Health | 100 Tips

Why Are Pro Female Athletes Paid So Much Less Than Their Male Counterparts?

Photo: Getty Images

There are so many amazing things to celebrate about the U.S. Women’s National Team’s huge win in the World Cup Final—Carli Lloyd’s heroic hat trick in the first 16 minutes, the 5-2 score, the fact that they finally beat Japan in the final after losing a heart-wrenching game to them in the final four years ago—but the news of their pitiful pay compared to their male counterparts is souring the thrilling victory.

The U.S. women’s team will get a $2 million bonus for winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup. A lot of money to you and me, yes. But to put that in perspective, after Germany won the men’s tournament last year, they earned an extra $35 million. And the U.S. men—who not only lost, but lost in the first round—got a cool $8 mil.

And, if you can take it, here’s some more upsetting numbers for women’s soccer. The total payout for all 24 teams in the tournament is a paltry $15 million. For the 2014 men’s tournament? $576 million, which is almost 40 times as much as the women, Politico reported.

Sadly, soccer isn’t the only sport where women see a wage gap (along with all women in the U.S., we would be remiss not to point out). According to Politico, the minimum salary in the WNBA was $37,950 in 2013, with a team salary cap (i.e. the total team salary limit) of $913,000. Meanwhile, the lowest salary in the NBA for the same year was $490,180, and the team salary cap was $58.7 million. Kobe Bryant alone will rake in $25 million next season.

Women playing in the LPGA tour see a similar gap, with a total prize package of $50 million, a fraction of the PGA’s $250 million, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation.

One of the few major sports without major pay inequality is tennis, but even that was a recent change. In 2007 Wimbledon announced that they would finally award an equal prize package to men and women (£1.88 million each in 2015, or $2.8 million), and the other Grand Slam tournaments quickly followed the trend.

So why is soccer, and most other sports, still stuck in the past? Most argue that it’s because women’s sports just don’t draw the same amount of viewers (and therefore marketing dollars) as the men. And for the most part, that’s sadly true. The 2015 NBA finals had an average audience of 13.9 million to the WNBA’s 828,000 for the 2014 final game (Encouragingly, that number is growing, and 2014’s final marked a 150% increase over the year before).

But that argument just does not work anymore for women’s soccer. Sunday’s game had a whopping 25.4 million viewers, making it the most watched soccer event in U.S. history. It beat out the U.S.-Portugal 2014 men’s World Cup match (18.2 million, the previous record-holder) and men’s World Cup final from last year, between Germany and Argentina (~17.3 million). It even took down the more popular U.S. pro sports finals, like the aforementioned NBA finals and the Stanley Cup finals (7.6 million).

So it’s high time for FIFA to wise up and give the women an equal wage. And hopefully, if or when they do, other sports will follow suit. Because male or female, reaching the pinnacle of your sport like Carli Lloyd and the rest of the U.S. women’s team deserves to be rewarded.

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Do High-Tech, Lash-Extending Mascaras Really Work? A (Sort of) Scientific Test

If there’s one product I can’t live without, it’s mascara. There’s something about that extra flirty flick that gives me a boost. While I love the length of my natural lashes, I am also not ashamed to admit to a totally healthy obsession with trying to make them look as full and long as I possibly can.

It used to be that mascara was just some black pigment with a brush, but every year brands are coming up with new technology to make your mascara do more. And 2015 seems to the year of the boldest promises yet, from formulas that are said to extend your lashes with fibers (more on that later) to those that come with conditioner.

But do they really work? I decided to put my mascara expertise to the test and try out three of the latest magic wands to hit the shelves. See for yourself.

First, the before

Photo: Chelsea Burns

Here are my natural lashes, no mascara at all. Throughout the test, I applied mascara only to my right eye (your left), so you can really see the comparison.

The hairy one

Physician’s Formula Eye Boost Instant Lash Extensions Kit ($15, ulta.com)

Putting fibers in hair products to create more volume is nothing new, so why not add fibers to your lashes? Along with the mascara, this kit comes with what I’ll just call a “fiber thingy” (scientific, I know) that allows you to coat your lashes in these little hairs. You first apply the mascara, then the “extensions” (with your fiber thingy), then the mascara again to lock everything in. You can repeat the process until you’re happy with the results.

