Why Donald Trump should play even more golf | Patrick Barkham

Scrolling through Twitter last night, I wondered why I felt so well. Not smug, just mystified by a mental and physical glow that made me strangely impervious to the toxic aspects of social media.

It had been an unmemorable weekend. I’d had a distressing argument with one daughter over her disinclination to go swimming; visited a garden centre without buying anything; spotted a marsh harrier; and played “the wheelbarrow game” in the garden, which involves carting one child in a wheelbarrow in pursuit of the others.

Then I read an interview with Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix, who mentioned that we spend on average 5% of our day outdoors. I totted up my 15-hour Sunday: I’d spent exactly half outside.

We’re oblivious to one of our most obvious requirements. Homo sapiens is supremely adaptable, but westerners have lived predominantly inside for 10 generations at most. We need air, sky and some kind of engagement with the earth – but we’re bouncing off mental and physical walls.

There’s no intrinsic moral blessing to it. We may be shooting grouse, paintballing, cycling, gardening or climbing rocks, but a big portion of the pleasure is simply being outdoors.

There’s a furore about Donald Trump playing golf so often in the first weeks of his presidency. This might just be keeping him calm and sane. Play on, Mr President.

The west does not need the grinding physical labour that sent farm labourers to an early grave, but we must reimagine work and schooling to permit more time outdoors. We’d be wise to protect green space in cities and allow more of the solar-powered, pollution-fighting machines otherwise known as trees, which enhance our wellbeing more than we realise.

These are not new arguments. Octavia Hill, a co-founder of the National Trust, was banging on about “open-air sitting rooms” for the urban poor in the 1870s. But we now have neuroscience to prove what we overlook: we need nature far more than it needs us.

The nitrogen nightmare

‘Thuggish’ species such as nettles thrive on excessive nitrogen and ammonia, smothering rarer wildflowers Photograph: Alamy

Detoxifying the air is our most immediately pressing environmental challenge – for obvious, self-interested reasons. Less obvious is the impact of air pollution on plants. Nitrogen and ammonia unleashed by burning fossil fuels, traffic and farm fertilisers are having a devastating impact on plants, according to the charity Plantlife. A staggering 90% of nature-rich habitats in England and Wales are suffering from excess nitrogen. In such conditions, a few “thuggish” species such as nettles thrive, smothering rarer wildflowers, fungi, lichen and the invertebrates that depend on them.

We need to talk about nitrogen, says Plantlife. We do. And somewhere in a parallel, enlightened world, politicians sport baseball caps embossed with the vote-winning slogan: Reduce nitrogen Deposition Now.

Notes on a very small island

The British Isles is an archipelago of about 6,000 islands but we lost a big one, Doggerland, 8,000 years ago. Our neolithic forebears would have been delighted by plans to rebuild a 2.5 sq mile island on Dogger Bank, in the North Sea. The old Doggerland was swamped by rising seas; Doggerland 2.0 will be devoted to renewable energy, helping to lessen the sea-level rise caused by global warming.

Sadly for romantics, this idealistic island is called the North Sea Wind Power Hub, and will be built by energy companies from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. This is our ancestral home. We must participate, if only to preserve the Doggerland brand. But I suppose Brexit means we’re a lonely set of small islands these days.

A fishing boat in the North Sea, where there are plans to build a 2.5 sq mile island on Dogger Bank. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Why Donald Trump should play even more golf | Patrick Barkham

Sneakernomics: How Golf Misplaced The Millennials

ESPN.com reported that Dick’s Sporting Products had laid off far more than 500 PGA pros who worked in Dick’s golf retailers.  Dick’s employed to brag that they had been the greatest employer of PGA pros right after the PGA itself.

