Tunnel Vision

Given that vision is the most important of the five senses, healthy aging means the ability to maintain your functional vision as you continue to age. One of the problems of the aging eye is the development of tunnel vision.

Tunnel vision is impaired peripheral vision. Your peripheral vision is critical to your everyday life, such as driving, walking, and engaging in activities at work and at home. Peripheral vision is side vision. When you were young, you had sharp peripheral vision. Unfortunately, as you grow older, you tend to lose much of your peripheral vision due to concentration with a fixed gaze straight in front of you. The good news is that you can improve and enhance your peripheral vision.

1.     Hold two pencils, one in each hand, about 12 inches in front of your eyes.

2.  Look straight ahead, past the pencils, into the distance. It is important that you only notice the pencils, but without directly looking at them.

3. Now, you move your pencils in different directions, such as clockwise, anticlockwise, downwards and upwards.

4.    Continue to look into the distance, while noticing the movements of the pencils.

It is important that you allow your side vision to come into focus naturally without effort. Practice your peripheral vision while you walk, drive, read, or engage in any physical activity, with your eyes looking straight ahead of you. Practice your peripheral vision as often as you can to avoid developing tunnel vision that may affect your healthy aging.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Marriage and Money

 

LOVE AND MONEY WISDOM

The wisdom of love

If you feel gratitude for those you love and for those who love you, you‘ll be happy.

If you appreciate what you now have, you’ll not feel the lack.

If you love and forgive yourself totally (only you can do that, and no one can do that for you), you’ll learn to let go of the past and move forward with your happiness.

The wisdom of love will give you the energy within for you to do anything and everything in every aspect of your life to give you happiness.

The wisdom of love and money

If you want to marry rich, do you think of love first, or the one you’re going to marry?

If you’re rich, does your loved one love you or your money? The rich and the wealthy, due to their ego, often don’t really care.

If you aren’t rich, do you love an individual irrespective of that individual’s abundance or lack?

There’re no definitive answers to all of the above questions. True and genuine love is unconditional, which is loving someone with or without money, and love is priceless.

The bottom line

Money cannot buy love, and love cannot buy money—that’s the reality. But love is hardly disconnected from the reality of living in the material world that involves money. And that’s also the reality.

So, you must focus on your own core values, such as honesty, integrity, love, compassion, generosity, and gratitude, among others. Your core values have little to do with money; instead, they demonstrate the values of what life has to offer, and not the values of things purchased with money. Your core values affect how you may live for the rest of your life, including with your marriage partner.

So, look at love and money from your own perspectives, such that you’ll not end up only loving money, and not its wisdom.

Getting Married to Make You Happy?

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Immune System

 

MY MYASTHENIA GRAVIS

All About . . . .

Myasthenia gravis is one of the many autoimmune diseases, which, according to contemporary Western medicine, offer no known cure, except controlling or suppressing their many disease symptoms.

This book is based on the author's own experience of battling against his myasthenia gravis: how he stopped all his medications through a holistic approach to controlling and managing the disease. This book provides insight and well-researched information that he would like to share with those who are afflicted with myasthenia gravis or any other autoimmune disease.

Albert Einstein once said: "There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle." Believe in the miracle of self-healing. Healing comes only from within, and not from any external source. Every individual should avail every opportunity to initiate the self-healing process, which is innate in the human body. Just believing in the miracle of self-cure, however, is not enough; you must also empower yourself with knowledge and information to overcome myasthenia gravis through a holistic approach to the wellness of the body, the mind, and the spirit.

This book covers every aspect of holistic health to cope with autoimmunity: body detox, diet, lifestyle changes, exercises for muscle weakness, and mental relaxation techniques for vision problems associated with myasthenia gravis. "The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope. That is why the patient's hopes are the physician's secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any prescription." (Norman Cousins) Find your own ingredients in your prescription for a cure of your myasthenia gravis.

The above is what this book is all about. Click here to get your copy from AMAZON.

The  Outline of the Book . . . .

