True to Form for this Group: We did indeed add all the ingredients, stir everything up and we had a Bake Off.
Mon, Aug 29, 2011
WATCHING A comedy film and listening to classical music are set to become the latest prescription for patients with heart disease, doctors at a major medical conference have been told.
Dr Michael Miller, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said watching a film or a sitcom that produces laughter has a positive effect on cardiovascular function and may be as beneficial as going for a run. However, the laughter must be intense – “more of a deep belly laugh”, Dr Miller said – and needs to last for about 15 seconds to be effective.
He told a symposium entitled Don’t Worry, Be Happy at the European Society of Cardiology Congress that laughter exerts its benefits through the release of endorphins by the brain which in turn leads to the release of nitric oxide by the lining of blood vessels. Nitric oxide is known to dilate blood vessels, reduce inflammation and help prevent cholesterol being deposited in arteries.
He and his colleagues used ultrasound to measure the diameter of arteries in healthy men and women who, on one day watched clips of comedy films, while on another day viewed stressful sequences from Saving Private Ryan . The results showed that blood flow improved by about 20 per cent in those watching a humorous film but decreased by over a third in those watching a stressful excerpt.
Previously the same researchers compared some 150 patients with heart disease with 150 controls and found that people with heart disease had a 40 per cent reduction in their ability to find humour in different situations.
“The endothelium is the first line in developing atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so it is very possible that laughing on a regular basis may be useful to incorporate as part of an overall healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease. In other words, eat your veggies, exercise and get a good belly laugh every day,” said Dr Miller.
Meanwhile, a German cardiologist who is also an organist told the same symposium that, in comparison to listening to Bach, heavy metal music has a “potential to be dangerous”.
Dr Hans Joachim Trappe told delegates that listening to classical music has the potential to decrease blood pressure and heart rate. He and his colleagues are undertaking research on healthy volunteers to see if there are differences in blood pressure, respiratory rate and in levels of the stress hormone cortisol when exposed to Bach, a heavy metal group and controlled periods of silence.
“Heavy metal encourages rage, disappointment and aggressive behaviour while causing both heart rate and blood pressure to increase,” he said. Dr Trappe is now planning a study titled “Bach or Beta-Blockers” in which people with high blood pressure will be randomly assigned to treatment with either beta- blocking drugs or classical music.
© 2011 The Irish Times
VERSUS
Hit the Read More key to view our discussion of this and other topics on this date.
We talked of the fact that Heavy Metal music raises the pulse rate and the blood pressure and increases aggression and violent feelings. This article would seem to say that classical music does just the opposite. Yet not all of us like or understand classical music. How do we resolve this. Probably we would like certain forms of classical music if we listened to it more frequently so that it became more familiar. It may be the lyricism in classical music that attracts us the most and even popular music may be moving back toward more lyricism.
Dave recalls one Heart Math session that Bruce W. ran in which there is a film of a ride through New York City in a taxi cab with the cacophony of background sounds becoming hair-raising. But then that background sound is changed to a form of music with the bouncing of the basketball and the drilling of the air hammer, the ringing of the bells etc following a rhythmic pattern as though it were music. Then the ride becomes much calmer and the heart rate and blood pressure go down.
Reference was made to an article in the current National Geographic Magazine where the reason for teenage risky behavior is considered. It appears that the teenage brain is trying to mature and certain areas of the brain that prompt caution and reason are not completely functional until the age of 25. It turns out that that sort of teenage brain with its immature connections is just right for learning to tackle the world and its many challenges without worry about the consequences. Unfortunately our modern world has many risks that perhaps a previous worldly scene would not have had. Still there is certainly evidence that there is a reason for your teenager's unruly behavior.
Given the current state of the economy, some discussion of poverty and the very wealthy came up. I commented that a recent article in the magazine, Medical Economics, questioned whether the huge growth in CEOs and CFOs salaries in the health care industry is responsible for the huge growth in health care expenditures. The author questioned whether any administrator in any business should make more than 10 times the salary of the lower echelon employees of that company. Currently there are certainly high administrative salaries that are more than 100 times or even 1000 times the lowest employee salary level.
A book entitled The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Society's Stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett was recommended. Here is a review of this book's premise. And for anyone interested, two other books are sited which come to a similar conclusion about the poor, but this book shows that we are all poorer for living in more unequal societies. Inequality is as bad for the rich as it is for the poor. Society is poorer as inequality becomes greater. There follows a review of this book by a physician reader from the UK: Dr. Nicholas P. G. Davies, of Halifax, UK
" The impacts of inequality show up in poorer health, lower educational attainment, higher crime rates, lower social capital, lower trust, lower co-operation the more unequal the society becomes. Wilkinson and Pickett give us clear evidence for these statements.
