People Need People

A couple of days ago I went to a talk by Physicians for Social Responsibility. The talk was specifically about how human health will be affected by climate change, but one thing they mentioned was very interesting in general: having good social networks is better for your health than not smoking.

Social scientists had examined death rates during one of Chicago's major heat waves, and found that people in poor, black neighborhoods had the worst mortality rates. Except that, in three of the poorest and blackest neighborhoods, mortality rates were quite low. Researchers found that these neighborhoods also had a very strong social fabric, where neighbors knew each other and had lived near each other for a long time.

While part of the benefit of this is that people can come and check on each other when someone is sick or there is a large-scale environmental danger, people with a lot of friends just seem to be healthier in general. According to a Brigham Young study, having a low level of social interactions can be worse for you than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, being obese, or not exercising; and it's equally as bad as being an alcoholic! This is pretty impressive stuff.

There's always the option of dwelling as a hermit in a solitary mountain cave, and some people seem to do really well like that. Inner peace can really trump a lot of external variables.  But if you're living with other people, maybe being friends with a good number of them is a good way to go.

Swampgrass Tea

"Swampgrass Tea" is my name for my homemade multi-mineral herbal drink. I got the recipe from PrairieWise Herbal School down in Missouri, and have been drinking it off and on for years. Basically, I throw a handful of dried oatstraw and nettles into a canning jar, pour a few cups of boiling water over it, and cover for a few hours. The heat and time will break down cell walls and free the minerals inside. After a few hours, or overnight, strain the liquid out - if you don't do this step, it will turn REALLY NASTY and be fit only for compost.

So then, you can sip it through the day, slowly absorbing planty goodness. Oatstraw and nettles are both really high in calcium, magnesium, and other minerals, and have other benefits like reducing stress. (These herbs are both considered "tonics," which are used for long periods of time to strengthen the body.) I found the taste of nettles to be a little too swampy, but the oatstraw seems to balance the flavor with some earthiness. And it seems to keep a couple of days when refrigerated, or at least a day at room temperature. If you drink some in the evening, it may increase mineral absorption rates, but you might find yourself getting up at some point, as oatstraw has a mild diuretic (urine-promoting) effect.

So why do all this instead of just taking a multi-mineral? Well, I just like herbs, for one thing, and I feel like I'm getting more benefits than just from a single pill. I also feel a sense of connection to where my nutrition comes from, and I take a moment to thank the plants for their life-sustaining gifts. Plus, it's just more DIY, duh.

Get Thee to a Nursery

So, gardening season, at last. A lot of us are hearing the call of the cultivated wild right now, and the herb seedlings have just shown up at the Willy Street Co-op this week. As an ex-farmhand, my instincts are that gardening is good for body and soul, so I was curious about what scientific research there might be on the health benefits of gardening.

I found this nice little article which talks about how gardeners "have an increased zest for life, sleep better, have a lowered risk for osteoporosis and diabetes and... have better sex lives." It also talks about how to avoid the pitfalls of joint pain by regularly changing tasks and postures. A little coaching on this from a qualified professional could go a long way.

I always like "functional fitness," and this is nothing if not functional. Research has indicated that it's better for you to do a goal-oriented physical task than to just exercise for its own sake, when possible. If your goal is growing fresh produce and herbs, so much the better. Gardening provides a variety of strengthening exercises, mild cardio workouts, and a healthy dose of sunlight (yes, obviously you want to wear sunblock or wear the right clothing if you're going to burn).

Beyond the cardio and muscle strengthening, I think that the connection which gardening gives us to the Earth and growing plants has to be a major part of this. Again, I have some mainstream backers like Web M.D. on this one, who talk about how being in contact with nature is inherently healing - another aspect of mind-body health.

Happy greening!

Have a Beer?

I'm always excited about any wellness advice that goes against the Puritanical approach. Lately we've been seeing some interesting research coming out about the advantages of drinking beer after a workout. As one who gets cravings for a Hopalicious pale ale after hot summer exercise, I'm all in favor of this trend.

Here are some findings:

1) Spanish researchers found that drinking a pint after exercise hydrated athletes better than water. We know that beer promotes urination, but apparently not enough to cancel out this effect in the short term. Beer has a high electrolyte content, and a small amount of protein in addition to the carbs. This all helps restore blood glucose levels rise quickly, easing the recovery process. Also, we've seen so much about fermented foods having more bioavailable nutrients, nutrients which have been pre-digested by bacteria and yeast, and are easier for us to absorb. Here's a more in-depth and enjoyable analysis of the study.

2) In another study, unsurprisingly run by a German university, nonalcoholic beer aided marathon recovery, reducing inflammation and fending off respiratory infections following intense training. This article is a little misleading: in the beginning, it says that only nonalcoholic beer was effective, but later reports that alcoholic beer wasn't tested.  So we don't really know. Still, if it were alcoholic, you couldn't very well drink the sheer amount of beer used in the study, unless you're one of the late-night bicycle enthusiasts who populate Madison. Apparently some of the benefits of beer relate to it's polyphenol content, which is even higher in regular beer, but may be working against the alcohol in that case.

Most of the articles on the subject trip over themselves to emphasize that non-alcoholic beer was being tested in the second case, and I'm sure no one wants to get sued or induce alcoholism by recommending beer as a sports drink. I also suspect also that our cultural background makes it verboten to advocate for things which are so hedonistic.