The fibers made my lashes look extra full and dark for an almost fake look. The only real downside is that the fibers fall all over your face when applying them to your lashes. To prevent having to redo your makeup, be sure to hold a tissue under your eyes while applying or apply the mascara before your foundation and concealer so you can just wipe away the remains with a wet washcloth.

The results:

Photo: Chelsea Burns

The conditioning one

Rimmel London Wonderlash Mascara ($7, drugstore.com)

Stealing another idea from your hair routine is this this new Rimmel mascara that comes with a conditioner, which is basically an oil that helps strengthen and nourish lashes to prevent breakage. There are separate lash conditioners or even a prescription-strength remedy, Latisse, that promise the same thing, but that’s why this product is pretty brilliant: you get two-for-one!

The Wonderlash Mascara contains argan oil to create a smooth application and to moisturize lashes throughout the day. I didn’t notice a major change in the strength or length of my natural lashes, but the formula did go on super smooth. The brush is big and flexible so you can get a lot of mileage out of just one stroke. I hate clumpy lashes so I love how this one spread them all out, nice and evenly. The formula was also very light and didn’t look caked on like other mascaras. It’s perfect for a natural look.

The results:

Photo: Chelsea Burns

The one with the funky wand

Givenchy Phenomen’eyes Mascara ($31, barneys.com)

Don’t let the sea urchin looking tip scare you— it may be small but it is mighty! If you like taking your time to make sure every single lash is coated and in its place, then this is the mascara for you. The rounded ball brush allowed me to get in every nook and cranny to lift and separate every last lash. The problem? It took some time to get my lashes fully coated due to the small brush. But when you have the time, this one won’t disappoint. Whether you like your lashes to be thick and full or thin and separated, this wand lets you customize to your preference.

The results:

Photo: Chelsea Burns

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Cost a Barrier to Healthier Diets for Diabetic Kids, Study Shows

WEDNESDAY, July 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Higher cost is one reason it is difficult for many parents of children with type 1 diabetes to provide their youngsters with a healthy diet, a small study finds.

The study included 23 families in northeastern Kansas and western Missouri with children between the ages of 1 and 6 who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at least six months earlier and were on an intensive insulin regimen.

Patients with type 1 diabetes often need to change their eating habits, but many children with the disease do not have healthy diets, according to the authors of the study published July 8 in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

The researchers compared the lowest non-sale prices for 164 food items on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Thrifty Food Plan (R-TFP) and a healthier version of the plan (H-TFP).

The results showed that a healthier market basket costs about 18 percent more than the standard basket. “Moreover, families can face barriers in finding specific healthier foods at their local stores,” study author Susana Patton, of the department of pediatrics at University of Kansas Medical Center, said in a journal news release.

The average cost for the 164 items on the R-TFP was $324.71, compared with $380.07 for the H-TFP, a difference of more than $55. Proteins and grains had the largest differences in costs.

The researchers also found that small and independent food stores carried fewer healthy items than chain and big box stores.

The study authors suggested a number of ways to help ensure children with type 1 diabetes have healthy diets. Their suggestions included providing parents with recipes, teaching them to use lower-cost substitutes for more expensive foods, telling them about local stores that provide a wide selection of healthy foods, and helping them understand purchases in terms of nutrition per dollar.

More information

The American Diabetes Association has more about living with type 1 diabetes.

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Colon Cancer Deaths Falling, Except in 3 U.S. Regions

WEDNESDAY, July 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — There’s reason to celebrate declines in deaths from colon cancer in the United States — unless you live in three areas that are still waiting for those declines, a new report finds.

People living in 94 counties spread across the lower Mississippi Delta region, in 107 counties in west-central Appalachia, and in 37 counties in eastern Virginia/North Carolina, have seen little change in lives lost to colon cancer, the study found.

Better education about, and access to, regular colon cancer screening could improve matters, experts said.

“These three ‘hot spots’ for colorectal cancer in the U.S. demonstrate what can happen in the event that effective screening is not in place or not available,” said Dr. Raymond DuBois, executive director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University in Tempe.

