The surprising and powerful links between posture and mood
Posted: February 3, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anxiety, depression, mind-body, posture, stress, stress management Leave a commentEnjoy Vivian Giang’s superb blog, The surprising and powerful links between posture and mood, published by Fast Company and reprinted with permission. It summarizes in a very readable way how posture affects health and well being.
The Surprising and Powerful Links between Posture and Mood
Why feeling taller tricks your brain into making you feel more confident and why your smartphone addiction might be making you depressed.
The next time you’re feeling sad and depressed, pay close attention to your posture. According to cognitive scientists, you’ll likely be slumped over with your neck and shoulders curved forward and head looking down.
While it’s true that you’re sitting this way because you’re sad, it’s also true that you’re sad because you’re sitting this way. This philosophy, known as embodied cognition, is the idea that the relationship between our mind and body runs both ways, meaning our mind influences the way our body reacts, but the form of our body also triggers our mind.
In large part due to Amy Cuddy’s widly popular 2012 TED talk, most of us know that two minutes of “power poses” a day can change how we feel about ourselves. This isn’t just about displaying confidence to others around; this is about actually changing your hormones—increased levels of testosterone and decreased levels of cortisol, or the stress hormone, in the brain.
“The brain has an area that reflects confidence, but once that area is triggered it doesn’t matter exactly how it’s triggered,” says Richard Petty, professor of psychology at Ohio State University. “It can be difficult to distinguish real confidence from confidence that comes from just standing up straight … these things go both ways just like happiness leads to smiling, but also smiling leads to happiness.”
When it comes to posture, Petty explains that the way we ultimately feel has a lot to do with the associations we have with being taller. For example, if you take two people and you put one on a chair that’s above the other person, the one that’s looking down will feel more powerful because “we have all these associations” with height and power that “gets triggered automatically when certain movements are made,” he says. The function of your body posture tells your brain that you’re powerful, which, in turn, affects your attitude.
In a 2009 study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Petty along with other researchers instructed 71 college students to either “sit up straight” and “push out [their] chest” or “sit slouched forward” with their “face looking at [their] knees.” While holding their assigned posture, the students were asked to list either three positive or negative personal traits they thought would contribute to their future job satisfaction and professional performance. Afterward, the students were asked to take a survey where they rated themselves on how well they thought they would perform as a future professional.
The researchers found that how the students rated themselves depended on the posture they kept when they wrote the positive or negative traits. Those who were in the upright position believed in the positive and negative traits they wrote down while those in the slouched over position weren’t convinced of their positive or negative traits. In other words, when the students were in the upright, confident position, they trusted their own thoughts whether those thoughts were positive or negative. On the other hand, when the students sat in a powerless position, they didn’t trust anything they wrote down whether it was positive or negative.
However, those in the upright position likely had an easier time thinking of “empowering, positive” traits about themselves to write down while those in the slouched over position probably had an easier time recalling “hopeless, helpless, powerless, and negative” feelings, according to Erik Peper, professor of Holistic Health at San Francisco State University.
In a series of experiments, Peper found that sitting in a collapsed, helpless position makes it easier for negative thoughts and memories to appear while sitting in an upright, powerful position makes it easier to have empowering thoughts and memories.
“Emotions and thoughts affect our posture and energy levels; conversely, posture and energy affect our emotions and thoughts,” says one of Peper’s studies from 2012, and two minutes of skipping versus walking in a slouched position can make a significant difference on our energy levels. Like Cuddy, Peper’s research finds that it only takes two minutes to change your hormones, meaning you can basically change the chemistry in your brain while waiting for your food to heat up in the microwave.
Since posture affects our mood and thoughts so much, the increase of collapsed sitting and walking—from sitting in front of our computer to looking down at our smartphones—may very much have an effect on the rise of depression in recent years. Peper and his team of researchers suggest that posture is a significant contributor to decreased energy levels and depression. Slouching is also known to result in frequent headaches and neck and shoulder pains.
With so much research proving the influence posture has on our mind, Peper suggests hanging photos of people you love slightly higher on the wall or above your desk so that you have to look up. Also, adjust your rear view mirror slightly higher so that you have to sit up taller while driving. If you need reminders, Petty advises setting reminders on your phone, computer, or even a Post-It note. When you do have negative thoughts, instead of validating them by slumping over or bending your head, Petty says that you should write them down on a piece of paper, then throw that piece of paper away in the trash.
“People who throw those negative thoughts into the trash can are less affected by them then people who had the same thoughts but symbolically put them in their pocket,” he says. “It’s this idea that it’s not what we think that’s important; it’s how much we trust what we think.”
Reprinted by permission from Vivian Giang
Overdiagnosed: Should I have more tests or treatments?
