Ever struggle to balance two or three important things at the same time?

For Nathaniel Young, it felt like he had an eight-pronged candle that was constantly on fire.

I was trying to work through childhood and teenage traumas while simultaneously working two jobs, establishing my own business, moving out of my parents house for the first time, planning a wedding with my then-fianc, training for a bodybuilding show, and replacing my car with a more reliable one, he says.

What prompted Young to handle so much at once? During his childhood, he experienced a lot of anxiety from body image issues and trying to please his parents. At 14, Young started bodybuilding as a coping mechanism.

At 22, he thought that filling his life with more money, a better relationship, and other seemingly positive things would allow him to let go of the disappointment he still carried.

But not long after Young turned 23, while he was trying to juggle everything, he started experiencing manic episodes.

A doctor prescribed him medication to help him cope with depression, which was his initial diagnosis. I didnt realize until it was too late that the medication I was taking actually enhanced my manic episodes, panic attacks, and anxiety.

The breaking point for me was when I was hospitalized for a week in 2017 for having manic and suicidal episodes as a result of taking myself off my medication without consulting my doctor, he says. During that week, Young realized that he needed to make a change, because his way of handling his life was not working.

Young didnt make the change right away. Four months after his hospitalization, Young was at his heaviest, at 50 pounds overweight (weighing in at 230 pounds). He was spending his money erratically, like putting non-refundable deposits on his wedding without consulting his ex-fianc and spending hundreds of dollars on designer colognes.

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Then, the realization that hed made in the hospitalthat he needed to make a changereally set in. He started consistently going to therapy and he ended his engagement with his fianc. Theyd both come to the realization that they were just not meant to be together, especially after the stress hed felt he put on the relationship with his previously deteriorating mental state.

I also began to train as if I had a bodybuilding competition lined up, he says. Young ran around his neighborhood in the mornings, and lifted weights in the evenings. He returned to the gym hed gone to when he was 16 to start his own training business.

Over the course of the next year he lost the entire 50 pounds hed gained, he placed in the top 5 of his division in a body building competition, and he quickly built his training business.

What kept me motivated was that I had completely severed my ties to my past life. I was making a fresh start and I was determined to create a life for myself I never had. As a result, I started living my life like I had everything to live for as opposed to living like I have nothing to lose.

By working on his mental healththrough therapy and at by transforming his overall health through fitnessYoung feels like hes now living his best life.

I have much more confidence in myself and what I am doing with my life. I can walk with my truth, proudly knowing that what I have done does not define who I am, and that I am bigger than my mistakes.

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Fitness and Therapy Helped This Guy Drop 50 Pounds - Weight Loss - Men's Health

Past studies suggesting that eating salt can help you shed the kilos may have encouraged a heavy hand with the salt shaker, but a new study suggests that more salt does not, in fact, promote weight loss.

The study, led by Stephen Juraschek, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), supports the traditional notion that decreasing sodium intake is important in managing hypertension.

Reducing sodium intake in adults with elevated blood pressure or hypertension decreased their thirst, urine volume, and blood pressure, the research revealed. However, it did not affect their metabolic energy needs.

The results were published in the journal Hypertension.

Salt vs. sodium: whats the difference?

Salt is made up of sodium and chlorine and the sodium part is what is responsible for raising your blood pressure. Although word sodium is often used interchangeably with salt, you need to multiply the sodium figure by 2.5 if you want to determine the amount of salt youre dealing with.

The study

Using data from a well-controlled, 2001 study with 400 participants who followed two distinct diets Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-Sodium trial, and a typical, controlled American diet researchers analysed the effects of three different levels of sodium intake (low, medium, and high) on participants blood pressure.

In their secondary analysis of the DASH-Sodium trial, they measured the impact of sodium intake on participants energy intake, weight, self-reported thirst, and 24-hour urine volume.

They found that while reduced sodium intake did not affect the amount of energy required to maintain a stable weight, it did, however, decrease participants thirst. Urine volume was either unchanged or lower with reduced sodium intake.