CHAPTER ONE: AUTOIMMUNITY

AUTOIMMUNITY
Autoimmune Diseases
What are the potential causes?
Who are more at risk?
THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
The Cellular Health
How Body Cells May Become Damaged
The Damages by Free Radicals
Boosting Immunity
Protecting the Immune System

CHAPTER TWO: MY STORY

MYASTHENIA GRAVIS
MY STORY
My Conditions
My Treatment
My Rude Awakening
The Road to Self-Healing

CHAPTER THREE: UNDERSTANDING SELF-HEALING

THE MIRACLE OF SELF-HEALING
THE ESSENTIALS OF SELF-HEALING
The Power of the Mind
Changing the Subconscious Mind to Heal
Optimizing Subliminal Messages

CHAPTER FOUR: STEP 1 - STOP ALL DANGEROUS DRUGS

NO CURE FOR AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
Steroid Therapy
The Dangers of Drugs
Take control of your health and escape the sickness industry

CHAPTER FIVE: STEP 2 - INTERNAL CLEANSING

A TOXIC BODY 
Sources of Toxins
Common Symptoms of a Toxic Body
INTERNAL CLEANSING
Different Ways of Detoxification
Fasting to detoxify
Skin brushing to detoxify
Foot patches to detoxify
Hydrotherapy to detoxify
Exercise to detoxify
Foods to detoxify
Herbs to detoxify

CHAPTER SIX: STEP 3 - FOODS AS MEDICINE

USE FOODS TO BALANCE ACID-ALKALINE LEVELS TO HEAL THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Acidification
Sources of acidification
Diseases caused by acidification
Symptoms of excess acidification
Measuring acid-alkaline levels
Foods to balance acid-alkaline levels
FOLLOW THE BASICS OF EATING FOR A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
Eating to Live, Not Living to Eat
Eating Less, Not More
Eating Frequently, Not Three Time a Day
Eating Living Foods, Not Dead Foods
Eating Sea Salt, Not Table Salt
Eating No Refined Sugar
Eating Raw Occasionally
Chewing Thoroughly
Smart Cooking
FOODS FOR THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Chlorella
Wheat Grass
FOODS TO BOOST THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Apples
Brown Rice
Garlic
Sea Vegetables
Sweet Potatoes and Yams
DRINK TO HEAL THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Burdock and Daikon Drink
Four Greens Drink
Pine Needles Drink
FOODS FOR BALANCE AND HARMONY
The Yin and Yang Diet
The Five Elements
FOODS TO AVOID FOR PROTECTION OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Sugar
Suggested sugar replacements for healthy eating for a healthy immune system
Dairy Products
Soy

CHAPTER SEVEN: STEP 4 - LIFESTYLE CHANGES TO HEAL

CIGARETTE SMOKING
The Health Hazards
Secondhand smoke
Quitting the Habit
ALCOHOL DRINKING
Beer Drinking
STRESS
Understanding the Causes of Stress in Your Life
Ways to Handle Stress
Stress Management
Perceptions of stress
Long-term measures to manage stress
Manage stress the Chinese way
Dealing with Life’s Problems

CHAPTER EIGHT: STEP 5 - RELAXATION TO BOOST IMMUNITY

STRESS
Signs and Symptoms of Stress
SLEEP
OTHER RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
Deep Relaxation
Meditation
How to meditate
How to breathe right to meditate and to relax
Mind Aerobics
Color Therapy
Mental Attention
Intense presence of the mind
Mind training to focus on the present moment

CHAPTER NINE: STEP 6 - OVERCOME MUSCLE WEAKNESS

MUSCLE WEAKNESS
Yoga
Qi Gong
YOGA ROUTINE FOR MUSCLE STRENGTH
CHAPTER TEN: STEP 7 - OVERCOME VISION PROBLEMS
WEAK EYE MUSCLES
DOUBLE VISION
EYE RELAXATION
Relax the Body to Relax the Eye
Self-Massage to Relax the Eye
Facial and eye massage
Rub the eye
Acupressure for eye massage and eye relaxation
Eye Exercises to Relax the Eye
Regular eye relaxation
Palming to relax the eye
The "8" eye exercise for relaxation and flexibility
The Taoist squeeze-and-open eye exercise for blood circulation to relax the eye
Learning how to blink
Yawning to cleanse and relax the eye
Stretching eye muscles for relaxation
Strengthening Vision
CHAPTER ELEVEN: FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM
BIBLIOGRAPHY



MY MYASTHENIA GRAVIS

How You Age

THE DIFFERENT THEORIES OF AGING

Scientists have come up with different theories explaining why and how you age.

The free radical theory of aging

This theory is based on the damage of cells due to cumulative free radicals, leading to disease and, ultimately, death.

Free radicals are molecules within the human cells. Due to regular oxidation (e.g. breathing), and other environmental factors (e.g. tobacco smoke), these molecules become damaged and unstable, and begin to affect other healthy cells close by, creating many more similar unstable free radicals, and thus initiating a chain reaction of cell damage by free radicals.

Damaged cells lead to disease and ultimate death.

This theory implies that antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, and E, which reduce the formation of free radicals, not only slow down the aging process, but also prevent disease.