Posted: February 1, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, diagnosis, health, medication, prevention 2 CommentsOne Computerized tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis will expose you to more radiation than the residents of Fukushima, Japan absorbed after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011. –Consumer Reports, March 2015, Vol.80 No.3, 39.
High-risk patients with heart failure and cardiac arrest hospitalized in teaching hospitals had a significantly lower 30-day mortality when admitted during dates of national cardiology meetings (70% survival when doctors attended meeting as compared to 60% survival when doctors did not attend the meetings). –-Jena et al, 2014.
There are so many questions
I feel healthy but worry that cancer could be lurking in the background, should I do a preventative body scan?
I sometimes have slightly higher blood pressure especially when the doctor measures it. It is probably borderline, should I go on medication?
Should I have my PSA tested?
I am a healthy fifty year old, should I have a mammogram?
Should I have an annual physical?
In the quest to stay healthy or prevent disease, we are bombarded by information that preventative testing would save lives and improve health. Only in the United States and New Zealand allow direct to consumer medical advertising which tends to increase excessive drug use and medical testing (Liang & Mackey, 2011). The messages imply that medical screening and testing (e.g., body scan or stress tests) can identify early stages of a disease and implying that earlier treatment will improve quality of life and survival. Similar messages encourage basically healthy people to take drugs for borderline conditions (e.g., borderline hypertension, osteopenia, increased cholesterol levels. What is not shared is the possible risk of unnecessary medical interventions or the harm caused by drug or treatment side effects especially when they are used for a long time period. When unbiased research such as the Cochran Reviews are done, even the annual physical exam appears to offer no benefits (Krogsbøll et al, 2013). Similarly, mammograms and PSA testing for a healthy population appears to offer no benefits and may increase risks. It is truly difficult to accept that an annual health check up is worthless or that a routine mammogram or PSA test may do more harm than good since for many years the public message has been the opposite: to get more screening and testing. There are many reasons for this approach such as:
- Genuine belief, although not evidence based, that an early intervention and more testing would reduce suffering.
- Financial incentives for the parties that perform testing and preventative screening or encourage increased drugs sales for borderline conditions for which the risk and benefits are not well documented.
- Fear of lawsuits by medical providers. If a patient develops an illness which possibly could have been diagnosed by screening, even though the screening may not have affected the actual outcome, the health professional could be sued.
Become an informed consumer
When you have a symptom and do not feel well, see your doctor and get diagnosed, it may safe your life. At the same time be an educated consumer and when unexpected findings are discovered and not related to your specific symptom/complaint, ask questions before agreeing to have more tests or treatments. Ask your provider some of the following questions which were initially outlined by Dr. Eugene Robins (1984):
- Why are you doing this test or procedure?
- What are the risks and what are the benefits?
- What are the risks of treatment and what are the benefits of treatment?
- How accurate is the test?
- How will the test results change the treatment strategy?
- Are there less invasive strategies that could be used? Be very careful of exposing yourself and especially children to CT scans. It is estimated that for every 1000 children who have an abdominal CT scan, one will develop cancer as a result (2015, Consumer Report, March 16).
To be able to navigate the complexities of diagnosis and to understand the risks and benefits of treatment and testing, read the recent two articles in the New York Times, Can this treatment help me? There is a statistic for that, How to Measure a Medical Treatment’s Potential for Harm and the superb book, Over-diagnosed-Making people sick in the pursuit of health, by Drs. H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa M Schwartz, and Steven Woloshin who are professors at Darthmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. This book is a must read for every patient and health care provider. 
References:
(2015). Overexposed. Consumer Reports, 80(3), 37-41. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2015/01/when-to-skip-ct-scans-and-x-rays/index.htm
Carroll, A.E. & Frakt, A. (2015). How to Measure a Medical Treatment’s Potential for Harm. New York Times, February 2.
Frakt, A. & Carroll, A.T. (2015). Can This Treatment Help Me? There’s a Statistic for That, New York Times, January 26.
Jena, A. B., Prasad, V., Goldman, D. P., & Romley, J. (2014). Mortality and Treatment Patterns Among Patients Hospitalized With Acute Cardiovascular Conditions During Dates of National Cardiology Meetings. JAMA internal medicine. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.6781 http://www.drperlmutter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Cardiac-outcome.pdf
Krogsbøll, L. T., Jørgensen, K. J., & Gøtzsche, P. C. (2013). General health checks in adults for reducing morbidity and mortality from disease. JAMA, 309(23), 2489-2490. http://drkney.com/pdfs/WAC_A_061913.pdf
Liang, B. A., & Mackey, T. (2011). Direct-to-consumer advertising with interactive internet media: global regulation and public health issues. JAMA, 305(8), 824-825. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=645713
Robins, E. D. (1984). Matter of Life & Death: Risks vs. Benefits of Medical Care. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company
Welch, H.G., Schwartz, L.M., & Woloshin, S. (2011). Over-diagnosed-Making people sick in the pursuit of health. Boston: Beacon Press.
