect program to execute can be overwhelming, and the reality is that a perfect program doesn’t exist and a little good old consistent work ethic is just what the proverbial doctor ordered. In addition, even the experts who research exercise and mental health aren’t yet completely in agreement about what is best practice, so just get started and finesse things as you go along.

According to Jordan Syatt of Syatt Fitness, the majority of people don’t love working out, so he suggests embracing the fact that it’s not something you “want” to do, but empowering yourself with “choosing” to do the activity that you hate the least. Choose to move meaningfully on your own terms rather than waiting for a physician to drop the hammer and create an environment of threats.

RESI STANCE TRAINING Resistance training is commonly equated with lifting weights including dumbbells and barbells, but it can easily be accomplished with body weight exercises, rubber bands, kettlebells, sandbags and even sleds.

We’ll get to the nitty gritty of types of exercise momentarily, but let’s talk about what constitutes exercise when we’re looking at mental health gains.

As little as a 15 minute daily nature walk has been demonstrated to decrease state anxiety (although the results for modulating depression are inconclusive). If you’re absolutely paralyzed with inability to decide on an exercise program, just start there: a 15-minute daily nature walk.

For ease of discussion, let’s break down exercise into three main categories: resistance training, cardiovascular training, and mindfulness-based practices.

Still hesitant to try resistance training on your own? Contact a certified, experienced fitness professional to guide you. Pros certified by The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) are typically very knowledgeable.

In addition to supporting mental health, resistance training can bolster strength, power or muscular endurance and may increase the volume of muscle mass in the body thereby improving body composition (as well as aesthetics) depending upon the exercise prescription.

CARD IOVASC U LAR TRAIN IN G

Resistance training is especially important for older people to assist with maintaining muscle and bone mass.

Important to note: skeletal muscle serves as an insulin-driven “glucose disposal” tissue, thereby assisting with mediating circulating blood glucose.

Generally, the training is either steady state (one intensity) or interval (varying intensities from greater to lesser). Both types have benefits, and adjusting the mode and intensity of training for greatest mental and physical health for the individual is the best plan.

Unsure of where to start? A simple bodyweight circuit will get you rolling.

Include exercises for the upper and lower body as well as for the pillar or “core.” For a solid strategy, try alternating upper and lower body exercises and completing sets of AMAYCEP (As Many As You Can Execute Perfectly. Yeah. I totally made that acronym up).

Common methods of cardiovascular training include walking, running, swimming, biking, as well as resistance training to momentary muscle failure (completing resistance training in a circuit style for example). Again, Hippocrates had it correct and just simply walking every day will set you on a trajectory for improved health and wellness.

“

Cardiovascular training is exercise that serves to elevate the heart rate above baseline and keep it up for a predetermined amount of time.

M IN D FU LN ES S - B ASED PRACTI CES Yoga, Pilates, meditation, and even a mindfulness-based breathing break can quickly right the ship when you’re stuck in fight-or-flight and you need to be in rest-and-digest (or I prefer “feed-andbreed” but we digress…)

Beginner classes are a good way to sample these practices and there are some outstanding apps available for use at home including Calm, Insight Timer and Headspace.

To dip your toe in the waters of mindfulness-based training for absolutely free, the next time you find yourself amped up and upset, pause, reflect, and execute five four-count box breaths. Inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four and hold for four.

Wash, rinse and repeat. Your outlook will likely turn right around.

In summary, physical activity is important for physical and mental health so get out there and get some!

If you are in a bad mood go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood go for another walk.

HIPPOCRATES (THE FATHER OF MEDICINE)

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HEALTH

sleep hacks

T H AT WORK

By Danielle Cook, MS, RD. NBC-HWC, First In Wellness

If you live until you’re 80 and sleep an average of eight hours a night, you’ll spend approximately 233,600 hours, or 9,733 days, or almost 27 years of your life sleeping.

That’s one-third of your life!

Seems like a lot of time to just lie there unconscious.

That’s what I used to think, until I learned more about how busy the human body is during sleep. Without enough of it – especially quality sleep – your body slowly begins to degrade.

That’s the bad news. The good news is, of course, that when you do get enough restorative sleep, you’ll reap the benefits. You’ll age more slowly, have more energy, get sick less often, be smarter, be a champion in the sack, improve your strength, and possibly even have more friends. Good stuff, right?

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Assessing your sleep There are two things to consider when assessing your sleep: quantity and quality. Most sleep experts agree that adults between 18 and 64 require seven to nine hours of sleep on a regular basis.

