Another Reason Why Dark Chocolate (In Moderation!) Is Good For You

Another Reason Why Dark Chocolate (In Moderation!) Is Good For You

Hooray! -- even more research shows why dark chocolate (in moderation) has heart-healthy benefits.

Researchers from San Diego State University conducted a small controlled study illustrating that eating dark chocolate has positive effects in lowering blood sugar levels and "bad" cholesterol levels and increasing "good" cholesterol levels -- all of which could have positive effects on heart health.

The study was presented at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting.

For the study, researchers had 31 people eat either 50 grams of regular dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa), dark chocolate (70 percent cocoa) that has been overheated, or white chocolate (0 percent cocoa). The study participants ate their assigned chocolate for a 15-day period; their blood glucose, circulating lipids, blood pressure and blood flow were all measured before and after the study.

But while the researchers found a positive effect of eating the dark chocolate in the study, they cautioned that chocolate is also high in saturated fat and calories, and must therefore be eaten in moderation.

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Chocolate Decreases Stroke Risk

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A 2011 Swedish study found that women who ate more than 45 grams of chocolate a week had a 20 percent lower risk of stroke than women who treated themselves to fewer than 9 grams of the sweet stuff.

A 2011 Swedish study found that women who ate more than 45 grams of chocolate a week had a 20 percent lower risk of stroke than women who treated themselves to fewer than 9 grams of the sweet stuff.

Chocolate Decreases Stroke Risk

A 2011 Swedish study found that women who ate more than 45 grams of chocolate a week had a 20 percent lower risk of stroke than women who treated themselves to fewer than 9 grams of the sweet stuff.

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Why Nervous People Have Higher Risk Of Cancer

Why Nervous People Have Higher Risk Of Cancer

Nervy individuals may be more at risk of aggressive cancer, new research suggests.

Scientists found that anxious mice were worse affected by skin tumours than less fearful animals. Stressed and worried humans could be susceptible in the same way, they believe.

Researchers in the US first identified laboratory mice with nervous personalities that avoided the dark or open spaces.

The hairless animals were then exposed to ultra violet radiation at levels equivalent to those experienced by humans who spend too long in the sun.

After a few months, the mice developed skin tumours - as did a group of non-anxious mice.

The difference was that the nervy mice grew more tumours, and only they went on to develop invasive skin cancer.

Anxious mice had higher levels of regulatory T-cells, whose job is to dampen down overblown immune responses.

They also produced fewer of the chemical signals needed to fire up an immune attack on tumours.

Levels of the stress hormone corticosterone were also raised in the anxious mice.

The research appears in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE.

Lead author Dr Firdaus Dhabhar, from Stanford University Medical Centre in California, said: "Anxiety may be defined as increased sensitivity to physically existent, or non-existent but perceived or anticipated, stressors.

"Identifying a psychological trait right at the beginning - before any experimental manipulation - and seeing that it can be associated with increased tumours months later, and with biology that can begin to explain mechanisms, was a rewarding surprise."

Further research now needs to be carried out on human patients, said Dr Dhabhar.

He added: "It's bad enough that cancer diagnosis and treatment generates stress and anxiety, but this study shows that anxiety and stress can accelerate cancer progression, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle.

"The goal is to ameliorate or eliminate the effects of anxiety and chronic stress, at least at the time of cancer diagnosis and during treatment."

Chronic stress has already been linked to cancer and other problems. But the latest study is said to be the first to show a biological connection between having an anxious disposition and greater threat from cancer.

Dr Dhabhar now wants to see whether countering the effects of anxiety and stress can improve the effectiveness of cancer treatment.

Taking an anxiety medication such as valium for limited periods of time might be helpful, he said.

"Ultimately, we really want to harness the patient's mind and body while doing everything that medicine can from the outside to maximise treatment success," said Dr Dhabhar.

• Skin Cancer Breakthroughs

• Vitamin A 'Could Prevent Skin Cancer'

  Taking daily vitamin A supplements could protect against deadly melanoma skin cancer, scientists claim. According to researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, a compound found in vitamin A, (Retinol), is vital for protecting against skin cancer. Read the full story here.

• Skin Cancer Drug 'Almost Doubles Survival Times' In Patients

  A twice-daily skin cancer drug almost doubles the survival times of advanced cancer patients, American scientists have discovered. Researchers from the Jonsson Cancer Center at the University of California, found that advanced melanoma cancer sufferers lived on average of 16 months after receiving the vemurafenib drug. Read the full story here.

• 'Radioactive Paint' Could Cure Skin Cancer Tumours In Two Hours

  Italian scientists have discovered a new, non-surgical skin cancer treatment using radioactive 'paint' which could save up to 3,000 lives a year - and can be done in as little as two hours. Read the full story here.

• Young People 'Encouraged' To Use Sunbeds

  A cancer charity has warned that four in 10 young people under the age of 25 are being 'encouraged' to use sunbeds by their friends. The Cancer Research UK discovered that 26% of 18 to 24-year olds have been given the push to use sunbeds by friends or a family member when using it for the first time. Read the full story here.

• Skin Cancer Tablet That Costs 5p

  A tablet costing a mere five pence a day could be the key to stopping deadly cancer tumours developing, recent research published in the Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention has found. Scientists from Ohio State University and Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark looked at the records of 4,000 people battling severe forms of cancer. Read the full story here.

• 'Encouraging' Skin Cancer Gene Discovered

  Scientists have said an "encouraging" discovery has been made in the fight against the most dangerous form of skin cancer. A team from the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow said it has proved that a specific gene, P-Rex1, must be present before malignant melanoma can spread in a patient. Read the full story here.

• One In Six Women Believe Fake Tan Protects Against Sun Damage

  Millions of women are putting their lives at risk because of a mistaken belief that a spray tan will protect them from the sun's harmful rays. One in six women believe that fake tan acts like a sunscreen while nearly half think their foundation and make-up provides them with UV protection. Read the full story here.

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Can Anti-Depressant ‘Happy Pills’ Cure Osteoarthritis?

Can Anti-Depressant ‘Happy Pills’ Cure Osteoarthritis?

A drug designed to beat depression could provide effective, life-changing treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee, researchers have found.

Depression drug 'duloxetine', which increases the levels of feel-good chemicals (such as serotonin and noradrenaline) in the nerves, has also been found to ease arthritis pain in knee joints, say researchers at University of Maryland.

The treatment, which costs £22 for a month’s supply, was given to a group of osteoarthritis sufferers for 13 weeks – and placebo pills given to another group of participants.

Patients who took the drug reported a 33% drop in pain levels compared to those who took the placebo medication.

These findings were published in the Journal of Rheumatology.

A spokeswoman for Arthritis Research UK said in a statement: "We know that the class of drugs to which duloxetine belongs have a propensity to modify chronic musculoskeletal pain; back pain in particular, but it’s not clear if it works well in peripheral joint osteoarthritis.

"There have been a number of trials of this drug that have shown mixed results.”

Antidepressants are used in a number of pain-relieving medications to help treat conditions such as migraines, pelvic pain and nerve damage.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the drug's pain-killing mechanism is still not fully understood.

However, previous studies have shown that arthritis pain is often worse in patients suffering from depression - and those using an anti-depressant may benefit from decreased sensations of pain.

