Day: 11/21/2013

According to scientists, This is the most relaxing tune ever recorded.

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This eight minute song is a beautiful combination of arranged harmonies, rhythms and bass lines and thus helps to slow the heart rate, reduce blood pressure and lower levels of the stress. The song features guitar, piano and electronic samples of natural soundscapes.

A study was conducted on 40 women, who were connected to sensors and had been given challenging puzzles to complete against the clock in order to induce a level of stress. Different songs were then played, to test their heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and brain activity. The results showed that the song Weightless was 11 per cent more relaxing than any other song and even caused drowsiness among women in the lab. It induced a 65 per cent reduction in overall anxiety and brought them to a level 35 per cent lower than their usual resting rates. 

Moreover, sound therapies have been used for thousands of years to help people relax and improve health and well-being. Among indigenous cultures, music has been the heart of healing and worship. The song, weightless is ideal for unwinding and putting an end to a stressful day.

According to Dr David Lewis-Hodgson, from Mindlab International, which conducted the research, this song induced the greatest relaxation, higher than any other music tested till date. In accordance to the Brain imaging studies, music works at a very deep level within the brain, stimulating not only those regions responsible for processing sound but also ones associated with emotions. The song Weightless can make one drowsy and hence should not be heard while driving.

Richard Talbot, from Marconi Union, was fascinated to work with a therapist to learn how and why certain sounds affect people’s mood. Though he always knew the power of music, they had previously written songs using only their gut feeling.

The study conducted by bubble bath and shower gel firm, Radox Spa found the song was even more relaxing than a massage, walk or cup of tea. According to Cassie Shuttlewood, from Radox Spa, it is understandable not to spend hundreds of pounds on massages, spa weekends and yoga retreats to reduce stress levels.


The top ten relaxing songs are known to be 

1. Marconi Union – Weightless 
2. Airstream – Electra 
3. DJ Shah – Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) 
4. Enya – Watermark
5. Coldplay – Strawberry Swing
6. Barcelona – Please Don’t Go 
7. All Saints – Pure Shores 
8. Adelev Someone Like You 
9. Mozart – Canzonetta Sull’aria 
10. Cafe Del Mar – We Can Fly
[SOURCE: www.telegraph.co.uk]


According to Lyz Cooper, founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy, the song has been created using various scientific theories and make use of musical principles that are known to have individually calming effects. Hence these elements have been combined together by Marconi Union to make the perfect relaxing song ever. The song comprises of a sustaining rhythm that starts at 60 beats per minute and gradually slows to around 50. Thus, while listening to the song, your heartbeat automatically comes to match that beat. She even adds that it is necessary for the song to be eight minutes long because it takes about five minutes for entertainment to occur. The gaps between the notes have been chosen to create a feeling of euphoria and comfort. In addition, there are no repetitive melodies in the song which allows one’s brain to completely switch off since one is no longer trying to predict what is next. The random chimes in the song help induce a deeper sense of relaxation and the final element in the song is the low, whooshing sounds and hums, those like the Buddhist chants.

         

3 Simple Rules to Protecting Yourself from Energy Vampires.

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The human body generates an electromagnetic field. When that field is easily disrupted, it can manifest in many ways including being “sensitive” to people and environments. You might recognize the feelings of being a sensitive soul. Being around a certain someone puts you in a bad mood. Having to go into a crowded party overwhelms you. When someone isn’t happy with you, you feel as if you’re being physically attacked.

Being energetically sensitive means that you’re picking up on and absorbing negative energy from those around you. You’re not just moody! Great news, right?

Having a strong and balanced energy system is the best way I’ve learned to stay protected from energy vampires. Do this daily and you’ll have a little routine that will help strengthen your system so you can be anywhere, at any time, and feel calm and confident.

Rule #1: Balance

Make sure your energy system is strong and balanced. There are many ways to do this but one of my favorites is the “thymus thump.” Thumping a gland in the center of your chest, called the thymus gland, gives you an immune system boost and is also effective for calming fear and balancing your entire system quickly. Simply use your fist and “thump” like Tarzan for about 30 seconds and some big deep breaths.

