Never Be Sick Again (32 page)

Breathing too rapidly or too deeply causes the body to lose too much carbon dioxide. Normally, oxygen is transported to tissues by bonding with hemoglobin in red blood cells; carbon dioxide helps the oxygen to “break off” the hemoglobin so that it can be used. Without sufficient carbon dioxide, the oxygen does not break off, tissues become oxygen-deficient, and the result is cellular malfunction and disease. Oxygen deficiency is known to cause cancer. A separate problem, caused by insufficient blood levels of carbon dioxide, is that blood pH can become too alkaline. The body will compensate by dumping out alkaline minerals through the urine, in order to rebalance blood pH. The result is a deficiency of alkaline minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, which contributes to diseases such as osteoporosis.

To breathe correctly, the important step is to bring in air down into the lungs, by using the diaphragm, a deep abdominal muscle that nature intended for breathing. Breathing downward with the diaphragm (belly breathing instead of chest breathing) is an effortless and efficient way to breathe. Unfortunately, people often use their chest and upper back to breathe; chest breathing takes more effort, is less efficient and interferes with normal breathing patterns. Breathing downwards with the diaphragm (as opposed to outwards with the chest) moves the viscera (guts) down and away, making more room for the lungs. This action creates the capacity for more air in your lungs and more oxygen for your tissues, thus enhancing the function of your entire respiratory system, whether you are exercising or at rest. Each breath should begin downwards in the belly, only moving up into the chest when necessary.

Correct breathing should be effortless, through the nose rather than mouth, and relatively slow—at a resting rate of less than fifteen breaths per minute, preferably eight to ten. Here is a simple test to check how you are doing: Lie on your back on the floor, put a book on your abdomen, breathe through your nose, and watch to see if the book goes up and down with each breath. Concentrate on belly breathing until the book moves up and down. Next, count the number of breaths you take per minute. Try to keep breaths per minute at less than fifteen and preferably less than ten. Be careful not to overbreathe. The key word is effortless. Let your body do the breathing for you, as it was designed to do. During aerobic exercise, keep the breath down in the belly and out of the chest as much as possible, and I can almost guarantee that your athletic performance and respiratory health will improve.

Breathing has such profound effects, both physically and psychologically, that many ancient traditions—such as meditation, yoga and martial arts—rely first and foremost on breathing technique.

Damage Control

Maintaining the body is one aspect of the physical pathway; preventing physical damage is the other. Modern life exposes us to many different types of physical damage—from sunburns to car accidents, from kitchen cuts and burns to electromagnetic fields. Some physical hazards of modern life can be avoided, while others cannot. Any time the body suffers damage, though, valuable resources (nutrients) are used to perform repairs. Over time the loss of these nutrients impairs cellular health, opening the door for further injury or disease. Sometimes repair is not possible. Physical damage can lead to lifelong impairment or disability. To prevent damage before it occurs, recognize physical hazards and take sensible precautions. Here are some ways to protect yourself.

Sunbathing Isn't Always a Bad Thing

The body needs sunshine just as it needs food, although one must avoid too much of either. Sunlight (full-spectrum light) is necessary for good health and an important part of the physical pathway. Those warming sun rays feel good because they are good; they help your body produce vitamin D, an essential nutrient for building strong and healthy bones. The common belief that you should protect yourself from the sun with toxic sunscreen is distorted and misguided. Sunlight is not the problem; the problem is sunburn.

Sunburns only happen from excessive and inconsistent exposure to sunlight, such as when you stay in the sun too long or when your body is not used to it. Regular, controlled exposure to sunlight helps the body produce vitamin D and adapt to the sun. If your body is not used to it (and especially if your skin is fair), do not spend all day under the hot sun. Start out with ten or fifteen minutes of sun per day, gradually increasing your exposure as your body adapts to it. Also, beware of the intensity of the sunlight, when the sun is most directly overhead (approximately 10 A.M. to 2 P.M.).

If you want to protect your skin, using coat after coat of toxic sunscreen is a bad idea. Some of the chemicals in sunscreen can break down when exposed to sunlight, forming carcinogenic compounds. In other words, sunscreen may cause skin cancer, rather than preventing it. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that as sunscreen use has increased, so have skin cancer rates.