According to Arthritis UK, people with long-term arthritis are two to three times (20%) more likely to experience depression. And around 68% of patients admit that their depression is worst when the pain levels are highest.

Emer O’Neill, spokesperson for the coalition and chief executive of Depression Alliance said in a statement: “You are twice as likely to experience depression if you have a long term condition.

“Depression is a debilitating condition and having a double whammy of a long-term condition and depression has an undoubtedly serious effect on a person’s quality of life and health.

“As a coalition of charities, we are calling for equal importance to be given to the physical and psychological symptoms of long-term conditions. We must start treating those with chronic conditions as a ‘whole person’ – and not just their physical condition”

• Natural Ways To Strengthen Your Bones

• Try Soy-Based Foods

  Calcium-enriched soy foods, like tofu, contain as much as 861mg of calcium, which is a large proportion of your recommended daily allowance. Soy has a similar effect as oestrogen on the body, helping strengthen bones.

• Drink Milk

  Milk is one of the richest sources of calcium. One glass of milk contains 300mg of calcium.

• Go In The Sun

  Sunshine is a natural vitamin D stimulant. Without vitamin D, the body cannot absorb calcium, a crucial mineral which helps build healthy bones.

• Feast On Sardines

  Another rich source of calcium. Just 3 ounces of canned sardines has the same calcium equivalent as a cup of milk.

• Eat Yoghurt

  Eight ounces of milk contains the same amount of calcium than milk. Lactose and dairy-free products contain the same amount of calcium than its dairy counterpart.

• Cut Back On Salt

  A high intake of salt deprives the body of calcium - the vital mineral for maintaining healthy bones. The more salt that is consumed, the more calcium is flushed away through the urine. Sticking to a low-salt diet helps the body retain its natural calcium levels for longer.

• Go Nuts

  Peanuts (unsalted) and almonds are great sources of potassium, which helps protect against the loss of calcium in the body. Nuts are also excellent sources of protein and other vital nutrients that play a supportive role in building strong and healthy bones.

• Top Up On Your Greens

  Dark,leafy greens are packed full of calcium. Greens such as bok choy, Chinese cabbage and kale have the highest levels of the mineral.

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Art Markman, Ph.D.: When Do You Practice What You Preach?

Art Markman, Ph.D.: When Do You Practice What You Preach?

Philosophers and observers of human behavior have noticed that people often make moral claims that they cannot live up to. There are countless examples of scandals involving religious and political leaders who talk publicly about living up to high moral standards, but whose personal lives do not measure up. These observations have spurred a number of lines of psychological research.

In 1997, Jonathan Baron and Mark Spranca focused on a particular kind of moral statement that people make, called a "protected value." A protected value is a moral line that people say they simply will not cross. For many people, for example, abortion crosses a protected value of the sanctity of human life. For these people, they simply will not accept any violation of this value. A key sign that a protected value is threatened is that people experience a sense of moral outrage.

This strong reaction to violations of a protected value are felt most strongly when the value is challenged directly. In fact, research by Julie Irwin and Jonathan Baron in 2001 suggests that even people who hold a particular protected value will make tradeoffs related to it when they are not asked about it directly.

In their studies, some participants were people who expressed a protected value for saving the rainforest. When faced directly with the opportunity to purchase furniture made from wood harvested from the rainforest, these participants were unwilling to do so. However, if participants with this protected value were asked about how much money they would spend for a variety of pieces of furniture (some of which contained wood from rainforests), almost all of them expressed a price that they would actually be willing to pay. So, when the protected value was not made overt in the choice, it had a much weaker effect on people's behavior.

Even in less extreme circumstances, people's beliefs about their behavior often do not match their actual behavior. An interesting paper by Oriel FeldmannHall, Dean Mobbs, Davy Evans, Lucy Hiscox, Lauren Navrady, and Tim Dalgleish published in Cognition in 2012 explores this issue. They compared performance in hypothetical and real moral situations.

The studies focused on a game called Pain vs. Gain. In this game, one participant is given £20. A second participant is strapped into a chair where they will be given moderately painful electric shocks. On each of the 20 trials of the game, the participant can pay up to £1 to minimize the severity of the shock. If they give up 1£, then the other participant receives no shock at all. If they give up nothing, then the participant receives the most painful shock.

In the hypothetical version, the game is described to people, and they are asked how much money they would keep. In this condition, participants predict they will keep about £1.50. This prediction reflects people's general belief that they do not want to cause harm to other people.

In the real version of the game, participants actually played the game. At the start of the study, they met a second participant who was assigned to receive the shocks. They got to experience a mild shock to get a sense of what the other participant might feel. On each trial, they made responses on a computer of how much money they would give up on that trial using a slider to pick a value between £0 and £1. Then, they saw the effects of the shock on the other participant by video. In actuality, the other participant was a confederate who was never actually given a shock, but was acting as though they had. In this version of the experiment, participants actually kept about £12.50. In this study, the data from a participant was only used if that participant believed that the study was real and the other participant had actually received the shocks.

So, people's actual behavior differed quite a bit from what they would predict they would do.

In a second study, the researchers explored ways to make people's predictions more accurate. They reasoned that people have a hard time simulating what it is like to be faced with this choice, and so they fall back on a general rule like "don't harm other people" to predict what they would do. In this study, they created three other hypothetical versions of the game.

In one, the game was described in great detail, and participants were asked how much money they thought they would keep. In this case, participants thought they might keep about £4. In another version, the game was described, and participants actually played all 20 rounds of the game. In this case, they kept about £8. In a third condition, participants went through the entire scenario of meeting another participant and getting a sample shock, but then, they were told to imagine that the other participant was connected to the shock. Then, they played all 20 rounds of the game. In this case, participants kept about £12, which is about what the participants playing the real game kept.

This research is related to a lot of work on the consistency between people's attitudes and their behaviors. In essence, it is hard to predict what you are going to do in a situation if you are not experiencing that situation. When you say what you are going to do in a situation, you are making your best guess about it. However, it is hard for you to simulate all of the other factors that are going to influence your behavior. As a result, your predictions are often inaccurate. So, if you want to be as accurate as possible in predicting your future behavior, make the circumstances in which you make the prediction as similar as possible to the situation in which you will be acting.

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David Katz, M.D.: A New Kind Of Epidemic: FUN!

David Katz, M.D.: A New Kind Of Epidemic: FUN!

I was at the White House recently, for the 2012 Easter Egg Roll.

Before I get any credit I don't deserve for being among the chosen few invited to perform, I hasten to add I was there essentially as the unofficial photographer to the backup dancers for the invited act. The back-up dancers were three of my children. The main act was Kellee McQuinn, founder of KidTribe.

Kellee is a phenomenal performer, director, producer, and all-around force of nature.

She and I met not long ago when participating in a TEDx event for Mindstream Academy. We decided shortly thereafter to collaborate on a project funded by my non-profit, Turn the Tide Foundation, and tentatively called "Vitality Rap." The program will deliver empowering, inspiring, and surprising health messages to tweens and teens using music videos as the delivery vehicle -- with links to actionable programs that enable them to put their new awareness to work. The initial offering -- "Unjunk Yourself" -- is now in production, and got its pre-production premiere on the South Lawn of the White House.