" For the last twelve years we have endured in the UK a Labour government that preaches equality (then wonders "equality of what?") whilst actually presiding over increasing inequality and reducing social mobility.
"Wilkinson and Pickett present their evidence well, in summary and clearly... If you need further evidence then you could follow the reference, or read some of Wilkinson's "The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier, earlier works, or Michael Marmot's useful book, "The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity." Their presentation of evidence is strong, and it is difficult after seeing their evidence to argue in favour of greater inequality at all.
" Inequality is clearly a bad thing for a society, and its constituent individuals. The question comes about what to do about it, and how best to reduce it. Sadly these questions are usually posed and answered from the political left, usually in terms of state action and redistribution. It is clear after 12 years of a hyperactive state under Gordon Brown that state action is a blunt instrument at best, and can often make things worse, and lock inequality in.
"Wilkinson and Pickett have written this book well and have made an accurate diagnosis of the problems inequality is causing in unequal societies such as UK and USA> I am less sure about their suggested remedies, but I support their work, and hope that political and economic thinkers both on the left and on the right will come to recognise the problem of inequality, and come up with solutions for it."
Our group agreed that given the facts that greater inequality in a society equals less happiness, the more robust the middle class the happier the country. However, we also commented that the welfare system is not the answer. It breeds a sense of powerlessness and perhaps makes things worse.
After some discussion of not knowing where to go with this, Todd led us to a calm by saying -- when the world seems overwhelming, we always have a choice. We either can live in the world with all of its cacophony or we can choose to live in peace.
Someone else read some studies that indicate people who meditate have more activity as seen on PET scans in parts of the brain which light up during happy moments. So teaching meditation in our school system would be a wonderful goal. Todd recommended the book: "The Good Listener" by James Sullivan. It was decided that we may read this book for a session perhaps starting November 17 for this group. So check on the availability of this book.
In closing, we highlighted the fact that this is the day before the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most religious day of the year for Judaism. Dick presented a prayer that he had found in a book of Jewish prayers. Though this is not specifically a Yom Kippur prayer, he felt its words would move the group. Her it is:
"God of the first things, and the last, the deity of every creature, power over all that comes to be, the subject of all praises through the multitude of laudatory songs, who guides the universe in love, all creatures with compassion. THE WATCHFUL ONE will never slumber, never sleep! To you who wakens all who sleep and stirs all those who slumber* who gives speech to those who cannot speak, who frees the captive and upholds the falling, who makes upright those bent down -- to you alone we offer thanks.
"And were our mouths oceans of song, our tongues alive with exultation like the waters' waves, our lips filled full of praises like the heaven's dome, our eyes lit up like sun and moon, our hands spread out like eagle's wings, our feet as light as those of the gazelle -- we would never have sufficient praise for you, ABUNDANT ONE, our God, God of our ancestors, nor could we bless your name enough for even one small measure of the thousands upon thousand of the ties of goodness, when you acted for our ancestors and us."*
*(1) Mitzoror yeshneem/ Who wakens all who sleep. Our faith awakens us from the sleep of our unawareness and calls us to release the bound, to raise up the fallen, and to uplift those who are bent over. In this we are doing godly work, serving as the limbs of the divine presence in this world. It is only through our acting in this way that God's work is done in the human community. And it is only by recognizing such acts as God's work that we transcend ourselves and our own needs in fulfilling them.
*(2) Commentary: This passage invokes Creation -- the separation of sky and water, the fixing of the heavenly lights, the creation of winged creatures and fleet-footed animals. The poet imagines human beings with the best qualities of all the rest of creation. Even then our most elaborate praises would not suffice to express the immensity of the blessing we receive. WE are therefore urged to honor our good fortune in God's creative power with every organ of our bodies and with every imaginable verbal variation -- that is all we can do in the face of the multiplicity of God's wonder."
Wow, we sure did mix the ingredients and bake up a wonderful cake today.
AND FINALLY: I recently did a piece on my personal blog about Kol Nidrei, the musical pronouncement that opens the Yom Kippur service, its history, and some of the controversy surrounding its use. At my blogsite, I encourage you to access this blogsite's most current post now, on the day before Yom Kippur.
