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Another Important (Boring) Finding

A study published in the Oct. 30 edition of the the New England Journal of Medicine reported that CRP, a marker of inflammation and heart disease, does not cause heart disease. Rather, it’s just an innocent bystander (Surprise!). The same can be said for almost every medication out there that targets specific biochemical markers, such as for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and depression. Researchers are so caught up linking biochemical markers for various disorders, that somehow, the words "linking" or "associated with" slowly morphs into "causes." So then the search goes on to lower or eradicate this particular marker, thinking that this will somehow get rid of the disease. 

Imagine if you were allergic to dust and the dust particle sets off an allergic reaction in your nose that turns into an inflammatory cascade, almost like a tree trunk that branches into hundred or thousands of smaller branches and so forth. If one biochemical process is the equivalent of one particular branch, of course you’ll see the same branch with the same tree trunk. But cutting off this particular branch, although it may make you feel better, won’t get rid of the tree. The same analogy holds for most of modern medicine, including allergies. Shutting down histamine production may help your allergies feel better, but you have to keep using the medication to stay that way. You’re also not addressing the other hundreds or thousands of other known and unknown inflammatory markers that wreak havoc in other ways.

I predict there will be a proliferation of other biochemical markers that are found to be linked or associated with a medical condition, with researchers and drug companies jumping on the bandwagon to block this chemical, only to find later that it doesn’t work in the long term. 

Do you have other examples of not seeing the forest from the trees?

 

The Male Menopause Myth

It’s commonly known that women going through menopause experience hot flashes, night sweats, moods swings, irritability, insomnia and weight gain, but these same symptoms are known to occur in men as well. They generally occur in men in their 40s to 50s, thought to be due to slowly decreasing testosterone levels, along with other symptoms such as loss of sexual desire or functioning, depression, memory loss, or chronic fatigue.

But what if I told you that I see young men in their 20s coming in to see me with the same exact problems? What I’ve discovered is that it’s really not mainly a hormonal issue, but a problem with their breathing. Let me explain.

What I’ve noticed in all these young men is that they all have in common a relatively narrow upper airway. When examined with a thin flexible camera, the space behind their tongues is very narrow, about 2-3 mm wide. This is mainly due to smaller jaw structures and dental crowding. Whenever someone with this anatomy starts to fall asleep, his tongue muscle starts to relax, and in deeper levels of sleep, it relaxes almost completely, leading to partial obstruction, and awakening. Once awakened, the man turns over. In most cases, they usually don’t like to sleep on their backs for this reason.

Most people compensate very well by sleeping only on their sides or stomachs. However, if there’s anything that narrows the upper airway, either due to inflammation (allergies or a cold), or structurally (fat), the tongue collapses much easier and the person gets less efficient sleep due to multiple arousals.

Inefficient sleep leads to an imbalance of the involuntary nervous system, leading to what are called "vasomotor" conditions, such as sweating, heart palpitations, and temperature fluctuations. So is a young man with a predisposed anatomy is slowly gaining weight, he may experience all the above "male menopause" symptoms.  If these obstructions last for more than 10 seconds, they are called apneas.

If you have more than 10 to 15 apneas every hour, then you may be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Untreated obstructive sleep apnea can lead to depression, anxiety, weight gain, erectile dysfunction, memory problems, hypertension, glucose intolerance, going to the bathroom often, heart disease, heart attack and stroke. The physiologic stress state that’s created also can lower one’s thyroid and testosterone levels, making it seem like he may have either hypothyroidism or low testosterone. 

So in a sense, the "male menopause" phenomenon does happen, but not for the reasons that you may think. The word menopause literally means cessation of menses. Since men don’t have periods, this is not an appropriate word. Instead, it should be renamed something alluding to the progression of a sleep-breathing disorder. Do you have any of these symptoms or know anyone who’s going through "male menopause"?

Does Snoring Protect Your Heart?

A recent study presented by at the European Sleep Research Society revealed that men with moderate sleep apnea had a lower death rate (about 1/3) than those without sleep apnea. These findings were presented by Dr. Peretz Lavie of the Technion-Israel Institute. This paradoxical finding could be an aberration, but one possible explanation proposed was that repeated bursts of breathing pauses can condition the body to become more conditioned to this situation.  Although in general, the higher the apnea score, the more symptoms and medical problems people generally have, sometimes I do see elderly men in their 70s or 80s with an index of 70 or 80 (80 times per hour one stops breathing for 10 seconds or longer). But these people are completely without any subjective complaints and are unaware of any medical problems.  What do you do with these healthy 80 year olds that snore heavily, but do not have not have any medical problems? Do you know anyone that snores like a chainsaw, but is completely healthy otherwise?

