Lessons to long life from a 256 year old & Demystifying Qi Gong

An excerpt of lessons to long life from a 256 year old... 

According to legend, Mr. Li Qing Yun (1677–1933) was a Chinese medicine physician, herbal expert, qigong master, and tactical consultant. He was said to have lived through nine emperors in the Qing Dynasty to be 256 years old.

His May 1933 obituary in Time Magazine, titled “Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog,” revealed Li’s secrets of longevity: “Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.”

Mr. Li is said to have had quite unusual habits in his daily living. He did not drink hard liquor or smoke and ate his meals at regular times. He was a vegetarian and frequently drank wolfberry (also known as goji berry) tea.

He slept early and got up early. When he had time, he sat up straight with his eyes closed and hands in his lap, at times not moving at all for a few hours.

In his spare time, Li played cards, managing to lose enough money every time for his opponent’s meals for that day. Because of his generosity and levelheaded demeanor, everyone liked to be with him.

Mr. Li spent his whole life studying Chinese herbs and discovering the secrets of longevity, traveling through provinces of China and as far as Thailand to gather herbs and treat illnesses.

Dan Buettner, author of “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest,” researches the science of longevity.

All of these groups—Californian Adventists, Okinawans, Sardinians, and Costa Ricans—live to be over 100 years of age at a far greater rate than most people, or they live a dozen years longer than average. He calls the places where these groups live “blue zones.”

According to Buettner’s research, all blue-zone groups eat a vegetable-based diet. The group of Adventists in Loma Linda, California, eat plenty of legumes and greens as mentioned in the Bible. Herders living the in the highlands of Sardinia eat an unleavened whole grain bread, cheese from grass-fed animals, and a special wine.

Researchers have also foud proven effects from meditation: 

They found that the meditators “showed a pronounced shift in activity to the left frontal lobe,” reads a 2003 Psychology Today article. “This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, mild depression, and anxiety. There is also less activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear.”

Meditation also reduces brain shrinkage due to aging and enhances mood.

Also, many cultures have no concept of sentient retirement and yet, remain healthy into their later years via lives that involve physical activity, social bonding, chore work and even neccisary gardening: 

Interestingly, none of these centenarians exercise purposely as we Westerners who go to the gym do. “They simply live active lives that warrant physical activity,” Buettner said. They all walk, cook, and do chores manually, and many of them garden.

Meanwhile Western civilization is still taking it's time on Qi Gong, a practice that has shown proven effects and is still mainly most popular in most eastern countries.  Qi Gong excells as a method of fostering basic awareness of body and breath, coordinated with simple movements, with the aim of cultivating smooth flow of qi to promote health. 

From J.Davis: 

Qi Gong practice has a long way to go before it becomes as mainstream as other traditional methods of health cultivation. It will have to adapt, just as yoga has, to meet some of the expectations of our fitness-oriented culture. I'm confident that if we can lead our students and patients to the gateway of feeling-awareness, we can preserve what is unique to these time-tested methods. As the baby-boomers age and the gym-going culture realizes that peak fitness is not a viable (or even desirable) goal, Qi Gong will become an increasingly attractive alternative.

George Vithoulkas: "Homeopathy's expansion in India is stunning."

George Vithoulkas is the founder of International Academy of Classical Homeopathy 

Nothing seems to excite him more than the thought of his days in India. George Vithoulkas, widely regarded as 'the maestro of classical homoeopathy', says it is heartening to see homoeopathy growing in India at a fast clip. For the record, the homoeopathic market is expected to double in the country to Rs 5,873 crore in five years. He offers a reason for this growth, "Morality and spirituality in its essential sense are stronger in India than other countries." 

He admits that his explanation sounds strange. "But it is true," he insists. "I know India from my experience of living there for a long period." Vithoulkas, now 79, studied homoeopathy in South Africa and in Kolkata. He passed out from the Indian Institute of Homoeopathy, Calcutta, in 1966, and returned to Greece to practise and teach the world's youngest system of medicine. 

