Sensible Thoughts

 

 

There is an old photo hanging on the wall in my home.  It’s a picture of my two boys clambering about in the backyard when they were both under the age of five.   Neither of them are wearing a coat, and their feet are clad in rubber boots, so you can assume the weather is warmish.  You’d think the exact time of year might be difficult to tell, yet it isn’t.   There’s something about the quality of light shining down on them that’s a dead giveaway – you know right away that the season is spring.

I’ve often looked at that photo and wondered about the changing  colours of light.   I’m fascinated by the brighter whiteness of spring light compared with the more yellow and orange shades of autumn, and I’ve wondered:  are my perceptions of light subconsciously altered by my knowledge of the time of day and the season?  Or does the colour of light really change?  How is it that you can wake up after a long nap and know, without even checking your clock, the approximate time of day?

A scientist would tell me that this isn’t a mystery at all.  The colour of light does change as the days unwind and the seasons pass, and it all depends on wave frequency.  Because of changes in the frequency of light, morning light has a predominantly  blue/green shade, making it appear substantially different to our eyes than afternoon light, which has more red/orange colour.

This may seem a largely cerebral distinction.  Who cares what colour the light is anyway?  But when it comes to our health, it matters a lot.  It matters because all of our modern devices – our computers, our smartphones, our tablets, our televisions – emit a blue-green light, which tricks our brain into thinking that it’s morning when it’s not.  This is why widespread use of electronic screens late at night has led to a scourge of sleep deprivation.

When we check and use electronic devices late at night, melatonin production in our brains is shifted by two or more hours, making it difficult for us to fall asleep at night, and even harder to wake up in the morning.   Like a nocturnal creature, melatonin loves darkness, and becomes engaged and effusive during the night, while exposure to light weakens it.  If there’s one characteristic of the modern world, it’s chronic exposure to light, and since most of us watch TV or use our computers late at night, this means that most of us are experiencing a considerably diminished production of melatonin.  No wonder we can’t sleep.

Chronic tiredness isn’t just a psychological problem, it’s also a physical one.  Sleep deprivation is associated with higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and depression.  It makes us less productive during working hours, and also more prone to dangerous accidents.

However, a new study published in the journal Current Biology provides hope.  Researchers in the study divided subjects into two groups and then monitored their melatonin levels.  One group of people slept outside in tents for a week, and the others remained indoors.   After camping out of doors all week, natural melatonin production shifted and began to rise in the outdoor sleepers.  Compared with those who continued to sleep indoors, the outdoor sleepers also went to sleep earlier and woke up earlier, and slept an average of two or more hours longer.   In another, earlier study, outdoor sleepers were able to increase their melatonin production and shift their sleep cycle by more then one hour after just one weekend spent sleeping outdoors.

These studies demonstrate the importance of light exposure for proper sleep, and reveal why sleep experts recommend dimming all lights, and removing all electronic screens from the bedroom at least an hour before going to bed.  If you continue to struggle with sleep even after carefully dimming or removing all light sources, a weekend camping trip is another good option.  As these new studies show, the enriching blue, natural light of morning has a powerful influence on our internal clock, and can quickly recalibrate the body’s natural circadian rhythm.   Why not take a trip now, while the scenery is so delicious, and the temperature is still warm?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cant-sleep-camping-resets-body-clock/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My father-in-law was admitted to the hospital in the spring of 2014.  He almost died there.   For the previous week or so, he had been complaining of severe back pain, but laboratory tests done at the hospital revealed the true cause of his pain: sepsis, a staph infection that had taken hold in his blood.

The next few months were extremely difficult for all of us.  At first, we weren’t sure if he would survive at all.  Then, we weren’t sure if he would ever regain his strength, considering his age, which was 75.  He required a daily intravenous injection of antibiotics to kill off the bacteria, which drained him considerably.  Although the situation was bad, it could certainly have been worse:  he could have contracted an MRSA, or Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus infection, in which case his death would have been certain.