A historical perspective of neurofeedback: Video interview by Larrry Berkelhammer of Erik Peper
Posted: January 18, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: biofeedback, cancer, electroencephalography, health, neurofeedback, self-regulation 1 CommentDr. Erik Peper is interviewed by Dr. Larry Berkelhammer about the research he did in the late 60s and early 70s on EEG alpha training. He describes how he learned to turn off alpha brain rhythms in one hemisphere and turn them on in the other.
Neurofeedback equipment allows researchers and clinicians to get extremely useful feedback, allowing people who are hooked up to get very good at identifying their own brain rhythms and to alter them at will. This can potentially allow us to re-train our brains. Dr. Peper talks about how the real gift of science is about being open to explore rather than to assume our beliefs are factual. Science is about curiosity, experimentation, and exploration. In studying people with cancer and other diseases it is vital that we study more than just pathology–we need to study those individuals who are the outliers, that is, those who recovered against all odds–let’s see what they did to mobilize their health.
Cell phones and tablets: Health risk and what to do
Posted: January 16, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, cell phones, microwaves, radiation, wireless 1 CommentCellphones and laptops are part of our world; however, they are also a health risks as described in the previous blogs: Wireless devices may cause harm and Screens will hurt your children. For a superb summary of current research data see Louise Kuo Habakus’s post, An open letter to Apple Inc. It points out the dangers of tablets and smart phones’ radiation.
A poetic summary of risks and what can be done, read Lawrence Klein’s poem, Cell Phone Harm,
Phone Harmful: Poem
Keep mobile phones, tablets or laptops away from your body,
Wireless Devices may cause harm, this research is not shoddy,
Cervical spine stress caused by your communication possession,
Your head forward position increases cervical compression
On top of that there is an increase risk of brain cancer
It is enough to make you pause, before you answer,
Keep your cell phone away from your body and place
it in your purse or outer coat pocket, not near your face!
And use your speaker phone or ear phones instead
of placing the phone directly against your head.
It is impossible to belief that that only a few years ago,
there were no cell phones. So now when you go
home, put the phone away so you can be with your family.
Cell phone use is ubiquitous, sometime you need to get free!
Copyright Lawrence Klein 2015
Are herbicides a cause for allergies, immune incompetence and ADHD?
Posted: January 11, 2015 Filed under: Nutrition/diet, Uncategorized | Tags: ADHD, allergy, celiac disease, glyphosate, herbicide, Immune function, Roundup, Type 2 diabetes 10 CommentsA couple of customers reported that they could eat our baguette even though they were gluten intolerant. –Clerk at a bakery that sells organic baguettes
When I was a little boy, allergies almost never occurred. I remember only one boy in our class of 38 who had asthma and allergies. –71 year old male
Fruit flies fed on organic raisins, bananas, soy, and potatoes, lived significantly longer, had much higher fertility and survived longer after starvation than those fed non-organic foods. —From Chhabraet al, 2013). For more detail see: Live longer-Enhance fertility and increase stress resistance-Eat organic foods.
After a year of practicing stress management and changing to a totally organic food diet, to my own surprise my nut allergy totally disappeared. –-25 young woman (Peper, 2015).
Many people report being allergic to gluten, nuts, cat hair, etc, or have hay fever or some form of autoimmune disorder. In our 2014 survey 36% of 264 students at an urban university (average age 24.5 years) reported having allergies (Peper and Del Dosso, 2015 unpublished). Over the last forty years more and more people are reporting allergies. Allergies are often dismissed because they are not a serious—just uncomfortable and may limit what you eat or where you visit (e.g., I can’t eat a morning bun or I can’t visit my aunt because she has a cat). In rare cases it may trigger life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). By injecting a single dose of epinephrine using an EpiPen,® it helps the body override the allergic reaction for a short period of time. This allows people who are suffering anaphylaxis some time to get emergency care. Epinephrine does NOT resolve allergic reaction. Other drugs, such as antihistamine and steroids, are required to suppress the reaction while the body metabolizes the allergen. This usually takes many hours and people typically have to stay in the hospital for 8-24 hours to be monitored for their safety.
Allergies and autoimmune illnesses have become so common that we forget that they may be markers of immune incompetence and may affect the ability of the body to optimize health. The increase in allergies is an early indicator that something harmful is affecting the body. People who have allergies, autoimmune illnesses, diabetes or other disorders are possibly the “canaries in the coal mine” for the rest of the population. In earlier times before carbon monoxide and other poisonous gasses could be measured with instruments, miner used a canary as a poisonous gas meter. If the canary died, the miners would exit the mine before they would die of the poisonous gasses.
