Germs – Don’t spread them about!

I know you are amazingly conscientious about washing your hands, especially when you have a cold. BUT … scientists in the Virology Department of the University of Virginia, have found that cold sufferers can leave active germs around the house on surfaces they have touched – like door or fridge handles, and even the TV remote – and they can live for two days or longer. This confirms previous research they carried out two years ago, when they showed that germs survived in hotel rooms a day after guests left, waiting to be picked up by the next person checking in. You may avoid shaking the hand of a person with a cold, or kissing them on the cheek, but you never think about the everyday places in the home where these germs can lurk. Antibacterial wipes are one answer, or just wait on the invalid hand and foot and never let them near the remote.

More help for naturally beautiful hair

Last week’s article on how to help with thinning and problem hair certainly provoked some interest, and no matter what the state of your hair you owe it to yourself to use the best, preferably natural and organic, products you can find. The reason for this is simple; to maintain really healthy hair you want products with no harsh chemicals and totally paraben-free. One of the benefits of my ‘other’ job as a ghostwriter is that I get to learn a lot of stuff about areas I am not that familiar with and I am currently working with a client who is trying out lots of different organic hair care products and sends them to me for my comments. Nice job, and like all things some are great and some are not so great, but one thing is clear – if you care about your hair then treat it to the sort of natural ingredients that will most nourish it and not deplete it of its natural oils.

I was very impressed with a new range by US hairdresser John Masters, whose Organics Hair Reconstructor was listed as one of top 10 products beauty editors could not live without. It apparently works miracles on healing dry hair and split ends and as long ago as 2004, he was awarded the coveted Soil Association Award for Best Organic Product Line in Europe. Oh, and if you want your dog’s hair to look as wonderful as your own, he also produces Eucalyptus & Tea tree Dogpoo shampoo – originally for his own dog – and it is said to ward off ticks and fleas with added essential oils of neem and citronella, and formulated to be the correct pH for a dog’s coat. Remember, it’s for the dog, not you. There are a number of good organic ranges around if you want to experiement so have a look at these websites, and don’t be surprised if it tempts you into the alternative shampoo market with natural ingredients like Apple, Lemon, Almond, Orange, Mango & Rose! Useful sites to visit include:

www.johnmasters.co.uk
www.simply-nature.co.uk
www.GreenPeople.co.uk
www.natural-and-organic-toiletries.co.uk

Mobile phones, skin rashes and tumours

I know I have flagged up plenty of potential problems with the over use of mobile phones, but there are two new developments here. First, the minor one, and according to the British Association of Dermatologists, mobile phones are causing an outbreak of facial rashes, particularly to the cheek and ear where you normally hold the phone. It’s due to the nickel coating on the casing and buttons and is the result of an allergy to the nickel.

You may have already been aware of this effect, particularly if you go in for cheaper and more ‘fun’ jewellery, because nickel is the most common contact allergy in Britain, affecting 30% of the population.

Now it won’t damage your health, but a skin rash can be very irritating and upsetting so if you have noticed this yourself then just hang up your mobile for a few days and see if the rash goes away. A natural remedy is to try bathing the irritation in a mixture of one part vinegar to 15 parts water, and dab it on the affected area. It’s something my mother used on me as a child for sunburn, and it seems to help clear up many skin irritations.

Now for the more serious problem and it comes from a report in the latest issue of the American Journal of Epidemilogy. An Israeli study of more than 500 people has revealed that you could be 50% more likely to develop a tumour in your salivary gland if you constantly use your mobile phone. They studied people who had developed this condition and then compared their mobile phone habits with those of a group of 1,300 healthy people.

The Doctor in charge of the study said that it was ‘preliminary’, but he also said that until more evidence became available, a “precautionary” approach was best, particularly when it comes to children’s use of mobile phones. I couldn’t agree more, and as so many people now spend their working day constantly on their mobile, without using a land line at all, it’s worth considering having at least one ‘mobile-free’ day a week. Sunday might be good, after all it wasn’t called a ‘day of rest’ for nothing.

Can thinking make you fat?

As someone who spends at least 80% of her waking hours with the brain on full alert, I found this news item a bit worrying. Apparently a research team has demonstrated that intellectual work can lead to a substantial increase in appetite and, therefore, calorie intake. After a hard day of mental work, you can be just as physically exhausted as if you had spent the day doing physical work – just ask my cats if you don’t believe me.

A small study of 14 students were given three tasks: relaxing in a sitting position, reading and summarizing a text, and completing a series of memory, attention, and vigilance tests on the computer. Although the intellectual work required only three calories more than the rest period, the students consumed 203 more calories after summarizing a text and 253 more calories after the computer tests than they did after relaxing.

