Imagine yourself in a warm,
soothing tub of bubbling water, relaxing after a long day. What better way to
spend the evening than soaking in the hot tub and in the comfort of your own
home. Spas and hot tubs offer ways to treat a wide variety of medical
conditions, injuries, or simply promote relaxation and stress relief. Hot tubs
also offer a romantic way to unwind with your loved ones.

The use of spas and hot
tubs can be traced back to the Romans with their famous bathhouses which is the
center of social life and a common daily activity of the elite classes. The
earliest spa enthusiast (Romans, Japanese and Chinese) was able to appreciate
the health benefits of using hot water to relax the body and generally promote
better health.

The body’s first reaction
to being immersed in hot water is to try to get back to its normal temperature
by pumping the heart faster causing a temporary increase in blood pressure. The
longer one soaks in the spa, the more times the blood cycles through the body.
The warm blood causes the blood vessels to dilate, thus, lessening the
resistance to blood flow and dropping the blood pressure. The muscle-relaxation
effects of hot water also help dull muscle pain and help rid itself of lactic
acid and other metabolic wastes.

The water jet found in spas
can also promote healing by providing more oxygen to its targeted area. This
happens when the heat and pressure from the jets raise the level of antibodies
and white blood cells delivered to the area, promoting the destruction of bad
cells and stimulating the formation of new tissue. There are different spas
having water jets
but the one with less piping is preferred because it results in less friction
being applied to water traveling through the pipe. The massaging water jets
therefore feel stronger in all of the spa’s seats.

People with conditions
that weaken body motion, like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or paralysis,
often will find benefits from bathing in a hot tub. The warm water helps relieve aches
and pains, while loosening joints.

Looking back to the history
of spas and hot tubs, it has been a luxury item for the elite class. The last
few decades saw tremendous development in spa technology, materials and
manufacturing, making it reliable and affordable enough for most people. Since
then, it became popular not only for the relaxation and stress relieving
benefit it offers but also as a means of treating different medical conditions
and injuries.

Pain relief is the main area ofconcern for the sufferers of arthritis. These people have often triedtraditional medications without success, they are often not eligible forsurgery and as a result, they will see relieve through natural remedies forarthritis.

Because of the increasing cost ofthe prescription medications, most of the arthritis sufferers are seekingnatural remedies for arthritis. Many natural remedies of arthritis andsupplements are helpful in reduction of cartilage deterioration and evenrebuild a patient’s lost cartilage.

Supplements

However it is advisable toconsult a healthcare advisor before starting any natural remedy for arthritisas supplements can cause adverse reactions and may not be right for yoursituation.

You should remember one thingthat the FDA does not regulate dietary supplements.  This is because, plants, fats, proteins andanimal organs and tissues as well as herbs, minerals and vitamins doesn’t needapproval from FDA.

So some supplements may bebeneficial to arthritic patients and some may not. Note also that producers ofsupplements may very well promote that their supplements work great, but theydo not have to use standardized ingredients or recipes, disclose side effectsthat have been reported, nor prove that the products are indeed effective.

Chondroitin, Fish Oil and Glucosamine

The most popular dietarysupplements for arthritis sufferers are chondroitin, fish oil and glucosamine.Chondroitin is helpful in drawing fluid into the cartilage, improving theability of shock-absorbing and weight control, as more weight leads tomore joint pressure. Fish oils are helpful in controlling the inflammation inthe body.

According to a recent study,glucosamine is a cartilage-building substance, which is effective in long-termrelief of osteoarthritis pain. In some people, glucosamine appears to even slowthe deterioration of joints over time and strengthen the joint cartilage.

It is still unclear whetherglucosamine is helpful in curing arthritis or not. In some occasions,glucosamine can be used in conjunction with MSM, a substance that appears toslow down the deterioration but is not yet proven and approved.

