Health

Health Nugget – The Blessing of Health Reform

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It was the autumn of 1978 when we arrived at Wildwood Sanitarium and Hospital to begin classes, home training, and work, and I selected the nurse’s training program. I did not realize how abundantly God would bless that choice in the years to come, not only for me, but also for many others.

In our world today, health problems are rampant. In Testimonies, vol. 3, 139, Sister White says, “The violation of physical law, and the consequence, human suffering, have so long prevailed that men and women look upon the present state of sickness, suffering, debility, and premature death as the appointed lot of humanity. Man came from the hand of his Creator perfect and beautiful in form, and so filled with vital force that it was more than a thousand years before his corrupt appetite and passions, and general violations of physical law, were sensibly felt upon the race. More recent generations have felt the pressure of infirmity and disease still more rapidly and heavily with every generation. The vital forces have been greatly weakened by the indulgence of appetite and lustful passion.”

She further states that “Sickness, suffering, and death are work of an antagonistic power. Satan is the destroyer; God is the restorer.” Counsels on Health, 168

“The words spoken to Israel are true today of those who recover health of body, or health of soul: ‘I am the Lord that healeth thee.’

“The desire of God for every human being is expressed in the words, ‘Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.’ 3 John 2.” The Ministry of Healing, 113

“The Lord desires us to obey the laws of health and life. He holds each one responsible to care properly for his body that it may be kept in health.” Letter 123, 1903.

Sister White also gives the following counsel regarding what is the most important subject to be taught in childhood:

“A practical knowledge of the science of life is necessary in order to glorify God in our bodies. It is therefore of the highest importance that among studies selected for childhood, physiology should occupy the first place.” Healthful Living, 13

Unfortunately, I think that most of us did not receive this most wonderful and practical knowledge in our childhood, but it is not too late to begin at whatever age you are, as I was already 40 when I began it at Wildwood.

Let us consider what the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

And Sister White says, “We are God’s workmanship, and His word declares that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’ He has prepared this living habitation [our body] for the mind; it is ‘curiously wrought,’ a temple which the Lord Himself has fitted up for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.” Healthful Living, 9

True Medical Missionary Work and the Great Final Test

“The truth for this time, the third angel’s message, is to be proclaimed with a loud voice [the power of the Holy Spirit] as we approach the great final test. This test must come to the churches in connection with true medical missionary work. We are told that in time of trouble ‘there will be sick ones, plenty of them, that will need help’ so because of the need, but also ‘for their own sake, they should, while they have opportunity, become intelligent in regard to disease, its causes, prevention and cure, and those who will do this will find a field of labor anywhere.’ ” Pamphlet 144, 29, 30

Oh, friend, it seems that we are now entering the time. Now is our opportunity to “become intelligent in regard to disease, its cause, prevention and cure.”

“Nature will want some assistance to bring things to their proper condition, which may be found in the simplest remedies, especially in the use of nature’s own furnished remedies—pure air, and with precious knowledge of how to breathe; pure water, with a knowledge of how to apply it; plenty of sunlight in every room of the house if possible, and with an intelligent knowledge of what advantages are to be gained by its use. All these are powerful in their efficiency, and the patient who has obtained a knowledge of how to eat and dress healthfully may live for comfort, for peace, for health, and will not be prevailed upon to put to his lips drugs, which, in the place of helping nature, paralyzes her powers. If the sick who are suffering will do only as well as they know in regard to living out the principles of health reform perseveringly, then they will in nine cases out of ten recover from their ailments.” Medical Ministry, 223, 224

“The true method of healing the sick is to tell them of the herbs that grow for the benefit of man. … They can themselves administer the simple herbs if necessary.

“To educate the human family that the doctor alone knows all the ills of infants and persons of every age is false teaching, and the sooner we as a people stand on the principles of health reform, the greater will be the blessing that will come to those who would do true medical work.” Pamphlet 144, 13

“[W]hen the plagues of God shall be all around you, you will then see the principles of health reform and strict temperance in all things—that temperance alone is the foundation of all the graces that come from God, the foundation of all victories to be gained.” Temperance, 201

The blessing of health reform will come to all who live its principles to the glory and honor of God. [Emphasis supplied.]

Health Nugget – The Importance of the Sense of Taste

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As we all know, taste is a matter of, well taste … But what exactly is taste? Taste is one of our five senses. The sense of taste is really just our ability to perceive a flavor of a given food or dish with our tongue in association with our senses of smell and touch. Our tongues have the ability to distinguish between five basic tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (meaty or savory). A couple of additional tastes, probably more likely sensed in association with our sense of smell, are pungent and astringent. The rich diversity of taste sensations arise from the wide-ranging combinations of these five basic tastes, such as the sweet-and-sour taste we experience when we drink sweet lemonade or sweet-and-sour sauce with a favorite Chinese dish.

For a long time, scientists believed that it is the taste buds, located at different points on our tongue, that help us experience taste, but additional research has disproven this belief. While it is true that the edge of the tongue has more taste buds than the base and is thus more sensitive, the tongue is not divided into different types of taste. The one exception to this rule is the bitter taste, which is located chiefly at the rear of the tongue.

Approximately 10,000 taste buds,  pear-shaped structures with millions of receptors (sensory cells), are the components in the tongue that register taste. They are located around small structures on the upper surface of the tongue, the roof of the mouth, and back of the throat known as the gustatory papillae. Adults have between 2,000–4,000 of these papillae on their tongue.

Thanks to a special nerve in the mouth and throat, we are able to experience “hot” which is really not a flavor, but is perceived through free nerve endings in this nerve. In this way we are able to tell if a dish seasoned with a hot spice such as pepper, chili or curry is unpleasant or even painful.

Sensory cells have a lifespan of just ten days, but are constantly being renewed. However, as we age, our sense of taste deteriorates because the renewal process slows so that the number of sensory cells declines over the course of time. But here’s a tip: make generous use of fresh herbs when seasoning your food. This enables us to continue to have a rewarding taste experience as we age thanks to our other senses, including our sense of smell.

Whenever we eat a salty soup or a sweet dessert, the sensory cells in the taste buds are activated and taste signals travel from the mouth by way of the cranial nerves to the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the thalamus and on to the cortex, where you become aware of what you are tasting and can then respond appropriately. Appropriately would mean if it tastes good, you swallow and enjoy it, but if it tastes bad or harmful, you spit it out. Whew! Those taste signals are really hard workers.

Taste, however, is actually a multisensory phenomenon. While the sense of taste gives basic information about sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory, most of the food experience, how a blueberry tastes different than a raspberry, for example, depends on the sense of smell.

When we chew food or sip an aromatic beverage, chemicals are converted to vapor in the air passages connecting the mouth with the back of the nose. This stimulates olfactory receptors and allows us to realize the subtleties of flavor. Other aspects of the taste experience, such as food texture and temperature, engage additional senses.

