Blinking for eye health

You know the saying ‘blink and you’ve missed it’; well if you don’t blink what you could be missing is your best chance to take care of your eyes and depriving them of nourishment and cleansing. If you want to take up a new habit this year, then practice frequent and gentle blinking because it is essential to the health of your eyes and vision because it allows your eyelids to regularly coat your eyes with three beneficial layers of tears and this will help prevent eye strain.

1. The first layer of tears lies right up against the whites of your eyes, and provides an even coat of protein-rich moisture for the second layer to adhere to.

2. The middle watery layer helps to wash away foreign debris. It also nourishes the cornea of your eyes with minerals, a variety of proteins, and moisture.

3. The third outer layer of tears is a little oily so it helps prevent the middle watery layer from evaporating quickly. This gives you much-needed lubrication between your eyes and your eyelids.

If your eyes are not regularly coated with the three layers of tears described above, they will be deprived of ‘essential maintenance’ in the form of nourishment and cleansing. The side effect of this is that by not blinking enough you are potentially subjecting your eyes to eye strain. What can you do? Well for the best results, you need to blink softly every two to four seconds. It will seem odd and unnatural, but if you consciously make an effort to do this then, over time, your body will turn your conscious efforts into a subconscious habit.

Don’t stare fixedly at the television, computer screen or when reading. I am a speed-reader so my blink rate is very low and I have been working to increase it by ‘fluttering’ my eyelashes at the screen – happily only my cats are around to see it and I am feeling the benefit. One other suggestion is to close your eyes whenever you are thinking about something; it will also have the benefit of improving your concentration. Try it when you are stuck when in the middle of composing an e-mail message, close your eyes while you think of your next sentence, or any other time you can rest your vision.

By the way, if you wear contact lenses then it is very important you either lubricate your eyes or make sure you blink frequently. Contact lenses can discourage frequent blinking because the back surface of your eyelids is not designed to rub over an artificial surface and can result in dry eyes.

The value of water

In December we have a natural tendency to eat and drink more, particularly alcohol as we attend more social functions than usual. One result is that we put more stress on our bodies and can neglect one of the most simple ingredients we need to stay fit and healthy. Water is absolutely a prime requirement for health, there is virtually no function in our bodies that doesn’t require it in one way or another, and it is the simplest, cheapest thing we can do to stay healthy. Your body starts out comprised of 80% water when you are born, but by the time we die we average only 50% water. In fact 48% of older people admitted to Emergency Rooms showed signs of dehydration in addition to their other symptoms. Chronic dehydration can lead to many serious health problems as well as exacerbating conditions such as allergies, asthma, diabetes, hypertension and arthritis. The common tiredness and headaches many people very frequently experience is often just dehydration as we have drink more tea and coffee, which are diuretic in action and remove water from our systems rather than adding to it. The old 1.5 to 2 litres a day rule of drinking just plain water (don’t include tea, coffee or soft drinks in your daily total is not a dietary fad, it is good sound medical sense. Water is needed for fat metabolism, to remove waste from cells, and to keep your brain healthy.

We also use it for transporting nutrients and wastes, lubrication, temperature regulation, and tissue structure maintenance and recently uncovered research adds some fascinating water facts.

A French medical doctor, specialising in immunology, discovered something truly fascinating about water. Dr. Jacques Benveniste died in 2004, but he discovered certain scientific properties of water that no one else had found. He called this particular brand of science digital biology, and so far no one has duplicated his experiments, but I thought you would like to hear about them.

His first discovery was that when a substance is diluted in water, the water can carry the memory of that substance even after it has been so diluted that none of the molecules of the original substance remain. Secondly, he found that the molecules of any given substance have a spectrum of frequencies that can be digitally recorded with a computer, then played back into untreated water (using an electronic transducer), and when this is done, the new water will act as if the actual substance were physically present. It sounds like something a science fiction writer would come up with, but Dr. Benveniste’s findings about the ‘memory’ of water may go some way to showing why homoeopathic treatments work though no one can ‘[prove’ why the more the substance is diluted the more potent it’s effects are. A remedy that is marked 6x does not mean it is six times as effective but that it has been diluted 6 times. So a remedy marked 30x has been diluted 30 times and it that level where it is actually ‘stronger’ and more effective.

