Category Archives: Health and Fitness

100 years of innovation

August 17, 2014 betsyjbell

Gentle Readers,

Celebrating 100 years of product innovation, on the eve of our 100th anniversary of uniting science & nature, Shaklee introduces 4 newproducts. I am writing from the annual Global Conference in Long Beach, CA, where Shaklee begins the celebration. Ninety-nine years ago, Dr. Forest C. Shaklee recognized the degredation of American foods and the increasing inability of our raw food sources to build health. The roller mill threw away the core of the wheat kernel—and its vitamins—in favor of white flour. New chemical fertilizers took over the agriculture. Dr. Shaklee developed Vitalized Minerals to fill in the gaps in his chiropractic patients’ nutrition. This breakthrough innovation in 1915, preceded the discovery of vitamins.

In this same spirit of scientific breakthrough, the Shaklee scientists and advisors continued to introduce products for the health of the environment and all of us. This short list highlights a few innovations.

General nutrition supplement (Vitalized Minerals 1915)

Environment (Basic H, 1960),

Skin-care without toxins (Enfuselle 1998)

Immune support (Nutriferon (2005),

Anti-aging cellular help for the DNA (Vivix 2008).

Leucine-based fat loss program (180 Turnaround Weight Management 2013)

This year, the eve of our 100^th anniversary of uniting science and nature to improve health, Shaklee introduces 4 new products:

MindWorks | 3X improvement in memory, focus & reaction time versus a control group and supports long-term brain health

Over time, neural connections in the brain become less efficient, impairing our ability to recall, think, and respond. A key nutrient in MindWorks, Chardonnay grape seeds–but only one tiny aspect of that grape seed–was shown in multiple clinical studies to significantly enhance memory, sharpen focus, and improve reaction time within 6 hours.

Protects against age-related mental decline, the loss of brain mass beginning at age 21.

Key nutrients in MindWorks were shown in laboratory studies to promote the formation of new neural connections and in a clinical study to reduce brain shrinkage rate by 30% over two years (based on study of 223 adults with mild cognitive impairment).

MindWorks key nutrients were shown in laboratory studies to effectively cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain. Blood circulation is critical for delivery of oxygen and key nutrients to the brain. It is linked to neural activity. Contains B vitamins and calcium both of which help circulation. Also supporting circulation is our carefully selected guarana extract which has been extensively tested—guarana has long been used traditionally by Amazonian Indian tribes. It helps improve cognitive performance and contains less caffeine than a medium cup of decaf coffee.

MindWorks also comes with a month of CogniFit, a brain training program – a $12.99 value, free.
MindWorks is included in the Healthy Solutions Regimen with Vivix and OmegaGuard and the Healthy Solutions Plus Regimen

with Vivix, OmegaGuard and Nutriferon, both of which are eligible for free membership with new join orders. New people can also get free shipping (up to $20) when they join by September 30.

Blood Pressure | Help retain healthy blood pressure

Our Smart Heart program now includes Blood Pressure, a vitamin and herbal formula that helps create healthier blood vessels. It contains nitrates from spinach and beets, quercitin, vitamin c and magnesium. After you take a Blood Pressure tablet, your body converts the vegetable nitrates into nitrous oxide which help relax the blood vessels.

Your complete supplement support for heart health includes Blood Pressure, CoQ Heart, OmegaGuard and Cholesterol Reduction Complex. Rather than an allopathic approach to high blood pressure and developing heart disease, these four products may help prevent the need for medication.
Vitalized Immunity™ |

Drop, Fizz, Drink Boost Immunity — Drop, Fizz, Drink
Boost Immunity

Ideal for everyday immune support, and when you’re facing stress, pollution, poor nutrition or busy schedules. If you have been slipping a packet of Air-born in your cart as you check out of the grocery or drug store, you might want to compare labels and choose Shaklee’s new immunity boost: no artificial flavors, a broad combination of natural ingredients in addition to vitamin C. Try it out to see if changing brands makes a difference. Remember Shaklee offers you a money back guarantee.
Vitalized Immunity is naturally sweetened with Monk Fruit, and contains as much vitamin-C as 16 oranges. It includes a proprietary blend of 19 vitamins, minerals, and herbs.

Helps support your immune system*
Delicious effervescent formula
Provides nutritional support your immune system

Vitalizing Protein™ Vanilla and Chocolate| Optimized nutrition for sustained energy

A Protein shake plus 80 nutrients in a convenient strip

I am super excited about this new addition to our protein offerings. 180 shakes can be confusing to the person who doesn’t need to lose weight. My introduction to Shaklee included Energizing Soy Protein. Back in 1985, soy protein on a daily basis made all the difference in my health when added to the Vita Lea, B, C, Calcium, Alfalfa and Herb Lax. It was, and still is, the protein shake every morning that contributes to that satisfied energy-producing feeling all day long. Now Shaklee offers Vitalizing Protein, 15 grms. of protein (23 when mixed with non-fat milk or soy milk), fiber, vitamins including antioxidants to mix and drink with your Vitalizer strip every day. If you want the complete meal, buy 2 cannisters a month (15 servings in each). If you are a snack kind of person, add one scoop to your yogurt or coffee in the morning and the canister will last all month.
Vitalizing Protein is included in the Healthy Foundation Regimen along with Vitalizer. The Healthy Foundation Regimen is eligible for free membership with new join orders. And new people can also get free shipping (up to $20) when they join by September 30.

If you are already getting Vitalizer in a monthly auto ship, you might want to consider adding the Vitalizing Protein for the best foundation. Dr. Shaklee used to say, “if you take my Vita Lea and Protein for a month and don’t feel better in some way, I’ll give you your money back.” Many people take me up on this challenge.

I will have a taste-and-try party at my house in West Seattle on Thursday, Sept. 4. 7:15 – 8:30. Let me know if you would like to join us. We will watch some videos about the products and the science beind them, plus try the new shakes and the Vitalized Immunity. We always have a great time, so join the fun.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889 to RSVP

Betsy@hihohealth.com

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

avoid mosquito bites

August 8, 2014 betsyjbell

Gentle Reader,

Since this is the season when mosquitoes terrorize our back yard suppers, I want to offer some suggestions for how to avoid mosquito bites

without resorting to DEET and other highly toxic preventative applications. For people who suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis, even a mosquito bite can produce a flare-up. Luckily, I have not had an increase in osteoarthritis symptoms because of insect bites.

Natural ways to prevent mosquito bites:

Eliminate or treat standing water on your property—Good to do in your own back yard.

