Health Insights – Page 17

The Body’s Physical Reactions to Emotions

When Hillary Clinton was named the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, it was marked by numerous expressions of joy, pride, apprehension and anger — all natural on the spectrum of emotions we experience on a regular basis (and certainly during an election season).

But among supporters who cried or got chills and goosebumps, there’s a pretty reasonable question: Why do emotions lead to physical symptoms? Turns out, feelings aren’t just abstract thoughts. We have a physical reaction to our emotions as well — and it’s hardly within our control.

Research shows that we experience physical changes based on how we’re feeling. When it comes to so-called “happy” crying, the reaction is our body’s physical way of regulating overwhelming positive emotions. A 2015 study by Yale University found that shedding tears when we’re elated actually occurs because the body is calming itself down.

Physical reactions even vary by emotion. One 2014 study even mapped where they occur in the body. Scientists discovered that elated emotions — like love and happiness — consume our whole being, with the core of the reaction occurring in our chest through an increased heart rate.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

This is where we physically feel emotions in the body, according to researchers. And it’s not just happy, warm-and-fuzzy moments that spark a physical response.

Negative emotions can also prompt our bodies to behave in a visceral way.

The same 2014 body-mapping study also found that anger and anxiety are concentrated in the chest through rapid heartbeat. Shame is activated more in the brain. Rejection or hurt feelings may also induce an upper body response.

“Terms such as ‘heartache’ and ‘gut wrenching’ are more than mere metaphors. They describe the experience of both physical and emotional pain,” Robert Emery and Jim Coan, professors of psychology at the University of Virginia, explained to Scientific American. “In fact, emotional pain involves the same brain regions as physical pain, suggesting the two are inextricably connected.”

When it comes to the “Hillary moment,” specifically, another psychological process may be at play for those who have been fighting for equal representation. Researchers have long studied sexism and its influence on individual psyches: A 1999 cross-cultural analysis found that gender inequality can hurt a person’s economic and personal growth. Other research also suggests that it can lead to reduced life satisfaction for large groups of individuals. Clinton’s history-making nomination, in this sense, possibly had an immediate cognitive effect. Enter the tears.

In short, as long we have emotions, we’re going to have physical reactions to them. There’s a cocktail of processes occurring when one moment triggers a strong feeling. The human body is a magical (and sometimes uncontrollable) machine.

Source: Lindsay Holmes, Deputy Healthy Living Editor, The Huffington Post

Jet Lag – How to Combat it on your Summer Vacations

What is Jet Lag?

It’s hard to scoot around Harrods trying to look glam when all you want to do is go to bed in your jammies. Jet lag can do this to you. Although humans have always been travelers, we never suffered from boat-lag, car-lag or horse-lag. It’s only since planes have allowed us to move so fast that our brain might know we are in London during the day, but our body feels like it is night time in LA. Jet lag occurs when your body clock ‘lags’ behind (or in front) of local time.

What are the Symptoms of Jet Lag?

Fatigue.
Sleepiness in the daytime.
Insomnia.
Irritability.
Clumsiness.
Impaired judgment.

What causes Jet Lag?

Jet lag occurs when you cross time zones. Journeys going east are more difficult to adjust to than westward journeys. You can avoid jet lag completely if you only travel north to south, up and down along the same time zone – although this does limit your holiday choices and business destinations! The reason for the lag is that our body follows a 24-hour routine, known as the circadian rhythm. Body temperature drops at night, which is when we prefer to sleep. We urinate more during the day and hormones fluctuate according to the time within the 24-hour cycle. This all gets thrown out the window when you cross several time zones in just a few hours. With jet lag, your body clock doesn’t know whether it’s day or night, Arthur or Martha.

Jet lag is made worse by travel fatigue. Sitting down for many hours in seats designed by Lego, squished side-by-side like a can of sardines, your muscles are bound to cramp and tire. Even sardines get to lie down.