“It illustrates some of the problems overall with the U.S. health care system, in which there is such highly variable care delivered in different regions of the country,” said DuBois, who is also scientific advisor to the Stand Up To Cancer initiative.

The study, published July 8 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, was led by Rebecca Siegel, director of surveillance information at the American Cancer Society.

Her team used special “geospatial” mapping software to separate out regions in the United States that had very high rates of colon cancer deaths from 1970 through 2011.

The researchers found that between 2009-2011, colon cancer death rates in the lower Mississippi Delta were still 40 percent higher than in non-“hot spot” regions, while rates were 18 percent higher in west central Appalachia and 9 percent higher in eastern Virginia/North Carolina.

Certain demographics seemed to play a role, as well. Between 1970 and 1990, the colon cancer death rate rose by 3.5 percent a year among black men in the lower Mississippi Delta and has since remained unchanged, the researchers noted.

All of this means that while the U.S. colon cancer death rate has declined by half over the past few decades, there are still large differences between states.

So those three hot spots “are low-hanging fruit for colorectal cancer screening interventions,” Siegel said in a journal news release.

“Although we’ve made great strides against colorectal cancer in a fairly short time period, there are a lot of vulnerable populations that aren’t benefiting,” she added. “Now that these groups have been identified, there is a moral obligation to do something about it.

“Targeted interventions, like using people within the community to talk to their neighbors about screening, are likely to be effective,” Siegel said. “We know interventions work because we have an example in Delaware, where they implemented statewide colorectal cancer screening and effectively eliminated disparities in less than a decade.”

Dr. Arun Swaminath directs the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He agreed with DuBois that the new study “speaks to the importance of access to affordable health care, not just to reduce colon cancer mortality, but for any number of afflictions which we have the power to mitigate as a society.”

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about colon cancer.

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5 Dirty Hair Styling Hacks

Photo: Courtesy of MIMI/ @sukiwaterhouse

We’ve all been there: You accidentally over-slept and now you have approximately zero minutes to get yourself together and out the door. Showering and perfecting your hair is officially a pipe dream at this point, but what to do? Here, we detail five life-saving tricks to looking presentable, even when a wash is out of the question.

1. The dry shampoo. This product is your best friend. It absorbs excess oil, adds texture, smells incredible, and feels even better. If it were socially acceptable to say so, this product is a shower in a bottle. The best part? It adds much needed volume to your locks and keeps your second-day secret, safe. Clip your hair into two sections (half up, half down) and spray the part from one ear, around the back of your head, all the way to the other ear. Then let your hair down, spray your regular part, and flip your head over. Shake out your hair and you’re set to go.

2. The quick curl-and-go. If your formerly bouncy waves have fallen flat thanks to a night out and an extra long snooze, no worries. Save time by curling just the front pieces of your hair, and leave the back as is. The face-framing pieces will look polished and the back will raise your cool-girl cred (bedhead is in, after all).

Photo: Courtesy of MIMI/ Instagram

3. The slick-back. If your hair is too greasy to handle (it happens), slick it back. Apply a quarter-size dollop of gel to your fingers and run them through your hair. Use a paddle brush to smooth, and apply hair spray to secure.

Photo: Courtesy of MIMI/ Instagram

4. The braid. Braids look complicated, but take very little time and effort. Plus, passersby will be more focused on the intricacy of your braid than the unwashed hair it’s hiding. Part your hair into two sections and secure each into a pigtail braid. Fold one side up and over your head and secure with bobby pins as needed. Repeat for the second braid, et voila!

5. The hat. All you need is a cool topper and you’ll be ready in 60 seconds flat.

Photo: Courtesy of MIMI/ Instagram

Photo Credit: Instagram/ YouTube

This story originally appeared on MIMIChatter.com

MIMI Chatter is an endless stream of beauty content. We bring together the must-knows and the how-tos from your favorite sites, beauty influencers, our editors, and YOU.

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Side plank reach

Strenthen your core and tone your abdominals with this side plank variation

Position on your side, elevated with your elbow on the ground below your shoulder, form a straight line from head to toe. Position feet parallel, one on top of the other.