Kellee and KidTribe were invited back to the Easter Egg Roll for the third year in a row, and after watching Kellee's performances (with, if I am allowed to express the potentially biased view of a parent, the very able back-up performances of my kids!) -- I can see why. She is an engaging, high-energy performer, and can do things with a hula-hoop that truly seem to defy gravity. My own efforts with a hula-hoop, in contrast, serve only to confirm that gravity is totally in charge.

Kellee reports going down two dress sizes as a by-product of her virtuoso hula-hooping. She also states -- with the kind of conviction that makes you believe it must be true -- that vigorous hula-hooping for 10 minutes burns the same calories as running a mile. I'm looking for the report of that randomized trial, and will get back to you when I find it. But for now, let's take it on faith.

Here's the part for which faith is not required, because I offer a firsthand account: What Kellee and KidTribe did on the White House South Lawn was highly contagious.

With each of the many performances throughout the day -- to sequential, lottery-winning crowds of roughly 6,000 Easter Egg Roll guests at a time -- a forest of hula-hoops was strewn across the lawn. The music began. Kellee -- with Valerie, Natalia, and Gabriel -- took to the stage. The hoopla commenced.

And then, inevitably, one by one, two by two, and group by group, people picked up the hoops. They shook, they shimmied, and in many cases, they hooped quite admirably. Few, I confess with some chagrin, were as hopeless as I. (I plan to keep my day job...)

But even those who couldn't hoop -- or didn't get a hoop -- danced alongside those who could, and did. Young, old; lean, heavy; adept, and not so much. They were all moving, and loving it.

And there were no hoops to jump through. There was no cajoling, coaxing, or coercion. There was no hullabaloo. Just fun, on public display. Just the up-side of peer pressure. A contagion of hip-swinging, calorie-burning fun.

Often -- too often, perhaps -- we clinicians, researchers, and public health practitioners speak of health as if it requires jumping through hoops. And in many ways, of course, it does.

Eating well in the modern world is hard. We are surrounded by a wide array of tempting food choices of suspect influence on health. We are exposed to the constant goad of food marketing. We may well be subject to foods willfully engineered to ensure that we "can't eat just one."

We are, as well, beneficiaries of ever more technology that does all the things that muscles used to do. We are victims of increasingly hectic schedules that squeeze physical activity out of the daily routine of adults and children alike.

And we confront these modern challenges with a Stone Age physiology perfectly suited for an entirely different world. A world in which calories were relatively scarce and hard to get, and physical activity -- called survival -- was unavoidable. Everybody did it every day.

We find ourselves in a modern world in which physical activity is scarce and hard to get, and calories are unavoidable. And with no native defenses against caloric excess or the lure of the couch -- never having needed them before. So we are all too readily undone by this foreign, toxic, modern world of our own devising.

Jumping from where we are to the native conditions of the Stone Age to which we are adapted involves one heck of a hoop!

We professionals also tend to talk about the costs of not making that leap. I tell this tale routinely, both on the page and at the podium.

It is a tale of epidemic obesity among adults and children alike. It is a story of the transformation of adult-onset diabetes into a pediatric epidemic of Type 2. It is a story of proliferating cardiac risk factors in ever-younger people. It is even a story of a rising rates of stroke in 5- to 14-year-olds. It is not a fun story. It is a story that might even imply: To hell with fun!

Up to a point, we professionals are quite right to note how hard getting to health can be through the obstacle course of the modern day -- for adults and children alike. We are right to report, and repeat, the dire consequences of poor use of forks and inadequate use of feet that constitute the status quo. We are right to clamor for changes in both programming and policies to help pave the way so that health might be diverted from the road far too seldom taken, to a path of lesser resistance.

But there is another story to tell about health, and it is fun. It's all about fun. The antidote for "to hell with fun" may just be: To health, with fun!

Healthy people have more fun. People having fun might accidentally get healthy. We can get health in the pursuit of pleasure, and pleasure in the pursuit of health. Peer pressure can have an up-side!

The fun story is what I saw on the South Lawn of the White House. I was invigorated and inspired by what I saw -- and hope that with words and pictures, I can to convey some small measure of that infectious energy.

Getting to health can seem like jumping through hoops. But do the hula with one, and you see a very different picture. Have fun -- put it on display in front of some kids, your own or anyone else's -- and you will likely find yourself at the center of a movement. Make it fun that involves movement, and you will likely find yourself at the epicenter of not only infectious fun, but a contagion of health promotion as well.

Here's to that epidemic!

-fin

Dr. David L. Katz; www.davidkatzmd.com
www.turnthetidefoundation.org

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Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D., C.D.E.: Surprising Facts About Fat In Foods

Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D., C.D.E.: Surprising Facts About Fat In Foods

Fat has the reputation as the bad boy of the nutrition world. Maligned for decades, the message from many health organizations has been the same: reduce or cut the fat. For those who are overweight or have chronic health issues, this is probably the right advice. However, the idea of fat as universally "bad" simply isn't true. Maybe it's time to reframe the conversation, starting with the real facts about fat.

1. Eating fat does not necessarily make you fat.

Many think that if you eat any fat it will go to your sides, backside, hips or stomach. If you are consuming more food than your body requires it does not matter what you are eating -- carbohydrate, protein or fat. In fact, eating too many starchy processed carbs is more likely to trigger high insulin levels and fat storage or weight gain than moderate fat or protein.

2. No need to avoid nuts.

Nuts do contain fat but the healthy kind called monounsaturated fat, which helps not only with satiation (feeling full) but also increasing the good type of cholesterol, called HDL. Richard Mattes, MPH, R.D., distinguished professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University, has studied the relationship between nuts and weight (1). His research shows nuts are not associated with weight gain due to their high level of satiety and inefficiency with being digested. Apparently nuts have cell walls that are not easily broken down during the chewing process. Translation: This means nuts basically go through the body undigested without releasing the fat they contain into your system. What great news for nut lovers!

3. Saturated fat is not the evil villain to avoid.

Once thought to be the villain, many health care professionals recommended avoiding all sources of saturated fat (fat that is solid at room temperature). We now know that having some saturated fat will not break your health bank and some types of saturated fat can be part of a healthy diet.

One healthy source of saturated fat is extra-virgin, organic coconut oil. Coconut oil contains a type of MCT (medium chain triglyceride) oil called lauric acid that is only found here and in mother's breast milk. Lauric acid is a powerful immune stimulant and may help in preventing sickness. In addition, coconut oil is safe to use at high temperatures since it is saturated and the molecules cannot be damaged. I've tried many brands of coconut oil and my favorite one is Kelapo -- great for stir-frying veggies and your morning eggs.

4. A label that says "no trans fat" may not be entirely free of trans fat.

Unfortunately, many manufacturers make the serving size on the label so small it falls under the "do not need to report" guideline. If the serving size has less than the .5 grams of trans fat, a manufacturer can state "no trans fat" on the label. If you ate several servings of a food with "no trans fat" it can quickly add up to well over 2 grams of trans fat per day, which has been consistently linked to heart disease.

