The Primal Blueprint (16 page)

Several studies support the historical anecdotes that cold water offers health benefits. One study conducted by the Thrombosis Research Institute at London’s Brompton Hospital found that exposure to cold baths boosted sex hormone production, improved fertility, chronic fatigue conditions, immune function and blood circulation – reducing cardiovascular disease risk. Numerous studies indicate that the invigorating effect of cold water stimulates the release of endorphins by the autonomic nervous system. Anyone who has taken a plunge and emerged energized can attest to the powerful effects of cold water on the body.

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Napping:
Data from the National Sleep Foundation suggests that “a well-timed afternoon nap may be the best way to combat sleepiness.” Gregory Belenky, MD, Research Professor and Director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University, says naps can help make up for insufficient sleep, and that “it’s even possible that divided sleep is more recuperative than sleep taken in a single block,” noting how popular the afternoon siesta is in countries across the world. Dr. Mark Rosekind’s studies with NASA pilots indicated that napping pilots had a 34% increase in performance and 54% boost in alertness that lasted for 2-3 hours. Harvard University studies show that 60-90 minute naps help the brain integrate new knowledge similar to nighttime sleep. A study published in the research journal
Sleep
suggests that naps ranging from ten to thirty minutes are optimal for improved cognitive performance and alertness

The Center for Applied Cognitive Studies says that “the length of sleep is not what causes us to be refreshed upon waking. The key factor is the number of complete sleep cycles we enjoy. Each sleep cycle contains five distinct phases, which exhibit different brain- wave patterns.” Leading sleep researcher Dr. Claudio Stampi found that naps taken in the afternoon (a common low energy period in our circadian rhythms) were comparatively higher in the most restorative slow-wave sleep. During a 10-20 minute afternoon nap, your brain cells reset their sodium and potassium ratios, which are thrown out of balance after long periods of intense brain arousal, as in a typical busy day. “This is the main cause of what is known as ‘mental fatigue’,” the Center says about this nutrient imbalance. “A brief period in Theta (slow wave sleep) can restore the ratio to normal, resulting in mental refreshment.”

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Quality Time:
The Office of National Statistics “Time Use Survey” study indicates that today’s average working parent spends nineteen minutes of digital distraction-free quality time per week.

Korg Family References

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Commuting:
The Public Policy Institute of California reports that 18% of Californians commute over 45 minutes each way. 3.4 million Americans commute 90 minutes or more each way. The US Census reports that the average commute time nationwide is 25.5 minutes each way, with Californians commuting 10% longer than the national average. Tracy, CA, near the Korg’s home of Stockton, had one of the longest average commute times in the state in 2000: 42 minutes each way.

In a United Kingdom survey of over 400 people by the International Stress Management Association, 44 percent said that rush-hour traffic was the most stressful part of their lives. A Hewlett Packard study of UK commuters found that blood pressure and heart rate were “higher than those experienced by fighter pilots going into combat and police officers facing rioting mobs.”

A study by researchers at the New York University Sleep Disorder Center found that “long commuters” - those who travel one hour and 15 minutes or longer - have more sleep disorders and other health problems than the general population. There is also a significant danger of multitasking while commuting. The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis found drivers using cell phones are responsible for 2,600 traffic deaths per year and 330,000 traffic injuries (motorists on the road make 40% of all cellular telephone calls).

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Digital Media Disturbing Sleep:
Daniel Reid’s
The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity
details how television disturbs the ocular-endocrine system. A US study showed that rats exposed to invisible television rays (screen was blackened) for six hours per day became hyperactive and extremely
aggressive for about a week, then suddenly become totally lethargic and stopped breeding entirely. A Columbia University Study conducted in New York suggests that “watching late night television may put people in a state of heightened alertness and physiological arousal, preventing them from falling asleep with ease. In addition, being exposed to many hours of the bright light of the television screen may throw people off their sleep-wake cycle, while too little physical activity may cause people to become restless and struggle with sleep.”

A Rhode Island study published in journal of American Academy of Pediatrics suggests children’s sleep is disturbed by watching TV before bedtime — causing them to become “over-stimulated, disturbed or frightened by the content of programs…particularly those containing violence.” The “might” in this makes it pretty darn weak.

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Sleep Medication
: 30 million people in the USA take sleep medications (
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
), an estimated 50% jump since 2000. With an ode to the “over × billion served” signs adorning McDonald’s franchises, Sanofi-Aventis, maker of Ambien, boasts an aggregate total of 12 billion nights of patient use worldwide. $2 billion was spent on the drug worldwide in 2004. According to
LiveScience
, global sales for sleeping pills are estimated at $5 billion annually.

Daniel Kripke, UC San Diego psychiatry professor and author of
The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills
, conducted a revealing six-year sleep study with over one million adults. Kripke reported that the health risk of taking sleeping pills daily was not much different that the risk of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day! A study by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School found that treating insomnia with habit and attitude modification was more effective – both immediately and over the long-term – than using Ambien. The sleep success techniques Kripke recommends include: don’t go to bed until you’re sleepy, get up at the same time each morning, avoid excessive stimulation or worry before bed, avoid caffeine for six hours before bed, avoid alcohol before bed, and spend adequate time outdoors.

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Teenage Sleep
: A 2007 Mayo Clinic article suggests that teenagers require about nine hours of sleep to maintain optimal daytime alertness, but few actually get that much sleep due to jobs, homework, friends, digital media and other distractions (the National Sleep Foundation reports that 25% of teens report sleeping 6.5 hours per night or less). “Puberty changes a teen’s internal clock, delaying the time he or she starts feeling sleepy until 11pm or later (“before adolescence, circadian rhythms direct most children to naturally fall asleep around 8 or 9 p.m”). “Staying up late to study or socialize can disrupt a teen’s internal clock even more.