Natural Remedy For arthritis In Brief:

• Vitamin E – This antioxidant is used primarily for osteoarthritis.
• Vitamin B is also an effective pain reliever. It works best on the knee and can help stop degeneration that is caused by free-radical molecules, not only in the joints but in other areas of the body as well
• Ginger – Ginger is an antioxidant that acts as an inflammatory with no major side effects.
• Glucosamine sulfate – This builds cartilage with very few side effects.
• MSM - This organic sulfur is used in the reduction of inflammation.
• Nettle leaf - Nettles can reduce a patient’s need for NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) by up to 70 percent.
• Chondroitin - Helps draw fluid into cartilage, improving shock-absorbing ability.
• Magnets – Although magnets that are worn as jewelry or placed on bed linens have been reported by some to be effective pain relievers, results are still preliminary; doctors claim that these magnets are not strong enough.

These are merely a few instancesof what an arthritis sufferer can use when he wants to go for natural remedyfor arthritis. However, due to the lack of scientific study and testing on manyof these alternate arthritis treatments, there is no proof of theireffectiveness.

Unfortunately, there is no cureavailable for arthritis. But you can delay the effects of arthritis bymaintaining a healthy weight. Exercise regularly and eat a healthy and avoidrepetitious movements that cause you pain.

Actually osteoarthritis is notcurable, but nutritional supplements, exercise, weight loss, and theapplication of heat or cold to affected joints can improve the function andflexibility of your joints, and perhaps even slow the progress of the disease.

Theres no doubt that the topic of Arthritis remedies can befascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about arthritis cure, youmay find what youre looking for in our website. 

All aspects of our lives impact the immune system. This brilliantly orchestrated system eliminates and fights off attack from many different invaders throughout the body. Raising the integrity of this system will ensure the future health of those already well, lessen the frequency of infections, speed up recovery time from illness and improve chronic disease.

LIFESTYLE CHOICES AFFECT OUR IMMMUNE SYSTEM

As with optimizing our health, strengthening the immune system is achieved through diet, lifestyle, exercise, rest and attitude. Symptoms of immune weakness include fatigue, recurring colds, lingering illness, weakness and weight loss. Relaxation will enhance your immune system, where as negative thinking, anger and resentments are toxic to the mind. We may be poor in spirit as in health.

Firstly, recognize the importance of adequate sleep – eight hours for a normal non-stressed person. And for those with serious aliments, ten hours or more are needed daily to rejuvenate the immune system. Turn the TV off before sleeping and do not eat late or do vigorous exercise before bed. Relaxation techniques like yoga, deep breathing, or meditative audio tapes prepare the body and mind for rest.

EVIDENCE VALIDATES THE IMPORTANCE OF ANTIOXIDANTS

Numerous studies show antioxidants to be preventive and therapeutic for health problems from diabetes and cancer to general deterioration of the body. We are constantly exposed to free radicals with every breath we take and every chemical we eat. Scientists estimate that each cell takes about 10,000 free radical hits per day from air and car pollution, alcohol, cigarettes, food additives, caffeine, heavy metals, medications and unnecessary drugs. Antioxidants are our best friend. They keep free radicals in check before they can impair our immune system and damage our cells.

Proclaimed as the near perfect antioxidant, Alpha Lipoic Acid, a vitamin like substance was first discovered in 1930’s but wasn’t until 1988 when research saw its potential. This unique antioxidant has a number of benefits from extending the life of other antioxidants to being at home in both water and lipid environments where it devours free radicals. Alpha lipoic acid easily crosses cell membranes and once inside the cell becomes an even stronger antioxidant. It also plays a key role in many enzyme systems.

