THE ISHTA HOLISTIC HEALTH CENTRE | |||||||||
CONNECTIONS to HEALTH |
This
is the seventh part in our detoxification series. You can get the previous parts
here. Part 1 Part
2 Part 3 Part
4 Part 5 Part
6 The BloodThe next step in the cleansing process is looking at the blood and how we can restore the integrity of our blood and vascular system that transports the blood around our bodies. Most of us take our 5 litres of blood for granted until we start to lose it or it becomes toxic or damaged in some way, so taking good care of it is as important to the human body as good oil quality is to the motor car. Blood is a liquid tissue containing seven types of cell and cell fragments - red blood cells (RBC's) and five kinds of white blood cells (WBC's) in a watery plasma. Blood performs two major functions:
How can we restore and maintain the health of our blood and vascular system?One simple way of improving the quality of your blood is to ensure you are drinking enough water throughout the day. This will reduce the stickiness or viscosity of the blood. A more viscous blood has been linked to an increased risk in atherosclerosis. ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 1998) - DALLAS, April 21 -- The stickier, or more viscous, a man's blood is, the greater his risk of developing the kind of blood vessel damage that can eventually lead to a heart attack or stroke, a study published in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association reports. There is an interesting book The Blood Thinner Cure by Kenneth R. Kensey, M.D. (Contemporary Books, 2001) which shows the correlation between thick blood and heart problems. Dr. Kensey believes that many, perhaps most, adults go through life in a basically dehydrated state. That's because our thirst sensation isn't a very good early-warning indicator. Thirst probably doesn't "correlate with blood viscosity any more than with dehydration," says Dr. Kensey. By the time we feel thirsty, we're already dehydrated and our blood is already thick. "You need to drink enough to water so that you don't get thirsty in the first place," says Kensey, "just as you should keep your car topped off with oil instead of waiting for the red oil-warning light to go on." He recommends drinking 12 cups or three quarts of water (6 pints) each day, more for athletes or people who exercise. It's especially important to drink some water at bedtime because, according to Dr. Kensey, heart attacks often occur in the morning when we are dehydrated and our blood is thicker than during the day. "If you have dark, highly-concentrated urine when you wake up, it's a signal that your body is dehydrated," Kensey warns. Kensey predicts that further research will show that fluids play "a far more important role in blood viscosity than we ever realized." Furthermore, he believes that drinking enough water helps to lower blood pressure. How about you?Are you drinking enough water to keep your blood flowing smoothly and your blood pressure low? Increasing your water is a simple way of improving the quality of your blood and it also means that the flow of the blood around the body is increased. Next let's look at how we can improve the health of the arteries, veins and capillaries that transport the blood around.This can be largely done through the diet and simply increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables we eat, especially when it is ripened on the branch and not in your lounge, will increase the amount of antioxidants in your diet. Antioxidants will repair the walls of the vessels and neutralise the effects of the negative free radicals in our bodies that attack the walls of cells. There are some good antioxidant supplements available which have much higher concentrations of antioxidants, such as grape seed extract, maritime bark extract and curcummin. We have a very good formula available form the centre, please see below for more details. Omega 3'sIncrease the amount of omega 3 in your diet by eating more oily fish, wild fresh meat, flax or linseeds and walnuts How do these omega 3's help? Every cell in our body is surrounded by a cell membrane composed mainly of fatty acids. The cell membrane allows the proper amounts of necessary nutrients to enter the cell, and ensures that waste products are quickly removed from the cell. To perform these functions optimally, however, the cell membrane must maintain its integrity and fluidity. Cells without a healthy membrane lose their ability to hold water and vital nutrients. They also lose their ability to communicate with other cells. Because cell membranes are made up of fat, the integrity and fluidity of our cell membranes is determined in large part by the type of fat we eat. Researchers believe that diets containing large amounts of saturated or hydrogenated fats produce cell membranes that are hard and lack fluidity. On the other hand, diets rich in omega 3 fats produce cell membranes with a high degree of fluidity. Not only will increased amounts of omega 3 improve the integrity of the walls of the blood vessels but also all the other cell walls throughout your body, as a result the flow of nutrients and waste products from the cells to the blood will improve. ClumpingHaving too much Omega 6 fatty acids in relationship to your Omega 3 fatty acids will encourage the red blood cells to clump together. These clumps are then too large to enter some of the capillaries, which are often only large enough to allow single cells to enter. This can lead to poor blood supply to areas where we often need it the most.
The role of exercise in improving the blood and circulation.Lack of exercise in the natural way is one of the leading causes of weakness and ill health. The body needs exercise and on a daily basis. Physical exercise stirs up morbid accumulations in the tissues, stimulates arterial and venous circulation, expands the lungs to their fullest capacity, increasing the amount of oxygen intake and most effectively promotes the elimination of waste and morbid materials through the skin, kidneys, bowels and the respiratory tract. Regular physical exercise means increased blood supply, improved nutrition and drainage for all the vital organs of the body. An excellent exercise is walking, starting with 10 minutes a day and building up to around 30 minutes per day, this can be combined with deep rhythmic breathing. It is best to walk without a bag so that the arms can swing freely from the shoulders. Rebounding is another exercise that is good for the circulation, this time start with 5 minutes per day and build up to 20 minutes per day. With any form of exercise perform deep regular breathing to encourage elimination of waste matter. Other forms of exercise that are good for circulation are tai chi, yoga, gentle jogging and swimming.
Hydrotherapy or water treatment
One way of improving the flow of the blood is through the use of cold water applications in the form of foot or body baths, or showers. Probably the easiest way of introducing hydrotherapy into your routine is to have a cold shower in a morning.
The practice of taking cold showers in the morning is extraordinarily revitalizing and has been used therapeutically all over the world for thousands of years. Cold showers have the following positive effects:
If it seems too daunting to go straight into a cold shower start with the water luke warm and towards the end of your shower decrease the temperature slowly. If practiced regularly it becomes easier and more enjoyable to have the cold part of the shower. After the shower get out and rub your body vigorously with a dry towel. You will be left feeling invigorated and uplifted. Do not perform this if you are ill
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