Keep It Dark To Sleep Better

Many things can affect our quality of sleep, and the links between poor sleep and health are well established. A new study shows that just turning out the light when you go sleep is not enough and can increase your risk of both high blood pressure and diabetes.

This comes from a recent study in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) which reveals that exposure to electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppresses melatonin levels. Why is this important? Because your body relies on processes regulated by melatonin signaling, such as sleepiness, body temperature, blood pressure and glucose homeostasis.

Our bodies produce this hormone at night via the pineal gland in the brain and because today we are now routinely exposed to electrical lighting at night the study wanted to establish whether exposure to room light in the late evening may inhibit melatonin production.

The study was carried out by Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass and involved 116 healthy volunteers aged 18-30 years who were exposed to room light or dim light in the eight hours preceding bedtime for five consecutive days. What they found was that exposure to indoor light has a strong suppressive effect on melatonin production;
exposure to room light before bedtime shortened melatonin duration by about 90 minutes when compared to dim light exposure and exposure to room light during the usual hours of sleep suppressed melatonin by more than 50 percent.

Suppression of melatonin through light exposure has been hypothesized to increase relative risk for some types of cancer and melatonin receptor genes have been linked to type 2 diabetes. This is obviously an important factor for shift workers who are exposed to indoor light at night over the course of many years, but also for anyone who happily sits up in bed reading for an hour so before going to sleep.

Daylight and darkness are both good for our health, but the availability of constant artificial light may need to be monitored. If you can’t reduce the amount of artificial light you are exposed to you could at least in the few hours before bedtime make sure your lights are dimmer – not full and bright as that apparently really will make a difference – and certainly keep light in the bedroom as low as possible.

Cura Romana – Leslie Kenton’s Weight Loss Plan

Any book by Leslie Kenton is always worth looking at as her views on health are always practical and usually at the cutting edge. She has done it yet again with her Cura Romana weight loss plan which is accurate, well researched and as you would expect highly practical and the possibility of losing up to 7lbs a week doesn’t sound bad either.

The actual diet plan itself was something that she was introduced to 20 years ago when it was only available through a small number of exclusive clinics and since then she has worked to find a way to bring it to a wider public. Interestingly the research and clinical procedures behind Cura Romana were the work of the brilliant British researcher and clinician, ATW Simeons, who in the 1950’s claimed to have discovered the cause and cure for obesity.

He published papers on his findings in many medical journals including The Lancet and the basis of his argument was that obesity was nothing to do with a lack of willpower but a metabolic disorder. This research led him to identify where in the brain weight control might be located — which turned out to be the diencephalon – and his conclusion was that weight gain was the result of abnormal functioning in that area.

His revolutionary discovery, and the basis of Leslie Kenton’s diet book, was that by injecting overweight patients with minute quantities of human chorionic gondotrophin, (hCG), a glycoprotein found exclusively in the bodies of pregnant women would correct functioning of the diencephalon to bring about safe and rapid fat loss. In pregnancy hCG enables a pregnant woman’s inessential fat stores to be converted into energy to nourish the developing child. When combined with his highly specific diet program he claimed results that were able to turn unwanted fat deposits into usable energy at a rate of between 1500 and 4000 calories a day, with little or no hunger pangs being experienced.

Leslie Kenton spent many years researching Cura Romana and working with doctors worldwide who were using it, particularly in America. The drawback to offering the programme to a much wider audience was that of overcoming the difficulty of hCG injections. Then two years ago, working with a few pioneering doctors and naturopaths, she discovered a simple, easy to use at home, homoeopathic form created from the original substance and which had the same effect on promoting weight loss.

The book shares her wide-ranging experience of working with this weight loss program herself, and with the many clients she has now monitored and mentored personally through her associated website. I have been fortunate enough myself to try out the programme and it certainly does promote rapid weight loss with the dietary element being very clearly spelt out and adhering to the high protein and no carbohydrate philosophy that has been very popular over the last few years. I can’t say I always found it easy, as my natural tendency to not want to read instructions made the first couple of weeks rather tricky, but it is certainly clearly laid out and I lost over the 28 day period the weight that I had stated I want to lose.

