The Monday after President-elect, Joe Biden won the 2020 elections, he got to work right away with his selection of 13 health experts to lead the COVID-19 Transition Advisory Board. The US is quickly approaching 200,000 cases reported per day and 10 million cases nationwide. This pandemic has not slowed down and with the winter months coming and flu season starting, President Biden has no time to waste in attacking his first 100 days in office.
His approach to tackling the COVID-19 crisis is to 'follow the science', and what a relief it is to rely on facts and science. The board reflects that very thought, by having a mixture of healthcare professionals to create a plan to lead us out of this mess.
So far, what is known about the board is it is co-chaired by three experts: former FDA Commissioner, Dr. David Kessler, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Yale. With varying backgrounds and professional careers, Biden has assured that he has picked the right people to help him get a safe vaccination out to the public as infections soar.
As with his selection for Vice President, Kamala Harris, Biden has chosen three people of color to serve on the board and one of those selections is a woman: Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. Biden and his administration are bringing diversity back to the White House and being a true leader of the free world. With the undeniable presence of not only women but Black women in the White House, we are seeing the beginnings of a cultural shift in the way we think about American politics.
Dr. Nunez-Smith's appointment is nothing short of what we will see in the coming days of the Biden/Harris administration.
Dr. Maracella Nunez-Smith being chosen to co-chair the advisory board is enormously instrumental for several reasons. Her educational background screams black girl magic, and she is not only accomplished but her work is focused around communities that are not always equally represented in healthcare.
Here’s what we know about Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith:
Yale
- Originally, Dr. Nunez-Smith was born in the US Virgin Islands and attended Jefferson Medical College.
- She earned a BA in Biological Anthropology and Psychology at Swarthmore College.
- She is the Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management at Yale University.
- She is also the Associate Dean for Health and Equity Research at Yale's medical school and it specializes in healthcare for marginalized populations.
- Her research focuses on promoting health and healthcare equity for structurally marginalized populations with an emphasis on supporting healthcare workforce diversity and development, developing patient-reported measurements of healthcare quality, and identifying regional strategies to reduce the global burden of non-communicable diseases.
- Dr. Nunez-Smith was the principal investigator for several NIH research projects that developed a tool to assess patient-reported experiences of discrimination in healthcare.
- Dr. Nunez-Smith serves as the advisor to Connecticut's state response to COVID-19.
Dr. Nunez-Smith has investigated the inequities that plague marginalized communities, from being patients to being healthcare students to being healthcare professionals. This often gets overlooked and the stories of these people get lost. Someone like her will understand the need for representation of our data while also doing so with care and honor. Her career goals and objectives scream 'for the culture' and it's just what we need in times like these.
Since COVID-19 has affected communities of color disproportionately, their survival depends on the safety and efficacy of a vaccine. Biden's pick of Dr. Nunez-Smith was very smart in that regard.
There are two other picks for the COVID-19 Transition Advisory Board that are people of color: Ms. Loyce Pace, MPH, Executive Director and President of the Global Health Council, and Dr. Eric Goosby, infectious disease expert, and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. Both of which have extensive careers in healthcare and keen knowledge of marginalized communities.
Many of us are asking the question if we should take a vaccine and how will it affect our community. These appointments say, to me at least, that is a consideration and a nod to certain communities to create trust between this administration and people of color.
Only time will tell but until then, we love to see Black women in the room and at the table.
For more, please read Dr. Nunez-Smith's official bio provided by Yale.
Featured image by Yale
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Again, the answer never changes because, if there is one thing that Shellie Reneé Warren is gonna get, it’s 6-8 (sometimes nine) hours of sleep. However, since my chronotype (check out “Ever Wonder What Personality Traits Make Someone A 'Morning Person'?”) means that I like/prefer to write in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes I will sleep for the night for five hours and take a nap in the day. And y’all, that is just fine with me because I am well aware of the fact that napping does everything from give me more energy, heighten my alertness and even make me more creative to decrease stress levels, strengthen immunity, and reduce my chances of experiencing a heart attack or stroke.
My problem is I will oftentimes go “overboard” with my daytime zzz’s. What I mean by that is, in order to get the most out of a nap, they say thatyou shouldn’t sleep for longer than 25 minutes or so; otherwise, you could wake up feeling sluggish (I don’t but…). Also, it can make resting, soundly, at night a bit of a struggle.
So, what are you saying, Shellie? We should get quickies in? Yeah. And it’s funny that the word “quickie” would come up because just like a sex quickie can do wonders for you (and it can — check out “12 Super Solid Reasons To Have A Quickie Every Single Day”), it’s a full-circle moment when I say that something that can improve the quality of your sex life is to have a power nap (a nap that lasts between 10-30 minutes).