Mosquitoes are attracted to standing water, where they breed – thus the best way to avoid attracting them is to reduce the amount of standing water on your property. Here are some suggestions on eliminating standing water:

* Regularly clean and treat swimming pools
* Frequently change the water in wading pools, bird baths and other water containers
* Keep ditches, drains and culverts free of debris so water can drain properly
* Repair leaky pipes, outside faucets and failed septic systems
* Mow your grass short

Another option for standing water is mosquito dunks, which float in water and slowly release Bacillus thuringiensis v. israelensis (BT). BT is toxic for mosquitoes but considered safe for humans. An organic nursery is almost certain to have mosquito dunks and you can also often obtain them at local regular nurseries, hardware stores. You can also use Shaklee’s Basic H2 or other surfactant i.e. dish soap. A drop or two will change the water surface and the mosquito larvae cannot develop. Basic H2 is safe for the environment. I am not sure about other surfactants.

Plant mosquito repelling plants.

Bug-repelling plants such as marigolds, tansies, Thai lemon grass, citronella

grass, oregano, chives, catnip and garlic are excellent, natural mosquito repellents. Below is a suggested anti-mosquito planter:

Use mosquito repelling oils

Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus is considered to be one of the most effective natural mosquito repellents, providing comparable protection to low concentrations of the toxic mosquito repellent DEET.

Other effective mosquito repelling oils include:

Oil of Citronella. The oil of citronella found in outdoor candles, torches and skin products provides a natural and fragrant way to keep mosquitoes at bay. Note: there is a chance that citronella can cause skin irritations in children and people with sensitive skin, especially if applied incorrectly.

Soybean oil (provided that you can find an organic non-GMO source). A study conducted by The New England Journal of Medicine found that soybean-oil-based repellents protected against mosquito bites longer than all other botanical repellents tested.

Lavender oil. Fragrant lavender oil repels mosquitoes and it can be found in a variety of natural skin care products.

A non-authorized use of Basic H2 is mosquito repellant. I dab a few drops of the concentrate on my hair, forehead, neck, all exposed parts of the body and on thin material that a mosquito could penetrate. I worked well for me on a recent hike in a mosquito-laden area. It is amusing to watch the mosquitoes hover a half inch away from my chest, repelled by some bitterness in the Basic H2.

Mosquitoes were not too bad at Jug Lake because of a light breeze

Other tips for eliminating and avoiding mosquitoes

1. Avoid being outside during dusk and dawn hours when mosquitoes are most active. The whole point of this post is to make it possible for you to be out at this time without getting bitten.

2. If you’re going to be outdoors for a long period of time, wear light colored long-sleeved shirts, long pants, shoes and socks that cover your skin. Tightly woven materials are best. Plus, be sure to wear light colored clothes, since mosquitoes are attracted to dark colors.

3. Avoid wearing fragrances (other than the oils listed above). Mosquitoes are attracted to fragrances, so it’s a good idea to avoid wearing perfumes and scented products while you’re outside.

4. Eat plenty of garlic. Garlic is released through the pores of your skin and the scent makes it harder for mosquitoes to find you and less likely to stay on your skin. Shaklee makes a non-smelly garlic that retains the potency of real garlic.

5. Take plenty of B Complex vitamin supplements. One of my customers was distraught that her 6 year old could not play outside with his friends in the summer dusk because of his high susceptibility to mosquitoes. She added 6 of Shaklee’s B Complex to his diet and he was able to play outside without getting any mosquito bites. I have not tried any other B’s, but I know Shaklee’s is effective for most people. I personally take 6 every day.

Thanks to my friend and high school classmate, Sammye for forwarding this article to me from The Best Years in Life. Their bi-line is Education, not Medication.

Whether insect bites set off autoimmune reactions like arthritis or not, avoiding mosquito bites will make your summer evenings more comfortable.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

to shop go to www.grandmabetsybell.com/shop-shaklee-products/

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

Antibiotics

August 1, 2014 betsyjbell 2 Comments

Gentle Reader,

Seventy years ago when I turned 7, an add in Life Magazine read “Thanks to penicillin…he will come home.” Antibiotics dramatically lowered the incidence of death on the battlefields of WWII from infection. The miracle created by chemist, Alexander Fleming and the mass production of drugs reversed certain death to probably life. My parents -as nurse and physician-worked through New York City’s flu epidemic, the horrors of infection during surgery and the fear for their three small children with the polio virus running rampant. They embraced Better Living through Chemistry with open arms. So did the farming industry; chickens and pigs and beef all grew faster and fatter with antibiotics.

Collateral damage has made the news. Books have been written about the dangers of bacterial resistence to antibiotics. The first voices against over use of antibiotics came as early as the 1970s but the manufacturers of these wonder drugs refused to cut their profits in favor of promoting more moderate usage. My brothers and I used antibiotics on our Holstein dairy cows and our meat chickens, following the instructions from the agricultural bulletins handed out to 4H members. (My brother thought growth hormones would be good for him, too, and swallowed a vial meant for the chickens! He was 12.)

Today Americans experience an unprecedented number of deaths –23,000 fatalities each year and 2 million sick–directly related to antibiotic resistent bacteria.

Debra Daniel-Zeller published an article in this month’s Puget Consumer Coop newsletter in which she takes a close look at the microbial world being altered and victimized by antibiotics. I had no idea that microbes, including bacteria, were one of the first life forms on the planet. They inhabit outer space, living 22,000 feet above the earth and influence the weather. They inhabit the ocean. They form 70-90 percent of the cells in and on our bodies. More than 500 types of microbes live in the human gut. Ms. Daniel-Zeller mentions microbe

clostridium difficile, a little bugger that antibiotics don’t kill, that lies in wait in the body for up to 2 years and comes back to haunt our good health. We need a balance of microbes. Antibiotics wipes out some upsetting the balance.

Everyone is worried about the disappearance of the honeybee. For the past 50 years, farmers have been using an antibiotic in the hives to treat foul-brood disease. Now the bees carry several antibiotic-resistant genes, adversely effecting their metabolism.

beeinformed — foulbrood disease in the hive

One of the reasons it is so hard to lose weight, it turns out, is because the very antibiotics used to fatten animals, fatten humans. You may or may not take antibiotics but you are getting them in the meat and chicken you eat. There is a direct correlation between rates of obesity in states where the highest number of antibiotic prescriptions are written. (New England Journal of Medicine) Let’s face it, thin people have a rich diversity of gut bacteria functions, unlike low diversity in fat people.

All bacteria in the gut become shell shocked and put up defenses when an antibiotic comes along. Vulnerable bacteria die and their functions no longer benefit us. Seventy percent of our immune system cells are found in the walls of the gut. When these cells die off, the walls of the gut become permeable.

It is probable that various autoimmune disorders such as Lupus, MS, asthma and even simple allergies result from the breakdown of our gut’s bacterial barrier. Chrone’s disease and celiac disease are on the rise, possibly due to early and frequent use of antibiotics.

Antibiotics are not going away very soon. While they have been banned in animal husbandry in the EU and Russia, the US agricultural, meat and dairy industries remain “self-regulating”, i.e. no government regulations. Five US cities have passed resolutions supporting statewide and national bans on non-therapeutic use of antibiotics. This is a start.

