Is The Master at Home?

Is The Master at Home?

My teacher, Tom Baeli, told me that the question, “Is the master at home?” was asked in reference to whether the practitioner being addressed was in command of their chi.

As I understood this, it acknowledges that some days are better than others in how we feel in our practice. There are days we do our chi kung or form and they feel clunky and others where things couldn’t be better. Those days where they seem to flow are the days the master is home.

I look at the opening of the form, the “begin tai chi” movement as being a barometer of the day. Just the simple act of placing the feet, sinking, raising and lowering the arms with the breathing is telling. I’ve had days where I didn’t think I could find my behind with both hands. It felt “off”. What to do?

Sometimes I didn’t think forcing it was the way to go, so I left it for the next day. Others, I made myself do it until I smoothed it out, often taking two or three repetitions to get it feeling right. I relate this feeling as being similar to a barometer because it’s a measure of the day and provides a trigger to consider what to do about it. I have to ask myself why I think it’s not quite right today. Something I ate? Work or family pressure? Lack of sleep, or maybe even too much? The list can go on. It has given me the opportunity to be more conscious of what I do, how I eat or sleep.

Did I have too much sweet stuff or drink an extra cup of coffee? If I moderate that next time and catalog the result I learn a bit more about myself and how this changes as I age. I think it’s good information. Then I can make that decision as to whether I should push it or not.

Some will tell you to force it, do it until it is smooth. This develops discipline, they say. Others will tell you to let it go until later. A story to reinforce the point. An Olympic judo coach was lecturing his team hopefuls. He told them that some days he’d get up and not feel like working out. He asked them what they thought he did. “You did it anyway!” Another said “You forced yourself, even though you didn’t want to” and others made similar statements. “No” he said, “I went back to reading the paper, but I made sure I got back to it the next day.” That too takes discipline. But it also takes a self-knowledge. It’s easy to start down the slippery slope of letting it go and days become weeks which turn into months. It’s harder to come back than it was to get there in the first place.

Until next time,

Lee  

Daily Exercise

Daily exercise lessens many of the harmful physiological effects of short-term overeating and inactivity, shows a new study [published 15 December] in The Journal of Physiology, which is well timed with the Christmas holiday approaching.

Earlier studies have found that even a few days of energy surplus – where you consume more calories than you burn – brings detrimental health impacts. This new study shows that a daily bout of exercise generates vast physiological benefits even when you consume thousands of calories more than you are burning. Exercise clearly does a lot more than simply reduce the energy surplus.

James Betts, one of the researchers from The University of Bath, says: "This new research shows that the picture is more sophisticated than 'energy' alone: exercise has positive effects even when we are actively storing energy and gaining weight."

After just one week of overeating, people being monitored showed poor blood sugar control and their fat cells were expressing genes that lead to unhealthy metabolic changes and disrupted nutritional balance. However, these negative effects were markedly less in those who were exercising.

Jean-Philippe Walhin, a researcher on the study, says: "Our research demonstrates that a short period of overconsumption and reduced physical activity leads to very profound negative changes in a variety of physiological systems – but that a daily bout of exercise stops most of these negative changes from taking place."

In the study, 26 healthy young men were asked to be generally inactive in their daily activities. Half of the group then exercised daily on a treadmill for 45 minutes. Everyone was asked to overeat: the non-exercising group increased their caloric intake by 50 per cent, whilst the exercising group increased by 75 per cent, so everyone's net daily energy surplus was the same.

Dr Dylan Thompson, senior author on the paper, says: "A critical feature of our experiment is that we matched the energy surplus between groups – so the exercise group consumed even more energy and were still better off at the end of the week."

After one week, the groups had blood insulin measurements and biopsies of fat tissue taken, with striking results. The non-exercising group showed a significant and unhealthy decline in their blood sugar control, and their fat cells were overexpressing genes linked to unhealthy metabolic changes and were under-expressing genes involved in well-functioning metabolism. However, the exercising group had stable blood sugar levels and their fat cells showed less 'undesirable' genetic expression.

Jean-Philippe Walhin, a researcher on the study, says, "Short-term overfeeding and reduced physical activity had a dramatic impact on the overall metabolic health of the participants and on various key genes within fat tissue – and exercise prevented these negative changes even though energy was still being stored."

Dr Dylan Thompson says: "If you are facing a period of overconsumption and inactivity, which is probably quite common around Christmas time, then our study shows that a daily bout of exercise will prevent many of the negative changes from taking place even though you are gaining weight."

The effects are obvious, but the underlying causes will need further study to be determined. The findings are likely to apply to other groups, like older adults and women, and perhaps to lesser amounts of training.

Source: Wiley

Falls in Elderly

Clinical Anesthesiology 

ISSUE: DECEMBER 2013 | VOLUME: 39:12

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Falls a Rising Trend in Trauma-Related Fatalities

by Christina Frangou

Trauma centers in the United States are experiencing a major shift in the most common causes of trauma-related fatalities—changes that may necessitate new strategies for trauma prevention and treatment, according to experts.
A new study showed that, if current trends continue, falls would soon account for more deaths than either motor vehicle collisions or firearms.
“This fact poses an interesting public health challenge, namely, preventing falls in the elderly,” said Christopher C. Baker, MD, chair of surgery at the Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Va. He was the official discussant of the paper when it was presented at the opening session of the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST).
The study showed that since 2002, deaths due to motor vehicle collisions have declined by 27% due to improvements in car safety, public awareness and medical care. But that drop has been offset by a marked increase in fatalities related to falls, the rate of which rose by 46% over an eight-year period.
“It’s clear that the mix of injuries that are currently being seen are substantially different than 10 years ago,” said primary investigator Kristan L. Staudenmayer, MD, MS, assistant professor of surgery in trauma and critical care at Stanford University, in Stanford, Calif.
Total trauma-related mortality decreased by 6% between the years 2002 and 2010 (P<0.01). The drop occurred despite an increase in the number of miles driven by Americans and a 10% increase in the number of firearm injuries.
In 2002, motor vehicle collisions caused about 16 deaths per 100,000 people living in the United States. In the same year, falls caused only about six deaths per 100,000 people. But by 2010, the picture changed markedly. Falls caused almost nine deaths per 100,000 people, whereas motor vehicle deaths had fallen to 12 per 100,000.
Deaths from firearms stayed relatively stable between 2002 and 2010 at 10 per 100,000. Firearm injuries were seen more frequently in hospitals, increasing from a reported 31 to 34 per 100,000 people.
Dr. Staudenmayer said the changing demographics of patients need to be taken into account when apportioning future trauma resources and creating prevention strategies.
“The big challenge is that we are going to be dealing with patients who are more frail and have more comorbidities. That’s going to mean that we have to provide not just surgical care, but increasingly more medical care to these patients,” Dr. Staudenmayer said.
This study was the first analysis of national trauma trends using these multiple data sources and the first analysis of its kind that depicted what trauma surgeons are seeing in their emergency rooms, according to the authors.