There are many factors that contribute to the radical increase in asthma, rhinitis, allergies, Type 2 diabetes and autoimmune disorders. These include excessive hygiene, lack of breast feeding and introducing foreign foods too early in the first year of a baby’s life, ingestion of acetaminophen (Tylenol) by the pregnant mother and during the first year of baby’s life, low Omega 3 levels during pregnancy, increased exposure to plastics and other endocrine disruptors, stress, etc. Many of these factors are outside of our control; however, diet and the ingestion of residual herbicides and pesticides in food appear to be a major risk factors.
In the last thirty years there has been a radical change in our diet. The food may look and even taste the same, yet it is totally different. Almost all grains, corn, soy, processed foods, and meats contain low levels of Monsanta’s herbicide Roundup® and other herbicides and pesticides. Almost all grain, corn, soy and cotton are now genetically modified crops and herbicide tolerant to Roundup®.
Roundup® was first introduced in 1974 by Monsanto and is the most widely used herbicide for farm and urban use. The active ingredient is glyphosate with numerous other inert ingredients which may also be harmful to humans. According to the US Department of Agriculture, as of 2012, 99% of durum wheat, 97% of spring wheat has been treated with herbicides. It is also used on rice, seeds, alfalfa, dried beans and peas, sugar cane and sweet potatoes (Swanson et al, 2014). As Roundup® and equivalent herbicides are used more and more, numerous illnesses including food allergies have increased. For the correlation between celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and glyphosate use see Figure 1.
Figure 1. The correlation between increase in celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and increase of the use of the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup®) on the genetically modified grain (From: Samsel, A., & Seneff, S. 2013).
Presently, more than 95% of all grain, corn and soy as well as cotton is genetically modified to be herbicide tolerant as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Adoption of GE crops in US to which glyphosate is applied. Reproduce with permission from: Swanson, N. L., Leu, A., Abrahamson, J., & Wallet, B. (2014). Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America. Journal of Organic Systems, 9(2), 6-37.
In the USA glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide and about 250 million pounds are applied to U.S farms and even lawns every year. In addition, the common wheat harvest protocol in the United States is to drench the wheat fields with Roundup® several days prior to harvesting. This allow crops to dry down for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest (Swanson et al, 2014; Sarah, 2014). Glyphosate and the many other herbicides and pesticides are in our food, animal fodder and thus in the meat, clothing, water supply and even air. Almost all human and animal food now contains low levels of glyphosate and its inert but poisonous additional ingredients which may impact our health.
The increased application of glyphosate with the increase of chronic diseases over the last 35 years correlates highly (great than 0.9) and is highly significant for obesity (R=0.96), diabetes (R=0.98), end stage renal disease death (R=0.97), Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (R=0.94), death due to intestinal infection (R=0.97), autism in children (6-21 years) (R=0.99), deaths from senile dementia (R=0.99), and death from Alzheimer’s (R=0.93). Figure 3 and 4 shows the relationship between diabetes, autism and glyphosate.
Figure 3. Correlation between age-adjusted diabetes prevalence and glyphosate applications and percentage of US corn and soy crops that are genetically engineered. Reproduce with permission from: Swanson, N. L., Leu, A., Abrahamson, J., & Wallet, B. (2014). Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America. Journal of Organic Systems, 9(2), 6-37.
Figure 4. Correlation between children with autism and glyphosate applications. Reproduce with permission from: Swanson, N. L., Leu, A., Abrahamson, J., & Wallet, B. (2014). Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America. Journal of Organic Systems, 9(2), 6-37.
Correlations are not proof and similar correlations could be plotted between these illnesses and increased production of plastics, intake of high fructose corn syrup, computer use, cell phone use, antidepressant and ADHD medications. Correlations may suggest relationships that should be investigated.
Correlations may suggest possible relationship which should be investigated. It is very difficult to investigate the correlation because most people unknowingly have ingested glyphosate. When using naturalistic observations such as comparing people who eat organic versus non-organic foods, there are many other variables that could account for the differences.
Roundup® residues in food is harmful is from a biological perspective. The purpose of using glyphosate and its inert ingredients is to act as a herbicide and biocide to suppress weed growth and act as a drying agent to improve harvest. As human beings are biological organisms, glyphosate affects our cellular metabolism and especially our bacteria that live in our gut and are necessary for our health. As Samsel & Seneff, (2013) point out, ‘it kills the beneficial bacteria in our gut, leading to the steep rise in intestinal diseases.’ Specifically, Shehata et all (2012) found that “highly pathogenic bacteria as Salmonella Entritidis, Salmonella Gallinarum, Salmonella Typhimurium, Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium botulinum are highly resistant to glyphosate. However, most of beneficial bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus badius, Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Lacto-bacillus spp. were found to be moderate to highly susceptible” (Swanson et al, 2014).