Rule #2: Ground

Ground your energy. The more grounded, or connected to the earth’s energies you are, the less shaken you’ll be by your environment. A great way to “ground” is by literally pulling your energy down through your feet.

Place your hands at the sides of your waist. With your thumb in the front and fingers toward the back, slide your hands slowly and firmly down your legs. When you get to your feet, squeeze at the sides of your feet. Doing this on grass, dirt, or sand makes it even more powerful.

Rule #3: Protect

By tracing your central meridian, an energy pathway running up the front of your body, also highly attuned to thoughts and emotions, you are able to strengthen it.

Place your hands at the bottom end of the central meridian, which is at your pubic bone. Inhale deeply as you simultaneously pull your hands straight up the center of your body, to your lower lip. Repeat three times. With the electromagnetic force of your hands, you are literally moving the energy in the meridian in the direction of its strength and in turn, the meridian is strengthening you. While doing this exercise, you can also add an affirmation such as “I am safe and protected”.

Breathe! Breathing allows energy movement in your body. If you hold your breath in crowds or around difficult people, you are actually preventing any negative energy from movinʼ right through you.

Cross your arms/legs when feeling energetically vulnerable. This actually protects your aura and creates an energetic shield. Negative energy being directed at you will tend to bounce off of you and return to the sender.
Pick your location wisely. Stand by a window or door in crowds and avoid sitting at the front of a class or room where people direct their energy toward you.

Black tourmaline, a crystal that can be purchased for just a couple of dollars, is an excellent negative energy absorber. Put it in your pocket, purse, or just keep it close by when feeling vulnerable.

Now you have lots of minute-or-less tools to keep you balanced, grounded, and protected. Just don’t forget, they only work if you use them.

Ahhh, doesn’t that feel better already?

What tools do you use to protect yourself from energy vampires?

What Are the Qualities of a Strong Woman and How to Get Them.

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“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” ~ Diane Mariechild

Being a strong woman is not about behaving like a man. Instead, it is about embracing your femininity and showing it to the world, while making sure that you take control of the things that you’re doing and get them done. This is why motherhood is one of the best proofs of how strong women can be.

What Are the Qualities of a Strong Woman and How to Get Them

Why Are Mothers Strong?

Motherhood does not only change a woman physically, but emotionally and mentally as well. While the physical wounds brought about by the ordeal of bearing a child would heal, it’s a completely different story when it comes to the emotional aspect of a mom. This change will make her vulnerable until her last breath.

Motherhood makes a woman family oriented. It’s not about her hair, her manicure or her clothes anymore. She has to grow up and be a more responsible individual to take care of the life that she helped bring into this world.

A mother always makes sure that she’s able to provide what her children need. Despite how successful or glamorous she might be professionally, motherhood will always make her feel like a lion protecting a cub. She becomes fierce and strong when it comes to dealing with threats that put her children at risk. She instantly becomes a hero and a mighty fighter.

Motherhood makes a woman more attuned to the needs of others, especially that of her children. She always makes time to listen to her kids, to give them a hug when they are in pain. She nurtures them endlessly like a patient gardener who becomes happy only after seeing her plants grow into a full bloom.

Despite her own stress, she always attends to her to-do list, which usually involves the children. She doesn’t miss an opportunity to kiss her children and hug them tenderly. Her smile is always ready for whoever needs it.

What Qualities Distinguish Strong Women

Strong moms and strong women in general share the following qualities that make them stand out among the rest:

1. Strong women know who they really are

They have already identified their needs and their goals. They always put their dreams over anything else. They are not embarrassed to show their genuine self. Although life is a fast evolving process, strong women will continue to grow while staying true to themselves. They do it partly by giving time to let their interests and passion develop. Another reason for their success in being honest about their identity is that they recognize their strengths and use them as leverage to be successful in life.

