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Alternative health info online, is back for 2010 with more articles, health tips and informative ebooks. As we enter the 2nd decade of the 21st century we are challenged as a humanity to discover new ways to address disease and find answers for new diseases such as swine flu, mental disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder plus the continual challenges of healing cancers such as prostrate cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer.
I have rededicated this site to research the latest alternative techniques used to help people find natural cures for disease so we can once again live a healthy and meaningful life.
2010 shall be a landmark year for humanity as we learn to cope with the pressures and demands of a modern life and the complexities that new technologies bring and also as alternative therapies become affordable and available to the general public.
May you find all you need to restore health HERE on this site.
Prasham
If we all stick to our New Year’s resolutions, there will be more healthy, charitable, better educated and well travelled people in 2010 than last year, according to a forecast by an Australian market research firm.
While 2009 saw many people tightening their belts to deal with weak economies and unemployment, business information analysts IBISWorld predicts people will spend more this year on bettering themselves as the economic outlook improves.
“While 2009 was the year for dropping the gym membership and taking up walking and other free activities, improving consumer sentiment and the positive economic outlook mean 2010 will see people rapidly returning to professional help to achieve their fitness and weight loss goals,” said IBISWorld’s Robert Bryant.
“Getting fit has long been a favourite New Year’s pledge, and growing awareness of healthy lifestyles is driving the trend, not to mention the guilt from over-indulging in the festive season.”
IBISWorld predicted revenues for the weight-loss and fitness industry to reap revenues of nearly A$205 million dollars (USD 181 million) in January alone, while people will also spend more on trying to kick bad habits such as drinking and smoking.
More people are also expected to enrol in enrichment courses in January give them the edge in a job market where unemployment is still relatively high or as a way to de-stress — and more will also give money to charity, with IBISWorld forecasting Australians will donate A$412.8 in January.
In a forecast that is expected to cheer the travel industry, IBISWorld predicted Australians will start travelling abroad again in 2010, helping to boost international airline revenues by almost 10%, with Asian destinations such as Bali, Thailand and Japan among the most popular
DOES an activity have to get you out of breath to count as exercise? Do you really have to do half-an-hour a day? Is pumping iron a good way to keep your heart healthy? These are just some of the dilemmas many of us face when working out the best way to get fit. The good news is scientists do broadly agree on the best ways to get fit, they just haven’t been very good at telling us what they’ve discovered.
“We haven’t done a great job of distilling down a large number of studies and say what this means for the average person who’s trying to get in shape,” acknowledges Simon Marshall, a specialist in exercise and sports psychology at San Diego State University in California.
Whether because of a lack of information, or because some of us are just plain lazy, most of us don’t do enough exercise. One recent survey in the UK found that only a third of adults meet the recommended goals for physical activity.
Though we all know that exercise is a good thing, only recently was the extent of its influence on our health established. In the early 20th century, heart attacks were growing steadily more common in the west, and they were seen as a sinister new epidemic. It is now thought there are several explanations for this, ranging from a fall in infectious diseases enabling heart attacks to take the lead, to various changes in society that made lifestyles less healthy.
A key insight into the importance of lifestyle came from a 1953 study of London bus conductors. At the time, London buses not only had a driver but also a conductor, who sold tickets to passengers after they had boarded and sat down. Most of the buses were double-deckers, so the conductors spent a lot of their day walking up and down the stairs.
The landmark study published in The Lancet (vol 262, p 1053) showed that conductors suffered half as many heart attacks as their driver colleagues. “It was the first hint that this new frightening epidemic could be linked to the way we live,” said Jerry Morris, at the time an epidemiologist at the UK’s Medical Research Council, who led the study.
Since Morris’s study, hundreds of other investigations have confirmed the benefits of exercise on the heart and circulation, as well as on almost every other system of the body. Diseases that are prevented by exercise include stroke, cancer, diabetes, liver and kidney disease, osteoporosis and even brain diseases such as dementia and depression.
So how should you go about getting fit? Over the next nine articles, we have set out the latest evidence and exploded some myths along the way. Read on, and you can decide for yourself.
 Lets get physical
 Brain Scan Image Signals from the electrodes seem to show that consciousness arises from the coordinated activity of the entire brain. The signals also take us closer to finding an objective “consciousness signature” that could be used to probe the process in animals and people with brain damage without inserting electrodes.