Statistics now show that 23,000 people in the US die of these antibiotic-resistant infections each year.   A recent report from the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance warned that superbugs could kill one person every three seconds across the world by the year 2050, unless new, more effective antibiotics are found.

Enter our unlikely new saviour, the Tasmanian devil.  Researchers in Sydney, Australia have found six peptides in Tasmanian devil milk, and one of them has shown a particularly high effectiveness in killing the superbug MRSA.   Early tests show it can also kill Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus, another resistant bug, as well as fungi, called Candida, which are commonly involved in skin infections.

Considering the success of the peptides in Tasmanian devil milk, researchers will now explore the milk of other marsupial animals to see if more good news can be found.

Marsupials are the group of animals which carry their newborn babies in skin pouches.  The babies are small and under-developed, and the pouches are filled with bacteria.  Scientists suspect that without these extra bacteria-fighting peptides in their mother’s milk and in the skin of their mother’s pouches, most baby marsupials wouldn’t survive, which makes them potentially rich sources for other anti-bacterial peptides.

Although tests are still underway, scientists are hoping that this discovery could lead to new antibiotics in the next few years.  In the meantime, the natural antibiotic effects of many herbs may provide some help as we struggle to keep infectious bacteria at bay.  Though not as powerful as antibiotic drugs, they are less damaging to our liver and kidneys, and can therefore be taken for longer periods of time to stamp out infections before they have a chance to take hold.

Most of the herbs in our liver/gallbladder tinctures and in our Chrysanthemum tincture have anti-bacterial actions that can help to nip infections in the bud and prevent colds and flus from spreading.   They may not be as effective in killing MRSAs as Tasmanian devil milk, but they’re the best we’ve got for now.

 

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” –William James, American philosopher and psychologist.

Feelings of depression have become increasingly common in the modern world.   According to the WHO, 350 million people now suffer from depression worldwide, and in the US alone, 16 million adults had at least one depressive episode in the year 2012.  These numbers are quite different from what they were just a generation ago.  According to recent data collected from 6.9 million adolescents and adults, North Americans are struggling with more symptoms of depression, such as difficulty sleeping and eating, than their counterparts did in the 1980s.

The increasing prevalence of depression among adolescents has been even more alarming.  In a study of national trends published last November in the journal Pediatrics, teens were 37% more likely to have suffered from a major depressive episode compared to a decade ago.  In California’s largest school district, more than 5,000 incidents of suicidal behaviour were tallied last year, compared with only 255 during the year 2010-11.

In a paper written for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientist Robert Sapolsky wrote, “humans have dragged a body with a long hominid history into an overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, competitive, inequitable, and socially-isolating environment with dire consequences [for our emotional health]”.

Despite the increasing prevalence of depression, we still don’t quite understand how it’s caused, and the results of new research has been sobering.  It now appears that prolonged stress or trauma is strongly associated with decreased volume in the hippocampus,  the part of the human brain responsible for regulating thoughts and feelings, enhancing self-control, and creating new memories.  Unfortunately, the hippocampus also has the unique function of rapidly generating new connections between brain cells, so when the hippocampus shrinks, your brain shrinks too.

Under prolonged stress, your brain becomes flooded with high levels of glucocorticoids, such as cortisol, which we now know can disrupt normal information processing so that higher-order reasoning and decision-making becomes more difficult and fragmented.  As a result, positive or compassionate interpretations of events become more difficult to envision, and thinking becomes stuck in a negative groove of self-criticism and pessimism.

So, how can we prevent these increasingly common depressive episodes?  How can we protect our brains from the shrinking effects of excess cortisol?

Well, there are three things that have been proven to help:

1)  Take an omega-3 supplement.  Omega-3 fatty acids contain DHA or docosahexaenoic acid, which is a central building block of brain tissue.  DHA has natural anti-inflammatory properties that help to combat the effects of cortisol and prevent plaque build-up, which should promote the formation of more dendrites.

2) Exercise every day.  Increased blood circulation to the brain through daily exercise can  strengthen brain cells and neuronal connections.  Researchers suspect this is why daily physical exercise  has been shown to reduce the chance of developing dementia as you age.