Tune Up Your Body With Craniosacral Therapy

By Gabriel Bobek, Guest Contributor

Slow down!… Stop running!… LISTEN! Is your body 
saying this to you? Living in a world of deadlines and 
cell phones there’s a good chance it is. This 
time-obsessed age pushes our nervous systems and bodies 
beyond healthy limits and the stress can aggravate or cause 
much illness.  
 
In the expanding field of alternative healthcare, 
CranioSacral Therapy is a modality that is foremost about 
listening. By listening and tuning into the ever present 
craniosacral rhythm, a therapist detects misalignment, 
restriction and/or obstruction and gently accesses the 
body’s internal corrective mechanisms.  
 
A “New” Kind of Body Rhythm 
 
CranioSacral Therapy is grounded in the osteopathic 
principle of the body as an integrated unit marvelously 
designed to heal itself and is based on the tiny ebb and 
flow of cerebrospinal fluid that supports the central 
nervous system. The bony cranial and vertebral cavities 
are lined with a tough waterproof membrane containing this 
glistening clear fluid within which the brain and spinal 
cord are suspended and protected. The small movement of 
the system can be compared to a water balloon that is 
squeezed very gently.  
 
Through rigorous scientific experiment Dr. John Upledger 
proved this rhythmic movement happens continuously just 
like our breathing and heartbeat. This rhythm can be 
detected anywhere on the body and listening to it reveals a 
wealth of information directly.  
 
For example, is the craniosacral rhythm of one leg more 
restricted than the other, and if so, where specifically?  
The rhythm is an accurate indicator of past and present 
conditions and can be accessed to promote freedom, release 
and recovery.  
 
CranioSacral Therapy is holistic, exceptionally gentle and 
safe. Unlike drug or other interventions there are no 
negative side effects.

As a CranioSacral Therapist I am keenly attuned to your 
process throughout the session, listening with my hands and 
helping you to tune into your whole system profoundly. By 
involving you in the process we expand awareness of your 
self-healing potential and engage mechanisms that may have 
been untapped.  
 
 
The Many Facets of Cranio Sacral Therapy 
 
It is fascinating that solutions often come in treating 
areas distant to the problem.  
 
One craniosacral therapy session can boost, rebalance and 
revitalize your nervous and immune system but can also 
treat a broad range of conditions including:  
 
• chronic neck & back pain  
• headaches & migraines  
• TMJ dysfunction  
• stress & tension  
• ear/eye/nerve conditions  
• chronic fatigue/sleep disorders 
• post-traumatic stress  
 
It’s recommended for pre & post surgery and has been shown 
to improve surgical recovery.  
 
As an example, I currently have a client with long standing 
Ménières Disease, a serious ear condition that includes 
ringing in the ears, vertigo and painful debilitating 
migraines. There’s been steady improvement with each 
session but it was upon releasing his sacrum at the other 
end of his spine that the most dramatic improvement 
occured. Since then his migraines and vertigo have stopped 
completely and he’s decreased his medication by half. 
 
 
Relax and Revive 
 
A CranioSacral session is received lying comfortably face 
up on a massage table in regular clothing and tends to be a 
very pleasant and deeply calming experience. Depending on 
the severity and type of condition a course of 3 to 5 
sessions produces results which indicate whether continued 
treatment is recommended.  
 
Newcomers to CranioSacral are often surprised by the 
gentleness of the touch but this is the therapy’s secret.  
By working below the body’s recoil response profound change 
is coaxed from the inside out. The results come in gentle 
waves over time and may be noticed immediately, the next 
morning or even days after a session, subtly yet deeply 
supporting healing and building momentum towards well 
being.  
 
CranioSacral Therapy is an excellent complement to 
traditional Western medicine—enhancing and integrating its 
benefits. It is also a great way to reduce stress and 
recharge our batteries.  
 
Let’s slow down and tune in to the sounds within us – the 
answers are there for those who listen.  
 
* * * 
 
Gabriel Bobek has been practicing CranioSacral Therapy 
since 1995 and is a licensed NY State massage therapist 
with national certification. If you would like to 
experience a session in his spacious sunlit midtown studio, 
mention this article and receive a discounted price of $70 
for an hour session. For further information visit  
www.backboneandwingspan.com and click on CranioSacral, his 
biopage or call him directly at (646)-334-1366. 

