Posted in from the consulting room, from the living room, from the reading room, health on April 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Lewis Hyde, in the excellent, “The Gift” writes about the origins of the word “dose”
The French etymologist Benveniste writes: ‘There is a … medical usage in which [the Greek word] dósis denotes the act of giving, whence develops the sense of the amount of medicine given, a “dose” … This sense passed by loan translation into German, where Gift, like Gr.-Lat. dósis, was used as a substitute for venēnum, “poison.”
How fascinating that it began as a gift, and how sad that it turned into poison!
Posted in from the consulting room, health on April 4, 2014| 1 Comment »
We are well aware of how tobacco is major cause of cancer, so when people look at fields of Nicotiana plants they will think they are looking at a plant which is the source of so much disease in the world.
But wait!
Here’s a new study showing that the very same Nicotiana plants produce a protein called NaD1 (snappy name, huh?). The plants produce this as part of their defence against fungi, but it now appears the very same NaD1 can bind with the cell membranes of cancer cells and puncture them, leading to their death.
As one of the reporters who wrote about this said –
I am beginning to feel kindly towards the genus Nicotiana (the tobacco plants), which seems to contain a molecule that bursts cancer cells. It just goes to show you that life is full of surprises
The plant which can cause cancer can also be a cancer cure? Well, well, well………..
Posted in from the dark room, from the living room, health, life, personal growth, photography on March 30, 2014| 1 Comment »
Move, move and be moved.
Move your body. If you wanted to do just one thing to improve your health then I’d suggest you move. Recent research has shown that rather than focus on certain types of exercise, or certain numbers of minutes exercising, what makes the most difference is the amount of time you spend sitting down in a day.
If you’re 60 and older, every additional hour a day you spend sitting is linked to doubling the risk of being disabled — regardless of how much exercise you get, reports a new study.
and
If there are two 65-year-old women, one sedentary for 12 hours a day and another sedentary for 13 hours a day, the second one is 50 percent more likely to be disabled, the study found.
Move from here to somewhere else. Travel, go trips, have a journey. Try something new. Try the 30 minute discovery challenge.
Be moved. Go to the movies. Listen to some music. Read a poem. Spend some time with someone who touches your heart. Stir your positive emotions.
Movement is Life.
Posted in from the consulting room, from the living room, from the viewing room, health, life, psychology on March 29, 2014| 1 Comment »
I was struck by a recent study looking at how much psychosis patients with schizophrenia (SZ) experience on anti-psychotics.
At each follow-up assessment over the 20 years, a surprisingly high percentage of SZ treated with antipsychotics longitudinally had psychotic activity. More than 70% of SZ continuously prescribed antipsychotics experienced psychotic activity at four or more of six follow-up assessments over 20 years. Longitudinally, SZ not prescribed antipsychotics showed significantly less psychotic activity than those prescribed antipsychotics . . . the condition of the majority of SZ prescribed antipsychotics for multiple years would raise questions as to how many of them are truly in remission.
In other words, not only do most patients with schizophrenia who are prescribed anti-psychotics continue to experience psychosis, but those who aren’t prescribed them experienced “significantly less psychotic activity”. What makes this study particularly unusual is that it was conducted over 20 years. This is highly unusual but more real life than the vast majority of studies which are quoted to give a drug “evidence based” status. Maybe it’s just not a good idea to keep somebody on the same drugs for decades?
That got me thinking about a related issue of prescribing drugs to healthy people to try and prevent disease. Think about statins for example. I found a good summary here.
Experts calculate that to save one life, or avoid a non fatal heart attack or stroke, you would need to treat 11 high-risk patients for 10 years.To save a life or avoid cardiovascular morbidity among low-risk patients the number you need to treat increases to 23. But different studies have looked at different types of patients and have yielded different results, so it is difficult to know if this pans out.US researchers estimate that for every 100 people without known heart disease who take statins for five years, 98 would see no benefit, and only one or two would avoid a heart attack that they might not have otherwise
Just read that last phrase again “for every 100 people without known heart disease who take statins for five years, 98 would see no benefit, and only one or two would avoid a heart attack that they might not have otherwise”. Seriously? Is this a great way to a healthier life, if you don’t already have heart disease? Well, for 98 out of 100 people, the answer is “no”. And what about the one or two who might avoid a heart attack? Nobody wants a heart attack, but time and time again, a “non-fatal heart attack” is a turning point for people. They make serious decisions about life style and change direction. They re-assess what is important to them, and if they stop smoking, cut back on their alcohol consumption and/or start exercising for 30 minutes a day, then the health benefits they will experience go way, way beyond the reduction in heart disease risk which a statin would bring.
