Peak Wellbeing is Closing

I have decided to close Peak Wellbeing at Christmas, a decision I’ve made for many reasons.  Principally because I’m in the luxurious position of not needing to work, and I feel drawn to help people on a voluntary basis.   I love interacting with each and every client and I will miss you all but it feels right at this time for me to look for new challenges, new ways of working to help people to find wellness, balance and peace in their lives.   The clinic will close on Friday 21st December.

I can whole-heartedly recommend the following two people for those of you who just can’t survive without a massage:
The first is Nigel Morgan, who has been working at Peak Wellbeing for over a year now as remedial massage & sports therapist.   He’s very good at getting ‘in deep’ and sorting out all your aches, pains and injuries.  He has clinics in Eastwood and West Bridgford and also offers home visits.  He can be contacted on 07816 06 86 96, ashwoodhealth@yahoo.co.uk
The second is Barbara Goodall, a very dear friend of mine who has been an aromatherapist for more than 10 years now.  She works with the essential oils to soothe, relax and harmonise mind, body & soul.   Barbara works from her home on Sandbed Lane in Belper and can be contacted on 07936 432 836, b.goodall.timeout@talktalk.net.  She is offering all Peak Wellbeing clients a 50% discount on their first treatment with her.

I would like to thank you all for being such wonderful clients, I really will miss treating you. 

In peace,

Bess

Bess Donald (nee Purser)

Thrive Movement - An unconventional documentary

THRIVE: What On Earth Will It Take?
www.thrivemovement.com

Visit www.thrivemovement.com for more information on THRIVE. THRIVE uses the Yekra player technology.  See www.yekra.com for more information.

How to Have Healthy Bowel Movements

A fascinating article by Dr. Ben Kim
To have healthy bowel movements, it's essential that you support colon and rectal health with all of your daily choices. Keeping these areas clean and healthy provides the following benefits:

1. A lowered risk of developing colorectal cancer, one of the most common types of cancer in industrialized countries.
   
2. A lowered risk of experiencing irritable bowel syndrome, chronic constipation, and chronic diarrhea.
   
3. A lowered risk of developing hemorrhoids.
   
4. Less gas production.
   
5. More efficient absorption of water and minerals.
   
6. A feeling of lightness, comfort, and well-being in your abdominal region.
   

Before we discuss specific choices that you can make to keep your colorectal region healthy and to have comfortable bowel movements, let's review some basic anatomy and physiology of this area.
Read more...

To help your bowels move with ease, Put your feet on top and bend your knees

Welles Step

It’s not the done thing to talk about bowel movements, but I just wanted to share this little gem of advice with you that costs very little but makes a big difference to your everyday life.

Thanks to Thomas Crapper, toilets became commonplace in the 19th century, giving us a sanitary way to dispose of human waste.  But for what we gained in hygiene, did we loose out elsewhere?  According to Dr William Welles, we did.  Through his research, he found that squatting was the best way to eliminate waste from the body, and that toilets do not support the abdomen in the correct way. Bowel cancer most commonly occurs at the beginning of the ascending colon or the rectum, the areas that aren’t supported when using a toilet, but are supported when squatting.  Further research suggests that constipation, varicose veins, hernias, haemorrhoids and appendicitis are all attributed to the use of the toilet.

So the simple solution is to use a step (a child’s bathroom step is perfect) and hug your knees into your abdomen when on the loo.  You’ll find it much easier to pass a motion/have a poo/whatever phrase you’re comfortable with!  Steps are widely available, cheap (if you’ve not already got one lurking around somewhere), and it’s a very easy thing to incorporate into your daily routine.   So don’t be ashamed, remember, even the Queen poos.   I wonder how many Welles Steps she’d need for all her bathrooms?!!

“To help your bowels move with ease,

Put your feet on top and bend your knees”  Bess Purser, 2009.

