This posting is written for those who love good food, regardless of its ingredients. I read this one on 12/29/2011 — “Alzheimer’s: Diet ‘can stop brain shrinking’” by Helen Briggs.

“Diet affected tests of memory and thinking skills. A diet rich in vitamins and fish may protect the brain from ageing while junk food has the opposite effect, research suggests.

“Elderly people with high blood levels of vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids had less brain shrinkage and better mental performance, a Neurology study found.

“Trans fats found in fast foods were linked to lower scores in tests and more shrinkage typical of Alzheimer’s.

“They found those who had more vitamin B, C, D and E in their blood performed better in tests of memory and thinking skills. People with high levels of omega 3 fatty acids – found mainly in fish – also had high scores. The poorest scores were found in people who had more trans fats in their blood. Trans fats are common in processed foods, including cakes, biscuits and fried foods.”

On 10/7/2011, I read this article from Mayo clinic, “Strength training: Get stronger, leaner, healthier” by Mayo Clinic staff. As always, I shared this article with my children, even though I am not sure if they ever pay any attention to it. I can never over-emphasize the importance of a good health, as I once said, “All things being equal, the person with a strong body and mind will win the race.”

The article states, “Strength training is an important part of an overall fitness program.” Here’s the brief list of benefits.

(1) Use it or lose it. Muscle mass naturally diminishes with age.
(2) It helps develop strong bones.
(3) Control your weight.
(4) Reduce your risk of injury.
(5) Boost your stamina. As you get stronger, you won’t fatigue as easily.
(6) Manage chronic conditions.
(7) Sharpen your focus.

On 10/18/2011, I received the Gravity Defyer Ballistic shoe that I ordered a few days ago. I told my daughter, “This is the most expensive shoe that I have ever bought in my entire life. So this is a record-breaking event.”

When I was at office, some people introduced to me shoes like MBT, Ecco, and Clark. I have never cared about brand name shoe like that, as talks like this often remind me of the shoes that a Chinese friend’s daughter once bought. That girl spent over $100 on a pair of sandal when you can get one for less than $10 a pair and she was only a high school student! Even worse, her mother showed me two pairs of that.

But a few days ago when I was flipping through Discover magazine, I noticed the advertisement of Gravity Defyer Ballistic sneaker. The thing that attracts me is its claim, that is, it could “relieve your foot, ankle, knee, hip and lower back pain.”

Talk about all these pains during my morning walk when I have a full taste of them all! As an exception to my usual stinginess, I decided to treat myself well this time with a pair of pain-killer shoe. And they are on sale with free shipping.

The next morning, 10/19, I jumped out of bed as soon as the alarm rang because I was eager to put on my new shoes and run. That truly gave me a good start for the day. It seems I have got what I paid for, at least psychologically, if that counts.

It was cold and dark when I got up yesterday morning. I hesitated for a while before I got up. I waited for sometime before I stepped out. By the time I was outside, it was very cold, no longer dark though.

I walked and ran for two miles without seeing a soul. In the evening around 6 pm when I took my daughter to bookstore, the store seemed empty.

After we got back home, I mentioned this to my daughter, “Why were there so few people at Barnes & Noble’s?” She was not sure why. I told her my early morning walk. “There were very few people because it was cold and people stay indoor as much as they can. That’s how winter fat is accumulated.”

Indeed, going outside in winter either for a walk or for bookstore seem to be an uncomfortable challenge to many people. That’s where a strong will power plays a key role.

On 9/7/2011, I read a report by The American Cancer Society (ACS). It reveals that while the number of white Americans contracting cancer is decreasing, African Americans remain unchanged, still having the highest cancer rates in America. Even worse is the fact that they are more likely to die of cancer than any other ethnic group.

From my own observations, the main explanation is their low socioeconomic status. There is a heavy overlapping of race and social class in that you find a heavy concentration of blacks in both prisons and among low social class. Very often, a person from poor background postpones seeking medical help when she feels lump in her breast. By the time she shows herself at a doctor’s door, her disease is very often at a late stage and she misses her survival chance.

Another health factor associated with social class is ignorance, that is lack of knowledge of healthy living leading to many avoidable diseases. Once again, the lower the social order, the less likely a person is aware of healthy living.

Alas, how dreadful it is to be poor and sick at the same time! Pick one instead. Better still, be wealthy and healthy!

I read a sad case last Friday evening when I was in Barnes & Noble’s with my daughter.