Whatever your thoughts about water, believe me you will benefit from drinking more of it. Try drinking a large glass of water every morning and top up throughout the day and see what a difference it will make.

More on Health Texting

It may seem like a gimmick, but there is serious money being invested around the world in setting up systems to send mobile phone text messages for a variety of health situations. Some companies are beginning to capitalize on the concept by selling a service that companies can then provide to their employees or customers. They will send text, email or voice-mail messages reminding users to take their pills, refill prescriptions, get to appointments or check vital signs such as blood pressure or blood sugar levels. Interested parties include drug companies, insurers and large employers hoping to improve efficiency and decrease absenteeism and next year, a direct-to-consumer service is being launched that for $60 a year will offer you a personal email, text or voice-mail reminder about prescriptions and appointments. In the older age groups, 60 plus, they showed little interest in the service as generally that age group are more averse to using new technology.

The advantages are fairly clear. Text messaging is fast, cheap and private. Unlike voice mail, it is easier to recall and easier to respond to. In England, women have received text reminders to take their birth-control pills, and Rifat Atun, professor of international health management at Imperial College in London, says several hospitals in England already text-message appointment reminders and test results. AIDS patients are helped to keep to adhere to complicated drug regimens by text in Australia, and German researchers are examining how text messages can offer psychological support to bulimics.

The San Francisco Health Department started a texting service for sexual-health information last year, in response to rising venereal disease rates among adolescents and young adults. A text-message number was extensively advertised on posters, and on public transport and urged young people to call and they will get texted responses to common questions. This is similar to a programme running in the UK aimed at the same age group, and in case you wanted to know, the top three messages that were accessed by users were:

1 “what 2 do if ur condom broke,”
2 “2 find out about STDs,”
3 “if u think ur pregnant”

For the older generation, yes I do know how to spell, and those messages are exactly as they appear on the phone! It’s why I struggle with texting, I spell everything in full which takes me so long it’s much quicker just to phone someone!

Antiseptic Health Wipes – Proof Positive?

You know that theory that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction? It certainly seems to apply to any new product development as the report in the British Medical Journal of 1 December seems to prove. Because there is such a prevalence now of bugs and viruses, the incidence of using antiseptic hand cleansing products has become much more widespread in public buildings and in our homes. However these various products from hand wipes to hand washing solutions usually contain alcohol in one form or another and there is now concern that they could be a problem to alcoholics.

Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust did a study after investigating a case report on a patient known to have a history of alcohol dependence who displayed withdrawal symptoms even though he had not consumed alcohol for 24 hours. The patient arrived at the hospital and during admission was found collapsed, having vomited in the bathroom. He was holding an empty 500 ml bottle of alcohol hand rub with another such bottle next to him. His blood ethanol concentration at the time of collapse was nine times over the legal British driving limit and a potentially fatal concentration

The Trust then looked at hospital admissions related to children and adults exposed to alcohol hand wipes and it was found that during the 18 month period after alcohol hand wipes and hand rubs became widespread in use that 66% of the admissions were thought to result from intentional abuse. These cases all occurred within hospitals or nursing homes where their use ought to be strictly monitored, though it appears that in a normal adult as little as 360 ml of an alcohol hand rub containing 80% ethanol might potentially lead to life-threatening complications.

Any ill effects generally occur within one to two hours after ingestion and usually have symptoms of gastric pain and vomiting. More serious effects involve central nervous system depression, leading to aspiration and respiratory arrest. According to the toxicologists who wrote the report, the more serious effects are seen in those who ingest more than 500 ml of hand rub, and this is most likely to occur in confused patients and alcohol abusers seeking the desired effect.

Mobile phones and Autism Link

Do you know a child who doesn’t have, or want, their own mobile phone? There are good practical reasons for giving children a way of being in touch when away from home, but there is now new research that links mobile phone use and autism. Rates of autism, a disabling neurodevelopmental disorder, have increased nearly 60-fold since the late 1970s, with the most significant increases occurring in the past decade. The cause of autism is unknown, although theories include such potential causes as:

* Genetic predisposition

* Inability to clear heavy metals

* Increased vulnerability to oxidative stress

* Environmental exposures including mercury preservatives in vaccines

* Trans-generational accumulation of toxic heavy metals

Now a groundbreaking new theory has been suggested by a study published in the Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine. They believe that it is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from cell phones, cell towers, Wi-Fi devices and other similar wireless technologies that are an accelerating factor in autism.