5. You don't need to steam all your veggies to get the most nutritional value.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published research showing that eating a salad with dressing containing fat significantly increased absorption of nutrients called carotenoids (2). Eating a salad with fat-free dressing resulted is no carotenoid absorption. Carotenoids are responsible for the yellow, red, orange, and green colored pigments in fruits and veggies -- important for disease prevention. If you want to absorb all the amazing nutrients in your veggies, have some healthy fat on them or fat within the same meal.

6. Extra-virgin olive oil is not ideal for cooking.

Although extra-virgin olive oil is a healthy monounsaturated fat, it can easily become damaged at high temperatures. Use it for making salad dressings or marinating vegetables and meats. If you want to cook with olive oil, use it only in recipes where the smoke point is between 200 to less than 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

A particularly good olive oil I found last year at the Natural Foods Expo was cold-pressed Olivaylle Olive Nectar -- processed within six hours of harvesting and put in an oxygen-free dark glass, which holds in the nutrients since olive oil is fragile and can be easily damaged or oxidized.

7. Fat plays an important role in the body.

Fat has multiple functions in the body and is so important that without fat, we would not be alive. Some important reasons we need fat are:

• Your brain needs fat: Approximately 60 percent of the dry weight of brain is fat, and healthy neurons contain a type of fat known as DHA.

• Sex hormones are derived from fat.

• Fats supply essential fatty acids the body cannot manufacture, which are needed for healthy skin and hair.

• Fat is involved in metabolism of food, immune function and helping to stabilize blood sugars.

Now that you know the facts, you can see how fat's bad rap is undeserved. As with all things, moderation is the key. Enjoy some healthy fat with meals -- and taste how good "bad" can be!

References

1. Mattes, RD., et. al. (2010) "Nuts and healthy body weight maintenance mechanisms." Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 19(1):137-141

2. Brown, MJ., et al. (2004) "Carotenoid bioavailability is higher from salads ingested with full-fat than with fat-reduced salad dressings as measured with electrochemical detection." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 80(2):396-403.

Susan is the author of "A Recipe for Life by the Doctor's Dietitian." Her new book "Healthy You, Healthy Baby: A mother's guide to gestational diabetes" will be out in May 2012. For more information, visit susandopart.com.

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Paul Spector, M.D.: Sitting Ducks

Paul Spector, M.D.: Sitting Ducks

"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." -- Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby 1873

We continue to deny this idea despite more than a century of data. In the latest contribution to this argument, an Australian group put another nail in the coffin of the couch potato. They demonstrated that the amount of time we spend sitting correlates with all-cause mortality. For those who haven't been living under a rock, this is not news. However, what puts this study on the map is the finding that the negative effect of prolonged sitting was not significantly reversed by physical activity.

The fact that modern humans spend so little time out of a chair has given birth to a vital new field, sedentary behavior research. Investigation has revealed that the adverse consequences of prolonged sitting (surely this will become a familiar acronym in the literature -- PS -- so let's coin it now) stem from a web of causes including: reduced metabolic function, increased triglycerides and decreased HDL-cholesterol (the good one), decreased insulin sensitivity, and impaired carbohydrate metabolism. These are the usual suspects in any discussion of cardiovascular disease, diabetes or obesity.

But now the data suggests two important things. First, it seems that physical activity and sedentary behavior act independently through different mechanisms. This would explain why the damage of PS (sitting for 11 hours a day) is not completely mitigated by 30 minutes of daily exercise. Secondly, they have found that normal weight is not fully protective against the ravishes of PS and in no way means you're healthy.

The pioneering work on this issue was done in the early 1950s by a British researcher, Dr. Jeremy Morris, the man responsible for connecting physical exertion and health. In seeking to determine whether there was an association between the type of work people do and heart disease, he stumbled upon groundbreaking data. Morris combed through the health records of 31,000 bus drivers and conductors in London. The conductors had significantly less heart disease than the drivers. The only variable that consistently distinguished one group from the other was activity level.

So if this link was appreciated more than 50 years ago, why has so little been done, allowing heart disease to remain the number one killer? The answer is simple. Medicine addresses disease, not health. Until you are sick, the medical system has had nothing to offer. We've gotten better at treating heart disease, but have just begun to seriously consider preventing it. Until people stop thinking about health in terms of doctors and medicines, things will not change.

The "progress" afforded by the Industrial Revolution has provided a natural experiment demonstrating the catastrophic effects of sedentary life. If one considers our genetic wiring, perfected over hundreds of thousands of generations, this all makes perfect sense. We were made to move. And our genome has not adapted to this relatively new lifestyle. It turns out we need more than exercise.

So don't just sit there. Get up and get well.

References:

[1] Archives of Internal Medicine, March 26, 2012, van der Ploeg et al. 172 (6):494

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Big Gaps Found In Nursing Homes' Disaster Plans

Big Gaps Found In Nursing Homes' Disaster Plans

WASHINGTON -- Tornado, hurricane or flood, nursing homes are woefully unprepared to protect frail residents in a natural disaster, government investigators say.

Emergency plans required by the government often lack specific steps such as coordinating with local authorities, notifying relatives or even pinning name tags and medication lists to residents in an evacuation, according to the findings.

That means the plans may not be worth the paper they're written on.

Nearly seven years after Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans exposed the vulnerability of nursing homes, serious shortcomings persist.

"We identified many of the same gaps in nursing home preparedness and response," investigators from the inspector general's office of the Health and Human Services Department wrote in the report being released Monday. "Emergency plans lacked relevant information. ... Nursing homes faced challenges with unreliable transportation contracts, lack of collaboration with local emergency management, and residents who developed health problems."

The report recommends that Medicare and Medicaid add specific emergency planning and training steps to the existing federal requirement that nursing homes have a disaster plan. Many such steps are now in nonbinding federal guidelines that investigators found were disregarded.

In a written response, Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner agreed with the recommendation, but gave no timetable for carrying it out.

Nationally, more than 3 million people spent at least some time in a nursing home during 2009, according to the latest available data. Nearly 40 percent of them, 1.2 million, were in the top 10 disaster-prone states. The typical nursing home resident is a woman in her 80s or older, dealing with physical and mental limitations that leave her dependent on others for help with basic daily activities.

Investigators pursued a two-track approach. First they looked at the number of nursing homes that met federal regulations for emergency planning and training. Then they went into the field to test how solid those plans were, in a sample of homes drawn from 210 facilities substantially affected by floods, hurricanes and wildfires across seven states during 2007-2010.

On the surface, things appeared to be in good shape. Ninety-two percent of the nation's 16,000 nursing homes met federal regulations for emergency planning, while 72 percent met the standards for emergency training.

A different story emerged when inspectors showed up at 24 selected nursing homes and started pulling files and interviewing staff.

The specific facilities in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas were not identified in the report. All had been affected by disasters; 14 had evacuated and the remainder sheltered in place.

A detailed, well-rehearsed emergency plan is a basic requirement for disaster preparedness. But at one home, the emergency plan was in several boxes. At another one, it was on a legal pad.

Of the 24 emergency plans, 23 did not describe how to handle a resident's illness or death during an evacuation. Also, 15 had no information about specific medical needs of patients, such as feeding tubes and breathing equipment. Seven plans were silent on how to identify residents in an evacuation, such as by attaching wristbands or name tags. Inspectors said 15 made no provision for including medication lists.