The genetic theory of aging

This theory is based on the pre-programming of human genes to induce aging and death—your Creator ensures that you will not be immortal. Therefore, aging is not the consequence of wear and tear over the years. The fact of the matter is that you are not meant to live forever.

Other than disease and other environmental factors, there is no great variation in the lifespan of humans, and this may partially explain the role of genes in aging.

The hormone theory of aging

This theory is based on the gradual changes in the human body due to the decline and degeneration of the endocrine system, which is responsible for producing hormones to regulate many body functions and processes. Changes in the human hormone production, such as menopause, account for the changes responsible for aging.

There is no scientific evidence that hormone replacement will in fact increase human lifespan. So, think twice before you decide on a hormone replacement therapy.

The immunity theory of aging

This theory is based on the failure of the immune system to give adequate protection against contaminants, viruses, and stress, among other agents contributing to a weakened or compromised immune system.

This theory attests to the important role of the immune system in longevity health and overall wellness.

The rate of living theory of aging

This theory is based on the rate of breathing: faster oxygen metabolism leads to a shorter lifespan. In the animal kingdom, rodents, with the fastest heartbeats have the shortest lifespan, while tortoises with the slowest breaths live the longest.

This theory vindicates that breathing right is one of the key factors in longevity in humans. Learning to breathe right is critical to remaining younger and healthier for longer.

To sum up, the human aging process is best explained not by one single theory but by a combination of these theories.

The truth of the matter is that you age, just like everyone else. The point in question is how you can delay that aging process, making you younger and healthier for longer—or, at least, not making you age more quickly than you are supposed to.

                   

Unfortunately, many of us have fallen victims to the so-called Accelerated Aging Syndrome.

Potentials for accelerated aging

According to Steven Masley, M.D., the former medical director of the Pritikin Longevity Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, you may have the potentials for accelerated aging, if you have just any three of the following:

• A fast blood sugar level of more than 100 mg/dl

• A blood pressure higher than 130/85

• A waist larger than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men

• Good cholesterol level (HDL) less than 40 mg/dl for men, and 50mg/dl for women

• Triglyceride (a certain type of fat in your blood) levels greater than 150 mg/dl.

Factors contributing to accelerated aging

There are several factors that increase the predisposition to accelerated aging:

·        Your diet: you are what you eat, and you become what you eat.

• Your lifestyle: life on the fast lane often leads to faster aging.

• Your physical inactivity: or immobility brings about stagnation and degeneration.

• Your stress: stress kills your brain cells, predisposing you to accelerated aging.

“The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” Lucille Ball

THE TAO OF LIVING LONGER

YOUNGER AND HEALTHIERFOR LONGER

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Be Wise to Live Longer

the wisdom of centenarians

The Ancient Centenarian: Luigi Cornaro

Luigi Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman, was one of the most celebrated centenarians, who lived from 1464 to 1566 AD.

In his youth, Luigi had abused his health with a lifestyle of wantonness and excess, resulting in an extremely weak constitution, accompanied by many physical ailments.

At the age of thirty-five, he was given up by his physicians to die. Luigi’s physicians prescribed a temperate lifestyle as the only way to end his suffering and preserve his very fragile life. That temperate lifestyle was essentially the exercise of self-restraint or self-discipline in relation to diet and drink for calorie restriction. His physician recommended for him a diet consisting of only twelve ounces a day of solid foods of bread, a vegetable soup with tomato, an egg yolk, and a little meat, divided into two meals, and fourteen ounces of pure grape juice, also divided into two servings.

He lived on that minimal diet of calorie restriction from age thirty-five until eighty-five, when his relatives began to urge him to eat a little more since he was getting old and he required more physical strength and stamina. Complying with and succumbing to their well wishes and importunities, Luigi reluctantly agreed to increase his food intake from twelve to fourteen ounces. Immediately, he became seriously ill with high fever. Eventually, Luigi had the longevity wisdom to revert to his former anti-aging living with a diet of calorie restriction. As a result, he lived in a state of unbroken health and happiness until the age of one hundred and two.

Luigi was famous for his longevity living in relation to calorie restriction. He expressed his wisdom in his discourse when he was in his eighties and nineties. His wisdom has been an inspiration for more than five centuries. His longevity wisdom was simple and down-to-earth: never overeat; avoid environmental stress, such as extreme heat and cold; and avoid extreme fatigue, and interruption of sleep.

The bottom line: you don't have to eat such a low-calorie diet of Luigi in order to live long; just eat less, and eat only when you are hungry.

The Contemporary Centenarian: Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, from Japan, turned 104 recently, and he is one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators. Since 1941, he has been healing patients at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke's College of Nursing. He has published around 15 books since his 75th birthday, including his bestseller "Living Long, Living Good."