A woman in her 40s died of lung cancer. Since her youthful years, she drank and smoked, becoming alcoholic with a long smoking history, plus suffering from anorexia.

When young people think they are invincible, they abuse their bodies to the maximum and have to pay a heavy price in later years. This reminds me of a Chinese saying–

Thought for the day.
One late-staged lung cancer patient in her early 40s and her young son were sitting in the exam room, crying most sadly when I stepped in to hand her a copy of informed consent. She has been smoking since teenage years and up to present. My mind was kept there long time after I stepped out of the room. I couldn’t help thinking about the young boy, his loss, the meaning and responsibility of a mother, or the highest level of irresponsibility. No loss is greater than this when a mother fails to take care of herself for her child’s sake. It’s like abandoning your child if you have to cut short your life because of your bad habit, smoking in this case.

Get rid of the bad habit, whatever that is, for those who love you and need you.

On 8/18/2011, a friend of mine called me during lunch break, telling me she started feeling a lot better after she got back to work. She used to feel low when she was home, not without other reasons. Her complaints about her spouse reminded me of a conversation with a relative of mine who had similar experience.

However, instead of making complaints, she told me, “Some men seem to get worse as they age, either in temper or in whatever bad habits they might have. One way to look at this problem is, they become sick as they age, either mentally or psychologically.”

I told my friend, “If you can see him as being sick, you will not take his words for real.” After all, who would fight with a sick person? Nowadays people attach great weight to being healthy. They are also aware that feeling good or being in good mood is very crucial to their health. Yet, without a positive, sunny and cheerful environment, it is hard to maintain a high spirit and to feel good and healthy.

Instead of waiting for others to create this environment for us, I told my friend, it is up to us to create and maintain a positive and wholesome environment for ourselves. Call this win-win deal.

During the month of March, I worked at the location where I first started working at back in 2005, then I left in 2007. I was surprised to see the changes in some of the people that I knew of. One colleague of mine has changed for the better, looking younger and slimmer, while others, more of these, seem double in size, which simply shocked me. Here’s some information on body fat.

People with apple shape tend to have abdominal fat, which may produce substances that contribute to inflammation throughout the body. This is linked to a higher risk of many kinds of disease. And, fat that collects around or near internal organs seems to pose a greater health risk than that which is just beneath the skin.

In general, you’re in risky territory if your waistline measures more than: 40 inches for a man, 35 inches for a woman. You have to figure out a way that work for you to shrink your waistline, if you are at high risk.

It would be cute if this were a little baby’s cutie tummy. We all know it is not.

Yesterday marked the end of 8-week long weight-to-go class. See my posting on 9/16 and 9/17. By the end of the class, we were asked how many pounds we have lost during these eight weeks. The majority reported between one and four pounds. For all these efforts, that meager weight loss really doesn’t make a dent to that extra layer around the middle. So pathetic.

Don’t we already know that weight, like all bad habits, is easy to obtain but hard to get rid of? Now you get the message — make extra effort to avoid putting yourself in that situation in the first place.

Continue from yesterday’s posting on weight to go program. Weight-loss consists of two parts: eating and exercise. Here you can see the excuses for not having exercise.

Exercise traps or excuse:
(1) Would rather watch TV or surf the Internet
(2) Blame the weather, too hot or too cold
(3) “Don’t feel like it today”
(4) It is so boring…
(5) I am tired after a day’s work
(6) Prefer to sleep in instead of getting up early
(7) I got something better to do than this
(8) No time (number one excuse)
And many others… People can cheat themselves with numerous excuses and suffer from the consequence of these excuses.

Avoid the following types:
(1) Meal skipper
(2) Nighttime nibbler
(3) Convenient diner
(4) Fruitless feaster
(5) Steady snacker
(6) Hearty portioner
(7) Swing eater

The new company offers some programs for employees to earn BCBS points, with which you can redeem up to $250. One of the program is called “Weight to go.” It is a very long one provided once a week for 8 weeks during lunch time via Webnar. Below are the notes taken on 8/9/2011.

Eating traps:
There are many circumstances that may lead people to eat more or make poor eating choices. Watch for these moments.
(1) Finishing leftovers, don’t want to waste
(2) Watching TV while eating
(3) Special cravings
(4) Forget to bring lunch
(5) Skipped breakfast
(6) In a hurry or too busy for a healthy cooking
(7) The junk food is just over there
(8) Eating buffets
(9) Work through a meal
(10) Holiday season
(11) It is a party
(12) Need to reward myself with some comfort food
(13) Have not planned meals
(14) Eating while cooking
(15) Eating with a friend

It makes absolutely no sense to toil beyond age 60 and reaching 70 only to find oneself drop sick or even worse drop dead. I am sure in case like this the only beneficiary is U.S. government who does not have to waste a penny on your benefit. What a bless!