The Greek physician says tragedy is yet to engulf India and other developing countries in a big way. The tragedy he is referring to is the one caused by the overuse of allopathic drugs. "Countries such as India, Pakistan and those in South America are lucky that they cannot supply chemical drugs for all their people." According to him, shortage of medical supplies is in a way a blessing in disguise for these non-developed countries: they haven't yet suffered the damage that chemical drugs inflict upon people in rich countries. 

But Vithoulkas knows it only too well that homoeopathy needs to grow much more to emerge as a 'real alternative' to the 'chemicals-infested' modern medicine, which has already made inroads into emerging markets. 

"At this moment, homoeopathy is not ready to take over the bulk of medical care in any country," he notes. But, he says, poor countries can afford to invest in promoting homoeopathy. "The conventional system of medicine has reached a dead end, and the new medicine will be the energy medicine that homoeopathy offers," he claims. But then, what was that about homoeopathy lacking in scientific evidence? 

He counters the argument raised famously in a 2005 Lancet article that compared the effect of homoeopathicmedicines to that of the placebo effect. "This is not an argument against homoeopathy. 

It is a pretentious excuse that the pharma industry uses to attack homoeopathy. It is almost ridiculous to believe that remedies that act on babies and animals have a placebo effect," he says. There is a tinge of sarcasm, too. "If homoeopaths have the power to instal in the patient belief that can cure without remedies, then I will salute them as superhuman. I know only one person who was able to treat on the basis of belief and that person was Jesus Christ." 

Let's not forget, he says, that it is homoeopathy that now epitomes 'evidence-based medicine', an idea originally introduced by practitioners of conventional medicine. Vithoulkas goes on to list reasons why governments should take solid initiatives to promote homoeopathy. 

"Governments are elected by the people with the hope that they will work and protect them, not pharmaceutical companies. Homoeopathy's remedies are cheap and can be produced locally. Using homoeopathic remedies also means saying no to the sideeffects of strong chemical drugs. Insurance systems that exist in the West have almost gone bankrupt due to massive rise in chronic diseases that require constant treatment with extremely expensive allopathic drugs." 

For original article read here: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments-analysis/homoeopathys-growth-in-india-is-stunning-george-vithoulkas/articleshow/10448621.cms?intenttarget=no

Music as therapy: the recovery of Gabrielle Giffords.

The following inspirational story on Gabrielle Giffords is from Discovery News.

Full story link after the excerpt. 

Among the devastating consequences of her brain injury from a gunshot wound 10 months ago, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords lost the ability to talk. But with help from music-based therapy, according to an ABC News segment that aired this week, Giffords has rediscovered her voice and, it seems, her spirit.

The footage, which shows Giffords crying in frustration when she tries unsuccessfully to talk but looking joyful as she sings fluently, paints a dramatic picture of the power of music to help people overcome brain injuries.

Giffords' story also highlights both the potential and the limitations of a fairly new field of medicine.

Music brings so much pleasure to our everyday lives, and it would make sense if music also worked as a healing tool. But scientists are still awaiting solid data to prove what seems to work in case study after case study.

"It used to be thought that music was a superfluous thing, and no one understood why it developed from an evolutionary standpoint," said Michael De Georgia, director of the Center for Music and Medicine at Case Western Reserve University's University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.

NEWS: Gabrielle Giffords Makes Celebrated Return

"In the last 10 years, we've just started to understand how broad and diffuse the effect of music is on all parts of the brain," he added. "We are just starting to understand how powerful music can be. We don't know what the limits are."

As early as the post-World War II era, physical therapists noticed that Big Band music helped wounded veterans get up and learn to walk again, said Lee Anna Rasar, a musical therapist at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.

Since then, researchers have documented a consistent pattern. When given a rhythm to walk to, people with Parkinson's disease, strokes and other forms of neurological damage are able to regain a symmetrical stride and a sense of balance. Each beat serves as an auditory cue that the brain uses to anticipate timing and regulate footfalls.

