Online Disease Guide: 2008

Do You Have Rosacea? How to Diagnose this Chronic Skin Condition

If you suffer from a red complexion, flushing or blushing, a red nose and cheeks and dry, flaky skin with pimples, you probably suffer from the chronic skin condition rosacea. Formerly known as acne rosacea, rosacea is more common in women than men, although men often have more severe symptoms. Most people who have rosacea are fair-skinned, fair-haired and blue-eyed, although it is also seen more rarely in dark-skinned people. The disease affects at least 14 million people in the United States of America, typically between 20 and 50 years of age.

The main symptoms of the skin condition are:

- a burning or tingling sensation

- a persistant redness after blushing or flushing

- pimples, papules or pustules on the face

- tiny visible blood vessels under the skin

- thickening of skin, especially around the nose area

- gritty, uncomfortable eyes (ocular rosacea)

The true cause of rosacea is not really known but certain factors are known to aggravate the condition. Sufferers should avoid exposure to extreme temperatures and weather, such as the sun, the cold and wind. Sun avoidance is particularly important, and sun screens, hats and parasols are useful ways to avoid sun-related flare-ups. Alcohol and hot drinks and food are also known to excacerbate rosacea, as is exercising in hot temperatures and hot showers, baths, steam rooms and saunas. Loofahs, rough towels, exfoliators, astringents and cosmetics with perfumes and many additives should also be avoided. Gentle perfume-free cover-up cosmetics can help disguise a flare-up and reduce the psychological and social effects of rosacea.

Rosacea is a condition that is controlled rather than cured and many people find that keeping a diary helps them to pin-point their own triggers. Keeping cool, drinking water to stay hydrated and using natural gentle skin care products go a long way to controlling this chronic condition.

You should, of course, consult your dermatologist for advice about prescription creams and other procedures that may be available to relieve the symptoms of rosacea. Generally, rosacea treatment is aimed at the control of redness, inflammation and skin eruptions, and this treatment is necessary to prevent permanent damage to the skin.

If he decides that you do have rosacea, a dermatologist will often prescribe a combination of oral antibiotics and the use of antibiotic gel as initial treatment. The oral antibiotics will reduce the redness and reduce the pustules, then the topical gel may help to keep the symptoms under control. The dermatologist will also be able to help a patient look at lifestyle factors to help control the rosacea in the future.

Steroids are also often prescribed for rosacea because they appear to relieve the symptoms quickly, but sufferers should be aware that topical steroids are thought to make the symptoms worse longterm. The steroids dilate the blood vessels in the face and thin the skin and dermis by breaking down elastin and collagen in the skin's structure. Topical steroids have actually been thought to cause rosacea in the first place in some instances.

Justine Kay is the author and webmistress at Rosacea FAQ where she writes articles and discusses this sometimes misunderstood skin condition.

Does the Amount of Dental InfectionsRoot Canal Infections Influence the Severity of Disease?

When infected teeth produce disturbance in other parts of the body, it is not necessary that the quantity of infection be large, nor is it demonstrated that it is necessary that organisms pass throughout the body or to the special tissues involved, but the evidence at hand strongly suggests that soluble poisons may pass from the infected teeth to the lymph or blood circulation, or both, and produce systemic disturbance entirely out of proportion to the quantity of poison involved.

The evidence indicates that toxic substance may under certain circumstances sensitize the body or special tissues so that very small quantities of the organisms, which produce that toxin, may produce very marked reactions and disturbances.

The nature and results of the numerous Dr. Price investigations are a continuous source of amazement.

For example, in pondering how bacteria could survive in dentin tubules when they become sealed off by the root canal filling, Dr.Price devised a method of dehydrating teeth - that is, measuring the amount of moisture they contain.

In doing this experiment, Dr. Price found root filled teeth contained fluid of sufficient quantity to be culture medium which would nourish bacteria.

Another question which interested Dr. Price was whether the bacteria in infected teeth soley responsible for the illnesses which occurred to rabbits after infected teeth were imbedded under their skins.

He found that by extracting infected teeth, crushing them, and then washing the powder, bacteria could still be found in the liquid. When he put the liquid in a centrifuge, the centrifugal force spun off the bacteria and sedimment, leaving a clear liquid.

When Dr. Price injected a small amount of this clear liquid into a rabbit, it lost 25 percent of its weight in four weeks and it died in the fifth week. Its brother rabbit, used as the control animal and not injected, continued to thrive and gain weight.

About author: Dr. George Meinig,D.D.S.,F.A.C.D. is a Founder of the Association of Root Canal Specialists Discovers Evidence That Root Canals Damage Your Health Learn What to Do. Learn how Dr. George Meinig discovered that a meticulous 25 year research program, conducted by Weston A. Price, DDS, under the auspices of the American Dental Association's Research Institute, was buried by disbelievers of the focal infection theory. Along the way, Dr. Meinig has received many recognition citatons and awards, both Nationally and internationally. For further information: Visit:http://www.1stultimategumsolution.com Edited and prepared by Sung Lee, alternate author

This article can be reprinted freely online as long as the entire article with resource box are included.

Healing Your Body

Are you ready to be healthy and full of vibrant energy? Would you like some ideas about how to heal your body?

During many years as a psychotherapist, I discovered fascinating insights into the emotional causes of disease and accidents. I have also developed powerful processes that have helped people heal themselves and maintain their health and safety.

For example, Sunny, a young man in his early twenties, was diabetic from the time he was twelve years old. When he came to see me he was almost daily going into diabetic shock. I have a favorite saying, ?Close your eyes and see clearly.? So I said, ?Sunny, close your eyes and imagine that you are really small and traveling inside your body to the place where you store all your tension.? It was no surprise to either one of us when Sunny ended up in front of his pancreas. He said, ?My God, what a mess. There?s a lot of junk in there.?

In the course of his counseling sessions, Sunny became aware of and overcame all the negative emotional issues that were ?stored? in his pancreas. By the eighth and final session, Sunny reported that he was feeling great and his pancreas looked very healthy. He said, ?It?s amazing, Helene, I?m taking less than one-half of the amount of insulin I needed when I first came to see you. I realize that I almost killed myself by way of diabetic shock because I couldn?t cope with all the emotional pain with my family and a broken relationship.?

Another example of the connection between the mind, the emotions, and the body is thirty-five-year-old Cindy. She had no relief from her constant vaginal yeast infections no matter how much she treated the condition with the medication from her doctor. In her counseling process, Cindy found out that her yeast infections were actually serving her by preventing her from being sexual. When confronted with the idea, Cindy admitted to herself that she was afraid to be in another sexual relationship because she always got too emotionally involved, and then felt deeply hurt if it ended. Cindy?s infection cleared up when she trusted herself to avoid another relationship until she was confident that she would not be devastated if it did not last.

Tom, a forty-three-year-old businessman, finally came into the office when his wife threatened to leave him. However, he was still resistant and insisted that he was fine, he had no problems. Meeting him on his level and at his comfort zone, I said, ?Tom, let?s be logical. You are telling me that your childhood was fine, and that you have no issues to resolve. The reality is that you are struggling with your career, having serious problems with your wife and daughters, and you have been warned about the beginnings of heart problems.?

?Let?s take the analogy of an automobile. If your car isn?t running properly do you believe that nothing is wrong or do you open up the hood and fix it? Obviously, Tom, your life is not running well, which means you have to deal with the issues in your unconscious that are causing you problems. In a sense you need to pick up your hood.?

Tom realized that I had a point. He finally loosened his tie, and was willing to regress back to his childhood. To his surprise, he uncovered an incredible amount of pain. Tom had succeeded in blocking his painful childhood; but because of his denial, he was heading for disaster. It was amazing to see this logical, machine-like person transform into a feeling human being as he expressed his fears, his deep hurts, shame, anger, and grief. As a result, Tom began to feel so good about himself that he began to watch his diet, exercise more and improve his relationships with his family. I will never forget when he happily told me about the wonderful report he had received from his doctor.

The case of Sarah is another example of how important it is to listen to your body and constructively express your feelings. Sarah, a forty-seven-year-old woman, was suffering from recurring cancer. Previously, the doctors had succeeded in removing a malignant tumor from her throat and Sarah seemed to be doing well. However, six months ago they discovered a growth in her back.

During the first counseling session, Sarah was able to express her anger, shame, and fears?something she never did. She was a people pleaser, someone who always had a smile on her face. Sarah always tried to make everyone happy, even if she hurt herself in the process. When Sarah returned the following week, she told me that she was able to cut her pain medication in half. After another session, in which she released intensive emotional pain, she was totally free of physical pain.

Needless to say, Sarah was very optimistic about her recovery. However, Sarah called me one day very upset. She was feeling pain in her throat where the first tumor was removed. I reassured her that the doctors succeeded in removing the growth, the symptom, but the emotional cause was still not resolved. In the next session, after Sarah released her issues about being afraid to speak up, about communicating how she really felt, the pain in her throat disappeared.

I have noticed that certain emotions will be blocked in specific areas of the body. For example, clients often realize that they are angry when they have upper or lower back pain, headaches, tightness in the base of the skull, or jaw pain. I often find fear blocked in the abdominal areas, sadness stuffed in the sinuses, or the sides of the back of the neck. The feeling of responsibility causes tension in the shoulders. Hurt and deep sadness often explains the tightness in the center of the chest or in the heart.

I have also found the body to be very literal. Some examples are: tension in the throat deals with the fear of speaking; problems in the eyes relate to not wanting to see something; hearing problems often correspond to the desire not to hear.

It may be hard to believe, but I have discovered that our unresolved emotions can also cause our accidents. In fact, every time a client had an injury, they were always able to uncover the reason it happened. For example, Tonya, a very attractive twenty-one-year-old, had a scar on her forehead from a serious car accident.

