BUDO SPIRIT
"I can only show you the door, you're the one that must walk through it.".......Morpheus
Never Trust A Hippie
July 25, 2008 12:00am
THE news this week that Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most-wanted war criminals, had been found disguised practising as a doctor of "alternative medicine" provoked in me a number of reactions.
My first thought was that someone needs to check the "hopi ear candle" stall at the next Natural Healing Expo for Osama bin Laden.
My second: that Karadzic's choice of new career confirms what I already suspected about alternative medicine.
If ever there was a profession in which a mass-murderer could pass themselves off undetected, it's "natural healing".
No occupation other than perhaps journalism has such a high tolerance of what, in most normal spheres of life, would be called psychosis. (Fairness compels me to say Karadzic is also a fully qualified psychiatrist; which kind of tells you everything you need to know about them, too.)
A while ago, as research for a story, I submitted myself to various "alternative therapies". After allowing an earnest lesbian in a velvet waistcoat to place crystals on my abdomen, I was led into a room where I lay on a bed and watched a hippie in a karate outfit extract knitting needle-sized acupuncture pins from packets.
At this point certain objections began to voice themselves, like: "Why am I allowing a man who wears a karate outfit to work to stick pins in me?" and "Is that smell coming from the joss stick shrine or his dreadlocks?"
The first few pins, I have to admit, weren't so bad.
Plus if I turned to one side I got great reception on SBS. While lancing my right foot, however, he hit something that I'm fairly sure was pretty angry about the whole thing.
"Agh! Take it out!" I screamed.
"It's OK," said the hippie, removing the needle. "You just had a really big flow of chi go through your body."
Possibly. Then again, what might have happened - and this is just a theory - is that a hippie with a "degree" granted him by some guy in Hong Kong who thinks ground-up panda testicles will cure liver cancer just stuck an enormous pin in my foot that responded by sending "pain" messages to my brain which were then expressed by me in the form of screaming agony. As I said: Just a theory.
Alternative medicine is well named; it is used by people whose alternative to illness is hypochondria.
As a confirmed hypochondriac, this doesn't worry me - if witch doctors want to listen to my complaints, so be it.
But the question remains: Who are these people? Who qualifies them? What was my acupuncturist on the run from?
On your next visit to an "alternative practitioner" why not ask yourself: Are the symptoms preferable to the alternative.
Tell me it's not true-we finally got something bigger than the Americans
AUSTRALIA is officially the heavyweight champion of the world, according to new figures showing the nation has a greater proportion of obese citizens than the United States.
The latest comprehensive obesity study has shown that 26 per cent of adult Australians - almost four million - are now obese, one million more than the last calculation in 1999.
The findings give Australia top spot as the world's most overweight nation, ahead of the notoriously super-sized Americans, who have a 25 per cent obesity rate.
"That, unfortunately, makes us the heavyweight champions, a title we don't really want,'' said Professor Simon Stewart, head of preventative cardiology at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.
Experts are now calling for extreme measures like gym discounting and denial of surgery based on body mass index (BMI) to rectify the situation.
The report, entitled Australia's Future Fat Bomb, was released ahead of the federal government's obesity inquiry.
It presents the results of height and weight checks carried out on 14,000 adult Australians nationwide in 2005, giving the most thorough picture of obesity since the AusDiab study in 1999.
The report reveals that nine million adults have a BMI over 25, making them overweight or obese, an increase from seven million.
Four million are obese, up from three million.
Middle-aged Australians are leading the way, with seven in 10 men and six in 10 women aged 45 to 64 now registering a BMI of 25 or more.
An analysis of the data shows that there will be an extra 700,000 heart-related hospital admissions in the next 20 years due to obesity alone.
Almost 125,000 people will die as a result, many prematurely.
"I would regard this as now the biggest threat to our future health,'' Prof Stewart said.
"As we send our athletes off to the Olympics let's reflect on the fact that we would win the gold medal now in the world fat Olympics if there was such a thing.''
The report calls for a national weight loss strategy on the scale of smoking and skin cancer campaigns, including subsidising gym memberships and personal training sessions for heavier people.