In the last decade, researchers have also begun to demonstrate ways that music-based therapies can help with speech recovery. In particular, a type of treatment called melodic intonation therapy has shown the greatest promise, Rasar said. Using a combination of rhythm, pitch, vision and hearing, the brain manages to sing words that it can't say.

Click to read more ...

Offset High Blood Pressure by Exercise, Meditative Breathing, QiGong, and more...

Although it causes no symptoms, high blood pressure boosts the risks of leading killers such as heart attack and stroke, as well as aneurysms, cognitive decline and kidney failure. Twenty-eight percent of Americans have high blood pressure and don't know it, according to the American Heart Association.

Here are ten simple ways (excerpted from Dallas-Fort Worth Star Telegram) to lower blood pressure. 

1. Go for power walks

Hypertensive patients who went for fitness walks at a brisk pace lowered pressure by almost 8 mmhg over 6 mmhg. Exercise helps the heart use oxygen more efficiently, so it doesn't work as hard to pump blood.

2. Breathe deeply

Slow breathing and meditative practices such as qigong, yoga and tai chi decrease stress hormones, which elevate renin, a kidney enzyme that raises blood pressure. Try five minutes in the morning and at night.

3. Pick potassium-rich produce

Loading up on potassium-rich fruits and vegetables is an important part of any blood pressure-lowering program, says Linda Van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Aim for potassium levels of 2,000 to 4,000 milligrams a day, she says. Top sources of potassium-rich produce include sweet potatoes, tomatoes, orange juice, potatoes, bananas, kidney beans, peas, cantaloupe, honeydew melon and dried fruits such as prunes and raisins.

4. Read food labels for sodium

Certain groups of people -- the elderly, African-Americans and those with a family history of high blood pressure -- are more likely than others to have blood pressure that's particularly sodium-sensitive. But because there's no way to tell whether any one individual is sodium-sensitive, everyone should lower his sodium intake, says Eva Obarzanek, a research nutritionist at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. How far? To 1,500 milligrams daily, about half the average American intake, she says. (Half a teaspoon of salt contains about 1,200 milligrams of sodium.)

Cutting sodium means more than going easy on the saltshaker, which contributes just 15 percent of the sodium in the typical American diet. Watch for sodium in processed foods, Obarzanek warns. That's where most of the sodium in your diet comes from, she says. Season foods with spices, herbs, lemon and salt-free seasoning blends.

5. Indulge in dark chocolate

Dark chocolate varieties contain flavanols that make blood vessels more elastic. In one study, 18 percent of patients who ate it every day saw their blood pressure decrease. Have 1/2 an ounce daily. (Make sure it contains at least 70 percent cocoa.)

6. Switch to decaf coffee

Scientists have long debated the effects of caffeine on blood pressure. Some studies have shown no effect, but one from Duke University Medical Center found that caffeine consumption of 500 milligrams -- roughly three 8-ounce cups of coffee -- increased blood pressure by 4 mmhg, and that effect lasted until bedtime. For reference, 8 ounces of drip coffee contain 100 to 125 milligrams; the same amount of tea, 50 milligrams; and an equal quantity of cola, about 40 milligrams.

Caffeine can raise blood pressure by tightening blood vessels and by magnifying the effects of stress, says Jim Lane, associate research professor at Duke and the study's lead author. "When you're under stress, your heart starts pumping a lot more blood, boosting blood pressure," he says. "And caffeine exaggerates that effect." If you drink a lot of joe, pour more decaf to protect your ticker.

7. Take up tea

Lowering high blood pressure is as easy as one, two, tea: Study participants who sipped 3 cups of a hibiscus tea daily lowered systolic blood pressure by seven points in six weeks on average, say researchers from Tufts University -- results on par with many prescription medications. Those who received a placebo drink improved their reading by only 1 point.

The phytochemicals in hibiscus are probably responsible for the large reduction in high blood pressure, say the study authors. Many herbal teas contain hibiscus; look for blends that list it near the top of the chart of ingredients -- this often indicates a higher concentration per serving.