There may be a very small percentage of people who require fewer hours, but most of us don’t fare well on less than seven hours of sleep each night. Sorry, but if you’re sleeping less, you probably need more.

What about sleep quality? Sleep experts look at multiple variables when assessing sleep quality, but these are four of the most important:

1

SLEEP LATENCY, OR HOW LONG IT TAKES YOU TO FALL ASLEEP

For sleep latency, you get a check mark in the great sleep quality column if it takes you between five and 20 minutes to fall asleep. If it takes you longer, this may mean that your body is having a hard time winding down. If it takes you less than five minutes, that may indicate that you’re sleep deprived. I’ve had many people tell me that they fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow. That sounds good, but it’s generally a sign that things are not going well, and you’re sleep deprived.

2

HOW MANY TIMES YOU WAKE UP AND HOW LONG IT TAKES YOU TO FALL BACK ASLEEP

The next question is how often you wake up during the night and how long it takes you to fall back to sleep after waking. If you’re only waking once or not at all during the night, and you can drift back to sleep in under 20 minutes, give yourself another point in the quality sleep column. I don’t know about you, but I have had nights when it has taken me hours to fall back to sleep. This is normal and will happen from time to time. The trouble arises when this becomes a regular sleep pattern for you. So, if you wake up at 2:30 am every night and it takes you an hour to get back to sleep, that’s a sleep quality problem.

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HOW MUCH DE EP AN D REM SLE EP YOU’RE GETTING

The next variable has to do with sleep stages.

About 75 percent of the night you’re in nonREM sleep, a period of sleep characterized by decreased metabolic activity, slowed breathing and heart rate, and the absence of dreaming.

Non-REM sleep is split into three stages: N1, N2, and deep sleep. During non-REM sleep your heart rate slows and blood pressure drops, giving your heart a rest. As a firefighter, you put a lot of demands on your heart. Allowing time to rest and restore is particularly critical for you.

In N1 you experience light sleep, drifting in and out, and can be easily awakened. It usually lasts only a few minutes. The next phase, N2, is the onset of sleep and most people spend the largest part of the night in this stage of sleep. The last stage of non-REM sleep is deep sleep, which is the most restorative stage and is an important time for tissue growth and repair. Your energy is also restored during deep sleep, leaving you feeling refreshed and energized when you wake in the morning. A lack of deep sleep can lead to increased injuries, illness, poor decision making, and reduced mental and physical resilience. In general, the average time spent in deep sleep should be between 13 and 23 percent of total sleep, or one to two hours per eight hours of sleep.

The last stage of sleep is REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep. This is an important time for processing the traumas you may witness or experience at your job and in your personal life.

Not getting enough REM sleep can negatively impact your brain’s ability to learn and create new memories. The average time spent in the REM phase should be about 20 to 25 percent of total sleep, or 90 minutes of REM per eight hours of sleep.

4

YOUR BLOOD OXYGEN SATURATION WHILE YOU’RE SLE EPING

The last variable we’ll consider for assessing sleep quality is blood oxygen saturation, or O2 sat.

O2 sat refers to the amount of oxygen that’s in your bloodstream. The body, and especially the brain, requires a steady supply of oxygen to function properly. A healthy O2 sat while you’re sleeping is between 94 and 98 percent. It’s normal to have a slightly lower O2 sat when you’re sleeping, as your respiratory rate slows down, but when this saturation level plummets below 94 percent several times a night, especially for long periods of time, your cells and tissues are not getting the oxygen they need. If your O2 sat falls below 89 percent several times a night, as seen with sleep apnea, you may require a CPAP or supplemental oxygen.

Sleep drivers THE TWO MAIN DRIVERS OF YOUR SLE EP ARE CIRCADIAN RHYTHM AN D A HORMONE CALLED ADENOSINE. Circadian rhythm is your built-in 24-hour clock, controlled by a part of the brain called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN).

The SCN responds to light and dark signals and exerts its control over your body’s sleep/ wake cycle by sending signals to other parts of the brain. This triggers the release of hormones, changes in body temperature, and other functions that play a role in making you feel sleepy or awake.

In the morning, for example, with exposure to light, the SCN sends signals to raise body temperature and produce hormones such as cortisol. The SCN also responds to light by delaying the release of other hormones such as melatonin, which makes you feel sleepy at night.