How to Destress During Stressful Times

As a first time author who has worked for a year and a half to get my book published, I feel a combination of  excitement and pure terror now that the book is out and available to the public. On the one hand, I’m excited to be able to share my revelations about health and wellness to as many people on this planet as possible. But at the same  time, I’m scared to death that the book will flop and that  no one would have been helped by my message.    

Still, I’m sure that my stress is nothing compared to the  stress that many of you probably feel when you come see me.  I see many patients coming in these days thinking the  worst case scenario—thinking that their chronic throat pain is a sign of throat cancer, or that their ear pain is the  beginnings of a brain tumor. It’s not surprising during  hard economic times, that the stress and uncertainty about our financial future manifests physically as one type of illness or another. However, there is one intrinsic stressor that I see all the time that many people overlook. And without addressing this one problem first, it’s virtually impossible to eliminate all the other stress in our lives no matter what the circumstance.      

Why Stress?   

As I state in my book, Sleep, Interrupted, all modern  humans are susceptible to various degrees to breathing  stoppages due to our tongues falling back and occluding our  upper airways. This problem is thought to be due to our  unique ability to talk. In humans, the voice box sits below  the tongue, whereas in human infants and other animals, the  voice box sits behind the tongue. You could even say that  the overdevelopment of complex speech and language may be  detrimental to breathing and swallowing. This is evidenced  by the fact that only humans regularly choke on food and  die.   

Up until recently, this airway "problem" was not really a  problem for those who were relatively young and healthy.  Unless you were an obese, middle aged male who snored like  a freight train, sleep breathing problems like obstructive  sleep apnea or OSA, would not have been an issue.   

However, in the last 10 to 20 years a lot has changed. Not  only are we living longer, thanks to advancements in  science, but we’re also getting heavier, less active and  working longer hours thanks to technological innovations  like the internet and the mobile phone. Add to that, our  poor diets and frenetic lifestyles, and what we have is a serious problem for anyone who needs to sleep and breathe. Ironically, during this last century we seemed to have devolved in an effort to evolve.     

That Was Then, This Is Now   

In my book, Sleep Interrupted, I reference a dentist named Weston Price who traveled the world in the first half of  the 1900s and discovered that indigenous, isolated cultures that ate completely off the land (or mountains or the oceans) had wide jaws and perfectly aligned teeth. But once  their children began to eat Western diets,namely more  processed foods with highly refined sugars, their jaws became more narrow and dental crowding became rampant.    

Similarly, another dentist, Dr. Brian Palmer, noticed that  there has been an exponential increase of malocclussions,  or dental crowding and jaw malformation in children over  the last 10-20 years. He proposes that bottle-feeding may  have attributed to this process and that we’re seeing more  and more sleep breathing problems like obstructive sleep  apnea as a result. Dr. David Page, another dentist who specializes in  Functional Jaw Orthopedics, suggests in his book, Your  Jaws, Your Life, that this type of jaw degeneration can have detrimental consequences to our health and longevity. He states that due to our:    "Diet, infant feeding practices…most people today have jaws about 1/4 inch too small to fit all the wisdom teeth into place. Sadly, small jaws and airways can bring about premature death."   

All of these findings support what I continue to see in my  medical practice as well—especially in those patients suffering from chronic ear, nose and throat problems along with unexplained fatigue, anxiety and an assortment of  digestive problems. What I see is a preponderance of jaw narrowing along with airway narrowing. It appears that both of these traits go hand in hand.    

What’s more significant however, is that I’m seeing this in  patients who are young, thin, and relatively healthy—three  physical characteristics that would have precluded them in earlier generations from being diagnosed with a sleep  breathing problem, like OSA. Yet now there seems to be a preponderance of this airway narrowing across all ages and  genders and along with it a host of sleep breathing problems. Many of them profess to feeling sick and tired  all the time no matter how long they sleep. Consequently, they’re more stressed than ever before.     

More Reasons to Stress    When you have any type of airway narrowing you’re bound to  have some major physiological stressors compounding your  health problems.   

Because of your smaller jaw size, airway narrowing is a  given and this means a higher likelihood of airway  obstruction especially as you lay back and go to sleep (and  your muscles become completely relaxed). This means that  you’ll also wake up multiple times during the night as you  cycle from deep sleep to light sleep since your narrow  airways tend to close off or obstruct completely as you  drift off to sleep.    

In OSA patients, these airway obstructions are called  "apneas" or loss of breath and this can happen 35 to a 100  times a night in some extreme cases, and these obstructions  oftentimes last as long as 10 seconds at a time. You can  imagine what kind of toll this would have on your body over  many years. It’s not surprising that a majority of OSA  patients also suffer from diabetes, heart disease, clinical  depression, anxiety, and obesity, not to mention that  they’re at higher risk for strokes and even Alzheimer’s.   