None of the nursing homes met a government recommendation for a seven-day supply of drinking water if residents had to shelter in place and their regular source of water was unsafe or unavailable.

Twenty-two had no backup plans to replace staff members unable to report for work during a disaster.

Transportation was an Achilles' heel. None of the nursing homes had planned to ensure transportation of adequate food and water for evacuated residents, while 19 had no specific plan for transporting wheelchairs and similar equipment. Twenty-two of the plans did not describe how the nursing home would transport medications.

Seventeen had no specific plan for working with local emergency coordinators to decide whether to evacuate or shelter in place.

Not surprisingly, administrators and staff from 17 of the nursing homes told investigators they faced substantial challenges in responding to the disasters that hit their areas. A common problem was that transportation contracts were not honored after an evacuation was called. Four nursing homes that did evacuate said they had problems trying to keep track of residents and supplies, in some cases temporarily losing patients.

The vulnerability of nursing home patients became a national issue when 35 residents of St. Rita's Nursing Home just outside New Orleans perished during Katrina. Some drowned in their beds.

Prosecutors charged the owners of the facility with negligent homicide, saying they should have evacuated the home. But a jury acquitted them of all charges. Some jurors said afterward that Louisiana authorities should have taken responsibility for the safety of nursing home residents ahead of the monster storm.

A Houston Chronicle investigation found that, all told, at least 139 nursing home residents died during the hurricane or its aftermath.

The top 10 disaster-prone states, as ranked by historical statistics on major disaster declarations, are Texas, California, Oklahoma, New York, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Missouri.

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Josh Schonwald: PHOTOS: 7 Bizarre Foods You'll Be Eating In The Future

Josh Schonwald: PHOTOS: 7 Bizarre Foods You'll Be Eating In The Future

If you grow up with Kung Pao chicken, you will get sick of Kung Pao chicken. You will then get excited by Pad Thai. Then you will go through a Pho phase, and after that you will get hot for Cambodian, Malaysian, Indonesian. Try a burrito, then some Oaxacan moles, and soon you'll be drinking pisco sours and searching for an authentic Feijoada (southern Brazilian). The appetite for ethnic exploration ain't slowing down. Eventually, the food-delirious world will turn its attention to the last continent for culinary exploration-- and it's not Antarctica. Get ready, circa the 2030s, for an influx of foods and flavors from sub-Saharan Africa. And if you're a doubter, take a look at Marcus Samuellson's The Soul of a New Cuisine, the book that made me a believer in Africa's culinary potential and the inevitability of Senegalese take-out.

If you grow up with Kung Pao chicken, you will get sick of Kung Pao chicken. You will then get excited by Pad Thai. Then you will go through a Pho phase, and after that you will get hot for Cambodian, Malaysian, Indonesian. Try a burrito, then some Oaxacan moles, and soon you'll be drinking pisco sours and searching for an authentic Feijoada (southern Brazilian).

The appetite for ethnic exploration ain't slowing down. Eventually, the food-delirious world will turn its attention to the last continent for culinary exploration-- and it's not Antarctica. Get ready, circa the 2030s, for an influx of foods and flavors from sub-Saharan Africa. And if you're a doubter, take a look at Marcus Samuellson's The Soul of a New Cuisine, the book that made me a believer in Africa's culinary potential and the inevitability of Senegalese take-out.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Margaret Hyde: Spring Cleansing: A Spring Checklist for Cleansing the Body, Mind and Soul

Margaret Hyde: Spring Cleansing: A Spring Checklist for Cleansing the Body, Mind and Soul

Spring is here, and once again so is my desire to clean out all of the clutter and junk that has accumulated throughout the year. Instead of starting with my closets and the miles of old mail and magazines, I thought it would be truly refreshing to try to cleanse myself so that I can start the spring rejuvenated. Spring is a time of rebirth and new growth and I wanted to create a clean slate by cleansing my body, mind and soul.

There are so many fad cleanses out there that I wasn't sure where to start and what I could actually realistically commit to and complete. I love good food -- so I could never do a fast, and I do not think that I could keep up with my four children powered by juice alone. I also don't have time for a tedious and complicated mental and spiritual cleansing. I managed to find some inexpensive, relatively easy ways to cleanse myself from within.

Body Cleanse

"The mind's first step to self-awareness must be through the body." -- George Sheehan

1) Detox With Lemon Water -- Add to a glass of water half a fresh squeezed lemon to your morning routine, BEFORE coffee. The lemon juice helps cleanse the liver and aides its ability to remove toxins and fats from the body.

2) Add Cleansing Foods and Juices -- The following are foods known to help the body's natural cleansing and detoxifying abilities:

• Apples
• 
  
• Avocados
• 
  
• Beets
• 
  
• Blueberries
• 
  
• Cabbage
• 
  
• Celery and Celery Seeds
• 
  
• Cranberries
• 
  
• Flax seeds and flaxseed oil
• 
  
• Garlic
• 
  
• Grapefruit

I try to add one of these foods into meals I already like and regularly eat, but my favorite way to get cleansing vegetables and fruits is to juice.

My favorite juice combination, which is also great for supporting the liver's cleansing and detoxifying, is the following:

• 2 medium-sized beets
• 
  
• 1 cucumber
• 
  
• 1 lemon
• 
  
• 3 medium-sized carrots
• 
  
• 1 apple

You could also add flaxseed oil or any of the detoxifying foods listed above.
Add all ingredients to a juicer.

To read more about foods and juices for detoxifying and cleansing see these links:

3) Try Dry Brush Exfoliation -- Dry brushing is an ancient Ayurvedic health practice that helps promote circulation, detoxing, is very relaxing and feels great. The skin is one of the largest detoxifying organs of the body, although most of us don't ever think of it that way. You always dry brush with a clean brush on bare, dry skin, preferably before showering. Traditionally, you brush away from the heart and press lightly. It is easy to do it yourself at home, but if you want to splurge it is great as a part of an Ayurvedic massage. There are many spas offering this now.

For more information on dry brushing and dry brushing techniques go to the following links:

Mind Cleanse

"Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ear, by the heels or any other way you can manage it." -- Mark Twain

Cleansing the mind by shedding negative thoughts and perceptions can take a weight off your whole being. Dr. Andrew Weil says, "Many health professionals identify depressive rumination as the root cause of unhappiness." There is a whole school of psychology today called positive psychology, pioneered by Dr. Martin Seligmen, whose sole focus is to help people do this kind of mind cleanse. Positive psychology helps get rid of negative thoughts by helping people get rid of the judgments they form about things that are happening in their lives.

There are several positive psychology techniques called "interventions," which may be beneficial.

1. Three Good Things Every Day -- Try writing down three things that are going well and why. Do this every day for a week.
2. Using Signature Strengths -- Try writing down what you believe are your personal strengths (e.g., creativity or loyalty) and then use them in a different way daily.
3. Five-Minute Rant Write Down -- This is a technique that I created for myself based on the core ideas of positive psychology that I have found invaluable for cleansing my mind. Take five minutes every week and write down every negative thought that comes into your mind. Then take that piece of paper and tear it up, bury it or shred it.