Previously it wasn’t clear whether a dedicated brain area, or “seat of consciousness”, was responsible for guiding our subjective view of the world, or whether consciousness was the result of concerted activity across the whole brain.
Probing the process has been a challenge, as non-invasive techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and EEG give either spatial or temporal information but not both. The best way to get both simultaneously is to implant electrodes deep inside the skull, but it is difficult to justify this in healthy people for ethical reasons.Brainy opportunity’Consciousness signature’ discovered spanning the brain with electrodes implanted in the brains of people with epilepsy might have resolved an ancient question about consciousness.
Now neuroscientist Raphaël Gaillard of INSERM in Gif sur Yvette, France, and colleagues have taken advantage of a
unique opportunity. They have probed consciousness in 10 people who had intercranial electrodes implanted for
treating drug-resistant epilepsy.
While monitoring signals from these electrodes, Gaillard’s team flashed words in front of the volunteers for just
29 milliseconds. The words were either threatening (kill, anger) or emotionally neutral (cousin, see).
The words were preceded and followed by visual “masks”, which block the words from being consciously processed,
or the masks following the words weren’t used, meaning the words could be consciously processed. The volunteers
had to press a button to indicate the nature of the word, allowing the researchers to confirm whether the
volunteer was conscious of it or not.
Between the 10 volunteers, the researchers received information from a total of 176 electrodes, which covered
almost the whole brain. During the first 300 milliseconds of the experiment, brain activity during both the non-
conscious and conscious tasks was very similar, indicating that the process of consciousness had not kicked in.
But after that, there were several types of brain activity that only occurred in the individuals who were aware
of the words.
Lost seat
First, there was an increase in the voltage levels of the signals in their brains. Second, the frequency and
phase of neurons firing in different parts of the brain seemed to synchronise. Then some of these synchronised
signals appeared to be triggering others. For example, activity in the occipital lobe seemed to cause activity in
the frontal lobe.
Because this activity only occurred in volunteers when they were aware of the words, Gaillard’s team argue that
it constitutes a consciousness signature. As much of this activity was spread across the brain, they say that
consciousness has no single “seat”. “Consciousness is more a question of dynamics, than of a local activity,”
says Gaillard.
Bernard Baars of the Neuroscience Institute in San Diego, California, who proposed a “global access” theory of
consciousness in 1983 agrees: “I’m thrilled by these results.”
He says they provide the “first really solid, direct evidence” for his own theory. He also says that having such
a signature will make it easier to look for signs of consciousness in people with brain damage, infants and
animals with the help of non-invasive techniques such as EEG.
More than a third of the most common cancers in developed countries could be prevented by healthy eating and exercise, says a report by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). In developing countries like China and Brazil, it estimates that a quarter of common cancers are preventable.
These figures do not include smoking, which alone accounts for about a third of cancers.
The report, thought to be the most comprehensive ever published on the subject, follows the 2007 release of 10 recommendations on how to avoid cancer. These include avoiding processed meats - including bacon and some sausages - eating less than 6 grams of salt per day, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising every day.
“People think that somehow cancer comes from heaven, or Darwin, or from their parent’s genes, but that’s not always the case,” says Michael Marmot, chair of the WCRF panel that produced the report. “A third are caused by smoking, and approximately a third are related to diet and physical activity.”
Alcohol risk
To calculate the proportion of preventable cancers, the panel examined the biggest and most reliable studies to date on each of the 10 risk factors, and came up with a relative risk of developing cancer for each one, which would be applicable to people not following the recommendations’ advice.
They then estimated the proportion of people in the US, UK, China and Brazil that indulge in this kind of “risky” behaviour.
When they combined the values for the 12 most common cancers, they estimated that 39% of UK cancers are preventable, while 34% of US cancers, 30% of Brazilian cancers, and 27% of Chinese cancers could be avoided.
This means “that there are more actions that could be taken in the UK to reduce cancer than in the US, China or Brazil,” says Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser to the WCRF, who adds that consumption of alcohol is a key problem in the UK.
Although a glass or two of wine each day is good for the heart, “over that you get no additional benefit,” says Marmot.
The report urges governments across the world to make it easier for people to lose weight and eat healthily, by increasing access to sports facilities and making it safer to cycle to work, and by reducing the cost of healthy foods so people are more inclined to buy them.
“Individuals decide for themselves what to eat, but let’s make it easier for individuals and their families to make healthy decisions,” says Marmot.