Against the advice given by the article, I believe the best strategy is to retire as early as possible, without having to stress out and burn away your life for that meager 30%.

Here’s a simple math: on the one side of equation is stay on till full retirement age + a high probability of poor health with a huge medical bills + 30% retirement benefit; on the other side is early retirement + time to take care of your body with a small medical bill – 30% retirement benefit. See how little that 30% counts?

When you have more time to take care of your dear body, you can have a better chance of living up to 100 and going strong from there. Plus, you can use a small percent of your early retirement benefit to invest and make more money. If your return is greater than 30%, hey, you beat Uncle Sam more than once, while having a good time!

All this is made possible by your total savings. If you are short on savings, too bad you have no choice but to toil till you drop. How dreadful to be poor!

On 9/9/2011, while I was on a teleconference, I saw an article “5 Crucial Questions for Retirees.” The word crucial caught my attention more than anything else, because I want to make sure I have done the right thing all the way. Well, too late if I have not.

The first crucial issue is the time of retirement. The article advices people to stay on their positions till full retirement age, 67 or 70, whichever the government defines, instead of the earliest possible age, that is 62. The argument goes like this. If you start getting social security benefit at the earliest possible age, you only receive 70% of what you would get monthly if you were to stay till full retirement age. You will suffer a “permanent reduction” of your monthly social security benefit for the so-called early retirement.

The argument makes sense if you could live long enough to enjoy the full benefit. This is the key, which, sadly to say, no one can guarantee. When I look at our chemotherapy infusion room, with people in their 60s and 70s and their quality of life, I have no doubt that they would rather retire early and be able to enjoy what little life has left for them, however reduced is their benefit.
To be continued…

Now that my son has started the day-to-day office work in a metropolitan area in New York, I keep sending him, among others, advice on being healthy. Here’s one that I want to share with my readers.

In all kinds of competitions, physical or mental, all other things being equal, victory belongs to he/she who possess extraordinary physical strength. Call it excellent physical condition, prowess, the stamina to go the farthest, the endurance to endure whatever comes, the energy to last the longest.

Hence, keep fit, no matter how busy you are at your work. After all, nothing comes from nothing. Everything comes from a good health, to say the least.

I read this article on BBC on 8/16/2011, “Just 15 minutes of exercise a day can boost life expectancy by three years and cut death risk by 14%, research from Taiwan suggests.” “You can get good gains with relatively small amounts of physical activity. More is always better, but less is a good place to start,” said Prof Stuart Biddle, an expert in exercise psychology at Loughborough University.

On the evening of 8/15, the day before I read this article, I talked to my son over the phone. Now that he is an MIT alumnus, he should start donating to MIT. He doesn’t have to be a big donor at first. A dollar per day and keep the ball rolling. Just like this 15-minute-per-day exercise, the benefit of this good deed will be immense and immeasurable in the long run.

On 4/9/2011, while waiting for my daughter’s drawing lesson, I read an article in Psychology Today, April, 2011 issue and learned some benefits of Caffeine:

(1) Reduces the risk of glioma
(2) Preserve even restore working memory, reduce cognitive decline among senior population
(3) Prevent pain feeling
(4) Boost mood

Hence, sip some coffee occasionally, even if it is bitter and not as good as your favorite tea.

We are all familiar with this Chinese saying goes, that is aging starts from your legs. It makes sense when aging weakens your frame and slows you down. On 1/5/2011, I read an interesting article on the relationship between one’s walk speed and longevity. “Walking Speed Predicts Who Will Live Longer Elderly Who Walk More Slowly May Die Sooner, Analysis Suggests” by LIZ NEPORENT

A research carried out at the University of Pittsburgh found the correlation of walking speed in people 65 or older with expected longevity.

The faster an older person can walk, the longer they can expect to live and, according to the researchers, walking with some pep in your step appears to be a better predictor of who survives than simply looking at someone’s age and sex. Scientists consider how quickly a person walks, when correlated with age and sex, a reflection of their underlying health.

“In fact, speed of movement seems to be linear, with each increase correlating with an increased prediction for years of life,” said the lead researcher Dr. Stephanie Studenski.

