Newsletter: Issue #33

Yoga and Pain Relief

Yoga has been practiced for centuries. A rigid, strict form of the discipline is called Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga focuses on developing strength, flexibility, stability and poise through learning precise alignment in poses. Many are done in the standing position but students also learn poses in the sitting, twisting, inverted, forward bending, backward bending and supine positions. "Timing" is everything.

Students are taught to stay for a longer duration of time in each position in order to experience it. A feature of this style of yoga is the use of props. The use of props also helps the aged and disabled perform the classical poses and get the same benefits -- something they would never be able to do independently. Regular practice of yoga can develop strength, flexibility, and endurance - physically, psychologically, mentally and
emotionally. Cardiovascular fitness improves, as does the health of the circulatory, nervous, and endocrine systems. Using a combination of yoga poses and meditative breathing exercises, students learn to control the emotions of the mind. This brings the mind and body into a relaxed state wiping away tension that can harm the body.

STUDY: Nearly 30 percent of Americans suffer from chronic pain. It costs our country vast amounts of money each year in disability income and lost wages. Two percent of all work-related injuries account for 86 percent of all disability costs. Sonia Gaur, M.D., of Harbor UCLA Medical Center, knew through personal experience that yoga helped ease her chronic back problems.

She decided to test her theory on a small group of patients. Eighteen patients between ages 18 and 65 enrolled in her study: 11 with low back pain, two with carpal tunnel syndrome, one each with migraines, dermatomyositis, hip pain, neck pain and osteoarthritis. All patients had been experiencing persistent pain for more than three months. They attended
90-minute yoga sessions three times a week. The volunteers filled out questionnaires each week focusing on mood states, pain severity, and the amount of pain medication used. After just four weeks, all 18 patients experienced some type of improvement. No one suffered any deterioration. All the patients showed a decrease in pain medication, decreased levels of anxiety, an improved mood, and were more likely to be able to participate in home and family activities. Dr. Gaur says a larger study is needed to determine whether yoga can actually cure chronic pain, but she says it's clear yoga can help some people who suffer from chronic pain when all other avenues are exhausted.

PAIN RELIEVER: Dr. Gaur believes yoga heals by combing transcendental meditation with a variety of isometric exercises. The combination of the two leads to increased self-awareness which can increase resistance to disease. Yoga has provided relief for patients with a variety of chronic problems:

• Skeleto-muscular Disorders: Arthritis, Spondylosis, Lower back pain, Slipped disc, Sciatica
• Circulatory Disorders: Heart problems, Angina pain, Hypertension
• Digestive Disorders: Constipation, Flatulence, Diabetes, Colitis, Hernia
• Respiratory Disorders: Asthma, Sinusitis, Bronchitis
• Nervous Disorders: Headaches, Migraines
• Reproductive Disorders: Menstrual pain, Uterine displacement, Menopausal problems
• AIDS -- Improves quality of life

Eating Well for Exercise

Joanne Manson, M.D. AND Patricia Amend, M.A.

You need energy to exercise. Food is an energy source. Ergo, if you don't eat properly during the day, you may not have the physical energy or the mental drive to exercise. It's a matter of common sense. Following these simple suggestions for how much and when to eat may make sticking with your exercise program much easier.

Don't skip meals: While many people think this is a good way to lose weight, just the opposite is true. When you skip a meal, your metabolism slows down a bit. A better strategy is to eat a small, nourishing snack.

Graze: While most of us are conditioned to eat three meals at appointed times, our bodies may require something different. Grazing--something that strong, lean animals do-- requires eating four or five small meals when you feel hunger rather than three large ones morning, noon, and evening. Learn to carry a "grazing survival pack" with you that consists of bananas, low fat whole wheat pretzels, nonfat yogurt, juice, and other wholesome foods. That way, you won't grab the first food you see because you're too hungry.

Include adequate protein in your diet: Poultry and fish are excellent sources of protein, as are lean red meats. If you are a vegetarian, you can get protein from beans, tofu, hummus, peanuts, peanut butter, nuts, and (ifyour diet allows them) eggs, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products.

Snack before you exercise: It's 5 p.m., you're finishing work, and you're planning to walk for 30 minutes when you get home. But you're mentally and physically tired, and hungry to boot. Exercise is the last thing you want to do, and heading for the couch as soon as you get through your front door is the first thing. What to do? An hour before you walk, have a healthy snack from your survival pack. Chances are, you'll feel much more like walking
when you get home due to the energy boost you get from your snack.

Drink enough fluid: Your body requires plenty of water to have an adequate supply for your blood, sweat, and tears. Water aids digestion and other important bodily functions as well. You 've probably heard that you need to drink 8 eight ounce glasses of water a day to keep yourself properly hydrated, and more if you've been active or exercising. That's not exactly true. For one thing, almost any beverage contributes to your water balance.
(Those containing caffeine or alcohol don't, because these substances increase the amount of water you excrete.) Plain water is best, though, because it gives you the fluid you need without any empty calories. For another, everyone is different in the exact amount of fluid needed each day.

Unfortunately, thirst isn't a perfect signal that you need something to drink, especially among older people, who may not feel thirsty as often as they "should." Other indicators can be tipoffs that you aren't getting enough fluid. Deep yellow or brownish urine is a sure sign that you need more water, while pale yellow urine is a sign that you 're drinking enough. If you regularly wake up feeling tired, groggy, and headachy despite enough
sleep, too little water may be the culprit.

Avoid the "work it off" trap: Another mistake that many people make is overeating and then trying to burn those excess calories off with exercise. This approach turns exercise into punishment instead of a healthy, enjoyable activity. Why cheat yourself out of the pleasure of a brisk walk on a beautiful day by pushing yourself to jog until you're exhausted? In addition, it takes a lot more exercise to burn off food than you think. For
example, one tablespoon of butter has about 100 calories. If you weigh 150 pounds, it can take as much as one mile of running or two miles of brisk walking to burn off that small amount of butter. But don't let this seemingly unfair imbalance between pleasure and work prompt you to give up on exercise. While your workout may not burn off as many calories as you you'd like as quickly as you'd like, physical activity does keep your metabolic rate up for some time after you slow down. It also helps to maintain muscle mass, which keeps your metabolism humming. When your metabolism is stoked, you burn more calories with everything you do.

A thought:

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It does not matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle . . .when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.