Personally I am convinced that my diagnosis of breast cancer at the age of 34 was influenced by my parents’ enthusiastic use of antibiotics at the slightest sign of the sniffles. Such was their delight in these miracle drugs. When situational stress put an extreme burden on my immune system, I did not have the defences to correct the DNA damage that may have resulted in cancer growing cells. I will never be able to substantiate this theory, but articles like this one in the PCC paper shed more light on how overuse of antibiotics allows disease states to start.

Want to stay healthy and avoid these diseases? Want to lose weight? Here are three things you can begin now.

1. Take no antibiotic unless it is certain you are suffering from a bacterial infection.

2. Eat only organically grown meat and chicken which have no antibiotics (or hormones) added to their feed or injected into their bodies.

3. Take supplemental probiotics daily to help populate your gut with friendly, beneficial bacteria. I appreciate the quality of Shaklee’s Pre and Pro biotics, Optiflora. For more information on this product, please visit my Resources page.

Since this is a blog about arthritis, I have to add this: losing even 10 pounds will make your joints happier and less painful. Changing your diet away from antibiotic laden foods might be your missing weight loss link. Thinner bodies, healthier guts, less inflammed joints.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving

Betsy

206 933 1889

www.EmpoweredGrandma.net (my travel adventures, both spiritual and physical)

www.HiHoHealth.com (shopping for Shaklee products)

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

OTC pain meds

July 24, 2014 betsyjbell 2 Comments

Gentle Reader,

The aftermath of my bike crash calls into question two of my closely held beliefs: OTC pain meds are bad for you; keep moving, no matter what. I was on the dunes path at Long Beach, WA with twelve Finneys of all ages. Nothing like a little crowd around the beginning of the last section of trail to get a person off kilter and into the sand. My recovery seemed fine while at the beach because I was icing and taking a lot of Shaklee Pain Relief Complex and doing nothing. (My granddaughter reminds me that I split some wood with a heavy ax.) The pain worsened, keeping me awake at night. Coughing hurt unbearably. I went to my doctor. Dr. Pepin knows I am not a willing patient. He is working hard to play the role of a team member in my health care. He makes a special effort to honor my preference for natural healing practices—acupuncture, massage, individual training and supplements. He sent me for an x-ray.

When I got home, My Chart contained the message that I had broken the 9^th rib on the left side, but only a hairline fracture. In his notes, he suggested more icing and anti-inflammatories. I decided to take Aleve. I took another one 8 hours later. I took a third 8 hours after that. I iced off and on for the next 36 hours. Everything improved. The depression in the muscles beneath the broken lower back rib normalized. The muscles on the opposite side calmed down to normal. I slept soundly, happy that pain did not disturb me. It seemed like a miracle.

What is so bad about NSAIDS? What do they do? Why have I resisted taking them so consistently?

It turns out when taken for a brief time (2 – 10 days), anti-inflammatories calm down injured muscles allowing healing to take place. The danger with these drugs appears when taken habitually over a long period of time to manage chronic pain. The NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) intercept 2 enzymes called Cox 1 and Cox 2 that are involved with inflammation. Inhibiting Cox 1 has the side effect of damaging the stomach lining, causing bleeding. Advil, Motrin and Aleve are the most popular of these non-specific anti-inflammatories and regularly cause damage to the stomach lining when taken over a long period of time.

The risks from taking NSAIDS, besides internal bleeding, are most severe for people who have heart conditions. People with stomach problems should avoid them. For healthy people with no blood pressure or other heart issues, taking NSAIDS for a few days to bring down inflammation carries low risk and brings much relief.

I am satisfied that taking NSAIDS for a few days to help the immediate problem is a good thing for my body and does not put me at risk.

Now let me think out loud about my other closely held belief: Keep Moving under any and all circumstances. This week I have not hiked, gone to yoga practice, worked out with my trainer or done much of anything. I did walk around Green Lake, a 3 miles meander on the flat, and twice I walked to the West Seattle Junction, down and up a hill, repeated in the opposite direction, about 2 miles total. Moving, yes; pain free, pretty much. At least pain free around the injured area. But after a dozen steps, chronic pain kicked in: hips, knees and lower back. I found myself questioning the value of moving, especially since moving causes pain.

It turns out that Not moving is lethal.

Bone Loss

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, our bones require applied stress for them to grow. Bone stress sends a signal to the body to build bone density. If you don’t stress your bones by exercising, you can suffer from low bone density, which can turn into a case of osteoporosis. Also, if you never exercise and stretch your joints, your arthritic joints will stiffen over time and their adjoining tissues will weaken, causing more arthritis.

Muscle Loss

Your bones need stress exerted on them to grow, and so do your muscles. A muscle’s fibers need to tear for it to rebuild itself larger and stronger. So as you may already know from experience, if you don’t use your muscles, you “lose” them.

Increased Risk of Disease

Muscle loss caused by inactivity makes your metabolism slow down. Your metabolism is the rate at which your body converts food and drink into usable energy. If you have a slow metabolism, your body ends up storing a lot of the food and drink energy instead of using it to get your body moving. This storage leads to weight gain and puts you at a higher risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, depression and anxiety, according to Harvard School of Public Health.

Weaker Immune System

According to MayoClinic.com, without regular aerobic exercise, your immune system weakens. This makes it harder for your body to fight viruses such as the flu and the common cold. So if you never exercise, you’re likely to find yourself getting sick more often.

Keep Moving will remain my closely held belief. Since the pain I experience when I move is chronic, caused by arthritis, I will continue to use Shaklee’s Pain Relief Complex. Its herbal formula is a pain path inhibitor (Cox 2 and 5 Lox) but does not interfere with Cox 1. Therefore there is no risk to the stomach or to the heart.

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving,

I promise I will. Join me.

Betsy

Comments? I love to hear them.

Thanks to Lindsay Haskell of AZ who blogs about health, fitness, culture and fashion.

Arthritis, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

bike crash

July 21, 2014 betsyjbell 5 Comments

Gentle Reader,

I did not write last week. I had to let the effects of a bike crash at the beach take hold before I let you in on it. I was off at the beach with the Finneys, my stepfamily, who turned out in big numbers to enjoy Long Beach, WA’s wave action, drift wood, secluded and roomy campsites. It was wonderful to be with all of them, including a great-grandson, age 11, who I have not had a chance to get to know before this. He lives with his mother, my late husband, Chuck Finney’s oldest granddaughter and her husband. They are a Navy family, stationed in Japan. At age eleven, they decided he was old enough to come to the US for the summer. What a delightful young man! All 15 of us took off on our bikes last Wednesday afternoon for a glorious ride along the tarmac bike trail through the dunes.