For more information of positive psychology you can go to the following links:

Books:

• Spontaneous Happiness by Dr. Andrew Weil
• 
  
• Positive Psychology in Practice by Linley and Joseph

Soul Cleanse

"The Soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds on." -- Holland

Soul cleansing is the cherry on top of the personal cleansing process. It is the part of the process that lightens the spirit and helps leave you feeling clear, purposeful and content.

1) Meditation -- Try meditating every day, even if it is just a minute or two. All you have to do to meditate is sit quietly for a few moments and let the thoughts come and go and breathe deeply. Be sure to turn off your phone, computer or whatever distracts you. Just be still with yourself. Mediation is an ancient practice that has been rigorously studied by modern medicine as well. It has been shown to lower blood pressure and improves overall health. I truly believe that it does all of those things for the body as well as uplifting and cleansing the soul.

For more information and help with meditation check out the following links:

Information of the benefits of meditation:

2) Gratitude -- Each day try waking up asking, "What am I grateful for?" Go to bed asking the same question and throughout the day express your gratitude to those around you.

Try keeping a gratitude journal. Write down 10 things every day that you are grateful for. Once a week, try writing a note or sending an email to a person in youe life expressing your gratitude for them and the things that they have contributed to your life.

Gratitude lifts the spirit and fills the soul with positivity. In terms of measurable health benefits, researchers maintain that gratitude fosters optimism, which has been shown to positively influence the immune system.

For more information on the power of gratitude, check out this website.

3) Service -- Try being of service by giving back to others, whether it is a few hours a week, or a month or a year. Find an organization in your community (or beyond) that speaks to your soul and one that you feel you can really contribute to.

Maya Angelou said that she found that "Among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."

For information on service and volunteering:

Whether you're cleaning your closet or cleaning out the clutter in your mind, the energy and renewal that comes with cleansing is worth it for your body, mind and soul.

For more by Margaret Hyde, click here.

For more on personal health, click here.

For more on wellness, click here.

Follow Margaret Hyde on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@MosNose

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Kelly Dorfman: Why 'Brain Support' Should Be on Your 'To Do' List

Kelly Dorfman: Why 'Brain Support' Should Be on Your 'To Do' List

I was writing down my "to do" list yesterday. Here is what I have so far:

1. Pay daughter's college tuition bill
2. Make dentist appointment.
3. Visit Dad before he forgets who I am.

The last one has been on the list for several weeks now. Like so many in the squished-like-a-bug generation, I have a child in college and a father with dementia. In 10 years when the baby boomers hit their 70s, there will be an epidemic of people sliding the downward spiral into cognitive decline. Up to 50 percent of octogenarians have notable brain impairment. My father is 80, but I am one of the lucky ones.

Though I am procrastinating the task of visiting my dad, through aggressive nutrition intervention we have pushed back the dementia timetable by almost 20 years. Around 1995, I spotted the first signs of serious trouble. My father is epileptic so I have long kept a tight eye on his health. Traditionally, that job would have fallen to my mom but my parents separated when I was 7. As a typical oldest child of divorce, I hopped right in to fill the void. (And yes, I have had years of therapy.)

When I noticed my father was having word-finding issues, I bullied him into consulting with a neurologist. Normally, I abhor bullying and believe people should do things in their own time and in their own way but by definition, that does not happen with cognitive issues. Besides, one of my father's favorite things to do was to reduce or stop his anti-seizure medicine because he did not like taking it.

His medicine did need to be adjusted. More significantly, in running extensive tests the neurologist saw what she thought, confidentially and off the record, were early indicators of vascular dementia. She did not volunteer that information, but told me when pressed. That is as good as it gets for early dementia diagnosis. By the time a new doctor officially confirmed cognitive issues just a few months ago, the check-out person at the WaWa could have told you what was wrong. Unless the brain deterioration is so advanced that it can be seen on an MRI (which my father predictably refused to get), there is no formal diagnosis.

In fact, what the new neurologist told my father and his wife is that he was suffering from anxiety. You too, would be anxious if you could not consistently remember who is in your family or how you got that big bruise on your chest. He said the black and blue mark was from gardening, but it was January and snowing so that answer was suspect. Then dad had an enormous temper tantrum because he did not like being treated like he was stupid. An antidepressant was prescribed and he was shuttled out of the office. Suspicions concerning possible dementia were written on his chart and sent to his internist.

Though my father is slipping now, he has done well for almost 20 years despite major health challenges because of targeted nutrition therapy aimed at his brain. The minute there were symptoms, I loaded him up with a super multiple vitamin/mineral, fish oil, a strong choline enhancer and phosphatidyl serine supplement. Then to increase cerebral blood flow, I threw in some vinpocetine, a periwinkle plant derivative that may help age related memory impairment.

How do I know this program helped my father's cognition?

1. Once he started the program and was doing better, dad admitted the word finding issues had become a problem. The improvement after adding the supplements was so significant that he took the expensive regimen religiously.
2. A gap in the program occurred when he remarried and his new wife thought all these supplements were a bit over the top. After three months, she called to have the program reinstituted immediately.
3. An old brain scan found scar tissue and vascular changes, both predictors of serious problems that have been pushed back a precious few decades.

My father's story represents only empirical data, but the scientific evidence for this type of approach is mounting. A January 2012 study published in the journal Neurology compared cognitive performance and brain volume with levels of more than thirty nutrients in older adults. Those with high blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins B, C, D and E did better on cognitive tests and had less brain atrophy than participants with lower levels of these nutrients.

There are other studies looking at how choline heightens performance, or phosphatidyl serine helps cognitive decline in the elderly. The program I used for my dad may not be the right one for you but the time to put your cognitive support program in place, all you baby boomers, is now.

The foundation for a brain boost program is always a good diet with tons of vegetables and fruits, exercise and the maintenance of an ideal weight. Even if I could have gotten my father to do these practical things (and I could not), I still would have added the extra supplement support for insurance against modern living and aging. As a tail-end baby boomer myself, I have been taking supplements to support brain function since I was 40, on top of a healthy lifestyle. If I make it to 80, I want to have as many of my marbles as possible. Between medical problems, medications, stress, pollution and all the rest of what happens to the average person who has been on earth for 50 or more years, living a healthy life is often not enough.

For more by Kelly Dorfman, click here.

For more on aging gracefully, click here.

For more on the mind, click here.

Follow Kelly Dorfman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NutritionSleuth

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Plan For Massive Hospital Complex Provokes Even Bigger Controversy

Plan For Massive Hospital Complex Provokes Even Bigger Controversy

One might think that something as pleasant sounding as the construction of a hospital might be relatively uncontroversial in San Francisco.

But, as the picket line in front of California Pacific Medical Center's Davies Campus in the Duboce Triangle demonstrates, the issues surrounding the Sutter Health affiliate's plan to develop a massive, 15-story, 555-bed health center on Cathedral Hill--complete with a three-story underground parking complex--are among the most contentious of any development project in all of San Francisco.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS)

The protesters are striking over a disagreement with management over their pay scale: CMPC's offer is lower than what union members earn at other Bay Area hospitals owned by Sutter and they want to get paid the same as their union siblings on the other side of the Bay.

