Keep Moving!

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millet_the_gleanersWhen I (Carol) took the Memorial Sloan Kettering online oncology course for acupuncturists, the recommendation for healthy people to exercise 30-60 minutes a day was the standout detail from the entire, 30+ hours of lectures.

That’s 30-60 minutes, seven days a week of formal exercise, not including the time you may spend traveling, changing, or cleaning up. And movement for our daily peregrinations, though better than nothing, doesn’t count.

Why, I wondered, did they advocate 30-60 minutes a day, and then it hit me: our DNA is programmed to move a lot more than we do in the 21st Century. It’s only been about 250 years since the Industrial Revolution, and many conveniences we take for granted didn’t exist before then. For our ancestors, chores and travel demanded constant physical effort; physiological evolution doesn’t change as quickly as our world has, so we have to accommodate our body’s needs by moving more.

Moving is one of the main ways to reduce your risk of getting cancer, because where there is blood flow, free radicals cannot pile up. When you regularly engage in steady, sustained movement, blood perfuses throughout your body.

Once I grasped this fact, I took up the challenge, and found it easy to justify the time spent, because being cancer-free is a compelling motivator. Viewed in this light, choosing to move is as simple as standing on one side of a line and stepping over it to the other side.

Regular exercise has many benefits, including leveling out the stresses encountered in a day.

If you are new to exercise, begin slowly and build up to it. You will find the body grows stronger exponentially, for it’s designed to do this. Expect some aches and pains as you make progress, but pay attention to the quality of pain to avoid injury (so you can continue working out!). If you overdo it, don’t give up, just take a break and get some acupuncture or a massage to speed the healing.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/keep-moving

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Stress Busters, Theory, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Take a Breath, Part II

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Lung anatomy

Now that we’ve moved to beautiful and mile-high Colorado, it’s taking a few months to acclimate to the elevation, and the best way we have found to do this is by swimming: rhythmical, evenly-paced lap swimming. My (Carol) theory why this works to calm the nervous system and enhance deeper breathing is that for every inhale, a lap swimmer is exhaling for at least two counts, thereby knocking more carbon dioxide (CO2), and thus waste-product, off. Less toxins in the body can only be a good thing!

Air is a form of nutrient in both biomedicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The exchange of gases occurs in the lungs, where oxygen (O2) is inhaled and carbon dioxide (CO2) is exhaled. O2 binds to hemoglobin, travels in the blood to each cell, where the mitochondria use it to create ATP, THE energy molecule, via the Krebs cycle.

When you take deeper breaths, you increase the amount of O2 in your body, and the potential for more reserves of energy both immediately and in times of stress or depletion/illness.

Here’s a simple Taoist breathing method:

1) Inhale through your nose, and follow the breath down your esophagus, into your chest, and down to your lower abdomen, allowing the muscles to relax and expand.

2) Exhale from the lower abdomen by contracting the muscles of the lower abs and core towards your spine.

Breathing this way is very grounding, and with practice, will become second nature — it’s the way we breathed as babies, so that kinesthetic memory is stored in our nervous systems.

No need to rush the process: you can do it any time or place when you remember to do it. For example, when you’re waiting for the light to change, or feel your emotions or thoughts start to run away from you.

Guideline: never strain — follow the 70% rule — taking breaths only as deeply as they come naturally to you.

Benefits: increased energy, clearer thinking, calmer nervous system, improved metabolic and organ function, and less toxic waste in the form of CO2 floating in the blood.

Image:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, National Institute of Health website. Retrieved 10.18.10: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hlw/hlw_respsys.html

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/take-a-breath

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Nourishing You, Stress Busters Tagged With: , , , , ,

April is IBS Awareness Month

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photo_imsqauredcom

IBS, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, is a diagnosis based on symptoms, not anatomical or physiological markers. The hallmark symptoms of IBS are: abdominal pain or discomfort,
bloating, and constipation and diarrhea, either episodically alternating between both, or one predominating.

The causes of IBS are trifold:
1. Motility: the signaling is off, resulting in either rapid or slowed transit time in the gut
2. Visceral perception: tests show either high (diarrhea) or low (constipation) sensitivity to pressure in the upper and lower intestines
3. Stress: frequency of life stress and/or poor ability to process stress

Additional, but statistically less significant factors include reduced ability to absorb certain sugars, malabsorption of bile acids from fatty foods, and food allergies.

Western medicine versus eastern medicine in treating IBS:
Diagnosis is based on experiencing the hallmark symptoms for 12 consecutive weeks within a 12 month period.

Dietary recommendations include avoiding caffeine, alcohol, gums and candies with the sugar sorbitol, citrus fruit if fructose intolerant, and reducing consumption of gas-producing foods such as beans and cruciferous vegetables, while increasing fiber in the diet. Additionally, stress management is strongly emphasized, which includes regular exercise.

Western medicine recognizes, through research studies, the benefits of Chinese herbal formulas in the treatment of IBS.

The two additions eastern medicine offer are acupuncture, which is a tremendous stress-buster, and dietary counseling, limited only by the patient’s willingness to make changes in eating habits and content.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/april-is-ibs-awareness-month

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: Conditions Treated Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bagua For Runners

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Bagua for Runnners

Bagua for Runnners

One morning, in my (Tom) qi gong and ba gua class, when we were walking in a circle, the teacher, mixed it up a little by getting us to jog, calling out directions of body alignment all the while. It dawned on me then that ba gua would be great for runners.