After riding for about 8 miles, we came to the main road connecting Long Beach’s shops with the beach. As everyone began the onward 3 miles, congestion developed. I waited my turn and then powered up the narrow paving, skirting around the post in the center of the entrance. The front tire slipped into the sand and down I went, grazing the post with my back ribs, catching the ground with my right knee and left elbow. The bike crash was in slow motion, so slow, in fact that my step son-in-law was asking “are you alright?” before I hit the ground. It took a minute to find breath and respond. I was not all right. Nothing was broken. That’s a good thing. But the back ribs hurt something awful, as did the knee.

On the Bell side of the family, five people–adults and children–commute by bike to work or school. All of them have been in at least one bike crash, some requiring surgery and stitches. At one time in the distant past, I commuted to a job from Montlake to the middle of downtown Seattle and back. I biked to the University for another job, rain or shine. Luckily, I only had one bike crash when another bike and I collided coming around a corner. The bike was totalled, but I was fine. I was young then. I’ll be 77 in a couple weeks. I would be safer on a bike if I road more regularly. In spite of not riding often these days, the dune ride was glorious: wind in the hair, the smell of low tide beyond the waving grasses, shore birds soaring over head. After the crash, I was more disappointed than hurt, or so I thought.

Here’s what I did to get moving again. I lay on a picnic table and relaxed as best I could. I rolled my elevated knees from side to side. I stretched my arms up and out and breathed as deeply as I could. I took a couple Pain Relief Complex. When everyone came back, I got down from the table. Walking was possible. A good sign. Someone else put the bike in the truck. At the ice cream store, Cynthia, my step-daughter who is a nurse (always good to have one in the family), got ice from the soft drink machine and found a plastic bag so I could begin icing the two most painful spots, back ribs and muscles plus the right knee.

The minute we got to the campground, I fixed a 180 protein shake. This soy powder has extra leucine. Leucine is an amino acid that helps knit, heal and keep muscle intact. The latter is important if you are using the 180 smoothies for weight loss. A dieter wants to lose fat, not muscle. I also filled two zip lock bags with ice and began icing in earnest. Someone had a camp chair that tipped feet-up which was a great help to the knee.

My dear stepson, Steven, gave me his bed in his camper for the night so I didn’t have to get up from the air mattress on the ground, a very painful operation. More Pain Relief Complex and the frequent application of Shaklee’s Joint and Muscle Pain Cream helped the healing process. By morning, I could walk the beach, slowly, taking care not to choose a path which required stepping over logs. I didn’t try pushing the bike-peddle. I could tell by climbing the steps into the trailer that my knee couldn’t take that. I also took extra vitamin C, and the anti-inflammatory supplements GLA, fish oil (Omega Guard), and lecithin. I am not 100% as I write this report, but I was able to hang out three loads of laundry this morning.

I have been reminded through this ordeal of Kay Ferguson who is now in her 90s. She was putting items in a small moving van and fell off the tailgate onto the ground. Looking quickly to see if anyone saw her fall, she picked herself up, went in the house and drank a smoothie of Physique (similar formula to 180), the Workout Recovery Drink Shaklee developed for the Yale swim team years and years ago. The team wanted help to recover more quickly from their workouts and asked Shaklee to come up with a formula. Physique has been used by athletes in extreme situations –and regular ones—to heal torn muscles after a workout so they could get up and do it all again the next day. She fared as I did. Yes, there were bruises, but no broken bones and no long lasting muscle soreness.

Kay Ferguson, 88 yrs old, June 2008. Picking raspberries.

Kay has been my hero since I first met Shaklee products. A friend introduced her to Alfalfa to help with her terribly debilitating arthritis, but not until she learned to take 15 – 20 a day did those little green tablets bring her relief. She was headed for the wheel chair in her late 50s. Here is a picture of Kay among her raspberries.

I saw my doctor today, just to make sure there is nothing further I need to do to heal the rib cage, knee and elbow. I do believe the best antidote to injury is to keep moving as much as possible. There are a few more adventures to be had this summer including a couple of big hikes and a trip to Long Beach, CA for the Shaklee annual conference in mid August.

The week camping with the family resulted in a major stomach upset. Delicious blue berry pancakes for breakfast, pizza night at a local hang out, corn bread baked in a camp oven are all foreign to my regular diet. I ended up constipated, bloated and uncomfortable. For me, it does not pay to leave my vegetable-heavy, no refined carbohydrate diet even for 5 days. Perhaps you do well, or at least, OK, when taking liberties on vacation. I do not.

Will I go again next year? You betcha. The planning email is circulating. Will I make sure I have available the food that makes me happy and comfortable? You betcha. I will take my bike along and pay more attention. These family gatherings are precious and fleeting as the children go to college, get jobs and marry. The same configuration across the generations will not repeat; the delightful campfire conversations will.

May your summer be filled with good conversations, a campfire or two, walks and rides with family and friends. May you stay upright and injury free. No bike crash!

By all means, Be well, Do well and Keep Moving.

Betsy

206 933 1889

www.EmpoweredGrandma.net

betsy@hihohealth.com

http://www.grandmabetsybell.com/shop-shaklee-products/

Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness

Holy kitchen

July 11, 2014 betsyjbell 4 Comments

Gentle Reader,

I opened the quarterly Earth Letter from Earth Ministry to read the lead article, “The Work at Hand”. It’s about making a holy kitchen. Let me explain. The author’s name, Carol Flinders, did not ring a bell until I came across a reference to “all the things we said in Laurel’s Kitchen” and I was flooded with emotional memories. In 1973, it had been a couple years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, had the mastectomy and continued merrily on my way. I deftly covered up the deep dread about a recurrence of cancer. I was 36 years old.

What are the odds we can change their diet easily?

With four little girls to feed and a diet of Fruit Loops, Velveeta cheese, Chitos and Oreo cookies, day old Wonder bread and ice cream to consider, I slowly explored the possible dietary contributions to developing cancer. Laurel’s Kitchen fell into my lap. I remember tearfully reading Carol’s introduction. I was just like her in my innocent acceptance of advertised foods, packaged cake mixes, a meat heavy diet and cutting costs on everything. Our milk came from powder. I secretly ate whole packages of day old sugar donuts on the way home from the grocery store.

The dietary changes seemed necessary if I was going to prevent future cancers. They came slowly and the children didn’t like them. They traded my homemade brick-bread sandwiches for their classmates’ Wonder bread when they could. Vacations at my mother’s began with filling the cart with sugared cereals and steak.

I had no idea how to get enough protein into my body before I met Laurel, and ended up in the doctor’s office so anemic, they ran blood tests to see if the cancer had metastasized into the blood.

Gradually my entire life style changed to include fresh foods, far less meat, and more exercise. I didn’t enjoy good health, free from frequent colds, however, until I added supplements made by Shaklee. That was when I met my own Laurel, Jayme Curley, who introduced me to a peaceful life style and good food as well as foundational supplementation to fill in the gaps and bring me up to a high level of wellness.

