Oh Really?

Sorry, couldn’t resist this one – and although this piece of research confirms what we already know, it’s valuable to remember it at this stressful time of year. We know that stress is a powerful trigger for heart attacks and strokes, but apparently it is not the stress in and of itself that is the problem it is the unhealthy coping mechanisms that we often turn to that have been investigated by University College in London. When I talk about stress in my book ‘How To Cope Successfully With Stress’ I point out that stress is not always a bad thing; it is how you cope with it that is important. If you turn to healthy methods of dealing with it like meditation, exercise and changes in diet then you can handle it without adverse health effects.

However stress makes us reach for those comfort props whether that is food, alcohol, or smoking and those are the factors that impact on your health and can lead to heart disease or strokes. When we are stressed our good health resolutions often go by the board and we stop exercising and eating healthily and generally take less good care of ourselves. If you get stressed, try to maintain at least some healthy habits and make your ‘comfort’ blanket a little more active – swop it for a down filled coat and go for a walk.

Selenium has role in preventing high risk bladder cancer

Selenium is an essential trace element that we need for health, and now it seems it could play an important role in preventing high risk-bladder cancer for certain groups of people. Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School this month reported in a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research that although not true for everyone some groups who had been newly diagnosed with bladder cancer showed significant reductions in their cancer when they were found to have higher rates of selenium than average in their bodies. The groups affected were women, moderate smokers and those with p53 positive cancer. While other studies have shown a similar association between selenium and bladder cancer among women, this study is one of the first to show an association between selenium and p53 positive bladder cancer. Selenium is a trace element found widely in the environment and good food sources include Brazil nuts, bread, fish, meat and eggs Christmas excess – be prepared!.

Oh Really?

I don’t know, you do one of these items and along comes another – this one for the chaps. More in the category of ‘well we could have guessed that’ comes the news that men who were have an increased risk for prostate cancer are almost twice as likely to undergo screening for the disease if married or living with a partner. As most men are far more reluctant to consult doctors for anything, this is no surprise so if you want to have a healthy prostate don’t stay single seems to be the advice and comes from no less a body than the University of Michigan.

They found that although prostate cancer screening programmes specifically target men with a high risk for the disease, little is known about the factors that influence these men to take the decision to get tested. But, apparently, one of the factors that gets them to the screening is fear – no surprise there – and accompanied by a relationship where they are ‘persuaded’ (read nagged) into going for checkups is the most effective of all.

Help for hormone headaches

If you have ever suffered from hormone headaches triggered by periods then you know how badly they can affect you – and those around you. Resorting to painkillers is not always the best answer and if you are looking for a more natural treatment then there is one that has been clinically proven to effectively deal with the pain for 96% of hormone headache sufferers.

It may be put down to your ‘moods’ but in reality it’s those fluctuating hormones that can cause the problem and they can occur at any point in a woman’s life from puberty to menopause. Hormone headaches generally affect only one side of the head, and the pain is often described as throbbing and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting and may be made worse by bright light and loud noise.

A small study of 50 women aged 18 to 45 who reported regularly having hormone headaches were asked to test 4head, a natural plant-based, licensed medicine, to see if it helped reduce their headaches. On average, the volunteers had regularly suffered from hormonal headaches for more than 12 years, with a minimum of one year and a maximum of 30 years. An amazing 96% of the women in the study reported that the treatment relieved the pain, and in most cases the headache began to ease within 15 minutes. A previous clinical trial found it could begin working in just two minutes, and this was backed by this latest study.

Another point in 4head’s favour is the fact that up to a third of women don’t like taking tablets for headaches, and this product is applied directly to the forehead either as a stick or a patch. The active ingredient is pure levomenthol, which gives it a minty aroma when applied to the skin and the cooling/tingling effect effectively diverts the body’s attention away from the less bearable painful stimulus of the headache and blocks the pain signals. At the same time, the levomenthol helps to relax tense muscles in the head that are associated with tension type headaches.

