I have never made any secret of the fact that I hate yoga. Mostly because I have spent a lifetime doing sports that compact all my muscles and here comes this ancient exercise or meditation or whatever you want to call it that pulls everything out and forces me to stretch parts of me that don’t want to stretch and twist things that shouldn’t twist and have me assume positions that are just not natural. So when I recently saw an article in the New York Times saying that yoga might be bad for people my initial thought was “yeah, I was right all along.” The article said all that twisting and bending can be bad for you, it can strain muscles, rip tendons, pull your back out of shape.

But then I thought

Why am I doing this?

Wait a minute, any exercise can do that to you. If you haven’t played soccer in years then you can hurt yourself doing that. If you used to love ping pong as a kid and took it up again as an adult you can hurt yourself. And maybe yoga is a slightly exaggerated form of any exercise because it really works every single part of your body, but the basic premise is the same. If you do it properly and carefully and with good guidance it can be safe and really beneficial.

That’s not to mean I like it any more, but it does mean that it isn’t dangerous just because you do it wrong or have a crappy teacher who teaches you bad form or you try to get into a full lotus when you have spent the previous ten hours sitting in front of a computer screen and wonder why your tendons just don’t want to go there.

The point is, exercise in any form can be bad for you if you haven’t done it before – or for a long time – and you do it badly. You need to know what you are doing or work with someone who knows what they are doing and knows how to show you how to do it.

Good form is essential

The other day, the other month actually, I pulled the heck out of my calf muscle playing squash. I wasn’t doing anything I hadn’t done a thousand times before. I wasn’t moving in a way I hadn’t done a thousand times before. And yet this time, for whatever reason, my calf went kablooey. Maybe I was just pushing it too hard, or my form was bad. All I know is that as soon as I hit a great cross court shot and was moving back into position in case my opponent – damn you Austin – got it back, my calf went bang and that was that. I’ve been slowly getting back in shape since then. But it takes time. And patience.

And that’s why when I read that article about yoga being bad for you, much as I wanted to jump on the blog and say “see, the NY Times agrees with me” my own experience taught me otherwise. Yes, of course yoga can be bad for you. Playing tiddlywinks can be bad for you if one of them jumps up and hits you in the eye. Anything, done badly, can be bad for you. But that’s no reason to dismiss the enormous potential health benefits of yoga.

Downward facing “you dawg you”

Don't try this at home folks

I once met an 83 year old man who had become a devotee of Bikram yoga. That’s the kind where they heat the room to 110 degrees so you sweat like crazy. It’s meant to warm up the muscles and tendons in your body so that they are more flexible. It’s also meant to replicate the conditions in India where yoga first was practiced. This gentleman had only taken up yoga when he was 80 and swore by Bikram, saying it gave him more energy, made him feel healthier and happier.

Frankly I think he just liked watching lots of young, cute women bend into positions that in his youth would have been unthinkable.

I still don’t like yoga. But I would never tell other people not to do it. For my 83 year old friend it’s the highlight of his day. And that’s reason enough to do any exercise isn’t it.

Pop quiz. Read this list of items and tell me at what point you decide that whatever does this to you is something you don’t want to have anything to do with.

• Agitation
• Depression
• Suicidal thoughts
• Suicidal actions
• Anxiety
• Panic
• Aggression
• Anger
• Mania
• Abnormal sensations
• Hallucinations
• Paranoia
• Confusion

That’s it. At least for now. The drug in question is new so doubtless more side effects will pop up as more and more people take it.

So what is this magical medication?

Kill or cure

It’s called Chantix and it’s supposed to help people quit smoking.

Now, we all know that smoking is bad for you. More than bad really. Fatal. It can destroy your lungs, cause cancer, increase your risk of heart disease and stroke, make your hair/clothes/breath/house stink and generally screw up your life. But is this really a much better option? A drug that could kill you faster than the stuff it’s supposed to cure?

You have to wonder what the scientists were thinking as they studied the results of their research. Obviously the fact that Chantix might help some people quit smoking goes in the “plus” column. But then as you start to look at the increasingly long and bleak “minus” column you have to think that at some point someone might have said “Er, chaps, maybe this isn’t such a good drug to be offering people?”