Given the very strong correlations of increased disease with increased use of Roundup®, the demonstrated evidence that glyphosate disrupts gut bacteria balance, cellular metabolic processes, kills human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells, and acts as endocrine disrupters, the recent decision by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) which is the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization that glyphosate is a possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), I strongly recommend avoiding glyphosate and other types of herbicide and pesticide contaminated foods. Use the precautionary principle and eat only organic foods.
If the radical increase of allergy and immune incompetence is linked to low level chronic exposure to glyphosate, than avoiding glyphosate and other pesticide and herbicide laced foods may reverse the allergy and immune incompetence. When people adapt an holistic lifestyle which includes stress management and eating organic foods, some report that their immune system became more competent and their allergies disappeared. For example, a 25 year old young woman who successfully reversed cervical dysplasia and eliminated high strains of HPV (her last Paps were normal and the HPV was gone) also found that her nut allergy disappeared (Peper, 2015). As she stated, “I was able to rid myself of a nut allergy that I developed when I was 19. I frequently had trouble breathing therefore I went to an allergist and they told me I had a nut allergy to peanuts (4 out of 4) and tree nuts (2 out of 4). This past July, knowing how truly healthy I had become and after noticing a little to no reaction when I accidentally consumed a nut, I decided to go back to the allergist. I got the test done, and no signs of a nut allergy came up. I believe it was due to this lifestyle change.”
In summary eat only organic foods when possible and follow the wisdom of numerous countries that have banned the use of Roundup®. This year, the Netherlands followed Russia, Tasmania, and Mexico to ban Roundup®. To understand more of the hidden dangers in our food supply from genetic engineering, herbicides and pesticides watch the following impressive videos by Robyn O’Brien presented at TEDxAustin 2011 and MIT researcher Dr. Stephanie Seneff describing in detail the politics and the harmful physiological impact of glyphosate.
References:
Chhabra R, Kolli S & Bauer JH (2013). Organically Grown Food Provides Health Benefits to Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS ONE 8(1): e52988. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052988
Peper, E. (2015). Thinking out of the box with biofeedback for the treatment of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, vulvodynia, and CIN III carcinoma in situ cervical dysplasia. Paper accepted for the 46th Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Austin, Texas, March 11 – 14, 2015.
Peper, E. & Del Dosso, A. (2015 unpublished). Skipping breakfast a risk for blanking out on exams.
Samsel, A., & Seneff, S. (2013). Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance. Interdisciplinary toxicology, 6(4), 159-184.
Sarah (2014). The real reason wheat is toxic (it’s not the gluten). The Healthy Home Economist, November 13, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2015 http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-gluten/
Saw, L., Shumway, J., & Ruckart, P. (2011). Surveillance Data on Pesticide and Agricultural Chemical Releases and Associated Public Health Consequences in Selected US States, 2003–2007. Journal of medical toxicology, 7(2), 164-171. http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/604/art%253A10.1007%252Fs13181-011-0152-8.pdf?auth66=1421018047_4db65b4e5f0e0349a608560a6c1392e7&ext=.pdf
Shehata, A. A., Schrödl, W., Aldin, A. A., Hafez, H. M., & Krüger, M. (2013). The effect of glyphosate on potential pathogens and beneficial members of poultry microbiota in vitro. Current microbiology, 66(4), 350-358.
Swanson, N. L., Leu, A., Abrahamson, J., & Wallet, B. (2014). Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and the deterioration of health in the United States of America. Journal of Organic Systems, 9(2), 6-37. http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/92/JOS_Volume-9_Number-2_Nov_2014-Swanson-et-al.pdf
Reversing breast cancer with metastasis to the liver: A patient documentary
Posted: January 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: breast cancer, cancer, dendritic cell, Gorter Protocol, hyperthermia, remission 2 CommentsI never believed that this would be possible. I restarted my life.
Receiving an end stage cancer diagnosis for cancer is overwhelming. A common factor often overlooked is that our bodies create cancer cells all the time. If the immune system is less competent, then cancer may grow and spread; however, if our immune system is competent then the cancer cells will not develop into cancer and are eliminated. Thus treatment may be enhanced if it also includes supporting the immune system. When patients are treated with such an approach (e.g., the Gorter Protocol), a number of patients with stage 4 cancer have experienced remission. Watch the remarkable documentary in Dutch with English subtitles of Jeannette Hoogervorst who was diagnosed with breast cancer with metastasis to the liver and is now returning to work and life.
The Gorter protocol is described in our book, Fighting Cancer: A non-toxic approach to treatment.