Wait lists for surgery could be prioritised on the basis of weight loss.
"This isn't just targeting a small group,'' Prof Stewart said.
"We're talking about the majority who fit into these categories now.
"These are some of the controversial things we need to deal with because the healthcare system is going to be overwhelmed by weight-related hospitalisations from knee replacements through to heart attacks and strokes.''
Professor Ian Caterson, director of the Institute of Obesity, Nutrition and Exercise at the University of Sydney, agreed such measures were needed.
"Governments have to start thinking outside the square because as we get fatter and older as a nation things are just going to get worse,'' Prof Caterson said.
 AUSTRALIA has officially overtaken the United States to claim its dubious title of World's Fattest Country. |
Massage benefits
Many people are unaware of the beneficial role that massage can play in both strength training and flexibility training. Massaging a muscle, or group of muscles, immediately prior to performing stretching or strength exercises for those muscles, has some of the following benefits:
Increased blood flow
The massaging of the muscles helps to warm-up those muscles, increasing their blood flow and improving their circulation.
Relaxation of the massaged muscles
The massaged muscles are more relaxed. This is particularly helpful when you are about to stretch those muscles. It can also help relieve painful muscle cramps.
Removal of metabolic waste
The massaging action, and the improved circulation and blood flow which results, helps to remove waste products, such as lactic acid, from the muscles. This is useful for relieving post-exercise soreness.
Because of these benefits, you may wish to make massage a regular part of your stretching program: immediately before each stretch you perform, massage the muscles you are about to stretch.
By Brad Appleton from his study entitled "Stretching and Flexibility"
Tai Chi exercises improve type 2 diabetes control
Regular Tai Chi Chuan exercise improves T cell helper function of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with an increase in T-bet transcription factor and IL-12 production
Tai Chi exercises can improve the control of type 2 diabetes, suggests a small study, published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Tai Chi Chuan is a traditional Chinese martial art, which combines deep diaphragmatic breathing and relaxation with gentle movement.
The research team assessed the impact of a 12 week programme of Tai Chi exercises on the T helper cell activity of 30 patients with type 2 diabetes and 30 healthy people of the same age.
T cells are a key component of the body’s immune system, producing powerful chemicals, including interleukins, which alter the immune response.
Type 2 diabetes is associated with chronic inflammation, caused by excessive glucose in the blood (hyperglycaemia).
After the 12 week programme glycated haemoglobin (when excess blood sugar combines with the oxygen transporter in red blood cells) levels fell significantly from 7.59% to 7.16 in the diabetic patients.
And levels of interleukin-12, which boosts the immune response, doubled. Levels of interleukin-4, which suppresses the immune response, fell.
T cell activity also significantly increased.
Strenuous physical activity depresses the immune system response, but moderate exercise seems to have the opposite effect, say the authors. Tai Chi is classified as moderate exercise.
Previous research has shown that it boosts cardiovascular and respiratory function, as well as improving flexibility and relieving stress, they add.
Tai Chi may prompt a fall in blood glucose levels, or improve blood glucose metabolism, sparking a drop in the inflammatory response.
Alternatively, the exercise may boost fitness levels and the feeling of wellbeing, which may then boost the health of the immune system, they suggest.
In a separate study, also published ahead of print, a 12 week programme of Tai Chi and Qigong (another Chinese exercise) prompted a significant fall in blood glucose levels and significant improvements in other indicators of the metabolic syndrome in 11 middle aged to older adults.
The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms, including high blood pressure and high blood glucose that is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
The 13 participants exercised for up to 1.5 hours, up to three times a week, and were also encouraged to practice the exercises at home.
At the end of the 12 weeks, they had lost an average of 3 kg in weight and their waist size had dropped by an average of almost 3 cm.
Their blood pressure also fell significantly, and by more than would have been expected from the weight loss alone, say the authors.
Insulin resistance-whereby cells stop responding to insulin, a condition preceding full diabetes-also improved significantly.
Three people no longer met the criteria for metabolic syndrome.
Participants said they slept better, had more energy, felt less pain and had fewer food cravings while on the programme.