We just can’t go taking one drug after another to avoid one disease after another, can we?
Doesn’t it make more sense to only take medication for short periods when it is really necessary, and to start to lead fuller, healthier lives right now, no matter what our current state of health?
Posted in from the consulting room, from the dark room, health, life, photography on March 19, 2014| 4 Comments »
Here’s an idea to think about.
What do you feel when you go into a health care facility? I mean by that a clinic, a GP’s Practice premises, a hospital, or anywhere else which comes under the label of “health service”?
Fear?
Anxiety?
Trepidation?
Despair?
Irritation?
Lost and alone?
Confused?
Helpless?
You are probably going to that health care facility to seek better health. Do you think any of those feelings or experiences are conducive to creating better health?
What if when you went to a health care facility you felt –
Safe?
Welcome?
Cared for?
Happy?
Empowered?
Do you think that would be more conducive to health?
I do.
So, why don’t we build the new health services around what creates better health? Why don’t we create places where you feel a little lighter in your heart, a little happier, a little stronger, when you are there? Why don’t we create health care where you feel heard, seen, cared for? Where you feel loved even?
Is that too radically different from what we have?
Is there an argument for continuing to create health services which are associated with fear and helplessness?
Of course, I know a place is both the physical built environment, and the human one created by the people who work there. I’m not just thinking about building design, I’m thinking about the people who work there….are they happy? Are they feeling valued? Are they passionate about caring for you?
I think health care has become way too utilitarian. It’s build around a mechanical/factory model of processes and products. What if we designed it around human beings instead?
What would it look like?
So, here’s my idea for today – describe the kind of health care you’d like to see – in terms of buildings, people, values, behaviours, whatever you think is relevant – and ask yourself how what you describe might contribute towards better health. Or do you think these things should be left to other people to think about? And if so, who do you want to think about it for you?
Posted in from the consulting room, from the living room, health, life on March 13, 2014| 1 Comment »
What’s the connection between health and happiness?
Well, from what I can see from the studies I’ve read there is definitely a correlation – in other words, they often go together. But the exact nature of the connection is complex. For example, it’s pretty much common sense to think that when you’re sick you’re not happy, and when you’re feeling healthy, you are more likely to be feeling happy. But then there are thousands of people with long term ill health who experience happiness frequently, and there are plenty of happy people who get sick!
However, what I find really interesting when thinking about health and happiness, is that the activities and practices which are conducive to good health are also the ones which are most likely to make you happy.
I referred to the graphic below in a previous post about happiness, but let’s take another look.
Think about the characteristics of those who live in the “blue zones“, those areas where a high percentage of people live to a 100 and beyond. Remember the “power 9”?
Well, look at that chart above and see the references to movement – walking, strolling in the park, going for a run; and the ones about “down time” – take a nap, enjoy a cup of tea, meditate. And those about connecting to others – acts of kindness, volunteering, praying and sex!
There’s a lot of evidence about the importance of a Mediterranean diet and good health, and who isn’t happy on vacation on the Med?? And there are the references above to gratitude, smiling, laughing, music and play (and in fact there is a lot of evidence about “positive emotions” like these, and both reduced levels of heart disease, and better recovery from heart attacks and strokes.
So, on a day to day basis, there is plenty you can do to increase your chances of health AND happiness!
Posted in from the consulting room, from the dark room, from the living room, health, life, personal growth, photography, psychology on March 12, 2014| 1 Comment »
Dan Siegel defines the mind as “an embodied process of regulation of energy and information flow”.
Flow is such an attractive and useful concept. If you’d like to read more about it start here.
I like Dan’s definition of the mind because he refuses to turn it into a measurable, objective entity. He describes it as a process – which seems so much more accurate to me. It is a continuous, dynamic, ever changing phenomenon. Not only is it a process however, it’s a process of regulation. He says it regulates energy and information flow.
I think this concept of the mind can be extrapolated to cover the whole organism. Whatever it is that self-regulates, self-defends, self-repairs (in my opinion we can usefully call it “the vital force”) is a process of regulation of energy, information AND materials. Because that’s how all our cells communicate and co-operate – by exchanging energy, information and materials.
So, let’s just consider another of Dan’s concepts. He defines a healthy flow of regulation as having five qualities which he remembers with the acronym FACES.