I said, ?Tonya, imagine that you are up in the sky and looking down at the collision. Now tell the Tonya in the car why she had that accident.? She replied, ?Tonya, you had that accident because you felt guilty about having so much more than your family members and your friends. You are prettier, smarter, and more successful, and you don?t appreciate all that you have.?

We are all very powerful beings. We have the ability to create our illness or accidents as well as our health and safety. In order to be healthy and full of vibrant energy, we need to understand that our physical bodies are expressing our thoughts and feelings. When we listen to what our bodies are telling us, when we constructively express our emotions and resolve our issues, we can take an active part in healing ourselves and experience optimum safety, health, and happiness.

(Excerpts from the booklet, e-book & tape, ?Healing Your Body?)

?1997 by Helene Rothschild, MS, MA, MFT, Marriage, Family, Therapist, author and speaker. www.helenerothschild.com

HELENE ROTHSCHILD, MS, MA, MFT, is a Marriage, Family Therapist, intuitive counselor, author, teacher, workshop facilitator, and speaker.

She offers empowering telephone, internet, and in-person healing sessions for all issues including: healing your body, relationships, career, prosperity, weight loss and parenting. Helene developed her own unique process, HART: Holistic and Rapid Transformation, which goes right to the core. She teaches HART classes and independent studies.

She is the author of Personal Success ~ an interactive online self-help program, many articles (free articles) and over 85 inspirational and self-help books, booklets, e-books, tapes, posters, and cards--close to a million have been sold worldwide.

Helene has appeared numerous times in the media (including international CNN), and hosted her own local radio and television shows.

All of her educational materials, classes and services support her mission of helping people to feel more loving, peaceful, fulfilled, healthy, happy, and empowered.

http://www.lovetopeace.com

Basic Principles and Practice of Nature Cure

The whole philosophy and practice of nature cure is built on three basic principles. These principles are based on the conclusions reached from over a century of effective naturopathic treatment of diseases in Germany, America, and Great Britain. They have been tested and proved over and over again by the results obtained.

The first and most basic principle of nature cure is that all forms of disease are due to the same cause, namely, the accumulations of waste materials and bodily refuse in the system. These waste materials in the healthy individual are removed from the system through the organs of elimination. But in the diseased person, they are steadily piling up in the body through years of faulty habits of living such as wrong feeding, improper care of the body and habits contributing to enervation and nervous exhaustion such as worry, overwork and excesses of all kinds. It follows from this basic principle that the only way to cure disease is to employ methods which will enable the system to throw off these toxic accumulations. All natural treatments are actually directed towards this end.

The second basic principle of nature cure is that all acute diseases such as fevers, colds, inflammations, digestive disturbances and skin eruptions are nothing more than self-initiated efforts on the part of the body to throw off the accumulated waste materials and that all chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, rheumatism, asthma, kidney disorders, are the results of continued suppression of the acute diseases through harmful methods such as drugs, vaccines, narcotics and gland extracts.

The third principle of nature cure is that the body contains an eleborate healing mechanism which has the power to bring about a return to normal condition of health, provided right methods are employed to enable it to do so. In other words, the power to cure disease lies within the body itself and not in the hands of the doctor.

To learn more about the energy principle in healing, please read:

Cost-free Miracle Asthma Cure
Overcome Type I Diabetes and Type II Diabetes Naturally
Alternative Treatments for Incurable Diseases made easy

Physical Activity: The Great Health Facilitator

Opportunities are usually disguised...so most people don't recognize them. - Ann Landers

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Lao-tzu

Physical activity is the best first step to health. It is the most direct way for you to discover, or rediscover, the wonder of your body. It allows you to experience vitality and provides an immediate sense of control of your body's health and well-being. In addition to having its own inherent benefits, physical activity is a great physical and mental health facilitator, and wonderfully regenerative. Your senses come alive and are attuned more delicately when you engage in regular physical activity.

There is good news about actually doing physical activity. Research has shown that one can obtain its major health benefits with a minimum amount of effort and a minimum amount of time. The old myth of no pain, no gain and of long-distance jogging as the only way to achieve meaningful health results have been put into perspective. The evidence is clear: you can enjoy the benefits of physical activity with the equivalent of walking a half an hour a day, four or five days a week.

The Institute for Aerobics Research in Texas evaluated the fitness levels of more than 3,000 people and followed their progress for eight years. While the sedentary did have a mortality substantially higher than the more fit, the principal benefits of physical activity came even after very little physical activity. Those who simply walked an average of 30 minutes a day decreased their risk of heart disease by almost half.

The American Heart Association has stated that a sedentary life-style is a risk factor for heart disease comparable to smoking, cholesterol abnormalities, and high blood pressure. It also pointed out that low-intensity physical activity, performed regularly, can lower the risk of heart disease.

Any physical exercise is better than none! Housework, gardening, shuffleboard--anything that causes us to move--is beneficial. And, the benefits are not limited to heart disease alone. Physical exercise reduces stress, improves eating habits and weight control, increases good (HDL) cholesterol, and decreases triglyceride levels.

When beginning an exercise program, choose an activity that you think will be fun. Try walking, cycling or doing aerobics with a friend, a family member or as part of a class. The company may reinforce your commitment. If exercise is new for you, begin slowly, and keep in mind that there are a host of activities that you can try.

And, for those of you who have been sedentary most of your lives, the good news is that you have the most to gain from even the simplest physical activities. Gradually work them into your daily life. Start with small, comfortable activities, for instance:

(1) Walking to your destination whenever feasible

(2) Taking the stairs rather than relying exclusively on elevators and escalators

(3) Doing more physical tasks around the house or yard.

(4) Strolling around the block, around your neighborhood, in the park, at the mall. Keep your activity comfortable, keep it easy, and above all, keep it a part of your life.

Richard Helfant, MD, a Harvard-trained cardiologist. Courageous Confrontations, Dr. Helfant's latest work, is about how to use the mind-body relationship to combat disease, thus bridging the gap between conventional and alternative medicine.

Basic Principles and Practice of Nature Cure

To learn more about the energy principle in healing, please read:

Cost-free Miracle Asthma Cure
Overcome Type I Diabetes and Type II Diabetes Naturally
Alternative Treatments for Incurable Diseases made easy

Holistic Healthcare versus Traditional Western Medicine

The Western medicine community recently asked the question: Will Alternative Healthcare, a.k.a. Holistic, Metaphysical, Energy or Mind, Body, Spirit healing and Western Medicine (WM) merge? This question implies there is reason to wonder and/or we need to consider the benefits a merger might create. The consideration of merging Holistic, Metaphysical, Energy or Mind, Body, Spirit healing and Western Medicine is analogues to comparing apples to oranges. The only comparison between apples and oranges is that they are both fruit?but the comparison ends there. Holistic, Metaphysical, Energy or Mind, Body, Spirit Healing and Western Medicine is diametrically polar opposites with nothing in common, except the subject (you). I will explain.

In order to understand the ideology of Western Medicine, you need to examine the language used by doctors and researchers. Their choice of words reveals their belief systems and the models they use to understand the way they think healing works. When observing the state of Western Medicine and the unprecedented influence of pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, an interesting paradox arises. The drug companies claim that pharmaceuticals and OTC can do wonders for people: lower cholesterol, end clinical depression, reverse osteoporosis, eliminate allergies, cure cancer, cure MS, calm children and many other similar promises.

If prescription or OTC drugs are so good for people, where are all the healthy medicated customers? The truth is, there aren't, any. There's nobody taking twelve prescriptions or OTC drugs with a clean bill of health. In fact, the more prescriptions a person takes, the worse their overall health. And if you approach the healthiest people you can find and ask what prescription drugs or OTC drugs they're taking in order to be so healthy, they'll give you a confused look: Healthy people don't take prescription or OTC drugs!

This sort of language is not uncommon from researchers in Western Medicine. They perceive the human body as a battleground on which wars are waged against invaders (viruses, bacterial infections and tumors). Beginning with the Victorian era, Western society has become addicted to quick fixes and results with no effort. Western Medicine has in some instances provided this result. When Western Medicine doesn?t produce a ?quick fix? result the answer is: ?Sorry, it couldn?t be helped?the surgery was a success, the patient died.? It is interesting to note the AMA reports a dismal success rate?approximately 250,000 people die each year due to misdiagnosis and/or the treatment does little or nothing to improve the person?s health. In other words these people didn?t die due to an illness they died due to the wrong treatment.

Western Medicine?s theory and doctrines fail to recognize that diseases are not separate from the person. In fact every disease can be more accurately called an expression of the patient's lifestyle, beliefs, and energies. Cancer is not a tumor, for example: it is a systemic disorder that can only truly be cured by helping to support the body, not by attacking it with chemical bombs or knives. The tumor is merely one physical expression of the systemic disorder, and simply removing the tumor does nothing to cure the disease. The body is designed to heal itself?given it has the proper care?nutrition, herbal supplements, spiritual and emotional well-being.

The body is designed to heal itself provided it has the proper support to do its job. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on a concept of balanced qi (pronounced chee), or vital energy, that is believed to flow throughout the body. Qi is proposed to regulate a person's spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical balance and to be influenced by the opposing forces of yin (negative energy) and yang (positive energy). Disease is proposed to result from the flow of qi being disrupted and yin and yang becoming imbalanced. Among the components of TCM are herbal and nutritional therapy, restorative physical exercises, meditation, acupuncture, and remedial massage.