The results suggest that in adults with elevated blood pressure or hypertension, reducing sodium intake could decrease thirst, and therefore fluid intake and urine volume, as well as blood pressure.

When youre thirsty, your body is telling you that theres not enough water to support the amount of sodium in your system, so it sends a signal to your brain to drink more, explained Mandy Enright to Womens Health.

"Our study contributes meaningfully to this scientific debate and underscores the importance of sodium reduction as a means to lower blood pressure," Juraschek said.

Salt: friend or foe?

Even if you dont have hypertension, its still wise to cut back on the salt and reduce your blood pressure. Keeping your blood pressure under control means youre helping to reduce your heart disease risk, risk of stroke, brain haemorrhage and kidney failure.

Even if you dont add salt to your meals during or after cooking, there are hidden salts in processed foods that can escalate your intake. The scary part is that we dont even realise it. Get this: up to 70% of the salt in our diets is hidden in processed foods, including foods that dont necessarily taste salty, such as bread, butter, cheese, breakfast cereals and pastas. Salt water is also injected into many fresh and frozen meats to make them juicier and increase volume.

The recommended limit

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa (HSFSA)notes that our body needs salt to survive, but only small amounts. According to the Foundation, high blood pressure is responsible for one in two strokes and two in five heart attacks in South Africa.

South Africans consume, on average, 8.5g of salt per day, yet the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends limiting salt intake to no more than 5g per person per day (equivalent to one level teaspoon).

Moderation is key, and here are a few basic tips for reducing salt in your diet:

Image credit: iStock

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The truth about salt and weight loss - Health24

Kevin Smith, the actor-director-comedian known for playing Silent Bob cant stop talking about his weight loss! The comedian always warns about the scatological side effects of the fat blockers he took circa 2000, the most ludicrous thing Ive done to lose weight. I was shitting pizza grease, he says.

It all began when the director suffered a major heart attack on February 25, 2018. Kevin Smiths weight-loss experimenting caused wild fluctuationsup to 80 poundsand culminated when his heart stopped beating between stand-up sets at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California. Technically speaking, the actor suffered an acute myocardial infarction, a 100 percent blockage of the anterior descending artery. The widowmaker. As Smith says, After years of doing the yo-yo, the heart attack was like, Yo!

High on a fentanyl drip, he lay in a room at Adventist Health Glendale with only a 20 percent chance of survival as the cardiologist placed a stent and performed emergency angioplasty. The director sang out loud the theme song to the tween TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation because it was very hopeful, he explains. Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through...

Kevin Smith penned down these words about his weight loss:

Six months ago from right now, I was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack Id had the night before. When I went to my Doctor a week later, she told me, The best thing you can do for yourself now is to lose 50 pounds. Half a year later, I can report that I followed Doctors orders: I started at 256 and now I weigh 205. This is the lightest Ive been since high school! My hope now is I can slowly lose another 10 with #weightwatchersand get down to my birth weight of 195! But for now, Im ecstatic to have reached this chunky milestone!

Today the director is consistent with his vegan and low-sugar diet and practices portion control. He is even practicing scanning labels using the WW app. He recently became an ambassador for the program formerly known as Weight Watchers. Moreover, to get rid of any bad cholesterol and inflammation, he takes Lipitor.

Kevin Smith, 47, suffered a heart attack on Feb. 25 in between shows in California. When the doctor told him if he hadnt canceled the second show and rushed to the hospital, Kevin Smith realized that he wouldve died.

The New Jersey native said doctors informed him the heart attack he suffered is known as a widowmaker, which gets its nickname from its low survival rate. Smith suffered from a 100 percent blockage in the left anterior descending artery (LAD), one of three arteries that supply blood flow to the heart.

The Comic Book Men host didnt even know he had suffered a heart attack until he was in the operating room. He was awake as doctors went through his groin to insert a stent in his heart to save his life.

In classic Smith fashion, he said he was singing the uplifting theme song to Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian teen television show, as the doctors worked on him. I was talking the whole operation, Smith said. (The doctor) told me later on, Youre very chatty.