The article also notes that sleeping in or forcing an early bedtime are not adequate solutions, since they are not aligned with the teen’s unique circadian rhythm. The Mayo Clinic staff suggests that you darken rooms at desired bedtime and expose teens to bright light in the morning, discourage naps longer than 30 minutes, discourage caffeine use and establish a consistent, quiet relaxing routine before bed – free of digital media.

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Artificial sweeteners:
an on-line review mentioned by Dr John Briffa indicates that “100 per cent of industry funded studies proclaim aspartame to be benign; more than 90 per cent of independent studies and reports in the scientific literature say otherwise.” Numerous studies suggest that intense artificial sweeteners increase appetite for sweet foods, promote overeating, and may even lead to weight gain. One study with rats from Purdue University concluded that “consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with higher calorie sugar.” However, there are some other studies that refute the concept entirely. Perhapshe most relevant evidence is how obesity rates continue to climb even with the advent and increased used of artificial sweeteners in the modern diet.

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Cardiovascular exercise heart rates
: My position that Chronic Cardio is harmful and that low level aerobic work is beneficial is based on personal experience over three decades as an elite athlete, personal trainer to clients of all ability levels and coach to elite professional triathletes. The extensive work of legendary coach Arthur Lydiard is a major influence as well. Lydiard, who pioneered the concept of overdistance endurance training for track and field athletes, developed numerous Olympic gold medalists and world record holders in his home country of New Zealand and for various other national teams. Elite athlete/authors like former professional triathletes Mark Allen (
Total Triathlete
) and Brad Kearns (
Breakthrough Triathlon Training
), former Olympic marathon runner and popular author and speaker Jeff Galloway, Joe Friel’s popular series of “Training Bibles” for various endurance sports all echo these fundamental principles of endurance training:

• Building a base of comfortable aerobic activity is critical for success

• High intensity exercise should be strictly limited as a small percentage of total exercise volume and conducted only when a sufficient aerobic base is present

Conversely, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends exercise intensities of 55-90% of maximum heart rate, a ridiculously disparate range that stimulates vastly different metabolic responses in the body. Sadly, this information is widely circulated by health clubs, personal trainers, group exercise programs, books and magazines to the detriment of the average fitness enthusiasts. Exceeding 75% of maximum heart rate regularly (particularly for a non-elite athlete) will greatly inhibit the development of a strong aerobic base and invite increased risk of injury and burnout. Your cardio exercise range should be 55-75% of maximum heart rate, with occasional high intensity sessions where heart rate approaches maximum during short sprints.

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Statin Side Effects
: Columbia University Study published in The Archives of Neurology suggests that even short term statin use depletes CoQ10 levels, a possible explanation for common statin side effects of exercise intolerance, muscle pain, and other indicators of muscle dysfunction.

The Conventional Wisdom connection between cholesterol levels and disease risk (and thus the popularity of cholesterol-reducing statins) is increasingly being called into question. Seventeen studies on lowering dietary cholesterol were assessed in a 2005
Annals of Internal Medicine
article. Overall, the studies led to an average 10 per cent decrease in cholesterol levels, but there was no decrease in overall risk of death.

A long-term study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (in 1986, 1987 and 1991) showed that people who are taking multiple cardiac medications have 40 percent higher risk of mortality after four years than those who take nothing. Several other large studies (10,000 men in Europe, published in the European Heart Journal, 1986; 61,000 men in Europe, conducted by the World Health Organization and published in Lancet; 12,000 men in America, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association; a study in Finland published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 1991) reported the same conclusion – medication either increased mortality or didn’t increase survival time.

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Walking To School
: CDC indicates that the percent of children who live within a mile of school and who walk or bike to school as their primary means of transportation has declined almost 25% over the past thirty years (from 87% to 63%) and that children who walk or bike from any distance has declined 26% (from 42% to 16%).

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Poor compliance
with doctor prescribed exercise programs - is a major reason for the widespread condition of lower back pain, poor recovery from surgery and prolonged elevated risk factors for heart disease and cancer.

A 1998
Journal of the American Medical Association
article noted that even when it comes to taking medication, the average compliance rate is only 50%. An article from
AlignMap – Beyond Patient Compliance
, further suggests that “noncompliance is underreported, typically hidden, and rarely detected by clinicians”, and “research studies consistently reveal high levels of inadequate adherence to treatment recommendations throughout
the healthcare spectrum, including cases of life-threatening illnesses. The indisputable conclusions are that medical noncompliance is, by any measure and from any perspective, pervasive, and that healthcare’s failure to successfully address such a problem comes at the cost of diminished outcomes, unnecessary expense, and avoidable patient morbidity and mortality.”

One Canadian study of heart attack victims published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal indicated a 43% noncompliance rate with rehabilitation and treatment recommendations. A Texas study of bariatric surgery patients revealed a noncompliance rate of 41% (female) and 37% (male).

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Caffeine
: The average American uses about 230 milligrams of caffeine per day according to the Mayo Clinic. Side effects of consuming too much caffeine vary by individual (based on body weight, levels of physical and psychological stress and other drug use – according to
MayoClinic.com
), but can include “increased heart rate and urination, anxiety, headaches, nausea and insomnia”, according to the online medical encyclopedia provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. The Mayo Clinic calls caffeine the “most popular behavior-altering drug”, with nine of out ten Americans consuming some type of caffeine regularly.