Holistic, Metaphysical, Energy or Mind, Body, Spirit healing has existed since the beginning of time amid religious beliefs and practices, along with the mystery, superstition, fear, and misunderstanding. Holistic Healing is now becoming recognized regardless of what anyone chooses to believe or think. Ask almost anyone about their spiritual well-being and they will probably tell you, Yeah, I am a spiritual person, I go to church frequently.? Therein, the confusion arises out of the association of healing with religion. The majority of people, including religious leaders, do not understand the difference.

Definition: HEAL 1. To restore to health or soundness, 2. To set right, repair, 3. To restore a person to spiritual wholeness, 4. To become whole and sound, to return to health.

Definition: SPIRIT 1. The vital principle or animating force within living beings, Incorporeal consciousness. There are about twelve more elaborations mostly to do with various religious implications.

Definition: RELIGION 1. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe, 2. A set of beliefs, values and practices based on the teachings of a religious doctrine.

Thus, based on Western Medicine?s common interpretations of how things 'ARE', many paradoxes are created. The resultant effect is confusion and un-wellness. The Truth, as Carl Jung and others have carefully worded in their writing, is this: Every Thing in the universe is Energy and Consciousness. How anyone thinks or feels about that Fact cannot change it. The purpose of All religions is the recognition that humans have a part of themselves that is not physical and there is a need to explore and experience this aspect of themselves. Part of the intent is to discover one's purpose and to live in the best way possible. Another part of that goal also includes the attainment of Truth and Spiritual Wellness. However, the result of religious teachings with regard to our Spiritual health has been an abysmal failure. If the most important aspect of our being is our Spiritual self, and it has been neglected, it is a miracle we have existed this long.

Many churches are in a state of extreme confusion in an attempt to avoid accepting the ?Truth.? The greatest struggle is how to incorporate all the now known knowledge and assimilate it into the religious dogma and theology. The problem is the impossibility of reconciling the obvious flaws in most theology and doctrine. The obvious shortcomings and how political and nationalistic and other special interests and agendas have resulted in a history filled with disappointment, tragedy, confusion and religious wars.

In many cultures it has always been thought and/or known that we are spiritual beings, the biggest exception is in western industrialized cultures that we believe we are people who happen to have a soul. Eastern philosophy believes we are a soul first, housed in this thing called a ?body.? The most beautiful and simple interpretation of how everything 'IS' can be found in the Native American tradition. Everything in the universe is Spirit, each thing in it is of the same Spirit and it is all Connected. This is exactly what we are beginning to understand in science and quantum physics, that everything in the universe is made of the same thing and has a consciousness about it. The two things that frustrate scientists the most is the fact that all these things operate across time, space and dimensions they do not yet understand, and the ability of things to operate on inter-dimensional and multi-dimensional levels. A high degree of new understanding about the science and physics of what spiritual really means is now mostly coming from independent researchers. High-tech and aerospace research physicists and scientists, all seem to have a more concise and accurate understanding of Spirit and the Spiritual than those from a theological background.

The Reality and The Truth of Spirit?In plain language, there is only One God or Universal Energy that Is Everything. There is only One Consciousness. We are only one individuated expression of The One. All the dogma, theology and religious beliefs anyone chooses to pile on this truth is commonly referred to as Bunk. It is the lack of true knowledge and the application of these distortions, which have been the source of all emotional, physical and spiritual problems. Spirit is alive, it is something that is lived and experienced, the surest way to destroy or suppress it is to organize it and institutionalize it.

Spiritual Experiences teach us: Everything we think or feel affects oneself and others. We need to realize every feeling?anger, fear, hate, sadness, judgment?are mind generated emotions and need to be modified or eliminated. Left to fester?anger, fear, hate, sadness, judgment, creates physical reactions. For every physical reaction, a.k.a. symptoms?i.e. colds, cancer, MS, and everything from A to Z, there is a direct link to mind generated emotions. When these mind generated emotions are eliminated and the wounds created from long term and dysfunctional expressions are healed, the physical manifestation labeled as illness by Western Medicine is eliminated.

The bottom line is Health and Well-Being is affected by two factions?Doctors and Ministers. Doctors are trained as mechanics who work on the physical mechanism. They are in the Business of ?Treatment.? They are Not Trained in the Art of Healing. Most doctors do not even understand the most rudimentary concepts of Healing. Most do not realize how they can produce damage and even induce death sentences on their patients.

There is little difference in the effects produced by an intentional damaging curse or a prayer prayed improperly, bad advice or simply some random negative thought. Ministers are trained in traditional theosophical dogmatic perceptions specific to the cultural religious views they ascribe to. Most people have little concept about True Spirituality or how the universe really operates. As a consequence they convey misinformation, half-truths, superstitions and fears along with a multitude of associated damaging information into a person's consciousness. The result of which is Confusion and Paradox?which leads to distress, disease and un-wellness.

Both the good in our lives and the dis-eases we have are the results of our experiences, conditioning and beliefs. It is the experiences, conditioning and beliefs that are counter to our true nature that causes the damage. No matter how dire a client?s predicament seems to be, I Know if they are ?Willing? to do the emotional and spiritual work of releasing old habits, beliefs and forgiving, everything can be healed. The word ?incurable? used by Western Medicine really only means that the person can not be ?cured? by ?outer? methods and that they must Go Within to effect their healing. The condition was created as a way to cope?it came from within and can be healed from within. Reference: Heal Your Body, Louise L. Hay

Since Holistic/Metaphysical Healthcare focuses on supporting the Mind, Body, Spirit to heal itself as it is designed to do and Western Medicine perceives the human body as a battleground on which wars are waged with chemical bombs and scalpels against invaders, how can these divergent ideologies be merged?

The answer: They can?t be?i.e. water and vinegar doesn?t mix?it is metaphysically impossible. Likewise, it is metaphysically impossible to merge Holistic, Metaphysical, Energy or Mind, Body, Spirit healing and Western Medicine. Anyone who would consider such a merger does not understand the laws of Holistic, Metaphysical, Energy or Mind, Body, Spirit healing.

Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, specializes in: Mind, Body, Spirit healing and Physical/Sexual Abuse Prevention and Recovery. As an inspirational leader, Dr. Neddermeyer empowers people to view life's challenges as an opportunity for Personal/Professional Growth and Spiritual Awakening. http://www.drdorothy.net

Ligaments Vertebral Arteries and the Sub OcciputTheir Role in Structural Integrity

The structural health of the neck is not just the maintenance of muscles, but the maintenance of;

(1)The Ligaments; That support the vertebrae but have a minimal blood supply, unlike muscle tissue. Ligaments are the tissue system that binds bones together supporting joints and regulating their range of movement. Being poor in blood supply, they do not heal easily and are prone to calcium deposits, causing wear and tear arthritic changes to the joints. This can cause friction against the wall of the Vertebral Arteries as they pass through the Cervical Vertebrae ? wearing the wall thin and or, impeding the flow. Ligaments need deep massage and traction to promote good blood supply, full ranges of movement and the re-absorption of calcium deposits.

(2)The Vertebral Arteries travel up through the vertebral foramina of each cervical vertebra. They enter the spine at the level of the 6th cervical vertebra (base of the neck) and travel up to the head where, to get into the cranium the vertebral arteries take, Two 90degree turns to supply about two thirds of the blood supply to the brain - which needs a minute to minute supply of glucose and oxygen to maintain its normal function. The vertebral arteries supply the deeper, autonomic centers of the brain, if the blood supply is diminished to these areas we have all types of dysfunctional conditions arising ? particularly as we age! If you can help to maintain the structural integrity of your cervical spine (neck) and therefore the blood supply to your brain the better you are going to be getting older ? as gravity grinds us ALL into the ground ?the inexorable factor?. People forget that GRAVITY is the main reason we need 8 hours sleep a day and that our ?Rigging? is our best way to pass this force through us, with as little wear and tear as possible.

(3)The area known as the ?Sub Occiput? is the level of the neck where the spine articulates with the base of the head, or cranium.

Traction and deep inhibition to this area can affect our function through the many important physiological centers that are situated at the top of the neck. The Carotid sinus, at the top of the Carotid arteries carries the other third of the blood supply to the brain. This collection of nerves controls feedback information from the hearts pumping, for regulation of blood pressure.

The 10th cranial nerve ?The Vagus Nerve? leaves the cranium in this region and is one half of the control on the hearts rate of beating. The vagal nerve supplies rhythmic nerve impulses/control to the motor functions of most of the gastro-intestinal system, our ?peristalsis? or gut ?motion?.

The amount of muscle investment in the Sub Occiput is great ? it needs to turn the head very quickly ? with control, it needs to hold the heaviest part of our body on the top of two small condyles and not impair that blood supply or pinch those nerve. These muscles are intimately connected to the muscles of mastication and all the emotional elements that the mouth and jaw can bring up ? that makes us grind our teeth at night or clench so tight we wake with a pounding headache. The Sub Occiput can be tight when we go to bed, impairing our sleep and even tighter the next morning, the impairment of blood supply can be debilitating, the whole cycle repeating more and more intensely each day.

There are so many control mechanisms in the Sub Occipital Region and the rest of the neck and spine, that normal structural integrity is very, very important to the normality of most of our ?Function?. Most professional Physical Therapists, which are Osteopaths, Chiropractors, Physiotherapists, Naturopaths and Masseur?s have this knowledge, spend a little time to get to know a good one and you will have a much stronger armory to approach Diss-ease and generally live a better quality of life.

Dr M.C.Nelson.D.O. A Melbourne Osteopath, trained in the U.K. at the European School of Osteopathy. Qualified in 1981, worked in private practice and lecturing in technique to French Physiotherapists in England, before returning to Australia and work in sports medicine clinics such as Brighton spinal and sports medicine clinic.