Ten ways to avoid cancer
1. Body fat: aim for a body mass index (BMI) of 21 to 23 and avoid weight gain during adulthood
2. Physical activity: aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity, like brisk walking, every day
3. Junk food: avoid sugary drinks and energy-dense fast food
4. Meat: eat no more than 500 grams of red meat per week and avoid processed meats
5. Alcohol: limit daily intake to one drink for women, two drinks for men. Do not binge drink
6. Fruit and vegetables: eat five portions of fruit and non-starchy vegetables each day and limit refined starchy food
7. Preservatives: avoid salt-preserved foods. Limit salt intake to 6 grams per day
8. Dietary supplements: to be avoided, except in special cases – such as folic acid during pregnancy
9. Breastfeeding: new mums should try to breastfeed for six months
10. Cancer survivors: seek professional nutritional advice
26 February 2009 by Linda Geddes
If you are moderately overweight, you will probably live two to four years less than if you stick to your ideal weight, according to a major new study of obesity and mortality.
The research may help to resolve a long-standing controversy about whether mild obesity is actually a health risk. While it is accepted that being severely overweight reduces life expectancy, the effects of being slightly overweight have been hotly debated.
A team led by Richard Peto and Gary Whitlock of the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford, pulled together data from 57 studies, as part of a major study called the Prospective Studies Collaboration.
They looked at almost 900,000 people, mostly from Europe and North America, to see whether those with a higher body mass index (BMI) were more likely to die early.
BMI is a measure of how obese a person is, based on their weight and height (calculate yours here). The ideal range is 22.5 to 25 kilograms per square metre.
People whose BMI was higher than 25 kg/m2 had shorter lifespans on average.
Middle-aged spread
Those who were moderately overweight, with a BMI between 30 and 35 kg/m2, lived two to four years less. This level of mild obesity is now common, particularly among middle-aged people.
People who were severely obese, with a BMI between 40 and 45 kg/m2, lived eight to ten years less on average – a reduction comparable to that caused by smoking. This level of morbid obesity is still rare.
The increase in early mortality was caused by a range of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, some forms of cancer and lung disease.
Whitlock says, “Excess weight shortens human lifespan. If you are becoming overweight or obese, avoiding further weight gain could well add years to your life.”
18 March 2009 by Michael Marshall
Cancerous Tumor Healed
Penny Hayward had a client come to her with a distended lower abdomen. She had been sick for several months. An
X-ray had revealed a large tumor, and the doctors said it was cancerous. She was scheduled to have an operation
the next week.
She received three hour-long Reiki sessions that week. On the day she was to check into the hospital, during a
final treatment, Penny saw a large black ball surrounded by sparkling light lift from her abdomen and rise up
into the air until it disappeared through the ceiling. The other healers present saw it, too.
The client checked into the hospital, and when the doctors examined her, they couldn’t find the tumor. They did
another x-ray, but it didn’t show on the x-ray. Still not ready to accept this, they did exploratory surgery, and
still no tumor could be found.
She received chemotherapy as a precaution against the possibility that some of the cancer cells may still have
been present, but the tumor was gone!
Prostate Cancer Healed
The social director at an assisted living center had been diagnosed with prostate cancer
and was scheduled for anoperation. His PSA test was 4.0 and it was confirmed that he
had cancer. He had told by a psychic that he needed three Reiki treatments by three
Reiki practitioners in close succession for his condition.
Phran Gacher of Stamford, Connecticut along with two other Reiki practitioners to give
the treatments. No other treatment was given. Shortly after, the man was tested again.
His PSA was now 0.3 and he was free of cancer!
Multiple Sclerosis
Jan had been suffering from multiple sclerosis for ten years. She had been unable to walk
for much of that time and her eyesight was affected. She felt she had received benefit from
a Reiki treatment she had received and was
ready to try more and signed up for a Reiki II workshop with Sharon Carrington.
At the workshop, Jan received Reiki from seven women. They used byósan scanning and
located the energy responsible for her MS, which was in her solar plexus. Using Reiki along
with some Karuna Reiki® chanting, the energy block was sent up into the universe.
Since the time of the Reiki class and treatment, Jan has been free of all symptoms!
Heart Healed
Arie Deshe, a Reiki practitioner had a friend with heart problems. The friend had high blood pressure and a
blocked heart artery that required an angioplasty operation. Arie began giving her Reiki treatments–three full
treatments per week for two weeks.
