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Health Kicks
Putting the spin on 'What's Up Doc' in the world of health and medicine.
TO SLEEP - PERCHANCE TO DREAM
Getting a good nights sleep is like trying to win the lottery. Your chances of a complete period of uninterupted sleep that is six hours or more in length decreases as you grow older. About the age of 50 you start noticing your sleep patterns are changing. By the time you retire from working, the only regular sleep pattern you can count on is constantly waking up in the night, mostly to go and have a pee! Over 75% of those in the age group 60 to 80 will never have a complete nights sleep again, unless they change their sleep method. So what do you do? You know the lack of proper sleep drains you of your dwindling strength and makes you lethargic and often irritable. What most of us do is take sleeping pills. The over-the-counter type help but you become reliant on them and you awake quite often drowsy and slow paced. And, you still have to get up to pee, sometimes 3 to 4 times a night. If you get your doctor to prescribe more powerful sleeping pills you might get a longer sleep, but you'll not get a better one. Living on pills and obeying silly rules like 'don't drink anything after 6 pm' is not the answer. The simple and honest answer in getting a good nights sleep starts with a good bed. Not all fluffy and cushiony but slightly on the firm side. With a good bed comes good pillows. Have pillows that keep your head level to your body (as when in the upright walking position) and in some cases you might even prefer your head tilted a touch upwards. Never sleep on pillows where your head lays downward. This may sound obvious but do not go to bed until you are tired. Forget the clock. If it's 11 pm and you're not tired - stay up. But, if it's 9 pm and you're tired try to stay up until at least 10 pm. Early to bed doesn't help your sleep needs - it can make you into a 4 am to 5 am riser every day. Get up around 7 am or later - not much earlier. And the final thing to do is indeed the most important - RELAX. When you get into bed relax. Start by letting your jaw relax. Drop it. Feel it stop holding your face up! Now your arms. Take the tension out of them. Make them feel like the arms of a rag doll. Now your legs. Lay them comfortably apart - and let go! RELAXATION - is the key to getting to sleep and, getting back to sleep after a pee. The relaxation method of getting off to sleep takes a few times to get into it, so be patient. Don't give up. Keep trying, and soon you will experience a much better nights sleep. And, you do not have a 'sleep disorder' (unless you're in your 20's or 30's) so don't waste the doctors time!
A LOAD OF HOT AIR.
Since central heating was first introduced to north America, forced hot-air was thought to be the only way to go. But not anymore. With asthma and similar respiratory complaints increasing at an alarming rate over the last 15 years the use of forced hot-air is now considered extremely bad for your lungs, and overall health. If you are a person living in Canada's vast prairie regions you'll get very little fresh air during the long winters. The air you'll breathe most is the oxygen-diluted forced hot-air from your heating system, which the 'Canadian Heating Research Council' now confirm is very unhealthy for your breathing, and, bad for your skin. What they reveal is that air, heated, and blown around a room, quickly turns cold as it passes through the cold air sections in your house, eating up all the oxygen. It absords that oxygen and leaves a dry, almost airless atmosphere. Results are dry coughs, sore throats, headaches, and breathing problems. It also increases skin problems like psoriasis and early skin aging.
The answer? According to this new research is the plug-in oil-filled radiator. It is the most healthy and quite often the cheapest form of heating to use. Oil and natural gas-fired forced air heating systems are very expensive to run and even more so now and in the past, and very expensive to maintain, and of course - very unhealthy. Electric based radiant heat, or hot water radiator heat, or the new non-flammable oil-filled plug-in movable radiator heater is now the only way to go. It's all very much cheaper, very much cleaner, and most important of all, it is much better for your health and complexion.
STRETCH EXERCISE.