But there are many more patients who are not diagnosed with  OSA that still suffer from these similar effects. These are  the patients I most often see in my practice suffering from  a milder form of OSA called Upper Airway Resistance  Syndrome or UARS.   

Similar to OSA patients, UARS patients also wake up  multiple times while sleeping because they stop breathing.  Although these episodes are brief and not really noticed by  these patients, these breathing cessations can still be  significant happening 5 to 25 times an hour and lasting  anywhere from 1 to 9 seconds each time they stop breathing.   

It’s true that every once in a while, patients suffering  from UARS will obstruct completely and wake up gasping for  air, with their heart beating and in a cold sweat. Yet,  these episodes are dismissed as "panic attacks" and not  really explored for symptoms of a sleep breathing problem.   

Instead, multiple arousals like this eventually leads to a  chronic state of stress and sympathetic nervous system  overactivity (fight or flight response). This is a  physiologic form of stress. Various neurologic, hormonal  and biochemical changes cam occur, leading to certain  predictable events like: high blood pressure, cold hands  and feet, chronic nasal congestion or a runny nose, chronic  gastrointestinal problems, bladder problems, weight gain,  and many others. Typically these patients also exhibit many  of the symptoms and signs of a "routine" ear, nose and  throat problem, like chronic sinusitis, frequent ear  infections, and even nasal allergies.   

In this situation, any kind of external stress, whether  emotional, physical, or psychological can aggravate the  internal vicious cycle. Your entire nervous system is en  garde all the time, with your nervous system becoming  hypersensitive due to all the arousals and poor sleep  quality. Your emotions and all your senses are heightened.  Now place yourself in a stressful environment and you can  just imagine what will happen next.   

Add to this all the constant stimulation and information  overload that only adds to this perceived stress. If you  take it as a fact that we can’t sleep as efficiently as we  used to, then no wonder why so many of us are so on edge  these days. It doesn’t take much insight to figure out that  we need to first address these internal stressors before we  can effectively address the daily stress in our lives.     

Reassess Your Stress Level   

Timothy Ferris, in his New York Times best-seller, The 4  Hour Work-Week, tells this great story (loosely  paraphrased): An extremely successful but stressed-out  American CEO travels on vacation to a remote port village  in Mexico. While walking by the town docks, he notices a  local fisherman who brings in a boatload of fish, almost to  the point of capsizing. He notices that he catches the same  enormous amount of fish day after day. He approaches the  fisherman and offers to systematize the fisherman’s unique  techniques so that he can make multiple times the money in  profits. The fisherman asks what he can do with all the  money. “You and your family can eat anything you want, as  much as you want,” said the CEO. “But I have more than I  need to eat. I give the remaining fish to my neighbors,”  replied the fisherman. The CEO then responded, “then you  can build a larger house.” “Then what?” asked the  fisherman. “Then you can move to America and open up a fish  processing center with 200 employees and make a fortune!”  said the CEO. “Then what?” replied the fisherman. “After  you make all that money you can have the luxury of taking  time off any time you want and have your own private house  on the beach in a remote town and spend as much time as you  want with your family.” said the CEO. With a big smile, the  fisherman said, “But Señor, I’m doing that already.”   

Sometimes, especially during our most stressful moments, we  need to reassess what we’ve lost to gain better perspective  on what we have already. By becoming more aware and taking  action to regain control of our health you’ll gain momentum  to tackle any stress that comes your way. 

  **************************************************************   

If you suspect that you may have a sleep breathing problem  like OSA or UARS, take the following quiz on line here.

Solutions for Your Top 10 Fitness Problems

Everyone knows that exercise is great for your health. It
can help you trim down, gain stamina, decelerate the aging
process etc, etc, etc. Then why is it so hard for us to get
started? The answer is: You need a plan.
 
As a WNBF Natural Figure Pro and certified personal
trainer and fitness instructor, Tara Marie Segundo, M.A.
was able to explain this and many other questions we have
regarding exercise. The following is an abridged transcript
of our recent teleseminar: Top 10 Questions I Am Asked As a
Personal Trainer. 
 
________________________________________________________________
 
Q #1: I don’t necessarily want to bulk up, but want a
toned and lean body. What do you think I can add to my
cardiovascular regimen that will help me build strength but
not bulk?
 
There is a common misconception that women can bulk up with
weight training. Women don’t have the same testosterone
levels as men, and by virtue of that, bulking up is not
something that would just accidentally happen. As a
natural athlete (meaning I use no pharmacological aids), I
had to work for YEARS intentionally doing high-intensity,
high volume training to build the muscle that I have. 
 