After receiving these treatments, her blood pressure dropped and she began sleeping like a baby. Then when she
went for the operation, x-rays revealed that she no longer needed an angioplasty and there was no need to
operate. These positive benefits have remained for over three years!
Distant Reiki and Cancer
Mary Ronge had been practicing Reiki for about a year when a friend of a friend called to say she had been
diagnosed with two kinds of lung cancer. The doctor told her she had only three weeks to live. She was 47 years
old and had a four-year-old daughter.
Mary began sending Reiki every night at 6. The woman that reported she felt a warm feeling during those treatment
times. After a few days receiving Reiki, the woman reported that she felt she wasn’t going to die and Mary
promised to continue sending Reiki.
After several months, her doctor called to find out what she had been doing as her recent tests indicated that no
cancer remained in her body. She was completely healed.
Reiki and Meningitis
Beatrice sent in a healing request to the International Center for Reiki Training (ICRT) for a seven-year-old
girl who had suddenly taken ill and had all the symptoms of meningitis. She had swelling around her brain, became
unconscious, and was rushed to Guy’s hospital in London, where she was put on life-support. The parents were told
the little girl might be brain-damaged–if she regained consciousness–and that she might not be able to breath
on her own. They were told also that at some point they might need to decide to switch off life support and let
her die.
After the healing request was sent in, she improved, was taken off life support and allowed to go back home. Not
only could she talk, but she was dancing and singing. She attends school, but continues to be monitored and does
require some physiotherapy for one leg. But this has been a profound recovery!
Tumor Disappears
Howard Northrup’s girl friend experienced excruciating pain in the area of her right kidney. She had had kidney
stones in the past and thought this could be what it was. The doctor performed a test, which showed a tumor on
the right side about the size of an egg and wanted to do a closer look with a cystoscope. The cystoscope
procedure was scheduled for the following week. His girl friend was in great pain and the doctor give her some
pain pills. These worked at first, but the pain worsened, and she had to take more of the pills until they were
all gone. Howard offered to do Reiki to relieve the pain.This worked and she fell asleep. When she awoke in the
morning, the pain was still gone.
When the cystoscope procedure was performed shortly after, her doctor said he couldn’t believe what he saw–
nothing. The tumor was gone. A second more experienced doctor who had reviewed her tests also did a full look
around her bladder, but found nothing.
More Stories Click Here
11 February 2009 by Helen Thomson
I HAVE never been a smoker, so as I sit at the bar, chin resting on one hand, I try to remember how Audrey Hepburn did it. I take a gentle drag and exhale. A white mist wafts around my face as I wait for the rush of nicotine hitting my brain. People start to stare. Then the inevitable happens: “Hey, you can’t smoke that in here.” Only in this case I can, because I’m not really smoking.
I’ve just “lit up” an e-cigarette, a battery-powered electronic device that I bought for $60 from a UK website. It looks just like a real cigarette - the tip even glows red - and with every drag a few micrograms of nicotine from a disposable cartridge (I got six with my purchase) should reach my lungs. My e-cigarette even produces puffs of “smoke”, but it isn’t burning, and so it’s not banned. I’m not the only one smoking these sticks. In the growing number of public places worldwide where smoking has been banned, a new breed of smoker has appeared puffing on similar gadgets.
The e-cigarette is not burning anything and so doesn’t produce any of the toxic products of combustion
E-cigarettes may help smokers evade the ban, but do they also help them evade the health consequences of smoking or give the habit up altogether? In September 2008 the World Health Organization issued a statement warning smokers that there was no evidence to back up claims that e-cigarettes could help them quit. So what do we know about them and is there any evidence that inhaling the chemicals they contain may be harmful to your health? Could they genuinely help people to kick the habit?
E-cigarettes were invented by Hon Lik of electronics company Ruyan in Beijing, China. Ruyan sold its first electronic cigarette in May 2004, and e-cigarettes have been growing in popularity ever since. Accurate figures are hard to come by, but Ruyan - the world’s biggest manufacturer - claims to have sold over 300,000 in 2008. Smart Smokers, one company which sells Ruyan’s cigarettes in the UK, says sales are rising exponentially. In the US, hit TV show The Doctors featured the e-cigarette in the top 10 health trends of 2008. In a world where smoking is increasingly socially unacceptable, the e-cigarette looks like a success story in the making.