It is interesting that while humans have five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—the knowledge of sight and hearing has played a more important role in understanding how the brain interprets sensory impressions.

However, Dr. Preet Bano Singh, Postdoctoral Fellow on the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Oslo, finds it quite surprising that the senses of taste and smell receive so little attention because taste is actually essential to life.

“If the sense of taste is impaired, it may often negatively affect [a person’s] food intake, nutritional status and consequently health condition. Senses of smell and taste are vital in identification of valuable nutrients in the environment, procurement of adequate energy and central to survival. That is an important reason why research into taste and smell should receive just as much attention as the other senses,” says Dr. Singh.

Although we have been talking about the senses of taste and smell, the enjoyment of food involves more than just these two senses. The different sounds that accompany food preparation, like boiling in a pot, running the blender, a knife slicing through an onion or the timer going off when the food is fully cooked, involves our sense of hearing. Our sense of sight allows us to appreciate the presentation of well-prepared food, including the play of various colors, on our plate. The sense of touch is also involved as the food touches our tongue and we experience the different textures and nuances of the food as we chew.

What a wonderful God we have! We must eat to survive and yet He made not only good, nutritious food, but He did so with such a variety of flavors, and made them in such a way so as to be a pleasant experience in the preparing as much as in the eating.

Yes indeed, what a wonderful God!

Sources: Alimentarium.com; The Dana Foundation; Medicalexpress.com Senses of Taste and Smell More Important Than We Think by Astrid Skiftesvik Bjørkeng, University of Oslo

Keys to Stress Control

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It is a simple and obvious fact that the matter of stress control is dependent not merely on the amount of stress, but on the amount of the power to deal with it. A little stress can be fatal if there is nothing with which to deal with it. While a large amount of stress can be met if there is sufficient strength to deal with it.

God is developing a group of people who will go through the greatest period of stress that the world has ever seen. Daniel 12:1, last part, foretells it: “There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation … and at that time Your people shall be delivered, everyone who is written in the book.” The great purpose of the threefold message of Revelation 14 is to develop a people who can deal with unprecedented stress. Verse 12 describes these people: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” They are patient, they endure, they do not wilt, they do not faint, they do not fail. They have the faith of Jesus.

God has a program to get His people ready. Ephesians 4:8–14 outlines this program: “… ‘When He [Jesus] ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’ … He Himself gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; for the equipping [perfecting] of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying [building up] of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, and in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”

God’s program is meant to get His people ready so they will not be carried about with every wind of doctrine, cunning, or deceitfulness. This program is designed to resist stress and to equip God’s people with the gifts He has for them. Ephesians 4:7 says, “But to each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” That is immeasurable.

God gives us a revelation of His will in the Bible, which if studied and accepted, believed and received, will keep us from all the stresses around us. But to be of any value to us, that book must be of unquestioned authority. It is all or nothing, genuine or counterfeit, true or false. This is the way with every message claiming to come from God. It can either be depended upon fully and completely, or it must be rejected as a base counterfeit.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he said that he had met God there. When Daniel wrote his book, he said he saw visions of God, the angels of God, the Son of God and what he wrote down was what he was told to write. When John wrote the book of Revelation, we find him telling again and again of his interviews with Jesus and Gabriel.

The men who wrote the Bible are either telling the truth or they are not. There can be no neutral ground. It is these gifts that God has put in His church to make us able to meet stresses. When we read the promises of God, whether we read them in Genesis or in the Psalms, in Daniel or Zechariah, Matthew, or scriptures written by Peter or Paul, if God is speaking, we are reading the word of the living God and that has power in it to meet any stress.

Think of promises like: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10. But if that is only Isaiah’s view of God, it is an awful offer to make to a poor, sinking soul. If what Isaiah wrote is the true word of the living God, then it is hope and it is quick, powerful, living, and full of help for every struggling soul. The power to meet stress all hinges upon whether or not we find the Bible to be what it claims to be—the word of the living God. And the greater the crisis, the greater must be the power to deal with that stress. God has promised to give us all the power of the living word of God to help in the ever increasing crisis into which we are now entering.

Let us look at the gifts God has given. He gave some to be apostles—Peter, James, John, Matthew; others to be prophets—Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, John. The apostle Peter tells us that all wrote by inspiration in 2 Peter 1:21: “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” This statement is either true or false, friends. We may not be prophets, but we can all read the words of the prophets, and share the words of the prophets. When we share the words of the prophets, we are sharing the words written by the men who were moved to do so by the Holy Spirit. If we believe all of this is true, we can meet today’s stresses and those that are coming. If we do not believe, we will be confused and terror stricken as we view the conditions in the world today.

Jesus foretold our time saying, “ ‘… men’s hearts failing them for fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ ” Luke 21:26. But God’s people need not be terror stricken. When these things happen, Jesus says, “ ‘… look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.’ ” Luke 21:28. The very things that are filling the hearts of men with fear are the tokens of our deliverance, omens of the coming King. Why? Because we believe the Bible. It is that simple.

All of us, in the various experiences of life—physicians and nurses in the medical profession, parents in the home, teachers at school, missionaries in the field—will deal with many stressful situations that affect our physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. But God intends that every one of His people will be able to meet these stresses because he or she is solid in the word of God, knows and believes His promises, and finds them to be true in his or her individual experience. God is developing a group of people who can meet unmoved the coming hurricane-force winds of strife, because they are anchored fast in the word of God.

Here is a very beautiful and practical point. The Bible, which was written by men filled with the Holy Spirit, tells us that in the last days God will have a church particularly designated as the remnant who will not only keep the commandments of God, but also will have this gift of prophecy.

Revelation 12:17 says, “And the dragon [Satan] was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Satan was and is enraged. Sometimes he roars and is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and he always is seeking to devour the flock, to destroy the church.

What is the testimony of Jesus Christ? Revelation 19:10, last part, tells us, “… For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” It is this Spirit that spoke through the prophets such as Isaiah, Daniel, and John. The whole Bible is the testimony of Jesus. In these last days, the testimony of Jesus will speak again because of the remnant of her seed. Is there anything left after the remnant? No, the remnant is the end, the last of something. We find in Joel 2 and Acts 2 that God speaks of the restoration and manifestation of the prophetic gift in the last days. This gift is to keep the people of God from being tossed about and driven by every wind of doctrine. It keeps them because they believe it 100 percent.

The manifestation of the gift of prophecy in this movement is the testimony of Jesus, but how shall we know? Because Matthew 7:15 says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” The first word in this verse is beware which means to look out, take care, watch. Don’t swallow everything, don’t accept everything. Verse 16 adds, “You will know them by their fruits.” We know if a prophet is true or false by considering their fruit. The fruit is displayed in the lives of those who accept that prophet’s writings. Do people bear good fruit if they accept the Bible as the word of God and follow it? What about the people who accept the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy? Have you accepted them in your life? What kind of fruit do you bear? Does seeing the fruit borne out in the lives of those who wrote and accepted the Bible and the gift of prophecy build confidence in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and loyalty to the law of God?