18-year-old Cody Johns died of heat stroke last Thursday, 7/21/2011, after working outside all day with his stepfather, who was doing landscaping work for a property-management company. The sun was murderously hot that day with temperature reaching 96 and heat index 112 degree.

On the way to Costco yesterday morning, I asked my daughter, “Do you think the boy was ignorant of the danger of working under excessive heat? That is, did he die of ignorance?”

She has a different view, which I think makes sense. She said, most probably the boy knew it, but he must think heat only hit senior population. He was young and invincible. What a dangerous thought!

I thought of one of my daughter’s classmates. That girl lost both of her parents when she was 5 years old, one died of cancer, the other of heart attack, both gone young, leaving their children to the grandparents.

About two years ago, 7/6/2009, my son left home for Atlanta, Georgia, taking his summer job. Today, he starts his real job. Actually, today is the first day of his job. Talk about time flying!

When he was home in the summer of 2009, he wrote a healthy menu for himself. It has been hanging on the refrigerator door since then. The menu lists like this.

Breakfast: wheat bread/oats
Lunch: chicken and salad
Supper: no bread, no rice (what else ?)
Evening snack: almond/nuts/fruits/vegetable

Now that he has taken this relatively long-term job and enjoyed his carefree bachelor life, far away from home, I wish he can follow his healthy menu at least three times per week.
Good luck on all his efforts.

On 7/14/2010, my son forwarded me an article on Exercise and Sedentary Behavior by Tara Parker-Pope posted on New York Times site.

According to some research, if we lead a sedentary lifestyle, even with daily 30-minute exercise, we are merely ”active couch potatoes.” The damaging physiological consequences of our sedentary behavior are confirmed in a number of recent animal studies, “when rats or mice were not allowed to amble normally around in their cages, they rapidly developed unhealthy cellular changes in their muscles. The animals showed signs of insulin resistance and had higher levels of fatty acids in their blood. Scientists believe the changes are caused by a lack of muscular contractions. If you sit for long hours, you experience no ‘isometric contraction of the antigravity (postural) muscles,’ …Your muscles, unused for hours at a time, change in subtle fashion, and as a result, your risk for heart disease, diabetes and other diseases can rise.”

The bad news is your regular workout sessions do not appear to fully undo the effects of prolonged sitting. What does it mean to us office dwellers? It means, on top of regular daily 30-minute or so exercise, we have to wedge in actual physical moves in between our office sittings. At home, we can move around while watching TV or choose not to sit while surfing the internet. Be creative when it comes to your good health.

Last week, when my son tried to convince my daughter of the benefit of running, he said, “You need to build a foundation now. You will need a good body for the hard work in college.” When did he learn this?

Indeed, these teenage years should be spent in the way so that you will emerge a strong and independent individual with the body ready for the adulthood strive for success. Those are the years for laying a rock-solid foundation in character, mind and body.

On the other hand, when we see some grossly overweight young people, we know the problem started in their early years and has not been well addressed during their teenage years.

Alas, these words have provided so much food for thought for parents.

Ten Steps to Take Charge of Your Emotional Life by Dr. Eve Wood. I read this long ago and had taken some notes. Last weekend, while searching something on old tax return forms, I found a scrap paper with these notes. I like the idea that when it comes to our spiritual and emotional life, it is often a matter of personal choice. And to a great extent, what we choose to believe and to go by decide the quality of our spiritual and emotional health. I am sure some of the readers have read it or part of it. Still, here it is again.

(1) Give thanks — write down three things you are thankful for each day
(2) Help others — practice small acts of kindness
(3) Forgive yourself and others
(4) Love and say it to someone you love
(5) Nurture acceptance, without being judgmental
(6) Study, learn, and expand your awareness, open yourself to the wisdom of ancient times
(7) Cultivate humility and do away with judgment
(8) Don’t criticize, communicate respectfully
(9) Look for the blessing in challenging, painful or difficult situations
(10) Always give the benefit of a doubt — assume the best of others until proven otherwise
(11) Exercise, dance, meditate or do yoga
(12) Paint, draw, sing, garden or write or any form of expression
(13) Feed yourself with good nutrition
(14) Surround yourself with people who believe in you
(15) Nurture hope — where there is a will there is a way. Don’t allow yourself to believe those who tell you otherwise.
(16) Ask for you
(17) Never give up

Yesterday, I participated in the PurpleStride Kansas City 2011 organized by Pancreatic cancer action network, which was a timed 5K (3.1 mile) run/walk & family fun walk, in the area around Gezer Park, 13251 Mission Road, Leawood, KS. The event raised over $85,000, with over 7,000 participants. While I was walking, a few things were turning around in my head.

