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The invisible health protection hiding in you
24th August 2008
When an old friend of mine announced he was
getting married, he followed it up with a rough
growl...
'I don't want a stag do,' he said with a
threatening glance in my direction. 'I'm too old
for all that.'
I have to say I was disappointed. I mean, you're
never too old to be tied to a lamp post, or
stripped naked, tied up, and bundled onto the
overnight train to Edinburgh, that's what I say.
But I knew what he meant. These days a typical
stag do seems to involve flying over to an East
European port for three days and drinking till
you end up in hospital or jail.
Or even ending up in a jail hospital.
I don't know if I would have fancied that even
as a young man, but nowadays even the thought
of it leaves me with a hangover.
But I couldn't let his last days of freedom pass
without some sort of celebration, so I insisted a
few of us go round to his house for a night to
indulge ourselves.
'You can do anything you want. Just name it.'
And this was his list of activities:
Drinking beer
Eating pizza
Eating ice cream
Watching Laurel and Hardy
All while we were wearing fake antlers (I kid
you not).
And you know what...? It was the best evening
I had in ages. Yep that's how sad I am.
But more surprising, I felt absolutely fantastic
the next day. We'd spent all night drinking (not
too much), laughing (a lot), and eating (ditto),
yet I woke up feeling happy, robust, refreshed
and... well, just positively alive.
Which leads me onto this little report I read
today....
Get your mind right, and good health
will follow...?
According to the BBC, positive thinkers have a
better chance of avoiding cancer than people
who always look on the dark side of life.
This was the conclusion of a group of Israeli
researchers who conducted a series of
interviews and personality tests and found that
women who had a bright, positive outlook on
life might decrease their chances of developing
breast cancer.
The study took 255 women with breast cancer
and compared their answers in a questionnaire
on life, love and everything in between with 367
healthy women.
They found that a generally positive outlook
appeared to reduce the chance of breast cancer
by a quarter.
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Amazing eh?
On the flip side, if someone had suffered a
recent trauma, such as a divorce of the loss of a
loved one, the risk of cancer increased by more
than 60%
Dr Ronit Peled, from Ben-Gurion University,
who headed up the research, said that women
who had had to cope with a number of huge
upheavals and mental upsets in their life should
be considered an 'at risk' group, I guess in the
same way smokers are.
'We can carefully say that experiencing more
than one severe and/or moderate life event is a
risk factor for breast cancer among young
women. On the other hand, a general feeling of
happiness and optimism can play a protective
role.'
Of course, there are plenty of people including
doctors and scientists who say there is
absolutely no proof that a positive outlook helps
protect your from illness - including cancer.
Likewise, they also feel that suffering one
mental trauma after another will put you at no
greater risk of developing illness.
Because there's simply no proof.
And there's the rub...
Without clear, mathematically proven
explanations, so many things that could be
helpful are dismissed - and in my view that's
missing a trick.
Of course, if I was told I had a serious illness,
and the doctor simply told me to cheer up and
look on the sunny side, or prescribed me a dvd
set of The Office, I wouldn't be too happy about
it.
But underestimating - or worse, ignoring - the
power of positive thinking could mean your
denying yourself one of the most potent
'medicines' in the world.
I mean, pizza, ice cream and Laurel & Hardy.
Not exactly things you'd ever find in a run of
the mill health guide. And not things I'd suggest
you indulge in every day (well, maybe the
Laurel & Hardy).
But I firmly believe that enjoying yourself and
'giving in' to things you really like from time to
time can have a hugely powerful effect of your
happiness and in turn your health.
So, make sure you do at least ONE thing that
you really love this week, whether it's watching
telly, eating a burger or having a packet of
crisps with a pint. |
Go on - be a devil, and release the hidden
power of positive thinking!
Talking of positive thinking...
Could this be the way to stop hair from thinning...?
After Friday's letter, I received this little snippet of info
from Good Lifer Marianne...
'you can help yourself stop that thinning hair
with very little effort. I am sure that you are
aware that Saw Palmetto is excellent for the
prostate health of men over the age of 40ish but
definitely 50, the side effect of this is that it
helps to stop your hair from thinning - perhaps
you should give it a try.'
You know what Marianne, you could be on to
something here... (or should I say 'hair', boom-
boom).
Saw Palmetto is a deep red fruit grown in areas
of South America. The Mayans used it as a
general tonic, as well as an antiseptic. And there
are indeed many studies that show its use to
treat prostate disease, by reducing the hormone
DHT in our bodies.
And guess what...?
Some studies suggest that it's not only the
prostate that's affected by the presence of DHT
- hair loss has been linked to it to.
This is a vast subject, and one that I'm going to
look into further, but in the meantime, if you'd
like to know more about Saw Palmetto chat to
your doctor about it. It seems like it packs a
pretty powerful punch so don't go leaping in
without getting the all clear first.
That's all for today.
I'll be back next week with more tips, ideas,
news and rants to help us all enjoy the good life! |
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