Started to develop Dr Nelson's S.O.S. from http://www.sosheadache.com during the late eighties-early nineties with a strong interest in headaches and peoples ability to heal themselves. Dr Nelson sees private patients at home these days and devotes most of his time to getting the S.O.S. out to people.

The Focal Infection Patients must be Examined Infected Teeth Gum Disease Tonsil Tags

It is shocking that physicians and dentists seldom investigate the possible presence of other focal infection sources as part of their preoperative bacterial endocarditis prevention programs. Patients must be examined to determine the presence of any infected teeth,gums,tonsil tags or other possible sources of focal infection.

Then, too, in view of Dr. Price's work, patients should be queried about any past root canal treated teeth, as they may not only be a factor in the current disease problem, but could actually be a cause of it. Martin H. Fischer, M.D.,a prolific writer of medical books during the 1940s,had this to say:

Focal infection started in a tooth is obviously no trivial matter! From it are destined to flow into the periphery (other gland, organs and tissues) what amounts to unexpected and acute orchronic invalidism at the best; at the worst, death.

Perhaps now we can truly evaluate how unfortunate it was Dr. Price's research was covered up and buried all these years. When you think of all the excellent research accomplished by those mentioned in this chapter, it might lead you to think this subject is now clarified and out in the open. However, the fact is only a handful of dentists in the country have any knowledge about Dr. Weston Price's work. Although recent studies have been published in scientific journals, I dare say very few dentists or physicians in the country have read or know anything about their content.

Of course, both dentists and physcians are familiar with the risks causing endocarditis by way of dental treatment, but for most health professionals this book will probably be their first introduction to the phenomenal extent of the focal infection problem.

It has not been uncommon in the history of medicine for a major advance in the cure of disease to be buried for long periods of time as a result of controversy.

When the theoies behind a research endeavor become dated, the inevitable question arieses as to what follow-up studies have confirmed the original premises. In Dr. Price's case there have been many; since then, 15 key studies are listed.

Dr. Milton I. Rosenau, professor of Preventive Medicine, Harvard Medical School, did many experiments using dogs and other animals. A good example was transferring the ulcerative colitis of a patient to several kind of animals. Colleagues at the time criticized his finding streptococcus the most common bacteria involved in degenerative disease, but it confirmed Dr. Price's discoveries and still holds true today.

This article can be reprinted freely online as long as the entire article with resource box are included.

What Is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma the medical name for cancer of the pleura (the lining of the lung and chest cavity) or cancer of the peritoneum (the lining of the abdomen). It is usually caused by prolonged or persistent exposure to asbestos.

Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until between twenty and fifty years after exposure, which explains why so many new cases of this form of cancer are coming to light now, even though the dangers of asbestos were realized long ago and measures taken to reduce the risk of the disease.

As with many forms of cancer, the mesothelioma tumor can spread rapidly, often infecting the opposite pleura, and continuing on to other internal organs. Symptoms include a shortness of breath, chest pains, coughing, and loss of weight.

Testing can be carried out initially by X-Ray, with a Thoric CT and open lung biopsy being used to confirm the findings of the early tests. If it is diagnosed early enough, the tumor can be surgically removed, and with follow-up chemotherapy and radiation treatment, full recovery is often possible.

However, in more advanced cases, cure is usually not possible. In such cases, chemotherapy and radiation treatment can be used alongside other pain relief treatments, to ease the symptoms. Where cure is not possible, the average survival time is between four and eighteen months, depending on the stage of the tumor and the general health of the patient.

About The Author

Angela Cambourne owns and maintains the Mesothelioma Hub, an extensive resource site. http://www.mesothelioma-hub.com.

Gift Giving for Breast Cancer Patients and Their Families

Did you know that each year, 182,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die? One woman in eight either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In addition, 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die this year.

The above statistics are scary to say the least. If you have loved ones or friends that have been diagnosed with breast cancer, I am sure you've often wondered what, if anything, you can do to help them.

Here are some gifts that are appropriate for cancer patients, and their families to give encouragement, and support.

Probably one of the most important gifts you can offer, is the gift of your time: time to listen, and time to be with them as they accept the fact that they have cancer, and go through their treatment.

A small journal is another idea: they can put on paper their thoughts, their struggles, and their accomplishments as they fight this battle.

A book of inspiring, encouraging words will do wonders for their soul. One suggestion would be Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul: 101 Stories of Courage and Inspiration from Those Who Have Survived Cancer.

Don't forget a nice teddy bear they can hug, and a CD of soft, comforting, music.

Some cancer patients develop sensitivity to fragrance, so please stay away from scented items.

Again, remember that at times, all they need is to have someone to talk to, or hold their hand: be there for them!

For your information:

If detected early, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer exceeds 95%. Mammograms are among the best early detection methods, yet 13 million U.S. women 40 years of age or older have never had a mammogram.

Don't miss your mammogram this year. Several national organizations will have a list of the facilities that participate in National Mammography Day. To find a place near you, call:

American Cancer Society
1-800-ACS-2345

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
1-800-IM-AWARE

National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO)
1-888-80-NABCO

National Cancer Institute
1-800-4-CANCER

Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization
1-800-221-2141

About The Author

Adriana Copaceanu provides people with creative gift ideas that don't blow the bank. Gift Baskets for Baby to Birthday and Beyond, are just some gift ideas you'll find at her site: http://www.abcgiftsandbaskets.com. Want regular reminders on gift-giving? Sign up for her free monthly newsletter at http://www.abcgiftsandbaskets.com/gift-news-signup.htm

What is Rosacea Symptoms and Treatments

Rosacea is a kind of skin disease which gives rise to different symptoms such as dilated blood vessels, inflammation on the skin, permanent redness, papules, pustules etc. Due to rosacea, sometimes the eyes and the other body parts are also affected. The root cause of rosacea is not known till now. It is said that people who often blush seem to develop this because their blood vessels are dilated. Rosacea may be caused by the following primary symptoms such as burning, erethymas, scaling caused due to burning or stinging, dry skin, swelling that enlarges after the portion becoming red, eye symptoms such as redness, itching or corneal damage and pimples from acne.

There are various ways to treat Rosacea. Both modern science and the traditional medicines can treat it but only when there is redness and blood vessel enlargement. Laser treatment can also cure the dilated blood vessels or the skin irregularities. The condition can also be cured with antibiotics when papules, pustules are caused. If rosacea spreads consult your physician. The physician will prescribe necessary medicines. If pimples form then clean your skin with skin cleansers.

There are plenty of alternative medicines found in the market such as topical creams that comprise of natural oils, herbs, minerals and antioxidants that heal the acute irritation. The bacterial infection is treated with mild antiseptic agents. Consult a physician before using any medication.

Paul has been providing answers to lots of queries through his website on a wide variety of subjects ranging from satellite phones to acne. To learn more visit http://www.askaquery.com/Answers/qn1712.html

You are welcome to republish the above article only if you add our hyperlinked URL.

The New MindBody Paradigm

?Wherever a thought goes, a chemical goes with it.? ? Deepak Chopra

Life-threatening illness is more than a crisis of the body; it is a crisis of the soul. During thirty-five years as a hospital-based cardiologist, I have seen innumerable ways in which patients react when faced with a medical catastrophe. Initially, most are overwhelmed, and feel as though they have been attacked by an alien force?as if body, mind, and spirit are under siege.

Many patients become paralyzed by fear. All resistance crumbles, replaced by passivity and resignation. Some go into denial, unwilling or unable to confront the enormity of what is happening. Yet others meet the crisis by challenging it head on, and in the process, discover within themselves the resources to confront and overcome the gravest of circumstances. At times, these patients triumph, not because of the medical care they receive, but in spite of it.

There exists in all of us, a life force: the foundation of organic existence. In some, this drive is powerful and passionate. In others, there is ambivalence about continuing the burdensome business of living. When disease strikes, many are all too ready and even willing to have their lives end. But passivity or resignation are not immutable reactions to a life-threatening illness. My patients have taught me that the will to live can be awakened at any moment during its course.

Medical science has largely been blind to the power of a patient?s mind in determining the outcome of an illness. Doctors are taught to view patients as the sum of their bodily parts, and to treat diseases by relying almost exclusively on the marvels of medical technology. Their unspoken communication to patients is unmistakable: We will mobilize our array of procedures and wonder drugs to save you. If they don?t work, you are beyond help.

Having spent much of my career as an academic physician directing medical research programs, I have participated in the development of technological advances that have led to this new patient-care paradigm. While today?s medical arsenal is invaluable in the combat against life-threatening illnesses, it has brought about a major side effect: far-reaching changes in the time-honored patient-doctor relationship.

That bond, once an invaluable component of the healing process, has become undermined. On teaching rounds, I have always felt it important to point out the ways in which doctors unwittingly discourage patients from mobilizing their inner resources to overcome an illness by implying that these elements play no part in the outcome. I emphasize how powerful these resources can be. Experience has taught me that they are comparable to any avant-garde pill or procedure.

This was dramatically demonstrated to me many years ago by a patient named Vivian, who was suffering from progressive heart failure. The cumulative cardiac damage caused by several previous heart attacks had forced me to admit Vivian to the hospital three times in four months. Her heart had weakened to the point where it no longer responded to maximum doses of intravenous diuretics and other powerful medications. Edema fluid had accumulated in both her lungs and legs.

In the previous twenty-four hours, Vivian?s kidneys had begun to shut down, making it impossible to treat the massive watery accumulations in her body. Her liver and other organ systems were also becoming affected. All therapeutic options had been exhausted. Vivian?s chances for survival were close to zero.

After suffering for ten days in the Intensive Care Unit, Vivian had had enough. ?Look, Doctor,? she said, ?I am seventy-two years old. My husband has been dead for fifteen years, and my daughter hasn?t spoken to me since the day he died. I?m in constant pain, and I have nothing to live for. Please let me go.?

