Hormone Replacement Therapy for women

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is often recommended for women of a certain age.

While many of the side-effects continue to be screened, I am not sure that a particular side-effect that I have noticed is on any medical researcher's radar:

Some women become progressively shorter and lighter in weight.

What proportion of women who take HRT have this side-effect?

With what other side-effects is that linked?

Are there better ways of tackling the issues of ageing for women?

And why is it that Indian women of the same age-level never suffered the symptoms for which HRT is recommended?

Or did that apply to all women from non-industrial societies?

Climate Skeptics versus the "Scientific Consensus"

The best summary of these opposing views is at:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yhh534j
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It is clear that there is much to be said on both sides. The truth may lie somewhere between these extremes of opinion. Perhaps human actions have made only a marginal difference and will make only a marginal difference.

So why do I eventually line up with the "Scientific Consensus"?

Because if the Skeptics are right, we need to do nothing - and nothing we do can possibly affect the outcome - which will be benign or devastating for reasons outside our control. The Skeptics are modern fatalists. Whatever will be will be.

The "Scientific Consensus" may or may not turn out to be right. No one knows. There are many imponderables. But at least these Consensus guys are not fatalists. They tell me that my actions, or at least OUR actions as a human race, have made a difference in the past and can make a difference in the future.

Even if they are more wrong than the Skeptics, I would prefer to cast my lot with the Consensus because at least then I will have done the right things in terms of environmental care, even if the actions concerned make very little difference to the eventual outcome.

The question is not what effect our actions might or might not have. The question is: what is the right thing to do. And the right thing to do is certainly to act in a manner that lines up with environmental responsibility.

Will the US "Healthcare Bill" inevitably lead to "death panels"?

I haven't seen the details of the drafts that are being bandied about.

However, a vigorous defense of the view that the Health Bill will inevitably lead to "death panels" is at: http://preview.tinyurl.com/ybaf2ud
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Among other points, the argument is that "deas have consequences and that the bills being put forward by Congress and the White House are founded on principles and paradigms that will, in time, lead to death panels just as surely as similar ideas led to the Holocaust in Germany during World War II and abortion on demand in the United States".

A Puzzle: Why do Americans who can afford Health Insurance remain without it?

According to the latest figures that I have seen, some 47 million Americans don't have health insurance.

However, at least 43% of Americans aged 18 to 64 who lack health insurance have incomes at or above 2.5 times the poverty line. Which suggests that they do have the means to obtain health care coverage!

That's according to June and David O'Neill, of the City University of New York, who analysed a variety of data for the Employment Policies Institute, a think tank.

So why don't these "non-poor" Americans, who can afford health insurance, avoid going in for it?

Could it be that they really do not believe they will need it some time? Are they simply careless, living for the day and not concerned about their own future? Or do they simply not trust the insurance system and/ or health-care provision in the USA?

Ageing and dryness

As I grow older, I notice that my body has a tendency to become dry more quickly than earlier, that I tire more easily, that tiredness has something to do with lack of water in the system, that tiredness can be countered by drinking water, and that I need, in general, more water to keep going.

My mind also flashes to the observation, which I must have made less than consciously at the time, that my mother, as she approached the end of her life, also suffered more and more from dryness.

Has any research been done on the relationship between dryness and tiredness, and between ageing and dryness?

Different kinds of fat in the body?

It seems to me that there must be at least three different kinds of fat in the body.

1. "Simple" fat made by the body from relatively innocuous substances such as sugar and unhydrogenated vegetable fats. "Simple" fats accummulate as a "spare tire" in the midriff or around the neck. However, they are more or less easy to work off - at least in my experience.

2. "Complex" fat made by the body from substances such as non-vegetarian and hydrogenated fats. These also settle mainly around the midriff and neck but probably more in the rest of the body. In any case, these appear to be more difficult to work off (I do not know, being a vegetarian - but it has struck me that I seem to be able to work off fats dramatically quickly compared to almost everyone else I know well, and they are all non-vegetarians).

3. "Abnormal" fats which are the result of the body storing or otherwise reacting (for example, allergically) to substances of other than those enumerated above. Abnormal fats are extremely difficult to work off as they have nothing to do with the normal mechanism that the body has for storing excess energy (carbohydrates and sugars).