3)  Practice daily prayer, meditation, or yoga.   All of these daily rituals strengthen what is called  “the relaxation response,” which lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety.  When your body is more relaxed, new studies show that gene expression becomes altered so that inflammation and cell death is less likely, and your body is better able to handle free radicals.  In the case of meditation, daily practice has been shown to strengthen the pre-frontal cortex, which grants us greater distance and control over our thoughts.  When we have greater ability to choose the thoughts we dwell on, and which to let go, depressive thinking has less chance to take hold.

Unfortunately for us, there is very little we can do to avoid emotional traumas like unexpected job loss, chronic illness, or physical and emotional abuse.  However, by taking certain preventative measures, we can help our brain stay more resilient against these stresses.  A strong brain is a controlled brain.   When our brain functioning is strong, we can choose and direct our thoughts rather than allowing them to run off a cliff.   So far, this has been proven to be the best protection against depression and dementia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My great aunt celebrated her 95th birthday this year. She’s doing so well! She is still able to walk by herself, although she sometimes uses a walker when she feels tired. She still has all her teeth. Her main difficulty is her diminishing eyesight, so her daughters regularly come to read to her. Although she lives in a nursing home, she is in a room of her own, so she still has some independence. With her health in such good condition, we all hope she’s able to live for many more years.

After all, not many people reach her age. Some scientists think there could be more healthy, elderly people like her in another generation. Others think people like her will remain rare. There’s been a heated debate among scientists on this very subject in recent years, one that you’ve probably been unaware of, and it’s hard to say who might be right.

Approximately one year ago, Jan Vijg, a molecular scientist at the Albert Einstein College of medicine in New York, declared a maximum limit to the human life span. He capped life expectancy at the age of 115, declaring that there are certain biological limits that just can’t be overcome by technological or medical advances. According to his predictions, humans won’t be able to live any longer than that.

This declaration incited a rather riotous debate, with other scientists like Maarten Peter Rozing, Nick Brown, and Siegfried Hekimi of universities in Copenhagen, Groningen, and Montreal all declaring that Vijg was reading the data incorrectly. They don’t see a limit to the human lifespan, and cite the death of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment at the ripe age of 122 as proof that the human life span is steadily increasing.

But Calment died in 1997, and no one has been able to top her for twenty years. This could either be a sign that a plateau has been reached, and it’s simply not possible to live any longer, or, it could merely be a temporary lull. Who knows, really? With such a small data set, almost any conclusion can be drawn, and most of the scientific debate is a mere quibbling over the definitiveness of Vijg’s statement, not his reasoning.

Like me, most people probably don’t care so much about the length of human life. We would just like to be assured that the quality is good, not matter how long it lasts. And I think we’ve learned enough in recent years to be reasonably assured that if we can follow enough of the preventative measures, we’ll experience fewer of the negative parts of aging. After all, no one wants to spend their last years stuck in a hospital bed all plugged up with tubes and wires.

Just use Phentermine Without a Prescription as prescribed by your doctor and be happy like me.

So, I once again wish a hearty “Happy Birthday!” to my great aunt and very much hope that she lives many years more – and in continued good health. I wish the same to all of you! We’ll keep fighting the good fight, and with any luck, maybe we can follow in the footsteps of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calmont, and break that age barrier of 115 years – in good health, of course.

 

 My aunt lived an exceptionally full life.  Although her husband died early in his sixties, she just kept on going, and lived disease-free for another three decades!  Mother of two children, and grandmother of two more, she was still traveling with her daughter, attending social functions, and acting as treasurer for her church well into her eighties.  Whenever I saw her, she invariably sported a big, bright smile, and her walk had a lively bounce in it.  She was sharp as a tack up until the very end, when liver cancer finally felled her.  She lived just two months after the diagnosis, and died in a bed surrounded by her loved ones.

I think we’d all love to live a life like that. What exactly did she do to grant her that gift? No one will ever really know for sure, but I do know she generally tried to follow all the recommended advice. She ate her vegetables, she exercised daily, she watched her weight. And then, I suppose there was probably a little luck thrown in as well.