So, at what point did someone from the corporate head office stick his head in and say “Look ignore that stuff. We’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this drug and by god we’re going to get some of it back.”

I’m sure the conversation was never quite that pointed or direct, or even honest, but the basic gist of it is the same. We have this drug, we’ve spent a lot of money on it, we need to make some of that cash back.

So now the question is how do you persuade someone, anyone, that this could be the drug that finally helps them quit ciggies? You play the guilt game. You create an ad showing kids and a mom who wants to stop and this is the drug that will help her do it – for the sake of her family.

Selfless. Sacrifice.

Suicide. Oh, sorry, did I mention that’s a possibility

And agression too.

So, not only is this a drug that could lead you to kill yourself to stop you killing yourself it could also lead you to kill me.

Here’s what the warning label on Chantix says: If you, your family, or caregiver notice agitation, hostility, depression, or changes in behavior, thinking, or mood that are not typical for you, or you develop suicidal thoughts or actions, anxiety, panic, aggression, anger, mania, abnormal sensations, hallucinations, paranoia, or confusion, stop taking CHANTIX and call your doctor right away.

My advice.

Keep smoking. It’s safer for all of us.

You may have noticed we’ve been a tad quiet of late. It’s not that we have run out of things to say – yeah, right, as if that’s likely to ever happen! No, it’s because what we have to say seems so, how shall I put this, inconsequential compared to what’s taking place in Morocco and Libya and Yemen and Bahrain and who knows where next.

What we usually write about are ways to improve your life, to be healthier, smarter about decisions and so on. What is happening in the Arab world is not about losing weight, but about losing dictators; it’s not about making smarter decisions about diet and exercise, it’s about having the power to make a decision about who governs you. We write about the struggles we all face in life. They are facing a life and death struggle for freedom.

In a way the problems we face are almost self-indulgent compared to those facing so many people around the world. We wonder if we’ll be able to resist that second piece of chocolate cake. In Libya they have to worry whether they’ll come back from the protest alive.

And that’s why I’m finding it hard to sit down and write. What I have to say is dwarfed by events around the world. My attention is so riveted on what’s happening there, on the extraordinary courage of ordinary men and women who walk out the door every day to protest injustice, never knowing if they’ll be coming home.

I wonder if I were in that situation would I behave the same. Would I be willing to put my life on the line and fight for freedom, for the chance to shape my own future?

It’s a question I hope I never have to answer.

But then, the things we write about are life and death decisions too, just not as immediate.  We will be back to write about our health choices, but right now we are working on what we can do to make a difference and support those who yearn for freedom and a democratic society.  We must make sure that our voices are heard too.  What kind of a democratic society, what kind of freedom  do you want?  Write to your representatives,  join groups who believe like you, be active in your community.

Freedom, like health is fragile and it needs constant nurturing.

Resolving not to make resolutions!

Normally I’m not one to make New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve done it in the past and haven’t been very good at keeping them – such as trying to learn Spanish or any foreign language, or even just trying to speak English more better – or I’ve made such easy ones that they really weren’t of any real significance.

I already go to the gym regularly and try to keep my weight under control so bang go those old standbys. I try to eat a healthy, balanced diet so that’s done. But this year I decided I was going to make a resolution, one that doesn’t limit me to any one issue or topic, but instead is expansive and can fit any and everything I do.

This year I’m going to try to be better.

Better at what? Everything. A better husband, friend, uncle, cousin, work colleague. A better writer. Better at staying in touch. Better at being more thoughtful. Better squash player (not hard really), better musician (really easy as I don’t play anything right now), just a better person.

There’s lots of room for improvement. Just ask anyone who knows me!

Deep thinker

My friend Dr. Bill Stewart in his fine book, ‘Deep Medicine’, says that every decision we make is about health. If we choose to eat a bag of Dorritos super cheesy chips rather than an apple we’re making a bad decision; if we choose to go for a walk rather than spending the day on the couch in front of the TV that’s a good decision. In the same way everything we do, every decision we make is about health, so everything we do or think or say has the potential to make us better people if we want it to.

