Green (Living) Review: healthy living

Showing posts with label healthy living. Show all posts

Let them get dirty

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Warning! I am going to be controversial again...

Mud and dirt is good for your children but if you don't like washing their dirty clothes – even their play clothes – all the time then let them get dirty naked. It is good for them and boosts their immune system no end, especially both together. Nudity for children, especially boys, also ads additional metal health benefits due to the stimulation of the skin (so say some experts).

It turns out that both getting dirty and being naked as much as possible is the best way to boost the immune system of children no end. Being naked stimulates, in addition to all the other benefits, nerves and also being in that state releases various hormones that are beneficial during development but also equally good for the adult.

When I was a child we could get dirty as much as possible – and by the gods did we ever – without having to worry about our parents and elders chiding us about our dirty clothes. We, at least the boys, wore none. It was easier, so our parents' and elders' reckoning to wash us than to continuously having to wash our clothes. It was also a great deal cheaper as we needed fewer clothes.

While this was at a time when we did not have much in the way of clothes anyway, and not much of anything really, and washing them was not always as easy as it is for most folks today, the fact that both dirt and nudity were good for us made up for it all. Not that we minded being naked (and dirty) one bit; in fact we hated the very idea of wearing clothes.

I have yet to encounter a young child, especially a boy, who would not prefer being naked over being dressed, especially when that permits him to get as dirty as he likes without getting told off for it by his parents or carers. Naked he can splash in the muddy waters and roll in dirt and mud as much as he likes, and wipe his hands not on his clothes but on himself. All that is needed at the end is to hose him down (literally).

Dirty kids equal healthy kids

Emerging research points out that the backyard garden just may be the cure for what ails us. But then that is, basically, already something that our grandparents and great-grandparents knew. Many a grandmother will have said: “A little dirt does not hurt”. And right she was. In fact, it turns out it is actually good for kids (and us all).

While in today's Western culture, children with soiled feet and grass-stained knees are hurriedly rushed to the bathtub and slathered with antibacterial soap, the loss of our connection to the garden and its dirt means a loss of connection to all the good microbes that live inside it. Too much bathing, showering and such is not good for the children and their immune system either.

Our industrialized world has become squeaky clean – and chronically ill. Many children today are prevented from going outside to play, whether to keep them clean or due to an inflammatory condition, such as allergies, asthma or eczema. Many of these ailments can be traced to a lack of good dirt in our own bodies. The problem, as it seems, may actually turn out to be the solution.

Worldwide studies based on children's lifestyles are proving that early exposure to a healthy microbiome – the community of bacteria living in your body – is a key factor to a strong immune system later in life.

The so-called anti-bacterial soaps, etc., are also seen, now, finally, as a problem rather than a benefit as they destroy all bacteria, including those that we actually need, and especially the young body in order to build a strong immune system.

Grandmothers all around the world used to say: “A little dirt does not hurt” and it turns out that not only does a little dirt not hurt but actually is good for us all and exposing – literally – the whole body to it, and those bacteria that it contains, is better still. This is probably one of the reasons why nudist children are less prone to all those ailments than children who do not come from families who live a natural life in the nude, the way that we all were made.

Yoghurt protects children and pregnant women from environmental poisoning

Yogurt containing probiotic bacteria successfully protected children and pregnant women against poisoning from heavy metal exposure, according to a new study.

Working with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Canadian and Tanzanian researchers created and distributed a special yogurt containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus bacteria and observed the outcomes against a control group.

A research team from the Canadian Centre for Human Microbiome and Probiotics, led by Dr. Gregor Reid, studied how microbes could protect against environmental health damage in poor parts of the world.

Their lab research indicated that L. rhamnosus had a great affinity for binding toxic heavy metals. Working with this knowledge, the team hypothesized that regularly consuming this probiotic strain could prevent metals from being absorbed from the diet.

Working with the Western Heads East organization, Dr. Reid had already established a network of community kitchens in Mwanza, Tanzania to produce a probiotic yogurt for the local population. Mwanza is located on the shores of Lake Victoria, which is known to be polluted with pesticides and toxic metals including mercury.

The team utilized this network to produce and distribute a new type of yogurt containing L. rhamnosus. The special yogurt was distributed to a group of pregnant women and a group of children. The researchers measured the baseline and post-yogurt levels of toxic metals.

The team found a significant protective effect of the probiotic against mercury and arsenic in the pregnant women. This is important as "reduction in these compounds in the mothers could presumably decrease negative developmental effects in their fetus and newborns," according to Dr. Reid. While the results obtained in the children studied showed benefits and lower toxin levels, the sample size and duration of treatment did not allow statistical significance.

The researchers were excited by the potential of basic foodstuffs to provide preventative protection for pregnant women worldwide. They are currently investigating lactobacilli with higher and even more specific mechanisms of sequestering mercury.

Source: ClickGreen

The Extinction of Quiet

Noise pollution is linked to health problems and some argue it interferes with our natural connection to the earth. As the world’s quiet places disappear, are we forgetting how to listen?

In 1989, “acoustic ecologist” Gordon Hempton received a grant to document and record the natural sounds of Washington state. He identified 21 wilderness places to record—sites unsullied by the sounds of traffic, aviation, construction, and other man-made noise. Twenty-five years later, only three of those sites remain muted.