Today we are surrounded by the Laurel’s kitchen choices in our high-end health food grocery stores. A small percentage of the population has made a shift in their relationship to food. But what about everyone else who hasn’t responded to something that leads them to make these dietary discoveries? In her Earth Letter article, Carol calls us to be pioneers, people who choose a different kind of life.

She encourages us into the kitchen preparing a balanced appetizing meal with unprocessed foods, even when it takes a chuck of our day. She quotes a friend, “I don’t know, really, what changed. I just know that one evening I walked in there grim as usual, determined to get it over with, and instead I found myself relaxing—accepting that I was there and willing to do it as well as I possibly could. And even since then, it’s been completely different.” It’s recognition that what goes on in the kitchen is holy making it a holy kitchen.

She ends her article: “Perhaps, though, the real point is not so much to find the holy places as to make them. Do we not hallow places by our very commitment to them? When we turn our home into a place that nourishes and heals and contents, we are meeting directly all the hungers that a consumer society exacerbates but never satisfies…that home becomes a genuine counterforce to the corporate powers-that-be, asserting the priority of a very different kind of power.”

My own take away is that we are not striving for “being good” and avoiding the guilt of “I ate badly today.” We are embracing nourishing others and ourselves from a deep place of gladness. Perhaps being pioneers means showing the way to others.

Peacefully preparing good food day in and day out has not been easy for me. I am part of the “hurry-up and get stuff done” life we all inhabit. Years after the cancer, when my daughters were all away at college or beyond, one sent me a beautiful hand painted card with a sunset over a meadow and these words “The slower you go/the more you get done.” I wrote a little poem in gratitude.

Mom Says

The slower you go

the more you get done.

The note writ large comes in a card

from one of several daughters

grown up and gone away

I stare at the words on paper

and remember days of kneading bread

the phone in one ear

a child in the other

lists, meetings, clamor, time

ticking, running

running late

I learned then to pay attention

show up to the bread

to the friend

to the child

one thing at a time

I must have repeated

slow down

for all my daughters

for myself

stop doing three things at once

make chopping onions

a zen practice

She sent my words back to me.

I need them again.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving.

Betsy

Please, leave your comments.

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

control arthritis pain

July 3, 2014 betsyjbell

Gentle Reader,

I am back from a glorious trip to the East Coast for a college reunion, then to England to visit friends and do a long walk through Yorkshire and Westmorland. You can read about these meanderings at www.EmpoweredGrandma.net.

More and more people my age (I’ll turn 77 in three weeks), give up adventures like this one because of arthritis pain. I have serious arthritis in my knees, hips and back, but manage to continue this type of physical challenge. Others my age keep going at tennis, hiking, walking and biking. How do we control arthritis pain so the activity we love is not torture, but rather, pleasurable?

Build strong muscles to carry your joints. You can do exercises that work all the major muscle groups of the body (e.g., legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms), and work them without stressing your joints. With a trainer’s help, you can use the machines in a gym to accomplish this. I am working the a trainer at a place called Xgym in West Seattle. PJ Glassy has two other Xgym facilities in the Seattle area. Go to his web site to check it out. In 21 minutes two times a week I have gained more muscle strength than in any other program and it costs about half as much. Find a way to build muscle and the creaky joints will love the support.

“Build strong muscles,” was what my neurologist told me 24 years ago when I first injured my back. The Xgym process has done this better than anything I tried in the intervening years.

Do Stairs to build stamina and strength. If you are a woman, you want to include more “grape vine” stair climbing than straight up and down. We women have wider hips and the pressure on our knees causes uneven stress on the joint.

Do the grape vine step up and down stairs to strengthen the knees

By facing up or down the stair case side-ways, with a shoulder leading and not the nose, the muscles on the inside and outside of the knees do more of the work and the stress on the knee cap is minimized.

Balancing activities help overcome the unsteadiness that joint pain can cause. Tai Chi, yoga, Zumba and other group exercise dance are helpful. Stand on one leg and lift the other knee and hold for as long as you can. Walk backwards; side step with the grape vine step on the flat; do heel-toe walking. These all improve balance.

Resistance Exercise Helps Knee Osteoarthritis
Resistance exercise is any exercise where muscles contract against an external resistance which can come from dumbbells, weight machines, elastic tubing or bands, soup cans, your own body weight, or any other object that forces your muscles to contract. This will strengthen muscle groups around affected joints, stabilize and protect affected joints, and improve mechanics of the joints to reduce stress on the joints.

walk sideways with band around your legs above the knee

I like to take a Theraband and tie it around my legs just above the knees, and walk sideways around the living room and down the hall in a slight squat position, keeping the pelvic floor facing down. No tilting the back forward. For more information, check out http://www.arthritis.com/arthritis_exercises.

Pain is inevitable, so how do you manage it? Many of my hiking friends take an Aleve or other pain killer before the hike. I do not like taking over the counter drugs or prescription medication for pain if I can help it. So far, the Shaklee Pain Relief Complex has worked sufficiently to keep the pain from becoming unbearable. I find that slow walking in a, museum or chatting while slowing down to observe birds, flowers or talk to a farmer or other hiker, or pausing to window shop is the worse thing for my pain. If I keep going, I experience less pain. If I stop or slow down, the pain comes on with a vengeance. Is it the endorphins from movement? Is it the distraction from making the effort? I don’t know, but it is true for me that stopping or slowing down is worse. Now give me a wall or bench to sit on and I am happy to stop. One Aleve can probably take most arthritic people who hike or play tennis through the day. I put 5 – 6 Pain Relief Complex in my pocket and take one at a time at half hour intervals until the pain is lessened. What I know for certain is that moving makes me happy and forget about chronic pain.

I choose Pain Relief Complex because it is a combination of herbs that create a natural Cox 3 and 5 LOX inhibitor with no bad side effects on the stomach. Please check out my resource page for further information and click here if you are interested in trying this natural remedy for chronic pain.

Let us know your strategy for dealing with chronic pain when you are doing the activity you love and just refuse to quit.

Be well, do well and keep moving.

Betsy

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Anti-aging

June 13, 2014 betsyjbell

Gentle Reader,

So much determines well-being: good friends, love and happiness, nourishing food, a sense of spiritual fulfillment, a personal sense of purpose and meaning, deep restorative rest are at the top of the list. When these ingredients are present over a person’s life, they seem to have an anti-aging effect. Scientists and explorers have searched the world over for ways to slow down aging. The story behind Shaklee’s Anti-aging product, Vivix, is one story of this search.

The Vivix Story

My thanks to Dr. Steven Chaney for this story.

In 2006, Harvard scientist Dr. David Sinclair published research in the highly respected journal Nature that shocked the scientific world. His published research findings showed that a simple molecule found in red wine could switch on our anti-aging gene (Sirt 1) and slow the aging process — on purpose.

This does not mean, of course, that we can live forever. But it does mean that science now has an answer for how we age, and what we can do to slow it down.