It is a system that has been endorsed by many happy clients, and if you want to read testimonials then you will find those on her website which was developed with her son Aaron. It offers a truly interactive program based on daily videos, audio, written materials, tools and spiritual practices led by Leslie herself.

If you want to make a start on changing the way you approach your weight as a life changing exercise, and not just a quick fix, then reading this book would be an excellent place to start.

The Cura Romana Weight Loss Plan is available from Bantam Press and for details of leslie Kenton’s exclusive mentoring program please visit the website at www.curaromana.com

The Feel Good Factor to Boost Your Mood and Motivate Yourself

If you are looking for a new approach to health and nutrition, then Patrick Holford is one of the first people to consider. His new book ‘The Feel Good Factor’ is very well timed as January is indeed when many people are flagging under the weight of the post festive season and those grey January skies. He offers you ten proven ways to get yourself into the best of moods without resorting to a doctor’s prescription.

This is a very practical book that offers commonsense advice and some highly effective methods of changing your physical and emotional health. If you want to regain your enthusiasm for life, or find out exactly what is holding you back, then this book will guide you through a series of questions and provide you with the information you need. Whether your diet needs some help, or you aren’t sure what supplements you need, he will guide you through the maze of low moods, depression and apathy. There are a number of simple questionnaires in the book that can help uncover any biochemical imbalances you may have, but be unaware of.

Simple things to do today to make your tomorrow a more welcoming and positive one are what he specializes in and you could make a start now by going online for a comprehensive free health check at www.patrickholford.com/feelgoodcheck
to find out where you rate out of a 100% score. Make sure you click on the free report button at the end, unless you want to pay for a full report. If that inspires you to make some changes you can buy the book on the site itself or from bookshops or Amazon.

How ‘Negative Eating’ Can Help You Lose Weight – Without Being Hungry

Sounds too good to be true, but apparently there are a number of so-called negative-calorie health foods that burn fat while making you feel full. My fear is that they are all going to be things I don’t want to eat anyway, but in the spirit of magicking away those last slices of Christmas cake, here goes.

The concept here is that certain foods actually take more energy to digest than they deliver to your body. You can eat unlimited quantities of them because although they are an important source of phytonutrients, they are not high in calories. The theory is that
your stomach senses when it is physically full, and it will trigger your brain to stop eating when you can’t handle more food so what you have to do is get your body to give you that signal clearly by eating foods that fill you up, but don’t make you fat.

The key to many of these negative calorie foods is that they are rich in water. In fact one of the oldest ‘tricks’ that we can use to fool our stomachs is simply to drink a glass of water before each meal. This way the water takes up the space you might otherwise try to cram with food so it takes less food before your stomach signals that is full.

Any food that contains a lot of water, and fibre, is ideal. So what you need to be eating are lots of apples, grapes, watermelons and a really good one is celery. All of these foods take more energy for your body to process than they actually contain in themselves, and that is how you get a ‘negative’ bonus.

Plain and simple water is the most effective appetite control substance in the world and once you start thinking in terms of water content of your food you will make a great difference to your weight. Other ‘water-filled’ items for your shopping basket are lettuce, cucumber, onions and most salad greens but don’t diminish their goodness by using a rich salad dressing as that will just add the calories back in.

On the fruit front, grapefruit is valuable as it contains naringenin, an antioxidant which triggers the liver to break down fat. Pink and red grapefruit in particular are a valuable as they get their colour from the antioxidant lycopene which is a rich source of carotenoids which are known to help to fight free radicals and believed to help (along with green tea) with prostate problems.

Why Cutting Tablets In Half Is A Dangerous Practice

You may have trouble swallowing large tablets, or not want to take all the dose of your medicine at one time, but now medical experts have issued a warning after a study found that nearly a third of the split fragments deviated from recommended dosages by 15 per cent or more.

You may think it not important, but there can be serious clinical consequences for tablets that have a narrow margin between therapeutic and toxic doses. There is a particular concern about the practice in nursing homes where many residents are on complex regimes for a range of health conditions, including Parkinson’s, congestive heart failure, thrombosis and arthritis.