The device itself is pretty simple. It resembles a normal cigarette in shape and size but instead of containing cured tobacco it is mostly full of battery and an LED. The disposable filter holds a cartridge containing nicotine dissolved in propylene glycol, the liquid that is vaporised in nightclub smoke machines. When you take a drag, a pressure sensor switches on an electric heating coil that vaporises the PG and releases the “smoke” (see diagram). The strongest cartridge contains about the same amount of nicotine as a regular-strength cigarette, but lasts for about 300 puffs in comparison with a regular cigarette that lasts for about 15. The cartridges don’t “burn down” but deliver a puff whenever you choose to take one. Cartridges come in high, medium, low and zero-nicotine strength and cost around $1.50 each.
However, on a per puff basis, the strongest cartridge only delivers around one-third the amount of nicotine delivered by a puff on a normal cigarette, says Murray Laugesen, a public health researcher who campaigned against tobacco smoking in New Zealand and is now studying the impact of smoking e-cigarettes.
Legal loophole
So far so good. But are e-cigarettes really less harmful than the real thing? Given they contain nicotine, an addictive drug, and are touted as an alternative for smokers, you might think an independent organisation would have tried to substantiate such claims. Far from it. In most countries e-cigarettes escape regulation. “If you make a health claim about a product, it becomes a drug and comes under drug regulation and approval,” says John Britton, a lung specialist at the University of Nottingham, UK, and chair of the Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group. “If it’s a burnt tobacco product, it’s a cigarette.” The e-cigarette is not classed as either, giving manufacturers free rein to develop and distribute it with little more than an easily obtainable general hygiene certificate.
To complicate matters, some companies claiming that e-cigarettes can help you kick the smoking habit even went as far as to falsely cite the approval of the WHO. News of this led the WHO to release a statement in September that made clear that they did not consider the electronic cigarette to be a legitimate therapy for smokers trying to quit.
So what precisely is the evidence for and against e-cigarettes? Laugesen is one of the few researchers tackling this question. In early 2007, his company - Health New Zealand - began a research programme to investigate what hazards e-cigarettes might pose. The research is funded by Ruyan but Laugesen insists it is independent, a view backed by the WHO. “Dr Laugesen is a respected tobacco control researcher,” emphasises Raman Minhas, technical officer of the WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative.
Though Laugesen’s conclusions have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, his preliminary results have been released and seem positive.
He found that each puff would release just a few micrograms of water, alcohol, nicotine, PG and flavourings. But what about the risk from carcinogens? Carcinogens such as tobacco-specific nitrosamines are found in regular cigarettes and are known to be the primary cause of many smoking-related cancers. While traces were found within the e-cigarette - most likely slipping in with the tobacco-derived nicotine used in the cartridges - Laugesen says that the concentration was no different from the amount present in nicotine patches. “If the levels are as low as in nicotine replacement therapy, I don’t think there will be much of a problem,” agrees Britton.
What my fellow patrons at the bar were most concerned about as I puffed away next to them was passive smoking. Although the e-cigarette does not produce carbon monoxide or the carcinogens that are the by-products of combustion, as Laugesen notes, its cartridge contains acetaldehyde. The chemical is best known for its part in causing hangovers, and when allowed to build up in the body can be carcinogenic. “The small amounts found [in each cartridge - 5 parts per million] may be coming from the ethyl alcohol found in the cartridge liquid,” he says. If acetaldehyde is present in the mist, however, it is unlikely to cause harm as low levels can rapidly be broken down in the body.
Inhaled nicotine is over 98 per cent absorbed, and any exhaled PG mist dissipates within seconds, so Laugesen concluded that the mist is not harmful to bystanders. With no flame, nor products of combustion, the cigarette would be permitted under most current governmental smoking bans.
While some consider the e-cigarette something of a breakthrough, others have yet to be convinced that they actually help you give up smoking. “Without blood tests, it is difficult to confirm whether nicotine is reaching the bloodstream,” says David Burns, who researches tobacco-related disease at the University of California, San Diego. If it isn’t, then it’s unlikely to be an effective aid. Laugesen is now studying this issue and has submitted his results to the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, which will meet in Dublin in April.