What about the great health program that God has given His people through His gift of prophecy? Is that good fruit or bad fruit? Has it done anything for us? Can we testify that we have found in the writings of Ellen White a healthful way of life that we know has done great things for us physically? But far more important than any physical health, far more important than any successful way of life, is what this gift has done to lead people to Jesus. It has given them a deep, sweet, settled peace.

One might say, “I know someone who reads the Testimonies all the time, but that has not made them happy.” There are many people like that. And some people read the Bible, and it does not make them happy. But should we toss away our Bibles and the Testimonies because not everyone finds happiness in them? There are people who have gotten sick eating food, but does that make us quit eating food? When someone gets sick from eating food, it likely is because they need help in proper selection or for some other reason. The answer is not to quit eating food, rather it is to offer help in knowing how, what, and when to eat. It is the same with the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy.

Testimonies, vol. 5, 675, 676 tells us: “Satan has ability to suggest doubts and to devise objections to the pointed testimony that God sends, and many think it a virtue, a mark of intelligence in them, to be unbelieving and to question and quibble. Those who desire to doubt will have plenty of room.” If I want to doubt, will God let me? God left us free to choose belief or doubt. That freedom of the will relates not merely to our actions, but to our beliefs. God will not force our muscles, neither will He compel our minds. “God does not propose to remove all occasion for unbelief. He gives evidence, which must be carefully investigated with a humble mind and a teachable spirit, and all should decide from the weight of evidence. God gives sufficient evidence for the candid mind to believe; but he who turns from the weight of evidence because there are a few things which he cannot make plain to his finite understanding will be left in the cold, chilling atmosphere of unbelief and questioning doubts, and will make shipwreck of faith.” Ibid.

Do you understand everything in the Bible? Do you believe it totally, or do you just believe the parts you can understand? O friend, believe the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We need it all. “… ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Matthew 4:4. We should be thankful for the living word. As you keep studying it, it will become sweeter, better, richer to your soul. And we can look forward to continuing our studies with the writers of each book for the endless ages of eternity.

Do you ever find any problems in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy? They are there. But, friends, the same problems that are in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy are in the Bible. Show me one problem, one question, one quibble about the writings of Ellen White and I will produce a similar one in the Bible. That does not mean that we question the validity of either one, rather it means that we believe both because we hear Jesus speaking. Somebody says, “Hasn’t there been evidence that some things are copied?” Did you know that there are some things in the Bible that were copied? If you compare all four books of Kings and Chronicles you will find that one copied from the other. If you read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you will find verse after verse in many of the chapters that are either exactly the same or almost the same. Does the Holy Spirit confine Himself? No. The Holy Spirit is perfectly willing for the prophet to use truth wherever found. The important thing is not that the prophet who wrote it down originated it, but whether it is truth that originated with Jesus.

W.C. White, speaking of his mother, wrote the following in 1933: “In her early experience, when she was sorely distressed over the difficulty of putting into human language the revelations of truth that had been imparted to her, she was reminded of the fact that all wisdom and knowledge comes from God. And she was assured that God would bestow grace and guidance. She was told that in the reading of religious books and journals she would find precious gems of truth expressed in acceptable language and that she would be given help from heaven to recognize these and to separate them from the rubbish of error with which they were sometimes associated.” Praise the Lord for the gift of inspiration. Inspiration is not a matter of God dictating by the Holy Spirit the words as an executive dictates to a secretary. In the Bible we see the prophets being given visions and then left to themselves, aided by the Holy Spirit, to pick out the words they would use to describe the things they saw. God has used many different agencies, including the Holy Spirit and angels, to communicate His word. The important thing is that the final production is the testimony of Jesus.

Bringing all of this back to how it relates to stress, we see that it should make all the difference to us whether we are listening to the testimony of Jesus or whether we are merely reading the ideas of some human being. Test and prove for yourself that the Bible is the voice of Jesus to your soul, and therefore, you will find peace and help, comfort and assurance in the promises contained therein, as well as the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy, for both are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Someone may be thinking, isn’t the Bible enough? Yes, the Bible is enough. In fact, the Bible itself teaches that the ten commandments are enough. Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.” Genesis to Revelation is an expansion of the law and in the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy we have the divine magnifying glass upon the whole Bible. Thank God for all the help He has given us. He tells us that He will, by His mercy, bring us back onto the path if we will follow Him, and this should cause us to rejoice. What leads to the Bible leads to Christ and obedience to the law. The fruit of it is a people made ready for the coming of the Lord.

Every promise in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy is a beautiful, personal promise from Jesus with your name on it. Will you take the promises of God found in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy and claim them and prove them as your own? Will you thank God for them? Jesus says, “And try Me now in this … if I will open for you the windows of heaven and pour for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10, last part. We must not ask only for what we need or want; we must ask for what He promises, believing that God will do all that He has promised to do and thank Him for His wonderful love.

When we need help in knowing that the Bible is God’s word, in knowing that the Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus, or in knowing how to claim these promises for ourselves, God will help us. With His help we will meet all the stresses of daily life, the increasing stresses of tomorrow, next week, next month, and we will be made ready to meet the great stresses of the closing conflict and to stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, triumphant over all that the enemy has brought against us.

Elder W. D. Frazee studied the Medical Missionary Course at the College of Medical Evangelists in Loma Linda, California. He was called to Utah as a gospel medical evangelist. During the Great Depression, when the church could not afford to hire any assistants, Elder Frazee began inviting professionals to join him as volunteers. Thus began a faith ministry that would become the foundation for the establishment of the Wildwood Medical Missionary Institute in 1942. He believed that each person is unique, specially designed by the Lord, of infinite value, and has a special place and mission in this world which only he or she can fill. His life followed this principle and encouraged others to do the same.

Health – The Health Benefits of Singing

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Many studies done over a number of years have focused on the health benefits of singing, and the evidence is overwhelming: singing is good for you.

Singing strengthens the health, broadens the mind, refines the intellect, expands the imagination, makes one happy and gives life a little added zest.

Singing boosts the immune system by causing the body to generate immunoglobin A, a protein considered a first line of defense against respiratory infections. It also increases the production of hydrocortisone, an anti-stress hormone.

Singing releases endorphins into your system and makes you feel uplifted and energized. People who sing are frequently healthier than people who don’t.

Singing gives the lungs a workout. It makes us breathe more deeply than many other forms of strenuous exercise. We take in more oxygen and in turn, our aerobic capacity is improved and we can experience a release of muscle tension.

All of these things—a more robust immune system, a happier mood, stronger lungs, reduced stress and improved circulation—can help prolong life.

