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KAICIID Trains Journalists to Use Dialogue, Media in Conflict Settlement

The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
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KAICIID Trains Journalists to Use Dialogue, Media in Conflict Settlement

The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The participants acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts. (Asharq Al-Awsat).

The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) held a training workshop that hosted 32 Arab journalists from different religious and cultural backgrounds in Kuala Lumpur. It focused on understanding conflicts and how to use dialogue and media as efficient tools to address them.

During the second workshop of the Dialogue Journalism Project, the participants improved their knowledge of conflicts, and the decisive role that mediation can play to achieve peace.

They also acquired the necessary skills to use alternative methods to address conflicts by studying different cases of social disputes between two parties and developing sustainable and innovative solutions for these cases.

They trained on drafting “primary agreements” aimed at protecting the rights of all parties and establish peace among them.

Waseem Haddad, program manager in the Arab region, underscored the pivotal role that media can play to enhance coexistence, build sustainable peace, and respect the other who comes from another religious, ethnic, and cultural background. “Media can be a bridge of communication and agreement among different communities, and even among the members of the same community,” he explained.

“Journalists can harness dialogue to resolve conflicts and build communication bridges, which highlights the importance of the Dialogue Journalism Project led by KAICIID in the Arab region,” he said.

The participants said that after five days of various workshops and discussion sessions, they felt more open to accept the other and coexist with them without prejudgments, more committed to fighting hate speech, and more able to enhance peaceful agreements among religions and cultures.

They also acknowledged the importance of joining hands to empower the strategic role of media in promoting dialogue, coexistence, conflict settlement, and peace.

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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)

For many people of a certain age, high school gym class began with reaching for their toes. Then, over the years, we were told it was better to stretch after exercise.

It turns out, both those things can be true, but the differing advice has created some confusion.

Stretching can help make you more flexible, improve range of motion in your joints — and feel good. David Behm, who researches human kinetics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada, offers this advice on when to stretch and how to do it safely:

Warm up first

It’s almost always good to stretch, but it’s better if you warm up first, said Behm, author of "The Science and Physiology of Flexibility and Stretching." He recommends a light aerobic activity such as jogging, walking or cycling for five or 10 minutes.

Follow that with some static stretching, the traditional way of reaching and holding a position (think back to that gym class). You can then do activity-specific dynamic stretching, in which you warm up the muscles with repetitive movements like leg lifts.

Behm says one minute is "the magic number" for how long to do static stretching per muscle group without fatigue.

Expand your definition of 'stretching'

Should you always stretch before exercising? If it's traditional stretching, not necessarily.

The better question, Behm says, is, "Should people increase their range of motion? Should people have better flexibility? And that is yes, because it helps prevent injuries. It helps with health. But you don’t have to stretch to achieve that."

Resistance training, for instance, can be an effective form of stretching, he said. Doing a chest press increases range of motion in your deltoids and pecs, whether with barbells, dumbbells or machines, so there is no need to stretch beforehand. Just make sure to start with a small amount of weight to warm up and then add more to train.

"You probably don’t have to do extra stretching unless you’re a gymnast, a figure skater, or even a golfer who needs a great range of motion through that swing," Behm said.

Nor do you need to stretch first if you’re going for a leisurely run. Simply start with a slow jog to warm up and then increase the pace.

Don't do it if it hurts

After exercise, "light stretching is OK, as long as you don't reach a point where you're feeling pain," Behm said. Since your muscles will be warm by that point, overdoing it makes you more likely to injure yourself.

Foam rollers can help with muscle recovery and have been shown to increase range of motion as well as stretching.

Do some static stretching before sports

If you’re playing a sport, Behm said, static stretching beforehand helps reduce muscle and tendon injury.

"If you’re going to do an explosive movement, change of direction, agility, sprint, any of these explosive activities that involve your muscles and tendons," he said, "you’re going to be stronger if you do static stretching."

People can especially get in trouble when they go back to a sport they used to play, whether it's tennis, surfing or any sort of team activity.

Also, stretch both sides equally. Lacking flexibility on one side also can lead to injury.

Sounds simple. Why all the confusion? Different studies over the years have either encouraged or discouraged stretching before exercise. Behm says that partly because some studies didn't reflect real-life conditions, or were designed with elite athletes in mind, not regular people.

"If you’re Usain Bolt, it makes a difference," said Behm. Not so much for the rest of us.