Despite their estrangement, Vivian had listed her daughter Janet as the person to be notified in the event of her death. When I asked whether Janet knew how sick she had been, Vivian shook her head.

?My daughter doesn?t know, and I?m sure she doesn?t care.?

?If you wouldn?t mind, I?d like to call her.?

?I don?t see the point. What good would it do?? It might not do any good, but I think your daughter should know what?s going on with her mother.?

?Frankly, I think it?s a waste of time.?

Two nights later, Janet came to the Unit accompanied by her ten-year-old son, whom Vivian had never met.

The following morning, a different woman greeted me in the Unit. Vivian looked at me, eyes glowing, and said, ?My daughter is getting married in three weeks. She wants me to walk down the aisle with her.? Tears welled up in Vivian?s eyes, as she took my hand and whispered, ?I want to be there, Doctor.?

Within days, Vivian?s kidneys began to open up. The same dose of intravenous medication that had been ineffective now caused a substantial decrease in Vivian?s edema fluid. After a week, her lungs were clear. By the end of week two, we were able to switch from intravenous to oral medications, and move Vivian out of the ICU.

Three days before discharge, Vivian began gingerly hobbling down the hospital corridor with the aid of a walker, the same one she used to walk down the aisle alongside Janet at her wedding.

Vivian not only attended her daughter?s wedding, she also lived to attend her grandson?s bar mitzvah three years later.

Every doctor has seen patients with a life-threatening illness make a miraculous recovery after they were thought to be beyond hope. But because medical science is unable to explain these extraordinary occurrences, their importance is often ignored. Medicine is so enamored of the apparent infallibility of science that it has become blind to other possibilities. But remarkable recoveries like Vivian?s are possible for all of us. As Emily Dickinson wrote: ?We never know how tall we can be until we are called on to rise.?

Richard Helfant, MD, a Harvard-trained cardiologist, pioneered the development of cardiac electrophysiology and nuclear cardiology. Courageous Confrontations, Dr. Helfant's latest work, is about how to use the mind-body relationship to combat disease.

Atherosclerosis Blocking or Narrowing of the Arteries

Atherosclerosis comes from the Greek word - athere that means porridge and skleros meaning hardening. These words conjure up an image in our minds of exactly what happens when atherosclerosis develops in the arteries. The plaque that forms and blocks up the arteries are made of atheroma. This is a mixture of cholesterol, fibrous tissue, dead muscle cells, platelets and sometimes calcium. Over the years this plaque gets bigger and bigger, reducing the blood flow and oxygen supply to the body's tissue. Atherosclerosis can affect arteries anywhere in the body, but most life threatening is when it blocks up the heart arteries or the arteries supplying blood and oxygen to the brain.

No artery in the body is safe from atherosclerosis and may effect the heart causing heart disease as the coronary vessels are easily blocked

? the brain, causing a stroke
? the legs, causing poor circulation (peripheral vascular disease) resulting in possible gangrene
? the intestine, causing sections to die.

There are often no early symptoms of athersclerosis, the first perhaps being a heart attack. It is vital therefore that you are aware of the risk factors and make lifestyle changes where possible to minimize your risk of atherosclerosis and other associated conditions. There are two categories of factors for atherosclerosis, those you can change and those you cannot.

Factors you cannot change are:

Age - As you get older the greater the risk of developing heart disease

Ethnicity - Some ethnic groups are more high risk suffering from atherosclerosis than others

Genetic inheritance - The health of your cardiovascular system and atherosclerosis often runs in families

Gender - Men are more likely to suffer from atherosclerosis, as women produce oestrogen, which protects them against the development of atheroma. The risks even out once women stop producing oestrogen

Diabetes - Diabetics are high risk as atherosclerosis is associated with high cholesterol levels. In diabetes, the fatty plaques develop much quicker, but with well-controlled glucose levels the risk is lessened. Another factor that is just as important to control is high blood pressure.

Factors that you can change are:

Smoking - Smoking cigarettes promotes atheroma forming within the arteries

High blood pressure - The risk of developing atherosclerosis increases with hypertension

High blood cholesterol level - Research has found that continued high cholesterol levels in the blood increases the risk of atherosclerosis

Obesity - Poor cardiovascular health in general and more risk in developing atherosclerosis are linked to obesity

Inactivity - Regular physical exercise will lower the risk of atherosclerosis

Cholesterol levels can be kept low by eating plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, high fibre foods and cutting down on animal fats found in full-cream milk, cheese, eggs and red meat. A person with very high cholesterol levels will probably take cholesterol lowering drugs as well as eating a low-fat diet. Recent studies have shown that these drugs improve the long-term risk of developing heart disease.

A person is never too young to worry about atherosclerosis as it can start even before you were born. It can also be present for years before it causes any symptoms - so the earlier you make changes the better for the future outcome.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Heart Disease

Cervical Cancer Risk Reduction

Of all the common cancer that affect woman, cervical cancer is among the top list. Sexually transmitted HPV (human papillomavirus) is the culprit in most cases of cervical cancers. Over half of the cervical cancer reported cases occur in women between 40 and 55 although it is not uncommon for women of 35 to be amongst the risk group. The body?s immune system works to keep the HPV from doing damage, yet the HPV virus can last for years and over time it takes some cells on the surface and turns them to cervix cancer cells. Routine and periodic screening from paps tests can help you catch this early and thus this has helped reduce the number of deaths in women in the United States, but still we lose 4,000 to 5,000 women a year to cervical cancers.

In research the things, which increase risk of cervical cancer may include large numbers of sexual partners, which increase risk of HPV. Having other sexually transmitted diseases also increase you chances of cervical cancer. Weak immune system periods can increase your bodies ability to keep the HPV at bay. Early sexual activity can also cause a problem, due to non-mature cells being more apt to take on the cancer cell growth. Even smoking although research is not conclusive may in fact inhibit your bodies defenses against HPV.

Your strategy for reduction of risk of the HPV and cervical cancer damage should include routine and periodic paps tests. Ask your doctor for additional information and do your own research on this. It is smart to pay attention and early screening is the key to saving lives. Think on this.

Lance Winslow

Basic Principles and Practice of Nature Cure

To learn more about the energy principle in healing, please read:

Cost-free Miracle Asthma Cure
Overcome Type I Diabetes and Type II Diabetes Naturally
Alternative Treatments for Incurable Diseases made easy

Fight Aging

Developing an anti-aging program is the newest scientific approach to helping you live a longer, healthier and more active life. Some of the greatest benefits include improved mental and cognitive funtion, stronger cardiovascular system, increased lean body mass and decreased body fat, improve sexual function, fewer wrinkles, thicker skin and better skin tone. The main components of anti-aging to include in your program are:Optimal nutrition, proper skincare, regular excercise, hormone replacement therapy, and lifestyle behavioral changes such as smoke, stress management, and reduced alcohol asumption.

Excercise is the simplest and least expensive anti-aging tool. You can work with a personal trainer, and better yet, participation in a regular fitness program will provide you needed exercise benefits. Be sure to check with your physician before beginning any rigorous exercise program.

If your body is armed with the ammunition to defend itself, your body will have stronger immunity and reduced disease, and you'll find yourself seeking medical attention less frequently. Through the synergistic action of all these components, anti-aging scientists have observed a significant change and even reversal of some aging effects. Now it's your turn to observe these changes in your skin and body. Discuss additional options for addressing changes to your skin with your skincare professional professional.

Mina Dimakis-Lev
http://www.BeautyImagebyMina.com

The Insidiousness of Breast Cancer and Its Current Treatment

In our modern world, the benefits that today?s manufacturing and agricultural activities have brought us is more than painfully offset by the damage to our personal health and wellness. During the course of our daily lives, we are continually exposed to common household products such as detergents, insulation, fabric treatments, flame retardants, cosmetics, paints, upholstery preservatives, and coatings for electronic equipment. When these chemicals accumulate within our bodies, they distribute into body fluids as well.

While it is painfully clear that we may find such toxic chemicals as fire retardants in the breast milk of Americans who unsuspectingly ingest these and unhealthy levels of many other of toxins form the air they breath, the water they drink, and the food they eat, then it is obvious that our drive for cultural, technological, and scientific advancement has taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way. The chemicals we have produced and utilized in the modern era have had many negative effects upon various human body organ systems and have caused many health problems that will have serious implications far into the future. Data from recent explorations into these issues suggest that all of us are at risk of developing serious diseases from long-term exposure to these chemicals that we had hoped would improve our lives. Our synthetic chemicalization of planet Earth, in the past 60 years, is showing up as a body burden that is a physical tragedy and a fiscal catastrophe. Nowhere are these terrifying results more evident than in today?s battles with breast cancer.

The link between toxins in our environment and diseases like breast cancer showing up in our populations is one about which there is little debate as to the cause and effect relationship. While media, political, and health watch organizations warn of the danger associated with large doses of synthetic chemicals within the living environments of human populations, it is apparent that even very low doses of certain chemicals can harm a developing fetus or newborn infant. Small amounts of lead, mercury or PCBs in amounts that would not harm adults readily damage the developing nervous system, causing defects that appear later on. While the general health of an individual is a factor in who is more susceptible to developing diseases from the exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment, the fact that breast cancer is claiming its victims from women both young and old, makes this situation all the more deplorable. We need to take a fresh look at not only the disease itself, but also at what may be alternatives to the current treatment of this abomination.

