Walking in the woods, cancer, obesity, and other related subjects
Subject: Graffiti is bad for your health. Walking in the woods is good for you.
According to a recent study, "People living in concrete jungles surrounded by graffiti are more likely to be obese than those on the edge of green open spaces .."
The study was published in the British Medical Journal last week: More than 50% of the Welsh adult population are now classed as overweight or obese, compared to the UK average of 16%.
Researchers from the Medical Research Council in Wales set out to discover whether living in less-pleasant areas was linked to higher levels of obesity. They tested the theory that living in pleasant areas with lots of green spaces and less rubbish encourages people to exercise more. The researchers assessed the local environment in the cities studied, taking into account factors such as graffiti, litter and dog mess as well as levels of vegetation and greenery visible in the area.
They found that people living in greener areas were three times more likely to be physically active than those living in less green places. Their likelihood of being overweight or obese was about 40% less.
But in contrast, those people living in areas with high amounts of litter and graffiti and less greenery were 50% less likely to be physically active. Their likelihood of being overweight or obese was also 50% higher."
Living in greener areas is good for one's health. One would think this was a no brainer. The actual explanation why this is true is more complex than simply avoiding the outdoors for fear of stepping in "dog mess."
This study brings to my mind an article by Joan Maloof published in a recent edition of NewScientist: http://www.terrain.org/articles/14/maloof.htm Dr Maloof writes of the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or wood air breathing and wonders how much our attraction to forests comes from the aromatherapy treatment we receive while walking in their midst's. Dr. Maloof writes, "So what could be in the forest air that makes us feel better? In a study done in the Sierra Nevadas of California, researchers found 120 different chemical compounds-but they could only identify seventy of them! We are literally breathing things we don't understand; which also means, of course, that when we lose these forests, we don't know what we are losing."
An interesting study on Shinrin-yoku was published back in 1998 in the International Journal of Biometerology. The study examined the effect of "shinrin-yoku" (forest-air bathing and walking) on blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. Eighty-seven non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients participated. The patients were divided into two parties. They then walked in the forest for 3 km or 6 km according to their physical ability and/or the existence of diabetic complications. The average blood glucose level after forest walking dropped from 179 to 108. The researchers theorized that the forest environment causes changes in hormonal secretion and autonomic nervous functions; walking in a forest environment had other beneficial effects in decreasing blood glucose levels in addition to simply the increased calorie consumption and improved insulin sensitivity. The majority of the aromatic compounds given off by trees are classified chemically as monoterpenes. This is interesting as we have been following monoterpene research in relation to cancer treatment for a number of years. Monoterpenes are found in the essential oils of many plants. Two of the best known are limonene, found in orange peel and perillyl alcohol found in the essential oils of peppermint, spearmint, sage, cherries and cranberries. The most interesting recent monoterpene research is Steve Clark's on leukemia. Steve Clark, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer, had his interest triggered when one of his colleagues discovered that monoterpenes inhibited a signaling pathway in breast cancer cells. The same pathway is involved in leukemia. But when Dr. Clark investigated the effect on leukemia he found that perillyl alcohol affected other pathways than it did in breast cancer cells. Clark focused on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). In recent years the drug Gleevac has made great advances in treating CML. Clark theorizes that perillyl alcohol might be useful in treating CML patients who don't respond to Gleevac.
I am still surprised when I realize how much the chemicals in plants affect other animals, including people. It is easy to forget how much we have in common chemically with the plant kingdom. I found myself reacting in initial disbelief when I read recently that cherries are high in melatonin. "But melatonin's our chemical," I wanted to say. "What's a cherry doing with it?" Well of course plants are interested in knowing whether it's light or dark outside, probably even more than people and many plants use melatonin to communicate this.
So should we be so surprised to discover that breathing in the smell of greenery or a forest is good for us, or that the stark landscape of our inner cities is unhealthy?
As usual the version of this article posted to our website contains abstracts of the studies mentioned. In addition there are links to the full text of the graffiti, greenery and obesity article as well as Clark's recent article on leukemia. The website version can be found at: www.DenverNaturopathic.com/news/woodwalking/html
-- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html Address Off-Topic messages to: silver-off-topic-l...@eskimo.com OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@eskimo.com>