"They told us they need the money to build their new hospital," union rep Joseph Klein told the San Francisco Bay Guardian. "[CPMC negotiators] don't even question whether they can afford to pay us comparable salaries. They just say they want to spend the money on that project."

The amount of money CMPC plans to spend on a new hospital at the site of the old Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness Avenue is substantial. While the exact number has bounced around a bit, the most recent projection has pegged it at $1.9 billion. That figure is only a portion of the overall $2.5 billion system-wide renovation project that CMPC has planned, which includes a complete rebuild of St. Luke's Hospital in the Mission.

San Francisco's Planning Commission gave CMPC's proposal its preliminary approval on Monday, but the project still faces a whole host of obstacles before getting the final go ahead (despite the full-throttle support of Mayor Ed Lee). Lee largely backs the plan due to CMPC's promise that the project would create 1,500 new jobs (five percent of which are required to go to San Francisco residents) and bring $2.5 billion into the local economy. CMPC is already the second-largest private employer in the city.

The San Francisco Examiner reports:

[CPMC] CEO Dr. Warren Browner said he was "very pleased" with the vote. He called some of the criticisms “fundamental misunderstandings” of the deal, but conceded that other areas may need “additional clarification.”

“This is an incredibly important project for the folks who live and work and visit here, and we want to see it happen,” he said.

To get officially approved, the deal must go before a highly skeptical Board of Supervisors, many of whose constituents have expressed concerns about the drain the giant development, expected to draw 10,000 cars per day to one of the busiest intersections in all of San Francisco, will have on city services.

While City Hall is confident the project will eventually become a reality, a measure approving the hospital's construction has yet to receive the official sponsorship of a single supervisor.

Due to a deal negotiated between Lee and CMPC leadership, the hospital would provide care for 10,000 of the new Medi-Cal beneficiaries projected to be covered under the new federal health care law for a full decade, give $86 million in annual charitable care to low income patients, put $64 million towards affordable housing ($29 million of which will go to CMPC employees), give $20 million to community health clinics and another $31 million toward public transportation and pedestrian safety improvements.

These concessions weren't enough for some activists, who staged a protest on the steps of City Hall on the same day the deal was announced. The coalition of union and community leaders, calling itself San Franciscans for Healthcare, Housing, Jobs and Justice, expressed doubt that these were the most favorable terms the city could have gotten on the deal.

"The proposed development agreement as we understand it is a special deal that is good for Sutter/CPMC, but bad for San Francisco," said coalition spokesperson Leighton Woodhouse in a statement. "[It's] a deal that falls far short of the Mayor’s original 'asks'; that relieves Sutter/CPMC of responsibilities met by other private non-profit hospitals; that does not provide the healthcare and jobs City residents need; that fails to address the affordable housing, traffic, and neighborhood impacts the project will produce; and that leaves City taxpayers to foot the bill for the project’s failures in each and every one of these areas."

Others joined the chorus of criticisms. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

That [10,000 Medi-Cal patients] figure was derived as an average of the CPMC's charitable care over three years, even though the medical group has been criticized for spending proportionately less on care for poor residents than other private nonprofit hospitals in the city.

"They're using as a baseline CPMC's history, which is lousy," said Bob Prentice, a former deputy director at the city's Public Health Department. "They're letting them get away without that past, without some kind of correction."

Others voiced concerns that St. Luke's Hospital, which largely serves lower-income and minority patients, will no longer be able to adequately fill the needs of the surrounding community as its renovation plans call for decreasing the number total of beds at the facility by more than half.

For its part, CMPC asserted to Bay City News that the remodeled facility will offer its patients a higher level of care.

In an editorial in the Examiner, Chamber of Commerce President Steve Falk waived off all these criticisms as just the typical griping that accompanies virtually every development project in the city.

"In this case, CPMC critics claim the agreement does not 'go far enough' in providing benefits to the community. Yet, beyond providing two new hospitals at no cost to taxpayers, the CPMC agreement guarantees $1.1 billion in added investment for San Francisco," wrote Falk. "By any measure, CPMC’s investments are sure to benefit thousands of residents and visitors."

The project returns to the Planning Commission for a final vote on April 26th. If all goes according to plan, CMPC hopes to open its new Cathedral Hill campus in 2016.

Check out this slideshow of pictures showing what the new hospital is going to look like:

CPMC Cathedral Hill

1  of  7

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Sara Calabro: 7 Acupuncture Points To Ease Your Allergies

Sara Calabro: 7 Acupuncture Points To Ease Your Allergies

Spring is in full swing. For some, it's time for warm air! Fresh flowers! Longer days! For others, it's time for runny noses! Itchy eyes! Sinus headaches!

But people with seasonal allergies should know that spring need not be an unavoidable period of suffering. Nor does it require dependence on Claritin or fear of leaving the house without Kleenex.

Acupuncture offers tools for both preventing spring allergy symptoms and getting rid of them. Specifically, there are seven acupuncture points that can work wonders for preventing and relieving spring allergies.

Seven Points, Seven Fingers Is All It Takes

Acupuncturists use these seven points all the time to alleviate seasonal allergies. It's ideal to go for acupuncture before allergy symptoms kick in. Now is a great time since not everything is fully bloomed yet.

If you miss the preventive window, the same points can be used to eliminate symptoms, especially nasal drip, itchy eyes and sinus headaches. It is not uncommon for people to notice an immediate clearing of the nasal passages after receiving these seven acupuncture points.

But the best part is, you can alleviate allergies with these seven acupuncture points all by yourself. All it takes is seven fingers and a little concentration and coordination.

In most cases, stimulating the points yourself is not a substitute for real acupuncture. However, as a preventive measure, it can delay the onset and lessen the severity of allergy symptoms. It also can prolong the effects of acupuncture treatments so that you're able to allow more time between appointments. And it comes in really handy as an on-the-spot remedy for sudden allergy attacks.

The New Face of Spring

Imagine a world where the first thing that comes to mind when we think of seasonal allergies is not someone running through a field in a drug commercial, but rather someone poking themselves in the face. How sweet it would be.

So, where to poke?

You're aiming for six points on the face: Large Intestine 20, Stomach 2 and Bladder 2. All three points are pressed twice, symmetrically on both sides of the face, equaling six points. (The seventh is explained below.)

The picture shows how it should look when you're pressing all six face points. You're going for just outside the nostril, just below the eye (you'll feel a little indentation in the bone there -- that's the point), and the inner end of the eyebrow.

In addition to point location, you also want to pay attention to the direction you're pressing. This is where concentration and coordination come in.

Large Intestine 20, the points outside the nostrils, should be pressed diagonally upward, as if you're aiming for your eye on the opposite side. Stomach 2, the points below the eye, should be pressed downward toward the mouth. Bladder 2, the ones on the eyebrow, should be pressed upward toward the top of the head.

Maintaining the right point locations and directions may feel awkward at first but it gets easier with practice. For myself and most people I've recommended this technique to, the pinkie, ring and middle finger combo seems to work best. But everyone's fingers and hand coordination are different, so play around with it and do whatever feels most comfortable for you.

Lucky Number Seven: Spleen 5

The six points on the face are considered a local acupuncture approach. In other words, needles (or fingers) are placed at the site of the problem -- in this case, near the nasal passages and frontalis muscle on the forehead since this is often where allergy symptoms occur.