2. Strong women stick it out for themselves

They are truly confident and know a good cause when they come across one. They would show intense passion for their advocacies, something that vulnerable adolescent girls should have these days as they deal with peer pressure and bullies.

3. Strong women like to challenge themselves

They want to keep growing and improving, which is why they are keen on pushing themselves more even onto new boundaries. They make sure that they don’t only do good, but better.

4. Strong women always have room for improvement

Despite their strength, confidence, and capabilities, they don’t slack off and say “I’m better than everyone else.” They don’t grow complacent for the sake of improving themselves. If they don’t know certain things, they don’t hesitate to ask questions and get answers. Strong women are not ashamed about still having to learn a lot of things, but this doesn’t mean that they are not willing to teach what they have learned to others. Although they are confident about what they can do, they don’t let it stop them from learning more.

5. Strong women know how to be happy

They are determined to stay happy and jovial in their everyday life. Their principle in life is to always stay positive. They know how blessed they are and how to be thankful for it. Strong women are noted for making things fun, whatever it is that they are doing. This is how they ensure that their family and loved ones are happy. While they are serious about achieving their goals, they do have a great sense of humor.

If you want to be an independent and strong woman, you need to develop these traits within yourself. Eventually, you’ll be leading the life similar to that of the other strong women around the world.

Men, Try THIS Before Reaching for Viagra.

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Varying degrees of erectile dysfunction (ED) are common in men and can significantly interfere with a healthy sex life. Often, it is simply a manifestation of stress or emotional problems, but it can also be a sign of an underlying health problem like heart disease. It is important that you work on finding out the foundational cause, and also that you resist the urge to simply pop a pill like Viagra as a quick fix. Viagra does carry a risk of potentially serious side effects, including:
Headache
Upset stomach
Flushing of the face
Blue/green color blindness
Blurred vision
Vision sensitivity to light
Sudden decrease or loss of vision in one or both eyes
An abnormally long-lasting erection that may cause permanent damage to your penis
Sudden loss or decrease in hearing, sometimes with ringing in the ears or dizziness
Heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeat and death have occurred in men taking Viagra
As far as natural alternatives go, there are many options to consider including L-arginine, an amino acid that is the precursor tonitric oxide, a natural compound that helps relax your blood vessels. Nitric oxide signals the smooth muscle cells in your blood vessels to relax, so that your vessels dilate and your blood flows more freely. This helps your arteries to regain their elasticity and stay free of plaque.  L-arginine may also lead to increased microcirculation in genital tissues, which results in stronger erections and better sexual responsiveness, via this nitric oxide mechanism.


Scientific studies have shown that L-arginine can be particularly effective when used in combination with another natural agent,pycnogenol, which resulted in significant improvement in sexual function in men with ED, according to a Bulgarian study.10Similarly, a pilot study published in the journal European Urology found 6 grams of L-arginine combined with 6 mg of yohimbine, a compound found in the herb yohimbe, was successful in treating men with ED.11 Aside from L-arginine, other natural alternatives include:
·         Panax ginseng and maca root, which have been used for centuries as libido-boosting tonics
·         Choline and vitamin B5. The neurotransmitter that triggers sexual messages in your brain, whether you’re male or female, is acetylcholine (ACH). With too little ACH, sexual activity goes down. One way to safely and effectively enhance your ACH levels is to take choline supplements (1,000-3,000 mg) and vitamin B5 (500-1,500 mg).
Source: Mercola
         

This Tea Naturally Protects Your Bones and Fights Off Osteoporosis.

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Green tea is one of the latest superfoods making its way into bottled waters and energy drinks.  You’ll even find it in energy bars, mints, chewing gum and ice cream. It has many claimed health benefits.  Texas researchers add to the list with evidence that green tea aids in the prevention of osteoporosis.  Especially when coupled with a tai chi practice.

Green tea is full of compounds called polyphenols which are known for their potent antioxidant activity. Studies have shown that people who consume the highest levels of green tea polyphenols tend to have lower risks of several chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease.