Researchers from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ghent University in Belgium, asked five volunteers to split eight different-sized tablets using three techniques commonly used in nursing homes. It was not good news: 31 per cent of the tablet fragments deviated from their theoretical weight by more than 15 per cent and 14 per cent by more than a staggering 25 per cent. Even the most accurate method produced error margins of 21 per cent and eight per cent respectively.

The end result is tablets are often unequal sizes and a substantial amount of the drug can be lost during splitting. The study involved four volunteers – only one of whom was a nurse in order to replicate common nursing home conditions. Between them they split tablets into 3,600 separate quarters or halves using a splitting device, scissors and a kitchen knife. The eight different tablets were different shapes and sizes, three were unscored, three had one score line and the others had two.

If splitting tablets is something you regularly do, then the best advice is to invest in a splitting device as it gave the most accurate cut. However it still produced a 15 to 25 per cent error margin, but still lower than using a knife or scissors.

The researchers recommended that manufacturers offer more options such as liquid formulations and a wider range of tablet doses. Also that staff in nursing homes should receive training to enable them to split tablets as accurately as possible.

Revolutionary Toothpaste that Re-calcifies Teeth

If you suffer from sensitive teeth then you know that the problem is due to tooth enamel being prone to damage, which can give rise to a rough pitted surface and exposed dentine that can create the conditions for teeth sensitivity. This is why we react so swiftly and painfully to both hot and cold stimulus either from the weather or food and drink.

Help is on hand from SensiShield which offers a fast and effective solution in a toothpaste which is clinically proven to re-calcify tooth enamel, helping cover that exposed dentine. The revolutionary product uses a bio-tech formula that actually mimics nature to re-calcify the tooth surface enamel and dentine, leaving teeth less sensitive and brighter in appearance.

There are products available that either mask the pain or temporarily coat the surface of the teeth, but SensiShield offers a permanent solution. Its advanced formula is based on surgical bone regeneration and contains an active ingredient that copies the way mouth salvia naturally re-calcifies teeth, faster than nature can by itself.

SensiShield is a revolutionary new toothpaste that actually raises the mouth’s pH to activate the formation of hydroxyapatite crystals (HCA) exactly as saliva does, which helps reduce plaque. After brushing with SensiShield teeth surfaces become more resistant to organic stains and nerve exposure can be lessened. It is also anti-bacterial and anti-plaque helping to protect your gums as well as your teeth.

It is available at Boots and some major supermarkets at 5.95 for a 50ml tube.

Acupuncture Proven Helpful for Pain Relief and Lazy Eye in Children

I have always been a great fan of acupuncture as it started me on my career as a health writer by treating a trapped sciatic nerve that completely immobilized me and without the 200 painkiller prescription the doctor had offered. Acupuncture has previously been found to help improve fertility, increase heart function, and assist in helping people sleep, and I know not everyone is fond of needles, but evidence also continues to mount as to its effectiveness at reducing and eliminating pain.

New findings from the University Hospital in Essen, Germany were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). They included functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans that clearly show a positive change in the metabolic activity of patients’ brains receiving acupuncture treatment.

This is a small scale study of only 18 volunteers and lead researcher Nina Theysohn, MD, from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology explained why it is important. “Functional MRI gives us the opportunity to directly observe areas of the brain that are activated during pain perception and see the variances that occur with acupuncture. Activation of brain areas involved in pain perception was significantly reduced or modulated under acupuncture.”

Acupuncture for pain relief has been used for centuries in China, where it originated, and is also available as an option in the Birthing Unit at my local hospital instead of epidural drugs.
The findings challenge a commonly held belief that acupuncture works primarily as a placebo and while certain brain responses to acupuncture indicate facets of a placebo response, others clearly highlight specific mechanical activities in the brain that demonstrably reduce pain symptoms.

Acupuncture and Children With Lazy Eye:
It seems that it could also potentially become an alternative to patching for treating amblyopia (lazy eye) in some older children, which can affect up to 5 percent of individuals worldwide . The report by Jianhao Zhao, M.D., of Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University appeared in a recent issue of Archives of Ophthalmology and said that although this problem can be corrected easily with glasses or contact lenses it only appears to be effective in children age 3 to 7 years. Over that age, and up to 12, only 30 percent respond to visual correction alone and the usual solution is to also patch over one eye and this does increase this response rate to two-thirds.