Reduced oxygen in the aircraft cabin can also play havoc with your wellbeing.

What to do about Jet Lag.

Jet lag remedies are like bad jokes: everyone has one. These have proven helpful to frequent travelers and airline staff.

Diet

Eat lightly. Choose salads and vegetables. Avoid heavy meals and creamy, spicy and rich food.
Eat meals according to your destination’s time zone. Most airlines adjust the meals to reflect this, which is why you might find yourself eating breakfast at 1 am.
If you’re not hungry – Don’t eat. There is no rule that says you have to eat every meal that is served. Often it’s due to boredom rather than hunger.
The air circulating in planes is as dry as a potato chip. Dehydration can increase jet lag, so ensure that you drink plenty of water – 200 ml per hour at least.
Drink no more than a glass of wine with dinner – except French champagne; see below – as alcohol is a diuretic, causing you to become even more dehydrated. It can also disrupt sleeping patterns.
Drink coffee only when it is morning time at your destination.

Remedies

To help you sleep at night, try a herbal tablet, tincture or tea containing valerian, passion flower, hops, Californian poppy and/or chamomile.
To help you stay alert in the morning, try an herbal preparation containing Siberian or Korean ginseng, gotu kola and/or damiana.
Melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, helps to balance out our circadian rhythms. Take an hour before you wish to sleep. Homoeopathic Melatonin may also prove helpful.
The homoeopathic remedy, Arnica, is terrific for jet lag – take a dose every two (2) hours while awake.
If you suffer from anxiety when flying, take some Bach Rescue Remedy as well as the herb, Kava.
If you are prone to water retention, take a 100 mg tablet of Vitamin B6 with each meal.
Deep vein thrombosis is a very real threat for those who take long-haul flights. A blood clot can form, usually in the calf, which may result in a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism. Vitamin E, Gingko Biloba, Butcher’s Broom and a remedy made from Japanese natto miso, Nattokinase, can help. Take singly or in combination for a few days before and after your journey.
Sitting in a crowded plane increases your chance of catching a cold. To prevent this from happening, take Echinacea for a week before, as well as during your flight.

Other

The trick is to set your watch to the time of your destination as soon as you embark. This means that you try and sleep when it is night-time at your destination and eat at your destination’s meal times.
The downside to drinking water is the need to urinate, which can be inconvenient when you are in the middle seat. However, a trip to the bathroom can double as ‘exercise’.
For flights over 6-7 hours, you will need to exercise to prevent swelling of the ankles and legs and prevent ‘economyclassitis’ (also known as deep vein thrombosis, a potentially fatal condition that comes from being cramped in a confined space for hours). Some airlines offer a set of exercises on information sheets or via their onboard entertainment system. At the very least, wear comfortable shoes and every hour or so stretch and scrunch your toes. In addition, rotate your ankles clockwise and counter-clockwise hourly, as well as standing and walking when you are able.
Gentle exercise, moving your legs and compression stockings can all help prevent DVT.
If it is sunny when you arrive, stay outside for an hour or so, without sunglasses. This is to allow the sunlight to hit the retina, be registered by the pineal gland and promote the production of natural melatonin.
When you arrive, if it is night-time, take a hot bath with Lavender Oil.
If you have the time, try to break up your journey with overnight stops. This will greatly reduce jet-lag.
Travel first class. French champagne is known to prevent jet lag and travel fatigue. Dosage: one glass per hour.
Exercise for twenty to forty minutes as soon as you can after arriving at your destination. Swimming is the best exercise, preferably in the sunshine. (Shopping is not exercise).
Meditate regularly during the flight. Many people swear that meditating banishes jet lag.
Sitting for hours and hours can lead to water retention and bloating. Don’t wear tight-fitting clothes or shoes, walk around, and if possible put your feet up.

