Minimum Health or Maximum Health? That is the Question!

Written by Nick A. James


Picture yourself in one ofrepparttar following scenarios.

You're cruising along in your new car byrepparttar 114808 ocean or inrepparttar 114809 mountains nearrepparttar 114810 ski lodge, or just a leisurely drive through a beautiful forest or inrepparttar 114811 country. You stop and smellrepparttar 114812 fresh air you hearrepparttar 114813 scenic sounds. You are at peace.

You're relaxing onrepparttar 114814 patio of your new home - you seerepparttar 114815 mountains or lake inrepparttar 114816 distance. Your friends are over as you barbecue in your new back yard. Everyone loves your new home. Or you're out onrepparttar 114817 lake in your new boat with family or friends. Feelrepparttar 114818 breeze in your face - smellrepparttar 114819 fresh scents inrepparttar 114820 air.

Picture yourself on vacation - you are onrepparttar 114821 deck of a cruise ship - you are onrepparttar 114822 top deck underrepparttar 114823 stars. You feelrepparttar 114824 warm tropic breeze in your face. The full moon is reflecting offrepparttar 114825 water as you are holdingrepparttar 114826 one you love in your arms.

We analyzerepparttar 114827 lives most of us actually have and what our lives could be andrepparttar 114828 role they play!

The question is who would want only minimum health (or worse) when they could have maximum health!

Maximum health is like you feel when you ask that special someone for a date forrepparttar 114829 first time and they say yes! Minimum health is when you ask that special someone out and they tell you, that isrepparttar 114830 Saturday night when they have to dorepparttar 114831 laundry and wash their hair!

Picture maximum health as cruising next torepparttar 114832 ocean in a sport car convertible with your lover next to you.. Picture minimum health as stuck in traffic in your 10-year-old station wagon withrepparttar 114833 air conditioner broken.

Maximum health is like being on a honeymoon on your own private beach in Hawaii. Running downrepparttar 114834 beach at night withrepparttar 114835 one you love withrepparttar 114836 warm tropic wind in your hair. The huge moon shining down onrepparttar 114837 palm trees andrepparttar 114838 tranquil bay.

Minimum health is stuck working overtime in an un-airconditioned office with a huge pile of paperwork stacked on your desk. In walks your boss -repparttar 114839 one with allrepparttar 114840 personality of a geek with BO. He can't stand going home to his abusive wife so he works 14 hour days and gives dirty looks to his employees when they leave before him. Your boss starts yelling about some stupid unfinished report...

Light - Medicine of the Future

Written by Larry Weber


Light - Medicine Of The Future

Naturallighting.com http://www.naturallighting.com 888.900.6830 email: sales@naturallighting.com

Excerpt from "Light Medicine ofrepparttar Future" by Jacob Liberman, O.D., Ph.D. These findings seem to indicate that full-spectrum lighting may act to boostrepparttar 114807 immune system inrepparttar 114808 same way as natural sunlight.

As researchers isolaterepparttar 114809 specific part ofrepparttar 114810 sun's spectrum that is related to health and well-being, we could eventually createrepparttar 114811 perfect indoor environment with artificial lighting, until then it's Vita-Lite. Based onrepparttar 114812 research of Hollwich and others,repparttar 114813 cool-white fluorescent bulb is legally banned in German hospitals and medical facilities. Most offices, stores, hospitals, and schools currently use cool-white fluorescent!

Full Vs. Incomplete Spectrum Lighting

"In 1980, Dr. Fritz Hollwich conducted a study comparingrepparttar 114814 effects of sitting under strong artificial cool-white (non-full spectrum) illumination versusrepparttar 114815 effects of sitting under strong artificial illumination that simulates sunlight (full-spectrum). Using changes inrepparttar 114816 endocrine system to evaluate these effects, he found stress like levels of ACTH an cortisol (the stress hormones) in individuals in sitting underrepparttar 114817 cool-white tubes. These changes were totally absent inrepparttar 114818 individuals sitting underrepparttar 114819 sunlight-simulating tubes.

The significance of Hollowich's findings becomes clear whenrepparttar 114820 functions of ACTH and cortisol are examined. Both of these metabolic hormones play major roles inrepparttar 114821 functioning ofrepparttar 114822 entire body and are very much related to stress response. Since their activity increases inhibitors, this may account forrepparttar 114823 observation that persistent stress stunts bodily growth in children. Hollowich's findings clarify and substantiaterepparttar 114824 observations of Ott and others regardingrepparttar 114825 agitated physical behavior, fatigue, and reduced mental capabilities of children. He concluded thatrepparttar 114826 degree of biological disturbance andrepparttar 114827 resulting behavioral mal adaptations were directly related torepparttar 114828 difference betweenrepparttar 114829 spectral composition ofrepparttar 114830 artificial source and that of natural light.

