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!

Anti-Postural Tip: Soft Feet

So, we have established that posture is dumb. What now? In future blog posts, we'll go into some mind-body explorations which help us gain an innate sense of poise, ease, and stability in our bodies to replace dull, unhelpful rules imposed externally.

Let's start with the feet. In standing, your feet are your roots. In sitting, this can be partly true as well, assuming your chair is at the right level. The feet and ankles feed a large amount of information to your brain about the balance of your weight on the ground, so if your feet are alive and awake, your brain gets a bunch of accurate information and is able to control postural muscles more effectively. If there is tension and a lack of awareness, this information is distorted or reduced. 

One simple way to explore this is by first standing normally, taking a moment to become aware of your whole body. Then bring your attention to your feet, imagining them to be very soft on the ground (they can be sinking into wet mud, or they can be made of soft foam, or whatever image helps you to imagine best). Let your feet yield your weight into the ground. Don't "do" anything extra except imagine this softening in the soles. Notice if anything shifts in your body. Is there a change of balance? A change in muscle tone? 

Next, imagine the soles turning very hard, like a brittle shell or unyielding iron. Imagine it drawing away from the ground, turning a cold shoulder. What does this do? Take a moment to scan your body, and then go soft again to watch the changes.

If you want, you can try having one foot be soft and the other hard- this was very interesting when I tried it, and I felt like one foot was down in the ground, and the other lifted up. I also noticed my shoulders changing tension levels along with my feet. You may notice something different. 

You can do this any time, and it wakes up the muscles of your toes as well, so they can stabilize and propel you more effectively. Most importantly, the effect can go through your whole body, and relax your mind at the same time. It is pretty unreal how much power your feet can have when you learn to connect to them. 

Enjoy!

Posture is Dumb

And boring. Let's forget about posture, and replace it with embodied awareness- using your senses and mind-body connection to create a dynamic equilibrium for your body. This is not only easier, but generally more effective, albeit somewhat challenging to our needs for control and tension (yes, tension is a psychological need for most of us). And hopefully, jettisoning some of the "I should have better posture" thoughts will help us be more gentle with ourselves, and more in touch with what is really healthy. Because there really seem to be many benefits from a relaxed, supported, balanced body, ranging from respiration and digestion, to psychological states, to how others perceive us.

But let's talk about why posture, or more specifically, the rigid postural code which we have culturally accepted, is not the most intelligent thing we could be adhering to:

1) Holding a rigid position based on a concept of what we should be doing causes tension and stiffness, and creates an inability to respond to the demands of the moment. Just try pushing your shoulders back and sitting up "straight," while feeling what happens to the muscles along your spine.  Try the same thing with your neck, and feel the tension enter in. Could you move very well with this holding pattern in place? Why should we do it when sitting or standing?

2) Usually, sitting or standing up "straight" actually causes us to lean backwards a bit. This is because we tend to have our necks and upper bodies locked pretty far forward, while parts of our lower body are locked backward for counterbalance. Because much of our awareness is in our upper body, we end up feeling like we are upright when we're actually compensating for this complicated positioning. So we're stiff, and off-balance.

3) Holding an ideal posture, whether standing or sitting, can numb us to the messages from our body. If we are listening, we can respond in the moment to what our body's needs are in terms of core stability and balance. Since life is ever-changing, these needs are ever-changing.

4) The part of our mind that uses concepts, such as "I should push my shoulders back," or "I shouldn't slouch," is not the part of the mind that is best suited for mind-body connecting. If we use our pre-verbal, instinctive brain, we can actually engage our body more effectively. This is done through methods such as visualization. You may have heard of the concept of having a rope attached to the top of your head, pulling it toward the sky; this is one way of using the mind-body connection. Many athletes, of course, use visualization to become more effective - and it has been shown in at least one study that such techniques are better than "positive thinking," the domain of the verbal brain (I wish I could find the link for this study!).

5) It's impossible to hold "good posture" anyway. As soon as your attention is distracted, you will lose your posture. If you can tune into your body more directly, then it is possible to be more supported and balanced even when you are focused on another task.

But good posture isn't all bad. Sometimes it can be useful, when combined with awareness. An intelligent approach is one which knows when to apply concepts of posture, and when to let the body do its thing. We'll get more into that in the next posts...

The Kombucha Moonshiner

Kombucha is a magical gift from the fermentation goddess. I never envisioned myself enjoying regular doses of a carbonated, vinegar-esque beverage, but things change. Now I'm about to start brewing my own, fermenting green/oolong/black tea in a glass jar, probably throwing roots and herbs into it with glee, if not abandon.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, kombucha is a beverage from China, possibly with ancient origins, which has been revolutionizing the shelves of natural food stores for at least a decade now. As I mentioned, it's made from tea leaves and a little sugar, which are left to ferment in a manner similar to other fermented foods and beverages (yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, beer, tempeh, pickled vegetables...). This gives the drink a little zing and is responsible for some of its reputed health benefits - the nutritional advantages of fermented foods are widely touted these days. Lots of people add things into the tea either during or after the fermentation, such as fruit juice or herbs. Right now I'm drinking a kombucha crafted by Madison's brand-new Kosmos Kombucha, made from pu-erh tea and fresh turmeric root, with some blood orange juice tossed in; the result  is earthy and smooth. (Pu-erh tea, by the way, is already fermented in a different way even before the kombuchification process, so you can see how crazy things can get.) Newbies might want to start with something less bold, like a basic fruit juice or ginger combo.