Move to side plank reach by reaching straight up with your top arm and leg. Perform 10 reaches per side, holding at the top and coming back down to the a side plank.

NEXT: Browse more abdominal exercises or try a Crunch and reach exercise.

Words and workout by Holly Barker, images by James Patrick

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Good at Imagining Aromas? You May Be Prone to Weight Gain

TUESDAY, July 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Your ability to imagine smells could affect your weight, researchers report.

While everyone can imagine something such as a view from a favorite spot, the same is not true of odors, the researchers said. There is wide variation in people’s ability to imagine the smell of pleasant things such as freshly baked bread or cookies, popcorn or a bouquet of roses, they explained.

It’s possible that the ability to imagine food odors might trigger food cravings, they added.

For the new study, researchers asked participants to imagine different types of food and non-food odors. They found that those with a higher body mass index (BMI — an estimate of body fat based on weight and height) were better at imagining smells.

The study was to be presented Tuesday at the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior’s annual meeting in Denver. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

“These findings highlight the need for a more individualistic approach in identifying factors that may increase risk for weight gain,” lead author Barkha Patel, a postdoctoral fellow in neuropsychology and physiology of flavor and feeding at the John B. Pierce Laboratory in New Haven, Conn., said in a society news release.

Previous research has found that obese people are more likely to have food cravings, but this is the first study to examine a possible link between the ability to imagine odors and food cravings, the researchers said.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about weight.

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Brain Chemical Dopamine May Boost Risk-Taking in Healthy People

TUESDAY, July 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Higher levels of the brain chemical dopamine may increase risk-taking behaviors in healthy people, much like dopamine-boosting drugs have been shown to do in people with Parkinson’s disease, a small new study finds.

British researchers discovered that raising dopamine levels in healthy adults led to them taking greater risks when gambling.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with reward-based learning. Previous research has linked drugs that increase dopamine, such as L-DOPA, with compulsive gambling in Parkinson’s disease patients.

The new study included 30 people. They were asked to choose between safe and risky gambling options that resulted in monetary gains and losses. They did this after receiving L-DOPA and again after receiving an inactive placebo.

The participants took more risks to get bigger rewards after receiving L-DOPA, but not the placebo. However, L-DOPA did not affect how often the study volunteers took risks if there was a potential loss, the investigators found.

After receiving L-DOPA, the participants took more risks regardless of how much larger the potential reward was than the safer option, according to the study in the July 8 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Participants were happier to win a small reward while on L-DOPA than on the placebo. They were happier to win a large reward than a small reward while on the placebo, but were equally happy about small rewards and large rewards while on L-DOPA, the findings showed.

L-DOPA made potential rewards more appealing but did not affect the participants’ perception of possible losses, according to study leader Robb Rutledge, of University College London in the United Kingdom, and his colleagues.

The study authors also suggested that while on L-DOPA, the participants might have had similar amounts of dopamine release for all gambling rewards, which may explain why they were equally happy after small and large wins.

These findings offer new insight into how dopamine levels affect decision-making and emotion, according to Nathaniel Daw, a neuroscientist at New York University in New York City, who was not involved in the study.

The study “may help to explain some kinds of gambling and impulse control problems, and also aspects of mood disorders,” he said in a Society for Neuroscience news release.

More information

Read more about risk-taking behaviors, such as gambling, in people being treated for Parkinson’s disease from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.

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Medical Marijuana Ads May Prompt Pot Use Among Teens

TUESDAY, July 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Teens who see ads for medical marijuana are much more likely to use the drug, a new study suggests.

Researchers looked at more than 8,200 students in grades 6, 7 and 8 at 16 middle schools in Southern California in 2010 and 2011.

In the first year, 22 percent of the students said they had seen at least one ad for medical marijuana in the past three months. That number rose to 30 percent the following year.

Students who saw medical marijuana ads were twice as likely as others to either have used marijuana or say they intended to use it in the future, according to the RAND Corp. study published online recently in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

The study does not prove that seeing medical marijuana ads makes teens more likely to use marijuana, but it does raise a number of concerns, the investigators said.