The study involved over five years of research on children with autism and it found that EMR negatively affects cell membranes, and allows heavy metal toxins, which are associated with autism, to build up in the body. The researchers pointed out that autism rates have increased concurrently along with the proliferation of cell phones and wireless use. EMR from wireless devices (such as laptops, bluetooth etc) works in conjunction with environmental and genetic factors to cause autism.

EMR, the researchers say, could impact autism by facilitating early onset of symptoms or by trapping heavy metals inside of nerve cells, which could accelerate the onset of symptoms of heavy metal toxicity and hinder therapeutic clearance of the toxins.

What’s the solution? At present there doesn’t seem to be one. Research on the potential health effects from mobile phone technology is evaluated periodically by the Government’s Health Protection Agency s Radiation Protection Division after the Stewart Report in 2000 recommended further research as part of an overall precautionary approach to the use of mobile phone technology. The independently managed Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme, jointly funded by Government and industry, was set up in 2001 in response to the Stewart Report recommendations. It is currently supporting a number of studies into the possible health effects but there is no definitive answer as yet. My suggestion? Seriously limit mobile phone use – especially for children – and my feeling is that being available 24/7 by phone is hugely stressful and is a health hazard in itself so switch it off unless it is an essential call! My mobile is off until I need to check my messages or call ahead about a delayed appointment.

In fact my mobile message is very specific it says ‘I do not leave this mobile switched on so do not leave a message unless you are prepared for it not to be picked for several days. Leave a message on my home phone instead’. Worth a try?

Red Wine Blues

I am one, among many apparently, who have had to give up drinking red wine because it gives me a headache. I can avoid that mostly by sticking to organic red wine, and just having one glass, but scientists at the University of California have developed a new device may be able to detect the chemicals in red wine that lead to the dreaded post-red headache.

The chemicals are called biogenic amines, and they’re found in a variety of fermented foods including wine, cheese, olives, nuts, cured meats and chocolate. The specific red wine headache is thought to be caused by two amines called tyramine and histamine, but other potential causes also exist. Red wine and sake were found to have the highest amine levels so if they are your tipple of choice then a sensible interim solution if you are susceptible to such headaches, is to avoid amine-rich food and drinks because, aside from headaches, amines can also trigger high blood pressure, heart palpitations and elevated adrenaline levels. None of which are desirable drinking companions.

The new detector, which is the size of a small suitcase, can analyse a drop of wine and determine its amine levels in five minutes. Don’t worry, they know how ridiculous you would look lugging a suitcase along to a restaurant or dinner party, so they are now in the process of developing a pocket-sized version that you can take with you. Quite how your hosts- or the sommelier – would react is another matter as my experience has been that is the very cheapest wines that have the highest number of chemicals.

Only a scientist wouldn’t think this through to the end-user stage but they could always develop a tiny first aid kit to cope with the reaction to your using it!

Decaffeinated doesn’t always mean caffeine-free

Did you know you can get withdrawal symptoms like headache and sluggishness from just 100mg of

caffeine? That’s why many people choose to reduce their caffeine intake for their health’s sake and switch to decaffeinated coffee for at least part of their daily consumption. They do this on the confident belief that when they see the words ‘caffeine-free’ that meant that the product contained no caffeine or at least only very tiny amounts. However, that is not the case as the people from the Consumer Reports organisation recently found out.

They sent out a team of ‘secret shoppers’ with the arduous task of buying cups of decaffeinated and ‘normal’ coffee from six major US concerns: Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Seattle’s Best, 7-11, McDonald’s and Burger King. At least four of those brands are available in the UK and Europe and the results were not impressive when the different coffees were analysed for their caffeine content.

If you drink a can of coca cola or pepsi – the regular kind – you are getting around 30mgs of caffeine, but you get over that (32mg) if you got a decaf from Dunkin’ Donuts. Containing a third less caffeine, but still weighing in at a whopping 20mg was Starbucks. If you want to get coffee with the lowest caffeine levels (in a decaffeinated blend) then McDonalds came out best with less than 5 mgs.

