Lifestyle Choices

Which is the stronger sex? That depends on what we mean by strength. If we refer to the ability to survive, there is no doubt that women have most of the advantages. Today they are outliving their husbands by six, eight, and ten years or more. This is true all over the world.

Ever since childbirth infections have been brought under control, the picture has been changing in favor of the women. It would seem that the ladies have more flexibility in their systems. They have more stamina. Their biological resources are greater than those of the men.

This difference begins very early in life, perhaps before the child is born. This is probably nature’s way of preserving the race. Nowhere is the female superiority more clearly in evidence than in pregnancy. A woman at that time seems to have special reserves of strength. Not only must her heart and lungs care for her own needs, but also for those of her baby. Every organ in her body is geared to work that much more efficiently. Later in life those same female hormones apparently protect her from degenerative diseases which are so much more likely to cripple her husband. (more…)

Long-term stress can destroy your good looks, your vitality, and eventually your health. But contrary to popular belief, that doesn’t mean there is anything intrinsically dangerous in stress. On the contrary, stress is the spice of life—the challenge just waiting to be met, the excitement of something new and unknown, the wonderful, exhilarating feeling when adrenalin flows through your body and makes you feel ready for anything. It only means that if you do not know how to move from the active, stressed state of mind and body into the passive state of psychophysical relaxation at will, then you, like most people (for few have this skill naturally), are likely to find yourself stuck in the stressed state for long periods. And if it happens often enough and lasts long enough, you can become physically or mentally ill. (more…)

It is now common knowledge that uncontrolled stress can trigger a great many diseases and disorders—insomnia, gastric ulcers, high blood pressure, asthma, and migraine, to mention just a few. But for a long time these ailments were treated like something over which we had no control. It was assumed that one could only treat their symptoms with drugs, treat the stress that triggered them off with more drugs, and hope for the best. Now, thanks to research into altered states of consciousness and work done with biofeedback, studies have shown that every human being can exercise a high level of conscious control over his nervous system. (more…)

Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) is like banging a TV set when it does not work. However, the crudity of whamming a 100-volt electric shock through someone’s brain does not take away the fact that this technique has saved people’s lives when all else has failed. As with every new and seemingly successful physical treatment of mental ailments, such as tranquillizers and anti-depressants, ECT has a history of gross overuse. It has also been misused in some institutions as a form of control or punishment.

ECT produces a temporary epilepsy. It was started on the theory (later found to be untrue) that epilepsy and schizophrenia never co-exist. It was therefore used to treat schizophrenia but with no success beyond a significant placebo effect. However, the technique was also used on people in severe depressive states with incredible results. In a few weeks people who were expected to remain in hospital for months or even years were recovering from the blackest and whitest of depressions. (more…)

Known as MAOIs, these drugs are also anti-depressants, but are used less frequently than tricyclics because they are generally less effective, have potentially worse side-effects and are more dangerous.

A comparison of 13 studies showed MAOIs to be more effective than placebo in eight. They are reckoned to come somewhere between placebo and tricyclic anti-depressants in terms of effectiveness, though they may be more effective in particular kinds of depression. (more…)