Thursday, October 26, 2006

Stress Rehearsal

This time of year is considered a time of transition according to traditional Chinese medicine. Summer, being the most yang time of the year, is slowly turning and entering into the yin cycle of fall and winter. The fire element of summer will slowly give way to the metal element of autumn. Most of us have taken our vacation and have enjoyed the relaxed lazy days of summer when it was too hot to do anything but stay inside. With the cooler days, comes a renewed sense of purpose. Unfortunately, this renewed sense of purpose for many of us translates into additional stress to get things done. As I believe that stress is a huge contributor to illness, I offer the following self-evaluation so that you can determine where you are on the stress continuum.

I obtained this little test from a newsletter to which I subscribe from the Heart Math Institute. The Heart Math Institute has done significant research into how our emotions and mental state of well being plays a significantly larger role on impacting our health than otherwise subscribed to by conventional medicine. They do fascinating work and you may want to visit their website which is easily found by searching under “HeartMath Institute.

Low Stress Levels:

I feel well
I am able to relax
Physical recreation brings me pleasure
Increasing pressure enhances my performance
My thinking is clear and I learn easily
I am able to say “No”
Others see me as adaptable and approachable
Others see me as energized and successful

Moderate Stress Levels:

I feel driven, hyperactive, and restless
I tend to make snap decisions but with errors
I feel over-burdened but can still say “No”
I often feel tired but am taking steps to recover
I often try to squeeze a few extra drops out of my performance
Discipline, fitness, social pressure and stimulants play a greater role in my ability to perform
My sleep is just about adequate
Others see me as tired yet successful

High Stress Levels:

I often lose perspective
I feel irritable and on edge
I complain and grumble regularly
I work longer hours but get less done
My home/work balance is suffering
I have repeated minor ailments, aches and pains
I don’t think as clearly as I used to
I have sleep problems
I feel like I’m operating in survival mode

If you’re more on the high end of these stress levels, you may want to remember that it’s not life events that cause the stress, it’s how you react to them. Take a few moments every day to focus on the area around your heart, take a deep breath and recall a positive time or feeling in your life. Shifting to a positive feeling is a quick stress buster and a good way to deal with the petty annoyances that crop up.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Reducing Blood Pressure Naturally

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Association claims that nearly one-third of Americans suffer from hypertension or high blood pressure. Blood vessels are like thin-walled hoses holding too much water pressure and become stretched and fragile. This intense pressure can also endanger other organs leading to heart and kidney failure, strokes, or blindness.

For those of you with blood pressure readings higher than the norm of 120/80 and lower than 140/90, you are considered prehypertensive. Any reading of 140/90 or higher is considered hypertensive and any physician will recommend medication in order to lower these readings.

If you are in the “prehypertensive” category, you still need to take steps to reduce your blood pressure so that it doesn’t continue climbing. The two best interventions to lower blood pressure is reducing body fat to less than 20 percent and a vigorous exercise program which includes three hours of cardio workout and two hours of resistance training per week.

Prehypertensives should reduce salt intake, restrict refined carbohydrates, and limit alcohol. Smoking should be avoided at all costs. Eating a diet rich in potassium found in bananas, nuts and figs and magnesium found in leafy green vegetables, seafood, whole grains and nuts are beneficial. A magnesium supplement of 300 to 500 mg is also beneficial. Eating cold-water fish such as salmon and sardines as both of these fish are rich in omega 3 fatty acids that help to reduce blood pressure. Combining fish with garlic helps the assimilation of the omega 3 fatty acids.

Another good whole food for a hypertensive to include in their diet is olive oil because it contains polyphenols that is a compound that helps reduce inflammation. Polyphenols also increase the production of nitric oxide that is a gaseous molecule that relaxes blood vessel walls.

Dr. Roundtree, an integrative physician who writes the “ask the doctor” column for Alternative Medicine also recommends taking olive leaf extract supplements as olive leaves contain oleuropein, a chemical shown to lower blood pressure. Olive leaf extract supplements usually come in 500 mg capsules. He recommends taking three to four a day. He also recommends taking L-arginine, an amino acid at 2 grams twice a day folic acid, a B-complex vitamin, at 1,000 mcg daily.

Drinking hibiscus tea also helps reduce blood pressure. A study published in Phytomedicine in 2004 revealed that patients suffering from mild to moderate hypertension were able to reduce their blood pressure by drinking 10 grams of hibiscus tea as effectively as taking captopril, a leading drug for hypertension.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Research News from the World of Alternative Medicine

I ran across some interesting research news from the world of alternative medicine that I found in the May 2006 Alternative Medicine magazine.