Since it is obvious that government, with its bureaucratic pace of environmental protection reform and industry with its millions of dollars spent lobbying against regulations that would impact the manufacture of their toxic products despite the obvious health concerns, will not solve this problem in the immediate future; we then, must take responsibility for our own health and wellness with education and pro-active prevention and treatment strategies. Since the current treatment methods, which have produced little to indicate real progress over the past thirty years, are the very essence of barbarism, we must seek out alternative ways of prevention and treatment, and help to bring them into the accepted mainstream of health care practices. We must also work to help ban dangerous chemicals and take immediate steps to protect ourselves from unnecessary exposure to those chemicals that we know to be harmful and contributory to the development of chronic and degenerative diseases.

The current medical practices to treat breast cancer seem more like torturous mayhem that therapeutic intervention. And is it any wonder when doctors and medical students alike get most of their primary, secondary, and continuing education funded, to a large degree by the megalithic pharmaceutical industry, the very authors and purveyors of drastic and toxic medical intervention procedures. This situation is all the more dreadful when it is pointed out that these increasingly toxic and experimental measures lead to future complications and the susceptibility to the premature development of other chronic diseases. This preoccupation with burning with radiation, poisoning with toxins, and slicing and dicing cancer is an appalling state of affairs that must end now. If you believe that current medical interventions do anything but dehumanize cancer victims, then perhaps you will want to go to your local video rental store and check out a movie by the name of ?WIT?. That our bodies are nothing more than test tubes to those involved in the current cancer treatment methodologies is dramatically illustrated by this fine film. And just when current medical practitioners will leave this seemingly medieval torture seen behind is not immediately apparent.

Imagine if you will that a woman is called into her doctor?s office to review the results of her previous examination. The doctor looks at the images on the films that were taken and declares that he sees the shadow of something that could be deadly cancer and as a result has scheduled surgery within 24 hours. Before she even has a chance for the shock and terror to take hold, she is reeling with the realization that she will be going under the knife in less than a day and will never be the same again. Don?t kid yourself. This has been and is happening. This is a strategy designed to prevent you from stepping outside of the box of current medical interventions for the treatment of cancer, taking a deep breath, and processing this information in the new light of other possible courses of action. You may, after all, discover that you have other viable alternatives to choose from in this instance. The probable fact of the matter is that a health care provider, who rushes to execute such measures, would not be quite so eager to cut off the breast of his wife or of his daughter without considering less drastic options first. And, not to put too fine a point on the matter, but bringing it closer to home, I also do not believe that your doctor would be as eager to part with one of his testicles should a comparable diagnosis for him be pronounced.

It is imperative that we, as consumers, prevail upon our service providers to consider alternatives should we find ourselves in a similar circumstance. In fact, it may speed things along if, when confronted with a situation like this, we would graphically drive the point home by saying something like: ?OK doctor, if you want to take away from me one of these (gesturing to the appropriate area of your body), then I think you should have to part with one of those, (pointing with your finger at his ?family jewels? location). I will wager that a lively discussion of alternatives for this problem would ensue with little hesitation.

There are alternative remedies out there. Find them. It is known, for example, that certain foods, including many vegetables and fruits, may offer some positive effects in the fight against cancer. Dietary suggestions such as choosing most of the foods you eat from plant sources, limiting your intake of foods high in fat, particularly from animal sources, becoming physically active, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight and limiting the consumption of alcoholic beverages, will add to your efforts to achieve a desired state of wellness and avoid diseases. One approach which has not had wide spread acceptance to date but has become quite intriguing, is the dietary use of certain carbohydrate containing plant materials to either prevent or treat certain cancers. There are numerous references which underscore the importance of a diet obtained primarily from plant sources as a major step in preventing cancer, or at least benefiting cancer patients. There are literally hundreds of reports supporting this concept.

Today the prevention of cancer with proper nutrition is widely accepted. It is believed, that in time, the efficacy of these materials in the fight against cancer will be firmly established, and that alternative choices for treatment will be included in the accepted resources for the treatment of cancer. This will help to negate the current propensity to pressure cancer patients into surgery or toxic therapies causing them to agree for fear that they have few, if any other viable options. Cancer cells and the means to deal with them effectively are located within our bodily systems. Those systems need but to be catalytically activated by the proper raw materials. If we are functioning properly at the cellular level, then the growth of cancer can be controlled and held in check from within by natural mechanisms that were in place long before modern medicine dreamed up its current toxic and drastic strategies. So, educate yourself about prevention and alternative options, move your body, eat well, supplement wisely, and TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE!

To read more about why Steve is so passionate about moving toward wellness and how you can head that way through a healthy lifestyle, that includes, prevention, and appropriate nutritional support and supplementation, visit http://steve.myglycostore.com/

Arjuna The Amazing Heart Herb That Reduces Cardiovascular Suffering

Are you worried about heart disease now or later in life? So much is written and reported on heart disease or cardiovascular disease.

There's good reason. It's the number one killer of people in the US.

So, for good reason, you should to be concern about what you need to do so that you can avoid being a victim of heart disease.

Is there a natural remedy that can serve as a preventative or relieve or reduce the symptom of cardiovascular disease? Is there some natural remedy that can lower cholesterol levels or LDL, reduce angina attacks, reduce congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, prevent and reduce the fat build on your artery walls? and lower high blood pressure?

Yes there is.

In a special report put out by the Health Sciences Institute, they reported on a New Breakthrough Against Heart Disease and Stroke.

This is so exciting that now there is a natural heart remedy that has come to light here in the US, but has been used for over 2500 years in India.

It's an Ayurvedic herb called Arjuna and is readily available. Arjuna comes from the Terminalia Arjuna tree, located throughout India.

In all of the clinical studies that have being performed it has shown significant improvement in patients tested. In tests for LDL cholesterol it reduced LDL by 25% after 30 days of use with a dose of 500 mg per day.

People who suffered from angina attacks were put on Arjuna. During a 12 week period, these people had a 30% reduction in angina attacks.

This is what the Health Science Institute report has to say about Arjuna,

If the cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream isn't removed on a regular basis, it can deposit on the walls of your arteries. While this happens to everone to a certain extent, thicker cholesterol deposits reduce the volume of blood flowing through your vascular system?'hardening of the arteries.' This can cause a deterioration of tissues and organs. Your arteries also deteriorate from the accumulation of cholesterol. If left untreated, atherosclerosis can kill you. But Arjuna has been show to turn around this life-threatening condition.

So why haven't you heard about this wonder herb. Well, it was reported in the newspaper, but was put in the middle where very few people would see it. Pharmaceuticals definitely don't want you to know about it.

What's even more astounding about Arjuna is that you can afford it. Most herbal remedies or any supplement that can really do something for you cost from $25 to $50 for 30 - 60 capsules and some even more.

Arjuna cost $8-$10 plus shipping, if you can't find it at your health food store, for 120 capsules of 550 mg. This will last you 2 months or more. This comes to $5 - $7 per month to care for your heart. Go out and buy this right now. Your heart deserves it.

I have to go now; I need to open the bottle of Arjuna that I just received in the mail. The brand that I recommend is Planetary Formulas?Arjuna.

If you don't do anything for you health this year, do this one thing; buy Arjuna. Share this information with your friends and family and don't keep it to yourself.

Rudy Silva is a Natural Nutritionist. To get tips and natural remedies for your heart and high blood pressure go to: http://www.lowerbloodpressure.for--you.com/

Alternative Medicine and Disease Prevention

Alternative Medicine

Acupuncture, Chiropractic Care, and Massage Therapy are available to every member of our society. Each of these therapies have been proven to improve our life and our health. Yet, very few of us have ever undertaken a serious course of Alternative Medicine, let alone a regular course of each. They can be a beneficial, and relatively inexpensive, adjunct in your pursuit of excellent health.

The key to understanding and using these alternative medicines properly is to understand that they are preventative of disease, and contributive to energy. Thinking of these therapies the same way that you think of mainstream medicine will only give you the results that mainstream medicine has.

Whether you have or haven't explored these areas, you will definitely need a professional opinion in terms of how to properly access these alternative fields of medicine and how to receive the most benefit to your health. Each one of these disciplines carries an important means in addressing the currents which control our health.

Discovering which to use, when to use them, and how to use them, is a step by step process. The empowering effects of these healing arts are criticized and unduly insulted in medical offices to this day. Unfortunately, these critical physicians are often not familiar with the annals of research in the other fields.

It is sad that the 'real' doctor of today is educated entirely by the pharmaceutical industry, and would prescribe dangerous drugs before exploring the power of these emerging arts. Even more unfortunately, this leaves the patient without any authoritative guidance as to how to explore the world of Alternative Medicine.

As we consider different health issues, we should also consider which of these alternative care disciplines you should enlist to assist you. Research thoroughly how to select an alternative care doctor and how to receive as much assistance as you can without affecting your pocket book. These disciplines are, in many cases, not any more expensive than mainstream efforts to achieve a health goal . Explore what you feel you'd prefer to avoid in the alternative health field, what you'd be comfortable with accepting, and how to find a medical doctor who is educated well in alternative medicines.

Disease Prevention

Disease Prevention is a popular phrase and a poorly followed principle. The problem we have, as a society, with the concept of disease prevention is that there is nothing exciting about it. If you consider eating healthy and living right only as a means to prevent disease, you'll never be excited enough to follow it up properly.

The only people who become excited about preventing disease are usually people who already have a disease.

The most effective manner of motivating yourself towards healthy living is to understand how it will bring you closer to a stronger, more energetic person than the one you are today. Using prevention only to prevent disease is both dull and pessimistic. Using the tools you've associated with prevention to bring you more strength and vitality can make it exciting and can show you new pleasures in life.

If you can fathom that the same lifestyle you had when you were young is attainable now, this might make the alternative principles of disease prevention a little more interesting to you.