My view is that most so-called "obese" people in the Western world suffer from an accummulation of abnormal fats. In other words, these people are not obese because they eat too much (as I tend to do!), but they are obese because they eat the wrong kinds of things or as a result of the exposure of the body to the wrong kinds of influences.

The hypothesis above could be tested by getting a suitably large sample of people who suffer from "abnormal fats" to keep their level of exercise and calorific intake as near their usual as possible, but to reduce (systematically, one by one and for say as many months as possible) their exposure to plastics, intensively-farmed meat, processed foods, mobile phone radiation and other "electronic smog", and other such things that may be suspected of causing the accummulation of "abnormal fats".

A statistical analysis of the medical history of people with "abnormal fats" should also reveal some interesting patterns of disease, if one excludes those diseases that are related to mere weight.

Preventing Colds, Coughs, 'Flu, Influenza ...

Most people are careless about a "cold". But Influenza can actually kill you! So take care!

On the other hand, colds can be EASILY avoided (I have escaped colds for some 43 years by taking the following SIMPLE steps).

1. At the VERY FIRST sign of a cold (sneeze, cough, "feeling chilly"), IMMEDIATELY do as many of the following as possible:
- wear as many warm clothes as possible, particularly make sure that
every part of your body that is feeling cold is kept warm: cover your
head, wear a scarf, put on an extra sweater...
- lie down for as long as possible (even 10 minutes!)
- drink as much as possible - ANYTHING will help, but preferably as hot as
tolerable, and preferably lemon or lime (nimboo paani), honey, tahini, Vitamin C, ginger tea (or Masala Chai or boiled water poured over very finely sliced fresh ginger root OR over a very small quantity of Carraway Seed or even fresh Thyme), and the Indian
preparation called "rasam" (available at most South Indian restaurants)is excellent!
- eat as much as possible of whatever you like, but the following are the
most helpful and can be taken in any shape or form and in any
combination: sesame seed (but if possible the brown variety which you get from Asian shops, rather than the "white" variety which you get from most "normal European" shops), garlic, honey, lemon, ginger (Migros' Chinese Section has sweet Crystallised Ginger - Indian shops have this too)

2. Till you are sure that you have COMPLETELY got rid of the threat of a cold/'flu, continue the attack on the cold/'flu by keeping your whole body as warm as possible:
- keep yourself as warmly clothed as possible (specially those parts that
are affected - e.g. throat or head)
- take as much rest as possible
- every half hour, drink something hot (even a few sips if you dislike drinking so often!)
- make sure you are eating the key things above as much and as often as possible.

3. IF you start SWEATING, this is an excellent sign, but be careful: do not suddenly throw off your clothes - your body may cool down too quickly and your cold may actually get worse! So take off one layer of clothes at a time and make sure that you cool down gradually.

The "formula" above is a TRADITIONAL INDIAN one. Regretfully, too few Indians know it now...so they too run after expensive chemicals instead, and these are (in my experience) anyway much less effective than the traditional remedy. The only exception that I have found is the UK's "Fishermen's Friend" products which are aimed at sore throats rather than the 'Flu in general - though these are too strong for some people, they are certainly worth trying if your throat is suffering.

Keep Healthy!

Making air flights healthier

On a recent international flight, I counted sixteen alcoholic drinks on offer, along with "an international selection of beers". Not to mention coffee (three varieties?) and something like a dozen varieties of tea.

However, everyone knows that it is NOT good for your health, on long flights, to consume tea, coffee or alcohol!

So what was the choice if one wanted to do what IS good for health? There was sparkling/ aerated water (not as good for health), normal/non-aerated water, tomato juice or two kinds of fruit juice!

The fact of the matter is that there are at least as many kinds of fruit juice as there are of alcohol, but you would never guess that given the choice available in most public places.

Moreover, any form of alcohol is more EXPENSIVE for airlines to serve! Quite apart from the problems it creates with some passengers who over-indulge!

So why do airlines encourage passengers to indulge in more costly and unhealthy drinks, rather than less costly and more healthy drinks?

It will decrease stress on all airline staff, reduce costs, and make everyone healthier if all alcoholic drinks are banned from flights lasting more than say two hours.