The stent gave him immediate relief when doctors opened it.

I felt like instantly better, he said. It made sense, none of the blood was going through there for who knows how long. I had 100 percent blockage, so I wasnt getting proper oxygen. So now I feel great.

Smith immediately had a 20-pound weight loss only two weeks after his heart attack and said

that he has now lost 32 pounds on the way to his goal of losing 50 pounds.

This is the weight I was when I met my wife, he said. This is a good weight to be at. Last time I weighed this little, I scored big time.

Half a year later, he started at 256 then weighed 205. This is the lightest Ive been since high school! My hope now is I can slowly lose another 10 with #weightwatchersand get down to my birth weight of 195! But for now, Im ecstatic to have reached this chunky milestone!

In 2019, Kevin Smith has reached another weight loss milestone within six months after suffering a massive heart attack. Now a Weight Watchers ambassador, he has shed another 51 pounds by switching to a vegan diet.

The Clerks director known for his Silent Bob character tweeted in 2018 that he was officially down 20 pounds after crediting a weight loss plan celeb pal Penn Jillette wrote about, in his book Presto.

Kevin Smith credited magician Penn Jillette for introducing him to the Just Sides diet, or to use his own words, getting me started with (this) potato famine.

Yes, after his heart attack, Smith tried an all-potato diet and then graduated to a broader plant-based plan similar to the one his daughter follows. After 25 years afatal error, going vegan was the easiest way but not prettiest way to shed pounds. Nobody wants to hear that, he says, and I dont blame them. I dont care how you prepare them; vegetables suck compared to a piece of cake or a steak. But I think of it this way: I know what that stuff tastes like. And its not going anywhere.

Kevin has always given a shout-out to his vegan daughter, Harley Quinn. He called her the little vegan astronaut who explored this meatless/milkless galaxy ahead of me.

He continued, Since I never wanted to see the inside of a hospital ever again, I simply copied the Kid. So this wasnt a diet: these results came from a total lifestyle change of eating solely plant-based foods (which is tough because I hate vegetables).

Smiths experience with mortality has given Smith a new perspective: I ate the way I wanted to for 47 years; I will try the way Im supposed to for one year and see what happens.

Kevin Smith has a one hour walk, every single day, with his furry personal trainer Shecky, a miniature dachshund) Actually, she takes me, he says. She drags meto the top of Runyon Canyon, near his home in the Hollywood Hills.

The director posted this on Instagram in celebration of dropping 51 lbs:

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This @weightwatchers Ambassador is thrilled to announce that IVE LOST 51 POUNDS! Six months ago from right now, I was in the hospital recovering from a heart attack Id had the night before. When I went to my Doctor a week later, she told me The best thing you can do for yourself now is to lose 50 pounds. Half a year later, I can report that I followed Doctors orders: I started at 256 and now I weigh 205. This is the lightest Ive been since high school! My hope now is I can slowly lose another 10 with #weightwatchers and get down to my birth weight of 195! But for now, Im ecstatic to have reached this chunky milestone! I wanna thank #pennjillette for his book #presto, @raycronise for getting me started with his potato famine, and the good folks at #weightwatchers for their app-based program that made it easy to keep track of and control my eating! And I also wanna thank my kid @harleyquinnsmith the little vegan astronaut who explored this meatless/milkless galaxy ahead of me, leading by example. Since I never wanted to see the inside of a hospital ever again, I simply copied the Kid. So this wasnt a diet: these results came from a total lifestyle change of eating solely plant-based foods (which is tough because I hate vegetables). But mostly, I wanna thank all of you as well for the kind and encouraging words along the way. Never underestimate the power of positive feedback: you folks telling me I looked better or healthier helped me stick with it. An encouraging word can really make a difference in someones life and your compliments kept me going! And just look where I went! #KevinSmith #WWambassador #WWFreestyle #WWFamily #WWBros #weightlosstransformation #weightloss #WWCommunity #ad *People following the Weight Watchers program can expect to lose 1-2lbs per week.