What is important to understand is that alternative principles, such as Vitalism, are a source of rejuvenation, can restore energy, and can even bring energy to a person who has never had strong energy levels. These principles, often associated with helping eliminate or reduce disease prevention, should be followed until an individual has achieved an ideal state of health in their life.

About the Author:

To learn more about Alternative Medicine and Disease Prevention, please feel free to visit Dr. Bryan Brodeur's VitalityHouse.

Digestive Health: Why You May be Suffering from 'the Leaky Gut Syndrome' and How You can Fix It

?Life and Death are in the Power of the Gut. They that master it shall prosper in health thereof. They that do not shall gnash their teeth in dis-ease.? ?Uzo Onuwkugha, MD.

You are not just what you eat; you are what you ingest, digest and assimilate. Everything you?ve ever eaten since you were a baby all contribute to your overall health and well-being up till this point. All the cells in your body have an immunological memory and imprint of all that you have eaten. The law of sowing and reaping works behind the scenes. Some people don?t even understand that there are dietary laws that govern optimum health. We should stop focusing on the type of disease and start asking, ?What type of person has the disease.? Your cells tell the story better because it has a record (biological time clock) of your state of health even when it has not manifested with symptoms and no medical test could pick it up.

Well, you are as healthy as your individual cells. There is a law in Science that says that in a closed system, any phenomenon in a large scale is also repeated in a smaller time frame. Therefore, your cells hold the key to your overall health. To be precise, the focus is on the cells of your intestines. My zoom lens is on your small intestine where the majority of absorption and digestion of food materials take place. The word ?gut? is somewhat vague because it could refer to the digestive system, part of it or even the stomach.

Now, do you know the best selling drugs in America? It doesn?t matter if it is over-the-counter or prescription drugs. The best selling drugs are antacids or drugs for intestinal disease remedies. You probably know all the brand names: Gelusil, Sucralfate, Mylanta, Pepto-Bismol, Tagamate, and all kinds of laxatives. Please note that taking antacids worsen the problem because these patients are suffering because of lack of acid. This is because their enzymes that manufacture acid (hydrochloric acid) are depleted. Neutralizing the little acid you have give symptomatic relief and tend to worsen the problem.

The target diseases include heartburn, gastritis, flatulence dyspepsia, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, colorectal cancer, chronic constipation and other forms of digestive ailments. Some of the diseases may not even have a well defined symptom or signs that fit into a definite clinical pattern. That?s why they are often called syndromes.

Many times, clinical tests will reveal nothing, and yet the patient continues to agonize. What is the underlying cause of these diseases? The answer is not what you think. It is an uncharacterized phenomenon most doctors don?t talk about. The name is ?the leaky gut syndrome.? It is simply saying that your intestines are ailing because they are short of energy as such has become porous. I prefer a more scientific term called ?intestinal permeability disease.?

The onset coincides with depletion of functional enzymes in the body. This is the time when the resilience of youth tends to wean. Depending on your dietary habits, it peaks around late twenties or early thirties. Rapid aging seem to pick up at this point. It is a process that sneaks in on you. At this time, your hairs begin to thin and fall off. Bald head set in. Some of your hairs may even start graying because of nutrient depletion especially the B-complex Vitamins. Symptoms of intestinal malady seem to worsen at the same time. People begin to notice bloating, gas, belching, constipation and lactose intolerance.

The key to explaining ?leaky gut syndrome? lies at the cellular level. The small intestine has the hardest working cells in the human body. These complex cells may even work harder than brain cells. (No wonder they are called ?brain in the gut? because they have all the chemical messengers found in the brain.) In fact, the gut is regarded as the center of life and intuitive thinking. People tend to called it gut instinct?a meeting point of supernatural and physical energy. The Japanese call it the ?power center.? The cells of the gut are arranged in finger-like fashion called villi--designed to increase the surface area for absorption of nutrients. This process is an energy-dependent mechanism called active transport. (Water is absorbed by osmosis and is not energy-dependent).

Thus 85% of our life-time energy is used in digestion, absorption and assimilation of food. You could imagine that only 15% is reserved for the rest of the body for active work and other functions. Do you see why your digestive health is very important? Everything about life is energy and sickness is nothing but lack of force. It is either you take care of your digestive health or live at the mercy of the medical community. Most times they are confused because most doctors are not trained in nutrition therapy.

Furthermore, the gut acts as a semi-permeable membrane. In other words, it has a gating mechanism that allows some nutrients to pass while eliminating others. For instance essential nutrients like minerals, vitamins, and essential fats are absorbed while toxins, bacteria, parasites, and partially digested or allergic foods are prevented from entering the blood. These wastes are eliminated through the stool. However, if the linings become porous like an old filter, everything goes into the blood without restrictions. The gut is now said to be leaky. Note that most of the junk food all full of nutrient-depleted, energy deficient elements called oxidants or free radicals. Because these substances lack electrons, they are very reactive and attack the cell membrane lipid bi-layer. The tight and gap-junctions between cells also give way creating more holes on the membranes.

As the unwanted substances and chemical toxins pass through, they now set up a chain reaction. The body hates these intruders just like you hate spam. The body tries hard to fight off these free radicals as foreign bodies. Often there is no help from the victim who continues to eat junk, nutrient-depleted food causing more free radical damage. The stage for auto-immune reaction has already been set by these allergens and carcinogens (allergens are foods that cause allergy and carcinogens are risk factors for causing cancers). At this time, the body?s defense mechanisms are also down giving rise to all kinds of degenerative diseases or even cancer depending on the end organ and nutritional deficiency involved. Leaky gut also triggers premature aging process. The victim also suffers from chronic fatigue. (Food is should give energy and not deplete your reserve).

Foods that cause leaky gut include fast sugars, partially hydrogenated and trans-fats, wheat gluten, yeast, bacteria, viruses, canned nuts, dairy products, cigarette smoking, alcohol, corn-syrup solids, food additives and flavors. Acidic foods and free radicals worsen the whole scenario. All non-living foods, chemicals, processed foods and all junks food deplete the body of the existing enzymes and leave it open for attacks with all kinds of illnesses. For instance one teaspoon of sugar shuts down your immune system for two hours. Also if you eat in a hurry without chewing your food or meat very well, you are a candidate for leaky gut syndrome. Digestion is a process and it starts in the mouth coupled with your state of mind. Stress is a powerful contributory factor.

Here is the good news: ?Anything that can prevent a disease can also help to cure it,? said Dr. Bernard Jensen. These foods boost your immunity, attack free radicals, strengthen your intestinal walls, help digestion and absorption, cleanse and detoxify you, give you energy, and add more years to your life and more life to your years. The list of healthy alternative is many. But my favorite is a bunch of green super foods?barley grass, wheat grass, chlorella, green kamut, wheat grass, alfalfa and spirulina. Please add avocado to your staple diet. Also essential fatty acid blend (omeg-3, 6 and 9), multivitamin and mineral supplements, aloe vera-papaya, periodic fasting and colon cleanse. Avoid junk and processed food. Drink eight glasses of water per day. Our body is 70% water. Water supports metabolism and help to eliminate toxins that cause diseases and ravages of premature aging. Don?t forget the recommendation of at least five servings of green leafy vegetables daily. Minimize acidic food eat more of alkaline food. Practice food combining to make it easy on your digestive enzymes. Don?t eat for at least 3 hours before you go to bed. (The body heals itself at night). Otherwise the body will use the energy for regeneration and repair to digest food. This makes you tired when you wake-up.

I must add that I take lemon juice and green tea regularly. Just cut off taking coffee it can worsen the leaky gut. Lemon is excellent because all the bacteria that cause disease hate anything bitter. They love sugar because they can multiply in nanoseconds. Both lemon juice and green tea help digestion (has life enzymes) and boost your immunity and strengthen your enzyme reserves while cleansing your system. Both are potent antioxidants that combat free radicals that cause lack of energy and aging. Lifestyle of regular exercise should be added.

Exercise is so important that it requires a special emphasis. Lack of exercise causes intestinal paralysis of some sort. This gives undigested food more transit time to sit in the gut and for toxins to leak into the blood triggering degenerative changes, allergy and stagnant immune system. However, when you exercise, nature cooks the food twice-- both in the stomach (more acid is mixed with the food) and in the intestines. This improves digestion and elimination of wastes. Overall, many people notice bowel movement during or shortly after exercise. Also exercise draws air into the body which is more efficient in combating the bugs that cause diseases. Disease does not exist in aerobic environment. All cells start to age when they don?t get enough oxygen. Many other benefits of exercise are beyond the scope of this article.

In a nutshell, if you do these basic things, including adding raw food to your diet you will improve the quality of your life and enjoy optimum health all the days of your life. The key is to take responsibility for your own health. Watch what goes into your mouth. Educate yourself on how your body works. Listen to your body. Give it what it needs to serve you better. Your life is in your hands; not the doctor. Don?t kid yourself. You don?t put water in your gasoline tank. Do you? Don?t think you?re a machine. Even machines break down. Before you blame God and your parents, change your eating habit first. There are healthy alternatives to the junk you see all around you. Good health is lifelong journey. The earlier you start the better. Good luck in your quest for optimum health!

Uzo Onukwugha has developed a site with a heartbeat towards training info-marketers the inner game of business success. You cannot divorce a life of inspiration from business success. Laws of life are the same laws that power success in any endeavor. To learn more, visit his site at: http://www.weblinkbusiness.com and subscribe to his newsletter and e-course. Reach him with your comments and concerns at: uzonukwugha@yahoo.com

Antioxidant Therapy and Disease

The process of oxidation takes place in the body as part of the body?s energy-producing metabolism. It provides the vast amounts of energy required to keep us alive, and it continues as long as we live. It is a very precise, ordered process, which calls for the presence of catalysts (such as enzymes) at various stages throughout, and it is designed to produce the maximum amount of energy for the cells without disturbing their balance and functions.