Since cool-white fluorescent lamps are especially deficient inrepparttar 114831 red and blue-violet ends ofrepparttar 114832 spectrum, this may explain why color therapists have historically used a combination ofrepparttar 114833 colors red and blue-violet as an emotional stabilizer. Hollwich's work not only confirmsrepparttar 114834 biological importance of full-spectrum lighting, but it also reconfirmsrepparttar 114835 importance of specific colors by evaluatingrepparttar 114836 effects of their omission from our daily lives. Based onrepparttar 114837 research of Hollwich and others,repparttar 114838 cool-white fluorescent bulb is legally banned in German hospitals and medical facilities. It has been found that full-spectrum lighting inrepparttar 114839 work place creates significantly lower stress onrepparttar 114840 nervous system than standard cool-white fluorescent lighting and reducesrepparttar 114841 number of absences due to illness. These findings seem to indicate that full-spectrum lighting may act to boostrepparttar 114842 immune system inrepparttar 114843 same way as natural sunlight. Excerpt from "Light Medicine ofrepparttar 114844 Future," by Jacob Liberman, O.D., Ph.D.

Shedding Light on Those Winter Blues

Does your spirit wanes withrepparttar 114845 shortening of days? You may be suffering from sunlight withdrawal. The syndrome appears with inevitable regularity. As summer pales into autumn,repparttar 114846 victim feels an ominous sense of anxiety and foreboding atrepparttar 114847 mere thought of approaching winter. As days shorten from November into December, there's a gradual slowing down, a low of energy, a need for more and more sleep, a longing to lie undisturbed in bed.

It becomes harder to get to work, to accomplish anything when there. Depression and withdrawal follow. As a Brooklyn, New York, woman described it, "Everything seems gloomier and more difficult. There is sadness looming over everything. I can't concentrate at work and feel like going home afterward to hibernate like a bear."

Just as routinely, as spring approaches and days stretch out,repparttar 114848 sufferer flips into high gear."Oncerepparttar 114849 warm weather arrives, I feel a burden lifted," saysrepparttar 114850 Brooklynite. "I feel freer and happier."

This is more than a dislike of icy slush and raw winds. Psychiatric researchers atrepparttar 114851 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have identified these complaints as a previously unrecognized clinical syndrome. They call its victims "winter depressives." "It is much more common than we thought," says Dr. Norman Rosenthal of NIMH. "We expected to get a few replies from our description of this pattern. Instead, we received more than three thousand responses from all overrepparttar 114852 country. The symptoms described were one afterrepparttar 114853 other very muchrepparttar 114854 same.

"Some of these winter depressives are being successfully treated, not with drugs or psychotherapy but with an element common to all our lives: artificial light. What scientists are learning fromrepparttar 114855 use of light as it affects health and mood has implications for us all. It forces us to rethinkrepparttar 114856 way we light up our lives, especially urban dwellers and workers who spend so much time indoors. Apparently artificial light does much more than enable us to read and work without benefit of sunlight. It affects our bodies.

"It is important to recognize that this is a distinct syndrome with a well-defined cluster of symptoms," says Dr. Thomas Wehr, an NIMH researcher. "We have measured some very interesting physiological changes specific to this kind of depression." While typically depressed people have impaired sleep patterns and usually wake up early, winter depressives might sleep nine or 10 hours a night, wake up tired, and take naps. There is a 50% reduction in delta sleep,repparttar 114857 deepest, most restful phase ofrepparttar 114858 sleep cycle. Winter depressives gain weight, crave carbohydrates, and their libido pales. Their energy levels drop; monitors on their wrists show that they are less active than in summer.

Such symptoms begin earlierrepparttar 114859 farther north they live and abate when they visit sunny climates inrepparttar 114860 winter. Symptoms peak and wane according torepparttar 114861 length of days. In New York, for instance, onrepparttar 114862 shortest day ofrepparttar 114863 year - December 21 -repparttar 114864 sun rose at 7:17 a.m. and set at 4:32 p.m., contrasted to 5:25 a.m. and 8:31 p.m. atrepparttar 114865 height of summer, a six hour difference in light. Such a distinct seasonal pattern implicatesrepparttar 114866 external environment asrepparttar 114867 culprit,repparttar 114868 most obvious being sunlight. Sunlight has already been shown to trigger cycles and seasonal behavior in animals, including reproduction, hibernation, migration, and molting. Animal behavior has been fooled by artificial light. Could it also fool humans? Apparently. In a recent NIMH study, a group of these depressives were treated with amounts of light that simulated that of summer days. Short winter days were stretched by six extra hours of light. The subjects were awakened before sunrise to bask in three hours of light, and dusk was delayed for three more.

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