If you like your caffeine content to be high, then again the amount varies wildly. In a 120z cup the levels ranged from 58-281 mgs – and at that highest level it’s practically giving your nervous system the equivalent of an electric shock.

What’s the answer? Don’t worry so much about the levels, but monitor the effect on your nervous system – if the coffee revs you up and boosts your adrenalin levels so you feel an increased heart rate, or perhaps jumpy and nervous, then you know you are getting a caffeine hit – whatever the label says. Herb tea anyone?

Women smokers at greater risk for heart attacks

Traditionally women have enjoyed a natural shield against a major cardiac event such as a heart attack. Being a woman has ensured a huge nine year barrier before women become more prone to heart disease, but now a new finding has been reported by the American Heart Association. A study of more than 7,000 men and women undertaken at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has found that women who smoke eliminate that beneficial barrier and their risk of a heart attack is exactly the same as a man’s.

In real terms, this means that up to now, women who do not smoke would not normally present with heart problems until on average around the age of 71 but women smokers are being seen with heart problems at around the age of 62. That is a loss of nine years, but if you need an even greater incentive to give up – or persuade the woman in your life to do so = then the researchers also found that if a woman quits smoking for at least six months, her risk factors for heart attacks reverts to average.

Interestingly, the analysis of men showed virtually the same, although men only lost 3.8 years because of smoking. Men who didn’t smoke tended to show up with a heart attack at age 61; men who smoked showed up at the emergency room when they were 57.

A final cheery note from the director of the New York University Women’s Health Program. “Smoking among women causes heart attacks, lung disease, and wrinkles so this study is just another reason for women to quit or never start. It takes nine years off your life.”

Three minutes a day for a better back

Suffering from back pain and poor posture is sadly all too frequent these days. We spend a lot of time sitting for long periods, whether at a computer or in front of a television and what our back needs is gentle and regular stretching and exercise.

Visiting a chiropracter is essential for serious or chronic back problems, but if you want a simple, preventive routine then the British Chiropractic Association have devised a three minute daily stretching routine that will improve your posture and strengthen your spine. The exercises have delightful names like Twirling Star, Humming Bird and Butterfly – or if you are feeling a little more warrior-like there is also Extending the Sword and Tightrope.

They also offer you some good advice, like checking the weight of your bag or briefcase and dumping any unnecessary items out and implementing the ten minute rule – if it takes less than that to walk, then do so and leave the car at home.

To get your copy call the British Chiropractic Association on 0118 950 5950 or download a copy straight from the web, it’s only a couple of A4 pages at www.straightenupuk.org and click on the downloads link. There are two leaflets, one for adults and one for children, just click on the one you want, print it out and off you go on your way to a healthier back.

China has longevity licked

Generally speaking, you would think China would be an unhealthy place to live given all the bad press they have received about their lack of food standards, dangerous lead-laced toys, environmental abuses, exorbitant pollution, and widespread poverty. However, there are two surprising facts that have emerged recently: China boasts a life expectancy surprisingly close to that of the United States and perhaps not surprisingly they do this by spending a lot less money.

The US life expectancy is about 78 years, compared to China’s of 73 years overall, though it rises to around 80 years in cities like Beijing and Shanghai and Hong Kong is out in front with over 82 years. What do the Chinese pay for these extra years of life? Just $277 a head on healthcare in a year, compared to the United States where it is a staggering $6,100 a head each year.

The Chinese are great smokers, live with the many health hazards inherent with living in hugely over-crowded cities and in one of the most polluted countries on earth. So what is their secret? Well it is very simple and down to the fact that daily exercise is widespread and woven into the Chinese culture, offering more than just a way to burn calories. It also enforces social interaction, limiting the isolation that so often comes with old age in the West. Any visitor to China is struck by the way masses of people can be seen practicing tai-chi, aerobics, games, and even open air ballroom dancing. Every day exercise is vital for health and longevity and if you want to try something different from your usual morning or evening walk, then studies have pinpointed several benefits of Tai Chi, as it stimulates your central nervous system, lowers your blood pressure, relieves stress, tones muscles and helps with digestion and waste elimination. If you want to find a teacher locally, then ask at your local alternative health centre or shop for a personal recommendation or visit www.taichifinder.co.uk and just search your postcode.

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