A healthy organism has flexibility. Rigidity is one of the two main patterns of dis-order and dis-ease. It uses that flexibility to be adaptive. In other words, as the world changes around it, the healthy organism can change with it in an adaptive way, a way of helping the organism to not only survive, but to grow, to thrive. Healthy organisms are also coherent – all their parts and systems are working synergistically, in harmony with each other. In the absence of energy, organisms become, literally, lifeless. Energised is a key characteristic of all living organisms – you might also use the word vitality to describe the degree to which an organism is energised. Finally, there is stability. Not the stability of stasis, but the stability of coherence. You are you. You were you when you were 10 years old, and you are you now. Almost everything about you has changed between then and now but you still have a stable sense of self – you still know you are you and not someone else! Stability comes hand in hand with identity.
Posted in from the consulting room, health on March 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I’m not sure if you can click on this photo and zoom in to see the text on the offers in the windows of this shop, but if not, let me say a little about it.
I was taking part in a superb community event about wellbeing at Finn’s Place in the Southside of Glasgow and as I walked to the station at the end of the day I saw this “Quality Pound Store” – the offers in the window on the right are virtually ALL sugar, fizzy drinks, or sweets (I think only three are not – can you spot them?)
I can’t make out the other window too well but I think it’s very similar.
What do you think?
What’s wrong with this picture as we try to increase the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland?
(WHO and sugar, Action on Sugar and to bring a BIG smile to your face, the wonderful Mark Steel!)
Posted in from the consulting room, from the living room, from the reading room, health, life, personal growth on March 5, 2014| 1 Comment »
How would you define fitness?
Take a moment to think of some answers for yourself then read this (I suspect rather different) definition….
“resilience during change”
or
“an adaptation to an environment whose complexity co-evolves with the complexity of the system”
I DO like these definitions – because it does seem to me that fitness is indeed about the ability to adapt to change. In a paper entitled “Technological integration and hyper-connectivity: tools for promoting extreme human lifespans”, Marios Kyriazis suggests that it is by becoming fit that an organism increases its chances of survival.
This question of fitness reminds me (for the second time today) of Hans Georg Gadamer’s essays on health, The Enigma of Health. In those essays he discusses the idea of fitness from the perspective of how well something fits – or, in this newer language, how well it develops, adapts and changes with environmental change. (I was thinking of Gadamer when preparing for a talk I gave this evening about how to make health…..it strikes me that he hit the nail on the head when he talked about the mysterious invisible, even disappearing, quality of health…..that it is a natural quality of all living organisms. He says that if we have a wound in our hand then we notice our hand…our attention is drawn to it by the pain, the heat, the redness…but when that wound heals and the pain, heat and redness disappear, so we become unaware again of our hand)
How do you think of fitness? Is it something to do with resilience, and of adaptability?
If Kyriazis is right then the way to increase fitness is to increase the number and quality of connections. And THAT also strikes me as spot on.
Posted in from the consulting room, from the living room, from the viewing room, health, life, science, video on February 18, 2014| 1 Comment »
“Blue zones” are communities around the world where the life expectancy and quality of life is higher – in these communities more people live to be 100, and more people are still healthy when they are 80. (In fact, it turns out that most people who live to 100 were healthy when they were 80)
Researchers have found that there are common themes amongst these communities. David Buettner, who published these findings, identifies nine of them, which he calls the “Power 9”
In summary, the first common theme is movement – and not vigorous exercise or actually using a gym membership! They mention “natural movement”….you know, the opposite of sitting all day.
(Oh, of you’ve got a minute, check out this video about how to move more…watch out for the brilliant suggestion about where to part at the supermarket)
Three are about food and drink – the 80% rule, which is about stopping eating before you are full ie when your stomach is 80% full; the “plant slant”, which is the same as Pollan’s “mainly plants”
(see Michael Pollan’s Food Rules)
….and drinking a glass or two of wine a day!
Then there is one about “time out” or “down time” – taking a pause in the day to relax or nap.
Two left……one is having a sense of purpose. Do you know that having a sense of purpose can be worth an extra seven years of life!? By sense of purpose they mean everything from having a reason to get up today, to still having important things to fulfil in your life.
And, finally….and last, but not least, I’d say….THREE that are about our relationships with others –
“Loved ones first” – having children, parents, partners, siblings who you really care for.
“Belong” – almost ALL the centenarians interviewed belonged to a faith-based group
“Right tribes” – this is an interesting one….it’s about being part of social circles where the others are also healthy and long living. I think that’s fascinating, because I remember reading that if your friend’s friend becomes obese, then you are more likely to become obese. So, there is a common phenomenon of social networks where people influence each other through apparently indirect ways – goes both ways apparently – healthy or unhealthy – I wonder what tips the scales from the one to the other given that most networks will have both…..careful who you hang around with!
Heroes Not Zombies 