Blood samples taken before, during, and after each session revealed that intellectual work caused bigger fluctuations in glucose and insulin levels, effectively destabilising the levels of insulin and glucose. This in turn stimulates the appetite, apparently in response to a need to restore the body’s energy balance, though why it always has to be with chocolate biscuits (or is that just me?) science has yet to explain.

Now, if you do a lot of mentally challenging tasks it’s a good idea to eat plenty of the foods that are known to nourish your brain. From what we know about brain-boosting foods, the ideal post-thinking snack would seem to be a chicken and spinach omelette with a cup of green tea – but I don’t see many students opting for that!

Free home visit eye tests

Not everyone can get easily to the optician, but maintaining your eyesight is a major priority and now – for the over 60′s – you can get a free home visit to have your eyes checked by The Outside Clinic. Eye Health Week runs from 6th – 12th October 2008 in association with The Royal Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and The College of Optometrists. Currently NHS eye tests are only available in the home for anyone who can’t get to an optician without help or support. The Outside Clinic is the UK’s longest established home visiting optician service and is offering a free home visit to anyone over the age of 60, and who has not had an eye test in the last 12 months. It is recommended that the over 60′s should have an eye test every year so that potential problems can be averted and early signs of diseases like glaucoma can be identified.

INTERESTED? The Outside Clinic operates throughout the UK and for more information, or to book an eye test, call 0800 85 44 77 between 6th-12th October 2008 and quoting ‘Happy Eyes’.

Flame retardant clothing – Bad for children?

I wasn’t sure why this would be the case, but a warning put out on one of my natural news networks has confirmed that there are many hidden chemical dangers in even children’s clothing. I was reading about an 18-month old baby with sky-high levels of chemical flame retardants in her blood – two or three times the amount that’s known to cause major nerve damage in lab rats – and she had absorbed these chemicals through her skin. In the USA and the UK there are regulations in force relating to children’s nightwear and I am not suggesting you disregard them, but I do think it’s important to bear in mind the effect such chemicals have, particularly on infants and small children.

A recent study by the Environmental Working Group in the USA looked at 20 families and found that ALL the childen under school age had a level of chemical fire retardants in their blood that was an average of three times higher than their parents.

The chemicals in question are known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Unlike the flame retardant antimony, which is generally the kind used to make clothing fire-resistant. Its found in every conceivable household item you can imagine: mattresses, TVs, computers, remote controls, and more.

Like antimony, PBDEs have been known to cause brain damage in animals, but now doctors are concerned that the possible effects on human children could range from hyperactivity to damage to hormone systems and reproductive organs.

Fortunately we are not so insistent on the high levels of fire retardant chemicals in clothing as they are in the USA, but it might be worth considering switching to natural, untreated, cotton garments and maintaining sensible fire precautions in the home – particularly if the child is sensitive to allergens or has a compromised immune system.

A natural face lift

In keeping with helping you avoid the surgeon’s knife, I thought I would remind you that there is an alternative to botox, chemical peels and the trauma of a surgical face lift if you want to go the DIY route to preserve your looks – or even enhance them if you are lucky. Of course it won’t cost you as much – in fact it’s free – but it does require some of your time. This entirely natural facelift will improve circulation, eliminate toxins and reduce stress and tension so you will lookmore relaxed, and the skin will be smoother with more radiance and that helps you look younger.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
You are going to stimulate the acupressure points on the energy meridians of your face by using your fingers to apply firm pressure to each point and the whole thing shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. To eliminate crows’ feet and tone the eye area:

Place your middle fingers on the inside edges of your eyebrows. Apply light pressure going along your eyebrow, round to under the eye, pressing your fingers on the top of your cheekbones. Then continue to the inside corners of your eyes. Repeat in a circular motion around the eyes 30 times.

To soften fine linesand wrinkles around the eyes:

Put your fingers on the outside end of each eyebrow, then trace down until they are parallel with the centre of your eye. Lightly touch these points for three seconds, then release. Repeat 30 times. Now do the same for the points directly under your pupil on the top edge of your cheekbone.

There are also some other points to rejuvenate the rest of your face: For each of these points, again lightly touch them for three seconds and release, repeating 30 times.

* Either side of each nostril, on the face not the nose itself.

* The point between your top lip and nose, and the point between your bottom lip and tip of the chin. Touch both of these at the same time using your index and ring finger.