Unfortunately, there are many things that can disrupt your circadian rhythm, including not getting enough early morning light, moving the clock forward or backward for seasonal changes, travel to different time zones, blue light (TV, computer, and cell phones) in the evenings, going to bed and waking at different times, and eating meals at random times or grazing throughout the day. A disrupted or abnormal circadian rhythm not only wreaks havoc on your sleep, but also increases your risk for cardiovascular events, diabetes, cancer, and chronic inflammation.

The second driver for sleep is adenosine. Adenosine is a chemical that your brain produces during waking hours and then lowers again during sleep. It mediates your sleep/ wake homeostasis, an internal biochemical system that generates a drive or pressure for sleep. Each hour you’re awake, the stronger the drive to sleep becomes. Think about the last time you missed a night of sleep and could barely keep your eyes open the following day. That was the buildup of adenosine working its magic. And here’s a little trivia: One of the ways caffeine works to keep your eyes open when you’re exhausted is by blocking adenosine receptor sites.

Love that coffee!

HEALTH

Sleep training If you’ve ever had a newborn, you’re familiar with the term “sleep training.” As a firefighter, you train your body and your mind to perform your job safely and effectively. One important ingredient for both your safety and performance is sleep, so why not make sleep a priority and train for it like you do for other parts of your job?

BODY SET-UP Let’s begin with setting up your body for sleep. Your body and mind cannot go from 100 to zero. Have you ever had a busy, stressful day, sat down to watch TV and had a beer, gone to bed, and then couldn’t sleep? Your body, and especially your brain, needs time to wind down and get ready to switch gears into sleeping mode. Here are 11 things you can do to prepare your body for a great night of sleep.

EAT YOUR LAST MEAL AT LEAST THRE E HOURS BEFORE BEDTIME. Have you ever eaten a large meal

EXERCISE REGULARLY. That doesn’t

Just after you wake up or within two hours of sunrise, go outside and expose your naked eyes (no glasses, contacts, or sunglasses) to 10 TO 15

REDUCE YOUR FLUID INTAKE THREE HOURS BEFORE BED. Waking up to

before bed and had trouble sleeping? Also, avoid sugary snacks before bed as they will drive up your blood sugars, which will then crash in the middle of the night, waking you up.

MINUTES OR MORE OF NATURAL SUNLIGHT.

Note: don’t look directly at the sun, as it will damage your eyes. This is the most important thing you can do to reset your circadian rhythm.

mean excessively. Overdoing it puts your body into a stressed state and that disrupts your sleep. Be sure to avoid strenuous exercise at least three hours before bed.

go to the bathroom is a disruption and another reason to struggle with falling back to sleep.

LIMIT YOUR BOOZE , especially THEN, AROUN D SUNSET, GO OUTSIDE AN D AGAIN, EXPOSE YOUR NAKED EYES TO SUNLIGHT. You don’t need to watch the sun go

down, it just needs to be around sunset. The angle of the sun at this time of day helps to desensitize your eyes to light at night. After sunset, your eyes become very sensitive to light, and light, especially blue light, lowers melatonin, a hormone that makes you feel sleepy.

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EAT AT REGULAR MEALTIMES. This helps to set your circadian rhythm.

ESTABLISH A SET, CONSISTENT SLEEP-WAKE CYCLE that allows for seven to nine hours of sleep.

AVOID BLUE LIGHT AFTER SUNSET.

Going to sleep and waking up at the same time on each of your off days is one of the best things you can do to reset your circadian rhythm so your body knows when to get sleepy and when to wake up.

This means avoiding fluorescent lights, TV, cell phones, computers, and tablets.

AVO I D CA F F E I N E A F T E R NOO N . I know this can

TRAIN YOUR BODY TO RELAX by doing

be difficult, especially if you’ve had a lot of calls the previous night. The neurological effect of caffeine lasts several hours – seven to eight hours for many people – and can keep you revved up and awake at night.

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before bedtime. Yes, alcohol might help you nod off, but it disrupts the rest of your sleep and greatly reduces your REM sleep.

CRAC KYL MAGAZ I N E

yoga, guided meditation, or breathing exercises. Watching TV does not count as stress management, just as watching an exercise video doesn’t count as exercise!

If you live until you’re 80 and sleep an average of eight hours a night, you will spend almost 27 years of your life sleeping.

If you build it, sleep will come. Now that your body is primed for great sleep, here are five tips for making your environment into a sleep chamber.

your brain to wake up. Hang blackout curtains to block outside light and avoid sleeping with a bright alarm clock or other light sources.