(1) You cannot slack, otherwise you will be left behind. Sounds familiar? Yes, it is true not only at running field but also at school and at work.

(2) It is actually not that difficult if you want to maintain your current pace and simply follow the crowd. But you must make extra efforts if you want to always surpass the person right before you.

The person in front of me was my immediate goal and I tried all the way to pass them one after another, which is not an easy task. As with everything in life, getting ahead always needs extra will power and effort.

(3) Once you start, there is no turning back. I began to feel tired as I noticed a sign indicating one-mile and I know I must carry on.

(4) Over 80 percent participants were female and I have not seen an Asian face around– something to ponder upon.

I had a wonderful Saturday morning.

On 12/14/2010, after my daughter and I came back from a local library and Whole Foods store, I received a phone call from a friend of mine. I think she called just to chat. She is also a PhD holder in science, currently a high-paid IT professional with a nice house and two children. She told me she felt an emptiness and lost, not knowing what to do with her life. She wanted to hear what I was doing or planning to do, etc. I was very much tempted to say, “You would not feel empty if you were one of those homeless folks at this bitter winter night.” But I refrained from saying anything to this effect. Because that is not the root of or the solution to the problem.

I am not sure if this is winter blues or the so-called mid-life crisis, but I am confident that one would not feel empty if one constantly sets a goal to pursue in life, not in terms of material possession as she is obviously not in need of, but something you want to do to give meaning to your life, whatever meaning you define, as long as it makes sense to you.

I want to share this with my children and my readers so that they will have something to think about when they find themselves in this color mood.

P.S. my daughter went out of town with her school team for a state-level competition yesterday shortly after school. If their team survives state level, they can go national.

On 1/20/2011, a friend of mine from Alabama sent me a PowerPoint document on “Philosophy for old age.” The second part tells how to stay young, the part that we all love. Here’s the ten interesting points which I am going to share with my mother and my friends, old and young.

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay ‘them’
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever… Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8.Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER : Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

On the Christmas evening, 12/25/2010, we went to a friend’s house for Christmas gathering, a nice social interactions, though the bigger children might thought it better to spend time on computer.

Before I went to bed that night, I picked up the recent Time magazine and found a short report in Lab Report section — “Happiness Is Other People.”

Its main idea is church going people are happier not because of their faith but because of “rich networks of church-based friends.” That makes sense when we explains why some non-churchgoing people register equal level of happiness as churchgoers because they have their circle of friends.

Remember friends can make you happy.

On 12/11, while waiting for my daughter’s art class, I read the following from Time magazine. Some of them are known facts.

*Pathological web surfing triggers depression
*Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the US, each year claiming more women than men.

*To stay healthy, shake off the salt
*Bedbugs are on the rise. Some of the solutions include reducing clutter, sealing cracks and crevices, vacuuming often, drying the infected clothes

*50% extent of greater odds that people with strong social connections will live longer than those with weak ones.

On 10/30/2010, I read an article in Discover magazine, November 2010 issue, “Reckless Medicine” by Jeanne Lenzer.

There are some shocking news…
“A panel in 2007 by the prestigious Institute of Medicine estimated that ‘well below half’ of the procedures doctors perform and the decisions they make surgeries, drugs, and tests have been adequately investigated and shown to be effective. The rest are based on a combination of guesswork, theory and tradition, with a strong dose of marketing by drug and device companies.”

“Doctors are often as much in the dark as their patients when they implant new devices (like surgical mesh), perform surgeries or write prescriptions.

“According to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report published in 2001, more than 770,000 Americans are injured or die each year from drug complications, including unexpected side effects, some of which might have been avoided if somebody had conducted the proper research.

“A 2002 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 87% of guideline authors received industry funding and 59% were paid by the manufacturers of a drug affected by the guidelines they wrote.”

You would expect people to feel fresh and energetic after a long holiday break. Very often, the opposite is true. Hence, it is time to think of the ways to gain back energy and stay away from fatigue.

When you do not have the luxury of resting your tired feet on couch all day long, you have to actively fight fatigue. Specifically, engage in walking after work instead of clinging to your couch.

A study done by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) a few years ago found a proven link between physical fitness and mental health and well-being. The conclusion is exercise is deemed generally beneficial for the emotional health of people of all ages and both sexes. Other studies have yielded similar conclusion.