Wanna know how the two things correlate? Honestly, it’s no secret that sleep and sex work together to optimize both (check out “6 Fascinating Ways Sex And Sleep Definitely Go Hand In Hand”). Today, though, we’re going to tap into how a nap, specifically, can have you partaking in some of the best sex that you’ve experienced in a minute. I’ll explain.
Naps Reduce Stress
GiphyIf you’re feeling super stressed out right now, you are not alone. There is plenty of data out here that says that most of us are stressed for at least a couple of reasons at a time — and that can impact your sexual health on a few levels. For one thing, it can bring about feelings of depression and/or anxiety. Stress can also throw your hormone levels off (including your cycle) which can weaken your libido. Stress can make you want to put distance between you and your partner (yes, literally).
Stress can also make it challenging to get aroused or to have an orgasm. And just what can help to decrease stress? Taking a nap. Since sleep has a way of helping you to “get off of the clock” and relax a bit, that can lower your stress levels and “reset” your body so that you are calmer — and that, in turn, can do wonders for your sex drive and ultimately your sex life.
Naps Improve Your Mood
GiphyThere is one person in my life, and fairly 80 percent of the time, she’s in a super good mood. Oh, but let that girl go without sleep, and…who is this woman? LOL. There’s research behind why this happens. When a person is sleep-deprived, it messes with their brain chemicals, and that can amplify emotions like anger, restlessness and sadness. In fact, one study revealed that people who had their sleep disrupted throughout the night, they ended up having their positive outlook on life reduced by about 30 percent.
And geeze, who wants to have sex when they’re not feeling very good? Anyway, since serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps to regulate your moods, your sleep patterns, and your libido and sleep is what helps to keep it in balance — by taking a nap, not only can it help you to feel better, it can also increase your desire for sex (it can also build up your endurance which is also…sexually beneficial).
Naps Increase Your Focus and Concentration
GiphySomething that some of my clients bring up is how, when it comes to having sex, sometimes the flesh is willing while the spirit is weak because, although the desire for intimacy is there, so much is going on that they aren’t able to get still enough to focus on experiencing copulation with their partner. This also tracks because, when you don’t have enough rest, your brain finds itself not working in harmony and that can make it hard to do everything from approaching life with a sense of flexibility to making necessary decisions.
Certain data also reveal that a lack of rest can cause you to have a really poor attention span and not process things in context (the more you know). So, if you really want to get some yet it’s hard for you to focus long enough to make it happen, ask your bae to lie down with you and take a nap. Between the sleep and the snuggling (check out “Fall's Coming: 8 Wonderful Health Benefits Of Cuddling”) — you may wake up with your mind and body totally on the same page. #wink
Naps Can Make You Feel Better About Your Body
GiphyEven if, overall, you feel really good about your body, I think that we all have moments when we feel less attractive than others — and who wants to have sex when they don’t really feel…very sexy? Well, something else that sleep, in general, can do is increase your confidence in your body.
For one thing, if you want to lose a few pounds, sleep can actually make that happen by helping your body metabolize the glucose (sugar) that’s in it so that you can better manage your appetite. Other studies go on to share that since sleep deprivation can impact one’s mental health and emotional stability in a negative way, of course, getting enough rest would increase body positivity.
Shoot, science even goes so far as to say that insomnia can cause people to have an elevated level of dissatisfaction when it comes to their body image. Don’t take their word for it, though. Look in the mirror before a nap. Then look in a mirror after waking up from me. Do you feel better? I’d be surprised if you don’t.
Makes Your Brain Bigger…Which Could Make Your Orgasms Better
GiphyI saved the best for last by design. Now if you’re wondering how in the world a nap can improve (and possibly increase) your orgasms — oh, there is a method to the madness…trust. For starters, the saying that your biggest sex organ is your brain? That isn’t a myth. Long story less long, the brain is what houses your central nervous system and that is what controls how men and women sexually function (yes, literally).
And since the brain also releases feel-good chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin during sex and brain activity significantly increases in women during sexual activity (especially right before she orgasms) — well, would it trip you out to know that when you take a nap, your brain actually expands? A bigger brain (that’s healthy) can potentially intensify your sexual experiences (and your climaxes) — and who doesn’t want that to go down?
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Like I said earlier, I never have to be convinced to get a nap in. However, if your sex life has been a bit stagnant lately, you’ve been feeling a little sluggish and you’re not sure what to do — I’m hoping that a nap can get you right.
There’s enough science to prove that it can. All you need to do is give it a shot.
Now where’s your pillow and sleep mask, chile?
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