Free Radicals and Ageing

This process can generate by-products, in the form of highly reactive and destructive molecules, called free radicals. These molecules are dangerous because they are unstable. They carry a small electrical charge, and have a single unpaired electron, which makes them extremely volatile and liable to react with other atoms and molecules they contact. Even more free radicals are rapidly generated from these chain reactions.

Biological systems are designed in such a way that free radicals are part of their normal functioning. The body copes with oxidative stress by using its own antioxidant mechanisms based on certain enzymes, proteins, vitamins and minerals, described below. But if free radicals get out of hand, they can overtake this natural defence system and bring about the degeneration of body cells, which ultimately leads to ageing and degenerative disease.

Recent developments in the biochemical study of free radical action have provided a more unified understanding of degenerative processes. It is now possible for researchers to make sense of the causation of a variety of pathological conditions, including cancer, heart disease, atherosclerosis, arthritis, Alzheimer's and other diseases of old age, and to work towards counteracting and preventing these conditions.

Free radicals operate by attacking molecules of protein in the body and causing them to become cross-linked. Cross-linkage degrades the molecules of cells and tissues so that they harden and lose their elasticity. This happens both internally, resulting in hardening of the arteries and the degeneration of brain tissue, and also externally, producing wrinkling of the skin. Because proteins are the basic building matter of all the types of cells and tissue, this attack affects all protein functions, including cell building and repair, hormone and enzyme production, muscular and vascular tissue, and the immune system. The nucleic acids DNA and RNA, which carry the genetic messages of the cells, are also affected.

Causes of Increased Free Radical Production

To an extent, free radicals are a natural result of body processes. Especially in today's world, however, the production of free radicals is likely to be accelerated by many outside influences:

Pollution, Pesticides, Radiation, Solvents.
Air conditioners, Aerosol sprays, Drycleaners.
Car exhaust fumes.
Physical or emotional stress or trauma.
Cigarette smoke, Excessive alcohol intake.
Illness, Infection.
Faulty protein digestion.
Spoiled or tainted foods, Rancid, heated and hydrogenated fats.
Chemicals in food.
Ozone, Ultra-violet rays.

Add to this the fact that humans eat fewer natural foods (especially raw foods rich in protective elements), and we can see why our health is becoming compromised.

The Benefits of Antioxidant Elements

Ideally, the body protects itself with the help of naturally occurring elements, which it derives directly from the diet, or produces using dietary sources. The first of these to be discovered are often called the First Generation Antioxidants.

Enzymes: Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Glutathione peroxidase, Catalase.
Vitamins: Vitamins A, C, and E.
Minerals: Zinc, Selenium.
Amino Acids: Arginine, Cysteine, Glutamine, Taurine.

The antioxidant enzymes are the first line of defence. But the body needs adequate supplies of other nutrients before enzymes can be effective. Superoxide dismutase requires zinc, manganese and copper, and glutathione peroxidase requires selenium and vitamin E - which, as we know, operate synergistically. If these nutrients are not available in sufficient quantity, the scavenging activity of the enzymes is reduced.

The Second Generation Antioxidants

As research into antioxidants developed, a ?second generation? of more powerful free radical fighters emerged: the Carotenoids (associated with Vitamin A) and the Bioflavonoids (which enhance the action of Vitamin C). These were far more powerful in their action than Vitamins, and remained longer in the body, increasing their effectiveness even further.

Carotenoids (over 600): Astaxanthin, Lycopene.
Bioflavonoids (over 800): Rutin, Hesperidin, Quercetin, Anthocynosides, Catechins.

If a diet contains enough fruit and vegetables, bioflavonoids should not be lacking, but today's dietary habits and cultivation methods make for deficiency.

Some Notes About Antioxidant Herbs and Health Foods

Herbs: Bilberry, Echinacea, Evening Primrose, Garlic, Ginger, Ginkgo Biloba, Hawthorn Berry, Milk Thistle, Rosemary, Wild Cabbage.
Health foods: Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Grape Seed Extract, Green Tea, Pollen, Propolis, Pine Bark Extract.

Tomatoes are the best source of the carotenoid Lycopene, the pigment that gives tomatoes and pink fruits their colour. Studies have proved that lycopene is far better absorbed from cooked tomato products than from raw tomatoes. Lycopene has been shown to have beneficial effects on prostate cancer.

Bilberry, in addition to vitamins A and C, has high levels of anthocynosides. These bioflavonoids fortify blood vessel walls, improving blood flow to the vessels that keep eyes healthy, and they help maintain good circulation throughout the body. Bilberry has a reputation for improving night vision and preventing and treating macular degeneration and cataracts.

Green Tea contains bioflavonoids called catechins. These antioxidants may selectively inhibit the growth of cancer. Positive results have been obtained from studies of green tea, although it appears black tea cannot be shown to have the same effects.

Fresh Berry Fruits contain bioflavonoids, especially the dark berries such as noni, goji berries, blueberries, blackberries and pomegranate.

Grape Seed and Pine Bark Extracts both contain proanthocyanidin bioflavonoids. The pycnogenol and catechins present in pine bark extract are said to be extremely effective, exerting a stabilising effect on collagen and cellular membranes of all kinds. Grape seed extract contains a very high level of proanthocyanidins.

Patricia Howitt
Webmistress, Author
Editor: http://www.healthnews-nz.com/
http://marketing.the-junglequeen.com/
http://www.webfeet.biz

Melanin: Aging of the Skin and Skin Cancer

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is responsible for 90% of the visible signs of aging on the skin of whites, says Dr. Michael J. Martin, former Assistant Clinical Professor in the Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco.

Blacks' skin, however, ages much slower.

Why are most dark-skinned blacks protected from harmful UV rays? Because compared to whites, blacks possess more melanin, the pigment that gives skin its color.

Melanin

Melanin offers protection against UV rays for blacks and other dark-skinned people. Conversely, fair-skinned people are much less protected and more susceptible to skin cancer. Furthermore, albinos' skin offers no protection.

Although blacks' skin produces more melanin than whites', all skin has the same number of melanocytes, the cells that manufacture the melanin.

Melanocytes manufacture melanin from an amino acid, tyrosin, with the help of an enzyme, tyrosinase. In the bottom layer of the epidermis above the dermis, UV light stimulates the production of melanin in the form of insoluble melanosomes. These surround the epidermal cells, which move up to the surface of the skin. The result is a tan.

Blacks' skin produce more melanin, even in the absence of sunlight, and their type of melanin, eumelanin, is more effective at blocking solar rays. However, white skin produces melanin only in the presence of sunlight and after the UV rays have penetrated the lower portion of the epidermis and have caused skin damage.

Melanin also functions as an excellent free radical scavenger. It affects the delicately designed lipids that hold moisture in the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the epidermis). If the skin loses its moisture, it becomes rigid and cracks, says Sergio Nacht, PhD., Senior Vice-President of Enhanced Derm Technologies, Inc. in Redwood City.

UV Radiation and Skin

UV-A has the longest wavelength, is not filtered by the ozone and passes through glass. It reaches the earth all year long and the amount is comparatively stable. It can penetrate the skin down to the dermis, beneath the four layers of epidermis. It is responsible for most of the visible signs of aging, due to damage to collagen and elastic fibers of the connective tissue of the dermis.

UV-A radiation also plays a role in the development of sunburns and skin cancer. Tanning salon lamps emit a large amount of UV-A rays to generate tans, so the American Academy of Dermatology does not recommend their use.

UV-B radiation, which is partially filtered by the ozone, penetrates the skin to the bottom layer of the epidermis where the basal cells are produced. UV-B can break the molecular bonds, disturbing the dividing cells and altering their structure. Compared with UV-A, UV-B is responsible for most of DNAs damage. It also causes most sunburns. During a sunburn the reddening of the skin, erythema, is caused by dilation of capillaries.

More UV-B is present during summer months between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and at latitudes closer to the equator. Furthermore, at high altitudes the air is thinner and cleaner, so UV-B radiation is more abundant.

UV-C, which is generally filtered by the ozone, has the shortest wavelength and the most energy, or intensity. It can sterilize hospital equipment and kill bacteria.

In addition, UV light that reaches the earth is scattered in all directions, and up to 85% is reflected from surfaces.

The Theory of Melanin for Environmental Adaptation

Originally, people of a particular race resided in a particular area. As time went on, their skin adapted to the environment. For instance, people who lived geographically close to the equator had darker skin, and people who lived far from the equator had lighter skin.

In Scotland, which lies at a northern latitude, descendants of the Britons have white skin. When their skin is exposed to the meager sunlight, the scant amount of melanin their skin produces is unable to block the sunlight. Therefore, their bodies are able to make Vitamin D with the help of sunlight. Vitamin D, a vitamin found in fish oil, is necessary to prevent rickets, a bone disease caused by too little calcium.

In contrast, in Africa, which is near the equator, blacks require intense sunlight to penetrate their dark skin to make Vitamin D. This is all well and good. However, when blacks lived in England during the Industrial Revolution, they were the first to develop symptoms of rickets, such as retarded growth, bowed legs and fractures because not enough sunlight was available.

Fortunately, in 1930, Vitamin D was discovered and dispensed as a supplement to add to the diet.

On the other hand, the skin of whites in Australia are in complete opposition to their climate. Consequently, intense UV radiation has been the major cause of skin damage and skin cancer Down Under.

About The Author

Diana Clarke is a teacher, freelance writer and founder of The Sun and Your Skin, a website on life and light at http://www.yourskinandsun.com.

dianaclarke2001@yahoo.com

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