I would recommend weight training with an amount of weight
that allows you to fatigue by 8 to 10 repetitions in any
given set, for any given exercise. If that seems too
heavy, then select a weight with which you can do 12-15
repetitions per set. Most gyms also offer a wide variety
of conditioning classes if you are not weight room savvy. 
 
Toning muscle is building muscle. You are simply stating
that you are not interested in doing high-intensity, high
volume training that will yield a heightened degree of
muscle growth. Also keep in mind that weight training is
an excellent way to build bone density, which should be a
concern for all women.
 
Q. #2: What are some things you can do to keep yourself
motivated, especially after the initial enthusiasm wanes?
 
Don’t rely on motivation in the first place. Motivation
comes and goes, but making a plan and sticking to it will
work. You have to think of it like this: all of us do
things everyday that we don’t want to do, but we do it
anyway because the result is what we want. I don’t clean
my toilet because I love cleaning toilets; I clean my
toilet because I want my bathroom to be clean. I don’t
wash the dishes because I love washing dishes, but if I
don’t I would be looking at a huge pile of plates in the
sink.
 
Set specific, measurable goals and then design a plan to
achieve those goals. If you don’t plan, you are basically
planning to fail.
 
Q #3: I don’t have much time to exercise. Are there any
simple 10-20 minute exercises that I can do at home or at
the office without the need of any equipment that will keep
my energy up and my muscles working?
 
Exercising at home is a great idea for people that are so
busy that even a short commute to the gym will wipe out
precious moments they could be devoting to their workouts.
 
There are plenty of exercises that can be done at home with
an exercise mat, resistant bands, tubing, dumb bells, or in
some cases, nothing at all. It would be impossible for me
to outline exercises without a detailed explanation, but
there are so many exercise DVD’s on the market today that
will lead you through a complete routine.
 
You could also hire a personal trainer to teach you a home
program that you can do on your own. If you want to
exercise at home, there are plenty of ways to work the
entire body using different types of resistance, and you do
not need much space.
 
Q. #4: My biggest problem is not weight loss but stress,
but I get stressed out every time I think about doing
anything strenuous–even to exercise. What kinds of fitness
routines or workouts would you recommend to relieve stress
without me getting stressed out over it?
 
If exercise or the obligation of exercise is getting you
stressed out, RELAX. Doing something that is good for the
body is not so good if you are adding stress to your life.
 
Think of it like this: do what you can, as best you can,
as often as you can. Maybe this week got crazy and you
only worked out twice…that’s OK, next week will probably be
better and maybe you can squeeze in a extra session.
 
You don’t have an hour for your workout today? That’s OK,
do a half-hour, and do it well. Life is unpredictable, but
things tend to balance out if you squeeze in time when you
can. Fifteen minutes one day and thirty- five minutes the
next is almost one full hour. Add in more time here and
there and you have made a good effort.
 
Q. #5: I hate exercise. Can’t I just diet and get the same
effect?
 
Absolutely not! Dieting slows the metabolism, and this is
the last thing that you want to do when you are trying to
transform your body. The only way to maintain lasting
weight loss is to cut your caloric intake in addition to
ADDING MOVEMENT to your life.
 
Exercise revs the metabolic rate, and high intensity
exercise keeps the metabolic rate higher than normal for
longer than lower intensity exercise. 
 
The more you move, the better; the more intensely you move,
the better. As you build muscle from moving, your
metabolic rate becomes higher once again, as muscle is
metabolically active tissue and fat is not.
 
It is always better to eat 500 fewer calories and burn 500
additional calories with exercise than it is to just eat
1,000 fewer calories. When the body believes that it is
being starved, it slows down its metabolic rate to preserve
energy.
 
Q. #6: How do I get rid of this big gut that I have
developed over the years?
 
Your big gut is fat, my friend. Doing all the sit-ups in
the world will leave you with very strong abdominal
muscles, only no one will see them under that big gut!!
 
One must always consider two things when setting out to
reshape the body: body fat and muscle.
 
Building beautiful, strong and toned muscles is a great
thing. Layers of body fat will hide your efforts, though.
 
Reshaping and redesigning the body is achieved by doing two
things: lowering your body fat content with a caloric
deficit and aerobic activity and shaping your muscles with
consistent resistance training.
 
Q. #7: Should I use free weights or machines at my gym?
 
From a professional standpoint, I love free weights and
cables. As far as I am concerned, machines lock you into a
movement pattern that is not necessarily right for your
body.
 