Had it with all those heart-pumping, knee-jerking, up and down exercises? Well the latest way to keep fit and stay younger, and stay more virile is to do the new craze, 'Stretch Exercise'. You do it in your own home. There's no video to watch, and no fume-filled street to jog up and down. It's the easiest form of exercise to perform, akin somewhat to yoga but without all the neo-spiritual moves. Doctors in Australia, Denmark, and Britain, now advise their middle-aged to older patients to simply spend a little time each day - s t r e t c h i n g! It 'unlocks' muscle tightening and stressed joints, activates nerve endings and keeps blood vessels supple, and it makes you feel damn good! So stretch, groan, bend, and feel a whole lot better. No showing-off now, so stay off the streets and forget the lycra and spandex! A simple set of three minute exercises can be forwarded to you FREE two page attachment (Wordpad) by e mail. E-mail us at: Britmail@aol.com with subject 'Stretch Exercise'
MILK - OVER-RATED and OVER-STATED
First of all, do you really know anything about milk? I mean - know what it contains? Thought you didn't. Talking with a newly graduated dietician, all of 27 years old, and boasting a Master of Arts in same, (a Canadian university) I asked her about milk. What is it, and what is it made up of. Simple question, right? Seems it took her by surprise. Just like 98% of the milk drinking population, and like you she also didn't know what 1% really meant, 2% really meant, and what 5% really meant. She'd never seen 5% on any milk carton. It's on Half & Half by the way. Before you get all upperty - do you know what those percentages REALLY mean?
I meet many people who think 2% milk means 98% of the fat has been removed. Yes! Chances are you don't know what 2% means, but my goodness you swear by using 2% milk, saying it keeps you healthy and stops you getting fat, and you also think 5% is a real killer. Ready for the facts? Here goes. Milk is 95% non-fat water and 5% fat. Pure, whole milk, that is. When you use homogenized milk you're getting 3.5% fat, virtually no difference between 2% skim and homo. Light cream, or 'Creamo', or 'Half & Half' is whole milk, with most (but not all) of the cream still in it. Now, can you tell me in all honesty that Half & Half is a much worse milk to use for coffee, tea, or cereal, than say 2%? Of course not. Look at the figures, there's hardly a worthwhile difference. On the other hand, if you are a true DRINKER of milk - DRINKER, not user - and guzzle down AT LEAST a litre or more EVERY day then homogenized is better for you, (NOT 1% or 2% - which is pointless - it's almost like drinking water) especially if you're a young child, a teenager, a person over 60, or ill, or sick, or just plain lethargic. You need milk if you're on that list I just mentioned.
But you need REAL milk. Not watered down skim milk which is totally pointless in drinking. Milk is good for you, taken in the right amounts and for the right CHOICES. Okay, you don't believe this, (check it out elsewhere) but please, don't waste your time thinking that 1% or 2% milk in your tea or coffee is saving your life - it's actually helping it come to a sleepy, dreary, pasty-faced end. You need nourishment, not silly old wives tale - punishment.
TAKE HEED TO THESE THREE KILLERS - AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM NOW.
Sugar is fast becoming the biggest health problem among todays affluent societies, even ahead of fat. Sugar makes for butts bigger, guts glubbier, and the face flobbier. Why? Because sugar is GLU - cose. Yes Glue-cose. Or glucose. By jove she's got it. Sugar is what glues up your system more so than fat. Sugar has to be worn off, burnt off, used up, otherwise it stores-up in your system longer than fat does. Fat can be flushed out to a great degree - sugar can't. Sugar has to be exercised off. It's a form of ultra energy that we humanoids have come to misuse like we misuse just about everything. And when we say sugar we mean that stuff that comes in white or brown granules, or in a powder form. Not the natural sugar found in fruit, but the gluey stuff in cookies, cakes, chocolate, candies, jams (some being 80% sugar!) and hundreds of other popular sweetened products. Want to lose weight, feel better, look better, live longer? Of course you do, then get off the man-made sugar entirely. Don't know how to do that? Simple. Get the Two Pages To A Better Me sheet that we will send you FREE when you ask for it by email: Britmail@aol.com
Butter is where the word Butt came from, because too much butter gives you a big butt. When people are following you around the mall do you look like the butt end of an elephant walking around in circles as they do in a three ring circus? Or do you look perhaps like a hippopotamus just emerging from a mud filled pond in wildest Africa? If you resemble either of these - you're FAT. Butt fat. What has happened is, you have too much butter in your butt. You've been butt-walloped. It's ugly. Very ugly. The time has come said the elephant to the hippo to get your butt out of the butter. You have to change, if not, one day you might die - and melt like a big patty of butter. Don't know how to do that? Simple. Get the Two Pages To A Better Me sheet that we will send you FREE when you ask for it by email: Britmail@aol.com
EXERCISE is not fun, unless you're slim, in lycra, with a water bottle, and like to show off by jogging along the main street sucking in those vehicle fumes, and continually checking your watch. That's snazzy - checking your watch all the time. Looks professional. The bit about jogging along the main street is sheer stupidity. Anyway, exercise is essential and you're going to have to put down the sugar, get off your butt - and do some. We have a solution that is not too hard to do, at any age, and requires no lycra, no watches, and not even a bottle of warm water full of spit. It just requires you to walk. Yes, walk. Not far. Not quickly - but if you want to swing your arms in that exaggerated way, well okay, if it makes you feel snazzy, but you'll still have to walk, every day, a little way, non-stop. I know, your face just lost its glow. All that exercise. But it's a must. Don't know how to exercise? Simple. Get the Two Pages To A Better Me sheet we will send you FREE when you ask for it by email: Britmail@aol.com
And if you quietly go about doing the simple three things we SHOW you how to do, and you don't lose weight, feel better, and live longer, we'll pay for a diet book and send it to you - promise. Which, if you can't do our two pager you are not going to do a 256 pager either!