8. Work (a little) less

Putting in more than 41 hours per week at the office raises your risk of hypertension by 15 percent, according to a University of California, Irvine, study of 24,205 California residents. Overtime makes it hard to exercise and eat healthy, says Haiou Yang, the lead researcher. It may be difficult to clock out super early in today's tough economic times, but try to leave at a decent hour -- so you can go to the gym or cook a healthy meal. Set an end-of-day message on your computer as a reminder to turn it off and go home.

9. Relax with music

Need to bring down your blood pressure a bit more than medication or lifestyle changes can do alone? The right tunes can help, according to researchers at the University of Florence in Italy. They asked 28 adults who were already taking hypertension pills to listen to soothing classical, Celtic or Indian music for 30 minutes daily while breathing slowly. After a week, the listeners had lowered their average systolic reading by 3.2 points; a month later, readings were down 4.4 points.

10. Jump for soy

A study from Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association found for the first time that replacing some of the refined carbohydrates in your diet with foods high in soy or milk protein, such as low-fat dairy, can bring down systolic blood pressure if you have hypertension or pre-hypertension.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/10/21/3462980/10-simple-ways-to-improve-your.html#tvg#ixzz1c0xfLS9R

New evidence highlights risk of comorbidities for COPD patients

It may seem amazing, from the perspective of how an alternative practitioner works, that doctors wouldn't consider the totality of each patient in the prescribing and treatment process; but at least the allopathic world is beginning to recognize the merits of considering the whole picture.  

NewsRx.com

10-07-11

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: A new study has shown that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or people with reduced lung function are at a serious risk of developing cardiovascular disease (see also Heart Disease).

The findings, which will be presented today (26 September 2011) at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Amsterdam, suggest that people with COPD and reduced lung function should be routinely screened for cardiovascular disease, as they appear to be at a considerably greater risk of it.

The issue of co-morbidities, when an individual is affected by more than one condition at the same time, is a growing problem for medical professionals. As people are living longer, the presence of co-morbid conditions will increase. Patients are often treated by a specialist for one particular symptom but as the prevalence of co-morbidities increases it will become important for all clinicians to recognise other symptoms.

It is common for patients to have both heart disease and COPD but it is largely unrecognised by doctors because of overlapping clinical manifestations. COPD diagnosis can remain unsuspected in people with heart disease, but having both conditions can lead to a much worse outlook for the individual.

Previously there was very little epidemiological evidence linking the two conditions, but this study is the first to identify that nasal symptoms and cardiovascular disease are common in people with COPD and could link the two conditions.

The researchers collected data on nasal symptoms and cardiovascular disease from 993 patients with COPD and 993 without COPD. In the latter group, the patients were divided into two categories; those with normal lung function and those with restricted lung function. 50.1% of people with COPD had cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease, stroke and hypertension, compared to people with normal lung function (41%).

The results showed that nasal symptoms were common in people who had both COPD and heart disease compared to people with normal lung function: 53% of people with COPD and heart disease had nasal symptoms compared to 35.8% in people with normal lung function and heart disease.

In addition, 62.2% of people with both restricted lung function and heart disease had nasal symptoms, demonstrating that the symptoms could be used as a marker for identifying increased risk of heart disease and COPD in people yet to be diagnosed with either condition.

Dr Anne Lindberg, from the Sunderby Hospital in Sweden, said: "Our findings are the first to shed light on the links between both nasal symptoms and cardiovascular condition, in relation to people with COPD and restrictive lung function. This has important implications for clinicians who need to understand the potential overlaps of these conditions when they are treating people with COPD. In addition to raising awareness of these co-morbidities, it will also be important to investigate these links further and look at the effect that co-morbid conditions have on exacerbations and disease progression. "

Read More: 

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=11744&Section=AGING

Tampa General & Reiki: Pioneering in East Meets West Medicine.

Kudos to the team at Tampa General for this pioneering program.