A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Aug 26, 2018 at 12:56pm PDT

Even though Kevin Smith has no one else to praise but himself for his weight loss, he thanked his then teen daughter Harley Quinn Smith, who he said turned him on to a plant-based diet. Not only that he also took time the time to thank his fans for their support:

But mostly, I wanna thank all of you as well for the kind and encouraging words along the way, Smith wrote. Never underestimate the power of positive feedback: you folks telling me I looked better or healthier helped me stick with it. An encouraging word can really make a difference in someones life and your compliments kept me going!

Read more:
Kevin Smith Weight Loss Strategies That You Can Easily Follow - Daily Hawker

For those who have recently embarked on a weight loss journey, its likely your body is now fighting the weight loss and you are now on a slow but steady return to your starting weight, says Dr Fuller.

In fact, fewer than 5% of people succeed on their weight loss and dieting journeys long-term - due to our biology. And its the very reason why diets dont work. However, new research shows you can lose weight and prevent weight regain with theInterval Weight Lossapproach.

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Body weight fluctuates enormously from day-to-day and therefore it is important to just monitor the trend over time. Weekly weighing is best pick the time and day that you prefer and record your weight each week.

Dieting has led us to believe that we should be restricting the volume of food we put into our body. However, when you deprive yourself of food, your body shuts down by lowering its metabolism. Instead, you should be focusing on eating more food plenty of nutrient-rich food will help speed up your metabolism and help you with your weight loss goals and prevent weight regain.

New research has shown you can prevent your body fighting itself and prevent weight regain by losing weight in short 4-week intervals using theInterval Weight Lossmethod. Every second month you should aim to maintain your weight from the month before to prevent your body working differently. When you lose weight with diets, your body fights itself your appetite hormones change, telling you to eat more, and your metabolism drops so you burn less fat. This is why you regain the weight you lose.

We have a very hard time saying no to our favourite foods, however, foods that are naturally high in sugar and fat, such as avocado, nuts and fruit, release the same feel-good pleasure response in the brain as processed and fast food. Surround yourself with these foods to avoid the temptation of going to the vending machine or visiting your favourite take-away outlet.

Counting calories is a complete waste of time. Your body is far smarter than calories in versus calories out, and many nutrition labels and calorie-counting apps are not accurate. Take nuts and evegtables for example, 20% of the calories from nuts are not absorbed in the body and these are the very foods that will help on your long-term weight loss journey, not hinder it.

You might also like:

How to lose weight with these 5 easy food swaps

Dr Fuller's new book is called Interval Weight Loss For Women and you can buy it for $32.99.

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How to lose weight and keep it off - Better Homes and Gardens

While intermittent fasting and the keto diet are two of the most hyped mediums of weight loss, a lot of people are unaware of the fact that you can actually combine the two to tailor your fitness regime. 24-year-old Mohanish Rajendra Devrukhkar, a personal trainer and an online fitness coach, tells us that he was able to trim from 128 kg to 95 kg in 7 months by mixing the two approaches along with following a dedicated exercise routine.

He shares that growing up, he wanted to become a cricket player but got injured and the injury led him to commence following a fitter lifestyle. I like to think that my injury brought me into the beautiful world of fitness, he says and also breaks down his weight loss journey below.

I weighed 128 kg when I commenced my weight loss journey, and speaking from experience the first and foremost step of any weight loss and body transformation journey is acceptance. You have to accept your body first and then take steps to change it! I did, by embarking on the below weight loss plan.

I started with indulging in lots and lots of cardio in the gym. I was a foodie as well so being on a constant diet was very tough for me but then I got to know about the keto diet. It worked wonders for me because I am a meat lover and also helped me stick to one diet for a long period of time.

A keto diet (also known as the ketogenic diet) is a special diet plan that ensures you are eating foods that are high in fat (about 70 per cent), moderate in protein (about 25 per cent) and extremely low in carbohydrates (about 5 per cent). The main purpose of this diet is to help your body achieve the state of ketosis. When in ketosis, your body is constantly burning fat at a very high rate.