Go for it: The journey from paraplegia to flying
Posted: November 30, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: biofeedback, depression, exercise, healing, hope, human potential, illness beliefs, paraplegia 2 CommentsAfter a catastrophic event occurs a person often becomes depressed as the future looks bleak. One may keep asking, ”Why, why me?” When people accept–acceptance without resignation— and concentrate on the small steps of the journey towards their goal, remarkable changes may occur. The challenge is to focus on new possibilities without comparing to how it was in the past. The limits of possibility are created by the limits of our beliefs. We may learn from athletes who aim to improve performance whereas clients usually come to reduce symptoms. As Wilson and Peper (2011) point out, “Athletes want to go beyond normal—they want to be superb, to be atypical, to be the outlier. It is irrelevant what the athlete believes or feels. What is relevant is whether the performance is improved, which is a measurable and documented event”. They have described some of the factors that distinguish work with athletes from work with clients which includes intensive transfer of learning training, often between 2 and 6 hours of daily practice across days, weeks, and months. This process is described by the Australian cross-country skier, Janine Shepherd, who had hoped for an Olympic medal — until she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. She shares a powerful story about the human potential for recovery. Her message: You are not your body, and giving up old dreams can allow new ones to soar. Watch Janine Shepherd’s 2012 Ted talk, A broken body isn’t a broken person.
Reference:
Wilson, V.E. & Peper, E. (2011). Athletes Are Different: Factors That Differentiate Biofeedback/Neurofeedback for Sport Versus Clinical Practice. Biofeedback, 39(1), 27–30.
Shepherd, J. (2012). A broken body isn’t a broken person. Ted talk. http://www.ted.com/talks/janine_shepherd_a_broken_body_isn_t_a_broken_person
Cellphone harm: Cervical spine stress and increase risk of brain cancer
Posted: November 20, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, cell phones, ergonomics, health, microwaves, neck pain, posture, shoulder pain, wireless 6 CommentsIt is impossible to belief that that only a few years ago there were no cell phones.
When I go home, I purposely put the phone away so that I can be present with my children.
I just wonder if the cell phone’s electromagnetic radiation could do harm?
Cell phone use is ubiquitous since information is only a key press or voice command away. Students spend about many hours a day looking and texting on a cell phone and experience exhaustion and neck and shoulder discomfort (Peper et al, 2013). Constant use may also have unexpected consequences: Increased stress on the cervical spine and increased risk for brain cancer.
Increased cervical spine stress
As we look at the screen, text messages or touch the screen for more information, we almost always bend our head down to look down. This head forward position increases cervical compression and stress. The more the head bends down to look, the more the stress in the neck increases as the muscles have to work much harder that hold the head up. In a superb analysis Dr. Kennth Hansraj, Chief of Spine Surgery 0f New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine, showed that stress on the cervical spine increases from 10-12 lbs when the head is in its upright position to 60 lbs when looking down.
Figure 1. Stress on the cervical spine as related to posture. (From: Hansraj, K. K. (2014). Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Surgical technology international, 25, 277-279.)
Looking down for a short time period is no problem; however, many of us look down for extended periods. This slouched collapsed position is becoming the more dominant position. A body posture which tends to decrease energy, and increase hopeless, helpless, powerless thoughts (Wilson & Peper, 2004; Peper & Lin, 2012). The long term effects of this habitual collapsed position are not know–one can expect more neck and back problems and increase in lower energy levels.
increased risk for brain cancer and inactive sperm and lower sperm count
Cell phone use not only affect posture, the cell phone radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation by which the cell phone communicates to the tower may negatively affect biological tissue. It would not be surprising that electromagnetic radiation could be harmful; since, it is identical to the frequencies used in your microwave ovens to cook food. The recent research by Drs Michael Carlberg and Lennart Hardell of the Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden, found that long term cell phone use is associated by an increased risk of developing malignant glioma (brain cancers) with the largest risk observed in people who used the cell phone before the age of 20. In addition, men who habitually carry the cell phone in a holster or in their pocket were more likely to have inactive or less mobile sperm as well as a lower sperm count.
What can you do:
Keep an upright posture and when using a cell phone or tablet. Every few minutes stretch, look up and reach upward with your hands to the sky.
Use your speaker phone or ear phones instead of placing the phone against your head.
Enjoy the cartoon video clip, Smartphone Ergonomics – Safe Tips – Mobile or Smart Phone Use while Driving, Traveling on the Move.
References:
Agarwal, A., Singh, A., Hamada, A., & Kesari, K. (2011). Cell phones and male infertility: a review of recent innovations in technology and consequences. International braz j urol, 37(4), 432-454. http://www.isdbweb.org/documents/file/1685_8.pdf
Carlberg, M., & Hardell, L. (2014). Decreased Survival of Glioma Patients with Astrocytoma Grade IV (Glioblastoma Multiforme) Associated with Long-Term Use of Mobile and Cordless Phones. International journal of environmental research and public health, 11(10), 10790-10805. http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/10/10790/htm
De Iuliis, G. N., Newey, R. J., King, B. V., & Aitken, R. J. (2009). Mobile phone radiation induces reactive oxygen species production and DNA damage in human spermatozoa in vitro. PloS one, 4(7), e6446.
