MILAN VS. HONG KONG (A typical 60)

          Milan and Hong Kong are very different from each other. There are some differences between  these cities’ policies. Milan’s governors attach importance to nature, a healthy lifestyle, and ruralization; in contrast, people focus on industry and urbanization in Hong Kong. These cities’ appearances are quite different.

      Milan is the second biggest city in Italy. It is greener than many cities in the world. The main reason for this is that there is a conscious effort to make the city greener in Milan. Firstly, in Milan, if people build new buildings or structures, these structures contain plants or greenery, and they have rooftop gardens and innovative parks.Secondly, one of the good examples is the Trees Library in Milan. The Trees Library provides spectacular natural rooms of different coloured foliage for people. This is created for different purposes like sports or cultural events. Besides, there are communal vegetable and fruit beds in Milan. These are used at the nearby restaurants, and thanks to this implementation, people have a healthy diet.

    Hong Kong was an isolated fishing village in the past. It became a more developed city thanks to industrial activities. Many people immigrate to Hong Kong in order to work in new factories. Developing industry and the increase in the number  of factories caused a concentration of human population, and thanks to all of these, Hong Kong became a developed city. There is a major influx of vehicles and people, in spite of that, urban planning and traffic are  not  big problems in Hong Kong thanks to newer, more efficient, modern transport systems. Besides, Hong Kong is a hub of the hustle and bustle nowadays, and it provides an avid and colorful lifestyle for its own residents. The reason for this is that Hong Kong is a very crowded city, and millions of people visit this city for trade, travel or health opportunities every year. Due to all of these, Hong Kong became a large and lively city.

      Consequently, Milan and Hong Kong are big cities, but they are different from each other. They have different basic features and priorities. People are trying to implement  a more natural and healthier life in Milan; in contrast, industry and trade come to the forefront in Hong Kong.                                                                                          Nesibe Dilekçi

THE POISON OF OUR CENTURY: SUGAR​

                                                                                                         

  White sugar or granulated sugar is the crystallized sucrose(C6H22O11) made from sugarcane or sugar beets. Sugarcanes and sugar beets are grown in India and the Middle Eastern countries but today, most of the countries prefer to produce sugar from sugar beets because of economic conditions. Nowadays, we use granulated sugar in the food sector in substances such as pastries, baked goods, beverages and mostly in junk food. As a result of this large usage of sugar, we may consume it excessively without being aware.

   Sugar has some effects on our body which can be both beneficial and harmful. First of all, controlled consumption of sugar affects us in a good way. For instance, the best known type of sugar that we call glucose, tells your brain to produce insulin, which helps the body to regulate blood sugar and it also interacts with other hormones, to help you feel satiated. Therewithal, the sugar which comes from fruit can provide some of the energy we need to get in a day but on the other hand, extreme usage of sugar harms us more than we imagine. For instance, excessive sugar consumption is associated with heart diseases, pancreatic cancer, kidney problems, and insulin resistance.The most common result of excessive usage of sugar is obesity.Rates of obesity are rising worldwide, and added sugar is thought to be one of the main culprits.

    The main point that we should notice about the effect of sugar is in our brain. The brain uses more energy than any other organ in the human body and glucose provides this energy.  Does this mean an excessive amount of glucose provides more energy? The answer is no. When you eat something sweet, your brain gives a signal about what you eat into the cerebral cortex and if it is sweet, the signal activates the brain’s reward system.It has a similar effect to the effect of drugs. As a result of this warm fuzzy feeling, you want to eat again. This continuous desire may cause people to eat excessively. Consequently, over activating of the reward system kick-starts a series of unfortunate events such as loss of control, craving and increased tolerance for sugar.The reason for this continuous desire is dopamine. Dopamine is a hormone which is responsible for our happiness and sugar is the substance which causes our brain to secrete dopamine. So, it explains our continuous desire and why we consume sugary things when we are sad.

   Recent research demonstrates the harms of sugar. For instance, a high sugar diet can lead to chromium deficiency. Chromium, a trace mineral, helps regulate blood sugar in the body. It can be found in meats, seafood, and plant food but most of the people who live in developed countries still don't get enough chromium because of refining starches. Another harmful effect of sugar is related to stress; Sugar increases stress. When we are under stress, our bodies immediately kick into fight or flight mode, releasing large amounts of hormones. Surprisingly, the body has the same chemical response when blood sugar is low. After you eat something sweet, stress hormones begin to compensate for the crash by raising your blood sugar. As a result of this situation, unexplained anxiousness, a depressive mood and, irritability begin. The last example is about sugar’s effect on the cognition of children. Three years ago, New York Public Schools reduced the amount of sugar in their meals. Consequently, their academic ranking increased by 15.7%.It explains the effect of sugar on our mental health and the ability to think correctly.

    What will happen if we stop using white sugar?.Actually, this experiment has been tried by someone who consumes sugar continuously.At the end of the experiment, the results were discernible physically and mentally.The first discernible effect was in his appearance: he lost  weight in his waist area. The second biological effect was having less lubrication in organs;this prevents hepatic

disease.Therewithal,his blood pressure stays constant.As a result, his probability of having heart disease dropped to normal levels. Consequently, we can try to change our habits and diets to live in a healthy way.So, limiting our usage of sugar may lead to this as a fresh start.

                                         Sueda Dinç

SELFCOMPASSION

It is a fact that man is the smallest part of society and, compassion is  one of his most valuable features. Humanbeings show love, empathy, patience and understanding to their best friends and loved ones, but can they show the  same behaviour to themselves? Generally ,people  are the ones  who save the worst criticism for themselves. Over and above that,people repeatedly do this in their daily life and, they pretend to be their own worst enemy .When they make a mistake or struggle, they insult themselves and criticize themselves  and question themselves.These internal judgements hinder them from reaching their goals.Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing themselves for various inadequacies or shortcomings, people can overcome this situation by showing compassion to themselves and it is called self-compassion.Self-compassion is described  as  having three elements and even though there are several benefits of it, motivation and less anxiety can be claimed to be the most important two.

To begin with,according to Doç. Dr. Kristin Neff who is a  psychology expert; self-kindness is the primary component of self-compassion. This factor involves loving ourselves rather than judging ourselves mercilessly. Moreover, she says that common humanity is the second component. When a person makes a mistake and feels separate from the rest of the world, he should remember that the common of feature of all people is making  mistakes. Another element is mindfulness, (which # is) a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which one observes thoughts and feelings as they are, without trying to suppress or deny them. As a result, when they realize what they do to themselves with brutal criticism, they can give themselves the compassion that they need.

Furthermore ,motivation is the physiological effect of self-compassion. When people criticize themselves, the body activates the system of self-defense. This system has developed for threats targeting people’s body. But in modern times, the threat is generally not the body, but the perception of self. Thus, when they do not like themselves, they  threaten themselves. Ultimately, they attack the problem, so they attack themselves. In addition, when people criticize themselves, the problem is doubled because they are both aggressive and attacked at the same time. If people are constantly self-critical, they have a constant high level of stress and, in the end, the  body closes  to protect itself and becomes too depressed to cope with all this stress. In this process, anxiety is inevitable.In brief(Briefly), the more compassionate you are towards  yourself, the more motivated you  become and, the less anxiety you have.

To sum up,the level of both motivation and anxiety are connected with mental health.And according to experts,especially Kristin Neff, self-compassion, which ismade up of three components, is likely to be  a drug for mental health.I think , we do not need to feel special and above average, we must just get rid of social assessment dynamics and we must never forget that we are human.                                                                       

. BURAK ÖZÇİFÇİ