Arthritis Sufferers:

Recently the media has trashed the use of glucosamine/chondroitin supplements for relief of arthritis based on the Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial study results. Obviously, interpretation is in the eye of the beholder because after close examination by the American College of Rheumatology it was found that glucosamine/chondroitin did indeed provide significant relief to study participants. Relief from glucoasmine/chondroitin was also the end result of a European study.

End result - if taking glucosamine/chondroitin gave you relief then continue taking them. If you don't get relief, you may want to switch brands as not all products contain the levels of glucosamine/chondroitin listed on the labels.

Chicken Soup: Good for the Body and the Soul:

A study conducted at Dartmouth Medical School that people who ate lots of chicken (the precise amount was not recorded) have a significantly reduced risk of colorectal cancer compared to those who ate the least.

The study also concluded that there was no association between fat intake or eating red meat with the risk of developing adenomas in the colon which can be the precursors of colorectal cancer. Processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon, and lunch meats posed a significant risk possibly because of the nitrates and nitrites used to preserve them.

To be continued. . .


Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Living in Balance with the Season

Autumn is the time of year when the full yang of summer wanes and the earth begins its yin cycle into the full yin of winter. The energy of the earth has turned downward and has begun its descent into the bowels of the earth. One can witness this event by looking at the falling leaves and flowering plants shriveling and becoming dormant. The animal kingdom follows suit. Birds begin to migrate, squirrels and chipmunks gather food for their nests and burrows.

As we are part of this cycle, the energy in our bodies has also begun to descend downward. We are no longer as carefree as we were during the warm days of summer. Now, we have to concentrate on work and preparing our homes for the colder months ahead.

What can we do to make this transition into a new season? One way to support this descent is to change our food intake. The emphasis of eating raw produce, melons, and salads belong to the summer months when we need to cool down our bodies. Now the emphasis needs to shift to warming the body as the days become cooler. Including root vegetables in our diet such as carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and squashes promotes warmth. Denser, heartier foods need to be incorporated including whole grains, protein and fat.

Another way to transition into the season is to pay attention to our lungs. Autumn is the season of the lung according to Chinese medicine. The lungs are a major player in the strength of our immune system and if there is an imbalance it will more than likely begin to show up now. It may be in the form of frequently catching colds, coming down with sinus infections or reacting to environmental allergies.

A qi gong exercise to strengthen the lungs involves nothing more than swinging your arms in unison to the front and back of the body. This activity stimulates the first acupuncture point on the lung meridian located in the front of the shoulder. The optimal number of times to swing your arms is 300 to fully strengthen the lungs; however, as little as a minute or two of exercise would still be of benefit.

The taste associated with autumn is pungent or spicy. If you feel that you are coming down with a cold, try eating pungent food. I prefer Indian food because of all the wonderful spices. Drinking ginger tea will also help clear the lungs and lift congestion.

The emotion associated with the autumn is one of sadness or melancholy. Many people are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder at this time of year as the days get shorter. Try to go outside during daylight so that exposure to the sun can promote the body’s natural production of Vitamin D which in turn will promote the production of serotonin levels.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The Principles of Yin and Yang
What do you think of when you hear the words "yin and yang". If you're like most people you think of opposites. For those of us practicing Chinese medicine, yin and yang is the whole foundation of our medicine. When yin and yang are in balance, there is health. When out of balance, there is disorder and disease.
Ancient Chinese culture used the description of yin and yang to describe the existing agrarian way of life. Yang relates to activity and the growing cycles of life. The sun is yang. The seasons of spring and summer are yang. On the other hand yin relates to the quiet, contemplative time. The moon is yin. Night time is yin. Autumn and winter are the yin cycles of the year.
Ancient Chinese physicians borrowed from this concept of yin and yang and used it as the foundation for traditional Chinese medicine. Yin relates to blood; yang relates to qi, or energy. The bodies organ systems are either defined as yin or yang depending on their function. Yin and yang form the first of the eight basic principles of Chinese medicine. The remaining six are subsets of yin and yang. The remaining six are cold and hot; deficiency and excess; and, interior and exterior. Cold, deficiency, and interior are considered yin. Hot, excess, and exterior are yang.
What does that mean? Say, you just caught a cold from being outside and you're running a slight fever. If you went to a Chinese health practitioner, your diagnosis would be a yang exterior condition with heat present. If this condition worsened and became pneumonia leaving you fatigued and chilled, then the diagnosis would be a yin, interior cold and deficient condition. The principle of treatment is to restore the yin and yang balance and thus restore health.
So, rather than thinking of opposites the next time you hear the term yin and yang, think of balance and health.
May you live in balance!




Apture

Follow my blog