BOTTLED WATER IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH.
A bottle of 'Evian' water costs anything from $3 to $8, depending where you buy it. 'Evian' is also 'naive' spelt backwards - which explains everything! But being naive aside, bottled water is proving to be an unhealthy way to drink your required intake. To start with a bottle is constantly being put upto your mouth, where germs gather constantly. These germs are deposited into the bottle in the form of 'spit'. The water becomes warm, and the germs multiply. The water that enters your body dilutes important elements, such as sodium, and in time you become listless and tired. Dysentry is another offshoot of drinking too much bottled water. Yes - it starts out pure (well nearly) but you then mess it up with your mouth spit and transport whatever else you're eating into the remaining bottle contents. Researchers know that the bottled water 'image' is just that, a personality thing like miniature backpacks and joggers outfits. In itself it might be refreshing - the first sip - but after that it is spit-filled warm water full of germs. And only drink WHEN YOU"RE THIRSTY. That's your body telling you you need water. If you're NOT THIRSTY you don't need upto 8 silly glasses a day. Check with your doctor.
YOU'RE NOT SICK - YOU JUST THINK YOU ARE.
Ask any doctor and he or she will tell you that over half the patients who come to their offices are not sick - they just think they are. We're talking about the white'ish, educated, western world type peoples. Not 'third world' of course where over half the people there are, really sick. Back to us, the "Oh dear doctor I have this pain in my leg, in my arm, in my butt", or worse still "I have this cough, I have headaches, I feel tired all the time, and I can't sleep all night long." Pity. Most of the aches and pains we feel can most often be treated with three golden rules:
1) Get off your butt and walk somewhere. (show off and swing your arms if you must)
2) Stop eating so many sweet things, and fatty things. Sugar & fat make you slow and flumpy.
3) Stop 'thinking' you're sick when all you are suffering from is being out of shape, out of condition, and out of excuses.
An independent report compiled by a group of researchers in the U.K. (Health Initiatives UK) found that the average visit to the doctor's office is a waste of their time, and your time. Even when doctors prescribe medicines these medicines are not properly taken, with over half being eventually thrown away. What's wrong with us they ask. Maybe we're 'copping out' of something. Like looking after ourselves properly when we'd rather live in an armchair, in front of the telly, stuffing our faces with crisps, cakes & buns, and swigging highly sweetened drinks. Now you know!
ALLERGIES - TIME TO GET REAL.