That doesn’t mean I will always make the right decision or do the best thing or decide to act in a way that elevates my character. There may be days when I just think, “sod it, I can’t be bothered.” And that might be the right decision for me at the time. After all, I’m a firm believer in moderation in all things. Including moderation.

But I hope that overall I will stop before acting, and consider what I’m doing, consider how I’m thinking about something or someone and decide on an action or course of action that will make me a better person in the long run.

I know it’s kind of vague. OK, it’s really vague. But that’s the strength of it not its weakness. With specific resolutions where there is a definite goal – say wanting to lose weight (the number one resolution among Americans) or give up smoking (number two in the US) – you focus on one aspect of your life and direct all your energies towards that. It’s great if you lose the weight or kick the habit but if you don’t what happens? You end up feeling like crap and telling yourself you are rubbish and can’t stick to diets or exercise plans or you lack willpower  etc. With mine, I don’t end up in December saying “hey, I was 23% better/worse this year than last” but I do end up with a sense that throughout the year I have, hopefully, tried to do a better job or be better at everything I’ve attempted. If I have failed in some aspects the chances are I will have succeeded in others. And because the goal of being better is an open ended one, I can always carry on in 2012 and beyond.

First steps

Not a fashion statement

The first step, as always, is to be aware. to make a conscious decision to try and think things through before doing anything. Or at least to consider the options.

For example, in the past I’ve been rather judgmental about people who wear baggy cotton sweat pants and flip flops. It always says to me that this is a person who is just too lazy to make even the simplest effort to make themselves look, not even presentable, just halfway decent. In essence it says “I’m a slob and I don’t care.”

In future when I see someone dressed like that I will try not to pass judgment on them. I’ll try to see them as a whole and not just a pair of baggy sack-like trousers. They’ll still be slobs, but I will leave it to others to make that judgment because I’m better than that.

See, it’s working already.

There are lots of things to be afraid of these days; poverty, pestilence, President Sarah Palin. And if you need help finding a few more then just pick up your local daily newspaper or turn on your local TV news; they’re filled with crime and fires and fears and tears and loathing. Plenty of fodder for fear there.

But some people are determined to go the extra mile, and start getting scared about things that really should be way down on the list of likely threats – down around the level of being attacked by Godzilla for instance. I”m talking about the new security measures at airports.

TSA – Touching Someone’s Ass!

Now, I’m no lover of what I think can sometimes be the overly heavy handed security measures at airports in the U.S. For instance, taking off my shoes to pass through security has always struck me as silly – they don’t require it in other countries and they seem to be doing just fine – but I consider it a mere inconvenience and a relatively small price to pay for the convenience of actually getting where you are going to in one piece – always high on my list of holiday goals.

Full body scanner image

Recently the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) introduced new, tighter, screening methods. You have the choice of going through a full body scan machine, or getting a thorough pat down – and by thorough I mean of the kind that only your doctor would dream of doing and probably not even then!

Neither choice is much fun and I sympathize with concerns about violating someone’s religious beliefs or civil rights (I am after all a member of the ACLU) but when people start saying we shouldn’t have to do the body scans because they put our health, even our very lives at risk? I’ve have to wonder if it’s their brain that should be scanned not their body.

Naked Threat

The fears seem to center on the fact that these devices fire a beam of radiation at the passenger, and that allows security officials to see through their clothes and detect anything they might have hidden on their body. But some people are saying that exposure to this radiation – even at the very low-levels used in these devices, and they are very low indeed – could put us at increased risk of cancer.

OK, I know x-rays have been linked to DNA damage and that exposure to enough radiation over long enough periods can ultimately produce cancer. But to go from that statement to say that the new screening devices therefore are putting us at risk of cancer is absurd. You actually are exposed to more radiation flying at 30,000 feet than you are going through the scanner.