Safer alternatives are available to sunburn and toxic sunscreen: Get regular sun exposure, so that your skin can adapt. Dietary nutrients are helpful, including magnesium, antioxidants (vitamins A C, E, selenium), and especially carotenes, which sometimes are referred to as “nature's sun umbrella.” Carotenes protect the skin from sunlight; these nutrients are found in colorful vegetables and fruits, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers (red, yellow and purple), squash and others. Also, try the ancient custom of rubbing olive oil on the skin to help protect it from sunburn, provided the oil is of high quality and still contains its natural antioxidant chemicals. (Olive oil also is good if your skin is already burned.) People in Mediterranean countries still use olive oil for sun protection today. If you must have a sunscreen, consider one of the toxin-free sunscreens (see appendix C).

Loud Noise Takes a Toll

Ever notice a ringing in your ears after listening to loud music or being around loud noises? That is physical damage, both permanent and cumulative. A study in the January 2001
Audiology
found that people who engaged in noisy leisure-time activities, ranging from rock concerts to disco dancing to woodworking, have increased risk of hearing loss for each five-year period of participation. Choose to spend your time in less noisy places or wear hearing protection such as earplugs. Hearing loss is now epidemic in America. The hearing aid business grows every year, which is not just a result of the population growing older.

Noise causes other problems, too. Do you ever “jump” when somebody rings the doorbell, when a car alarm goes off, or when the music suddenly is turned louder? In many ways, noise can be stressful, causing both physical and psychological problems. A study in the March 2001
Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America
found that children chronically exposed to transportation noise from road, rail and air traffic had elevated blood pressure and elevated levels of stress chemicals. A similar study in the February 2001
Psychological
Medicine
found that children exposed to chronic aircraft noise have impaired reading comprehension. Noise also causes nutritional deficiency; a study in the February 2001
Occupational Medicine
measured significant losses of calcium and magnesium in the urine of factory workers chronically exposed to loud noise. Noise studies on laboratory animals have shown other damaging effects, ranging from impaired lymphatic drainage to increased intestinal permeability. A study published in the May 2001
Behavioral
Physiology
concluded that even what we would consider mild chronic noise can cause changes in the lining of the intestines, making them leakier, which can lead to allergies and many other chronic health problems.

While music and other sounds are good for the spirits, avoid living in an environment of never-ending noise. Peace and quiet are great for the psyche. Consider how noise affects you and make your choices accordingly. If you know you are going to be exposed to loud noise, wear ear protection. Diet also helps to prevent hearing loss. Especially if you are genetically predisposed to hearing loss, proper nutrition can have a significant effect on whether such loss will happen or not.

Eye Muscle Exercises Help Save Sight

Most people do not realize the amount of influence they have over their eyesight. Ability to see is greatly dependent on how one uses and exercises their eyes. Like all the muscles in the body, the ones that control eyesight must be exercised in order to keep them supple and strong. Call it “vision maintenance.” Modern life requires using the eyes in ways very different from those under which we evolved. Now we must make special choices in order to protect and maintain our natural vision.

The main reason we lose our vision, believe it or not, is literacy. Reading and writing are new skills in the scope of human evolution. During most of human evolution, our eyes were primarily used to gaze afar—to locate food, shelter and threats to safety. When focusing off at a distance, the muscles that control the shape of the eye and the shape of the lens remain in a relatively natural and relaxed state. However, in order to focus on something close, such as a book or a computer screen, the muscles that control the shape of the lens and the eye must contract. For brief periods of time, this reshaping of the eye tissues does not pose a problem. However, we now spend most of our time focusing on nearby objects such as books, papers, televisions and computer screens. We place our eye muscles under constant tension for hours every day, causing a permanent distortion of the lens and the eyeball itself. Thus, vision deteriorates.

To maintain or improve your natural vision, corrective lenses are not the answer. Corrective lenses cause damage to eye tissues, forcing them to work in unnatural ways. This “fix” creates a vicious cycle; as vision deteriorates, stronger prescriptions are needed. Corrective lenses address the symptoms of vision loss, doing nothing to solve the underlying problems.