“As prohibitions on marijuana ease and sales of marijuana become more visible, it’s important to think about how we need to change the way we talk to young people about the risks posed by the drug,” study author Elizabeth D’Amico, a senior behavioral scientist at RAND, said in a news release from the nonprofit research organization.

“The lessons we have learned from alcohol — a substance that is legal, but not necessarily safe — may provide guidance about approaches we need to take toward marijuana,” she added.

Ads for medical marijuana appear on billboards, in newspapers and on television, and many medical marijuana dispensaries have visible storefronts, the researchers explained.

Since 2006, the number of Americans who are frequent marijuana users has increased 40 percent, the study authors pointed out in the news release.

“Given that advertising typically tells only one side of the story, prevention efforts must begin to better educate youth about how medical marijuana is used, while also emphasizing the negative effects that marijuana can have on the brain and performance,” D’Amico said.

She also suggested that regulations may be needed to restrict advertising for both medical and recreational marijuana use, similar to controls on alcohol and tobacco advertising.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has more about marijuana.

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Women Spend Far Less on Birth Control Because of ‘Obamacare’

TUESDAY, July 7, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Out-of-pocket costs for prescription birth control have dropped significantly since the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare,” took effect in the United States, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed prescription claims data from a large national insurer. They found that the average out-of-pocket cost for a birth control pill prescription fell from $32.74 in the first six months of 2012 to $20.37 in the first six months of 2013. That represents a 38 percent decrease.

During that same time, the out-of-pocket cost for intrauterine device (IUD) insertion fell from $262.38 to $84.30 — a 68 percent decrease, the findings showed.

The study, published in the July issue of the journal Health Affairs, is the first to examine how prices for prescription birth control have changed since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect, said the researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

“Our study found that before the mandate’s implementation, the cost of contraceptives for women using them represented a significant portion (30 to 44 percent) of total out-of-pocket health care spending,” lead author Nora Becker, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate, said in a university news release.

“We estimate that the ACA is saving the average pill user $255 per year, and the average woman receiving an IUD is saving $248,” Becker said. “Spread over an estimated 6.88 million privately insured oral contraceptive users in the United States, consumer annual contribution to spending on the pill could be reduced by almost $1.5 billion annually.”

The researchers also found decreases in spending on other — less commonly used — types of birth control, including emergency contraception (93 percent), diaphragms and cervical caps (84 percent), the implant (72 percent), and the injection (68 percent).

There were only small declines in spending on the ring (2 percent) and the patch (3 percent), according to the report.

Under the landmark Affordable Care Act, private health insurers must cover prescription contraceptives with no consumer cost sharing. However, out-of-pocket costs haven’t been eliminated because not all brands of contraceptive devices are covered under the requirement. Also, some women in the study were in so-called “grandfathered plans” not yet subject to the new rule, or their employers did not participate for religious reasons, the researchers said.

“It’s possible that by decreasing out-of-pocket expenses, more women will use contraception, or switch to a longer-term method, but additional research is needed to determine both the socioeconomic and health effects for women,” study co-author Daniel Polsky, executive director of the university’s Institute of Health Economics and professor of medicine, said in the news release.

“In the long term, if we do in fact see an increase in the use of contraceptives, that could potentially lead to a lower overall fertility rate, and potentially increased economic opportunities for women and their families,” he added.

More information

The U.S. Office on Women’s Health has more about birth control.

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Pages

barre

Why Are Pro Female Athletes Paid So Much Less Than Their Male Counterparts?

Do High-Tech, Lash-Extending Mascaras Really Work? A (Sort of) Scientific Test

First, the before

The hairy one

The conditioning one

The one with the funky wand

Cost a Barrier to Healthier Diets for Diabetic Kids, Study Shows

Colon Cancer Deaths Falling, Except in 3 U.S. Regions

5 Dirty Hair Styling Hacks

Side plank reach

Good at Imagining Aromas? You May Be Prone to Weight Gain

Brain Chemical Dopamine May Boost Risk-Taking in Healthy People

Medical Marijuana Ads May Prompt Pot Use Among Teens

Women Spend Far Less on Birth Control Because of ‘Obamacare’