On a conference Contact in May possibly, CEO Ed stack stated, “The much more concerning and unpredictable situation is the golf company. We anticipated softness, but as an alternative we saw important decline with Golf Galaxy down 10.four% and the Dick’s Sporting Products golf company off by higher single-digits. Our all round golf organization missed our very first quarter 2014 revenue program by roughly $ 34 million. We really do not truly feel we’ve discovered the bottom nevertheless in the golf product sales number.”

It is not the economic downturn

Golf rounds fell sharply at the starting of the Bush Recession. But as the economic system has enhanced, and the recession officially ended, rounds have not bounced back.  Some elders lost also significantly of their retirement cost savings in the recession to devote on golf, but the true concern is considerably deeper than that.

Overheated gear industry

In purchase to offset the decline in rounds, golf producers released too numerous new and competing technologies.  If two key product releases a yr worked, then why not 4?  If that worked then why not far more?  New releases have been coming out so often that the consuming public could not hold up. Now we have a glut of goods, deeply discounted, which are not moving off the shelves.  The hangover from this glut will influence the industry for years.

Consolidation masks genuine situation

Big Box golf retailers showed good development in the early days of the economic downturn.  But that development largely came from business consolidation.  As programs closed, so did the professional retailers.  The failing golf company forced mom and pop golf outlets to shutter.  Market place share flowed to huge box, masking the underlying trend.

What genuinely took place?

What happened to generate this reversal of fortune?  The Golf Sector failed to attract Millennials to the game. The National Golf Basis said there have been 400,000 fewer golfers in 2013, with 200,000 of the decline coming from Millennials.  Considering that Millennials signify 25% of the nation’s population, this decline is devastating to the sport.

So, why do not millennials play golf?

Golf is also time consuming

Millennials value ease, pace and efficiency in their endeavors. Raised on the web, “instant gratification” is the expectation.  4+ hours basically carrying out the very same thing above and over is towards the idea of Pace and efficiency.

Golf is exclusive

Millennials are the most inclusive generation.  They want to share their experiences with as several buddies as feasible.  Golf says, “All of you can perform, as lengthy as it no a lot more than 4.”  Boomers value exclusiveness. The idea of paying out to have the privilege of exclusive membership to perform golf is counter to millennial values.

Sneakernomics: How Golf Misplaced The Millennials

Existence coach: how can I improve my golf game?

If you can afford it, have a couple of individual lessons as a starter, followed by some less costly group lessons. Golfing ranges frequently offer them, and will also have putting greens on which to practise. Getting an individual else along with you, who is also making an attempt to discover and improve, will make it far more pleasant.

Go through a lot more: Life coach: can rest clinics help cure insomnia?

Read far more: Lifecoach: how can I deal with neck soreness?

Soon after a few lessons, try to discover a 9-hole course and see how you get on with your new-identified information. Ideally, it would be very good to have at least experimented with every club in the bag many instances ahead of you try an 18-hole course.

I assume, in your query, you are referring to a golf personal computer simulator? There are some extremely very good ones on the market but these should come only right after you have had very good solid practice in true time. You want sensible expectations and a sense of humour. Otherwise golf will grow to be a chore.

Even though they can’t replicate the scenario on a real course – and I wouldn’t depend on them entirely – golf simulators can give you some beneficial statistical suggestions, and at least allow you to preserve practising in bad weather (seem at direct-golf.co.uk for tips).

There are a couple of fundamental ideas for a relative new starter to golf: get second-hand gear because you do not need a shiny new costly set just yet. Put on relaxed clothing that doesn’t restrict your motion. Constantly warm up and practise a couple of “air” swings to mobilise your joints. Keep flexible, and don’t forget the fitter you are, the more your game will enhance.

A continuous wine

Q: Wine never ever utilized to give me a headache, but now, in my thirties, just a glass of it gives me an almost quick ache behind my eyes. Why?

A: Sara Stanner writes

It is not clear why some men and women experience serious headaches or migraines right after drinking wine, but it is believed that this may well be due to compounds called vasoactive amines.