USE THE BEDROOM FOR SLE EP AND SEX ONLY. This isn’t the place for getting work done, reading, checking emails on your phone or computer, watching TV, playing video games, or anything else that’s really stimulating. Reserve your bedroom for your most precious, life-giving resource: sleep.

KE EP YOUR BEDROOM TEMPERATURE BETWE EN 60 AND 67F (16 AND 19C).

Your body temperature naturally drops at night allowing you to go into your deeper, more restorative stages of sleep.

IF YOU CAN’T BLOCK OUT NOISE, WEAR EARPLUGS. This may not be possible with small kids or when you’re at the station, but blocking out ambient noise can really help sleep quality.

Keep your phone powered off, on airplane mode, or turn off your ringer.

If you don’t already have them, I N V EST

IN A COM FORTABL E MATTRESS AN D P I L LOW .

Fighting to get comfortable doesn’t count as sleep.

MASTERING SLEEP Now that you’re in bed, let’s talk about how to maximize your sleep.

Here are four tips for becoming a champion sleeper.

CONSIDER NAPPING AFTER A HIGH CALL NIGHT. If you got only six or fewer hours of sleep, napping will be beneficial for your health as well as your safety. In general, if you had two short night runs, take a 30 to 45-minute nap. If you had three or more night runs, or a couple of longer calls, you’ll most likely need to nap for approximately 90 to 120 minutes.

GET A SLE EP TEST OR WEAR A PULSE OXIMETRY DEVICE such as Eversleep to bed on

several nights to screen for breathing interruptions and drops in oxygen saturation. If you stop breathing several times a night, especially for long periods of time, this puts your body into a stressed state and significantly disrupts your sleep. If you snore, or your partner has ever witnessed you stop breathing at night and gasp for air, this is a sign you may have sleep apnea.

There are many sleep hacks out there, but these are my top six:

1 If you snore, try Vital Sleep, a self-molded, adjustable anti-snoring mouthpiece that opens your airway.

It’s inexpensive and highly effective.

BEDROOM SET-UP

CREATE COMPLETE DARKNESS IN YOUR BEDROOM. Any intrusion of light is a signal to

Sleep hacks

I F YOU HAV E COLD F E E T , CONSI DE R WEARI NG SOC KS TO BE D. Warming up

your feet causes vasodilation, which may tell your brain that it’s time to sleep. Some research has shown that the more vasodilation you have in your hands and feet, the less time it takes to fall asleep.

If you go to bed and cannot fall asleep within 20 minutes, get up, go to another part of your home, and DO SOMETHING SOOTHING LIKE READING,

BREAT H I NG EXE RC ISES, ME DITAT ION, OR LIST E NI NG TO QU IE T MUSIC . Lying awake in bed for too long can create an unhealthy mental connection between your sleeping environment and wakefulness.

2 If you sleep on your back and snore, try wearing a tennis ball T-shirt (a tennis ball taped or sewn into one of your own shirts - or you can buy one). In your sleeping position can influence snoring and your airway.

3 For warm, dim evening light, I like Somnilight reading lamps and Himalayan salt lamps both of which emit warm, dim light, which have no negative effects.

4 If you don’t have any control

over your lighting, such as when you're away from home, or if you want to watch a movie, wearing ambercolored glasses beginning shortly after sunset is a great solution. My favorite brand, Somnilight, has been shown to block 99 percent of blue light, but be sure to do a little research before buying.

5 Invest in a ChilePAD or

OOLER. These aid your body in dropping its temperature, which is required for sleep onset and healthy sleep cycles.

6 Try a Gravity Blanket that

uses the power of "deep touch pressure stimulation" to simulate the feeling of being held (like a hug!)

RECIPE $3-4 / PERSON

50 M I N U T ES

RECIPE DEVELOPED BY DIETETIC INTERN CLAIRE POMORSKI

CHICKEN TERIYAKI AN D V EGG I E BA K E

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C RAC KYL MAGAZ I N E

This dish is an easy, flavorful crowd pleaser, loaded with nutrientdense foods like brown rice, mixed vegetables and chicken. It can easily be spiced up with Siracha sauce or a dash of cayenne pepper and you can add more protein by using quinoa in addition to the brown rice.

If brown rice is a no-go for your shift, white rice works too – you’ll just lose a few grams of fiber. Consider adding an extra bag of stir fry vegetables to the mix for an additional fiber boost.