Science has only begun to study kombucha, so we don't have much to go on as far as officially studied health benefits. It seems that glucaric acid may be a key, helping the liver eliminate waste more efficiently. My own feeling after drinking kombucha is similar to when I take other "liver cleansing" herbs like licorice: a mild uplift, a feeling of clearness and brightness, and a kind of general satisfaction and smoothiness.

Kombucha does contain significant amounts of probiotics, the little bacteria which are found in many raw fermented foods and are known for their immune and digestive health helpfulness. The acidity of kombucha may also be part of its benefit. When you combine it with anti-inflammatory herbs such as ginger or turmeric, you may get the benefits from them, and a taste bonus. Kosmos Kombucha also makes a version with horsetail, a mineral-rich herb which may benefit the connective tissue. Kosmos is just getting started, but hopefully they'll become widely available in Madison before too long!

What I do know is that kombucha seems to nourish my body after a hard workout or when I'm not feeling well, and that it seems to be giving me something that my body really wants. A friend of mine once returned from kung fu training at a Shaolin Temple in China, and claimed that the monks there drank it all the time; in my mind, this gives further credence for the use of kombucha as a sports beverage.

As far as DIY production goes, you can get started pretty easily, according to many of my friends. You need a  "mother," the mushroom-like glob of bacteria and fungus which ferments the drink; many people provide these for free. Here's a fun account of one person's adventure in making her own kombucha in Madison. I plan on getting started with some help from Kosmos Kombucha's founder, Madeline Hartjes, and then seeing what happens! I'll fill you in on the field testing when I try my first batch.

It's the Sleep, Stupid

One of the worst things we modern folk do is not sleep enough. Due to some misguided idea of getting more done by working too hard, we manage to decrease productivity, damage our health, and act like banshees around other people. So how much sleep should we be getting, and when?

1) Hours per night. As the witticism goes, "I'll sleep when I'm dead." Well, you'll likely be dead sooner if you don't get enough sleep in the meantime.  This meta-analysis study including data on 1.3 million people indicates that less than 6 hours per night is correlated with a shortened lifespan, probably due to all kinds of metabolic and inflammatory problems which result from lowered sleep times. Getting too much sleep is also linked to a shortened lifespan, but in these cases the excess sleep is probably related to other factors, such as depression or poverty. If you sleep a lot (like over 8 hours), it's likely that you have another issue to deal with, not that you should try to avoid sleeping.

2) So how about naps? We've been annoyed with the term "power nap" for several years now (of course our culture needs to add "power" to something to make it respectable), and many sources tell us to take naps to supplement our sleep. This sounds like a great idea, and cultures all over the world take siestas in mid-day to break up the work schedule, keeping us from getting burned out. This NASA study showed that napping helped with some of the sleep-related issues that astronauts face, but did not fix the problem of not getting enough sleep. Another recent study from UC Berkeley showed that people who took midday naps were better at learning later in the day.

3) When to sleep? This answer seems to be somewhat variable. Working night shift has been linked to lowered immunity, and even cancer, If you are fortunate enough to work days, you might benefit from sleeping in two nightly doses, a practice known as "biphasic sleep" (this term can apply to taking daytime naps as well)- it seems that before artificial light sources, this may have been the norm. If you wake up in the middle of the night for a while, you might consider using that time rather than just trying to get back to sleep right away. If you get most of your sleep during the day, however, taking naps at night can cause grogginess.

4) Late vs. early sleepers. The terms "night owl" and "morning lark" have been around for a while, and psychology also uses these terms to categorize people into late and early sleepers. In one Psychology Today article, staying up late was linked with higher intelligence, while in another, it was considered to be a potential disorder. This reaaaallly interesting article breaks down a bunch of personality traits and other factors linked to differing circadian (sleep) rhythms; for instance, it would seem that morning types are more conscientious. So there's lots of variability, and with all things sleep, quite a bit of mystery.

Of course, we all respond differently to sleep, which is one of the things that makes it the most interesting and unpredictable. Some Zen teacher once said, "When I am tired, I sleep," which seems to be the best advice so far.

Death Vegetables, A Winter Recipe

Following up the last post about the virtues of root vegetables, here's one version of a common root recipe, suitable for the fall and winter seasons. I call this particular variety "Death Vegetables," because the herbs it contains were once used both to prevent contagious disease and to preserve bodies. A bit morbid, I admit, but it does highlight the antimicrobial function of these herbs along with the nutrition of roots!

Ingredients:

-a mix of root vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, celeraic, parsnips, garlic, onion, and fennel bulb, cut into bite-sized pieces (I always put whole cloves of garlic, and at least one sweeter root like carrots or parsnips to balance the bitter ones. Also, beets should be cut into slightly smaller pieces while sweet potatoes should be in larger chunks.) 

-fresh or dried parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (as in the Simon and Garfunkel song)

-salt and pepper 

-a high-heat oil such as safflower (Olive oil may smoke at the high baking temperature of this recipe, which makes it less healthy and stinks up the house.)

-raw walnuts (optional for a protein a flavor boost)

Cooking: 

Preheat oven to 400-500 degrees- higher temps will produce a crispy result, while lower temps are sweet and softer. Toss all ingredients except walnuts together so the vegetables are well-coated, and place in a baking pan so that the vegetables are not piled too deeply, maybe no more than a couple of inches. Place pan on the top rack of the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until tender. Mix and turn the vegetables occasionally with a metal spatula to ensure even cooking. If they're getting too crisp, cover with foil, place on the bottom rack, and turn the temperature down a bit. Remove from oven, and the walnuts, and mix again.

Cool and enjoy!