Hansraj, K. K. (2014). Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Surgical technology international, 25, 277-279.
Peper, E. & Lin, I-M. (2012). Increase or decrease depression-How body postures influence your energy level. Biofeedback, 40 (3), 126-130.
Peper, E., Waderich, K., Harvey, R., & Sutter, S. (2013). The Psychophysiology of Contemporary Information Technologies Tablets and Smartphones Can Be a Pain in the Neck. In Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 38(3), 219.
Wilson, V.E. and Peper, E. (2004). The Effects of upright and slumped postures on the generation of positive and negative thoughts. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.29 (3), 189-195.
Adjust your world to fit you: Become the unreasonable person!*
Posted: November 12, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: computer, ergonomics, muscle tension, neck pain, posture 2 Comments“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world; unreasonable people persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves. Therefore all progress depends on unreasonable people.”
–Paraphrased from Bernard Shaw
Photo by Erik Peper
Having the right equipment and work environment will reduce injury and improve performance. This is true for athletes as well as for people using computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. We look down and curve our upper spine to read the tablet, crane our heads forward to read the screen, lift our shoulders, arms and hands up to the laptop keyboard to enter data, and we bend our heads down and squint to read the smartphone—all occurring without awareness (Straker et al, 2008; Asunda, Odell, Luce, & Dennerlein, 2010; Peper et al, 2014). We are captured by the devices and stay immobilized until we hurt. At the end of the work day, we are often exhausted and experience neck and shoulder stiffness, arm pain and eye fatigue. This stress immobility syndrome is the twenty first century reward for digital immigrants and natives.
We hurt because we fit ourselves to the environment instead of changing the environment to fit us. The predominant slouched position even affects our mood and strength (Peper and Lin, 2012). Experience how your strength decreases when you slouch and look downward as compared when you sit tall with your spine lengthened at your laptop, tablet or phone. You will need a partner to do this practice as shown in Figure 1.
Sit in your slouched position while looking down and extend your arm to the side. Have your partner stand behind you and gently press downward on your upper arm near your wrist while you attempt to resist the pressure. Now relax and let your arms hang along the side of your body. Now sit upright in a tall position with your spine lengthening while looking straight ahead. Again extend your arm and gently have your gently press downward on your upper arm near your wrist while you attempt to resist the pressure.
Figure 1. Measuring the ability to resist the downward pressure on the forearm while sitting in either slouched or tall position.
You probably experienced significantly more strength resisting the downward pressure when sitting erect and tall than when sitting collapsed as we discovered in our study at San Francisco State University in with students as shown in figure 2.
Figure 2. Change in perceived strength resisting a downward pressure on the extended arm while sitting. Reproduced by permission from Schwanbeck, R., Peper, E., Booiman, A., Harvey, R., and Lin, I-M. (in press).
Increase your power and take charge! Arrange your laptop, computer and tablet so it fits you. This usually means changing your home and office chairs and desks; since, they have been manufactured for the average person. Just like the average coach airplane seat – it is uncomfortable for most people. As my colleague Annette Booiman who is a Mensendiek practitioner has pointed out, “An incorrectly adjusted chair or table height will force you to work in a dysfunctional body position while an appropriately adjusted chair or table height offers you the opportunity to work in a healthy position.”
Become the unreasonable person and fit the world so that you are comfortable while using digital devices. There are solutions! Take responsibility and adjust your posture to a healthy one–it will make your life so much more energetic. Sit on your sit bones (ischial tuberosities) as if they are the feet of your pelvis and feel your spine lengthening as you sit tall. Alternatively, stand while working and adjust the desk height for your size. Regardless of whether you sit or stand while working, take many breaks to interrupt your immobilized posture. Install a software program on computer to remind you to take breaks and watch the YouTube clips on cartoon ergonomics for working at the computer.
Implement the following common sense ergonomic guidelines:
For working at a computer sit in a chair with your feet on the floor, the elbows bend at 90 degrees with the hands, wrists, and forearms are straight, in-line and roughly parallel to the floor so that the hands can be on the keyboard while the top of monitor is at eye brow level as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Optimum position to sit at a computer work station. From: http://bmarthur.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/good-posture-how-to-sit-at-a-desk.png
For working with a laptop you will always compromise body position. If the screen is at eye level, you have to bring your arms and hands up to the keyboard, or, more commonly, you will look down at the screen while at the same time raising your hands to reach the keyboard. The solution is to use an external keyboard so that the keyboard can be at your waist position and the laptop screen eye level as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Optimum position to sit while using a laptop. From: http://www.winwin-tech.com/uploadfile/cke/images/6.jpg
For working with tablets and smart phones you have little choice. You either look down or reach up to touch the screen. As much as possible tilt and raise the tablet so that you do not have slouch to see the screen.