Sports medicine is my focus, so I see runners all the time in my practice. I would say the majority of injuries are due to muscle imbalances from improper training.

Muscle groups are divided functionally into agonistics and antagonistics. For example, when the hamstrings contract, the quadriceps stretch: this supports the femur (the upper leg bone), and allows the hamstrings to work correctly. Physiologically, quadricep strength should be 60% and hamstrings strength 40%. If this ratio is off, one can get what is called “runners knee.”

Ba gua training balances and connects the body as a whole so your movements are not isolated, but flow together, continuously. When the body is in proper alignment the muscles work efficiently, with much less stress.

The feet are extremely vital for standing, walking, and running. The feet reflect the whole body, so when the feet are tight this translates upward, causing problems elsewhere, for a structure is only as strong as its foundation. Ba gua works a lot on the feet to strengthen and open them, creating a good support.

Running can be hard on the leg joints due to the repetitive pounding on hard surfaces. When runners get tired, they commonly use the force of gravity versus muscles, which eventually takes its toll.

Bagua 8 trigrams

Bagua 8 trigrams

Ba gua challenges the body to incorporate multiple disciplines. You simultaneously work on the inhaling and exhaling of breath , the compression and decompression of joints, the winding and unwinding of tissue attached to bone, and on internal and external conscious focus. This multi-disciplinary approach creates a dynamic movement in whatever you do, so practice is not limited to class time, it’s something you take with you into your daily life.

Ba gua is based on the I Ching and is one of the three Chinese internal martial arts (tai ji and hsing yi are the other two). Qi gong is the basis of all three , and all offer tremendous health benefits.

Runners should always cross train to keep the whole body conditioned and reduce the chances of injuries. I highly recommend ba gua as an adjunct in training, because the body’s mechanics are explained in a new way that is both enjoyable and practical for the long-term.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/bagua-for-runners

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, I Ching, Philosophy, Stress Busters, Theory, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Insomnia

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full_issuecomMarch 7-13 was National Sleep Awareness Week in advance of the Daylight Savings time change. In our practice, people frequently mention problems surrounding sleep, so we’re taking this opportunity to summarize the two approaches taken by western and eastern medicine in the treatment of sleep-related issues.

The Importance of Sleep

1. Sleep allows the body’s restorative metabolic processes to do their work.

2. The neutral position and inactivity of sleep allows the spinal discs to re-absorb fluid lost from the compression experienced throughout the day’s activities.

3. Sleep and the lack of sleep affects physiologic activity: immunity, the need for REM-cycle sleep, cardiovascular health, and psychiatric conditions are all subjects of ongoing research.

Insomnia….as defined by Western Medicine

Insomnia is characterized by having difficulty getting to sleep, or staying asleep, or waking up several times during sleep, or experiencing non-refreshing sleep for at least one month.

There are two types of insomnia: primary and secondary. Primary insomnia derives from an unknown physical or mental condition. Secondary insomnia may be psychological, physiological, learned, and/or chronic, and it may be caused by a medical condition such as depression or pain.

Along with the suggestion of lifestyle changes, sedating drugs are the primary treatment.

Insomnia….as defined by Eastern Medicine

Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM) characterizes insomnia similarly, viewing it through the lens, for lack of a better expression, of body-mind-spirit. Insomnia is not treated as a disease condition, but as a symptom.

Regulating sleep and dietary habits are emphasized, and we have methods of sedation as well. Our extra arrow in the quiver is our ability to free constraint, using gentle measures.

In a nutshell, constraint is created in response to events, good or bad, experienced as an inner gripping. Once this gripping is let go, the individual can move forward, naturally transitioning the bound mental and/or physical holding to a general sense of ease.

Think of the last time a stranger cut you off in your car or walking on the street. While you didn’t do anything to deserve this behavior, you now have to deal with it. You can crash into each other, you can deflect it and avoid it altogether, or, most commonly, have to suddenly alter your trajectory in the blink of an eye. Most people are a little shocked by such minor events and shake them off quickly. However, multiply the number of external and internal stimuli and events needed to navigate through a typical workday, and we see a lot of anxiety and stress, headaches, digestive disorders, and on and on, piling up and compounding difficulties with sleep.

East and West Agree

Common sense is elusive when we’re sleep-deprived, so here is the list of lifestyle recommendations both medical paradigms suggest:

  • Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine after 1 pm
  • Don’t take naps during the day
  • Eat at regular times each day, and avoid large meals before bedtime
  • Exercise long before going to bed so that your nervous system has time to settle down
  • Keep on schedule: go to bed at the same time every night
  • Figure out comfortable sleeping conditions:
  1. How much do you want the window open?
  2. How many blankets do you like?
  • Use the bed only for sleep and sex
  • Wind down by reading or bathing before bedtime, versus television or computer viewing
  • If you can’t fall asleep within 30 minutes, get up and engage in quiet activity until you find yourself becoming sleepy
  • Remove the anxiety from focusing on not being able to fall asleep

Acupuncture has the ability to create subtle movement inside of you, freeing up what has been bound or grounding what has become unstable. Herbal formulas are immensely helpful in conjunction with acupuncture, and in our experience, we find difficulties surrounding sleep gradually evaporate in most cases.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/insomnia

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: Conditions Treated, Integrative Medicine, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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