ALPHA LIPOIC ACID HELPS TO STABILIZE BLOOD SUGARS

For the past thirty years throughout Europe, it has been used to stabilize blood sugar in treating diabetes. Dr. James B. Lavalle, R.Ph., CCN, ND and author of Cracking the Metabolic Code, recommends six hundred to nine hundred milligrams daily as an antioxidant. Other conditions which can benefit from alpha lipoic acid are cataract prevention and neuropathy where by improves nerve blood flow and regenerates nerve fibres. It also increases Glutamate, an important liver enzyme. Alpha lipoic acid can even help convert the food we eat into energy.

ENHANCE NATURAL KILLER CELL ACTIVITY

Selenium, vitamin E and C are other antioxidant heavy weights. When taken together they become synergistic, enhancing their ability to remove heavy metals and detox the body. These work wonderfully as a team to destroy free radicals, protect the heart and improve circulation. Free radicals work to damage cells, fueling the aging process through cell mutation and cell death. Selenium and vitamin E bind to toxic metals, such as cadmium, mercury, silver and thallium and removes them out of the body.

Carotenoids, including beta-carotene, lutein and lycopene are powerful antioxidants. All of these and more stimulate the natural killer cell activity and antibody response, whereby reportedly protecting against different forms of cancer. Beta-carotene, for example is found in yellow and orange fruits and vegetables. One molecule of this voracious phyto-chemical can destroy up to a thousand free radicals.

We may not have control over the vast number of pollutants in our environment, but we can avoid many other chemicals over which we do have control. Alcohol depletes antioxidants, along with B vitamins, C and zinc. Antibiotics impair white blood cell function and disrupts bowel flora. Caffeine, like alcohol is a diuretic which leaches vital nutrients from our bodies.

FIXING DEFICIENCIES ENHANCES IMMUNE FUNCTION

Nutrition is one of our most powerful allies. Being our primary nutrient source, it impacts how we think, how susceptible we are to disease, and how well we recover from illness. A balanced diet consists of a full range of nutrients necessary to nourish all our cells and tissues. When the diet is deficient in a particular chemical element required by a specific organ or gland, our bodies will be vulnerable to disease. The immune system responds quickly when given the essential nutrients needed to keep this complex system strong.

Vitamin C assists the thymus gland to produce T cells. Rich sources include all fresh fruits and vegetables. Zinc is needed for T cell production, often deficient in the diet. Zinc is abundant in nuts and seeds, particularly raw pumpkin seeds and brazil nuts, whole grains and leafy green vegetables. The essential fatty acids (EFA’s) found in cold pressed oils like flax seed oil, walnut oil, evening primrose oil and salmon oil contain linoleic acids, vital in many metabolic functions.

Probiotics, “lactobacillus acidophilus” known as friendly flora play an essential role in our defense system. Supplement your diet with fresh, plain yogurt, kefir or the freeze dried capsule form.

To lighten up the load on the lymph system and boost immunity, decrease dairy, protein, starches and sugars. Increase your daily intake of whole grains - consider all colours of the rainbow when buying fruits and vegetables. Eat more raw foods.

Exercise and sunshine will strengthen your immune system. Get out and enjoy any form of recreational activity that brightens your mood. The way we think will affect how we feel, even look. Feelings of gratitude will transmit happiness and contentment.

Americans now spend over $1.5 trillion annually on medical care.  There is no end in sight to rising costs.  From the medical community’s standpoint, why should there be?  If you have a cash cow you milk it for all it is worth. 

The public’s and the government’s only protestation is when there isn’t enough money.  The question is not whether we need more drugs, vaccines, diagnostic machines, lab tests, surgeries and hospital facilities, but rather how will it be paid for.  The medical behemoth is considered as essential to life as food and water and thus it is petted, pampered and protected.  While it gorges itself and swells to obscene size, everyone clamors for unlimited access to it by way of insurance and government entitlement programs.

Now then, if the medical system we have in place were truly decreasing disease, optimizing people’s health, increasing healthy life span and decreasing mortality that would be one thing.  But as we have learned from the foregoing, that is not at all the case.  Modern medical care does not prevent disease or improve health; it is the number one killer.  Medical consumers are lambs being led to the slaughter.  They protect, cuddle, honor and take pride in its techno-wizardry, and then wonder why it is getting so rotund as they feed it by marching zombie-like right into its mouth.

