Yet more how to chill out…
So in the past I have talked about how any activity can help you chill out as long as you enjoy it and it absorbs you including video games. But what about Origami?
The ancient Japanese art of Origami has recently seen a surge in popularity due to the fact it can be done any-time, anywhere, with materials that are often to hand in stressful environments such as schools and offices. It may seem complicated, but thanks to YouTube, and online course platforms like Udemy, anyone can make learn to make simple creations from table decorations to paper aeroplanes without spending a fortune on expensive tools or equipment.
According to paper folding guru Himanshsu Agrawal (who has five world records to his name- including the creation of a 44 foot human being and a 105 foot dinosaur!): “Origami is inherently geometric; as you fold from one end to the other, the movement becomes rhythmic. It soon feels like you are detached from the world.”
The act of folding paper has been shown time and again to help decrease anxiety and increase feelings of inner calm. The beautiful film “Between the folds” takes a deeper look at the art of paper folding and it’s many benefits for health and its a good place to get more information.
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Do self hypnosis CD’s really boost resilience?
As things are now back to full swing after the summer holiday, and before things get too budy, I wanted to share with you a piece of research that while being 3 years old is still highly relevant. Researchers were looking at the effectiveness of listening to self-administered hypnosis stress reduction CD's to boost resilience. Eleven subjects took part in the study, all healthy, normally coping and functioning individuals - were provided with a self-administered hypnosis stress reduction CD, to be used for a minimum of 5 days a week over a 12 week period. The CD contained two different hypnosis tracks, one to be played before sleep (25 minutes in duration) and the other to be played in the morning (lasting 7 minutes). The aim of the CD was to recondition the stress response, by minimising the participants "excessive emotional and physical reaction to perceived work and life stressors, while facilitating their coping skills and resilience." Chronic stress and anxiety have been associated with inflammatory changes in the body, and high level of inflammation have been lined to a number of acute and chronic conditions. Blood tests were used to measure the level of inflammatory response and self-reported measures (using the StressScan assesment) were taken pre and post intervention. While the study size is small, it provides some suggestive evidence that a self-administered stress reduction program that is time efficient may be clinically effective for modifying the stress response and boosting resilience. Reference Schoen M and Nowack K (2013) Reconditioning the stress response with hypnosis CD reduces the inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and influences resilience: a pilot study. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 2013; 19 83-88 http://www.ctcpjournal.com/article/S1744-3881(12)00088-6/abstract
Action plan for a healthy small intestine
The small intestine is as wide as your thumb and around 5.5m long. It is both a food blender and assimilator as it digests more of your food than your stomach. Food stays in the small intestine for 1 - 4 hours before moving on to the large intestine for further processing. Maintaing a healthy small intestine is all about controlling your bacteria levels and mucus build-up on your intestinal walls which can cause havoc and deplete your energy levels. If you have bloating, gas and loose bowel movements you may have a small intestine issues such as:
- Candida
- IBS
- SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
- Cut out imflammatory drugs e.g. asprin, paracetamol and avoid alchol.
- Take L-glutamine and butyric acid both of these can help heal the gut, but check with a nutritionalist first as dosage is important.
- Drink slippery elm tea which calms inflamation of the small intestine and helps relieve IBS.
- Up your intake of vitamins A and D - liver is an excellent sourch of these vitamins which protect the mucus membrane of the gut.
- Eat more antibacterial foods such as garlic, honey and sauerkraut which preven the growth of Candida, fungus and yeast infections.
- Take oregano oil (Oregnano Vulgaris) which has been shown to stop Candidan in its tracks.
- Take probiotics daily - look for a count of 50 billion or more in each dose.
- Take prebiotics daily - to feed the probiotics. Or eat food prebiotic foods such as sauerkraut or kimchi.
- Go gluten free. Cut out gluten for an entire week and keep a food diary to check if your symptoms improve.
- Mimosa pudica an ayurvedic herb is brilliant at wiping out parasites.
- Eat more ant-parasitics such as garlic, thyme, chilli, tumeric and ginger.