These substances, such as histamine and tyramine, are naturally occurring chemical substances found in wine, beer and other fermented drinks as well as food items which includes pickles, cheese and cured or processed meats. Some individuals cannot break down these chemicals as easily as other people, and they can trigger irritation of blood vessels, major to headaches and allergy-like signs. The quantity of histamine-wealthy meals that can be tolerated will vary from person to man or woman and may possibly properly change with age.

Certainly the symptoms are probably to be worse the a lot more you drink but lighter-coloured beverages (e.g. white wine) might be far better tolerated than dark ones (e.g. red wine). An additional key aspect is dehydration which causes many signs and symptoms linked with drinking alcohol, such as headaches and nausea. So drink a lot of water prior to and soon after consuming any alcohol.

Ticklish cough dilemma

Q: Getting had an asthmatic cough for much more than 20 years managed with various inhalers, 12 months in the past I began to cough a lot and have just been signed off by the advisor with bronchiectasis. No medication was mentioned except to preserve taking the Seretide a hundred inhaler. As this no longer controls my cough, do you have any suggestions for an alternative?

A: Dr Dan Rutherford writes

One particular perform of the myriad tiny air tubes in the lungs is the production and clearing of mucus, which sweeps the tubes clear of particles, which includes bacteria. When this clearing up process fails to function properly, mucus builds up and often gets to be contaminated. This can result in even more injury to the airway tubes and so the method goes on.

This is what is generally happening in bronchiectasis. The first occasion may possibly be a significant chest infection this kind of as pneumonia or whooping cough in childhood that leads to airway harm, and this commences the vicious cycle in later on daily life. Cystic fibrosis is amongst a modest quantity of genetic problems in which bronchiectasis takes place due to impaired mucus clearance, but a whole lot of adults with bronchiectasis have no clear cause why they acquired it.

The broken tubes are wider than standard and act as reservoirs for mucus. Extended courses of antibiotics may be necessary to clear the sputum if it is contaminated. Exercises and tips from a physiotherapist will demonstrate you how to aid by yourself by draining the impacted tubes greater.

It is essential that your asthma treatment is optimum so that your airway tubes are often as open as they can be, and it’s vital to steer clear of irritants such as smoke. See bronchiectasishelp.org.uk/ for a lot more.

Nuts: roasted or raw?

Q: I locate roasted nuts significantly far more tasty than natural ones, but can you inform me if a lot of the nutrient value is lost in the roasting approach, or certainly, if something nasty is added?

A: Sara Stanner writes

There has been tons of research hunting at the overall health effects of nuts in latest years. Though they are higher in fat and calories, they mostly incorporate the healthier unsaturated fatty acids which can help to lower blood cholesterol. This is possibly why diet plans containing nuts have been linked with minimal prices of heart ailment.

Nuts also provide vitamin E and B nutritional vitamins, amid other individuals, and a variety of minerals such as selenium and zinc (important for immune function), calcium and magnesium (which maintain bones robust) and potassium (which can support reduced blood pressure).

Which includes a small quantity of nuts in your diet plan can support with appetite handle and bodyweight reduction. This is considered to be simply because the blend of fibre, protein and unwanted fat is filling and requires longer to digest. But, since of their large calorie count, try to keep to a handful a day.

There is small big difference in the nutrient content of raw and roasted nuts. Roasting decreases the water material, producing the nutrients far more concentrated, but may reduce the B nutritional vitamins as these are not heat-stable. The main problem is that a lot of roasted nuts are salted so they have a large sodium articles. Too much sodium is linked to high blood stress so decide on unsalted nuts exactly where attainable.

Some types of roasted nuts have extra flavour enhancers (which are authorized for use following a full safety evaluation). If you want an option to buying roasted nuts you could purchase plain ones and give them a swift toast in the frying pan for far more flavour without any extra salt or additives.

*Send your concerns to lifecoach@telegraph.co.united kingdom, or to 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT

Existence coach: how can I improve my golf game?