Of course, researchers had long understood that severe calorie restriction could slow the aging process, but there was little hope that we could find a way to get the same result without subjecting ourselves to a starvation diet.

You may have seen Dr. Sinclair on 60 Minutes, 20/20 with Barbara Walters, or on PBS with Charlie Rose. You may have learned about this remarkable breakthrough in leading magazines and major newspapers from around the world. It’s big news.

Here’s the story…

To put this discovery into context, let’s turn the clock back to 1991.

Famed French alcohol researcher, Dr. Serge Renault, in a segment on 60 Minutes, (The French Paradox) reported that people in France (on a diet loaded with sugars, fats, creams, and more creams) had 42% less heart disease, and live longer than we do in the U.S.

How could that be?

It’s no secret—the French drink lots and lots of red wine, and Dr. Renault had come to believe that something in red wine fights the negative effect of fatty foods… but he wasn’t sure. Some theorized it was the alcohol. Others were sure it was the antioxidant power of red wine. They were all partially right—but they were missing the most miraculous molecule of all.

Good News Travels Slowly

Years have gone by but we now have irrefutable scientific proof that a simple molecule found in red wine has almost magical healing and anti-aging powers.

When Dr. Sinclair published his research, FORTUNE called it, “Perhaps the greatest discovery since antibiotics.” He had successfully isolated the gene that slows aging… Sirtuin.

The Breakthrough

Dr. Sinclair and his team at Harvard Medical School, tested more than 20,000 natural molecules one by one before he accidentally discovered what he calls the closet thing to a miracle molecule you can find. To his dismay, the molecule that switches on the longevity gene is called resveratrol.

Using resveratrol, Dr. Sinclair found that he could extend the life of yeastat will. This amazing news drew only mild applause from research scientist. After all, this was yeast.

Moving up to higher life-forms, he fed resveratrol to fruit flies. Bingo! It worked again. The applause grew louder and the research more intense.

Other scientists working to prove Dr. Sinclair’s findings has the same success with fish. Extending their life 70%.

Scientists are a tough lot to impress. Even with all this success, they wouldn’t get too worked up unless he succeeded in extending the life of mice.

That’s because mice have essentially the same gene that you and I have. As Dr. Sinclair explained to Charlie Rose—”We are essentially upright mice.”

Finally, the mice studies begin

And in what can only be described as a modern day miracle— mice on a high fat diet plus resveratrol—not only lived up to 30% longer—they turned into mini-olympians.

They never gained weight, and they doubled endurance. They could run twice as far as mice that were not given resveratrol—and here’s the best part… not one of them developed any of the diseases of aging. No heart disease, no cancer, no diabetes, and no strokes.

Resveratrol—the gold rush begins…

Dr. Sinclair had become the first person in history to successfully extend life on purpose. He was instantly, in scientific circles at least, an international celebrity.

His published research proving the merits of resveratrol in life extension has triggered an avalanche of scientific study around the world.

Billions of dollars are being invest by in private labs, universities, and public health agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute on Aging, and the United States Department of Agriculture.

It’s safe to say that resveratrol and related polyphenols have become the most widely researched natural molecules in the history of man.

Resveratrol is being shown to have a positive impact on a surprisingly large number of health issues that affect how long and how well we live. But don’t take my word for it…

See the proof for yourself. To discover the miraculous life-saving secrets of resveratrol with just the click of a mouse, (pardon the pun) go to the U.S. Government web site, PubMed.

There you will find at least 2,636 scientific papers referencing resveratrol from the greatest scientific minds of our time.

The Payoff

Because resveratrol has been proven in labs around the world to slow aging—it is a marketers dream. Within weeks after Dr. Sinclair appeared on 20/20, you could find literally hundreds of me-too resveratrol products in health food stores, and on the internet.

If you’re taking any of these products, you may be wasting your money. Even worse, the anti-aging benefits you were hoping for may not be there. Why?

Because research shows these products contain little if any resveratrol, and many even contained sis-resveratrol—a lesser form of resveratrol proven to have no health benefit at all. In other words, most are little more than marketing scams.

Who can you trust?

Shaklee Corporation has been America’s number one natural nutrition company and a true champion of pure, natural supplements for over half a century.

If it was possible to create a natural resveratrol supplement capable of getting the results Dr. Sinclair was having in his lab—Shaklee was the one company that could pull it off.

Chief scientist, Dr. Carsten Smidt took a close look at Dr. Sinclair’s research. He and his team took a look at all of the leading, so-called resveratrol products on the market and decided—you deserve better.

With the green light and a blank check from our CEO, Roger Barnett, Dr. Smidt assembled a team of more than 30 brilliant scientists with the singular goal of bringing to market, the most potent anti-aging product ever created.

Shaklee science advances Dr. Sinclair’s research

In the early stages, Dr. Smidt and his team worked with Dr. Sinclair’s team from Harvard. As the research moved forward, Dr. Smidt became convinced they could actually advance Dr. Sinclair’s science and create a product even more powerful than resveratrol.

After more almost three years of research—millions invested—and collaboration with the University of Georgia—Shaklee science has even succeeded in creating the first ever totally natural tonic that works at the cellular level to block the mechanisms of aging. It’s called Vivix Cellular Anti-aging Tonic.

My own interest in Vivix concerns the arthritis in my joints. It seems to be helping slow down the advancement of arthritis symptoms and may even have contributed to the reversal of some spinal stenosis. My hope for you is that this information makes enough sense to you to inspire you to give Vivix a try for 3 to 6 months. Perhaps you will have similar results.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

To follow my hike in England along Lady Anne’s Way, tune in to www.EmpoweredGrandma.net.

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

overstretching

March 29, 2014 betsyjbell

Gentle Reader,

Stretching—overstretching—can hurt your muscles. Last week I put pigeon pose on a pedestal. If you read the post closely, you will see that the yoga instructor did not introduce pigeon pose until 60 minutes of preparation. To go straight into pigeon pose would be like expecting your fingers to play the Moonlight Sonata after three weeks of piano lessons. Slowly, slowly after many lesser hip openers would you attempt pigeon pose.

This week, I bring back Julie Donnelly for some advice about stretching appropriately. She has a series of articles about preventing and healing repetitive strain injuries. Stretching can be a culprit. In this article there is a link to some materials she sells called Trigger Point Yoga. I have not tried these tools so can not recommend them from first hand experience. I have used a tennis ball placed between the floor and the knotted muscle and pressed down to release the knot. I’ve done this successfully for knotted places in the bottoms of my feet, my shoulders, and calves. I have used a broom handle and rolled along it with the outside of my thigh to release knotted T-band muscles. These techniques help. The key take-away is to avoid overstetching when the problem is a knot in the muscle. Read on….

Why do muscles cause pain? She calls this the Stretching Misconception.

STRETCHING SHOULDN’T HURT!