Google: Renaissance Woman Retired
or http://www.renraeretire.blogspot.com
Belly laughs and Bach the latest prescriptions for heart disease
DR MUIRIS HOUSTON in ParisMon, Aug 29, 2011
WATCHING A comedy film and listening to classical music are set to become the latest prescription for patients with heart disease, doctors at a major medical conference have been told.
Dr Michael Miller, professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said watching a film or a sitcom that produces laughter has a positive effect on cardiovascular function and may be as beneficial as going for a run. However, the laughter must be intense – “more of a deep belly laugh”, Dr Miller said – and needs to last for about 15 seconds to be effective.
He told a symposium entitled Don’t Worry, Be Happy at the European Society of Cardiology Congress that laughter exerts its benefits through the release of endorphins by the brain which in turn leads to the release of nitric oxide by the lining of blood vessels. Nitric oxide is known to dilate blood vessels, reduce inflammation and help prevent cholesterol being deposited in arteries.
He and his colleagues used ultrasound to measure the diameter of arteries in healthy men and women who, on one day watched clips of comedy films, while on another day viewed stressful sequences from Saving Private Ryan . The results showed that blood flow improved by about 20 per cent in those watching a humorous film but decreased by over a third in those watching a stressful excerpt.
Previously the same researchers compared some 150 patients with heart disease with 150 controls and found that people with heart disease had a 40 per cent reduction in their ability to find humour in different situations.
“The endothelium is the first line in developing atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so it is very possible that laughing on a regular basis may be useful to incorporate as part of an overall healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease. In other words, eat your veggies, exercise and get a good belly laugh every day,” said Dr Miller.
Meanwhile, a German cardiologist who is also an organist told the same symposium that, in comparison to listening to Bach, heavy metal music has a “potential to be dangerous”.
Dr Hans Joachim Trappe told delegates that listening to classical music has the potential to decrease blood pressure and heart rate. He and his colleagues are undertaking research on healthy volunteers to see if there are differences in blood pressure, respiratory rate and in levels of the stress hormone cortisol when exposed to Bach, a heavy metal group and controlled periods of silence.
“Heavy metal encourages rage, disappointment and aggressive behaviour while causing both heart rate and blood pressure to increase,” he said. Dr Trappe is now planning a study titled “Bach or Beta-Blockers” in which people with high blood pressure will be randomly assigned to treatment with either beta- blocking drugs or classical music.
© 2011 The Irish Times
VERSUS
Hit the Read More key to view our discussion of this and other topics on this date.
We talked of the fact that Heavy Metal music raises the pulse rate and the blood pressure and increases aggression and violent feelings. This article would seem to say that classical music does just the opposite. Yet not all of us like or understand classical music. How do we resolve this. Probably we would like certain forms of classical music if we listened to it more frequently so that it became more familiar. It may be the lyricism in classical music that attracts us the most and even popular music may be moving back toward more lyricism.
Dave recalls one Heart Math session that Bruce W. ran in which there is a film of a ride through New York City in a taxi cab with the cacophony of background sounds becoming hair-raising. But then that background sound is changed to a form of music with the bouncing of the basketball and the drilling of the air hammer, the ringing of the bells etc following a rhythmic pattern as though it were music. Then the ride becomes much calmer and the heart rate and blood pressure go down.
Reference was made to an article in the current National Geographic Magazine where the reason for teenage risky behavior is considered. It appears that the teenage brain is trying to mature and certain areas of the brain that prompt caution and reason are not completely functional until the age of 25. It turns out that that sort of teenage brain with its immature connections is just right for learning to tackle the world and its many challenges without worry about the consequences. Unfortunately our modern world has many risks that perhaps a previous worldly scene would not have had. Still there is certainly evidence that there is a reason for your teenager's unruly behavior.
Given the current state of the economy, some discussion of poverty and the very wealthy came up. I commented that a recent article in the magazine, Medical Economics, questioned whether the huge growth in CEOs and CFOs salaries in the health care industry is responsible for the huge growth in health care expenditures. The author questioned whether any administrator in any business should make more than 10 times the salary of the lower echelon employees of that company. Currently there are certainly high administrative salaries that are more than 100 times or even 1000 times the lowest employee salary level.
A book entitled The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Society's Stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett was recommended. Here is a review of this book's premise. And for anyone interested, two other books are sited which come to a similar conclusion about the poor, but this book shows that we are all poorer for living in more unequal societies. Inequality is as bad for the rich as it is for the poor. Society is poorer as inequality becomes greater. There follows a review of this book by a physician reader from the UK: Dr. Nicholas P. G. Davies, of Halifax, UK
" The impacts of inequality show up in poorer health, lower educational attainment, higher crime rates, lower social capital, lower trust, lower co-operation the more unequal the society becomes. Wilkinson and Pickett give us clear evidence for these statements.