If you observe that you slouch and collapse while working, invest in an adjustable desk that you can raise or lower for your optimum height. An adjustable height desk such as the unDesk offers the opportunity to change work position from sitting to standing as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Example of a height adjustable desk (the unDesk) that can be used for sitting and standing.
Although office chairs can give support, we often slouch in them. While at home we use any chair that is available—again encouraging slouching. Reduce the slouching by sitting on a seat insert such as a BackJoy® which tends to let you sit more erect and in a more powerful and energizing position see Figure 6.
Figure 6. Example how BackJoy® seat inserts allows you to sit more erect. Reproduced with permission from: http://www.backjoy.com/sit/
Finally, whether or not you can change your environment, take many, many short movement breaks– wiggle, stretch, get up and walk–to interrupt the muscle tension and allow yourself to regenerate. To remind yourself to take breaks while being captured by your work, install a reminder program on your computer such as Stretchbreak that pops up on the screen and guides you through short stretches to regenerate.
Suggested sources:
Cartoon videos on ergonomics: https://peperperspective.com/2014/09/30/cartoon-ergonomics-for-working-at-the-computer-and-laptop/
Healthy computing tips: http://biofeedbackhealth.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/health-computing-email-tips.pdf
Seat insert such as BackJoy®: http://www.backjoy.com/sit/
Height adjustable desk such as The unDesk: http://www.theundesk.com/
Interrupt computer program such as Stretchbreak: http://www.paratec.com
References:
Asundi, K., Odell, D., Luce, A., & Dennerlein, J. T. (2010). Notebook computer use on a desk, lap and lap support: Effects on posture, performance and comfort. Ergonomics, 53(1), 74-82.
Peper, E., & Lin, I. M. (2012). Increase or decrease depression-How body postures influence your energy level. Biofeedback, 40 (3), 126-130.
Peper, E., Booiman, A., Lin, I-M., & Shaffer, F. Making the Unaware Aware-Surface Electromyography to Unmask Tension and Teach Awareness. Biofeedback, 2(1), 16-23.
Schwanbeck, R., Peper, E., Booiman, A., Harvey, R., and Lin, I-M. Posture changes with a seat insert: Changes in strength and implications for breathing and HRV. Poster submitted for the 46th Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.
Straker, L. M., Coleman, J., Skoss, R., Maslen, B. A., Burgess-Limerick, R., & Pollock, C. M. (2008). A comparison of posture and muscle activity during tablet computer, desktop computer and paper use by young children. Ergonomics, 51(4), 540-555.
* Adapted from: Peper, E. (in press). Become the unreasonable person: Adjust your world to fit you! Western Edition and Schwanbeck, R., Peper, E., Booiman, A., Harvey, R., and Lin, I-M. (in press). Posture changes with a seat insert: Changes in strength and implications for breathing and HRV.
Choices: Creating meaningful days
Posted: October 19, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: cancer, depression, healing, health, hope, palliative care 1 CommentWhen you woke up this morning, how did you feel? Were you looking forward to the day anticipating with joy what would occur or were you dreading the day as if once again you had to step on the treadmill of life?
Whenever I ask this question of college students in their junior or senior year at an urban university about 20% will answer that they are looking forward to the day. The majority answer, “Well not really”, or even “Oh shit, another day”. For many students the burden of living- working 40 hours a week to pay for rent and tuition, worrying about financial debt, and the challenge of commuting, and finding time to do the homework—feels and is overwhelming.
Asking this question about the quality—not quantity—of life is not just a question for students–it is applicable for all of us. The more one chooses to do actively what gives fulfillment and meaning, the higher the quality of life (I do not mean eating more chocolate).
In a remarkable study by Dr. Jennifer Temel and her many colleagues, patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer were given the option of early palliative care versus standard aggressive end-of-life treatment. The patients who were assigned to the early palliative care group had significantly better quality of life, fewer depressive symptoms and lived on the average three months longer than the group who received standard treatment.
Even at the end of life there may be choices. Choosing quality of life and doing what gives meaning may nurture a peaceful transition in death. This process of choice has been tenderly described in the recent New York Times essay, The best possible day. Take a moment and read this article by clicking on the link. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/opinion/sunday/the-best-possible-day.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
Then ask yourself each day, “Am I looking forward to my day and my activities?” If the answer tends to be “No,” begin to explore new options. Ask yourself, “What would I like to do and look forward to?” First begin to dream about possible options and then begin to plan how to implement your dreams so that you are on the path to where you want to be.
It is a challenging process; however, each of us can do something that will give meaning and joy to our lives. For suggestions, see the outstanding book by Dr. Lawrence LeShan, Cancer as a Turning Point, or explore the practices in our book by Drs. Robert Gorter and Erik Peper, Fighting Cancer- A Non-Toxic Approach to Treatment.
Reference:
the peper perspective 
