Health Archive

Tips on How to Stay Cool with a Swamp Cooler

July 31, 2005 · Category: Health, Personal

Just sent this out to the announcement list for our condo assocication. May as well post it here for public consumption, as well. Having trouble keeping your home cool enough during the heat wave? Here are some tips to consider, especially if your unit has an evaporative swamp cooler rather than refrigerated A/C. 1. Open Windows a Little. Unlike refrigerated A/C coolers -- which operate by recycling already-cooled air -- swamp coolers operate by turning dry hot air into moist cool air. (That's why they're used only in desert climates.) This means they work much better when the ...

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London: How to Heal from Trauma … Really

July 8, 2005 · Category: Health, Reviews

The survivors of yesterday's massacre in London will, unfortunately, be joining the ranks of many people around the world who have suffered physical and psychological trauma at some point in their life. I recently encountered a book that does a remarkably good job of explaining the nature of trauma and the newest research on how it can be successfully treated. I would be grateful if other bloggers would help me bring this book to the attention of Londoners and others around the world who have experienced trauma. The book is titled Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How They Heal, by ...

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The Grocery STORE WARS

May 20, 2005 · Category: Health, Politics, Reviews

I'm just enough of a Whole Foods-head to think that this Star Wars-themed organic food parody by the Organic Trade Association is hilariously funny. The names alone -- Obi wan Canoli, Chewbroccoli, etc -- are enough to crack me up.

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Natural Treatment for Seasonal Allergies

May 14, 2005 · Category: Health, Personal

A new article on Fox News provides an oh-so-original suggestion for how to treat seasonal allergies: try taking Allegra or Claritin. Myself, I've been using Flonase off and on for the past few years, and it works very well with only minor side-effects. But I've also discovered something even more interesting. If I simply drink a lot of water, that itself can dramatically reduce my allergy symptoms. Kathy read the book Your Body's Many Cries for Water a few years ago, and taught me that the body produces more histimines (i.e., the precursor to allergy symptoms) when your sinuses are dry. ...

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No Need to Stew

May 9, 2005 · Category: Health

The New York Times offers a great (and funny) article on reducing life's annoyances. Some of them are downright devilish: Mitch Altman, a 48-year old inventor living in San Francisco, said that in the last three months he has sold about 30,000 of his key-chain-size zappers called TV-B-Gone, which can be used discreetly to switch off televisions in public places. "When you go to a restaurant to talk with friends, why should you have to deal with the distraction of a ceiling-mounted television?" Mr. Altman said. But this one takes the cake: Wesley A. Williams spent more than a year exacting his ...

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More on the Health Benefits of Mindfulness

September 29, 2004 · Category: Health, Meditation, Mindfulness

I've been pointing people to Ruth Baer's (2003) meta-analysis of the benefits of mindfulness (available in crystal-clear PDF format on David Fresco's web site) for some time, as an excellent introduction to and overview of the current mindfulness research. Today, via Marshall (via Drew), I learned about a new meta-analysis that is in publication in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, exploring the health benefits of mindfulness: J Psychosom Res. 2004 Jul;57(1):35-43. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits. A meta-analysis. Grossman P, Niemann L, Schmidt S, Walach H. Freiburg Institute for Mindfulness Research, Konradstr. 32, 79100 Freiburg, Germany. OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a structured group ...

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Psychological Cure for Tendonitis

April 21, 2004 · Category: Health, Intellectual

My good friend Andrew Schwartz told me this story a few months ago. I liked it so much that I asked him to write it down and send it to me. Here it is. I was twenty-two, and I had had so-called "tendonitis" for a year, with stiff, uncomfortable hands and forearms. I had seen numerous doctors and physical therapists, and was advised by all to be very careful and to severely limit my activities and take breaks very regularly ï¿½ from practicing, typing, or driving a car. One day I decided that emotions had accumulated around my condition ...

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More Benefits of Meditation

December 10, 2003 · Category: Buddhism, Health, Meditation, Mindfulness

Marshall Sontag writes to point out a Psychology Today article about meditation that's worth reading if you've been debating whether to take up meditation. I've written before about the benefits of meditation. Here are a few choice paragraphs from their article: More new research offers additional encouragement. In a study published last year in the journal Stroke, 60 African-Americans with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, practiced meditation for six to nine months. (African-Americans are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as are whites.) The meditators showed a marked decrease in the thickness of their artery walls, while the ...

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The Meatrix

November 19, 2003 · Category: Health, Reviews

You've heard of the Matrix. But have you heard of the Meatrix? Check it out. My back-to-the-lander hippie mom, Katie, will love this video. Kathy points out that the video missed one other significant public health issue: the hormones that get injected into factory animals, so they'll get fat faster, and ultimately wreak havoc on the hormones in our own bodies. (This is why the Europeans won't buy American meat.) Fortunately, here in Albuquerque Kathy and I are able to buy most of our meat -- fresh, organic-ish, and free range -- from Keller's Farm Store.

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Blood Type Conference

February 20, 2003 · Category: Health

Kathy and I will be in Phoenix this weekend attending the First Annual Conference (pdf brochure) for the blood type science nutritional plan. Blogging will resume after we return on Monday.

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