The gorging and human sacrifice is ignored because it is assumed that the esoteric scientific sophistication, shiny stainless steel and elaborate machines are the best there is and if it is failing in any respect then it just needs more dollar–to do what it is doing but only more and better. Isolated heroic successes lead everyone to believe everything is surely on track and that all it will take is more dollars and everyone’s cure will be a heroic success.

Time to step back, take a deep breath and oxygenate the brain a little.

What does it say about our society when a huge percentage of the gross national product is centered on illness?  Shouldn’t it ring an alarm – other than the cry to increase taxes and create medical entitlement programs and insurance to guarantee that everyone can participate even more and grow it even further? 

You would think that with all the money thrown at the problem, health would be improving.  But it is not, in spite of the propaganda that health solutions are in a pill, on a surgery table or just around the corner … if we would just fund more research.   Doesn’t the outrageous growth of medical expenditure in the absence of proportionate salubrious results speak to the failure of the system, not its success? Shouldn’t health care, by definition, be moving in the opposite direction and be self-eradicating?

When something is so clearly amuck, it’s time to take a close look at the philosophical underpinnings and assumptions.  The underlying premise of modern medicine is reductionistic materialism.  However, the body is not only fundamentally not matter, it is all one, it is holistic and intimately linked with the rest of the world.  The materialistic assumption that we are a mere amalgam of data, parts and pieces that can be manipulated at will, and a chemical soup held in by a membrane—a sort of test tube made of skin—is neither scientific nor rational…nor does it work.

Materialism also leads to the quick-fix approach.  Hey, if a chemical in the body is out of whack, take a chemical to neutralize it.  If your gizzard is acting up, get it taken out.  If the medicine you are taking is making you sick, take another medicine for that.  If eating fries and pop cause a burning in the gullet, take a pill.  People want to think of their bodies as an easily repaired machine, and doctors go right along.

The quick-fix approach fills the bill for an instant-gratification society.  It is also simple, profitable and eliminates probing into people’s lives to see what is really the cause: run a test, check a number, give a pill and send a bill. But is counter to the way the body operates.  We are a self-healing mechanism, infinitely complex, finely tuned and holistic, not just an assemblage of pulleys, pipes, levers, protons and valves.  To force the body into submission with drugs or mechanical alterations throws it out of balance because we do not fully understand what it is we are even tinkering with.  Manipulating parts without consideration for the balance of the whole is doomed.  

I am speaking here of the chronic degenerative illnesses – cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and so on, not crises such as anaphylactic shock or an operable tumor pressing on the heart.  Modern medicine can work miracles with these sorts of conditions because they are mechanical – as opposed to metabolic and systemic – failures and thus respond to mechanical solutions.  The great degenerative disease killers today result from longstanding problems of lifestyle imbalance and are not solved by Band-Aids no matter how expensive they are.

People who spend years in esoteric and costly medical training don’t figure anyone other than them has a right to speak with authority on the subject.
  That creates pompous and closed minds.  Health and healing is not the place for that.  Lives and suffering are at stake. This is not to impugn the efforts of the many hard working and often underpaid health care workers.  But intent does not erase result.  As shown in a previous chapter, people who submit to medical care are far more likely to be injured or killed than by any other life choice they make.  It must also be admitted that financial motive and ego to one degree or another weave their way into the medical psyche.