However, there are problems with patching as children do not like it, often removing the patch when out of parental supervision and those that do follow the regime can experience emotional problems through teasing or feeling different and vulnerable.

Acupuncture has previously been used to treat dry eye and myopia and so a controlled trial involving 88 children was set up where 43 were randomly assigned to the acupuncture group and received five treatments per week targeting five acupoints, or needle insertion sites. The remaining 45 children had their good eye patched for two hours a day and were instructed to do at least one hour of near-vision activities with the lazy eye, such as reading or typing.

After 15 weeks there was a 75.6 percent improvement in vision of those in the acupuncture group and lazy eye was considered resolved in 16.7 percent of patched eyes and 41.5 percent of eyes in the acupuncture group. Both treatments were well tolerated; children had no problems complying with either therapy, and no serious adverse effects were found in either group.

Acupuncture is believed to be effective because by targeting vision-related acupoints it may change the activity of the visual cortex, the part of the brain that receives data from the eyes. It may also increase blood flow to the eye and surrounding structures as well as stimulate the generation of compounds that support the growth of retinal nerves.

Whatever you want to use acupuncture for, it is essential to only use a qualified practitioner and I recommend you ask if they have treated your condition before, how often, and what the success rate is. To find a qualified acupuncturist in your area ask at your local health stores and natural health clinics for recommendations or visit www.acupuncture.org.uk

New Hand Sanitizer to help Defeat Flu and Stomach Viruses

Whether you are worried about the flu or, like me, at greater risk when travelling or working in crowded environments, then a valuable addition to safeguard your health routine is on hand.

Bacterial and viral contaminations can come from simply touching people carrying bacteria and viruses – through a handshake for example – or contaminated surfaces, such as a desk, handrail, phone or even a lift button. We all know that hands should be cleaned regularly, especially as studies have shown that microorganisms can survive on them for several hours. We know it, but do we do it? Sadly the answer seems to be no, or not often enough.

In a recent study participants claimed to wash their hands an average eight times a day and only 6% washed their hands two or fewer times a day. However, only 61% of the study respondents said they washed their hands after every visit to the bathroom, with four out of 10 (39%) admitting they sometimes skipped hand hygiene altogether.

There were large gaps in hand washing after other potentially infection-spreading activities. Surprisingly, well over half (58%) of respondents didn’t bother washing their hands before eating food, and nearly half (40%) said they wouldn’t wash before making and eating a sandwich, despite the threat of cross contamination. A shocking two out of 10 (20%) of those quizzed even admitted to not washing their hands before cooking or handling raw ingredients, making family mealtimes a potential health lottery.

Bacteria and viruses can lie dormant on contaminated surfaces at home, work or in public places, yet two- thirds (66%) didn’t wash their hands after travelling on public transport and 59% failed to wash after coming home from work. Only a third (32%) washed their hands after handling money and just under a quarter (23%) after coming home from doing the shopping.

Daunting statistics and despite the fact there is no doubt that regular hand washing helps to stave off colds, flu and gastrointestinal infections as well as reduce the risk of transmitting them to others. If you can’t wash your hands as often as you would like then the next best thing is to use a hand sanitizer spray that has been scientifically proven to kill bacteria and viruses quickly and effectively. Mentholatum responsebeta is an alcohol-free
hand sanitizer shown in both lab research and human trials, to kill bacteria and viruses within five minutes of use.

It does this in two ways: first with a surface active agent which cleans hands in the same way as soap. The surfactant breaks up small pieces of dirt and grease so when the hands are rubbed together, the dirt flakes off. Secondly, Mentholatum responsebeta sanitizes the hands through four key biocidal ingredients which have proven activity in killing bacteria and viruses as well as fungi, spores and yeasts. These biocides are well known for the ability to kill microorganisms yet are safe for use on human skin.

Many hand sanitizers are alcohol based and while alcohol does kill bacteria and viruses, it is only active for a very short time – about 15 seconds after use. Mentholatum responsebeta on the other hand is water based and contains no alcohol and the biocidal ingredients it contains have been shown to be effective for up to two hours after application.

Alcohol also evaporates from the skin very rapidly, leading to excessive drying of the hands and dry skin is prone to irritation so a water based sanitizer such as mentholatum responsebeta is suitable for use on sensitive skin and for children of all ages under adult supervision.