Free weights also require more effort on the part of the
participant, as one must stabilize the muscles of the
torso, pelvic girdle, shoulder girdle, etc., to effectively
use them. Machines allow you to sit on a gadget, grab the
handles, and go!
 
The caveat is that in order to effectively use free weights
and cables, one must have an understanding of how to safely
use them or they become “accidents waiting to happen.” If
you don’t know what you are doing, invest in hiring a
personal trainer even for a few sessions, so you can learn
about proper biomechanics.
 
Q. # 8: I am too overweight to exercise. Every time I try,
I injure myself. What can I do?
 
Obese clients have the most success in a swimming pool. If
your gym or local YMCA has a pool, it probably offers a
variety of aquatic exercise classes, as well.
 
When a client is very over weight, it is true that great
care must be taken to make exercise safe. Exercising in a
pool is easy on the joints but can be quite intense at the
same time. You can do both cardiovascular and resistance
training in a pool, and you don’t have to know how to swim.
 
Q. #9: What exercises can I do to get rid of the fat on my
back? It looks so ugly when my bra cuts into it.
 
Similar to the question about getting rid of one’s gut, fat
is fat. You can do all the back training that you wish,
but until you lower your body fat levels overall, the fat
will remain. There is no such thing as spot training,
except in the sense that you can strengthen certain “spots”
by doing exercises targeted to strengthen certain muscles. 
You can not lose fat in a specific area, but rather your
body fat levels will decrease in general…Don’t shoot the
messenger…
 
Q. #10: Do I have to do cardiovascular training? I hate
it, but I do enjoy weight training.
 
Let me tell you my dirty little secret: I don’t normally
do cardio, either. I weight train at high intensity levels
5 or 6 days a week and living in NYC, I am always chasing a
bus, running to catch a subway, walking 12 blocks to get my
groceries, schlepping up stairs, etc. My lifestyle allows
me to get away with it. I also always take the stairs
instead of the escalator, I always stand when I could sit,
and I generally move a lot throughout my day.
 
If you have a very sedentary life, I would recommend doing
cardiovascular training 20-30 minutes, 3x a week for heart
health. If you are fat and wish to lose weight, I would
bump that up to 5 or 6x per week.
 
If however, you are in the gym pumping iron 5 or 6 times a
week and you move more than you are still, you may not need
cardio to get the look that you want. Again, with regards
to your heart health, consult your doctor before you stop
doing cardio just because you don’t like it. You may
require this type of training based on other factors.
 
___________________________________________________________
 
Tara has worked in the fitness industry for 23 years and
currently lives in New York City where she is a freelance
writer, personal trainer, and a fitness consultant. For
more information, please visit www.taramariesegundo.com. 

Give Me A Break!

present is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

–Oogway in Kung Fu Panda

In a recently released family fun film, Kung Fu Panda, Po,
the unlikely hero in the movie, saves his entire town from
destruction by learning how to focus and be present. Lucky
for him, cell phones and Blackberries weren’t invented back
then.

In our 24/7 nonstop frenzied workaholic culture, modern
people find it difficult, if not impossible to embrace this
simple concept. To exercise, to eat less, and to sleep more
has become a thing of the past. Patients often tell me that
they can’t expend the time or energy to do so. But what I’d
like to know is: Why does it take work to find rest?

Scheduling In Rest and Relaxation

In our modern day world, rest is complex. Even the simple
notion of taking “breaks” throughout the day has become
nonexistent and nowhere is this more evident than for
children. Instead of playtime, they schedule play “dates”
and instead of summer vacation, children get test
preparation. Ironically, the only time they get a break now
and then are when they get “time outs” for daydreaming in
class or for misbehaving. No wonder leisure time is looked
down upon these days.

For adults the situation is far worse. Taking vacations
fill many people with dread and anxiety. Patients tell me
that going on vacation is even more stressful than staying
at work. After they come back from vacation they’re faced
with double their usual workload. Instead, they take more
“sick days” than “vacation days” to recuperate from stress
induced illnesses. Even worse, down time, in our harried
culture is seen as unproductive. But is it?

According to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) pauses and breaks can heighten
productivity and not lessen it as we may assume. They
showed that rats that paused between new, unfamiliar tasks
used this time to “replay” their thought processes and
therefore gain better mastery each time they ran along the
same piece of track. What they found was that these breaks
were integral to mapping out in their minds the best ways
to navigate—allowing them to heighten their productivity
(get the cheese at the end of the maze faster) and not to
lessen it.