* Put your finger directly between your eyebrows, then trace up until just before you reach the slight bump in your forehead, about midway to your hairline. Massage this point gently with a circular motion to release tension. It might help to do these actions facing a mirror for the first few times so you can be sure you are pressing in the right place. Ten minutes a day, every day, and you should see results within a few weeks. No before and after photos please, I will be happy to just take your word for it!

DVT risk from pollution

We have become used to the idea that being immobile for long periods such as on a long-haul flight, or sitting in the same position at a desk for hours, may pose a risk for DVT (deep vein thrombosis), but now it seems that the air pollution produced by the burning of fossil fuels can drastically increase the risk of developing these potentially fatal blood clots as well. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health did some research on the air pollution levels in the Lombardy region of Italy. They chose an area where 870 known DVT patients lived, along with their 1200 healthy neighbours. When they analysed the air pollution they found that for every 10 microgram per square meter increase in particulate concentration, a person’s risk of DVT increased by a staggering 70%.

I don’t know if Lombardy is particularly polluted, but if you live in an industrial area, it would pay you to know about the warning signs for DVT – though it has to be said sometimes, there are none at all. The first sign can be chest pain or discomfort which usually gets worse when you take a deep breath or when you cough. You might have get an unexplained sudden onset of shortness of breath, which is the most common symptom, or feel lightheaded, dizzy or even a bit anxious. If you are at all concerned, please consult your doctor, and if it is a severe chest pain get immediate help.

Adult snorers – It starts in childhood

If you have ever dug your partner in the ribs, or tried every brand of ear plugs on the market, it may help to know that really they can’t prevent it. Actually, it may not help at all, but a new study has shown that adult snoring may be rooted in early snorers .

This is based on a study of more than 15,000 adults ages 25 to 54 in Northern Europe, specifically in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Estonia. They were asked questions about their early life environment, childhood history and adult medical problems. The result was that they concluded that there are several factors in early childhood that are associated with adult snoring.

So what are the risk factors so you can identify if your child is going to disturb someone’s sleep in later life? First clue was that adult snorers were more likely to have been hospitalized for a respiratory infection before they were two, had recurrent ear infections such as glue ear or inflammation or have large tonsils that can compromise the upper airways. On the environment front, the child was more likely to have grown up in a large family, or to have been brought up as a baby in a household with a dog.

Karl Franklin, M.D., Ph.D., who carried out the research, speculated that these factors may enhance inflammatory processes and thereby alter upper airway anatomy early in life, causing an increased susceptibility for adult snoring.

Typically the habitual snorers in the study (defined as more than 3 times a week) were more likely to be male, overweight and had a higher prevalence of asthma and chronic bronchitis and were smokers. You may not be able to do anything about their childhood, but those other factors also contribute so tackling the weight, smoking and asthma certainly couldn’t hurt and might help to reduce the frequency and volume. Sadly there is no real cure for snoring, but a good website for general information on what causes it, and what can help, can be found at www.britishsnoring.co.uk

The 5 Cs’ that stop you sleeping

Everyone experiences occasional bouts of sleep disturbance, though if it is prolonged it can really impact your health. I have come across an excellent natural way to help you sleep, but I thought it might help you know the five main reasons why we can’t sleep. Knowing by itself doesn’t help, but identifying the problem is the first place to start. They are:

1. Change
2. Conflict
3. Criticisms
4. Concerns
5. Crises

Mostly during the day we manage to deal with them, or put them out of our minds, but at night they come back with a vengeance. Unfortunately they are almost automatic, your mind returns to them in order to solve the ‘problem’ so just telling yourself not to think about them doesn’t do the trick.

There are a couple of suggestions that I have tried, that might help you. First do not beat yourself up about not sleeping – it only makes it worse. Next, from that list of 5, what is the main thing that you focus on as being the root cause for you? If you can identify it then spend ten minutes or so before bed in just writing out everything in your head about that particular topic. Don’t make it neat, don’t make it orderly – just dump it all out on the page, thoughts, feelings, anger, pain, sadness. Whatever is in there, get it out. When you have finished, take the paper and put it in the bin. Say to yourself, that’s done with, anything on there can wait until tomorrow. Repeat this every night and you will find the list getting shorter, and you have made a commitment to yourself that it doesn’t matter until tomorrow.

Stage two, is to prepare yourself for bed by pausing for a few minutes and visualizing your day and all the good things in it that you are grateful for. Allow at least two hours after eating before going to bed, and don’t have any coffee or tea during that time either.

Finally, I have just come across a new item from the Bach Flower company called Night Rescue (they make Rescue Remedy) and it is a different combination of flower essences that I have found very effective in stopping the brain racing away. Five drops on your tongue before going to bed is recommended, and it is available from health shops, and Boots the Chemist. Worth a try.

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