Animal studies suggest that the mechanism behind this correlation may have to do with lowering chronic levels of inflammation.  These studies show that green tea may benefit bone health by mitigating bone loss due to aging, estrogen deficiency, or chronic inflammation.  That in turn may improve clinical symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, normalize bone metabolic disorders, and impact trace element metabolism.

In humans, the Mediterranean Osteoporosis Study showed that drinking up to 3 cups of tea per day was associated with a 30% reduction in the risk of hip fractures in women as well as men over 50 years of age.

Researchers at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center believe bioactive components in green tea might decrease the risk of fracture by improving bone mineral density.  These compounds may support osteoblastic activities (bone building) while suppressing osteoclastic activities (bone breakdown).

Focusing on postmenopausal women, the researchers investigated the potential for green tea to work synergistically with tai chi in enhancing bone strength.  Tai chi is a traditional Chinese form of moderately intense aerobic fitness activity grounded in mind-body philosophy.

They conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, intervention trial involving 171 postmenopausal women with a mean age of 57 years.  The women had weak bones but not full-fledged osteoporosis.

Subjects were divided into 4 groups:

Placebo: starch pill (placebo) and no tai chi
GTP: green tea polyphenols (500 mg/day) and no tai chi
Placebo+TC: starch pill and tai chi (3 times/week)
GTP+TC: green tea polyphenols and tai chi

The results show that consuming 500 mg of green tea polyphenol improved bone health after 3 months and muscle strength at 6 months.  That dosage is equivalent to about 4-6 cups of steeped green tea daily.

Participants in the tai chi group improved their markers of bone health and muscle strength within 6 months.

But participants who combined both green tea polyphenols and daily tai chi practice also showed substantial effects on markers of oxidative stress, which is the main precursor to inflammation.

The authors of the study concluded that there is a favorable effect of modest green tea consumption on bone remodeling in pre-osteoporotic postmenopausal women.  They also suggest that green tea and tai chi may help reduce the underlying cause of not only osteoporosis, but other inflammatory diseases as well.

Green tea is one of three main categories of tea.  The other two are black and oolong. Green tea is the least processed of the three and is steamed but unlike black and oolong, is not fermented. As a result, green tea is about five times higher in EGCG, a catechin or antioxidant, which is also found in red wine, chocolate, berries and apples.

The caffeine content of green tea is about half that of coffee and it’s also available in decaffeinated versions.

Source: greenmedinfo.com

         

Brain Scans Show The Real Impact Love Has On A Child’s Brain.

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You comfort them over a skinned knee in the playground, and coax them to sleep with a soothing lullaby. But being a nurturing mother is not just about emotional care – it pays dividends by determining the size of your child’s brain, scientists say.

Both of these images are brain scans of a two three-year-old children, but the brain on the left is considerably larger, has fewer spots and less dark areas, compared to the one on the right.

According to neurologists this sizable difference has one primary cause – the way each child was treated by their mothers.

But the child with the shrunken brain was the victim of severe neglect and abuse.

Babies’ brains grow and develop as they interact with their environment and learn how to function within it.

When babies’ cries bring food or comfort, they are strengthening the neuronal pathways that help them learn how to get their needs met, both physically and emotionally. But babies who do not get responses to their cries, and babies whose cries are met with abuse, learn different lessons.

The neuronal pathways that are developed and strengthened under negative conditions prepare children to cope in that negative environment, and their ability to respond to nurturing and kindness may be impaired.

According to research reported by the newspaper, the brain on the right in the image above worryingly lacks some of the most fundamental areas present in the image on the left.

The consequences of these deficits are pronounced – the child on the left with the larger brain will be more intelligent and more likely to develop the social ability to empathise with others.

This type of severe, global neglect can have devastating consequences. The extreme lack of stimulation may result in fewer neuronal pathways available for learning.

The lack of opportunity to form an attachment with a nurturing caregiver during infancy may mean that some of these children will always have difficulties forming meaningful relationships with others. But studies have also found that time played a factor–children who were adopted as young infants have shown more recovery than children who were adopted as toddlers.