Of course, we aren’t rats. But studies done on humans show
similar findings. In a study spanning 20 years,
researchers showed that the risk of heart disease in women
who took less than one vacation every six years had an
eight times higher than those who “got away” at least twice
a year.

A more recent study using similar research methods used to
test sleep quality of NASA pilots and astronauts, showed
that people who took vacations were on the average getting
1 hour or more of high-quality sleep and more importantly
had an 80 percent increase in their reaction time. Even
after they came back from vacation they were able to
maintain better sleep quality with a 30-40 percent higher
reaction time than prior to the trip.

STOP BEING THE ENERGIZER BUNNY

When I was a growing up, the best commercial on TV was
about a toy bunny that never stopped because of the
Energizer battery that supposedly kept it running longer
than any other battery on the market. Back then, the
commercial highlighted timelessness as a unique benefit.
These days, however, timelessness has become the norm. Most
of us, much like the energizer bunny, just keep: “going
and going and going”. It’s gotten to the point that I
sometimes overhear people answering their cell phones in
the bathroom. Even in academic medicine, our meetings and
conferences are packed back-to-back with lectures and
presentations, and at the end of the day, everyone is
physically and mentally exhausted.

And so the question becomes why do we feel a compulsive
need to be working all the time? A patient that I posed
this question to commented that everyone knows that if you
left the office for an hour, things would go on normally
without you. But everyone feels an obsessive urge to be
constantly in the office, or answering their phones or
checking their emails every 2 seconds and that it’s more of
a “cultural” issue. Yet when I see how much of what I treat
stems from over work and over stress, I can’t help but to
think that this “cultural” adaptation may be making us less
productive than ever before. Instead of evolving, we seem
to be devolving. Just like the energizer bunny, we keep
going and going just to get nowhere fast.

RECOVERING REST AND RELAXATION

So what can you do to reduce stress, and maintain
productivity? There are the more obvious methods, such as
going outside for lunch, having breakfast and dinner with
your loved ones, or even taking a short nap in the
afternoon. Regular exercise is also important, not only for
fitness issues, but it’s another form of a break that
forces you to focus on your body’s movements, rather than
stressing about what you have to do or what you haven’t
done.

Notice that all these methods of “relaxation” and stress
relief brings you back into focusing on “the present”
moment. I know this may sound a little new-agey, but this
simple concept has profound implications for your overall
health and well being. Most of our stresses are often based
on our anxiety about the past (if only I had done this) or
what could happen in the future (what if I get fired?) or
on circumstances we have absolutely no control over.

One powerful concept that I see repeatedly in various forms
of Eastern traditions, meditation practices, and
success-achieving programs is the process of “pausing” and
being in the present moment. As C.S. Lewis, the 20th
century thinker and writer has said: “…the present is the
point at which time touches eternity.” This concept has
been described in a variety of ways as in taking a “power
pause” or in “falling still”. All these methods involve
breathing techniques where one focuses only on your
breathing. They all train you to consciously control
breathing, to make it slower, calmer, quieter, and more
regular. If you’ve been trained in yoga, you can probably
attest to that wonderful feeling you get after you practice
the “relaxing breath” technique. (for a FREE 21 minute
stress reduction audio that incorporates these breathing
techniques, visit one of our Experts, George Wissing’s
website at: http://www.hypnoedge.com/)

Physiologically, it’s been shown that slowing down your
breathing has a calming effect on your nervous system.
Further, lengthening your exhalation relative to your
inhalation can slow down your heart rate, inducing a state
of relaxation. This is explained by the fact that
inhalation is modulated by the stress portion of your
involuntary nervous system, whereas exhalation is
controlled by the relaxation part of your involuntary
nervous system. Therefore, extending your exhalation
prolongs the time you spend in a more calm, relaxed state.

Another primary benefit to breathing better, is that you
can sleep better, as well. As I explain in my forthcoming
book, Sleep, Interrupted coming this Fall, one disadvantage
we have for our speech and language development is that our
jaws became narrowed and this has made us all susceptible
to breathing problems when we sleep. Add to this our modern
processed foods, lack of exercise, and bottle-feeding this
problem may be getting even worse. In effect, many of our
most common and chronic health problems including heart
disease, diabetes, obesity, gastrointestinal problems, and
many chronic ear, nose throat may be a direct result of our
sleep interruptions due to breathing cessations. This may
be why so many of us are so sick and tired not to mention
overweight and overstressed.

A recent study revealed that people’s estimation of sleep
time was closely related to how stressed they felt during
the day. In other words, for the same two groups of people
who slept the same number of hours, the groups that were
under more stress perceived less quantity of sleep.
Conversely, not sleeping well, or sleeping long enough can
also make you feel more stressed.