But as is true of all conditions, allergies from an acupuncture perspective derive from an underlying imbalance. In addition to the six points on the face, acupuncturists often incorporate a seventh point to address the root cause of seasonal allergy symptoms.

This point is Spleen 5, located below and distal to (toward the toes) the medial malleolus (the prominent bone on the inner ankle). It is done only on the left side.

So why Spleen 5? Many reasons, depending on who you ask, but the primary logic behind using Spleen 5 to treat allergies has to do with its role in resolving what acupuncturists refer to as "Dampness."

We could spend a whole article -- book, actually! -- talking just about Dampness. But for the purposes of this article, suffice it to say that Dampness in the body creates fixed, heavy obstructions. Also, when Dampness accumulates, it can turn into Phlegm, which is not exactly but close enough to the phlegm we're all familiar with and afraid of during allergy season.

Holding Spleen 5 at the same time as the six face points is kind of ambitious. You don't have to do them all together. Spleen 5 is easy to press while watching TV, reading or doing anything seated that doesn't require use of both hands.

For me, sitting cross-legged is best. It comfortably exposes the inner left ankle and allows me to access the point with my right index finger. From a desk chair, you can prop your left foot onto your right thigh, which also allows for easy access. Again, it's important to find the position that is comfortable for you.

It's unfair that so many seasonal-allergy sufferers view spring as time to stay indoors. No more, thanks to acupuncture. It's merely time to put on a new face.

For more by Sara Calabro, click here.

For more on personal health, click here.

Photo credit: Sara Calabro

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Richard C. Senelick, M.D.: The Healing Power of Storytelling

Richard C. Senelick, M.D.: The Healing Power of Storytelling

"To be a person is to have a story to tell. -- Isak Dinesen

I love telling stories when I give a lecture, visit with my patients, or lunch with my colleagues. However, over the years, many of the best stories have come from my patients -- sometimes in a moment of crisis, and other times during a routine office visit.

I have a clear memory of the elderly Scandinavian ship captain who sported a huge white beard and filled me with tales of his life at sea. I always asked my office to block out twice the usual amount of time so I could get a double dose of his spellbinding stories. Equally foreign, but just as enlightening, were the stories of the immigrant woman who, despite blinding migraine headaches, worked two jobs so that she could assure that all four of her children received an education. Their stories provided the fabric and context that taught me more about these people as individuals, as opposed to just the person in exam room number three.

Last week, I took my 95-year-old mother to the doctor. The young medical assistant, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, sat with his back to us as he asked his rapid-fire questions and typed the answers into the required electronic medical record. We might as well have been answering a robot, for when he was done, he knew no more about my mother than when we first sat down. The printer spit out a lengthy description of all the things that she did not have, but it no more described who she is than the five previous patients he entered into his "clinical station."

If we cannot stop the implementation of the electronic medical record (EMR), there must still be a way to acquire the rich stories that our patients have to tell and assemble a complete picture of our patients as people.

Equally challenging is educating our patients about their illnesses and being certain that they understand our instructions. As we careen into the digital age, the fistful of pamphlets that we stuff into our patients' hands will be as ineffective in the future as they have been in the past. Storytelling, in its various forms, may be one way to connect more meaningfully with our patients, to both help us get to know them individually and help them understand their physical condition.

The Storytelling Tradition

The use of storytelling goes back to pre-literate societies and ancient cultures, who used it as a means to convey their history and traditions. Many cultures would identify specific individuals to adopt the role of tale-teller. The information was passed along via performance before a live audience, and the performer would adapt, change, and embellish the information to meet the needs of the specific audience.

Stories based in truth have a greater impact, and people are more likely to remember the information when it is related in the form of a story. The practice of medicine is filled with stories, but they are widely under-appreciated. Health care professionals usually relay stories to their patients in a flat, staccato, and detached manner. Health care providers complicate the problem by using complex language that the patient and their family may not comprehend. Patients are more likely to remember a story than a listing of individual facts.

An article that looks at storytelling in health care gives us examples of why storytelling is an effective tool. Stories are:

• Are mentally richer than simple instructions

• Engage and involve the patient

• Trigger empathy

• Are more likely to be remembered and retold

• Promote a two-way conversation

• Transfer knowledge

Healing Stories

Storytelling is a two-way street. Illnesses unfold as stories, and physicians need to learn how to listen to those stories. The same is true of giving advice, for if good advice is given in the wrong way, the patient will not follow it. Stories are a powerful part of support groups and peer visits. I can tell a patient why they feel so ill and what the future holds for them, but having someone who has walked in their shoes come visit them in the hospital is much more powerful. They will believe the story of someone who has shared their same experience.

In 2011, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine evaluated whether storytelling could improve the blood pressure of people with hypertension. The study divided 299 African-Americans who suffered from high blood pressure into two groups. The first group watched peers who also suffered from hypertension tell stories that described their experiences with hypertension, lessons learned on how to interact with physicians, and strategies to increase medication adherence. The second group watched health-related topics not related to hypertension. The group that watched stories related by peers who shared their problem were more successful in lowering their blood pressure than the other half. A story told by a friend or peer is most effective in creating a lasting memory.

Storytelling has been one of the keys to the highly-successful book series Chicken Soup for the Soul. It encourages people to submit their own stories and compiles them into a single book to help people cope with specific issues like grief, stress, or spiritual matters. This well-known brand has recognized the power of narrative in health and has formed a partnership with Harvard Health Publications to take storytelling and health to the next level. They are introducing a new series of books that will combine the latest medical advice with real stories from real people to help their readers live healthier lives.

Over the years, I have eaten chicken soup with kneidlach (dumplings) made by my grandma, mother and wife -- first only at holidays, then at times when I had a bad cold. Now I can order up a serving of Chicken Soup for my patients that they can digest slowly in book form and not just for a cold. It may be time for storytelling to take a more prominent role in how we treat our patients. Take a moment to tell us how stories have helped you.

For more by Richard C. Senelick, M.D., click here.

For more on health care, click here.

Follow Richard C. Senelick, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RichardSenelick

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

The Power Of 'Magical Sleep Potion'

The Power Of 'Magical Sleep Potion'

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But like belief in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, this magical sleep potion relies on the power of my son's imagination, which is very powerful indeed. And it's allowing my whole family to enjoy more restful evenings.

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'My Mom Is Obsessed' With Her And My Weight

'My Mom Is Obsessed' With Her And My Weight

'My Mom Is Obsessed': Tamara Obsessed With Her And Her Daughter's Weight

Tamara's obsession with her own weight spilled into how she was raising her daughter Alizabeth on "My Mom Is Obsessed" (Thu., 10 p.m. ET on Discovery Fit & Health). Tamara admitted to weighing herself every day for the past 23 years, and has started weighing her daughter regularly.

Her obsessive focus on her daughter's weight got so bad she was forcing the teenager to call her from school to go over lunch choices, raiding her room for hidden food and even grounded her for going out for pizza one night with friends.

With the help of therapy, Tamara was able to get rid of that dreaded scale, and start to focus on having a more normal and healthy relationship with both her daughter and herself.

"My Mom Is Obsessed" chronicles new stories each Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery Fit & Health.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

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