Secondly, look around you at all the things people do every day that put them at much greater risk of cancer or other serious health problems than going through airport security. Take the food they eat for instance. More than 60 percent of Americans are overweight or even obese, that puts them at higher risk of heart disease or stroke, diabetes, even cancer. You want to reduce your health risks, do something about that.

Millions more Americans smoke or drink to excess. Millions get little or no exercise. Millions eat little or no fresh fruits or vegetables on a regular basis. Those are every day threats to your health.

Secure in our Insecurities

You are more likely to die in the car on your way to the airport than suffer any ill effects of going through a security scanner. And think about it, what’s the first thing people do when they get on a plane. They chow down on the free pretzels that they are given by flight attendants. Sugar, fat, salt. All in one tasty package. And you think an airport scanner is a problem?

Why is it we worry about things that really aren’t a problem, and ignore those that are? Partly it’s because issues like airport security and body-revealing scans are in the news, they get our attention. The other issues such as diet and exercise are rather boring, we have been hearing about them for years, so we no longer pay attention to  them.

My mate Michael has a novel approach to all the hullabaloo over the new screening methods. He says those who want to can get the full-body scan. Those who don’t can get the full body pat down. But for an extra $50 you get someone really cute or handsome to do it. That way the government makes a few extra bucks and you at least get to enjoy the experience!

There are lots of things to be afraid of. We really don’t need to go out and create new ones.

One of the hottest concepts in health in recent years has been the idea of ‘mind-body’ medicine. Usually it refers to the ability of the brain to influence the health of the body, tapping into the power of thoughts and emotions to influence our physical health. For instance studies have shown that meditation can help lower blood pressure, reduce the severity of irritable bowel syndrome, even lower the risk of cancer.

But there’s also an increasing body (pun intended) of evidence that shows that the mind-body connection can also work the other way, body-mind, that the physical activities of the body can influence how the brain feels and how healthy both the brain and the body is.

One of the more unusual, and fun, methods of body-mind medicine is laughter yoga where the simple act of pretending to laugh can boost the health of both the body and the brain. When you practice laughter yoga you mimic the physical act of laughing. It sounds silly I know, but practitioners say by pretending to laugh you often end up laughing long and hard, and even if you don’t the sheer physical act of ‘laughing’ has powerful physical, emotional and mental health benefits.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KIYhP-NisI

They say laughter boosts the immune system, which helps you fight disease, it also reduces how much cortisol is circulating through your body (cortisol is the so-called ‘fight or flight hormone produced when you are severely stressed such as being attacked by a pterodactyl - which doesn’t happen too often these days - or watching a Glenn Beck rant, which happens far too often for anyone’s health) and that in turn can reduce how much stress your body is subjected to on a daily basis.

What a cool idea eh! Just by laughing you are doing something good for your body, and your brain, because laughter yoga also helps reduce the likelihood of depression. It’s almost as if this idea is flipping science on its head and instead of thinking that we have to get the brain healthy for us to have a healthy body, we are going the opposite direction, saying to have a healthy brain we first need to get our body into healthy mode.

Think about it. Instead of going through years of talk therapy, psychotherapy, counseling and/or medication - or all of them - you could achieve the same by just laughing every day.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to see  your family doctor and at the end of the exam have them say ‘take two jokes and call me in the morning”. We might actually look forward to going to the doctor. Better still, we might not have to go at all.

It’s one of the biggest conundrums in public health: we have more information about how to lead a healthy lifestyle than ever, more information about how to lose weight or eat a healthy diet, and yet more and more people  are fatter than ever and eating worse than ever. So why is that?

The only choice

Well, part of it is obviously that we have more options now. Growing up in England there were two choices of salad dressing at the local supermarket: mayonnaise or nothing. Today, the average grocery store has so many options you could spend a week trying to decide what to put on your lettuce. And the same applies for pretty nearly every other food group. We’re spoiled for choice and often do a bad job of making good choices.

Making the right choice

Part of it is that even when we make good choices, such as choosing a low-fat version of a product, we undermine that by eating too much of it. I have seen people eat a whole non-fat cake just because they thought that the lack of fat meant an equal lack of calories, forgetting to notice that the manufacturer had added a ton of sugar to make it taste ok.