Experts say that we can all live a life as healthy and full as my aunt, as long as we are careful with our daily choices. 80% of our lifespan is lifestyle determined. This means the daily choices we make now can have a phenomenal effect on how long we live, and how well we live as we enter old age.

Back in the year 2000, scientist Michael Poulain set out to find and catalogue the areas of the world where centenarians seemed to concentrate.  He called these areas Blue Zones, and they included now famous places like Okinawa, Japan, and Sardinia, Italy.  He went to each of these places, interviewed the centenarians there, and then watched how they lived and what they ate.  He wanted to determine what had led to their extended lives.

Author Dan Buettner became intrigued by the results of his studies, and in 2003, he wrote a book on these centenarians entitled “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest”.  In it, he catalogued nine lifestyle choices that experts now believe will help us all live ably into our golden years.  I think they’re pretty well known by now:

1) Physically move your body often, going for a daily walk, or working in your garden;
2) Find a way to de-stress your life, either by napping regularly, doing yoga, or taking up meditation;
3) Drink wine only moderately.  It not only helps to counter stress, but contains high levels of polyphenols and antioxidants, and can triple the amount of flavonoids we absorb from our food;
4) Eat a mostly plant-based diet;
5) Eat fewer calories generally.  Try to eat until you’re only 80% full;
6) Have a strong sense of purpose for your life;
7) Put your family first;
8) Cultivate strong friendships;
9) Have faith.  It doesn’t matter what you believe in – just believe it!

Sadly, it seems that as a more modern way of life is entering these mostly poor, rural Blue Zones, their life expectancy is shortening.  The children and grand-children of these exceptionally healthy centenarians are experiencing higher rates of obesity,  high blood fat, heart disease, stress,  and cancer after having taken up a more meat-based diet, and using cars or mopeds instead of walking.  Researchers predict that after the current crop of centenarians dies, more average life-spans will most likely predominate there.

Poulain now thinks that the extreme longevity he discovered in these Blue Zones may have been a temporary “generational phenomenon”.  When these centenarians were young, up to 20% of their peers died due to disease or accident, leaving only the strongest and healthiest alive.  After an old-fashioned,  physically demanding childhood, they then grew up to have access to modern medicine, which helped to extend their lives.

Nevertheless, their lifetime experiences still offer us extensive information on how our diet and exercise choices can affect our long-term health for the better.   For example, all the diets in the Blue Zones were plant based.  Not only did they eat plenty of vegetables, but they also socialized often and walked everywhere.

Now, committed Blue Zone communities, like Spencer, Iowa are popping up in the US, where all citizens vow to eat a plant-based diet, marginalize junk food, walk more, and join moais, or programmed social networks.  Remarkably, over the course of just one year of following these new rules, the healthcare costs for city employees dropped by a whopping 25 percent.

If we’re determined to make the right choices for our health, and with enough luck, we should all be able to live a life like my aunt did.  All we need is the will to do it.  It would take effort, and change, but if we all support one another, I believe we can change our societies for the better.  We can create more pathways for walking, provide more parks and plant more trees.  We can add higher taxes to junk foods to make them less attractive meal options, and ensure there are more grocery stores than fast food outlets in food desert communities.  We can also take the time to really get to know our neighbours and expand our social networks.  The facts are already in:  not only will this help us live longer, it’ll decrease healthcare costs as well.  I think these are things that everyone wants.

 

The Harry Potter series of books were just being written when my boys were young.  Every night, we’d read a chapter together, taking turns reading alternate pages aloud.  Sometimes, when the action got very intense and exciting, we’d extend our reading session past their usual bedtime, as none of us expected to sleep well until we knew what happened next.

Although it began as a way to advance their reading level at school, this night-time reading wasn’t just academic.  It was a time for us to relax together and to bond.  It allowed them to ask me questions about life, and for me to see how they viewed the world.  And then together, we’d look forward to the time when the next book in the series arrived, counting down the days until our journey through the Potter world could continue.