Aromatherapy

To deter jet lag, the goal is to promote alertness, energy, strength, stamina and balance within the nervous system. Blend the following essential oils with 10 ml of jojoba oil, 10ml carrier oil, or 10 ml of coconut oil. Use as a needed throughout and after the journey.

Alternatively, this blend can be combined with purified water and an essential oil solubiliser and used as a personal spritzer.

7 drops of peppermint oil – alertness, strength
6 drops of rosemary CT Cineole oil – mental fatigue, balance, strength
4 drops of black pepper oil – focus, strength and stamina
3 drops of geranium oil – balance, uplifting, energizing

(Source: Condenast)

Cancer and Sugar

Comments from Steven Horne, Relating to Cancer & Sugar

Dick attended the IIPA (International Iridology Practitioners Association) symposium in Las Vegas in February. Steven Horne also attended this symposium, both as a speaker and as a member attendee. The following information penned by Steven relates to Dr. Jimenez talk on cancer and its causative and treatment factors. (It appears in three different posts that Steven made relating to cancer, especially making key points on how refined sugar plays a key point in the cancer equation). This info is too important to not share with all of you.

2/20/2016 Facebook Post

Here’s a cool thing I learned at the IIPA Conference today. Dr. Antonio Jimenez from Hope4Cancer Institute spoke on their Seven Key Principles of Cancer Therapy, presenting some amazing data I’ve never heard about cancer before and some amazing new cancer treatments. One of the things he talked about was sugar. Perhaps you’ve heard the statement that “sugar feeds cancer?” That’s because cancer cells are known to greedily gobble up sugar due to their high metabolism. However, he also indicated that cancer cells can live on protein and fat, too.
The truth of the statement is that cancer cells thrive on refined sugar, not the natural sugars found in food. Here’s why. Perhaps you’ve heard that molecules can have a “spin,” dextrorotation and levorotation as in l-tryptophan or l-glutamine or d-ribose. Well apparently cancer cells gobble up sugar that has a dexorotation (I’ll call it a d-spin), whereas natural sugars have an levorotation (or l-spin for short). I’ve always wondered why when I switched from eating refined sugar to eating honey that my energy improved, my mind became clearer, my immune system was strengthened and overall I felt much better when sugar and honey are very chemically similar.
I’ve always suspected that it had to do with the idea that honey was a “live” natural food and refined sugar was somehow a “dead” lifeless food. But knowing that living tissues use l-spin molecules and that synthetic nutrients often have a d-spin, it would make sense that refined sugar becomes a chemical that has lost its life giving l-spin, whereas honey would still retain this. It was a really interesting idea that I’m going to have to investigate further.

2/21/16 Facebook Post

I want to add a comment about yesterday’s post about sugar. It was not meant to imply that refined sugar causes cancer (in and of itself). Dr Antonio Jimenez explained that cancer has multiple causal factors and requires a multifaceted treatment.

What the post was about was a puzzle I’ve been trying to solve for decades. During the time of my life that I completely stayed away from refined sugar, I want to add a comment about yesterday’s post about sugar. It was not meant to imply that refined sugar causes cancer (in and of itself). Dr. Antonio I felt better than I did at any other time of my life. My mind was clearer, my energy was better and I had a “kick ass” immune system. We were making cookies, cakes and even ice cream with natural honey and whole grains during this time, so I was still enjoying some sweets.
Chemists told me that there was almost no chemical difference between honey and refined sugar. They are 99% identical. I had no explanation for why refined sugar seemed to zap my energy and dull my thought processes when I accidentally ate some. I just knew that it did.
At that time I started believing that refined sugar was really a drug of sorts. Highly addictive and highly harmful to human health. But, I could not explain why natural sugars seemed to satisfy a craving for something sweet, while refined sugar seemed to make you want more and more of it.
I gradually allowed some refined sugar to creep back into my diet, mostly in the form of what I call “health food store junk food.” I think I allowed myself to be deluded into thinking that “organic refined sugar” was somehow less harmful than other refined sugar. Since I allowed this to happen my health, energy and mental clarity have not been as good as it was before.
I was trying to cut back on all sugars, but I was excusing myself in eating some of the health food store treats with refined sugars in them, but this made me realize that I needed to trust my own experience. (We all get so trained into trusting the “experts” while denying our own subjective experience, don’t we?)

