Asthma And Economic Development

An intersting article has just been published in PLOS Medicine on the incidence of asthma in Ghana.

In Africa, asthma has typically been thought of as being very uncommon, and indeed in many African dialects there is no word for asthma or the symptoms, such as wheezing, that asthmatic children experience. This is a major contrast to what happens in the UK and other developed countries.

Unfortunately the study is showing that asthma, or at least exercise-induced bronchospasm is on the increase. Two studies of 3 schools in 1993 and again in 2003 showed the proportion of children with exercise-induced bronchospasm increased in all three schools; overall this proportion went up from 3.1% to 5.2%. Children from the rich city school were most likely to have exercise-induced bronchospasm at either survey date. However, children from the poor city school experienced the biggest change over the time period studied, with more than double the proportion of children having exercise-induced bronchospasm in 2003 as compared to 1993.

Stability Ball (Gym Ball) Exercises

As many of you know I'm keen on fitness, but it's easy to get bored or complascent with what you're doing so recently I've started using a stability ball (gym ball, exercise ball) and follow a program from Core Secrets. I'm really enjoying it.

I've just posted an article on Health & Goodness which suggests various exercises you can do at home with one of these balls and includes stretching exercises you can do on the ball too.

Here's the link to the article.

Tips To help You Lose Weight

A study just published by scientists from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) should have some women reaching for the tape measure. The study has shown that women with a waist measurement of 34 inches (86 cms) or more have almost double the risk of developing womb cancer. More than 6000 British women are diagnosed with womb cancer every year, and about 1000 die from it. This adds to earlier research showing an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes for women with large waists. Don’t kid yourself that it won’t happen to you. There are all sorts of other reasons to lose weight. This is not a vanity issue – it is a health and happiness issue. Being overweight is likely to lead to pain, discomfort and ill health.

You may be saying you know all that, but dieting doesn’t work. I agree that dieting doesn’t work, so try making some minor changes in your life. Here are some ideas:

1. Taking a zinc supplement can reduce a craving for chocolate.

2. Keeping a food diary can help you eat better. Write down everything you eat. You may be surprised at the junk or the quantity you actually eat.

3. Don't order a large portion in a restaurant and think it's OK because you've ordered a 'lite' drink or used a no-calorie sweetener.

4. Skipping meals makes it more likely that you'll overeat later. Eat 5-6 small meals a day to maintain your blood sugar levels and minimise mood changes.

5. If you're trying to lose weight, motivate yourself by doing it for a good cause and get your friends to sponsor you.

6. So you over-ate, don't let that be an excuse to give up. No one succeeds all the time.

7. Eat with a naturally slim friend and watch them carefully. They probably eat slowly, chew their food well and stop eating while they're talking. Copy this way of eating in your life.

8. Snack from a plate, not the packet -- it is easy to feel you should finish the packet. Put what you need on a plate, and put the rest of the pack out of sight.

9. If you always want a second helping, make your first helping smaller, so that you can have that second helping without putting on weight.

10. Get yourself even more motivated by finding more reasons to lose weight. Did you know, for example, that there’s a direct link between obesity and some of the common eye conditions that cause blindness?

11. If you like these tips you can get more by installing our Google gadget on a personalised Google homepage.

I'm fundraising for WaterAid again!

Once again I'm fundraising for WaterAid. I've previosuly run the London marathon and riden across the USA from Seattle to just north of Boston. This time I'm tackling a bike ride in Africa with my son, Tom. We are going from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam. We are not riding it all but should complete approx 350 miles in two weeks. We expect it will be hot and thirsty work so riding for WaterAid is particularly appropriate. The money we raise will be spent on projects in Tanzania. All the money we raise goes to waterAid - we pay all our own expenses. Please support us:

Water And Water Filters

We use a water filter that filters water for the whole of the house. I know the water company doesn't consider it necessary, ut I think it tastes better and probably is a lot etter for your health.

I know a lot of other people are concerned about the quality of the water that comes out of the tap/faucet, so I decided to ask Ken Digby of NT Laboratories (UK) to talk to me about this whole issue. I recorded our converstaion and posted the article on water filters on Health & Goodness.

It's full of clear information, including interestingly that children with eczema often benefit from filtered water, particularly if they are using filtered water to shower or bath in.