And, singing is free. Nearly everyone has the ability, if not perfect tone, to sing for their entire lifetime. Greg Cohen of George Washington University tracked a Senior Singers Chorale in Arlington, Virginia. The chorale singers’ average age is 80—the youngest is 65 and the oldest 96. Preliminary data shows the singers suffer less depression, make fewer doctor visits a year, take fewer medications and have increased their other activities. So singing can provide an inexpensive, easily accessible and powerful way to improve physiological and psychological well-being.

Singing starts in infancy. Babies are known to sing to themselves in moments of absolute emotional tranquility. Like the infant, we sing to ourselves because we feel good. We often find ourselves humming along with a tune or singing in the car or the shower which, in turn, makes us feel even better.

Preschool and kindergarten teachers have found that children learn best through singing, and for a long time, have used music to help children learn and remember material. Music is used to engage the children in activities that are associated with the songs they are singing. Music, including singing, also helps to strengthen math skills.

In music therapy, certain sounds benefit particular parts of the body. For example:

  • Singing the short-a sound, as in ahh, will help banish the blues. It forces oxygen into the blood, which signals the brain to release mood-lifting endorphins.
  • To boost alertness, make the long-e sound, as in emit. It stimulates the pineal gland, which controls the body’s biological clock.
  • Singing the short-e sound, as in echo, stimulates the thyroid gland, which secretes hormones that control the speed of digestion and other bodily processes.
  • Singing the long-o sound, as in ocean, stimulates the pancreas, which regulates blood sugar.
  • To strengthen immunity, sing the double-o sound, as in too. This activates the spleen, which regulates the production of infection fighting white blood cells.

So, think about this: when a choir does vocal exercises that include ahh, a, e, o and oo, they are not only developing flexibility and helping to control pitch and tone—which is the purpose of vocalizing—they have just made themselves happy, given themselves a boost of energy, helped to regulate their blood sugar and have strengthened their immune system. This is one of the reasons why choral singers look to be in a state of euphoric happiness when they sing.

So, to summarize here are a few of the health benefits gained from singing:

  • improves mood
  • effective stress reliever
  • improves sleep
  • releases pain-relieving endorphins
  • improves posture
  • increases lung capacity
  • clears the sinuses and respiratory tubes
  • tones your facial and stomach muscles
  • tones abdominal and intercostal muscles and the diaphragm
  • stimulates circulation

And in addition, a few of the emotional and psychological benefits are:

  • strengthens concentration and memory
  • broadens expressive communication
  • adds a rich, more pleasant quality to speech
  • stimulates insight into prose and poetry and piques interest in the deeper meaning of words
  • is an ageless enjoyment—you are never too young or too old
  • is therapeutic
  • improves mental alertness
  • increases poise and presentation skills
  • increases confidence

And the best part is, you don’t have to be a world-class singer to enjoy all of these benefits. Singing enriches the life far beyond notes and music. Add a healthy, new dimension to your life—SING!

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

Singing with grace in our hearts to God hymns, scripture songs and uplifting songs of worship are ways we can let the word dwell in us richly. At such times when words alone aren’t enough to convey the depth of our thankfulness or praise to the Lord, singing helps open our heart to Him in a way that words may be difficult to express. So let us sing for health and praise to our God!

“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all people. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised.” Psalm 96:1–4, first part

Adapted from the following sources: Professor Graham Welch, Director of Educational Research, University of Surrey, Roehampton, UK; Jovita Wallace, Sound Therapist; www.barbershop.org/the-health-benefits-of-singing; Patty Mills, American Academy of Teachers of Singing

Health Nugget – Gratitude

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How can I sing praises when things are so bad?

“It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful people who are happy.”

The scientific evidence is conclusive when it comes to mood, outlook, and health. Happy people live 7–10 years longer than unhappy people. Additionally, optimistic people have a 77% lower risk of heart disease than pessimistic people. But how can you be happier and more optimistic in the world we live in today?

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” we are often told. And while it can be hard to avoid self-pity entirely, mentally strong people choose to exchange self-pity for gratitude.

Gratitude is more than just an adjective. It is a habit and practice that may actually change your perception of well-being. We all have the ability and opportunity to cultivate gratitude. Rather than complain about the things we think we deserve, we should take a few moments to focus on all that we have. Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is one of the simplest ways to improve your satisfaction with life.

“Gratitude is good medicine,” says Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and author of The Little Book of Gratitude.

“Clinical trials indicate that the practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life. …”

It appears that being grateful is the gift that seriously keeps on giving.

Here’s a simple way to get started:

Write these down before you go to bed or share them around the dinner table. In five minutes, you can practice gratitude from the heart.

  1. Health: What did your body do for you today?

Did you know you take about eight million breaths a year? Your feet can take you up a mountain; your arms can hold someone you love. Take a minute to marvel at the finely-tuned machinery of your body, and be thankful for the steps you take every day to keep it safe and healthy.

  1. Eat: What did you feed your body to nourish yourself today?

Was it an old favorite, something you made or something new and different? If you eat three meals a day, you’ll eat about a thousand meals this year! Take a minute to savor something especially yummy.

  1. Activity: What did you do that you really enjoyed today?

Did you give it your all when exercising, did you finally finish that craft project you started a while ago or did you find a quiet moment while sitting in traffic to reflect? Take a minute to think back on one particularly awesome moment.

  1. Relationship: To whom do you look forward to connecting with?

Is it someone who always has a smile for you, has your back or makes you laugh until you cry, or maybe someone you haven’t seen in a long time? Take a minute to smile as you think about this special person.

  1. Time: What are you doing right now?

Every single day you wake up with 24 brand new hours. The past is history, the future is a mystery and today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present! Take a minute to be thankful for the gift of time.

As God’s children, we will want to appreciate the gifts that He has given to us. Daily we will express our gratitude to Him.

“Gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, trust in God’s love and care—these are health’s greatest safeguard.

“The power of the will and the importance of self-control, both in the preservation and in the recovery of health, the depressing and even ruinous effect of anger, discontent, selfishness, or impurity, and, on the other hand, the marvelous life-giving power to be found in cheerfulness, unselfishness, gratitude, should also be shown.

“There is a physiological truth—truth that we need to consider—in the scripture, ‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.’ Proverbs 17:22

“The true principles of Christianity open before all a source of inestimable happiness.

“We should encourage a cheerful, hopeful, peaceful frame of mind; for our health depends upon our so doing.” My Life Today, 151

Sources: heart.org; perfectmadness.com/blog/not-happy-people-thankful-thankful-people-happy; Powerofpositivity.com and Psychology Today. Amy Morin is a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do.