But in contrast, the child with the shrunken brain will be more likely to become addicted to drugs and involved in violent crimes, much more likely to be unemployed and to be dependent on state benefits.
The child is also more likely to develop mental and other serious health problems.

Some of the specific long-term effects of abuse and neglect on the developing brain can include:

  • Diminished growth in the left hemisphere, which may increase the risk for depression
  • Irritability in the limbic system, setting the stage for the emergence of panic disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder
  • Smaller growth in the hippocampus and limbic abnormalities, which can increase the risk for dissociative disorders and memory impairments
  • Impairment in the connection between the two brain hemispheres, which has been linked to symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Professor Allan Schore, of UCLA, told The Sunday Telegraph that if a baby is not treated properly in the first two years of life, it can have a fundamental impact on development.

He pointed out that the genes for several aspects of brain function, including intelligence, cannot function.
And sadly there is a chance they may never develop and come into existence.

These has concerning implications for neglected children that are taken into care past the age of two.
It also seems that the more severe the mother’s neglect, the more pronounced the damage can be.

The images also have worrying consequences for the childhood neglect cycle – often parents who, because their parents neglected them, do not have fully developed brains, neglect their own children in a similar way.

But research in the U.S. has shown the cycle can be successfully broken if early intervention is staged and families are supported.

The study correlates with research released earlier this year that found that children who are given love and affection from their mothers early in life are smarter with a better ability to learn.

The experiences of infancy and early childhood provide the organizing framework for the expression of children’s intelligence, emotions, and personalities.

When those experiences are primarily negative, children may develop emotional, behavioral, and learning problems that persist throughout their lifetime, especially in the absence of targeted interventions.

The study by child psychiatrists and neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, found school-aged children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have brains with a larger hippocampus, a key structure important to learning, memory and response to stress.

The research was the first to show that changes in this critical region of children’s brain anatomy are linked to a mother’s nurturing, Neurosciencenews.com reports.

The research is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.
Lead author Joan L. Luby, MD, professor of child psychiatry, said the study reinforces how important nurturing parents are to a child’s development.

Sources:
childwelfare.gov

preventdisease.com

         

The Top 11 Health Benefits of Sex.

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Regular sex cannot be underestimated as a factor for reducing stress, bolstering self-esteem and fostering feelings of intimacy and bonding between partners.

But the real point of this article is the fact that a healthy sex life can provide for a longer, healthier and, most would agree, more enjoyable life. Among the many health benefits of sex are:
1. Improved Immunity
People who have sex frequently (one or two times a week) have significantly higher levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA).1 Your IgA immune system is your body’s first line of defense.
Its job is to fight off invading organisms at their entry points, reducing or even eliminating the need for activation of your body’s immune system. This may explain why people who have sex frequently also take fewer sick days.2
Men who made love regularly (at least twice a week) were 45 percent less likely to develop heart disease than those who did so once a month or less, according to one study.3
Sexual activity not only provides many of the same benefits to your heart as exercise but also keeps levels of estrogen and testosterone in balance, which is important for heart health.
Sexual activity, and specifically intercourse, is linked to better stress response and lower blood pressure.4
4. It’s a Form of Exercise
Sex helps to boost your heart rate, burn calories and strengthen muscles, just like exercise. In fact, research recently revealed that sex burns about 4 calories a minute for men and 3 for women, making it (at times) a ‘significant’ form of exercise.5 It can even help you to maintain your flexibility and balance.
5. Pain Relief
Sexual activity releases pain-reducing hormones and has been found to help reduce or block back and leg pain, as well as pain from menstrual cramps, arthritis and headaches. One study even found that sexual activity can lead to partial or complete relief of headache in some migraine and cluster-headache patients.6
6. May Help Reduce Risk of Prostate Cancer
Research has shown that men who ejaculate at least 21 times a month (during sex or masturbation) have a lower risk of prostate cancer.7 This link needs to be explored further, however, as there may have been additional factors involved in the association.
7. Improve Sleep
After sex, the relaxation-inducing hormone prolactin is released, which may help you to nod off more quickly. The “love hormone” oxytocin, released during orgasm, also promotes sleep.
8. Stress Relief
Sex triggers your body to release it’s natural feel-good chemicals, helping to ease stress and boost pleasure, calm and self-esteem. Research also shows that those who have sexual intercourse responded better when subjected to stressful situations like speaking in public.8
9. Boost Your Libido
The more often you have sex, the more likely you are to want to keep doing it. There’s a mental connection there but also a physical one, particularly for women. More frequent sex helps to increase vaginal lubrication, blood flow and elasticity,9 which in turn make sexual activity more enjoyable.
10. Improved Bladder Control in Women
Intercourse helps to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, which contract during orgasm. This can help women to improve their bladder control and avoid incontinence. You can boost this benefit even more by practicing Kegel exercises during sex (a Kegel squeeze is performed by drawing your lower pelvic muscles up and holding them up high and tight, as if you’re trying to stop a flow of urine).
11. Increase Intimacy and Improve Your Relationship
Sex and orgasms result in increased levels of the hormone oxytocin — the “love” hormone — that helps you feel bonded to your partner, and better experience empathic connections.
 