Safety concerns aside, what about the psychological element of smoking addiction? Numerous human studies suggest the sensory cues that accompany the ritual of smoking - the taste, aroma and handling of the cigarette - are important to smokers in terms of satisfying their cravings. Would a regular smoker accept an e-cigarette in lieu of the real thing? I decided to find out with a thoroughly unscientific experiment of my own. Not being a smoker myself, I gave an electronic cigarette to my 20-a-day dad.
Within a few days it became apparent that, for him, the e-cigarette has some major flaws. “Taking a drag requires quite a bit of effort, it’s heavier than a normal cigarette, there’s no nice smoke smell and the ‘filter’ is as hard as rock,” he complained. “It just doesn’t feel the same as a normal cigarette.” As far as my guinea pig was concerned it didn’t compare favourably with the real thing. In fairness, though, my dad is not keen to quit.
Marcus Munafo, a researcher on the influences of addictive behaviour at the University of Bristol, UK, suspects that part of the problem is down to the other chemicals present in real cigarettes. Although nicotine is the primary addictive component of tobacco, there are other components in the smoke that enhance nicotine’s addictive potential. The brain mechanisms behind this are unclear but animal studies suggest that chemicals in smoke other than nicotine inhibit up to 40 per cent of the activity of an enzyme called monoamine oxidase. Nicotine prompts the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, whose action in the brain is linked to the pleasurable effects of smoking. It has been suggested that MAO inhibition might decrease the re-uptake of dopamine, giving genuine cigarettes a double-whammy effect.
The WHO’s Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg) convened at the international conference on tobacco control in South Africa in November 2008 to consider the fate of e-cigarettes. Although their conclusions will not be published until September, New Scientist understands their advice to national departments of health will include proposing stricter regulations on their sale and manufacture: for example, that they should only be sold in pharmacies.
TobReg is also likely to recommend that it be made illegal to smoke the electronic cigarette indoors until there is evidence they are not harmful to passive “smokers” - a proposal that is a step too far for Laugesen. “This sounds like caution beyond common sense,” he says. Peter Hajek, a clinical psychologist and director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at the Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, UK, agrees. “Banning an alternative nicotine delivery device without any reason to believe that it has a potential for harm does not make much sense to me,” he says. “It could have a role in harm reduction and smoking cessation and thus be of public health benefit.”
“The problem is nobody knows anything about these devices,” says Britton. If it turns out that they deliver to the bloodstream an amount of nicotine comparable to a cigarette, are acceptable to smokers and are safe, then the potential health benefits to smokers trying to quit are huge, he adds.
If the e-cigarettes are safe and acceptable to smokers the potential health benefits are huge
“All pointers so far show the device is safe,” Laugesen claims. “Whether it will be a successful smoking cessation device in the future depends on whether governments wrap it in cotton-wool regulations or allow smokers to buy it with a modicum of reasonable safety checks.”
Back outside my local bar - where I’ve been sent to “prevent any trouble” - I realise that, ultimately, even if the e-cigarette and its ilk prove safe and are accepted by smokers, it will not necessarily be welcome in the increasingly smoke-intolerant world.
I take another drag. It makes me cough and feel a little light-headed. A sharp gust of winter wind later and my brief flirtation with nicotine is left, along with my fellow smokers, firmly out in the cold.
Helen Thomson is the editor of New Scientist’s Insider section
Tired, sore and stressed out?
Most people would agree a massage makes them feel good. But many probably don’t realise exactly how good a regular massage is for their overall health. How about if they knew massage could improve performance, aid recovery, prevent and eliminate injuries, reduce stress and even enhance metabolism and circulation! With so many alternative health treatments available it’s little wonder people get confused about where to go when they’re not feeling the best. But, while new health therapies continue to emerge, think about this.the Chinese began using massage to heal the human body as long ago as 5,000BC and it’s still being used today. Now there has to be something to be said for that.
Massage Therapy for Health and Fitness
It may simply look like a lot of pressing and kneading on skin, but massage is actually a scientific process. The reason you feel different after a massage is because it is healing and invigorating tired, aching or injured muscles. Massage increases blood land lymph circulation. Lymph is a fluid that rids body tissues of waste, is dependent on the squeezing effect of muscles. An active person has better lymph flow than an inactive person. However, stimulation from vigorous activity can lead to increased waste, which can negate the benefit. This is where massage has a huge advantage. Massage can dramatically aid lymph movement, which together with blood, supplies nutrients and oxygen and rids wastes and toxins. It is easy to understand why good circulation is so important to our health and why massage can be so beneficial just for this purpose.