 Judy Rebarchek is a member of the LandMarks team. She can be contacted at: judyrebarchek@stepstolife.org

Health Nugget – The Body’s Defenses

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Today, during what so many consider to be a health crisis beyond any other, it is good to know that we have been “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) by our God. The more we study just how our bodies were made and were intended to function, we are better able to understand those functions and how we are to take care of them.

The body, left to its own devices and given the right conditions, functions in order to survive and remain in the state of homeostasis (i.e., a state of dynamic equilibrium). In this state, the human organism maintains stability while adjusting to changing conditions. As soon as this stability becomes endangered, several built-in defense systems spring into action.

THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

All through nature, millions of living organisms prey on others. This also applies to the human body, as it is daily exposed to attacks by germs, viruses and parasites that carry disease. Its main protector is the immune system, which has in recent times gained some recognition among the general public, mainly through advertisements offering preparations “to strengthen the immune system.” Irrespective of whether or not these work, people buy them without knowing anything about the immune system—what it consists of or where it is located—yet the subject deserves attention.

The immune system is not a single organ or a single gland; its parts are located all over the body. Several organs (e.g., the liver, the brain and the pancreas) are so important that they have their own immune mechanism—the reticuloendothelial system, which gives them extra protection.

There is also the lymphatic system, which transports excess fluid from the body tissues into the blood stream. The lymph itself is a straw-colored liquid containing cells that fight infection. The system consists of 700 nodes in a normal person, distributed throughout the body. Unlike the blood stream, circulated through the pumping action of the heart, the lymph is moved around the body by muscular action.

However, the main basic component of the system is located in the bone marrow, where the white blood corpuscles are formed. When they are released, they are not complete. Some wander to the thymus gland, where they are completed, and released as T lymphocytes; others drift to the spleen and lymphoid tissue and mature into B lymphocytes. All of them ingest germs, viruses, malignant cells or toxic substances, killing or otherwise neutralizing them.

As with all other parts of the organism, the immune system is made up of cells that need to be nourished. They require a full complement of minerals, enzymes and vitamins in their natural form, which is easily assimilated. Pills and drugs cannot cover that need; sometimes they are not absorbed at all. Here, as in the rest of the body, the need is for fresh, living, organic substances to nourish and maintain this essential life-preserving system.

THE ENZYME SYSTEM

Enzymes are often poorly understood by the lay person. According to one authoritative definition, they are “complex proteins that are capable of inducing chemical changes in other substances without being changed themselves.” Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: F. A. Davis Company, 1993). Everything that happens in the body–from taking a breath in order to supply oxygen to the blood, to digesting food and then to combining digested foods with oxygen in order to produce oxygen–hundreds of such processes require enzyme activity.

The body must build its own enzymes since it cannot utilize the ones found even in raw foods or animal products. In order to produce the hundreds needed, the organ systems require specific minerals as catalysts. (Catalysts are substances that speed up a reaction without themselves being altered.)

Researchers Dixon and Webb, Malcolm Dixon and Edwin C. Webb, Enzymes (New York, New York: Academic Press, Inc., 1964), performed a detailed study as to how the body builds enzymes. They found that, in most of the enzymes they studied, the body needed potassium as a catalyst, while sodium acted as an enzyme inhibitor (i.e., a blocking substance). Since enzymes are destroyed at temperatures above 140° F (60°C), the body receives no enzymes from cooked or processed foods. If it doesn’t receive fresh living nutrients … serious difficulties will arise. This is particularly true for patients already facing major health problems such as poor digestion, poor appetite, constipation, diarrhea and painful gas. The pancreatic enzymes are not doing their job of attacking tumor tissue and the oxidizing enzymes are not producing adequate energy, to name just a few deficiencies.

The reason why enzymes, especially pancreatic ones, are able to attack and destroy tumor tissue while digesting foods is because they recognize tumor cells as “foreign,” needing to be eliminated. However, the basic function of these same enzymes is to digest proteins. Since the average diet is high in animal proteins, most of the pancreatic enzymes are used for digestion and little—if any—is available to destroy tumor tissue, allowing the latter to grow and spread.

Clearly, inadequate enzyme activity is one of the major problems with which sick people, especially cancer patients, must contend. The answer lies in providing them with toxin-free, fresh organic food. … Moreover, supplying extra doses of digestive and pancreatic enzymes is an integral part of the Gerson protocol, alongside fresh juices with their high oxygen content.

THE HORMONE SYSTEM

Hormones are substances found in certain glands that are released directly into the blood stream and are therefore called endocrine (i.e., ductless) glands.

The thyroid deserves special attention, as it is an important part of the immune system. Among its many other functions, it regulates body temperature, including fever. If and when the organism is invaded by germs or viruses, the immune system responds by producing excess heat, namely fever. We must remember that most germs and viruses, and even tumor tissues, do not tolerate elevated temperatures, which healthy cells can easily bear. Hence, the well-functioning thyroid helps to restore health if it is supplied with iodine, which it needs in order to manufacture its vitally important hormone–thyroxin.

These days, iodine is unfortunately in short supply. Chlorine in the water supply is able to remove it from the thyroid. Fluoride, a dangerous toxin, is even more powerful in blocking this important element. In addition, as a consequence of commercial farming methods, the soil contains too little iodine, thus producing iodine-deficient plant foods. In recognition of this, the governments of many countries have made it compulsory to add iodine to ordinary table salt on the grounds that, as the public already used a great deal of salt, everybody was likely to consume some iodine with it. High salt consumption, on the other hand, is now known to be unhealthy and is, in fact, officially discouraged, resulting in a serious shortfall of iodine even in people on a good diet. (See “Excessive Sodium is One of the Greatest Health Threats in Foods,” World Health Organization (WHO) report from October 2006 meeting in Paris, part of the implementation of the WHO’s Global Strategy on Diets, Physical Activity and Health.)

Other enzyme inhibitors include food additives such as preservatives, emulsifiers, coloring agents, artificial flavors and many other so-called food cosmetics, plus pesticides and other agricultural poisons in our food supply–the hormone system, an important part of the body’s defenses, is itself under severe attack.

THE MINERAL BALANCE

In order to function well and keep its defenses strong, the body needs a large number–some 52 or so–minerals. On the Gerson Therapy, this requirement is amply fulfilled by the generous supply of fresh organic juices made from produce grown in rich soil. However, Dr. Gerson also recognized that two minerals, sodium and potassium, were mainly involved in creating mineral imbalance in the body.

The human body has become a “potassium animal,” needing some 90% potassium versus 10% sodium in its diet – the approximate percentage found in natural, fresh, organic vegetarian foods. Yet, these days, the average modern diet is far removed from these proportions; instead, it is overloaded with sodium, which the body must excrete. Excess sodium is an enzyme inhibitor. … It has also been shown to stimulate tumor growth and produce edema, as the body ties it up with water to reduce its toxicity. (See M. Gerson, A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases and The Cure of Advanced Cancer by Diet Therapy: A Summary of Thirty Years of Clinical Experimentation, 6th ed., San Diego, California: Gerson Institute, 1999, p. 210).