Source. Mercola
         

How Garlic Can Save Your Life.

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Research on garlic indicates that it may provide an ideal low-cost and safe alternative to drugs and vaccines in reducing the three most common causes of death in the world.
 
In a world mesmerized by the false promises of pharmaceutical industry marketing copy, as well as inundated with aggressively marketed dietary supplements, many of which are manufactured by the same companies making a killing off patented chemicals (Bayer owns One A Day, Pfizer owns Centrum), it is reassuring to know that the kitchen pantry will never fail us…
 
Inexpensive, time-tested, safe and delicious, many spices are attaining recognition for being, quite literally, ‘life saving,’ which is likely one reason why, in ancient times, many were worth their weight in gold.
 
This time around, the health benefits of ancient ‘folk remedies’ like garlic are being confirmed by straight-laced men and women in lab coats. Which, when it comes to the conventional medical establishment, blighted as it is by the epistemological disease known as myopia, is considered the only valid way to ascertain the truth. Never mind the countless millions of people who, since the beginning of time, have used a different standard of proof: if it works and it is safe, then its true.
 
We all know that garlic is not shy to make its presence known. The smallest culinary dose is enough to suffuse the entire body with its aroma. Garlic also permeates the research literature: the biomedical database known as MEDLINE, provided by the National Library of Medicine, contains 4245 study abstracts on garlic, a number of which we have indexed and organized for your use on our site:Health Benefits of Garlic.
 
A cursory perusal of the literature there indicates that garlic has a significant role to play in preventing or treating well over 150 health conditions, ranging from cancer to diabetes, infection to plaque buildup in the arteries, DNA damage to mercury poisoning.
 
In fact, a strong argument can be made (pun intended) that expanding the availability of garlic around the world as both a food and a medicine could prevent millions of deaths annually. According to World Health Organization statistics, the populations of poorer countries die manly from causes directly connected to communicable infectious diseases, which incidentally are not caused by a lack of vaccines, rather, primarily through under-nutrition and malnourishment, lack of sanitation and hygiene, as well as the adverse physiological consequences of the depression and stress associated with poverty.  The greater use and availability of garlic might provide a perfect alternative to global vaccine initiatives, the use of which are driven less by compelling scientific research, and more by political and economic forces. Garlic is easier to acquire and distribute, and can often be grown by the affected persons or communities affected, making it essentially free.
 
Garlic Versus #1 Cause of Death for the Poorest Countries
As far as the research goes, garlic has immensely powerful anti-infective properties, experimentally confirmed to kill the following:
 
This is an impressive smattering of research, but it is likely only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to garlic’s ability to fight infection.  Remember, a lack of scientific proof does imply a lack of efficacy. Given that conventional antibiotics are not only failing, but driving bacteria and viruses into greater lethality, we can’t wait around for the multi-billion dollar clinical trial-based drug approval process to turn its attention to a non-patentable natural substance.  Such a profit-oriented approach would be highly unethical. 
 