GROCERY LIST

6 PEOPLE

10 PEOPLE

3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts 10 oz bottle of reduced sodium soy sauce 1 lb bag of brown sugar 4 tbsps cornstarch 1 bulb garlic 2x10 oz bags of frozen stir fry vegetables 28 oz box of Minute Rice (brown) Ground ginger Optional: Siracha

INGREDIENTS LIST

7 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts 4x10 oz bottle of reduced sodium soy sauce 1 lb bag of brown sugar 3/4 cup cornstarch 1 bulb garlic 6x10 oz bags of frozen stir fry vegetables 2x28 oz box of Minute Rice (brown) Ground ginger Optional: Siracha

Nutrition: per serving 500 calories, 65g carbohydrate, 12g fat, 45g protein, 2g fiber

3 lbs. chicken breasts 1 cup water 1 1/2 cups reduced sodium soy sauce 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp minced garlic 4 tbsps cornstarch + 4 tbsp water 2 bags frozen stir fry vegetables 4 cups of cooked rice

DIRECTIONS

5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts 3x10 oz bottle of reduced sodium soy sauce 1 lb bag of brown sugar 1/2 cup cornstarch 1 bulb garlic 4x10 oz bags of frozen stir fry vegetables 28 oz box of Minute Rice (brown) Ground ginger Optional: Siracha

14 PEOPLE

5 lbs. chicken breasts 2 cups water 3 cups reduced sodium soy sauce 1 cup brown sugar 2 tsp ground ginger 2 tsp minced garlic 1/2 cup cornstarch + 1/2 cup water 4 bags frozen stir fry vegetables 8 cups of cooked rice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a non-stick 9” x 13” pan with cooking spray.

2. Combine water, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and brown sugar in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for an additional minute.

3. Combine cornstarch and water in a separate container to make a slurry, then add it to the boiling mixture and cook until it becomes thickened and sauce-like.

Remove from heat.

7 lbs. chicken breasts 3 cups water 4 1/2 cups reduced sodium soy sauce 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 3 tsp ground ginger 3 tsp minced garlic 3/4 cup cornstarch + 3/4 cup water 6 bags frozen stir fry vegetables 12 cups of cooked rice

4. Place chicken breasts in the pan and cover with about 1 cup of the prepared sauce. Bake for 35 minutes or until internal temperature is 165.

5. While chicken cooks, steam or boil the brown rice and make vegetables according to package directions.

6. Remove chicken from the oven and shred it using two forks. Combine shredded chicken, rice, vegetables and remaining sauce in pan. Return to the oven for 15 minutes and serve.

WHY REDUCED-SODIUM SOY SAUCE? The sodium in salt plays a major role in high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. The recommendation for sodium in the diet for adults and children, 14 years and older, is 2,300mg/day. That's only a teaspoon of salt!

Even without adding salt at the table, sodium is lurking in foods we may not even be aware of because it’s such a popular flavor enhancer in packaged and restaurant foods.

This recipe uses low-sodium soy sauce which typically contains approximately 37 percent less sodium than the regular variety. But you won’t notice a difference in taste because both are brewed the same way. The sodium is removed after the fermentation process leaving the familiar soy flavor.

FAL L 2021

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YOU’RE A FIREFIGHTER. YOU DON’T HAVE TO SMELL LIKE ONE. You know the smell — that one that is impossible to get rid of. The one that, even when you think it’s gone after two or three showers, comes back with a vengeance. That sticks to your skin, your hair, your clothes...

That smell and the soot on your gear and face after an incident is no longer a badge of honour — it’s a symbol of the thousands of cancer-causing toxins that absorb into your skin and that are carried with you, home to your family.

THAT SMELL NEEDS GONE, RIGHT ALONG WITH THE CARCINOGENS BEHIND IT.

Focus on the deepest clean possible by adding SOOTSOAP into your personal decon protocol. Lab-developed specifically for firefighters, all natural, 100% biodegradable and safe for all skin types, SOOTSOAP physically draws out that stank and the toxins that causes it.

What is SOOTSOAPCLEAN? It’s the soot-stripping, toxin-taking, odour-ridding, fit-for-fire kind of clean only the original SOOTSOAP can provide.

IT’S THE CLEAN YOU NEED.

“

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with 20% off your first order!

USE PROMO CODE

SOOTSOAPCLEAN

Took the smell … right off the body.

That tells me a lot of the s*&t is washed away too, which is what it’s supposed to do!

C. Feltz, Captain

EST. 2018 | @sootsoapsupplyco

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www.sootsoap.ca

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info@sootsoap.ca

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