To remedy this situation, Dr. Gerson introduced large amounts of potassium to the patient’s diet. … This resulted in an immediate reduction of edema, ascites and pain. He also noticed that adding any other minerals, such as magnesium, calcium or iron, disturbed the patient’s mineral balance and caused damage. His main warning was against adding calcium to the diet. He discovered–with his close friend, top biochemist Rudolf Keller (Ibid., p. 64), that calcium belonged to the sodium group of minerals and stimulated tumor growth. Even in cases of severe bone destruction by tumor tissue, or in osteoporosis, the Gerson treatment–with its high level of well-balanced minerals–is capable of achieving bone restoration. In light of all this, it is easy to see why mineral balance is an important component of the body’s defenses.

God has provided us with a beautiful body temple and has supplied all of the wonderful fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes to uphold and nourish it. Will you think twice before eating something that will damage your body temple, a gift from God?

This article is a reprint from the January 2013 issue of LandMarks, written by Judy Hallingstad with excerpts taken from the book, Healing the Gerson Way, Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases, by Charlotte Gerson with Beata Bishop (Copyright 2010 by Gerson Health Media, 316 Mid Valley Center #230, Carmel, California 93923, pages 21 through 27).

Health – The Importance of the Sense of Smell

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Our sense of smell is hugely important – especially when it comes to evoking memories. It’s funny how a particular scent can transport you back in time, to a particular memory. The power of smell is surprising every time. There’s a reason why so many real estate agents recommend baking cookies or bread before an open house.

Smell is one of our five senses and linked by the olfactory bulb to the limbic system that controls behavior, emotion, and even memory. This is accomplished by way of odorant molecules that travel through the nose to receptors and the olfactory bulb. Once upon a time, smell would have been important to track food, water, and sense danger.

DID YOU KNOW? The average human will have about 5 million smell receptors whereas a dog has anywhere from 125-300 million!

But like our other senses, smell holds a crucial role in our life, and here are five reasons why it is more important than you may think:

Taste: Taste receptors found on the tongue, the roof of the mouth and the back of throat help us to determine if a food is sweet, salty, sour, savory or bitter. But 80% of the flavor actually comes from our sense of smell. So fresh fruit like bananas, raspberries and blueberries, or popcorn tastes so good because of a combination of smell and the appropriate taste receptors in the mouth. That explains why, when hit with a dreadful cold and barely able to breathe through our nose, we don’t care much about what we eat.

Danger: Sometimes things just smell awful, like when you’ve left something in the fridge too long or your favorite sneakers are too well-worn and ready for the trash bin. When an odor is unpleasant, our nose gives us a warning signal of danger. Think of fire or gas; either of these smells tell us that something dangerous is nearby.

Memory: A certain smell can act like a punch in the gut, or like arms in a loving embrace. It affects the way that you can evoke certain memories. For some people, it brings back a memory of being a child and resting peacefully against a mother’s breast. That’s how strong it is. Whether it’s the smell of family recipes or the perfume your partner wore on the first date, smell creates a powerful imprint on your mind.

Health: It is no real surprise that lack of smell could signal big problems. But it can happen. Changes in your sense of smell can occur when you get a cold or flu or suffer from an allergy. Anosmia is a condition wherein a person completely loses their sense of smell, and as we know today, this can be a symptom of Covid-19. Not only this, studies have shown that some sufferers of Parkinson’s and Alzheimers can show signs of diminishing sense of smell prior to being diagnosed.

The power of smell enriches your life, giving it another dimension that we might take for granted. However, we must be mindful that the devil has many ways in which to use our senses against us. We read in Counsels for the Church, 166:

“All should guard the senses, lest Satan gain victory over them; for these are the avenues of the soul.

“You will have to become a faithful sentinel over your eyes, ears, and all your senses if you would control your mind and prevent vain and corrupt thoughts from staining your soul. The power of grace alone can accomplish this most desirable work.

“Satan and his angels are busy creating a paralyzed condition of the senses so that cautions, warnings, and reproofs shall not be heard; or, if heard, that they shall not take effect upon the heart and reform the life.”

Sources: https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/11/sense-smell-important-think-8976119/, https://twitter.com/MetroUK , www.facebook.com/MetroUK/ and jackpotcandles.com and The Dana Foundation

Health – What’s in Your Mouth?

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Think about this: From the 1930s to 1950s doctors heavily promoted cigarettes as a healthy activity, a treatment to relax and even a useful mechanism with which to open our lungs for improved breathing.

Today we know this “good health” advice is ridiculous. In years to come, we will likely look back and say the same thing about doctors promoting animal-based foods. Unfortunately, most doctors do not have expertise in the healing properties of food.

This is not always our doctors’ fault. There is very little focus on preventive care throughout medical school and training. As cardiologist Joel Kahn, MD, relates, “During the 1980s when I completed medical school and cardiology fellowship, there was no discussion about nutrition and health in the halls of academic medical centers.”

Though the medical world has mostly focused on diagnosing disease and treating with technology and drugs, some doctors have devoted careers to understanding the relationship between health and food. Their conclusions: our “evolution” to an omnivore diet coincides with our rise in disease.

“The greatest medical discovery of the last 20 years is the understanding that our Western diseases are largely lifestyle-related,” Denis Burkitt, MD, said in 1992. But what’s exciting? “They must be preventable and potentially reversible.” And there’s good evidence he is right.

Famed doctor and author Dean Ornish, MD, convincingly proved that a plant-based whole food diet coupled with exercise and stress management could reverse the atherosclerotic plaques and indolent prostate cancer.

And renowned doctor Neal Bernard, MD, has demonstrated that a diet devoid of animal products is very effective in reversing diabetes. Of his diabetic patients, 71 percent were off their oral medications within four weeks and with normal sugar levels.

Ornish and Bernard are in good company. As the following doctors attest, the answers to our leading health woes are not at the bottom of a pill bottle, but at the end of our fork.

Reversing Heart Disease with Plant-based Foods

“We were born with clean, flexible arteries, and they should stay that way throughout our lives. The arteries of most Americans, however, are clogged with cholesterol, fats and calcium. The cause of coronary artery heart disease is no longer a mystery. We know that cultures whether by heritage or tradition that consume plant-based nutrition have virtually no cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis only became more apparent in Japan and China with the import of the rich Western diet laced with meat, eggs and dairy products.

“Atherosclerosis-related diseases are not a ‘natural’ way to go, and individuals with established coronary artery disease who completely transition to plant-based foods can halt and reverse their diseases.”—Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD.