Health & Happiness Tips

I am delighted that Google have now accepted our Health & Happiness tips gadget. It will rank alongside gadgets from the BBC, Wikipedia, CNN and many other movers and shakers.

You can see it at the top of this blog. If you'd like to have it on a personalised Google search page just click on the "+ Google" at the bottom left ahnd corner of the gadget and then follw the instructions from there.

You may get a warning message – this is a standard Google thing, but we do not have the technology or the desire to find out anything about you.

Please download it, share it and enjoy it.

Be A more Confident Therapist

I really enjoy writing for my web sites and newsletters, but it takes up a lot of time, so it's particularly nice when someone emails and says how much they like a particular piece I've written.

I've recently had a lot of apprecation on my article on being a more confident therapist. One practitioner told me he was very successful at geting people well, but still he struggled to make a business out of his practice, but now after reading the article he knew what he had to do. So if your a therapist or a therapist in training, I suggest you have a look at this article.

Therapists Doing Good In the World

I recived this email earlier today:


I have just been on your website in a search for possible outlets where we
may be able to advertise out training courses. Is this something you can
offer?
We are a small charity that gives on site chair massages to rescue workers
at the scene of a major incident. We run training courses 3 times a year,
and we are always on the look out for ways to advertise for more volunteers.
We can only use licensed massage therapists, with knowledge of aromatherapy
if possible.
We are all volunteers, myself included, so any help you might be able to
offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Kind regards
Kim Wooldridge
Managing Director, REST UK
Reg. Charity No:1098574
"Giving a rest to the rescuers"
T:01778 570120
M:0775 9695352
www.restuk.org.uk

so I decided to dedicate a page of My Therapy Practice to this sort of information. Here it is:

http://www.mytherapypractice.com/therapies/good-in-the-world.html

Stress Tips

many people have problems dealing with stress - it's the current 'disease', so I liked this article which gives some practical easy-to-apply ways to deal with stress. I hope you enjoy it too. :-)

Ear Candling

I've just published an intersting article on ear candling in cancer therapy on Health & Goodness. Greg Webb, one of the authors, sent me this interesting account of the first international conference on ear candling:


World’s First International
Ear Candling Conference
November 18 – 19, 2006 U.K.

The first-ever Ear Candling Conference took place in Reepham near Norwich, UK. The humble little ear candle has managed to pull speakers from Switzerland, Canada, United States of America and Belgium together in one place, prepared to share their thoughts and research data with the world.

Ear candling is no longer regarded as an “ear canal cleansing” tool as it has become very obvious that there is no suction element to the candle’s function, nor is there a heating up of the ear canal. Ear candling is a simple, but extremely effective, energetic tool to influence health in a positive way. The noted effects stretch over millennia and across the whole world, covering most great cultures this small planet has ever known.

Jili Hamilton, (Switzerland) author of one of the first books ever written about ear candling, told the delegates how her path in life was totally changed by ear candling. She recounted many fascinating stories surrounding ear candling that she has come across in her search for more information. She also led us through the difficulties that someone encounters who is writing a book about a subject no one knows anything about.

Dr. Harmony (USA) shared her search result looking into verifiable ear candling data. She researched what constitutes a safe and healthy candle as well as the origins of ear candling and the ancient practices that have lead to ear candling. She caused controversy when she stated that the Hopi Native American tribe has been stunned by the revelation that they were supposed to have lent their name to the most famous ear candle in the world. Michelle said she had spent a lot of time with the Hopi’s to find out that the Hopis have never used ear candles and have never heard of it.

Greg Webb R.M.T.(Canada) is a Touch for Health Instructor and examiner in his homeland Canada. Combining clinic skills with his passion for ear candling he has collated an incredible amount of treatment data regarding the specific effects and pathways in which the body responds to ear candling. He showed how not only the lymphatic drainage improves, but also how the immune system is strengthened, the endocrine system enhanced, and the Central Nervous System is empowered. Most of the benefits of ear candling can be matched to improvements in Lymphatic drainage or a shift towards the Para-Sympathetic (healing) state of the Central Nervous System. Then comes the question how and why do these shifts occur? In his second presentation he shared his conclusions on how the energetic input of the ear candle is transferred via the chakra system, the meridian and the nervous system into the physical aspects of life. His theory answers, for the first time, most of the so far measured benefits of ear candling! P.S. No suction required !!

