Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis Tired of politics, writing of healthcare and hydrofracking Like everyone else, I too am both overwhelmed and disgusted by politics We have had the Republican primary contests for six months and more, fed daily by the media, with the participants blackening each others’ reputations, until one, the richest, promoted by a few dozen even more rich tax-hating magnates, has become the Republican candidate, with a nearly even chance of being elected. Shame on the Constitution defenders wing of the Supreme Court, who betrayed their own principles, facilitating the election of the president of the greatest country in the world by a handful of greedy tycoons… unless the people wake up. The relentless right-wing domestic propaganda has been strengthened by external problems, such as American drones causing collateral deaths in Pakistan and Yemen, and the Iran and Syria crises, with resolutions moving slowly. What gives good hope are the recent findings of the Gallup Poll, that the great majority of educated people and professionals – MDs, teachers, attorneys, engineers, and the main stream of government and private clerical forces, are overwhelmingly pro-Obama, as are the unions (50 vs.35%) . As for farmers and fishermen, 90% will vote Mitt Romney, presumably to protest the oil prices and taxes. In this context, it has been a pleasure to hear from readers... Re my June 14 chase after an MRI to cure my painful torn rotator cuff, old friend Clara Reiss, longtime member and chair of CB#6, offered her experience of very effective therapy by a Dr Loren Fishman, based on yoga practices. She learned about it from a Jane E, Brody article in the NYTimes. Google the two names and you will find the story. To quote Brody, the doctor is considered a miracle worker by his patients, curing various orthopedic disorders without drugs, surgery and endless months of physical therapy. Thank you, Clara, I am still waiting in line for my appointment at the Hospital for Special Surgery, later this week. Reader Kathleen a Reynolds, gently chides me for my inadequately strong protest in my Hydrofracking, incomplete story article (May 10.) Hydrofracking destroys the non-renewable water supply on this planet, our scarcest resource, and neither President Barak Obama nor Governor Andrew Cuomo have used their powers to protect it. I tried to formulate my objections by stating questions that lead to discourse and a compromise in resolving the problem.. You do not need a compromise in Midtown NYC, where everyone you touch is a believer in global warming and the evils of hydrofracking, but in the Midwest America the deniers of both problems walk away from the discussion, citing the few admitted exaggerations committed by eager environmentalists as reason for proclaiming the entire set of environmentalist concepts a lie . We need agreements and compromises in environmentalism as well as in national economics, to cure the nation, As a footnote, I first warned against hydrofracking in an August 11, 2011 T&V article, and expressed concern about earthquakes in NYS in even earlier columns. As for myself, I want to explore the points of thought regarding the recovery of personal health lost by sitting at a desk for 60 years, even before the computer and the e-mail era, through yet another NYTimes resource. There is a wise person, Phys Ed columnist for the Paper of Record, Gretchen Reynolds, who says that sitting for hours on end is the body’s worst enemy. The muscles slacken, fat seeps into the blood, liver and ventricles of the heart, debilitating the system. But there is recovery; if the person gets up and walks around, even stands , for at least two minutes every 20 minutes, to make the body stop the debilitating process Fortunately, even most of us office drudges have such interruptions, meetings, visiting the neighboring cubicle, getting files, hitting the water cooler. Gretchen has studies from University of Massachusetts and the National Cancer Institute and others to prove it. Those who work at home have to invent the standup breaks – Gretchen, for instance, makes herself get up to make and answer phone calls, Television, with shows rolling one into the other, is a terrible enemy. Per an Australian study, an hour of TV a day costs 22 minutes in a man’s lifespan (1.8 years lost for men, 1.5 for women). Once again, that’s continuous time. Another Australian study shows that blood sugar spiked and insulin levels were out of whack, when a test team sat for seven hour stretches and no motion, and were straightened out, when the test was changed to provide two minutes of walking breaks every 20 minutes. Curiously, jogging during the breaks did not improve blood sugar content any more than simple walking. Walking is the best and most natural exercise, for body as well as the mind. Per Gretchen, 15, 20 minutes a day help. And 30 minutes add 20% to one’s lifetime. Curiously, increasing the walk to 90 min. adds only another 4%, per an English study. Running helps health and also adds endurance (aerobic), but 70% of runners have some injury annually (wow). Stretching, i.e. holding a pose, scares the brain into tensing the muscles, anticipating danger (a most wonderful facility, it saved me, once), but it is bad for warm-up, a gentler method, e.g. jogging is advocated. By the way body flexibility level is inborn, not acquired. More anon, and thanks to Mss Jane Brody, Gretchen Reynolds, The NY Times and NPR’s Fresh Air.