What helps fights colds? Part 1

I can't begin to imagine how worried, anxious & may be inadequate I would feel if I had a premature baby.  I would imagine there is a really strong instinct & desire to the hold the baby which is more difficult if it needs to be in an incubator. A recent study has looked at the impact on the mother’s health of massaging premature babies.  Fifty-two mothers with babies born at 30 - 38 weeks were randomly assigned ot an intervention or control group.  Mothers in the experimental group were asked to massage their babies daily alongside standard medical care, while those in the control group only had standard medical care. Mothers in the experimental group were given an information pamphlet, training video and researches conducted a massage training session.  They were then asked to perform a massage on their babies for 15 minutes each day for 5 days. Mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire rating changes in 65 "mood factors" including anxiety, depression and fatigue, on a five-point scale.  Mood scores were consistent across both groups at the beginning of the study but there were significant differences by the end. Mothers who massaged their babies had a better mood than those who didn't.  They also experienced less anxiety, depression & fatigue. Reading this did make me wonder the impact of massaging babies would have on the mood of mums whose babies weren't premature. Reference https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1556370717300937    

I have been wearing glasses since I was a teenager, so I am always interested in how to protect my eyesight.  One of the most common cuases of failing eyesight as we get older is age related macular degeneration (AMD). Scientists tracked the diets and eye health of over 2,000 people who were at least 49 years old at the start of the study.  The people's eye sight and diet were then tracked over the next 15 years.  The researchers discovered that those eating between 100 - 142mg of vegatable nitrates were less likely to have the early signs of AMD.  Currently once AMD starts medicine has no answers and it can in some cases cause blindness. This means prevention of AMD is very important. Vegatable nitrates found in leafy green vegatables and beets reduces the risk of developing AMD by 35%.  100g of spinach contains 20mg of nitrate.  One serving of spinach is 30g, so you would need ot eat 3 servings. Reference Gopinath B, Liew G, Kifley A, Lewis JR, Bondonno C, Joachim N, Hodgson JM, Mitchell P. Association of Dietary Nitrate Intake with the 15-Year Incidence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2018 Dec;118(12):2311-2314    

What I want to share with you know is probably the simplest and easiest method of reducing anxiety, you can do it anywhere and it costs nothing.  Its called breathing.  Yes I know we do it all the time.  But when you get anxious we begin to breathe rapidly and shallowly from our upper chest.  This breathing breath from your upper chest is why you get tight neck muscles as they can get overused as they help to move the top rib we breathing. What I am talking about is breathing deeply or calm breathing.