Why all medical research should be publicly funded

Much so-called "medical research" is simply corporate PR. Or, it if is not that, it is at least biased - and is therefore not really scientific.

For a good explanation of why this is so, see the article, "Medical researchers face conflicts of interest", at: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE5391L820090413

The only solution, as I have argued elsewhere, is that all medical and other fundamental research should be publicly funded, with all resulting IP in the public realm, along with much more real competition at the level of medicines and other products and applications.

Scientific research is at present driven either by defence considerations (which we can let pass for the present) or simply by what will make money. And what makes most money is cures for the diseases of the rich. That is why there is so little research into the diseases that affect most people.

What should drive medical and other scientific research is the public interest - and that will not happen unless research is exclusively publicly funded.

How do we prevent that from ending up in a government monopoly? By ensuring that anyone and everyone is free to use the resulting intellectual property to make any and all applications, products, medicines, et al - which then have to compete freely in the marketplace.

Lower backk muscles go before shoulder muscles

I recollect my now-deceased father-in-law being encouraged, in his eighties, by doctors to do exercises that might strengthen his upper back and shoulder muscles in order to counter what were becoming round-shoulders

Now that I am 60, I notice the same round-shoulders tendency creeping up on me

However, on doing the exerices he was recommended, along with other exercises, I deduce that muscles in the lower back start becoming weak first, and that these are what need to be strengthened before there is any chance of the exercises for rounded-shoulders having much effect

Moreover, the muscles in the lower back are the really substantial muscles whereas those in the upper back are, relatively speaking, less substantial

Once the more substantial ones become weak, there is little chance of exercises (that do strengthen the upper back and shoulders) doing much to counter rounded shoulders

On the other hand, once the muscles in the lower back are strengthened, then the exercises for the upper back do help.

Metabolic rate - not only for the body as a whole but also for each cell?

When I studied physiology many decades ago, I learnt about the metabolic rate in the human body.

I do not know if there has been any investigation of whether each cell also has a metabolic rate.

My intuition is that each cell does have its own metabolic rate, and that this slows with age.

This metabolic rate for any group of cells can be helped to keep at the right speed through normal stimulation (exercise) and rest.

What does not help is infections and/ or excess sugar or too little sugar or other nourishment.

Distortions in the metabolic rate of any cell or group of cells is at least partly responsible for obesity, cancer, and so on.

Presumably, there is a symbiotic relationship between the metabolic rate of each cell and the amount of nutrition it receives - in other words, the metabolic rate should determine how much nutrition it absorbs even if it is surrounded with too much nutrition. However, constantly having too much nutrition may eventually disturb the metabolic rate.

Perhaps that is one reason why regular or occasional fasting improves health for normal people?

Water in the human body

I have noticed that, as I have grown older, my body needs more and more water to feel fit.

Also that, as soon as I drink water, the whole of my body responds - as if water has spread instantly through the whole system.

Thesis: water does not travel only physically through the system, but each cell has an optimal amount of water that it needs; as soon as this is exceeded, it immediately passes on the excess water to the neighbouring cell(s).

That is why one of the simplest cures for constipation is to drink several glasses of water - and, long before the water has travelled physically through the stomach and duodenum and the small and large intestines, it will moisten the waste sitting dry and difficult to eliminate in or near the rectum, and enable the elimination of the waste.

Conclusion: most anti-constipation pills are unnecessary.

The Effects of Muzak

Human beings respond physically to sound. So well known is that fact that we have various forms of sonar and music therapy for physical as well as psychological problems.

So how much research has there been on the perennial bombardment of the human body with sound waves whenever one travels or goes shopping?

One is constantly surrounded by what is known as Muzak - usually some kind of pop or rock music.

Human beings were not designed to be bombarded with music all the time. Quite apart from the fact that some of us may like all kinds of music, but most of us have our preferences - and a few of us may even actively dislike some kinds of music.

Here is my thesis: As Muzak can't be escaped in modern life, it contributes to mental tiredness and to stress on the heart and other organs. Muzak may even contribute to cancer, as the breakdown of the natural self-regulatory system which eliminates abnormal cells is at least part of what causes people to suffer from the disease.