Most doctors come to understand that disease is self-inflicted through improper lifestyle choices.  Few, however, have the financial courage to tell people that they need to change their lives, not get another pill or have surgery.  Patients will just go elsewhere where they will be told what they want to hear.  Or the doctor might even be threatened with suit for offending a patient.  Case in point is a New Hampshire doctor who was turned in to the Board of Medicine and the attorney general for telling a patient she needed to lose weight.  (Washington Post Aug 24, 2005)

As hard as doctors try to do what is right, there is the constant financial pressure.  There are bills to pay and the potential for a lavish lifestyle.  Doctors also feel entitled.  A long and costly education, long hours, law suits, malpractice insurance and putting up with an endless procession of patients who will do nothing to help themselves seems deserving of more than average pay.  The solution is doing more.  Conveniently, the medical standard of care (what doctors are taught to do to avoid liability) encourages more of about everything.  More lab tests, longer hospitalization, more diagnostics, more drugs and exploratory surgery.  So, although in many cases the best advice to a patient is to go home and make life changes, doctors too often do that which is safe and creates income, which just so happens to be what the patient wants anyway.    
 

Medical insurance is not the solution.  It shares the blame for the explosion in healthcare costs.  Give anyone access to a bottomless vat of money that promises cure and they will dip in with gusto.  If patients were made to pay as they go, people would do more shopping and use more discernment.  Doctors would be forced to use judgment as well.   The net result would be a lot less unnecessary medical care.  When responsibility shifts to individuals to take care of themselves, there will be more health and a lot less medical injury. 

Since everything seems to move by the force of dollars, why not shift the rewards?  We could do it like it was done in ancient times and even more recently in the Far East:  Pay doctors as long as the patient is well.  If the patient becomes ill, the doctor forfeits the pay.  But that’s too rational.  There are too many money interests fighting tooth and claw to keep things exactly as they are. It also does not fit the fable that disease is “just one of those things” to which we may innocently fall victim.  Why hold the doctor (or ourselves, more appropriately) accountable for an “act of God?”

As philosophically flawed as modern medicine is, it is by and large an effect, not a cause.  Medical commerce is driven by consumer demand. If the market were not there, the business of increased profit for increased health failure could not exist. 

People like to shift responsibility to others and follow physics down the path of least resistance and effort.  Heaven forbid that we might have to change our lifestyle or become informed.  Let’s just let someone else take care of everything for us.  All it takes is money.  You know, like if the basement is leaking, the car won’t start or smoke comes out of the computer.  Money cures these things so why would it not cure us?  So it is easily reasoned in our consumer/repair/expert-oriented society, that if any problem is not being solved, more money is the answer. 

Don’t wait for things to change.  You change.  You can decide not to participate in the nonsense.  You can learn to take control and optimize your health by being the best you can be by giving your mind and body the lifestyle and food it was designed for.  Money really has nothing to do with the solution to the problem.  In fact, money can spell your demise by not only the unhealthy lifestyle of indulgence it permits, but by making it too easy to obtain the best and most that modern medicine has to offer.

If people would learn how to take care of themselves and take ownership of their own health, the medical sinkhole would shrivel and the tidal wave of chronic degenerative diseases would dry up to a trickle. 

For further reading, or for more information about, Dr Wysong and the Wysong Corporation please visit www.wysong.net or write to wysong@wysong.net.  For resources on healthier foods for people including snacks, and breakfast cereals please visit www.cerealwysong.com.

Belief in the theory (it is a theory, not a fact, incidentally) of evolution is not without health consequences.     

Materialists embrace the concept as the ultimate explanation of life.  As an evolutionist sees it, the trillions of interactions that occur in every cell moment to moment keeping us alive came into being as a result of chance occurrences over time.  We are to believe the billions of variations in nature, perfectly fitted to environmental niches, are all a result of randomness being sorted by blind natural pressures over time. To evolutionists (materialists/reductionists), we, and all of the beauty and complexity of life of which we are a part, are just so much inevitable “thermal noise.”  All that is needed are some atoms (where those came from is conveniently ignored) and time (where that came from is also ignored) and kazaam! Life eventually emerges. (For more on this subject see my book, The Creation-Evolution Controversy. I wrote it a thousand years ago or so but it is proving truer with each emerging scientific discovery.) 