A round up of November's best web articles and videos

10 immune boosting flu shot alternatives [From foodmatters.tv]
The late and early months of each year seem to be when more of us catch colds and come down with the flu. So what measures can you take to ensure you are not sidelined with nagging colds or a debilitating flu episode?
This article will give you nine easy tips, with probably the most important last. There you'll also be able to access a Health Ranger video with Mike Adams, which convincingly debunks the concept of "flu season".
Your immune system
Boosting your immunity is important for coping with the cold and flu season. Of course, getting a flu shot with dubious efficacy is not one of them. All vaccines depress the immune... Read more

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Happiness = 8 hugs a day.  Here's the science bit:

Paul Zak: Trust, morality - and oxytocin 1894 ratings 49,826 views

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Forget Antibiotics, Steroids and Medication - Starve This Toxin out of Your Body [By Dr. Mercola]
Illnesses caused by mold exposure are a growing problem that few people are aware of, including most primary care physicians.   Environmental health experts are seeing increasing numbers of individuals with a complex myriad of symptoms directly related to mold exposure.   This has resulted in the proposal of a new term to describe this multi-faceted syndrome: Mixed Mold Toxicosis.... Read more

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"What's the best way of communicating in the world today? Telegraph? No. Television? No. Telephone? No. Tell a woman".
Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement

1761 ratings

Why complementary medicine doesn’t stand up to conventional medicine (and why that’s a good thing).

One in ten people in the UK use complementary medicine each year and 50% of those are lifetime users, despite it receiving repeatedly bad press and coming under increasing pressure from European laws.

So why doesn’t it stand up?
When you look at the total effect of any intervention (treatment), be it conventional or complementary & alternative medicine (CAM), there are five aspects that contribute to recovery (the following model is based on research done on back pain over a period of six weeks).

1. Regression to mean. This is where the extreme cases, at either end of the pain scale, move towards the middle (mean) of the scale over time.  This accounts for around 10% of the intervention.
2. Natural history of the problem.  In the case of back pain, from your previous experience, if you give it a few weeks, it can get better regardless.  This counts as another 10% of the intervention.
3. Specific effects.  This is the actual treatment given, whether it be medication, remedial massage, ice etc.  It may surprise you to learn that this also counts for only 10% of the intervention.  Drug companies only have to prove 10% effectiveness of medication for it to be granted a license.   
4. Non-specific effects.  This includes your rapport with the practitioner, the ritual of the treatment given, the surroundings, if you got stuck in traffic on the way and your blood pressure shot up as a result of all the miles of cones on the motorway and not a blooming workman in sight!  Together with the context/meaning/placebo effects (see below), up to 70% of the intervention efficacy relies on these two factors!
5. Context/meaning/placebo effects.  We all know of the placebo effect, but it is often dismissed.   Placebo is actually a good thing, as it still helps, and clearly demonstrates the power (and importance) of the mind in healing the body.

CAM doesn’t stand up to conventional medicine in the way in which the specific effect (which only accounts for 10% of the intervention) is researched.   Conventional medicine takes a ‘reductionist’ view, isolating the symptoms and looking objectively rather than subjectively.  This is how statistics are produced (or skewed – but that’s a whole other story) to show that X drug is more effective than no drug, and it’s what double blind, randomised controlled trials were designed for.   It’s hard to do these trials when CAM is based on holism, i.e. looking at the whole person - what they’ve had for breakfast in relation to the discomfort they’re in now.  By it’s very nature it’s subjective: I’m yet to meet a human being that isn’t affected by the fabric of life.

Why is CAM so popular?
Where CAM does outshine conventional medicine is in the non-specific effects.   CAM practitioners stand out against GPs, consultants and other conventional medical professionals as they have the time to talk to people, listen, reach out and look at the whole person.  Their treatment rooms are generally less clinical (avoiding white-coat syndrome), you don’t have to wait for months for an appointment and you’re more likely to find, and deal with, the root cause of the issue.

Conventional medicine has only been around for the last 100 years or so, yet it’s grip on the western world is all pervading and mighty powerful.   So what we need is a new (or perhaps recycled) paradigm.  One where the effectiveness of the treatment is measured not by statistics but by the patients themselves, by case histories, by generational, traditional, tried and trusted methods, built on holism and the inter-connectedness of humans, animals, plants, the planet, the universe…  You get my drift.