Given the symptoms of hormone headaches, it ought to prove helpful for migraines as well. Available at pharmacies and many supermarkets.

Breast cancer treatment optimism

News from Greece has confirmed that the new chemotherapy agents are cutting advanced breast cancer mortality in half. This reassuring news comes from a review of published studies, by John P. A. Ioannidis, M.D., of the University of Ioannina, and reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. They looked at 122 clinical trials involving 26,031 patients and 22 different types of therapy.

Their conclusion was that the advent of the new anthracycline drugs led to a 22% reduction in mortality risk compared with older nonanthracycline drugs, and that the introduction of taxanes resulted in a 33% risk reduction compared with older single-agent therapy. Taken together this means that the newer taxane-based combination treatments such as those involving capecitabine (Xeloda), or gemcitabine (Gemzar), have reduced mortality by 51% compared to the single-agent treatment in use 35 years ago.

Now I know chemotherapy is not the favoured option for many people and they choose to go on any of the alternative routes from Chinese Medicine to Spiritual healing, however, if you are undergoing chemotherapy there is an excellent homoeopathic remedy that can help alleviate some of the side effects. Many homoeopathic chemists have their own variation so ask locally or I can recommend an excellent chemist in Dorset who make their own tablets and are happy to speak with you on the phone about your requirements. They are the Galen pharmacy and their telephone number is 01305 263996 or if you would like to read more about natural treatments for cancer a book I recommend is Say No to Cancer by Patrick Holford and an interesting website to check out is www.cancertruth.net which is American but will give you some food for thought.

PS – if you or someone you know has been affected by cancer, then here’s a chance to walk, jog, run and have fun at 5k events across the UK, to help raise as much money as possible to beat cancer. Women only can run, but men are very welcome as supporters, coaches and fundraisers at Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life events taking place in 2009. If you are interested, they are open for entries on 19 January and for more information visit www.raceforlife.org or call 0871 641 2282

Kids health and new media dangers

We have touched on this before but with the average child now spending 7 hours a day on various forms of media it bears looking at again. Most Christmas lists will have at least one or two electronic ‘toys’ on them, plus the ones already in the home. New research from the National Institutes of Health, Yale University and California Pacific Medical Center in the USA has yet again emphasised the problems between high media consumption and children’s health problems.

This is not the usual concerns about too much violence, though they have their place, this is specifically focused on the effects on childrens health and the ‘new media’ area has not so far been put under the spotlight. Just what is ‘new media’? Well it encompasses everything from the internet to mobile phones, texting, video games, and social networking sites like YouTube and Twitter. Many youngsters organise their whole social lives on YouTube and one local family near me had their home trashed when their teenage daughter posted her birthday invitations on the site and got 100 gatecrashers instead.

The researchers found that the greater the exposure to the internet, TV, movies, music and technology a child has then they have correspondingly higher health risks. So what are they risking? Primarily obesity but they also are more likely to smoke, drink and use drugs – three other key health risks. There is of course a follow on effect and they are also likely to be poor performers at school as well. What’s the cure? Well, back to the family – limit the amount of time spent on this media at home. You can have little impact outside it so it’s important to have home boundaries and don’t add to the electronic stockpile this Christmas – don’t buy them an Xbox, think outside it.

What’s In Your Lip Balm?

Now the winter winds are biting, and you are probably licking your lips more than usual to keep them moist, many people use a lipbalm. There are literally hundreds on the market, but some of them contain an ingredient which can actually make your dry lips worse. Why? Because then you have to keep using the lip balm to keep your lips moisturized. Clever, huh?

So what’s the mystery ingredient? It’s phenol and as it is an antibacterial agent you might think that was a good thing, but unfortunately it can also destroy the top layer of skin on your lips and you will be trapped into keeping using it so keep your lips moist and supple.