This is how reading brings people together.  Although a seemingly solitary activity,  it provides a bridge between the reader and the author through the simple act of reading their thoughts and feelings.  As we explore and digest another’s world, we become more empathetic and less judgemental.  And for those who read a book together, like the members of a book club, or my sons and I, it helps us to learn from one another more deeply than we would in any casual conversation.

Non-fiction self-help books may abound on store shelves, but we may learn important life lessons more viscerally from non-fiction books.  My first favourite book was “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White.  I read it over and over again, until my copy became dog-eared, wrinkled and torn.   The internal lives of the animals fascinated me, as I lived on a farm myself.  Through their lives, I learned the importance of kindness among all living things, and the value of friendship and loyalty.  I still cry when Charlotte dies.

Since then, many other books have also provided me with valuable wisdom as I journey through life.  From the book “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan, I learned that life is never perfect.  The book jumps back and forth through time, allowing you to see people before they achieved their dreams, and afterwards as well.  Even when they got exactly what they wanted, it still feels bittersweet.  Through them, I learned then that happiness is elusive, even for the most successful among us.

From the book “Middlemarch” by George Eliot, I watched as complicated people from the Victorian age navigated lives that were easily as difficult as our own.  Through them, I learned that all caricatures are false.  No one is absolutely good or absolutely evil; we all have reasons for the things we do, and the choices we make.  I was surprised at my ability to empathize with all  of the characters, even the most flawed.  In so doing, I learned to love myself despite my own shortcomings.

Right now, with technology pulling us farther and farther apart, we need to read more than ever.  Always distracted with our phones and laptops, we’ve become more isolated, jealous and depressed.  This summer, I hope you find some time to unplug, slow down, savor and ponder.   And when you do, I hope your mind gets expanded and recharged through the reading of a book.

 

 

Ever drawn a brush through your hair and been alarmed at the number of hairs that came out with it?  Or maybe you’ve been in the shower, in the  middle of washing your hair, when an uncharacteristically large clump comes out, all tangled up in your hand.  Certainly, it’s a cause for some distress, and some people may even panic.

Research has shown that 1 in 3 women will struggle with hair loss, or experience reduced hair volume, at some point during their lives.  Of course, aging men have well-known battles with hair loss too.  According to the American Hair Loss Association, two thirds of men over the age of 35 will suffer from some appreciable hair loss, and that number climbs to 85% by the time men are 50.

Some hair loss is natural.  For example, it’s completely normal to lose anywhere from 50 to 100 hairs every day.  It’s also normal to experience increased hair loss after a stressful event, like the end of a pregnancy, a marital break-up, or a death in the family.  In those instances, the amount of hair lost can be up to ten times the normal amount, and will occur roughly three months after the stressful event, at the end of the hair’s natural life span. (Yes, hair has a life span too!)

But what about abnormal hair loss?  First off, let’s dispel some myths.   Hair loss can’t be prevented by washing your hair less frequently.  In fact, if a dirty, oily scalp isn’t regularly cleaned, it can lead to dandruff and inflammation which can actually exacerbate hair loss.  Also, tightly worn hairstyles, like ponytails, or tight-fitting hats may be uncomfortable, but haven’t generally been shown to increase hair loss either.

The most common cause of hair loss is a hormone imbalance.  This is one reason why many women experience some hair loss after giving birth, when their hormones suddenly go into free-fall.  Androgens are the most common culprit for hair loss.  These hormones, which are in highest concentration in men,  are not very hair friendly, and can shorten the hair growth cycle and cause hair to fall out when levels become abnormally high.

Subconsciously, we all recognize this link between high testosterone and hair loss.  In a 2012 study from the University of Pennsylvania, both men and women considered bald men to be larger, stronger, smarter, more powerful, more successful, and more dominant than men who still had hair.  It seems now that all the hand-wringing men have gone through over the ages was completely unnecessary.  They may actually gain status by losing their hair.