They have long been a craze, a fad, and an excuse for every little sniffle, sneeze, and cough, but at last allergies have been debunked and defrocked! Canadians claim more allergies per person than any other nation in the world. In Canada every person has an entitlement to 10 allergies! It's obligatory! Every new immigrant gets these with their immigrant status re-entry card! Research by three independent medical associations (New Zealand, US and Britain) reveal that most allergies are a lot of self-concious nonsense. Today it seems (and you know this yourself from experience) that any reaction to anything at all brings forth the statement "I'm allergic to...." whatever it is that 'bothers' that someone. Sneeze - and it's an excuse to say you're 'allergic' to something you simply don't like. You don't like sitting in the sun - so you say you're 'allergic' to it. A mossie bites you and up comes a swelling - but you say you're 'allergic' to them. You got drunk on wine - so now you're allergic to all booze! Give me a break! MSG was a really good one; remember the smug way you asked for your fatty, greasy, oily, Chinese food to be 'msg free', until that is, you found out it's in everything from cold cuts, to pizza, to hot dogs, ALL fast foods, cheese slices etc.etc.etc., so that quickly faded! You don't like 'second hand smoke' - who does? But to fence up your inability to be forthright and honest about your dislikes, you say 'I'm allergic to it'. Forget blaming allergies on all your weak-kneed reactions to life, and just say - I DON'T LIKE IT. Say it again - I DON'T LIKE IT. There. Wow! That's honesty for you! An excellent and honest report from the researchers. Sneeze!! 'Scuse me - I'm allergic to that kind of truthfulness!
THE TEN STANDARD CANADIAN ALLERGIES - AND HOW TO BEAT THEM
MSG Don't eat pizza, cheese slices, cold cuts, cookies, crackers, fast food.
DUST Stop using forced air heat - use plug-in radiant oil filled radiators.
ALCOHOL Drink 'diet' (lite) beer and stop drinking wine & liquor.
SPICY FOOD Don't eat chilli, black pepper, curry, sauces (ketchup etc)
MILK Drink only watered down 1% milk or 50/50 with water - or none at all.
NUTS Don't eat any chocolate, or any cookies or any cakes. It's safer.
THE SUN Live your life in the shade. Close drapes. Wear shades. Use sunscreen.
SALT Don't eat chips, cold cuts, pastries, cakes, cookies, crackers, or pizza.
COFFEE Drink mild, weak, sweet, tepid, Orange Pekoe tea. Not black tea.
PET FUR/HAIR Don't keep pets. Avoid pets when out. Do NOT wear leather.
THE NEW TEN 'DESIGNER' CANADIAN ALLERGIES - GET ONE BEFORE YOUR FRIENDS DO
MONEY Money carries germs & allergies. Don't handle any. Use plastic.
WATER In suck-top bottles creates acid reflux & germs. Drink from a glass.
INDOOR AIR More potent than 2nd hand smoke. Open windows often.
TRANS-FAT ALL store-bought cookies & pizza pops, and all long-life foods.
CARBS ALL normal foods like potatoes, pasta, bread, cookies etc.
O.J. Orange juice contains an enzyme that causes stomach problems.
BOOKS Old books harbor germs from the previous reader/s. Avoid.
MICROWAVES Causes food to lose all its goodness. It kills from the inside.
POLYESTER Can cause serious skin disorders. Causes unhealthy sweats.
SYDROME X Caused by the subconcious intake of TV commercials. Mute out.
CEREALS ALL breakfast cereals contain salt, fats, & sugars. Avoid.
.VITAMINS CAN BE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH.
The British Food Standards Agency have issued a report on Vitamins that was produced by a group called the 'Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals'. This group was made up of medical authorities in Britain, aided by expert researchers in the U.S. and Australia. Their findings are quite stunning. In a nutshell the most popular selling vitamins like C, those with iron and zinc, including beta-carotene, cause diarrhoea and digestive problems and can lead to respiratory problems. Vitamins B3 and B6 have been known for years to give the user feelings of tiredness in arms and legs. They advise 'minimal' use of any vitamin, saying foods in the A, B, and C groups, as part of a normal diet, do all you need for a healthy body. Vitamins in food:
A group: milk, eggs, butter, cheese, meat (lamb & pork best), fish, cabbage, peas, green beans, tomatoes, wholemeal bread and biscuits (latter for the sugar content).
B group: Eggs, wholemeal bread, yeast extract (Marmite is an excellent source of Vitamin B) wines, vinegar, beans, lentils, nuts, potatoes, and fruits like bananas, cocunut (oil & milk), and mangoes.
C group: Orange juice, lemon juice, (not lime juice) tomatoes, green veggies, potatoes, artichokes, green bell peppers, onions, and dried peas, beans, and lentils.
JOCK ITCH - THE MALE YEAST INFECTION - HOW TO GET RID OF IT.