Healthier alternatives abound, so look for non-phenol balms with ingredients like coconut oil, honey, jojoba oil, and shea butter. A great site for organic lip balms, and I couldn’t resist because they are called Naturally Barmy, will give you plenty of lip -smacking ideas and they even have a kit for making your own. Get cracking now and you can have 10 complete balms in gift tins as stocking fillers.

Visit their website at www.naturallybalmy.co.uk

Meditation is best for depression – Say Om, not Ah

If the Christmas season does not fill you with cheer and you find yourself getting low then, rather than head to the doctor, do heed a new piece of research. Published this week in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology it has found that meditation beats antidepressants both short and long-term. Professor Willem Kuyken, from the Mood Disorders Centre at the University of Exeter, found that Buddhist meditation techniques (which are similar to mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) can be just as effective at not only combating depression but enabling participants to have lower rates of relapse than those on medication.

The aim of all such meditation is to keep your focus in the present, not dwelling on the past or future. The trial lasted 8 weeks, and fifteen months afterwards they found that 47%pc of people with long-term depression (who had done the meditation) had relapsed, compared to 60% of those taking anti-depressant drugs. What those people gained from just 8 weeks of meditation was life skills that powerfully supported them to stay well.

For details of a group in your area, contact the network of buddhist organisations in the UK who may be able to help. Their website is www.nbo.org.uk and if you don’t have access locally, or prefer to meditate at home, you might find my mediation CD useful. It’s in the marketplace section of my website at www.catalystonline.co.uk/potential.htm and contains a simple everyday meditation (Blue Sky) to help you stay focused in the present and let go of any worries and anxieties you may have.

No fumes nail varnish and sweet hairspray

A major drawback to nail polish, and remover, to me is the terrible acetone smell, plus the fact that many of the chemicals they contain dry out your nails. If you want to give a natural present then Suncoat Water-based Nail Polish costs £10.95 8ml and is part of a range of eco-friendly and primarily vegan products from Canada.

These revolutionary and award-winning products are fast-drying, long-lasting and have a wonderful range of colours using natural mineral pigments to produce pearlised, matt and soft metallic finishes. They don’t smell like conventional nail polish because water vapour is released instead of fumes from chemical solvents and, uniquely, they do not contain any harmful chemicals such as phthalates, formaldehyde, toluene, alcohol or even acetates and are non-flammable. You can then take them off with no fumes either as their Nail Polish Remover, can be used for both Suncoat water -based and conventional nail varnishes. It is gentle, moisturising and virtually odour free and will costyou £12.95 for 60ml. If you don’t do nail varnish, another great natural idea from the same people is a Sugar-based Hair Spray, which I admit doesn’t sound immediately appealing but has some great benefits. It has all the long-lasting hold, volume and versatility of a conventional hairspray but without synthetic resins or alcohol. Enriched with vitamin E so it will not dry the hair, brushes out easily and is suitable for all hair types. And the sugar? Well it uses sugar-biopolymers (polysaccharides) to give body and medium hold to hair, without harming us or the environment and provides antioxidant protection for hair and scalp. A sweet price too at 8.95 for 60ml.

These products are only available by mail order from www.simply-nature.co.uk, so if you want to buy a great stocking filler give them a ring on 01580 201 687 and cross one more person off your list!

Oxfam goodies and presents

The first of these I really wanted for myself, but as the picture shows it fits two small children with ease I am not sure if once in, I could get out again. What am I talking about? A wonderful recycled Cardboard Rocket called a Paperpod rocket which they can play in, decorate both inside and out and soar off to far-distant galaxies and not miss out on the jelly and trifle on boxing day.

It comes flatpacked and can be folded away for easy storage. Space travel is a snip at only £29.99. Not into space travel and what all year round value from present, and know someone who is into Good Life living? Then what about a goat, for a mere £25 you will get milk, your lawn kept short, fertilizer for the garden and something to keep the kids busy as they try and round it up. The goat is supplied locally, and I don’t see how you could resist – take a look at the picture on the website and your heart will melt.

See both these online at www.oxfam.org.uk

Next Page »