As the founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life with the following wisdom he would like to share with all:

·  Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara stresses the importance of not becoming overweight.

·    For breakfast, Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara drinks coffee, milk, and orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil, which is for healthy arteries and healthy skin. For lunch, he drinks milk with a few cookies. For dinner, he eats vegetables, a bit of fish and rice, and, sometimes some lean meat.

· He always keeps himself busy with a full schedule ahead. He recommends that any retirement should be a lot later than 65.

·       He shares what he knows—one of the reasons why he is still working and teaching. When he teaches, he always stands to stay strong.

·       He recommends having a second thought or always seeking a second opinion whenever a doctor recommends a test, a procedure, or a surgery.

·      He believes that doctors cannot cure everyone. Instead, he believes in music and animal therapy. 

·     He recommends taking the stairs and carrying your own stuff to stay healthier and younger for longer.

·  He uses doing fun things to forget his pain, both physical and emotional.

·    He recommends letting go of all material things because nobody knows when his or her number is up, and nothing can be taken to the next place.

·  He believes that each person is unique, and illness is therefore individualized. But medical science lumps all and sundry together; an individual should understand why he or she is sick, and not the doctor. Science alone cannot cure or help you; you must learn to help yourself.

·     He believes that life is always filled with unpredictable incidents. So, be prepared.

·       He stresses the importance of finding a role model to help with setting life goals and life purposes.

·      He believes that energy comes from doing good and feeling good, and not from good food or good sleep.

·   To Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, it is always wonderful to live long, and he loves every minute of it.

YOU JUST DON’T DIE!

YOUNGER AND HEALTHIER FOR LONGER

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Changing Your Emotions

 Help your marriage by changing your emotions and feelings as well as those of your marriage partner.

Emotions and feelings are two sides of the same coin. They’re closely related to each other, but they’re different in that emotions create biochemical reactions in the body, affecting the physical state, while feelings are more mental associations and reactions to emotions.

Harmony and Disharmony

According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we all have qi (氣), which is the internal life-giving energy circulating within each of us, giving us internal balance and harmony. Emotions are energy states, which may either contribute to or deplete our own internal life-giving energy, causing harmony or disharmony, and thus leading to positive or negative emotions and feelings.

Diseases and disorders

The truth of the matter is that any “excessive” emotion or feeling may become the underlying cause of many health issues.

Dr. Caroline B. Thomas, M.D., of John Hopkins School of Medicine, discovered that cancer patients often had a prior poor relationship with their parents, attesting to the pivotal role of emotions in the development of cancer.

In another study by Dr. Richard B. Shekelle of the University of Texas School of Medicine, it was found that depression patients were not only more cancer prone but also more likely to die of cancer than the other patients. If emotions play a pivotal role in cancer, by the same token, negative feelings may also adversely affect the symptoms or the prognosis of any human disease. Thoughts and feelings of anger, despair, discontent, frustration, guilt, or resentment are instrumental in depressing the physiological processes, including the human body’s immune response—a formula for promoting the development of an autoimmune disease.

So, an unhappy marriage may negatively affect your mental and physical health.

The seven emotions

According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), there’re seven emotions which are the underlying causes of many internal diseases, and these emotions are: anger, anxiety, fear, fright, joy, sadness, and worry. Because Chinese medicine is all about internal balance and harmony, these seven emotions may even affect different human body organs. For example, excessive anger impairs the liver, causing headaches, while even excessive joy dysfunctions the heart, leading to mania and mental disorders.

Anger

Anger or rage is an ineffective and inefficient way to resolve any issue or to make any problem go away. Anger is a disruptive emotion that may often lead to depression, and worse, the breakup of a marriage or a love relationship, especially if the anger isn’t properly addressed and controlled.

So, how to change your disruptive emotion of anger or rage?

Take a deep diaphragm breath, and just feel your anger as you breathe in.

Look at your anger in your mind. Then review the situation, and ask yourself one simple question: Can your anger change the situation or anything?

Accept that you’re now angry, and then breathe it out. If necessary, use your arm like a sword cutting through your feelings of rage, while saying: “I can see my anger: it is as it was!”

Don’t hold your anger in; instead, let it go, by breathing it out. Don’t let it go as pain; instead, let it go as your acceptance. But your acceptance should be viewed not as a sign of your own weakness but as a statement of your own communication to yourself that getting angry will never solve the problem anyway or right away.

Then, remind yourself that anger is always present to serve a purpose to release some deeper issues, problems, and internal conflicts that you may be carrying in your own bag and baggage all these years. It’s always better to release anger than to turn it around to destroy yourself.