So, I realized I need to go back to what I did before. No refined sugar, period. I’m going to go back to making my own treats at home using raw, natural honey, maple syrup and other natural sugars and avoid refined sugar (even the “organic” kind) for what I believe it is, a dead, lifeless, chemical that acts like an addictive drug. I don’t have all the “science” to prove this, but I’m thinking that refined sugar not only contributes to the environment of cancer and diabetes, but that it also causes the wrong kind of gut microflora to grow in your intestines.
One of the things the doctor said was that there is a testing procedure for cancer (and I don’t remember what procedure he said it was) where they give a dexo or d-rotating sugar to people and it causes all the cancer cells to “light up” because they absorb this form of sugar and the normal cells don’t. He said there needs to be more research on this. Something I said in my previous post also.

But, here’s the main point of what I’m writing. I’m going to get completely off of all refined sugars (like I did before) and see what happens. If the same thing happens as happened to me before, my energy, mental clarity and overall health should improve. I also expect that I’m going to go through massive withdrawals (similar to getting off of any drug) for a couple of weeks (as I did before).
As I’ve told people in the past, if you don’t believe sugar is a drug, just try to give it up cold turkey. When I gave up sugar, I developed great compassion for people who are trying to quit smoking or give up drinking or drugs. Breaking an addiction is never easy. But, I think all you have to do to prove whether this is true or not is to try the same experiment I tried over 30 years ago. Stop eating refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup and all foods containing either of them and only use raw, unfiltered, natural honey for 30 days as a sweetener.

Do not use cheap, runny honey as some of this “honey” is actually flavored high fructose corn syrup. Good honey will crystalize to a creamy, white or amber color and will be completely smooth. Also, try to find unfiltered honey so that you get some of the pollen in it. If you want some recipes for making some natural sweets for yourself during this transition period, check out the recipes on the modern herbal medicine website:http://www.modernherbaleducation.com/…/articles/recipes.html

2/21/2016 Facebook Post

Before I head back to my last day at the IIPA Conference, I just wanted to share a couple more interesting things I learned about cancer yesterday.

First, cancer cells “recruit” nearby healthy cells and turn them into cancer cells. In other words, they trigger neighboring cells to make the epigenetic changes that revert them to a primitive metabolism.

Second, cancer cells are highly intelligent and adaptive. They hide themselves from the immune system. They can adapt to many different types of diets and can also adapt to many of the therapies medicine uses to try to kill them.

Third, this clinic uses seven different therapies, which are: 1. nontoxic cytolytic and cytostatic therapies, 2. enhancing immune function, 3. full spectrum nutrition (which includes dietary rotation), 4. detoxification, 5. eliminating microbes and pathogens, 6. oxygen therapy (cancer cells thrive in a low oxygen environment, as do many infections), and 7. spiritual and emotional healing work (which he stressed is a very important part of the therapy).

Fourth, he said that almost all cancer patients have a low body temperature (95-97 degrees), which suggests that overall metabolism and energy production are down in the cancer patient which may be why the cells are mutating to survive.

Fifth, One of the therapies they use is a medically proven therapy from Europe that involves a virus that is non-pathologic to healthy human cells, but infects cancer cells (attaching to the markers they use to hide themselves from the immune system). This virus not only destroys cancer cells, it also makes them visible to the immune system. Makes you wonder why this therapy isn’t available in the United States. It’s called Rigvir virotherapy.

Lastly, they also use a compound called PNC-27, which is discussed in the following Ted Talk: http://pnc27.com/home/home-ted-talk/

Needless to say, I learned a lot yesterday.