Only in the last twenty years has that awful itch and infection in the female vagina been recognized publically. Well now let's talk about the male version, affectionately called 'Jock Itch'. It's the same thing but with men it is an irritation and inflamation that settles uncomfortably in the groin and near the rectum. It's the same thing as the ladies version. A fungus. It has a yeasty smell with often a cheesy discharge. It is hard to control let alone get rid of.
METHOD ONE. Start by taking an Epsom salts (half cup) and white vinegar (cup full) bath. Or, if you have no bath half fill your bathroom sink with warm water and a half cup of white vinegar and tablespoon of Epsoms. Then gently dab the infected area. Do not wipe it dry. Do this mornings and most importantly, last thing at night. Then make sure your underpants are boiled - not wishy-washed in scented soap powder, but boiled in bleach. The fungus is hard to get rid off. Then wear clothes that are not tight fitting for about a month. Washing the area with fancy soaps is like feeding it.
METHOD TWO. Thoroughly clean a small (12/14 oz) plastic soft drink bottle and mix half cup of white vinegar and one tablespoonful of Epsoms, top up with water, and keep the mixture in the bottle. When the rash flairs up, (it will return now & then) even if it is just a small itch, get a facecloth, wet it with the mix and dab it on the infected area. Do not wipe it off. It will dry quickly. Remember, Jock Itch is a fungus. Creams do not help in getting rid of it.
Never use talcum or similar powders or anything with vaseline in it. It needs air. Apply the very thinnest application of hydrocortesone in very sore areas, but discontinue the cream as soon as the severe red skin rash disappears.
FEEDBACK: It seems the remedies stated above have helped hundreds of men finally get rid of that rash. The following e mail is typical of many we have received: "I started my 'personal rash problem' (as I've always called it) when I was in the army 33 years ago. Since then it has always been around, never really going away, until that is I used the 'vineger & Epsoms' dab and clean method. It's been over four months now and at last I no longer have that uncomfortable itch or soreness'. Colin WakeHall, Sandsport, Australia.
SECOND HAND SMOKE.
The very first in-depth study on second hand smoke has been published by researchers at Oxford University and the Centre for National Research in London. Tests were done on 24 rats in a confined area. In the first test, second hand smoke was continually fed into the room over a 24-hour period. None of the rats died or showed any signs of a lasting respiratory complaint. In the second test another 24 rats were subjected to exhaust fumes from a car that was pumped into the room in small amounts at 15-minute intervals. After 47 minutes, the 24 rats were dead. Carbon monoxide is 180 times more deadlier than second hand smoke, the latter dissipating very rapidly whereas carbon monoxide remains in the air indefinitely, as can be seen as it hangs in yellow layers over our cities every year. Driving along any busy thoroughfare with your car window open exposes you to more problems than second hand smoke ever will, and cyclists riding along roads used by vehicles will develop more lung problems than the average smoker. Not ALL smokers die of cancer (18% tops, which includes 'related' issues) being only ONE in TEN die of RELATED smoking deseases (2005 update figure) and by no means do 'second hand smokers' die of cancer. (no figures worth mentioning)
SEE: The Telegraph, Celia Hall, Medical Editor. Article of May 16th 2003 Updated June 2005
ASPIRIN - IS STILL THE WONDER DRUG.
AspIrin research continues to turn up some very pleasant surprises. From two major British sources, the Scottish Research Centre and the Ragland Pharmaceutical Bureau, it is reported that studies over the last 24 and 25 years respectively have detemined that aspirin, in regular night-time doses (325 mg to 500mg depending on your weight & age) helps considerably in repairing inner body damage (muscle & arteries as well as some nerve tissue) as well as virtually eliminating haemorrhoids and other bowel problems. The biggest finding is in its effectiveness against all forms of heart desease. It helps the heart to maintain good stable condition as well as clean the blood, thus warding off strokes. One new and encouraging finding is that it slows down the ageing process if taken each night from your 50’s on. Coated aspirin, or warm drinks (tea or milk) with your aspirin before bed help to ward off that uncomfortable side effect, stomach pain, or take one after a late evening meal. It works best overnight. They're not only painkillers they're healers.
CHECK EVERYTHING WITH YOUR DOCTOR - WE DID AND IT'S ALL VERY TRUE!
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