Creative, Fun and Romantic Ideas for Dates

They say a date can't go wrong with candlelight, flowers, a little wine and mood music, but let's face it, isn't that a little cliche. With a little creativity and imagination you can make every date an affair to remember! The perfect date is said to consist of the following elements:
An element of surprise! This not only tickles your lover's fancy but also adds an air of excitement to the date. The next time you invite him or her out, don't tell her where you are going. Imaginative lovers might even want to blindfold their partners until you reach the surprise destination - a picnic laid out for two in a park or a living room strewn with rose petals.
Creativity. It is definitely time to appeal to your imagination if the two of you find yourself stuck in a rut. Maybe you are renting a video and falling into bed every Friday night or eating at the same restaurant every day. Think of ways to entertain your lover, such as renting costumes and holding your very own "theme" night, complete with food in your apartment.
1.Mutual Interest. Try to remember which interests brought you together in the first place. Check the past to see if you are dragging a disinterested boyfriend to art openings or a bored girlfriend to football games. Are you both interested in art? Try making your own pottery. Do you both love animals? Try a trip to a zoo.
The following suggestions for creative, fun and imaginative dates also might help spice up your relationship as well as delight your partner on a first date!
A Night Under The Stars - Why not take your date to the planetarium to view the constellations from a telescope or watch the stars whirl beneath the dome?! Purists might want to consider finding somewhere private, in your garden or on a beach, laying out a blanket and candles and enjoying an evening together watching the stars in the real sky.

Amusement Park - Bring out your partner's "child within" by treating your partner to cotton candy, rides on the Ferris wheel and shots at winning a stuffed toy.

Old Fashioned Picnic - Pack treats in a wicker hamper and bicycle out to your favorite park to relax in the sun and enjoy long conversations with each other.

Mini-Golf - Even dates that are professional golfers find this mutation of this game to be silly, fun and exciting. The relaxed pace of the game encourages conversation and lots of laughing.

Comedy Club - Liven things up by treating your date to an evening of stand-up comedy at a local club. This is a great suggestion for a first date as you can tell a lot about a person by what material amuses him or her and what material seems corny or offensive.

Zoos and Aquariums - Animals appeal to people's sense of romance, as well as sense of humor. This is also a good suggestion for a first date as observing the antics of animals has a way of breaking the ice.

Women Live Longer, But With More Disability

Although women live about five to ten years longer than men, they appear to experience a greater prevalence of disability in old age, according to a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Women’s Health.

The study is based on health surveys conducted by the Public Health Agency in Barcelona since 1982. The data includes interviews from 4,244 non-institutionalized people older than 64. The prevalence of disability was 30% among men and 53% in women.

"The double burden of work that women experience throughout their lives (domestic work and work outside the home) is a key factor in explaining this difference in different studies," says lead author Albert Espelt. Domestic work is less rewarding than working outside the home, and leads to a greater prevalence of non-fatal diseases such as musculoskeletal problems and depression.

Overall life expectancy in the US was 77.7 in 2006, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Men live on average to age 75.1, while women live to age 80.2. Tom Perls, founder of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University, says one very important reason for the difference is that women develop cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack and stroke, about 10 years later than men.

According to the CDC, as many as one in five women in the US are living with disabilities, a broad term that encompasses a wide range of conditions and diseases. The agency estimates that well over half of all American women older than 65 are living with a disability. The most common chronic conditions associated with disability in the US are back disorders, arthritis, heart disease, respiratory problems, and high blood pressure.

Although women may have certain biological advantages over men, ladies shouldn't take their longer life expectancy for granted. The 2004 gender gap in U.S. life expectancy was the smallest it's been since 1946. If women continue to adopt unhealthy habits, such as poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, and smoking, the gap may narrow further.

Both men and women can influence both life expectancy and risk of developing a disabling condition with simple behavioral and lifestyle changes.

1. Manage your weight. A recent Oxford University study found that even moderate obesity can reduce life expectancy by about 3 years. Severe obesity has been shown to reduce life expectancy by 10 years, an effect equal to that of lifelong smoking.
2. Nutritional status is a key factor to prevent or delay disability in elderly patients, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Vitamin and mineral status, as well as body weight, can be influenced by a healthful, balanced diet of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy, and lean protein sources.
3. Optimal levels of physical activity over the course of the life span can potentially contribute to the prevention of functional disability in old age. These include the direct effects of exercise to delay the onset of disability-related conditions, provide weight management, and reduce stress.
4. Quitting smoking can have a huge impact on life expectancy. The “Action on Smoking and Health” conducted in 2004 found that a 30-year-old smoker can expect to live about 35 more years, while a 30-year-old nonsmoker will likely live about 53 more years.