TAMPA

Christopher Neal was about to get a new heart. Doctors ran test after test to clear him for the procedure. Forms were signed. IVs were checked. Then, hours before surgeons at Tampa General Hospital cracked into his sternum, the 50-year-old man also got a dose of unconventional medicine: a Japanese healing technique called Reiki.

It was free, a hospital perk. For 35 minutes that June day, nurse Kimberly Gray used her hands to direct healing energy to Neal, a patient in the intensive care unit. A veteran of Reiki treatments, he could feel something happening.

"Her hands were burning up," he said. "Just cooking the skin where she touched."

She worked to live music, the soft plinkof a harpist.

Neal became so relaxed, he fell asleep.

Across America, Reiki enthusiasts grow in number. And while scientific research on the topic has often been inconclusive, some local hospitals have begun to embrace Reiki and similar techniques to supplement conventional medicine.

"A patient who is centered and calm is a much better partner to his doctor than a patient who is distressed," said Pamela Miles, a Reiki master and national expert.

Heart patient Neal, still recovering from surgery, welcomes any approach that helps.

Reiki practitioner Gray works on the front lines, lending her healing hands to hospital patients in need of stress relief.

Her approach seems in harmony with the hospital Peace Room, a sanctuary of friendly colors and painted butterflies.

But her work, by nature, often must take place in sterile patient rooms. She is, first and foremost, a registered nurse. For all of her soothing talk of energy and electromagnetic fields, she wears a white medical jacket and moves in a swirl of hospital activity.

She may not fit everyone's profile of a New Age spiritualist.

She pitches Reiki and healing hands — which she says are similar except for hand positioning — with the energy and articulation of a salesperson.

Patients who get better sooner and leave their hospital beds earlier save the hospital money, Gray points out. Patients who were satisfied with their visit, in part because of their Reiki treatment, are more likely to entrust the hospital with future care.

She tries to tailor the treatment to the patient — for instance, incorporating Scripture for a Christian.

Reiki is part of the hospital's Integrative Healthcare Program, which Gray coordinates.

"It's low cost, low risk and very high benefit," said Janet Davis, vice president of acute care at Tampa General.

Increasingly hospitals view alternative medicine as a potential money earner, according to the American Hospital Association. More than one-third of hospitals surveyed by the group reported that they offer one or more alternative therapies.

In the Tampa Bay area, St. Joseph's Hospital, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute and All Children's Hospital are among institutions with Reiki or healing touch programs.

But many health insurance policies won't pay for Reiki.

"We do not cover it. It's called an alternative therapy," said Mark Wright, spokesman for BlueCross BlueShield of Florida.

"In the case of something like this, it would probably take some serious proof that it's safe and effective," he said.

Doctors are often among the skeptics.

Gray's talk of quantum healing has, at times, alienated them or at least been the target of humor. She recalls one doctor asking her, "What's energy?" And later, "Have you found that universal life force yet?"

She has answers for those who want to hear them. But she knows it's more productive to point out that her treatments relax patients and help them sleep.

"Take it from the spiritual to the physiological," she said.

If doctors see the benefits, they'll be more likely to advise patients to visit her.

Dr. Paul Kornberg, medical director for pediatric rehabilitations at Tampa General, said he thinks nontraditional treatments can make patients more open to traditional ones.

"The hospital can be a very cold place," he said.

As Reiki and other healing hands techniques make their way into hospitals, there is pressure to show verifiable, quantitative results.

Gray tells of patients regaining movement and overcoming severe pain.

Outside the hospital, Reiki practitioners credit it for everything from relieving constipation to improving T-cell counts in an AIDS patient.

"The best you can do is step back and let the flow do the work," said Sam Belyea, who practices Reiki through his Tampa business, Massage Redefined.

Some are drawn to Reiki because they cannot find cures to pain or illness, he said, while cautioning, "Reiki and the word miracles should not be associated."

But unless rigorous scientific research can validate Reiki, it will continue to face criticism from some scientists and doctors.