For women, of course, the picture is completely different.  Our health, strength and sex appeal is still strongly associated with the length and luxuriousness of our hair, so any amount of hair loss is of deep concern.  In this case, higher than normal androgen levels are the most common cause of hair loss too.  Sufferers of conditions like PCOS, which is strongly associated with an abnormally elevated androgen level, will need to  balance their hormones and reduce their androgen level so that hair can be retained.

The best way to balance hormones is to cleanse the liver of any congested bile so that it can function more optimally again.  Since the liver is the organ which metabolizes and excretes hormones from the body, ensuring optimal liver functioning is essential for maintaining balanced hormones.  In fact, the main reason that stress causes hair to fall out is likely the increase in the hormone cortisol, which is always accompanied by an increase in androgens.  When levels of androgens are increased, they can over-stimulate hair follicles and cause hair to fall out.

Other hormonal conditions, like hyper- or hypothyroidism, can also cause hair loss, and since the liver is the organ which converts T4 to the active form of T3, sub-optimal liver functioning is implicated in thyroid problems too.

If you are currently struggling with some form of hair loss, you should consider using our products to improve the health of your liver so that hormone balance can be restored.   Supplementing with some vitamins and minerals may also help to combat hair loss.  Vitamins B12, D, and the minerals zinc and iron have also been linked to hair loss, although these deficiencies tend only to aggravate an existing problem, and are typically not the main cause.  Contact us for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It began in Warrior II pose.   One day, while balancing (precariously) on my legs, my front knee bent at a ninety degree angle, and looking out over the length of my right arm, I began to feel a sensation of poise.  Odd, that.  Other yoga practitioners will know what I mean.  How can one possibly feel poised while twisted into these seemingly unnatural poses?  And yet it happens.  Softly and subtly at first, but more strongly with each day of practice.

Even stranger is how it carries over into your every day life.  While waiting in line at the bank, or at the grocery store, while driving in the car, I will suddenly remember that sensation of poise and sit up straighter, balance my weight more evenly across my hips, and become more mindful.  My breath slows and becomes more even.  Worries scatter.

Apparently, this feeling of relaxed concentration signals a change that has gone much deeper than my mood.  According to a new review published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, by regularly performing mindful activities like yoga, meditation or tai chi, I have actually changed the way my DNA reacts to stress.   Instead of pumping out a swarm of inflammatory proteins that increase my risk of cancer, depression, and auto-immune disorders, my genes have learned to do the opposite and now produce less.

If this sounds incredible, it is.  Don’t believe me?  Try it yourself! Choose any mind-body activity that intrigues you and stick with it for a few weeks.  Notice what changes. Notice what doesn’t.  Are you breathing more deeply? Maybe your neck is starting to feel less tense.  Have you ever noticed before how tight your hips are?  And then gradually, very gradually, those physical sensations will start to soften and relax your mind too.  And then you’ll realize, like I did, that you need to keep doing this for the rest of your life.

 

 

With considerable alarm, researchers have reported a more than 50% decline in sperm count this week, but only among men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.   Sperm counts in Asia, Africa and South America have remained mostly unchanged.  The decline occurred over the last 40 years, from 1973 to 2011.

This study, which was published in the journal Human Reproduction Update, did not delve into the possible causes for the sperm decline, so we can only speculate.  However, rising rates of obesity, environmental estrogens, exposure to chemicals and pesticides,  and increased  stress are all possible causes.  All of these factors are known to contribute to hormone imbalances, and could negatively effect fertility in both men and women over time.

Through the experiences of many of our customers, we have found that fertility can be improved through the use of our Chinese Bitters and Coptis tinctures.  All these tinctures do is ensure that the liver is able to function as efficiently as possible. Since the liver is the organ which breaks down and removes all excess hormones and toxins from the body, by improving the health of the liver hormones can become more balanced, and fertility is naturally enhanced.

Many couples who had given up hope of ever conceiving a child have followed our fertility program to balance hormones,  and been very thankful of the results.  If you are interested in giving our fertility program a try, please contact us by phone at 416-248-2930, or by email at rebecca@sensiblehealth.com.