Garlic Versus the Developed World’s #1 and #2 Killers
The research on Greenmedinfo.com shows garlic has value in 167 health conditions or disease symptoms, but the greatest density of research indicates garlic’s role in preventing and/or treatingCardiovascular Disease and Cancers, the two primary causes of death within high-income countries.[27]   
 
This is an interesting finding. The drug industry has been fantasizing about a so-called ‘polypill’ for quite some time, an idea involving mixing various patented medicines together for a condition like heart disease (e.g. blood pressure, cholesterol, blood thinner), but to no avail. Patented chemicals have far too many side effects, so when you mix them together, you only compound their multitudinous chemical toxicities. Natural substances, on the other hand, and especially those which play a role in culinary traditions as “spices,” appear to have the opposite karma. Namely, they have far more ‘side benefits’ than ‘side effects.’
 
Garlic’s cardioprotective effects include:
 
Here is a quick review of the cancers that garlic has been found to kill:
Garlic, like so many other complex foods, contains a wide range of phytocompounds that articulate at least 150 distinct physiological responses in the mammalian body (see our 157 pharmacological actions list on the Garlic Research page).
 
How can this be so?
 
One explanation is that all foods contain not only physical building blocks, e.g. carbs, proteins, lipids, and are not only a source of energy (caloric content), but contain gene and epigene regulatory information. There are ‘packets’ of energy and information contained within the conformational state of the biomolecules found within these plant tissues. Our co-evolution with the plant kingdom for the past half a billion years has resulted in the very genetic/molecular fabric of our body depending on certain key compounds from plants in our diet, delivered in natural form, not irradiated, overly-cooked, petrochemically-farmed. Garlic’s ability to fit like a key, into many different types of locks (an impossible feat for monochemical ‘magic bullets’), reflects an likely infinitely complex intelligence in the relationship between plant and animal species. Which speaks to how important foods are not simply as ‘medicine,’ but that from which our bodily health grows organically, and without which disease is a natural consequence.
 
Source: GreenMedInfo
         

A Red Cross and Red Crescent call to action on nuclear weapons

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IPPNW peace and health blog

IFRC logoThe Council of Delegates of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement renewed its call for the elimination of nuclear weapons at the IFRC’s General Assembly this month in Sydney, Australia.

The resolution, “Working towards the elimination of nuclear weapons,” was adopted unanimously and reiterated the Movement’s concern, expressed two years ago in a similarly worded resolution, about “the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, including the unspeakable human suffering that their use would cause and the threat that such weapons pose to food production, the environment and future generations.”

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Writing Can Help Injuries Heal Faster: Scientific American

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Expressive writing is known to help assuage psychological trauma and improve mood. Now studies suggest that such writing, characterized by descriptions of one’s deepest thoughts and feelings, also benefits physical health.

Researchers in New Zealand investigated whether expressive writing could help older adults heal faster after a medically necessary biopsy. In the study, 49 healthy adults aged 64 to 97 years wrote about either upsetting events or daily activities for 20 minutes, three days in a row. After a time lag of two weeks, to make sure any initial negative feelings stirred up by recalling upsetting events had passed, all the subjects had a biopsy on the arm, and photographs over the next 21 days tracked its healing. On the 11th day, 76 percent of the group that did expressive writing had fully healed as compared with 42 percent of the control group.

boy writing in hospital bed

“We think writing about distressing events helped participants make sense of the events and reduce distress,” says Elizabeth Broadbent, professor of medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and co-author of the study, published in July in Psychosomatic Medicine. Long-term emotional upset can increase the body’s levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, which impedes the immune system. A paper in September in the British Journal of Health Psychology indeed found that writing about an emotional topic lowered participants’ cortisol levels.

The writing in Broadbent’s study may have also sped recovery by improving sleep. Participants who slept more in the week before the biopsy healed faster, perhaps because sleep ramps up many bodily processes involved in healing.