Little by little, our world is becoming louder, with the creeping spread of noise pollution infiltrating our homes, our workplaces, and even our wilderness. Hempton, whose work for the past 30 years has been traveling the world to survey and record natural sound, says he’s seen firsthand how the hum, ping, and roar of modern life has taken over our soundscape. By his count, the United States has only 12 remaining truly “quiet places,” which he defines as somewhere you can go for at least 15 minutes without hearing artificial sound at dawn, the hour when sound travels farthest.

“That dawn period is a really important time, because it’s when wildlife can vocalize and send their message the greatest distance with the least energy,” he says. “It’s a beautiful time to listen.”

With his nonprofit organization, the One Square Inch of Silence Foundation, Hempton is seeking to designate a “silence sanctuary” within the Hoh Rain Forest at Olympic National Park. While preserves have been created to protect rivers, forests, and even the darkness of the night sky, he notes, “There is not one place on planet Earth set off-limits to noise pollution.”

While exposure to high noise levels has long been a known cause of hearing loss in humans, recent studies have also linked noise pollution to conditions like heart disease, hypertension, and stroke.

Researchers are also studying the impact of industrial and urban noise on the natural environment. A 2009 study in the journal Current Biology found that noise pollution reduces biodiversity by increasing the population of urban-adapted birds and driving out more noise-shy species. A study published in the journal Animal Behaviour in 2007 found that excessive noise disrupted the pair bonds of zebra finches, perhaps by drowning out the birds’ mating calls. Numerous studies have also pointed to the negative effects of underwater noise pollution, including a 2013 study published in Ethnobiology and Conservation that found that noise from motorboats was disrupting the communication of estuarine dolphins in Brazil.

Hempton calls noise pollution “the canary in the coal mine,” noting that the sounds that impact our acoustic environment—the rush of freeway traffic or the roar of a jet passing overhead—are closely tied with our consumption of fossil fuels.

Grounding Is a Key Mechanism by Which Your Body Maintains Health

Have you ever noticed how good it feels to walk barefoot on a sandy beach, or in a forest? There is a reason for that—it’s called the grounding effect. The reason for this sense of well-being is due to the fact that you’re receiving a surge of potent healing electrons from the ground.

The earth has a slightly negative charge, so when you stand barefoot on that sand, electrons from the earth flow into your body, giving you a virtual “transfusion” of healing power.

The featured documentary, The Grounded 2, is a sequel to the film The Grounded, released in 2013. The sequel features Step Sinatra, the son of cardiologist Stephen Sinatra MD, astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, and yours truly, among many others.

Step was a Wall Street trader until his health suddenly began to decline, bringing him to the brink of death. He credits his ultimate recovery to learning about grounding, along with a switch to an all-organic diet.

In 2010, his father, Dr. Stephen Sinatra released a book on the healing power of grounding called Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?, co-authored with Clint Ober, one of the pioneers in this field.

The Ultimate Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory

Grounding or Earthing is defined as placing one’s bare feet on the ground whether it be dirt, grass, sand, or concrete (especially when humid or wet). When you ground to the electron-enriched earth, an improved balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system occurs.

The earth is a natural source of electrons and subtle electrical fields, which are essential for proper functioning of immune systems, circulation, synchronization of biorhythms and other physiological processes and may actually be the most effective, essential, least expensive, and easiest to attain antioxidant.

Modern science has thoroughly documented the connection between inflammation and all of the chronic diseases, including the diseases of aging and the aging process itself. It is important to understand that inflammation is a condition that can be reduced or prevented by grounding your body to the Earth, the way virtually all of your ancestors have done for hundreds if not thousands of generations.

4 Daily Tweaks to Reduce Inflammation

Try these four lifestyle changes to help reduce inflammation.

A healthy diet goes a long way, but add in these simple everyday changes and you can help get inflammation under control for years to come.

Get more sleep: Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta found that sleep deprivation or poor sleep quality raises inflammation in the body. “Sleep—at least seven and a half to eight hours a night—is extremely useful for recharging the body and decreasing inflammatory hormones like cortisol and adrenaline,” says doctor Jeffrey Morrison, author of Cleanse Your Body, Clear Your Mind. “It’s these stress hormones that make the body more susceptible to inflammation.” Finding it hard to sleep at night? Don’t use electronic devices (including TV, computer or your smartphone) for at least two hours before going to bed. Studies have shown that the blue light emitted by these devices can interfere with the production of a key sleep hormone, melatonin. Also, shut off your Wi-Fi before you go to bed; some experts believe the signals can interfere with our bodies’ own electrical impulses during the night—making us more agitated or anxious and unable to sleep soundly.

• Maintain a healthy weight: Fat causes inflammation, says New Jersey-based integrative doctor Kristine Gedroic. “Your fat is not the product of your inflammation; it becomes the source of your inflammation.” For good health, we must keep our weight within a healthy range. Excess weight around the middle, particularly, is an active source of hormones and inflammatory compounds. When we lose excess weight, our bodies’ inflammation levels decrease. One study at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that when overweight or obese women dropped at least 5 percent of their body weight, they had measurable declines in markers of inflammation.

• Exercise regularly: A University of Illinois study found that exercise seems to help heal chronic inflammation in the skin—a benefit that could be extrapolated to the entire body, the researchers say. The study, published in the American Journal of Physiology, found that exercise helps increase blood flow in the body and decreases the amount of inflammatory molecules released in the body. Another study—conducted by Mark Hamer, an epidemiologist at University College London—found that just two and a half hours of moderate exercise per week (about 20 minutes a day) reduced markers of inflammation by 12 percent. The reason? When we exercise, our fat and muscle tissues release big bursts of proteins called cytokines into our bloodstream, helping inflammation to drop.