Have you ever felt so tight when you tried to move a joint that you decided to stretch? The odds are that you answered “yes” to that question. However, many people complain that they feel worse after stretching than they did before stretching.

Before getting into the specifics of the stretching misconception there are two words that need to be clarified. Many people confuse the word “spasm” with “cramp”. A cramp (also called a “Charlie horse”) normally involves all of the fibers of a muscle, and is when a muscle suddenly contracts totally. A spasm is like tying a knot in the center of the muscle and while it may only involve a few fibers; there can be multiple spasms throughout the muscle.

Each spasm feels like a bump when you slide your fingers deeply down the length of the muscle. These spasms normally form over an extended period of time, often from repetitive strain on the muscle fibers. Spasms are at the heart of the stretching misconception, so it is important that you think of a spasm as a knot in the muscle fibers in order to understand why it can hurt to stretch.

A muscle begins on a stationary bone, crosses over a joint, and then inserts into a moveable bone. When the muscle pulls on the moveable bone, the joint moves, however, if the muscle has a “knot” in it you can actually cause micro-tears to the fibers as you stretch.

HOW STRETCHING CAN HURT YOUR MUSCLES

Think of this analogy: visualize a strong tree with a rope tied to it. The rope is the perfect length to attach to a flexible tree without bending the second tree. You can imagine if you pulled on the rope the flexible tree would bend over, and if you let go of the rope, the flexible tree would stand up straight again. This is a simple explanation of how a muscle pulls on a bone and causes the joint to move.

However, if you tied a knot in the rope, the tree would bend. If you tied a second knot, the tree would bend even further. If you then tried to stretch the rope so the flexible tree was standing straight, you would cause the knot to get tighter and the remaining rope would have to overstretch on both sides of the knot in order for the flexible tree to stand up straight.

This is exactly what is happening when you have a spasm, or multiple spasms, in your muscle. As you stretch you are causing the knot within the muscle to get tighter, and you are also causing the fibers on either side of the spasm to overstretch. This overstretching may cause the fibers to actually tear either along the length of the muscle, or where the fibers attach to the bone at either end of the muscle. This can be avoided by simply massaging the muscle to release the spasm before you stretch.

It’s now easy to understand why the repetitive movements that you do on a regular basis will cause the muscle to ultimately shorten into knots that we call spasms or trigger points. As I mentioned, when you try to stretch a spasm you can be causing yourself potential problems, and may even tear the muscle fibers.

Fortunately there is a solution. First you need to release the spasms that are causing the muscle to tie up into a knot, and then you can safely stretch. TriggerPointYoga was designed and developed to first eliminate the spasms in the muscle you will be stretching, and then continues to give four separate session of traditional yoga poses – two for the upper body and two for the lower body. You will gain flexibility and range-of-motion without injuring your muscle fibers.

Julie Donnelly is an internationally respected muscular therapist specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and sports injuries. She has co-authored several self-treatment books, including The 15 Minute Back Pain Solution,Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome-What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You. Julie is also the co-developer of TriggerPoint Yoga. She teaches Julstro self-treatment workshops nationwide and is a frequent presenter at Conventions and Seminars. Julie may be contacted through her websites: http://www.julstro.com and http://www.TriggerPointYoga.com.

Before you sign off, let us know if you have been successful identifying the difference between soreness in the muscles caused by knots or over use? And what did you do for the knots that helped?

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

For pain relief products by Shaklee go to www.HiHohealth.com

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

Sleep and Arthritis Pain

February 28, 2014 betsyjbell

Gentle Reader,

What’s up with not getting a deep, long sleep at night? I have heard from several of my customers that falling asleep is no problem, but they wake up in the night and can’t get back to sleep afterward. Not getting a good night’s sleep is a serious concern in our modern busy world and it seems to worsen when we develop arthritis aches and pains in our later years. Read on for a thorough discussion of arthritis and sleep.

What are the health risks of interrupted, inadequate sleep?

Turning to WebMD we get a lengthy discussion about 10 things to hate about sleep loss.

In a nutshell:

1. Sleepiness causes accidents: 100,000 a year resulting in 1550 deaths. Mostly people under 25 were driving when drowsy, not to mention the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill, the 1986 nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl.

2. Sleep loss dumbs you down. You just can’t think well when you are sleepy and without deep rest, your brain cannot store and catalog all the things you learned today. Nighttime is memorization time.

3. Serious health risks of chronic sleep disorders

Heart disease
Heart attack
Heart failure
Irregular heartbeat
High blood pressure
Stroke
Diabetes

4. Lack of sleep kills the sex drive. Need I say more?

5. Sleepiness is depressing. May I add that it is depressing to the sleepy person and to those who would like to play, work, and enjoy life with that person.

6. Lack of sleep ages your skin. It is the cortisol produced by stress that causes those extra lines and dark patches under the eyes. And missing sleep is stressful.

7. Sleepiness makes you forgetful. Maybe you don’t have early onset Alzheimer’s; you only suffer from poor sleep.

8. Losing sleep can make you fat. When you are sleepy, you crave fat-laden carbs.

9. Lack of sleep may increase early death. Read the report to see the study.

10. Sleep loss impairs judgment, especially about sleep. We cannot see how impaired our brain function is.

Since this is a blog about arthritis, I wanted to see if lack of sleep affected our joints. Turns out there is a vicious circle of pain and lack of sleep going on when you have painful arthritis. From a study reported in the Daily Mail about this problem,

Experts say insomnia is common among the ten million arthritis sufferers in Britain, with some estimates suggesting that nearly two in three experience trouble sleeping. However, until recently restless nights were viewed as a secondary and almost inevitable problem for people with arthritis. But now scientists are realising that this problem is a two-way street: not only does joint pain cause sleep loss, but sleep deprivation makes joint pain worse, and can even accelerate joint damage. There is growing concern that sleep disturbance exacerbates osteoarthritis (wear-and-tear arthritis) and rheumatoid arthritis (where the immune system attacks the joints), and experts believe that treating insomnia could lead to an improvement in the condition.

Osteoarthritis develops when cartilage that protects the surface of bones becomes damaged and starts to break down. The exact causes remain unknown, but genes, weight and age are all thought to be involved. Much of the pain and swelling is caused by inflammatory molecules in the body travelling to the joint.

For reasons that are not fully understood, disrupted sleep leads to increased numbers of these inflammatory markers, which further aggravates sore joints. One of these markers is called interleukin-1 (IL-1), which is made by white blood cells. One expert thinks IL-1 is the ‘primary trigger’ of osteoarthritis. Lack of sleep causes arthritis pain and visa versa.

Professor Peter Wehling, an orthopaedic surgeon whose Dusseldorf clinic has become a pilgrimage site for sports stars seeking to prolong their careers, says even a limited amount of sleep disruption can cause the immune system to ‘go into overdrive’. It then begins to ‘flood the body with white blood cells in a vain attempt to address exhaustion-related distress’, as he puts it in his book The End Of Pain.