On the face of it, it is absurd.  It hasn’t become more rational with over a century of scientific discovery, probings into the sub-atomic level, half the earth turned upside down looking for “links,” and countless animal and plant experiments proving nothing more than creatures vary within their defined types but do not transmutate into new organisms.   

For over a century, medicine (and reductionistic nutrition) has been structured based upon faith (like in religion) in evolution.  The modern medical approach is materialistic/evolutionary in that it assumes we are just an assemblage of nuts, bolts and plumbing and that repair will come from merely understanding more fully the mechanics. The fact (not theory) that modern medicine is not only in the main ineffective, but is outright dangerous  (see “Is the U.S. Healthier than Ever?”) should cast suspicion on its philosophical materialistic/evolutionary underpinnings.    

The danger of materialistic/evolutionary thinking is the cockiness it creates.  It wrongly assumes we can know everything from a materialistic viewpoint.  It is wrong scientifically because the deeper we go, the more unknowable things become…such as ultimate origins, infinity, and the uncertainty inherent in quantum mechanics (study of the smallest atomic particles).     Since humans have unveiled some of the mysteries of the past – long cloaked in religiosity and mystery – by merely looking materialistically closer, then we will similarly solve all present questions, it is reasoned.  If something works (like the Industrial Revolution), then more of the same (materialistic study) will work too, is the thinking.    

But we must be careful of extrapolation.   Because I can jump over the couch (which I thankfully still can without falling on my face too often), does not mean with enough practice I can jump over the moon.  The big-picture evolution – that we are nothing but hydrogen stardust acted on by known forces of nature over time – is the jump-over-the-moon feat.  Knowing the mechanics of genetics and watching fruit flies mutate into different kinds of fruit flies is the easy jumping over the couch kind of thing.   

The genetics of Mendel replaced the Lamarckian idea of inheritance of acquired characteristics to lay the groundwork for modern evolutionary theory.  Cast aside was the wishful thinking that if you got real smart, you would pass that on to your children.  Or if you did a lot of curls, your children would get big biceps.   

But new research is casting doubt on the fundamental sacred mechanism of evolution, that random mutations selected by the environment create survival of the fittest.  (See also my previous article on morphogenic fields. Scientists at Harvard’s School of Public Health have discovered nonrandom result-oriented mutations.  In other words, if the environment dictates a change, this “need” will cause mutations that create the desired new form (phenotype).   They are finding that bacteria are choosing which mutation they will produce.   Instead of just DNA encoding m-RNA that creates protein that creates form to brave the environment, the reverse is happening.  The environment is perhaps sending a message in reverse up this chain to DNA, forcing the appropriate mutation.  This flies in the face of the central dogma of evolutionary molecular biology that the cells’ experience (other than mutations which are practically 100% deleterious) may not influence the sequence of bases in the DNA molecule.  One scientist wrote regarding this evidence, “molecular biology…has deserted the reductionist.”  This is not to suggest that Lamarckism is correct, just that it might not be so wrong after all.   This also does not mean that organisms can change into anything depending upon the environmental circumstances.  It just means that the environment interplays with the genome more than previously thought and that life is not a pure linear manifestation of a genetic blueprint.     

Time and further investigation will inevitably show the naiveté of the materialist-reductionist-evolutionist.  But old religions die hard.   

In the meantime you can be ahead of the learning curve by understanding that there is far more to reality than meets the eye, that those who pretend complete knowledge or surety are the most dangerous, and that what we do, how we approach life may impact us far more profoundly than we might imagine.    

Life, health, nutrition and healing are holistic, not reductionistic.  To be the best in health that you can be will not come from physicians splitting atoms, but requires synergy with nature – reacquainting your genome with the environmental context from which it was derived.  That’s the essence of The Optimal Health Program™ [ http://www.wysong.net/optimal_health_page1.shtml ]