I JUST DON’T HAVE THE TIME

One of the most common excuses that I hear is that people
don’t have time to sleep longer or take yoga or to stop and
pause during the day to keep their stress levels in check.
However, the beauty of breathing exercises is that with a
little practice, you can do it while waiting in line at the
grocery store, stopped at a red light, or even while at
your desk. Ideally, you should do it for 15-30 minutes in
the morning, and just before bedtime. But what I’ve found
even more useful is to spend 15-30 seconds to pause, and to
perform the breathing exercises between major activities
throughout the day. It not only relaxes you, but recharges
you, making you more focused on the task at hand.

Many experts suggest various ways of dealing with stress,
including meditation, breathing techniques, and exercise.
Each method has its obvious benefits. But one thing that
all these techniques have in common is that they force you
to take a break from your normal routine. Napping may be
the ultimate way to rest during the day, but walking
outside to eat lunch, afternoon tea, or even smoking forces
you to take a break.

You may be shocked that I include smoking in the above
list. Regardless of all the known detrimental effects of
cigarette smoke, think about what you must do when you
smoke. You must remove yourself from your job, go outside,
and spend 10-15 minutes in isolation, doing deep breathing
exercises. In fact, in a sense, you are meditating on your
breathing. Many smokers feel more relaxed after the first
few breaths. But since it takes up to a minute or more for
nicotine to reach your brain’s pleasure receptors, why is
it that you feel a rush the second you inhale? This is what
George Wissing, in his book, Stop Smoking for the Last
Time, questions. George is a hypnosis, NLP expert who
suggests that it’s the breathing and not the nicotine in
the cigarette that’s helping you to relax. Think about
it—why do people tell you to take a deep breath whenever
you’re stressed?

So the next time you feel stressed and can’t figure out why
you feel that way, consider taking a break. Better yet, try
taking a moment to do some form of breathing exercises. Try
taking short, regular 30 second breaks, or even going
outside for lunch. For the truly brave, try taking a
prophylactic wellness day (to avoid having to take a sick
day), and spend time for yourself, rather than catching up
on chores. Although all of these suggestions may sound too
simple to work, the simplest things often yield the most
powerful results. As Kung Fu Panda learned the hard way,
you shouldn’t dismiss what’s most obvious. As Confuscious,
that famed Chinese philosopher once said:

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it
complicated.”

So go ahead. Take a break. The rest will follow.

Q: How do I know if I have Strep throat?

A: The only official way is to undergo a throat culture (which takes 2-3 days), or undergo a rapid “Strep” test in the office (but only 80-90% accurate). The only strain of bacteria that’s tested for is GABHS, or group A beta hemolytic streptococcus. This particular strain of bacteria can produce toxins that can potentially injure the heart or the kidneys. There are many other types of “Strep” that can also cause throat infections, but are harmless to vital organs. In most cases, GABHS presents with high fever (102 to 103˚ F), pus on the tonsils or throat, and very swollen, inflamed neck glands. Severe throat pain by itself is not a reason to treat with oral antibiotics.

 

 

Q: Which medicines can I use to help for my stuffy nose?

A: Nasal decongestants work by constricting blood vessels that supply your nasal mucous membranes, especially the wing-like structures on the side-wall of your nose called turbinates. There are two types: pills and sprays. Pills (or liquid oral forms) contain the ingredients pseudoephedrine or phelylephrine. Sudafed is a brand name of one of the major over-the-counter cold remedy companies. Many of their products contain either active ingredient or in combination with other cold medications for other symptoms. Some people are very sensitive to these ingredients and taking too much can make you feel jittery. Decongestant nasal sprays can contain either phenylephrine (lasting 4 hours) or oxymetazoline (lasting 12 hours). Be careful not to use these particular sprays for more than three days, as they can be addictive. The safest thing to take on a long-term basis is any form of nasal saline.

 

 

Q: What’s a deviated septum?

A: The nasal septum is the midline partition that divides your nose into your right and left nasal cavities. You have other septums in your body as well, including your heart and your frontal nasal sinuses. The front part of the nasal septum is made of cartilage, but parts of the rear are made of thin bone. It starts just behind your fleshy nostrils in the middle, continues to the roof of your nose and ends just above your hard palate, in the rear of your nose. No one has a perfectly straight septum. However, if it’s slightly deviated to the right or the left, any degree of nasal inflammation in the other parts of the nose can narrow your breathing passageways, leading to a stuffy nose.

 

 

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