Many of the IL-1 producing white blood cells lodge in the joints and cause ‘discomfort and gradual erosion of cartilage’, he says. Professor Wehling warns that even one bad night’s sleep can set this in motion.

Professor Silman from Arthritis UK agrees that inflammatory compounds play a role in arthritis. ‘Sleep disturbance can change the body’s natural cycle of hormones as well as possibly adversely affecting the underlying levels of inflammation,’ he says. He agrees that IL-1 is ‘an important player’ in the development of inflammatory arthritis, but says other cytokines — inflammation-causing chemicals — may also be involved. He adds that some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis, especially in its early stages, may be a direct consequence of inflammation.

And while loss of sleep may release damaging inflammatory chemicals, it also means the joints miss out on the healing benefits of sleep.

Sleep is the longest time during which the body has low levels of inflammation and opportunity to heal. Around 15 to 25 per cent of it should be deep sleep — this equates to around 1½ to two hours every night. During this time, energy levels are restored and the immune system strengthened. But it can take up to 45 minutes of sleeping to enter deep sleep — and these deep phases seem to occur only in the first half of the night, for reasons not understood. This means that if someone is tossing and turning they may have very little deep sleep. This not only increases the number of inflammatory markers in the body, but it can also disrupt the workings of hormones vital for joint healing, says Professor Wehling. Perhaps most notably it lowers production of human growth hormone, sometimes called the ‘master hormone’ because it is vital to many processes in the body including tissue repair, weight management and continuing replacement of bone and collagen. Though human growth hormone is produced in small surges during the day, by far the biggest burst comes 60 to 90 minutes after falling asleep as we enter deep sleep.

Inflammation suppresses human growth hormone — and so deep sleep causes levels to surge.

But without much deep sleep, we may not produce enough growth hormone, speeding the decline of tissue and bone, causing it to become worn in joint areas. Furthermore, weariness makes people more sensitive to pain, and can lead to them becoming even more immobile.

Professor Kevin Morgan, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, explains: ‘Moving involuntarily in the night can wake you up with a lightning shaft of pain and a cracking sensation. ‘This sleep disruption makes pain worse the next day, and makes a person less inclined to want to move around. ‘However, movement and activity makes joints hurt less.’

Arthritis Research UK is funding a study by King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, which aims to identify and treat the issues preventing patients with rheumatoid arthritis from being physically active and sleeping well. Around 200 people with the disease are taking part in the research, which it is hoped will lead to new techniques to tackle inactivity, sleep disruption and pain.

A similar study by the University of Washington in Seattle involving 375 patients with osteoarthritis is also being held and is due to report next year. It is examining whether targeting pain and sleep problems is more beneficial than a regimen focusing on pain alone. The researchers have hypothesised that the dual approach will have greater long-term benefits for sleep and pain, increase physical activity and lead to a reduction in healthcare costs.

Jo Cumming, head of helplines at Arthritis Care, says the charity speaks to 12,000 people a year, and 63 per cent say they don’t get a good night’s sleep.

‘It is a huge burden to bear. When GPs are considering medication or joint replacements one of the things they ask patients is whether the pain stops them sleeping,’ she says.

But Professor Morgan argues that previously GPs have considered insomnia as an unfortunate consequence of another health problem, rather than an important health problem in itself.

This has led to patients not always receiving the best treatment.

‘You have to put in a lot of work convincing clinicians that sleep problems are not just collateral damage from the main disease,’ he says.

So what can help those with joint pain achieve a good night’s sleep?

Tips include cutting out afternoon naps, using lamps rather than ceiling lights in the evening, avoiding caffeine after 3pm and not drinking alcohol after 9pm.

Professor Wehling also recommends ‘keeping a consistent bedtime and rising within an hour of sunrise’.

Avoiding midnight snacks can also help.

An estimated 50 per cent of our body weight is carried by the menisci, small pads of cartilage in the knee, so piling on the pounds adds substantially to an already considerable strain. Excess body fat can also heighten arthritis directly because our fat cells expand and produce more cytokines, which fuel inflammation.

However, a lack of sleep can lead to weight gain, which is known to make joint pain worse.

Levels of melatonin, the key hormone in regulating our daily body cycle or circadian rhythm, are also disturbed by sleep loss, and this in turn upsets the balance of two other hormones.

The first is ghrelin, known as the ‘hunger hormone’. Elevated levels of ghrelin at night can prompt people to raid the kitchen, craving carbohydrates in particular. It also causes extra insulin production, making the body store more fat.

The second is leptin, which usually helps regulate appetite, but may be disrupted by loss of sleep. Studies in mice also suggest that leptin may itself have inflammatory effects.

What are some solutions to this problem?

Talk to your doctor and help him/her see that lack of sleep is important enough to work through the available medications to find one that works.

If you are like me and prefer to solve this problem through alternative methods, I have found a number of strategies that work for me. While I still wake up in the night, I can nearly always get back to sleep and return to a deep, untroubled sleep, waking up well rested.

Shaklee makes two supplements which help induce a restful sleep at the beginning of the night.

Gentle Sleep Complex swallowed all at once or made into a tea about 1/2 hour before bed along with

Stress Relief complex. Taking 2 seems to be the best amount for helping with sleep at night.

Lavender oil dabbed on the bottoms of the feet. (I know, sounds woo woo but it seems to work. You can also buy a little chimney with a dish on top for the Lavender oil. The odor wafts through the bedroom and helps with sleep.) WebMD has information about lavender oil.

There are some other oils that some people use like Rescue Remedy. You can find these oils in most stores that sell supplements. I have used a drop of Rescue Remedy under my tongue when other methods did not result in a return to deep sleep at that 2 a.m. hour.

Insomnia Relief Audio CD — Peggy Cappy’s sleep meditation

I also have used Peggy Cappy’s soothing voice on her mediation for back rejunvenation. I have it on an Ipod which I keep at the head of my bed. Peggy Cappy has a CD for sleep which I just ordered. I’ll give a full report when I have used it. I often begin my night listening to her Back Care CD and fall asleep immediately. I swear my back pain has lessened considerably over the years I have been listening to her. I have blogged about Peggy Cappy in the past.

Another thing I do routinely is make a note of anything I must do the following day so I know they are scheduled and I can trust that I will get back to them.

I recently discovered that my trusted Feldenkris practitioner addresses this problem with a new series/private consultations/workshops. http://www.becciparsons.com/Sounder_Sleep_System.html I haven’t taken her classes, but she is the practitioner who got me walking/sitting/standing/bending again after herniating my L5 disc in 1989. Becci Parsons has been a guest blogger for me. Please read that post for more information.

Happy Dreams,

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving.

Betsy

I would love to hear from you how you manage sleeplessness. Please send me an email.

betsy@hihohealth.com

206 933 1889