Dr. Teresa Quattrin, the Chair of the Pediatric Department at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine, noticed a similar thing in a recent study she did with children 2 to 5 years old. She found that seven out of ten of those children were eating too many calories, in some cases far more than the recommended 1,200 calories a day. In addition they weren’t getting as much activity as kids that age needed. Even at that age we are leading more sedentary lives than in the past.

Even healthy options can have a downside

Quattrin said that even children whose parents were giving them healthy foods were overdoing it. For instance, there were children who ate a whole carton of strawberries in one sitting and their parents thought that was fine. But, as Quattrin points out, even healthy food can have a downside if you are eating too much of it. And of course, if you are eating too much of a healthy food the chances are you might also be eating too much of other, much less healthy foods.

Shirley says her mum once decided that carrots were really good and she should eat more of them. A lot more. She ate so many that her skin started to turn orange. True story.

Not always a healthy choice

Quattrin says the most important thing when trying to lead a healthy life is to surround yourself with healthy options, and limit the number of unhealthy ones. For instance, have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables in the house and refrigerator, but very few so-called “treats” such as cookies and cakes and chips and candy. If children are surrounded by healthy food options they will grow up thinking that is the normal way to eat. Good habits are important things to develop from an early age.

Banish temptation

And let’s face it, the same thing applies to grown ups. If we have fresh fruits around us we are more likely to snack on them. If we have fresh fruit, plus cakes and candy and cookies, guess which things win out first.

That’s one of the reasons why I don’t have chocolate bars in the house. I know that, like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything except temptation!

I think it is truly amazing how Baby Boomers always seem to make the rules!  Recently, the Nielson Rating company (that’s the company that sets the rates for all the TV stations and Network advertising) filed a report titled, “Why Marketers Can’t Afford to Ignore Baby Boomers”  It turns out that Boomers are changing everything topsy turvy!  Marketers can learn a valuable lesson by taking notice because Boomer’s are changing the rules again.

Up to now, marketers  have always targeted on youth to advertise to…that’s the 18-35 year olds, who have been the “Bread and Butter” of Advertisers, up until now that is!  Yes my grey haired friends, Baby Boomers have done it again!  Boomers are the largest single group of consumers and a valuable target audience.  They dominate the consumer packaged good catagories, they watch the most videos, they watch television and know how to use a computer.  In fact, Boomers are online users, they frequent social media websites and they tweet.

Boomers are those of us who were born between the years of 1946 – 1964 and the early Boomers are getting ready to retire, but unlike their parents they are socially engaged in the changing landscape of technology.  In fact, they embrace the changes, they even have Facebook pages!

Suddenly, Madison Avenue is waking up and taking this group seriously. Why? Because they have the money, time, and the numbers.  There are 78 million Baby Boomers in the U.S. today, so consumer manufacturers and advertisers had better cater to these deep  pockets if they know what’s good for their bottom line.

Making Boomers Happy Will Be The Next Big Trend!

Just like the saying goes:  “Where does a 500 pound Ape sit?  Anywhere he wants! “  Boomers are beginning to change the “Age” landscape.  In fact, Madison Avenue has changed it’s attitude about beauty and age.  Recently, the New York Times reported a current trend away from hiring actors who look unnaturally perfect.  Women who have had Botox, and other surgeries to enhance their looks or figures are no longer sought after by Hollywood producers.  Looking unnaturally young is not working because looking “real” has become the new “look”.   Why you ask?  Because Boomers want to identify with folks that look like them.  Real!

Plastic Surgery Is Out!  Health Is In!

It may turn out that aging will be psychologically and physically changed in the media, thereby giving all of us a glimpse into what successful aging looks like.  Physically fit, strong features, smile lines and faces that look lived in.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to see ads with people that weren’t artificially enhanced?  It may change our thoughts about aging and create a mindset that shows aging, not as a problem to be avoided by chasing youth, but more about being healthy, fit and getting older gracefully.  Wouldn’t that be a better message to deliver?