Stretch Your Legs, Save Your Life

Sitting behind a desk all day or driving in a long commute can already wreak havoc on your back and your backside, and then add to that lazing on the couch after an arduous work week, your body is in danger of too much rest. Especially during the winter where bike rides and long walks with the dog are not motivating ways to get you to go outside and get your heart pumping, recent studies have shown that sitting too much can increase your risk for serious health problems.

Although you are supposed to get between six and ten hours of sleep per day, depending on what your body needs, on the opposite side of the spectrum, being inactive while awake is proving to be more harmful than it is helpful to a lot of areas from your skin and blood circulation to your weight and your overall heart health. Long periods of inactivity will inevitably lead to an influx of pounds because your body will not be burning off the calories you consume during the day. Hospital or at-home patients who are on bed rest (including pregnant women) are often reminded to be rolled over or helped up and moved often in order to stave off bed sores or blood clots, neither of which you want to endure. Even if you stick to an exercise routine and eat a healthy diet of veggies and fruits, if most of your day is spent on your rear, you could still be at a high risk for internal problems down the line.

A 2009 study from Canada backs this up by investigating the periods of rest in different groups who both exercised the same amount per day. The more inactive group ended up having higher risks for cardiovascular disease, for some of which could be fatal. Over 17,000 Canadiens participated in the multi-part study done by the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Scientists studied the length of seated time and theorized that for the group that sat the most, these people were around 50 percent more likely to die in the years allowed for the follow-up process. Although some of the people in this group were obese, the scientists controlled for factors like smoking, age, health problems, alcohol consumption, and weight between the groups.

Sitting for more than four hours—the minimum period of inactivity the scientists deemed more dangerous—they found that allowing the body to become sloppy can lead to a problematic production of lipase, the enzyme secreted by the pancreas that breaks down the fat molecules of your body.

Qualities of Women Leaders

When it comes to leadership, does gender matter? Is there a difference between women leaders and men who lead? If so, what are the unique qualities of female leadership that the most effective women leaders possess, and are they unique to women?
In 2005, a year-long study conducted by Caliper, a Princeton, New Jersey-based management consulting firm, and Aurora, a London-based organization that advances women, identified a number of characteristics that distinguish women leaders from men when it comes to qualities of leadership:

Women leaders are more assertive and persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than male leaders....Women leaders were also found to be more empathetic and flexible, as well as stronger in interpersonal skills than their male counterparts....enabl[ing] them to read situations accurately and take information in from all sides....These women leaders are able to bring others around to their point of view....because they genuinely understand and care about where others are coming from....so that the people they are leading feel more understood, supported and valued.
The Caliper study findings are summarized into four specific statements about women's leadership qualities:
Women leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts.
When feeling the sting of rejection, women leaders learn from adversity and carry on with an "I'll show you" attitude.
Women leaders demonstrate an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making.
Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks.
In her book Why the Best Man for the Job is a Woman: The Unique Female Qualities of Leadership, author Esther Wachs Book examines the careers of fourteen top female executives - among them Meg Whitman, President and CEO of eBay - to learn what makes them so successful. What she discovers echoes the Caliper study, including a willingness to reinvent the rules; an ability to sell their visions; the determination to turn challenges into opportunities; and a focus on 'high touch' in a high tech business world.

This evidence - that the leadership style of women is not simply unique but possibly at odds with what men practice - begs the question: Do these qualities have value in the marketplace? Is this type of leadership welcomed by society and by the public and private sector?

Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, the World YWCA Secretary General, says attitudes toward leadership are changing, and what women offer is essential:

Domination as a leadership style is becoming less and less popular. There is a new growing appreciation of...those traits that women use to keep families together and to organize volunteers to unite and make change in the shared life of communities. These newly admired leadership qualities of shared leadership; nurturance and doing good for others are today not only sought after but also indeed needed to make a difference in the world....A feminine way of leading includes helping the world to understand and be principled about values that really matter.