“By creating an artificial environment, we’re not stimulating our immune system enough. Germs are immune-stimulants. They challenge you to be prepared.” ~ Deepak Chopra
Did you know that Canadian researchers recently found more evidence that the flu shot might increase your risk of acquiring the H1N1 flu? We’ve posted the news article here on our facebook page. For more information about the flu vaccine, please read the article by Dr. Sonya in this issue of Integrated Roots.
The World Health Organization, Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, and Trent University professionals are only some of the institutions and people concerned about electromagnetic radiation and human health. Click here to view our August email newsletter for a check-list of ways to reduce your exposure. Our newsletter is also available on our facebook page.
~ Dr. Christina Vlahopoulos, ND
Smart phones, tablets, laptops and computers – the world of wireless communication is escalating at an alarming rate. The growth in wireless technology, which is emanated through the air as micro, radio and extremely low frequency waves, has researchers wondering if human health can be affected by all this exposure. It can be agreed that certain forms of waves are hazardous with prolonged contact, such as x-rays or radioactive emissions. However, can your hairdryer, electric toothbrush, wireless router, computer or cell/smart/cordless phone pose a problem for your health? Research is showing that it can.
The World Health Organization describes electromagnetic hypersensitivity (or EHS) as a variety of non-specific symptoms due to electromagnetic radiation (or EMR) exposure. Symptoms most commonly experienced include
Humans are composed of and influenced by energy. We usually express energy as having too much (hyper) or too little (fatigued) and not as electromagnetic frequency. All of the systems of our body use energy to function. A fluctuating energy level is normal, we naturally move between having greater and lesser amounts of energy in our daily life. Energy is measured electromagnetically. Some of the equipment used to measure our energy includes the EEG and EKG for nerve, brain, and heart function, and various other electrodiagnostic equipment.
September Qigong will be a short 4-week program focusing on the heart, which is the organ of the 5-element teachings for our September focus. Classes include theoretical 5-element teachings as well as energy work and functional biology, breath work and
meditation in addition to the series movements.
Monday classes include Sept 10th, 17th, 24th and Oct 1st. Friday classes include Sept 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. Classes at KIHC run from 10:00am to 11:15am. You can sign up for Mondays, Fridays or both. The cost of the program is $50. Class size is restricted to 6 participants per class. Registration is required by Friday August 31st.
You don’t need to be particularly fit or flexible to begin Qigong, though you may find yourself benefiting in both of these ways and others if you enroll in the next series of Qigong.
With aging comes the natural transition through Menopause. In some cultures, women are recognized and celebrated for the wisdom their years have accumulated, and they achieve newfound status at this time.
Some women begin to experience mild to significant discomfort at this time, putting accolades of status and wisdom on the night table while efforts to sleep are wrestled with the blankets and elevated body temperature. Hot flashes are common symptoms of menopause. In some cases other symptoms develop as well including headaches, insomnia, anxiety, blood pressure fluctuations, irritability and fatigue, exacerbated by sleep disturbance. The flashes tend to occur more commonly and more intensely during the first two years of menopause, but can last longer for some women.
In 2003, Dove soap commissioned a global study in which only 2% of women described themselves as beautiful. Dove followed this with an advertising campaign called “Campaign for Real Beauty”, which defied the fashion and beauty industries by promoting “real women” as beautiful. Their ads contrasted the “tighter… firmer… younger…” media messages with messages such as “beauty has no age limit”. Dove criticized the popular anti-aging movement and put pro-aging on the map. Unfortunately, the company that owns Dove, Unilever, was later criticized for the digital photographic touch-ups of their “real” women models, and for the absolute contradictory message promoted in their women-objectifying Axe Body Spray ads (available on youtube). Marketing analysts suggest that Dove didn’t really believe that a truly pro-aging approach could work.
Beauty, youth, and “anti-aging” are often central concerns for women transitioning through hormone changes known as menopause. Misguided cultural and medical perspectives categorize menopause as a disease state characterized by hormone deficiency, which can be “fixed” with treatment. In her book The Wisdom of Menopause, Dr. Christiane Northrup outlines our “cultural inheritance”, in which Hormone Replacement Therapy was advertised by doctors in the 1960s as “the pill that would keep your husband from understandably leaving you for a younger, more beautiful woman”. Decades later, facets of this perspective still affect our culture, our medicine, and the women currently experiencing menopause. Some geographers believe that this negative cultural definition of menopause is exactly the reason why we experience significantly more serious menopausal symptoms than most cultures.
Though menopausal symptoms are common and sometimes severe, menopause is a normal and healthy part of growing older that can be symptom-free.
Many studies conducted internationally over the past 15 years have demonstrated an increased risk of heart disease for people who consume more than the recommended limit of 1500mg of sodium daily. Dozens of countries have implemented programs that encourage their populations to reduce sodium intake, resulting in up to a suspected 65% decreased risk of death from heart disease! However, a controversial gold standard study conducted by the Cochrane Review in 2011 found a lack of benefit for people who reduced their sodium intake. How is this possible?
The answer may lie in a growing understanding of how nutrients such as sodium are only markers of risk, and not a cause. Cholesterol for example, is an antioxidant that your liver generates to fight inflammation in the body. Inflammation is strongly and repeatedly associated with many chronic degenerative diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. The idea that cholesterol causes heart disease remains only scientific theory, and the suggestion that cholesterol is a protective mechanism exerted by the body against inflammation is also a well researched and valid theory. In fact, the new research linking the use of statin pharmaceuticals (used to forcefully reduce cholesterol levels), with an up to 50% increased risk of diabetes (another risk factor for heart disease),
Tuesdays, August 7th to 28th, 7pm to 8:45pm
$80 for the 4 week course ~ Maximum 10 participants
Facilitated by Jocelyne Leyton, DOMP
This four-week course is an introduction to Vipassana (Insight) Meditation and a support to those who wish to deepen their practice. Jocelyne is an experienced Mindfulness Meditation instructor, and maintains an Osteopathy practice here at KIHC.
For more information about Mindfulness Meditation, please read Jocelyne’s article, here. Please call or email early to register, as Jocelyne’s classes fill quickly.
The KIHC book club celebrated its first anniversary by reading and discussing My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. We agree that it is an extremely hopeful, comforting and inspiring book.
Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, suffered a stroke in her mid thirties. Her book examines her pre and post stroke life, her astounding step by step description of the stroke itself, her chronicle of the arduous path to recovery, and a discussion of the workings of our brain. The book is simply written and a rather quick read, yet it is chock full of amazing information.
We appreciated her description of how the brain works. She made clear the differences in left and right brain hemispheres and the completely different ways that the two process information. She demonstrates that the brain’s different ways of processing give us a “complete” picture of the sensations that our bodies experience. She reminds us that we are energy beings, processing energy input, with our miraculous brains making “sense” of it all.
We respectfully acknowledge that Kingston Integrated Healthcare is situated on ancestral Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory. Since time immemorial they have cared for these lands and waters, and we are grateful. We recognize that a healthy environment is essential to the wellbeing of all people and all life.
