Health TO YOUR
Midvalley Newspapers M
Quarterly September2010 2011
A guide to wellness and healthy living in the Mid-Willamette Valley
STAT Quick reads about health topics in the news
Dieting? Think almonds A recent study suggests that including almonds in the diet could help people manage their weight over the long term. The study was published in the June issue of Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases by Karen JaceldoSiegl of Loma Linda University and her colleagues. A key point is that the study participants who boosted their almond intake “were not counseled to reduce their intake of other foods,” said Jenny Heap, manager of health professional marketing for the Almond Board of California, in an e-mail Tuesday. The Modesto, Calif.-based board urges people to eat an ounce of almonds a day — about 23 nuts. Its marketing efforts have helped boost consumption of a food that used to have a reputation as a fatty indulgence. – McClatchy Tribune
Long-lasting phthalates Counselor Greg Warburton of the ABC House in Albany shows how he uses a teddy bear to teach children a method of stress release that involves tapping pressure points on the body. David Patton | To Your Health
Tapping into healing Technique stimulates pressure points to help manage stress By JENNIFER ROUSE
ABOUT ABC HOUSE
G
reg Warburton’s job is to help kids who’ve been through trauma move on with their lives. As a counselor at the ABC House in Albany, a center that works with children who have been abused or neglected, he is constantly helping kids deal with the worst memories they have. And for the past 12 years, through a method called “tapping,” which combines physical tools with traditional talk therapy, he’s found a tool that can help kids “get on with growing up,” as he puts it. The problem with traditional counseling, Warburton has found, is that merely talking about the problems and abuse kids have endured sometimes can make things worse. “When you’re talking about a traumatic event, the thinking part of the brain can shut down,” he said. “Blood flows to the emotional part of the brain then, for self-protection.” Clients often find themselves having a full flight-or-fight response going on physically, even though they’re sitting in the safety of a counseling office. Often, it’s not just when talking about their problems — for many clients, every time something comes up that reminds them of their past, extra energy floods the body and makes it difficult to function. “Tapping is essentially a stress-management tool,” Warburton said. “It’s a dependable way to relax the body and calm the mind when stressed.”
Buttons on the teddy bear show kids where the pressure points are.
certain points — above the eyebrows, on the sides of the eye sockets, on the sides of the hands, and at multiple other locations. Then he shows them how to tap the energy points using their index and middle finger together. “Hard enough that you can hear it, but not so hard that it hurts,” he says. Eventually, he asks patients who are willing to tap on their own pressure points. Warburton said that he’s seen kids use the technique successfully. For child clients who have to testify in a court process about abuse they have suffered, Warburton asks them to picture testifying while tapping on certain stress-relieving points until they can think about it without “getting tied up in knots.” A 10-year-old patient of Warburton’s wrote in a statement Tapping technique about tapping that she uses it Tapping borrows from the when she is sad, or when she has acupuncture field the idea that headaches or stomachaches, and pressure on certain points of the especially when she thinks about body can help release trapped en- the death of her grandfather. ergy. “Ever since I learned it I have Warburton often starts out by felt better about Poppy and I showing children a teddy bear haven’t been crying so much,” with buttons sewn on its body at she wrote. “I’m starting to un-
derstand that Poppy’s gone.” Marleen Arends, another counselor at the ABC House, said that she was initially skeptical about the tapping technique. However, after trying it, she says she saw its benefits. “It works. It really calms you down quickly,” she said. She also noticed that some of the techniques are similar to things many people do naturally for stress relief, without any knowledge of energy flow or pressure points. “A lot of people will often rub their foreheads when they are stressed,” she said. “And when my daughter was little, before I knew about this technique, I used to rub the points just above her eyes to help her go to sleep.”
Energy psychology Warburton said that tapping is a part of the mental health field called energy psychology, which has been around for about 30 years. The tapping tool is also called “Emotional Freedom Techniques.” He describes it as the mental health field meeting the acupuncture system.
The ABC House is a center aimed at providing a safe, respectful, and healing environment for children who are the victims of abuse. Since 1997, children in Linn and Benton counties have come to the ABC House for medical evaluations and investigative interviews, rather than being taken to the police station or the hospital. A staff that includes medical doctors and counselors works with children and their families to help them get through the legal process and assist them in recovery. To help raise money for the center, the ABC House is planning its first half-marathon. The Runaway Pumpkin Half is planned for 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, in Lebanon. For more information or to register for the race, visit www.runawaypumpkinhalf.org. For more information about the ABC House, visit www.abchouse.org. He said that although there have been decades of supportive anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness, as well as some recent formal research into the method, it remains a field that has drawn skepticism from some in the medical community. He credits the leadership of the ABC House for being openminded about a technique that he feels is a powerful tool for kids. For those who may not feel comfortable tapping on their own face and body out in public when they’re feeling stressed (“It’s a little socially awkward,” he admitted), he sometimes teaches patients to massage pressure points instead. “I try to keep it as simple as possible,” he said. The goal of tapping, Warburton said, isn’t to erase memories of painful events. Instead, it’s to train the mind and body to deal with them without panicking. “It’s to clear out that emotional charge,” he said. And without those negative emotions weighing them down, it’s easier for kids to get on with growing up.
Yet another study suggests that phthalates – the chemicals which are found in many plastic toys, household items and personal care products – may be detrimental to children. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year added phthalates to its list of “chemicals of concern” targeted for possible future regulation. In a study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers measured phthalates in the urine of 319 pregnant women, then followed the children born to these women until age 3. The study found that children whose mothers had the highest levels of phthalates had increased rates of behavior problems and decreased skills related to voluntary movement compared to children whose mothers had the lowest levels. Girls whose mothers had the highest levels were also found to have decreased mental development at age 3 compared to girls whose mothers had the lowest phthalate concentrations. It’s unclear why phthalates may be harmful to children. One theory is that the chemicals interfere with thyroid function, which is known to have a significant effect on all aspects of fetal, infant and child development. – Los Angeles Times
High and healthy? Recent studies indicate that there are definite health benefits to living at altitude. Start with obesity. “We’ve known since the 1920s (that) if you go to really high altitudes you will lose weight,” says Robert Roach, director of the Altitude Research Center in Aurora, Colo., which studies how hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, affects health and performance. “It was one of the major concerns when the British were trying to figure out how to climb Mount Everest, how to get enough calories to survive. There’s been no exception to this finding. Every expedition that’s gone to high altitude, people have lost weight.” In addition, a study published this year in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that living at higher altitude may have a protective effect on ischemic heart disease. There is a potential downside, though: The risk of skin cancer is higher because ultraviolet intensity is greater at higher elevations. – Chicago Tribune