1:19 a.m. - 2003-09-17
Wellness
The autumn equinox is on the 23rd, but we woke up to snow this morning. Green leaves, flowers in bloom, and snow. We always have one winter preview, it seems, about this time of year. Snowfall warning in effect until tomorrow - maybe 5" in outlying areas. Makes retailers here very happy. It isn't just because of the necessary seasonal purchases either. In this city, psychologically, it seems snow sends people out in droves to start Christmas shopping. Last year, when there was almost no snow before Christmas, shoppers didn't really turn out until the last week before the holiday. Many might say that is a good thing - less commercialism - but for a lot of retailers it can account for up to 75% of their yearly sales. Live or die time for a lot of businesses. Me? I don't shop until I watch White Christmas at least once.
Other good things about snow? Dead insects. Freezing temperatures for a few days kill most vermin, snakes go south. The air tends to be less polluted and a good cold snap seems to even kill off a lot of viruses/bacteria. I know by this afternoon I was breathing without effort for the first time in over a month - bliss.
It seemed to be a wellness-type day where information flow was concerned too. In my e-newsletters two interesting pieces. One talking about healthy body weight. From Trivia Today @gophercentral " A healthy man who is good physical shape has about 12 to 15 percent body fat. A woman in good shape has between 15 to 18 percent. The models used in most of the advertising for abdominal machines, on the other hand, have less than 10 percent body fat." Hmmmm.
One about an endowment Pince Charles has provided to a US center for the study on complementary medicine from Coffee Break@gophercentral. "The Prince of Wales is donating to an alternative medicine center in the United States to fund research to find ways to reverse the aging process. The 54-year-old prince will fund a research fellowship at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Maryland, part of the National Institutes of Health. The London Guardian reports the clinic's director, Marc Blackman and his wife were invited by Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles to a private dinner at St.James's Palace last November, "to discuss ideas and visions for complementary medicine." "I was very honored to be invited. I was also very impressed with how knowledgeable both the prince and Camilla were about alternative medicine," says Blackman. " It is rarely discussed in North America, but the British Royals' health is often maintained by alternative/complementary medicine. My daughter-in-law was asking about herbals to help with the side effects of chemotherapy - just so happened my e-newsletter from the Chopra foundation Chopra was featuring just such an herb today. Ginger apparently has been found to be extremely effective. Sometimes simplest is best.
In the news today, a major row at a cardiac specialists convention Cardio, over the effectiveness and safety of statins for managing cholesterol buildup. Considering that recent studies are challenging the belief that cholesterol is a factor in heart attacks, why is it being prescribed by some doctors before any evidence in a patients' tests that their cholesterol levels are higher than normal.
Also in the paper a profile of a study by the Silent Spring Institute Rachel_Carson showing high levels of toxins accumulating in Massachusetts homes from everyday household products. Discussion about why there are no warnings required on products containing phthalates and alkylphenols. The compounds are called endocrine disrupters. They have been proven to disrupt both reproductive processes and thyroid function. Lets see - premature births and birth defects, cancer in reproductive organs, oh and obesity, and chronic fatigue syndrome for the thyroid disruptors.
Last up a Canadian study on the most basic and cheapest health maintenance practice there is - washing one's hands after washroom visits. Only city that passed? Toronto. Reason? The SARS epidemic illustrated how an epidemic can be contained by that one simple measure. It's fortunate no one took swabs of the walls or doorhandles of public facilities though - there's a reason people used to wear gloves other than wanting to look like Jackie Kennedy or Grace Kelly.
Continuing on the "cleanliness is next to godliness" train of thought, one of the largest public services - public transit - whether by air, train, or bus has major impacts on public health. Two ways to to look at the challenges were offered recently. I'm not certain whether the first one is true, I haven't been able to find the actual study, but it bears consideration anyway.
"During Autumn of 2000, a team of scientists at the Department of Forensics at University College London removed a row of passenger seats from a Central Line tube carriage for analysis into cleanliness. Despite London Underground's claim that the interior of their trains are cleaned on a regular basis, the scientists made some alarming discoveries: This is what was found on the surface of the seats: * 4 types of hair sample (human, mouse, rat, dog) * 7 types of insect (mostly fleas, mostly alive) * vomit originating from at least 9 separate people * human urine originating from at least 4 separate people * human excrement * rodent excrement * human semen When the seats were taken apart, they found: * the remains of 6 mice * the remains of 2 large rats * 1 previously unheard of fungus It is estimated that by holding one of the armrests, you are transferring to your body the natural oils and sweat from as many as 400 different people. It is estimated that it is generally healthier to smoke five cigarettes a day than to travel for one hour a day on the London Underground. It is far more hygienic to wipe your hand on the inside of a recently flushed toilet bowl before eating, than to wipe your hand on a London Underground seat before eating. It is estimated that within London, more work sick-days are taken because of bugs picked up whilst traveling on the London Underground than for any other reason (including alcohol)."
Fitness experts in Austria want London's commuters to duplicate an exercise program they pioneered on Vienna subways. A decision is expected this week on whether the project will be launched in London, the Web site Ananova reports.
Gert Halbgebauer of Vienna's medical university designed the program that involves exercise placards placed in 450 subway cars. "It's really caught on because you don't need to change into fitness clothes and you don't work up a sweat, so you can do it on the way to work," Halbgebauer says. "The exercises are carefully designed to use muscle groups that very often do not get properly used -- we use the movement of the train instead of weights."
The exercise program uses eight basic movements that include raising and lowering the knees from a sitting position. For commuters who are standing, one of the exercises involves holding on to the internal carriage pole and bending the knees while maintaining a straight back. "The exercises are designed not to annoy other travelers so you don't need to start skipping or hanging from the straps or bars on the ceiling," Halbgebauer says. (Thanks to UPI Science Writer Alex Cukan)
On a more positive note and for a different way of seeing ourselves in relation to eternity, this link is a photo of the centre of our galaxy: SGR_A. If you right click on the picture it can be set as your wallpaper. If it is a little too dramatic, click on the "Discover the Cosmos" link. It provides a list of photos posted daily of space or of images to do with satellites and physics. There is a fabulous photo of London at night taken from a satellite, several eclipses, and various nebulae - the horsehead for example - that are quite beautiful. There is commentary written by scientists who specialize in the discipline being illustrated in the photo. Art and science in one go. I decided I would make center of our galaxy my wallpaper so I could meditate on what is really important in my life from a bigger, more eternal perspective. Psychological healthcare. One can almost hear the heartbeat from it. At least that's what I hear when I look at it. Scientists have reported hearing sounds emanating from a black hole they have been studying and expressed surprise. I don't know why - haven't they heard of the expression "Music of the Spheres"? In the beginning there was the Word - sound - then comes condensation and crystallization - form.
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