Network Healing Centre
February 2009 Newsletter
(613) 725-0988
This Valentine’s Day:
Be Tender To Yourself
Dr. Michael Tucker, DC is pleased to extend a special Valentine’s Gift
to Network Spinal Analysis clients.
During the month of February you may receive
One complimentary Network Spinal Analysis Entrainment
beyond your usual schedule,
as a Valentine to someone special to you—yourself.
This additional visit must be booked for a date in the month of February.
Please speak to Mary or Lisa at the front desk to make an appointment.
New Hours for Michael Tucker, D.C.
Monday: 1 pm to 7 pm
Tuesday: 7:30 am to 1 pm
Thursday: 1 pm to 7 pm
Friday: 7:30 am to 1 pm
Important Dates to Remember
Thursday, February 26- Network Spinal Analysis Workshop
Parking at the Network Healing Centre
The Network Healing Centre has parking spaces available for clients year-round on the other side of Roosevelt, near the stop sign, in the same lot as the small engine shop. You will see placards on the fence marked Network Healing Centre.
Networking for Health: Happiness is Contagious
by Rosemary Brown-Tucker, RMT
Thank a friend if you’re happy – and their friends – and their friends’ friends. It turns out that happiness is contagious and has been documented by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego as part of the famous Framington Heart Study. Happiness is not only determined by our genes, health and wealth, but also by the happiness of those around us in a process known as “emotional contagion”. If someone smiles it is instinctive to smile back.
In the study of 4,739 people’s positive emotions from the previous week were studied based on a perfect score of these four questions: “I was happy”/ “I enjoyed life”/ “I felt hopeful about the future”/ “I felt that I was just as good as other people.” The study showed that happiness is a collective phenomenon and that happy people tend to be located in large clusters of other happy people. Happy spouses increase the happiness of their spouse by 8%; happy siblings living nearby increase their sibling’s happiness by 14%; each additional happy friend increases one’s probability of being happy by 9%. Compare this to a 1984 study that having an extra $5,000 in income increased happiness by 2%.
Good cheer spreads through our social networks – happiness has a cascading effect – so go ahead and spread your joy!
Love Your Heart – A Look at Blood Pressure
by Erin Whyte, R.M.T.
As people age, many are directed by their doctors to monitor their blood pressure. Two numbers make up that blood pressure and based on the outcome it could be high, low or in a healthy zone. But what exactly do those numbers mean? How do they really affect you and your heart? And what can you do to help stay healthy?
The numbers: 120/80 mm Hg. A good, healthy blood pressure. The mm Hg is how blood pressure is expressed and it means millimeters of mercury. For example, 120 mm Hg is equal to the pressure exerted by a column of mercury 120 mm high. The 120 is your systolic pressure. It’s the amount of pressure exerted on your aorta (blood vessel at opening of heart) as the blood is forced into it and this is where it is at its peak. The 80 mm Hg is your diastolic pressure. The heart valve at the aorta closes off any more blood flow. In order to maintain the flow of blood to the rest of your body the aorta recoils due to its elastic nature, which continues to add pressure to the arteries. So you want a systolic pressure that doesn’t put too much force on the heart or aorta and a diastolic pressure that isn’t too high, so that the aorta is not constantly under pressure.
Effects on your heart and what it could mean: If you have high blood pressure (this means both the top and bottom numbers are higher) then there is more strain on the heart and more possibility of damage to the arteries. This is what is termed hypertension and if prolonged and untreated is the major cause of heart failure, vascular disease, renal failure and stroke. Because the heart is forced to pump against greater resistance, it must work harder, and in time the muscles of the heart enlarges. When finally strained beyond its capacity to respond, the heart weakens and its walls become flabby. Small tears can also occur in the arteries.
Staying heart healthy: Adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle are first and foremost in your best interest…and luckily also in your control :) Restricting salt, fat and cholesterol intake, losing weight, stopping smoking and stress management are all factors that will help nurture a healthier heart and a healthier you. Some cases are hereditary and so you may be predisposed to high blood pressure. Each case is individual and some may require medication, but that doesn’t preclude you doing your own part to reduce the risk even more!
Having high blood pressure isn’t something that you instinctively know that you have. It can have effects on your body even before it becomes a problem. It is worthwhile to have your blood pressure checked to understand if there is anything you can do now to prevent damage later on. You can have your blood pressure checked by your doctor or go into your local pharmacy where some stores have an automatic blood pressure reader. So give your heart some love and treat it kindly. It’s what keeps you alive and kicking to enjoy the gifts of the world!
The Intimacy of Not Knowing
By Dr. Michael Tucker, DC
I read an interesting
article by John Tarrant in the November 2008 issue of Shambhala Sun
magazine. John Tarrant teaches physicians and executives at Duke Integrative
Medicine and directs the Pacific Zen Institute. In this article, he speaks
about how not knowing exactly what to do to “fix” someone often leads to
intimacy. Knowing the diagnosis—focusing on “repairing” an immediate
complaint—leads to a lack of intimacy. He tells a story from his life:
A while ago my mother was dying. I travelled home, went to the hospital, held her hand, and sat with her. The next morning she was still alive, so I did the same thing. Meanwhile, my sisters were negotiating with the nurses about oxygen levels, my father was trying to encourage Mom to stay in this world, to eat for him (“May I tempt you with just a spoonful of this custard, Allison?”), and my mom was holding off my dad with garlic and crosses. But I didn’t have anything to do, no special role, and I began to think that was probably good. I noticed that when I wanted anybody in that room to be different, it became rather painful. “Dad, ease up. I mean, she’s dying. She doesn’t want to eat.” Or, “Mom, he just loves you and he’s trying to be helpful and it probably would help if you ate.” Or, “Girls, you could relax; the oxygen is not going to help her now.” I had all those let’s-improve-the-world thoughts, but I noticed that when I didn’t go with them, everything was completely at peace. People were doing what they were doing because they needed to. Who am I to know what they should be doing? It was beautiful appreciating how much they cared about each other.
The koan for that situation is, “Not knowing is most intimate.” What if someone shouldn’t be improved? …How about not wanting to change others? How about not wanting to change yourself?