QUICK READ: What is the ketogenic diet and how does it help you lose weight

"Post following keto for a bit, I shifted my focus to weight training with a good amount of daily cardio and a cross training session once every week in the gym. With this new change in my routine, I started following a 16:8 intermittent fasting split alongside keto.

Intermittent Fasting (popularly also known as IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesnt specify which foods you can or cannot eat when you break your fast, but only on the duration of the fast, which often ranges between a 12-hour to 20-hour window.

There are many IF patterns that you can follow the 12:12 method (fasting for 12 hours and eating during the next 12), the 5:2 method (eating regularly for 5 days and then fasting or eating very little for the next 2 days), the Warrior Diet (fasting for 20 hours and eating only during the remaining 4-hour window) and the 16:8 method (fasting for 16 hours and eating during the next 8 hours of the day). Notably, the 16:8 diet is regarded as the most effective intermittent fasting plan.

Follow a 16:8 pattern of eating and consume only keto-friendly food during the eating window. This will help your body achieve ketosis at an even faster rate.

"Currently, I am not trying to maintain my weight as there is no maintenancefor me, it is improvement. You need to always improve when it comes to fitness! I lost 33 kg in 2016, and since then have improved my physique every single day."

Disclaimer: The fitness journey, diet and workout routines shared by the respondents are purely for inspirational purposes and in no way intend to propagate a specific body type. Please consult an authorised medical professional before following any specific diet or workout routine mentioned above.

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Weight loss tips: How to combine intermittent fasting & keto to lose weight, according to this guy who lost 33 kg - GQ India

No White Diet for weight loss: This is one of the popular diets right now that many weight watchers are following. Know all the deets of it right here.

There is n number of information on several fad diets online. Speaking of one diet which has been gaining a lot of popularity off late, No White Diet which is also known as No white food diet. For the unversed, many people are following the same to achieve weight loss goals. In the same, one has to skip food items that are made of white flours, starch and sugar as these foods are mostly processed and have a high amount of carbs and are also high on glycemic index scale. These foodstuffs also hardly offer any nutritional value.

So, in order to lose weight one can either stop or try to consume less 'white foods'. These foods will not only help weight watchers but also for diabetics. If you a diabetic and want to lose weight then avoid foods that have bad carbs, high-calorie foods such as biscuits, junk food, sweets, and aerated drinks.One should not simply judge the food on the basis of the color of the food as there many white foods that are healthy. For instance, dairy products such as yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, chicken, coconut and cauliflower among others have great nutritional profiles even though they are white. Interestingly, these products actually aid weight loss.

Fruits and veggies

Aside from potatoes and white beans, one can include all other colourful fruits and vegetables. One can replace these two with sweet potatoes and kidney beans. As per some proponents of this diet, they advise avoiding fruit juice.

Protein-rich food items

One can include white fish and white meat chicken. Nuts and non-white legumes can also be added.

Dairy products

As mentioned above, one should include dairy products as they provide a host of health benefits. Some protein-rich dairy products also aid in weight loss.

Healthy alternatives:

Instead of going for white bread, try and involve, multigrain and brown ones.

Instead of white pasta one can go for wheat or semolina pasta or zucchini noodles.

One can avoid rice and replace it with brown rice or quinoa.

Go for brown sugar, stevia, erythritol and other healthy alternatives of sugar.

One can use pink Himalayan salt instead of white table salt.

So, ideally avoiding junk, sugar-laden and processed foods and checking the nutritional value of the food items is actually important while following the diet. Along with diets, one should also include exercising in their daily routine.

NOTE: Before you start following any particular diet, it's best to consult a certified nutritionist.

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No white diet for weight loss: What to eat and not to eat while following this diet? - PINKVILLA

Calls for sporting organisations to improve education for coaches and athletes

The practice of rapid weight loss (RWL) in order to make weight for competition is common across a range of weight category sports; however the sources of information in support of these practices, specifically among mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes and powerlifters, is a cause for concern, according to research from Dublin City University.