Better than this, research has found that as people increased their physical fitness, enhanced physical stamina and mental alertness, they also improved their self-esteem, feeling better about themselves and developing a more optimistic, energetic frame of mind.

Exercise is especially beneficial to those who suffer from chronic fatigue during daytime. These people will see an increase in their daytime energy level if they take regular exercise like walking.

A day after New Year, I find it following spirit of the festive mood to post this topic on singing and health. While I was home during the last week of the year, I read an article by BBC health correspondent Dominic Hughes, “Singing your heart out this Christmas is good for you… Carol singers Singing along to some carols this Christmas will help your physical and mental well being.”

“…belting out “Hark! the herald angels sing” or your own unique interpretation of “I will survive” will not just lift the spirits – it’s good for your physical health as well.”

First of all, singing is an exercise of lungs, an aerobic activity beneficial to the heart, “increasing the heart rate and getting blood pumping round the body faster can all help our physical health.”

Secondly, singing lifts up your spirit, reduces stress and relaxes tension, brings joy to all and contributes to your longevity.

Thirdly, singing is like dancing. It is a form of self-expression which helps boost up our self-esteem.

There are many studies on the impact of singing on our body. We don’t need to dig into these findings to know these benefits. Hence, always keep a tune in your mouth and give it a joyful expression whenever you feel like it.

I spent my first Christmas in Waco, Texas in 1984. Yes, the year sounds like a century ago. Still, I remember clearly many TV commercials around that time, most of which were related to weight loss and diet programs. I watched with a huge amusement so many over-weight people jumping around in one of the TV weight loss commercials. I was wondering why they had eaten themselves into that shape in the first place. As the years went by, I got used to seeing large-size people in my daily life and my curiosity is no more.

This year, in the similar holiday tradition, many articles cropped out in the internet on this topic. Here’s a short and sweet one, “7 Foods that Speed Weight Loss,” written by Lucy Danziger, the Editor-in-Chief of SELF magazine, on Nov 24, 2010. I am sure it works if we don’t overstretch the list.

(1) cheese
(2) almonds
(3) coffee, no sugar and milk
(4) peppers
(5) green tea
(6) eggs
(7) portobello mushrooms

On 10/2, a Saturday afternoon, while waiting for my daughter’s art lesson, I read an article from Discover, a magazine we used to subscribe when my son was home. There is an article called “Laugh Well, Live Well” on its October 2010 issue. Here’s what I read and hopefully it will motivate people to laugh more if they want to lose weight.

“A good laugh may be the next-best thing to a workout. Researchers have long known that laughter boosts the immune system, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, and reduces stress.” A study led by Lee Berk, a psychoneuroimmunologist, shows that the parallels between laughing and exercise go even further: shifts in appetite hormones following a case of the giggles resemble the effects of a moderate session at the gym.”

“People’s ghrelin concentrations spiked after the funny session, just like after a workout.” Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the body that stimulates appetite. Elevated level of ghrelin signal the brain that the body is using energy and will soon need more fuel.”

Now one more reason to bellow out that good hearty laughter.

Don’t walk if you can run;
Don’t stand if you can walk;
Don’t sit if you can stand;
Don’t lie down if you can sit.

This is what I keep telling my daughter when she is sick. It is true in times of illness, so is it in its absence.

Last Friday I helped a doctor consent a middle-aged patient for her participation in an adjuvant TC/TAC/TCB breast trial. When we explained to the patient the possible adverse events in the course of treatment, patient couldn’t help crying, afraid of going through the ordeal. Her face revealed a deep-seated worry and concern.

After her consent, I told her, “Breast cancer has the highest survival rate. Cheer up. It will help you get better if you can keep an upbeat spirit.” She smiled unwillingly.

Later back home, I told my bedridden daughter, “When disease strikes you down, your attitude is very crucial. You will get better quickly if you stay positive and actively engage in recovery.” I shared this real life story with my daughter.

I once had an acquaintance who was in her early 50s. She fell and suffered some bone fracture and couldn’t walk. Hence, she was on wheelchair for a long time. After sometime, the physical therapist worked with her so that she could be back on her feet again. But she could not stand the ache and pain here and there and never had the strong will to walk again. At times, she hated life on wheelchair. Before year was out, she died of liver failure, probably from overdrinking or overdosing or despair or lack of will to live.

I am sure the story would end up differently if she had a positive attitude toward a fracture.