" For the last twelve years we have endured in the UK a Labour government that preaches equality (then wonders "equality of what?") whilst actually presiding over increasing inequality and reducing social mobility.
"Wilkinson and Pickett present their evidence well, in summary and clearly... If you need further evidence then you could follow the reference, or read some of Wilkinson's "The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier, earlier works, or Michael Marmot's useful book, "The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity." Their presentation of evidence is strong, and it is difficult after seeing their evidence to argue in favour of greater inequality at all.
" Inequality is clearly a bad thing for a society, and its constituent individuals. The question comes about what to do about it, and how best to reduce it. Sadly these questions are usually posed and answered from the political left, usually in terms of state action and redistribution. It is clear after 12 years of a hyperactive state under Gordon Brown that state action is a blunt instrument at best, and can often make things worse, and lock inequality in.
"Wilkinson and Pickett have written this book well and have made an accurate diagnosis of the problems inequality is causing in unequal societies such as UK and USA> I am less sure about their suggested remedies, but I support their work, and hope that political and economic thinkers both on the left and on the right will come to recognise the problem of inequality, and come up with solutions for it."
Our group agreed that given the facts that greater inequality in a society equals less happiness, the more robust the middle class the happier the country. However, we also commented that the welfare system is not the answer. It breeds a sense of powerlessness and perhaps makes things worse.
After some discussion of not knowing where to go with this, Todd led us to a calm by saying -- when the world seems overwhelming, we always have a choice. We either can live in the world with all of its cacophony or we can choose to live in peace.
Someone else read some studies that indicate people who meditate have more activity as seen on PET scans in parts of the brain which light up during happy moments. So teaching meditation in our school system would be a wonderful goal. Todd recommended the book: "The Good Listener" by James Sullivan. It was decided that we may read this book for a session perhaps starting November 17 for this group. So check on the availability of this book.
In closing, we highlighted the fact that this is the day before the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most religious day of the year for Judaism. Dick presented a prayer that he had found in a book of Jewish prayers. Though this is not specifically a Yom Kippur prayer, he felt its words would move the group. Her it is:
"God of the first things, and the last, the deity of every creature, power over all that comes to be, the subject of all praises through the multitude of laudatory songs, who guides the universe in love, all creatures with compassion. THE WATCHFUL ONE will never slumber, never sleep! To you who wakens all who sleep and stirs all those who slumber* who gives speech to those who cannot speak, who frees the captive and upholds the falling, who makes upright those bent down -- to you alone we offer thanks.
"And were our mouths oceans of song, our tongues alive with exultation like the waters' waves, our lips filled full of praises like the heaven's dome, our eyes lit up like sun and moon, our hands spread out like eagle's wings, our feet as light as those of the gazelle -- we would never have sufficient praise for you, ABUNDANT ONE, our God, God of our ancestors, nor could we bless your name enough for even one small measure of the thousands upon thousand of the ties of goodness, when you acted for our ancestors and us."*
*(1) Mitzoror yeshneem/ Who wakens all who sleep. Our faith awakens us from the sleep of our unawareness and calls us to release the bound, to raise up the fallen, and to uplift those who are bent over. In this we are doing godly work, serving as the limbs of the divine presence in this world. It is only through our acting in this way that God's work is done in the human community. And it is only by recognizing such acts as God's work that we transcend ourselves and our own needs in fulfilling them.
*(2) Commentary: This passage invokes Creation -- the separation of sky and water, the fixing of the heavenly lights, the creation of winged creatures and fleet-footed animals. The poet imagines human beings with the best qualities of all the rest of creation. Even then our most elaborate praises would not suffice to express the immensity of the blessing we receive. WE are therefore urged to honor our good fortune in God's creative power with every organ of our bodies and with every imaginable verbal variation -- that is all we can do in the face of the multiplicity of God's wonder."
Wow, we sure did mix the ingredients and bake up a wonderful cake today.
AND FINALLY: I recently did a piece on my personal blog about Kol Nidrei, the musical pronouncement that opens the Yom Kippur service, its history, and some of the controversy surrounding its use. At my blogsite, I encourage you to access this blogsite's most current post now, on the day before Yom Kippur.
Google: Renaissance Woman Retired
or http://www.renraeretire.blogspot.com
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