The research, involving lead academics Dr Brendan Egan, David Nolan and John Connor from the School of Health and Human Performance profiled over 260 athletes engaging in RWL prior to competing.

They found that the practices varied considerably between sports in terms of both methods and magnitude; but common to both sports was that much of the practices were influenced by coaches and fellow athletes, whereas medical and health professionals including dietitians had minimal contributions.

The findings have prompted calls for a more comprehensive examination of the trends, with a view to establishing protocols to safeguard athlete wellbeing and also for governing sports bodies to assume a role in advising athletes and coaches.

Rapid weight loss is frequently carried out in sports that have weight class restrictions, and includes wrestling, judo, boxing, taekwondo,horse riding, rowing, and the aforementioned MMA and powerlifting.

Generally speaking, it involves athletes cutting weight in the 48 hours before competition through a variety of means that reduce food contents from the gut and overall body water content through dehydration.

The practices vary between sports, depending on factors such as the time from weigh-in to competition and the historical/cultural practices of the sport.

Drinking up to ten litres of water per day in a process known as water loading, lengthy fasting periods, immersion in hot salt water baths, and time in the sauna were some of the most frequent methods employed for rapid weight loss by these athletes.

A major difference between powerlifters and MMA fighters is the time from weigh-in to competition being two hours versus thirty hours respectively.

Therefore, the difference in time to adequately replenish fuel and fluid stores after weigh-in (termed Rapid Weight Gain) may explain why MMA fighters lose on average 8% of their body weight shortly before weigh-in whereas this is closer to 3% of body weight for powerlifters.

Dr Brendan Egan, DCU School of Health and Human Performance said:

Rapid weight loss practices have been around for a long time in these sports, and as long as there are weight categories, athletes will look to gain a competitive advantage using these practices.

It is important to understand which methods are being used, and how widely they are being used, and in turn understand which individuals are most influential in providing information to athletes about these practices.

Clearly there is scope to improve the quality of information provided to athletes across a range of sports, but there is also a lot more research needed on the effectiveness and safety of the methods presently being used.

Key Findings:

The prevalence of RWL in the sample cohort of MMA athletes is generally greater than 95% while in the sample of powerlifters it stood at 86%.

The prevalence of RWL in female powerlifters is over 90% and 83% for their male counterparts.

The body mass loss in RWL for powerlifters scored quite low at less than 3% body mass in contrast to MMA being less than 8%.

The body mass loss as part of the RWL process is greater in MMA than other sports and RWL is generally greater in MMA than other combat sport athletes.

The opportunity for recovery in powerlifting is reduced by the fact that weigh-in before competition is usually two hours beforehand, leaving little time for recovery of fuel and fluid stores reduced by RWL and thus impacting strength; a key element of powerlifting.

The methods used most commonly by Irish MMA athletes were those that reduced body water stores i.e; water loading, fluid restriction and hot salt baths. Winter or plastic suits, spitting, laxatives, diuretics, diet pills and vomiting (all RWL methods) are not commonly used in the MMA or powerlifters sample cohort.

There were higher RWL scores in professional athletes compared to amateur fights indicating greater severity of RWL by professional fighters.

The differences in methods of RWL between other combat and weight category sports remain to be explored.

Several factors are at play including the culture of the sport, the number of weigh-ins and the duration of the time period from weigh-in to competition.

Fellow fighters and coaches were the most influential sources of information in both powerlifters and MMA athletes whereas health and fitness professionals such as doctors and dietitians had limited influence.

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Self Reported Prevalence, Magnitude and Methods of Rapid Weight Loss in Male and Female Powerlifters authored by David Nolan, DCU School of Health and Human Performance, Arthur E Lynch, Dept of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick and Brendan Egan, DCU School of Health and Human Performance and Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, Florida was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in January 2020.

Prevalence, magnitude and methods of rapid weight loss reported by mixed martial arts athletes in Ireland authored by John Connor and Brendan Egan of the DCU School of Health and Human Performance is published in the Journal, Sports (Basel) in September 2019

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Sources of info on Rapid Weight Loss methods used by athletes a cause for concern - Dublin City University