But Massage has so many other benefits:
* Increase the blood’s oxygen capacity by 10-15%
* Help loosen contracted, shortened muscles and stimulate weak, flaccid muscles. This muscle “balancing” can even help posture and promote more efficient movement;
* Speed recovery from exercise-induced fatigue;
* Increase production of gastric juices, saliva and urine;
* Increase excretion of nitrogen, inorganic phosphorus, and sodium chloride (salt). This suggests that the metabolic rate increases;
* Balance the nervous system by soothing or stimulating it, depending on which effect is needed;
* Improves function of the oil and sweat glands that lubricate, clean and cool the skin. Though, inflexible skin can become softer and more supple;
* Indirectly or directly stimulating nerves the supply internal organs can dilate the organs’ blood vessels, improving blood supply.
Massage and Sport
Massage plays a part in every form of sport or exercise. Unfortunately, many people believe aches and pains are an inevitable consequence to activity. But massage can actually reduce or eliminate what may appear to be exercise-induced pain.
It can increase endurance, control fatigue and help people feel better when used as part of a regular health program. Massage can also speed muscle recovery rates as it eliminates irritation from waste. By helping reduce fatigue and aid recovery, massage enables more productive training, with longer, more effective workouts. The ultimate spin-offs are better performance with fewer injuries. Exercise changes the way our muscles work. Blood vessels become more intricate as the body demands more oxygen and nutrients and increases waste elimination. This takes time. While the muscles are getting into shape, they can struggle to get enough oxygen and nutrients, so waste collects.
Massage and Injuries
Massage also helps recovery from soft tissue injuries such as sprains and strains. Tissue growth and repair is accelerated by efficient circulation and appropriate stimulation. Everybody experiences some form of stress through work, family, the environment and society. Mental tensions, frustrations, and insecurity cause the most damage. Hormones released by stress actually shrink the vessels, inhibiting circulation. A stressed mind and body means the heart works harder. Breathing becomes rapid and shallow and digestion slows. Nearly every body process is degraded. Studies show stress can cause migraines, hypertension (high blood pressure), depression, some peptic ulcers, etc. In fact, researchers have estimated 80% of disease is stress related. Soothing and relaxing massage therapy can counteract the effects of stress.
What Injuries can Massage Treat?
* Headaches & migraines
* Frozen shoulder
* Sore shoulder and neck
* Back pain & sciatica
* Tennis and golfers elbow
* Sprains, strains and tears
* Over-use injuries
* Shin splints
Author: Bengt Carlson
http://www.sportstek.net/massage_therapy.htm
Blood clotting switch could reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes!
A key protein controlling the stickiness of blood has been identified, which could lead to the development of new drugs to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Small cells called platelets circulate in the blood and respond to injury by becoming sticky and sending out tiny “arms” that latch onto other platelets and the surface of the injury, forming a clot.
But platelets aren’t sticky all the time. Yotis Senis, a British Heart Foundation researcher at the University of Birmingham, UK, and his colleagues had previously identified a protein called CD148.
Clot reduction
The team suspected the protein might be involved in initiating the clotting process in response to tissue injury, since it belongs to a class of proteins that control the activity of other proteins.
To investigate further, they compared platelets from mice engineered to lack CD148, with those from normal mice. Platelets from mice lacking the protein were more sluggish in responding to injury, sent out fewer arms and formed smaller clots.
Importantly for the safety of any future blood-thinning medicine, removing CD148 didn’t cause any dangerous bleeding. This may be because several other pathways can also trigger clotting.
‘Blunt instrument’
Existing blood-thinners like aspirin irreversibly block all of these pathways until the body removes the platelet from the circulation (after about 7 to 10 days). This means that they can trigger dangerous bleeding in some patients, particularly in the stomach. “They’re a blunt instrument,” says Senis.
A drug that reversibly blocked CD148 would be safer because it would only affect one pathway, dampening clotting but leaving some control over bleeding.
Alternatively, drugs could be developed that enhance platelet stickiness to reduce bleeding in some situations. “Perhaps soldiers could carry a little kit around with them,” Senis says.
“CD148 looks very promising as a realistic target for new drug development,” adds Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation.
Journal reference: Blood (DOI: 10.1182/blood-2008-08-174318
Blood Clotting Video
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