Patrick Quanten M.D. (Belgium) concentrated on explaining in simple terms some relevant facts of quantum physics and new biology. All matter is energy condensed and all cells “listen” to everything that is going on in their environment. The combination of these allow the energetic influence of ear candling to be felt throughout the whole body, both via a direct influence on the cells and via the overall information distributed through the nervous network. He also showed that in free burning open candles only white smoke appeared at the bottom of the candle. The matter found inside the candles after burning only occurs by compressing the smoke. He suggested a relationship between what was found inside the burned candle and the changes made in the auric field (energy body) of the person being candled.

Plenty of questions are still left open. Opinions still differ, but the delegates have agreed to continue to gather data and to share their knowledge and experience. To this effect it was suggested to set up a separate website dedicated to verifiable information on ear candling and a place where people could share their questions and experiences with each other. It was generally felt that the time has come to tell the truth about ear candling and to ensure that it becomes a safe and self-regulated therapy with therapists who uphold serious professional values.

Organisers:
Stephen Fullick
Patrick Quanten

http://www.activehealthcare.co.uk
for knowledge and well-being - in truth and in health

Contact Greg Webb at 1-403-242-7647 or gregandchris@shaw.ca

Recycling

Here's a great site if you want to recycle more:

http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/

Although it's a UK site, you'll find ideas that you can use wherever you live.

Bird Flu - Avian Flu

with the discovery that many turkey have died of bird flu on a Bernhard Matthews turkey farm in Suffolk, the interst in this potential pandemic has become more active.

Here's some information on it (previously published on Health & Goodness):

Bird Flu or more correctly, avian flu, is much in the news and causing a lot of anxiety. Many people are worried that they may get it, and the papers are full of horror scenarios.
There are over 100 strains of avian flu, but most of them do not infect humans. The current strain H5N1 can infect humans, but not easily. The number of cases of avian flu in humans in the current outbreak is very small, and almost all have come about by direct contact with infected or dead birds – something that most of us are unlikely to experience. So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person-to-person has been rare and has not continued beyond one person. In fact according to The Times (23rd March 2006) only 184 confirmed cases have been reported worldwide so far from this strain, with 103 deaths. These have been in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and most recently, several cases in Turkey.
What the authorities are much more concerned about is the strain mutating into a variation that can be transmitted between human beings, rather than just from bird to human. This has been designated as influenza A/H5N1. Humans do not have any resistance to this strain, because these viruses do not commonly infect humans. If a strain developed that could infect the human population, a pandemic would be likely with many people being infected and dying. The 1918 ‘Spanish flu’ is estimated to have killed 50 million people worldwide. At least four of the eight genes of H5N1 avian flu now contain mutations seen in that deadly strain.
Jeffery K. Taubenberger, a molecular pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Rockville, USA has said:
"These H5N1 viruses might be acquiring the ability to adapt to humans, increasing their pandemic risk ... there is a suggestion there may be some parallel evolution going on."
Scientists still do not understand completely how a bird virus becomes a human virus, but H5N1 is already showing some of the mutations necessary for it to become a human flu, but at the moment, in spite off all the panic, there is no pandemic flu strain.
Research in the Netherlands and the USA has shown that while human influenza viruses are able to bind with receptors in the windpipe, H5N1 binds only much deeper inside the lungs. This makes it more difficult for the virus to infect humans, because the virus is less likely to reach the inner lungs than the windpipe. The H5N1 virus is also less likely to spread from human to human. Coughing and sneezing easily transmits viruses that have multiplied in the windpipe, but not those located deep in the lungs. If H5N1 manages to mutate so that it can replicate in the upper respiratory tract, a pandemic becomes more likely. Scientists are constantly monitoring the virus for this mutation.
So should we be concerned? There have been many scares over the years that have not come to anything, and this could turn out to be one of those too, but it is worth taking some sensible precautions rather than just relying on the scientists to find a powerful enough solution. Having a strong immune system has to be the first line of defence. Over the coming months I'll be writing articles about how you can improve your immune system, so that if the pandemic does happen you will have much more chances of surviving.
References:Daily News Central: Bird Flu on Similar Evolutionary Path as 1918 Killer Virus
Centers For Disease Control & Prevention: Key Facts About Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) and Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus
The Times (London) 21 January 2006 and 23 March 2006
The Guardian (London) 1 March 2006

This information was previously published on Health & Goodness.