Breathing is one of the most basic of human functions. In fact, it is the most basic. Stop breathing and everything else stops too – pretty quickly. We all do it, every single second of every minute of every day of our lives. But often we are not even aware of how we do it, or the fact that we are doing it wrong.

Breathing deeply

How can you breathe wrongly you are probably asking? Well, it’s easy. You do it without even being aware of it.

Next time you are standing in line at Starbucks or waiting for a bus or train, or in line at the supermarket take a look at all the people around you and try to notice how they are breathing. With some people it’s easy to see, or even hear, particularly with someone who is overweight – their breathing is often labored because every movement is more tiring, more taxing on their body. You can hear them breathe, you can see their chest rising and falling, as if everything is a real effort.

With other people it’s less obvious but if you watch closely (not too closely, you don’t want them calling security on you!) you can see them breathing too. It’s often quite short, shallow breaths.

Then notice how you breathe. You might be surprised to notice that you usually breathe in short, shallow breaths too. What that means is that you are not taking in as much oxygen as you could, or as you should. And over time that can have a profound impact on your physical and emotional health.

Every breath you take

One of the most important elements in yoga, perhaps the most important, is the breath, noticing the breath, focusing on it, trying to make it long and deep and smooth. Why? Because numerous studies have shown that deep, controlled breathing can:

• Ease muscle tension
• Help you feel more relaxed
• Lower heart rate and blood pressure
• Increase lung capacity
• Help people with respiratory diseases like asthma and emphysema breathe more easily and reduce need for medication
• Ease anxiety

Not bad for something we all do every day eh! The problem is most of us don’t really breathe in a way that can help us maximize the health benefits of it. So here is one way to do just that.

Learning to breathe

1) Start by observing the way you normally breathe. You should notice that as you breathe in your abdomen rises and then falls when you breathe out. Watch this for a few moments to really get a sense of the rhythm and flow of your breathing.

2) Begin to deepen your breathing and extend that movement. So, as you breathe in do so more slowly and longer than normal. Let your abdomen rise as much as is comfortable, then as you breathe out slowly let it fall.

3) Don’t try to use or expand your lungs and chest while you are doing this, use only your abdomen.

4) Do this for 20 breaths.

That’s it.

Simple, but amazingly effective.

There's a book for everything - even breathing

A fresh breath of air

So try it a few times a day at first, see how it feels. Try it particularly after a stressful event, focusing on the sound and feel of your breath, and see how quickly it helps you calm down.

Then, as you get used to it, try it more and more often. Try it standing in line at Starbucks, or waiting for the bus, or in line at the grocery store. The more you do it the better you’ll get at it and the more benefits you’ll get from it.  It could prolong your life!

I had a wonderful time today.  I met with 3 of my friends from college, no, I met with one friend from college, one friend whom I have known since 8th grade, and one friend who introduced herself to me when we were in second grade and I was the “new” girl.  So we have all been friends for a heck of a long time.

Now, there have been some big chunks of time when we did not communicate very much.  Sue (second grade) got married in college and left to move with her husband who was in the Air Force.

Donna, who went to Puerto Vallarta with me on spring break in college then we lost touch for about 30 years because my name changed (got married and there was that whole thing with the Witness Protection program but I don’t want to go into that right now)

And Cindy, who has come in and out of my life just about 6 times a year, every year, all the time.

Staying in touch

We have shared some challenging times together, laughed a lot, cried some, had our own life experiences, and we met for lunch today and it was fun.

We’ve lost a parent or two, had children, taken care of our families and won and lost in life, but today we had lunch and conversation, and simple, comfortable, close feelings of belonging to each other.

Happiness is Contagious!

Harvard University and the University of California conducted a study of nearly 5,000 people over the span of 20 years that measured their happiness levels.  It turns out that happiness is infectious.  So when a person is happy it is contagious and spreads through thier network of friends and on to thier friends friends, in other words, happiness becomes viral the measurable effect can last for up to a year.

There are lots of studies and surveys that say staying healthy is exercise, eating right and being connected to people you love.  I believe it because today, I feel great!