Mentholatum responsebeta comes into two sizes: 50ml for carrying with you at £2.59 or a larger 200ml for use in-home or office use at £5.21 and available at Boots and other chemists.

50% Possible Drop in Successful IVF After Increased BPA Exposure

I know I have mentioned the problems with BPA before, but if you know anyone undertaking IVF then please pass this on to them. A study by the University of California, San Francisco, has identified the first evidence in women that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may compromise the quality of a woman’s eggs.

Undertaking IVF (in vitro fertilization) can be a physically and emotionally challenging time and now it seems there may be a new factor to also take into consideration. The scientists found that when blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent

I have previously highlighted the increasing concern about the negative effects of BPA on health and this is an additional reason to avoid it wherever possible. BPA is a synthetic chemical and environmental contaminant that is widespread and found particularly in plastics. It fundamentally disrupts the body’s endocrine system and when absorbed into the body either mimics or blocks hormones and interferes with the body’s normal functions.

Professor Victor Y. Fujimoto, MD, of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and the Center for Reproductive Health at the University said:
“While preliminary, the data indicate the negative effect of BPA on reproductive health and the importance of allocating more funding to further investigate why such environmental contaminants might be disrupting fertility potential.”

It also impacts women who may not be undergoing IVF but are trying, or wanting, to start a family. Obviously this negative impact on the quality of eggs affects all women and it makes sense to factor this in when creating the ideal conditions to start a family.
BPA exposure is widespread in the industrialised world and even a modest effect on reproduction is of substantial concern. Unfortunately, at this time there is no clinically-available test to determine BPA levels in women so undertaking a healthy approach to both diet and lifestyle.

For more information on BPA, an excellent resource is an alliance of partners led by the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment who launched an online resource called Toxic Matters to help consumers make smarter decisions about substances that can harm general and reproductive health.

The brochure and web page include tips on reducing exposure to metals and synthetic chemicals in everyday life — at home, at work, and in the community — and provide links to other sources with more detailed information. The website is available at http://prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/toxicmatters.html

Natural Help for Rheumatoid and Osteo Arthritis

Arthritis is a serious complaint, with about 9million people in the UK being affected. Sufferers can be in constant pain and aching and experience restricted movement, stiffness and swelling of the joints. This can occur whether it is the result of the general wear-and-tear version of the condition, or the potentially more crippling disease, which occurs when the immune system attacks the joints.

A new dietary supplement, Serrapeptase from Lifeplan, may be able to bring some relief.
Like many another healthy discovery this comes from Eastern Medicine, though not in this case of ancient origin and actually it is tied to the silk industry. It was only in the early 1980’s that Japanese scientists discovered that the enzyme, Serrapeptase, produced by the silkworm to break-down the cocoon wall and allow the butterfly to escape, possessed amazing health benefits.

It soon became popular as a supplement for its anti-inflammatory properties and recent studies have also illustrated the enzymes’ benefit for those experiencing joint problems, such as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. You don’t have to worry about the silk worms welfare either as today, Serrapeptase is produced by a natural fermentation process. It works because its amazing ability to break-down dead or damaged tissue, but crucially, without harming the healthy tissue alongside it. The enzyme helps reduce inflammation, speeds up drainage and allows tissue repair to occur.

One of the main concerns of those with arthritis is the constant misery of the pain and serrapeptase has also been shown to alleviate pain, without the unwanted side effects often associated with conventional anti-inflammatory medication.

One problem with supplements can be that they have to be able to withstand the harsh environment of the stomach and so Lifeplan’s Serrapeptase benefits from a special enteric coating to allow gradual release of the formulation into the body, which aids absorption. Should be available at your local health store, but if not visit www.lifeplan.co.uk

Another source of natural help for osteoarthritis is to eat plenty of garlic, onions and leeks, which researchers at King’s College London and the University of East Anglia have discovered could help women have lower levels of hip osteoarthritis. Particularly effective in garlic is a compound called diallyl disulphide which limits the amount of cartilage-damaging enzymes.

As Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, so wisely said ‘let food be your medicine and medicine your food’.

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