By contrast, vision improvement techniques address the causes of vision problems. Losing your vision and wearing corrective lenses can often be avoided. You can learn eye exercises that prevent vision loss, and improving vision after it is impaired also is possible. Vision maintenance techniques enhance the strength and flexibility of the muscles and tissues of the eye, improving focus and clarity of vision at any distance:

• When reading or working at a computer, occasionally take a minute to look out the window at a distant object, studying the details of that object. This activity allows the eye muscles to relax. (Blankly gazing out the window does not make eye tissues return to their natural shape, whereas focusing on distant details does.) Do this once every thirty minutes or so for about a minute at a time. The exercise takes very little effort and helps to preserve your vision.

• If you wear corrective lenses, be sure to take them off whenever they are not needed, thus giving your eyes an opportunity to work naturally, especially when you are outdoors where the eyes can also receive full-spectrum light.

• For more tips on eyesight, see appendix E.

Reading, writing or sitting at a computer all day damages your eyesight, unless you take the time to rest and exercise your eyes—another important aspect of damage control on the physical pathway.

Heat Treatments Get Rid of Toxins

Not only do saunas feel good, they are good! Saunas get your heart beating and your blood circulating, helping the body to detoxify in unique and important ways. Toxins do the damage, and saunas help with damage control. Saunas or other heat treatments help to accomplish detoxification in the following manner: A layer of fat and oil exists just below the surface of the skin. Heat from the sauna increases skin temperature, causing those fats and oils to “melt” and ooze out of the skin's oil glands. As sweat and oil are secreted, the toxins dissolved in them are secreted as well. By excreting these toxins and then washing them off your body, your toxic load is lowered and cellular health improves.

Anything that raises the temperature of your skin for an extended period of time is helpful, including sweat wraps, steam rooms, hot baths and spas. Choose a temperature that can be tolerated for an extended period of time—thirty minutes to an hour or more. The point is not to sweat out a lot of water, but to rid your body of oil-soluble toxins. Our skin contains sweat glands and oil glands, both of which help us detoxify. Sweat gets rid of water-soluble toxins, and even helps to eliminate toxic heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium.

Oil glands help remove oil-soluble toxins that the body would otherwise have a difficult time eliminating. We have created a world filled with oil-soluble toxins such as gasoline, solvents, pesticides and ingredients in toothpaste and personal care products, and the body is not able to dispose of them efficiently. The longer the skin is heated, the more oil-soluble toxins are eliminated.

Be careful not to overheat! The challenge is finding an environment where you can keep your skin temperature up for an extended period of time without overheating or dehydrating. Overheating and perhaps feeling dizzy can happen easily if you stay in a steam room, a hot tub or the top bench of a hot sauna too long. Choose a “low temperature” sauna (110–120 degrees), and use it for an extended period of time—an hour or more is best—though you may have to work up to this duration gradually. In a commercial sauna (which is usually too hot), try lying flat on the lowest bench. Remember: Drinking adequate amounts of water before, during and after your sauna is essential in order to prevent dehydration.

Every time I go to the gym to exercise, I spend an hour or more in the sauna, lying prone on the lowest bench to keep the temperature moderate. Sitting on the top bench in a high temperature for a short period of time does not aid in the elimination of oil-soluble toxins; effective elimination of these toxins takes time. A good supplement program, containing fat-mobilizing vitamins and essential fatty acids makes the sauna even more effective (see appendix B and C). Be sure to shower afterwards; prevent those toxins from reabsorbing back into your body by washing with a nontoxic Castile soap (see appendix C). Taking saunas or other “heat treatments” is not a luxury, but like exercise, is a physical responsibility and an important element of the physical pathway. Incorporating saunas after exercise is even better. Exercise begins to mobilize toxins and saunas continue the process. You may need to make a few sauna visits before you can tolerate extended periods of time, but the benefits of these heat treatments are incredible. These treatments feel good for very good reasons; they provide beneficial physical stimulation—including increased lymphatic and cardiovascular circulation, as well as the removal of toxins— all of which are good for the health and function of your cells.