Where Disease and Eating Habits Intersect

“The statistics are convincing. Cardiovascular disease and cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, and lungs are now claiming every third and fourth American life, respectively. In the early 1900s fewer than ten percent of deaths in the United States were attributed to cardiovascular disease. Now it is the number one killer. And consider this: In spite of newer and refined forms of insulin and bioengineered medications, diabetes has gone up 700 percent since World War II.

“What can help explain these changes? In the 1900s, Americans got 70 percent of their protein from plant foods. Today, they get 70 percent of their protein from animal products that are high in saturated fat, cholesterol, trans fat and devoid of fiber.”—Dr. Hans Diehl.

Diet Has the Power to Address the Root Cause of Illness

“Because I suffered from hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and pre-diabetes (I have a long family history of Type-2 diabetes and coronary heart disease), I decided to try this lifestyle approach and became a vegetarian. Although I was told being vegan would be most effective, I decided to try being vegetarian first and my experiment worked. Within a few months my blood pressure and glucose levels were well within the normal range. I no longer required my diuretic for hypertension and my dose of Lipitor had been cut by more than half. Excited by my success, I decided to take the full plunge and see what would happen to my numbers if I became a complete vegan. On a vegan diet I was able to get off all medication, including Lipitor!”—Dexter Shurney, MD, MBA, MPH

Physician, Heal Thyself, Eliminate Animal Products from Your Diet

“I did not know that my diet high in animal products deprived my body of antioxidants, vitamins, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals, enzymes, minerals, essential fatty acids, fiber and many other important ingredients that are only found in plants. My animal-based diet was inflammatory and acid forming—deteriorating my body, causing rapid aging and an array of diseases. I started to gain weight and feel tired and fatigued. My mood started to change. My brain was foggy and my body felt heavier and heavier. More importantly, I didn’t even know it was not normal to feel that way. After getting bigger and sicker every day for two to three years, I finally decided this was not how I wanted to treat my body and my mind.

“As I changed my diet, my weight started to normalize, my energy increased, my fatigue and depressed mood improved, and my heartburn and stomach problems disappeared. I felt much lighter and better physically and emotionally after I changed to a plant-based diet. Thousands of scientific studies prove that the best and the most health-promoting diet is plant-based and devoid of animal products.

“The majority of the diseases afflicting human societies today can be cured by a shift to a plant-based diet. As a gastroenterologist whose first line of theory for her patients is a plant-based diet, I experience and observe this transformation every single day. Illnesses can potentially completely heal or improve significantly with a change of diet. The power of our own healing is in our hands.”—Zarin Azar, MD, Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist

Plant-based Diets Deter Atherosclerosis

“Many patients with atherosclerosis are surprised at the bulk of their plaque, which can be seen and felt without magnification. When enough arteries are blocked, ulcers and gangrene occur in the toes and feet and are the leading cause of leg amputation. Complications of arterial disease are the most common reasons for the estimated 65,000 leg amputations performed in the U.S. each year. Studies have evidenced that a plant-based diet is associated with lower rates of atherosclerotic disease.

“Plant-based diets demonstrate lower serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels, decreased incidence of cardiovascular events, and even reversal of arterial atherosclerosis. In general, vegetarians have lower incidence of atherosclerosis, cardiac events and all-cause mortality.

“A cross-cultural large trial, the Cornell China Study, showed how rural Chinese had a fraction of the death rate from heart disease compared to Americans. American men had almost 17 times the death rate from atherosclerotic heart disease and American women had 5.5 times higher mortality from the same cause. The average Chinese dietary fat intake was less than half as a proportion of diet, fiber intake was three times as high and animal protein intake was comparatively very low at less than 10 per cent of that in the U.S. diet, and vegetable intake was much higher. The rates of atherosclerotic disease were positively associated with meat intake and sodium intake, but decreased in relation to consumption of green vegetables and plasma levels of monounsaturated fatty acids.

“Although the project did not set out to study vegans or plant-based diets, the conclusion was that a plant-based diet is the most preferable way to avoid atherosclerosis.”—Kristofer M. Charlton-Ouw, MD, FACS, Vascular Surgeon

Convinced Yet? What’s on Your Plate

“Doctors are trained that it is a waste of time to talk about nutrition, but I can assure you that it is not a waste of time. The only time I have ever been able to decrease insulin dosages in diabetics or stop blood pressure pills in patients with high blood pressure, it has been because the patient has modified his or her diet to be plant-based.”—Mary Went, MD

Thrive, Health and Wellness, Shushana Castle, vol. 26, 14–16.

“Meat consumption has conclusively been linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a host of other chronic and deadly diseases. God’s people should dispense with flesh foods. Those who are seeking to become pure and holy cannot continue to use as food anything that has so harmful an effect on soul and body.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 386.

Health – Early Warning Signs of a Stroke

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Every 40 seconds – according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this is how often someone in America has a stroke. At least 80 percent of these strokes are ischemic, which means an area of the brain dies after circulation of blood and oxygen to that area becomes blocked, either due to a clot or narrowing of blood vessels.

Someone dies as a result of a stroke every four minutes in the United States of America. Understanding stroke causes and risk factors is paramount for prevention. But when stroke prevention won’t do and the unthinkable occurs, seek medical help ASAP … and research suggests there may be warning signs of an impending stroke hours or days in advance.

Many people have heard of the acronym BE FAST as a way to remember the sudden warning signs of stroke. The earlier a stroke victim receives medical care, the better chances they have of recovery, so everyone should be aware of these warning symptoms:

  • Balance difficulties
  • Eye blindness (sometimes accompanied by a severe headache)
  • Face drooping
  • Arm or leg weakness
  • Speech and communication problems (words are garbled or slurred)
  • Time (call 911)

Amazingly, research published in 2005 by the American Academy of Neurology found that these warning signs may present in some ischemic stroke sufferers up to a week before their actual stroke occurs!

The phenomenon is due to something known as a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. TIAs are considered “mini-strokes” because they can lead to similar symptoms, but only last about five minutes and cause no permanent injury to the brain.

Researchers of the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Neurology, determined that out of 2,400 stroke sufferers, over one in five had TIAs before their stroke actually happened. In most cases, the mini-strokes happened within a week prior.

Strokes are incredibly common, and with the aging of our population many health experts expect we will only see more people suffer their life-changing effects in the future. The good news, however, is that many of the major stroke causes are preventable.

Here are five key things you can do, according to the CDC and other organizations, for reducing your risk of stroke:

  1. Get enough sleep – anywhere from 7 to 9 hours per night on average. One study found that getting fewer than six hours of sleep per night significantly increases a person’s risk of stroke and heart disease.
  2. Maintain a healthy weight.
  3. Don’t smoke. Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes per day is six times more likely to have a stroke than someone who doesn’t smoke at all, according to the UK’s Stroke Association.
  4. Stay physically active. Regular exercise is considered an independent risk factor of stroke, but it also reduces other stroke causes such as obesity, high blood pressure, and chronic stress.
  5. Maintain a healthy diet. Avoid processed foods, eating plenty of fruits and veggies.