On the other hand, might the muscle relaxing effects of alcoholic beer also contribute to muscle recovery? I know from tai chi practice how much it helps to stay relaxed when doing difficult movements, and massage can help with muscle soreness following overtraining. So it seems reasonable. When I volunteered at the Madison Marathon a couple of years ago, in the massage tent at the finish line, we were told by the medical staff that we should suggest a (regular) beer for recovery.

So as of now, I'm drinking a beer after training, especially as the hot weather approaches. Cheers!

Have a Buddha Belly

Do not fear the belly. Love the belly. Let your body breathe into it, let it expand and contract on the ever changing waves of breath, without forcing anything. Don't get too hung up on always taking "deep" breaths, but allow the air to flow all the way out before the next wave comes in. Maybe there is a little or long pause between the outbreath and inbreath, maybe not. Maybe you can feel the sides and back of your body, or the floor of your pelvis, moving a little with your breath.

The way that our bodies work, this actually gives our abdominal muscles a little workout. They naturally relax before an inbreath if they are allowed to, and then they contract to help you exhale. It doesn't make you fat, or unhealthy; these thoughts are just useless societal debris. On the other hand, it helps relax the whole body, and makes breathing more efficient.

Your chest (and neck) muscles are your backup system for breathing. They are best used when you need to move a lot of air, but they are inefficient and contribute to stress if used for long periods. Letting your belly move allows the powerful and efficient diaphram to sink down into your core, dragging your lungs open (and giving your chest organs a little massage). As you breathe out, your diaphragm passively rises, like a rubber band returning to an unstretched position.

There are many good reasons that arts like yoga, karate, Zen meditation, and tai chi emphasize abdominal breath. And there are many variations of breath practices, which you can go into with the help of a teacher or a good book. The simple practice of allowing breath to occur easily and naturally is something you can do anywhere to bring your body into a relaxed, alert state, benefiting your digestion, circulatory and nervous systems, and overall health. Enjoy!

Get Your Soma On

A recent study demonstrated that people who had back pain and used mirrors to watch their own backs while they were moving were able to decrease their pain significantly. This isn't surprising to me, since many healing arts have long depended on using awareness for decreased pain and increased function. These arts are referred to as "somatic" disciplines, meaning that they increase awareness of the body, or "soma."

Any fitness program should incorporate some kind of somatic art or treatment, in my opinion. There are many to choose from: yoga, tai chi, Rolf Movement, Feldenkrais Movement Education, dance therapy, Alexander Technique, etc. All of them develop awareness in different ways, allowing you to move more effectively with less pain, sometimes drastically so.

The important thing with these arts is that you find a good teacher who will guide you toward increased awareness, not just encourage you to push yourself harder to accomplish athletic feats. Many people go to classes where they are pushed too hard, and end up developing poor movement patterns, or worse, getting hurt. If you are with the right kind of teacher, you will notice that your body awareness improves, allowing you to do more without straining. Otherwise, you might as well just go to the gym.

Sometimes it's best to work one-on-one with a teacher. Feldenkrais lessons, in my experience, are incredible when done this way. You can take what you learn from an occasional lesson or series of lessons, and apply it on your own once you've gotten the hang of it. Other times, as in tai chi, practicing in a group can add to the overall gain in awareness.

Whatever you try, somatic disciplines can help you with the rest of your athletic and fitness routine by making you aware of what you're doing when you're out running, at the disco, or throwing the discus around. They also help you with daily activities, and keep the pain of modern living (i.e., sitting at a desk or on a couch all the time) at bay.

Also, stick with your study for a while, once you find a good one. Awareness takes patience and time. Don't be one of these people who bounces into each new exercise fad without developing any real skill. That may work for some things, but not for somatics. Ok, enough preaching. Once you develop awareness, it becomes maybe your most potent DIY tool!

Anti-Postural Tip: A Soft Heart for a Healthy Spine and Mind

People complain quite a bit about shoulder and back tension, so this tip is a way to begin addressing these issues from a mind-body approach. We hold a great deal of tension in our chest and shoulders. One way to help relax this tension is to imagine your heart area softening, allowing your chest to open and release. Often this causes the chest to sink a little bit, which is ok. This softening means that the ribs, and the muscles that connect the ribs to the shoulders, are able to relax, which also takes pressure off of the upper spine and neck. As an added bonus, breathing becomes more natural, more centered in the diaphragm (your big abdominal breathing muscle), and less centered in the upper chest.

Avoid using any force to push your chest down, however. Just allow it to deflate as much as it will on its own. We want the ribs to stay soft and mobile, not held in position. Whether the chest is lifted and locked, or locked down, we generally lose good function.

When the breath begins to drop down in the body as a result of reduced tension in the chest, it will continue your relaxation further, promoting states of calm awareness and improved digestion and metabolism. Again, this is not based on force, but an absence of tension. When your body is truly at rest, the diaphragm will take over the task of breathing. When you are doing aerobics, it becomes important for the chest and neck breathing muscles to engage. These guys are your backup system, and they work best for short-term, intense need.

I find that softening my heart causes my eyes to also soften somewhat, reducing the strain I am putting on them. It can make me more emotionally available and receptive to others, just as having a "hard heart" in metaphorical terms means being cold and unavailable to others' needs. As with any mind-body approach, the effects can be global, extending into emotional realms quite easily.

What effects do you notice when trying this? Does it change the way your body weight sinks into the ground? How about the way your upper spine and shoulders feel? Play with this a little, and see what you can learn.

Enjoy!