"Medical therapy should be based on what science shows works or what science shows doesn't work," said Dr. David Gorski, managing editor of the blog Science-Based Medicine, and an associate professor of surgery at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

"Reiki is basically no different, when you boil it down, than faith healing. Let's compare and contrast. What is faith healing? Someone says they can channel the power of God into a patient and heal the patient. What is Reiki? A Reiki healer says they can channel a universal life force and heal the patient."

Davis, the Tampa General vice president, says some research already existed about Reiki when the program started. But the hospital has begun a study of its own.

She predicts that in 10 years, it will be normal for hospitals to offer alternative therapies.

"There's an art and science to all medicine," she said. "This truly is one of the more artistic sides."

Original Story: 

http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/medicine/reiki-energy-healing-complements-traditional-medicine-at-some-tampa-bay/1188125

Vitamin C : discovered to be a necessity for the nervous system.

 Do we need more convincing that vitamin C is a really important component for health? If so, here's a bit more support for that argument.

 An article published online on June 29, 2011 in the Journal of Neuroscience reveals that the eye’s nerve cells need vitamin C, which suggests the vitamin may be required by other areas of the nervous system.  Henrique von Gersdorff, PhD of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and his associates studied goldfish retinal cells, which are similar to those found in humans. 

 They found that the cells’ GABA-type receptors, which assist in the modulation of communication between nerve cells, cease to function properly in the absence of vitamin C.  Because these cells are a type of brain cell, the researchers believe that GABA receptors in other parts of the brain may also need vitamin C, and that the vitamin’s antioxidant property helps preserve the cells and receptors from breakdown due to oxidative stress.  "We found that cells in the retina need to be 'bathed' in relatively high doses of vitamin C, inside and out, to function properly," commented Dr von Gersdorff, who is a senior scientist at OHSU's Vollum Institute "Because the retina is part of the central nervous system, this suggests there's likely an important role for vitamin C throughout our brains, to a degree we had not realized before . . .

 Perhaps the brain is the last place you want to lose vitamin C." The findings may have implications for other diseases caused by dysfunction of nerve cells in the retina and brain due to GABA receptor malfunction.   "For example, maybe a vitamin C-rich diet could be neuroprotective for the retina — for people who are especially prone to glaucoma," Dr von Gersdorff stated. "This is speculative and there is much to learn. But this research provides some important insights and will lead to the generation of new hypotheses and potential treatment strategies."

http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2011_07.htm#Nerves-need-vitamin-C

USA Today: Food Can Act As Medicine / Top 5

In an interesting article from mainstream media, USA Today makes notes about the awakening in the American diet of natural foods that also act as positive health suppliments. 

Say you eat yogurt for your health, and most Americans will know what you mean: You are targeting that food's bone-building calcium and gut-friendly probiotics.

In fact, Americans are much more aware of the health benefits of specific "functional" foods than they were a decade ago, a survey reports today.

When the International Food Information Council began its survey in 1998, "only about three-fourths of Americans could name a food and its related health benefits," says the group's Elizabeth Rahavi. "Now, almost nine out of 10 can. A lot has to do with scientific studies coming out, talking about the benefits of a food and its relationship to good health."

The IFIC defines functional foods as "foods or food components that may provide benefits beyond basic nutrition."

"People are 1,000% more conscious of the fact that food can act as medicine and help prevent lots of diseases," says Jean Carper, author of several best-selling books about functional food.

With such broad awareness, are people actually eating health foods? "Only about a third of Americans say they're making dietary changes because of a health condition," Rahavi says. More are "making dietary changes because they want to improve their overall well-being, so they have energy to go about their day."

Cost, taste and availability were the key reasons given for not eating health foods.

"Expense comes out on top," Rahavi says. "People have this perception that functional foods are more expensive, but in reality, when you look at something like a whole-grain cereal or a yogurt, it's not."

Top 5 functional foods

1. Salmon: Heart, memory, brain

2. Blueberries: Anti-aging

3. Apples: Lung function (be sure to eat the apple skin)

4. Nuts: Antioxidants, good fat

5. Legumes: Blood sugar, heart

(c) Copyright 2011 USA TODAY 

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=11483&Section=Nutrition