In addition, many integrative healthcare providers emphasize the importance of increasing your intake of antioxidants like, vitamin C to protect the health of your circulation.

Excerpts from www.naturalhealth365.com/warning-signs-stroke-3572.html

Health – Lung Function

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An important predictor of health and longevity

Lung Function—an important predictor of health and longevity

What is the most accurate predictor of lifespan? It turns out that the biggest clue to longevity is your lung function.

Lung capacity is defined as the maximum amount of air the lungs can hold, while lung function involves the speed with which you can inhale and exhale. Lung function also involves how efficiently your lungs oxygenate the blood, while at the same time removing carbon dioxide.

Both lung function and lung capacity can be measured by a spirometry test. Also known as a pulmonary function test, spirometry measures the lungs’ forced vital capacity (FVC), which involves lung size and exhalation capability, and the FEV1 (forced expiratory volume) which measures how much air can be exhaled in one second.

When lung capacity and function are limited, less oxygen enters the bloodstream, cells and tissues resulting in shortness of breath, reduced endurance and decreased cardiorespiratory fitness.

Because limited lung function causes the heart to work harder, this can lead over time to heart failure and heart attacks.  Other adverse effects include impaired metabolic and digestive functions, problems with cognition and memory, increased inflammation and heightened susceptibility to respiratory infections.

Study: Poor lung capacity can double your risk of premature death

In a 29-year study published in Chest, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, researchers assessed the pulmonary function of 1,194 adults ranging in age from 20 to 89. After adjusting for factors such as age, body mass, blood pressure, education and smoking, the team found that lung capacity was strongly related to all-cause mortality in both men and women.

Men with the poorest lung capacity were a shocking 2.24 times more likely to die from any cause than those with the highest capacity, while women were 1.81 times more likely to die. Concluding that lung capacity and volume is a “strong and independent predictor of both all-cause and disease-specific mortality,” the researchers suggested that this could be used as an important tool for general health assessment.

By the way, this is not the only study linking lung capacity with lifespan. In an earlier investigation known as the Framingham study, researchers found that people with generous lung volume were healthier and lived longer than those with limited lung capacity.

Warning: Too many people experience poor lung health as early as age 30

As with so many other body functions, lung capacity declines with age. Lung tissue becomes less flexible, the diaphragm muscle becomes weaker, and the rib cage may contract, leaving less room for lungs to expand.

In fact, Dr. Adrian Draper, a respiratory consultant at Spire St. Anthony Hospital, reports that lung capacity at age 60 may be only two thirds of what it was at age 30. In addition, diseases such as COPD, asthma and pulmonary fibrosis (scarring) take a toll on lung capacity.

Conventionally speaking, lung function can’t be improved. However, the Lung Health Institute reports that lung capacity – the amount of air available to be used – can be. Increasing lung capacity can provide a wealth of health benefits, including better immune defense against disease, accelerated wound healing, sharpened focus and concentration, improved digestion and more efficient elimination of waste.

Simple lifestyle choices can improve lung capacity

If you still smoke, quitting is the single most important thing you can do to increase lung capacity. If you have tried to quit without success, don’t give up.

As excess fat can push on the chest and interfere with lung function, it can be helpful to shed pounds if you are overweight or obese. In addition, you can support healthy lung capacity by avoiding allergens, environmental toxins, secondhand smoke and dust. Bypass chemical air fresheners in favor of scenting your home with essential oils, and substitute organic cleaning products for harsh cleaners.

Breathing exercises and techniques including coordinated breathing, deep breathing and diaphragmatic breathing can also help restore lung capacity.

Vitamin D which is antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immune system-boosting can be a boon to pulmonary function. Studies reveal that people with COPD who accompany standard rehabilitation measures with increased vitamin D intake show improvement in their ability to exercise.

Regular physical exercise can be highly beneficial for improving lung capacity. Experts recommend interspersing low-intensity activities with high-intensity exercise for maximum benefit. However, before beginning any exercise routine, consult your integrative doctor to work out a program that is safe and effective for you.

Excerpts from www.naturalhealth365.com/lung-function-predicting-longevity-3550.html

Breathing Exercises for Lung Ailments

While there are many different types of breathing exercises, below are a few that may be useful for people with chronic lung diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Pursed Lips Breathing

The pursed lips breathing exercise can be used to address shortness of breath by reducing how hard someone must work to breathe. It promotes relaxation. In addition, pursed lips breathing helps people learn how to control their breathing and can aid in the release of air trapped within the lungs. Pursed lips breathing can be especially useful during strenuous activities.

Relax your neck and shoulders.

Breathe in slowly through your nostrils while you count to two (keeping your mouth closed).

Pucker your lips.

Breathe out slowly and steadily through your mouth while you count to four.

You don’t have to take a deep breath to do pursed lips breathing. The key is to focus on breathing in and out slowly while you count. Pursed lips breathing can be practiced four to five times daily.

Coordinated Breathing

Episodes of shortness of breath can cause anxiety and make you hold your breath. The coordinated breathing exercise helps to prevent you from holding your breath. Coordinated breathing can help during exercise or when you feel anxious.

  • Inhale through your nose. (If you’re exercising, inhale through your nose before starting an exercise).
  • Purse your lips.
  • Exhale through pursed lips during the most challenging part of the exercise.
  • Repeat as needed.

Deep Breathing

When air becomes trapped in the lungs, you may feel increased shortness of breath. While it may seem strange, deep breathing exercises can help prevent air from getting trapped in your lungs. Deep breathing helps you breathe in more fresh air.

  • With your elbows back slightly, sit or stand in a comfortable position.
  • Slowly take a deep breath in.
  • Hold your breath as you count to ten.
  • Exhale slowly until you feel that you have released as much air as possible.

Deep breathing can be performed along with other breathing exercises and up to three to four times a day.

Belly Breathing or Diaphragmatic Breathing

Of the muscles used for normal breathing, the diaphragm is one of the most important. Belly breathing or diaphragmatic breathing helps retrain the diaphragm to work better, so you can breathe more efficiently. Lie on your back with your knees bent or resting on a pillow.

  • Place one hand on your upper chest and the other hand on your belly.
  • Inhale slowly through your nose.
  • As you inhale, focus on feeling the hand on your belly rise and the hand on your chest remaining as still as possible.
  • Exhale slowly through your mouth like you would in pursed lips breathing.
  • As you exhale, focus on feeling the hand on your belly go down first.
  • Repeat as you are able.

Ask your doctor or respiratory therapist to show you how to best perform this exercise and how often you should practice it.

Prevention is the best medicine, and working to keep your lungs healthy is much more efficient than trying to repair them after something goes wrong.

Excerpts from https://lunginstitute.com/blog/best-breathing-exercises-for-copd/