But suppressing your anger is also self-destructive, as the negative energy redirects itself back into your own body. Anger is always a path of destruction. Resolve anger by developing habits that may release internal conflicts in a constructive manner before it can be released as rage.

An illustration

Donna Alexander, the creator of the “Anger Room” in Chicago, first thought of the idea as a teenager living in Chicago. Having witnessed much domestic violence and many conflicts at school as a teenager, Donna Alexander finally decided to create a space where anyone can lash out without serious consequences. While at the “Anger Room,” the guests, after paying a fee, are given a safe space to unleash their anger and rage by smashing and destroying objects, such as glasses or even a TV. In addition, the room can also be set up to look like an office or a kitchen, where anger often becomes totally uncontrollable.

Angry No More: A new book on how to control and eradicate your anger.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Death and Emptiness

 

Death and Emptiness

Death empties anything and everything—that is, the ego and all its attachments to the material world. Emptiness is nothingness in which everything becomes nothing.

For all human efforts, death will come in the end, and this is the way of all flesh.

An illustration

Ernest Hemingway’s famous novel A Farewell to Arms may show you one perspective of death and emptiness:

“Once in camp I put a log on top of the fire and it was full of ants. As it commenced to burn, the ants swarmed out and went first toward the center where the fire was; then turned back and ran toward the end. When there were enough on the end they fell off into the fire. Some got out, their bodies burnt and flattened, and went off not knowing where they were going. But most of them went toward the fire and then back toward the end and swarmed on the cool end and finally fell off into the fire. I remember thinking at the time that it was the end of the world and a splendid chance to be a messiah and lift the log off the fire and throw it out where the ants could get off onto the ground. But I did not do anything but threw a tin cup of water on the log, so that I would have the cup empty to put whiskey in before I added water to it. I think the cup of water on the burning log only steamed the ants.”

The hero in the story was observing how the ants were swarming back and forth on a log on top of a fire in a futile attempt at survival—just like God watching over mankind’s stubborn struggle to refuse letting go of the impermanent in the material world. Instead of acting as a messiah to help the ants, the hero simply emptied a tin cup of water so that he could have his own whiskey.

The hero’s attitude to death is also a reflection of the author’s own perspective of man’s ultimate fate: death happens no matter how hard one strives to avoid it, and anything and everything then simply become nothing.

Sadly and tragically, author Ernest Hemingway—essentially an atheist, although initially a Catholic—shot himself with a gun when he realized that anything and everything in his life were really nothing after all in spite of all his accomplishments. With his perspective of nothingness, he had lost hope of human existence, including his own. 

Another illustration

Francis of Assisi, the Italian Saint who chose a life of poverty in spite of his family’s wealth, said on his deathbed: “Death will open the door of life.”  He died gracefully, while singing.

To Francis, death or emptiness is everything. Maybe for a believer, death is, indeed, a triumph, a meaningful exodus from this mundane world to the eternal world beyond. The emptiness is just a rite of passage to everything.

Revelation

For a non-believer, life may have little meaning at all, when the end is near, because everything will become nothingness when death strikes in the end. Without God, Hemmingway viewed life as everything is nothing, despite all his fame and accomplishments, and he thus killed himself.

For a believer, the nothingness brought by death may then become everything in the life to come, and that explains why Francis of Assisi was singing on his deathbed.

So, there're only two options. If you're a believer, you could sing with joy while lying on your deathbed, just like St. Francis of Assisi. If you are an unbeliever, you would just pass away and become nothingness, just like Ernest Hemingway.

So, now that the end is near it may also be the right time to be spiritual, and to become a true believer. But how to become a believer?

Angry No More: A new book on how to control and eradicate your anger.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

 

The TAO in Everything

 

The TAO is the profound wisdom of Lao Tzu, the ancient sage from China more than 2,600 years ago. as 

The TAO has thrived and survived thousands of years for a good reason: what was applicable in the past is still applicable in the present; what was true in the past is still true today. Another testament to this universal truth is that "Tao Te Ching"-- the only book written by Lao Tzu -- is one of the most translated books in world literature -- probably only after the Bible.

The TAO is easy to understand but most controversial. The explanation is that there is no absolute truth about human wisdom, which is all about self-intuition and self-enlightenment. That is to say, your mind is uniquely yours, and your thinking is your own thinking.

The TAO plays a pivotal role in every aspect of your life. With wisdom, you will see the TAO in everything, including the following:

Don't Die     Letting Go    Immune System    Golden Years    Cancer Cure   Yin Yang

No Depression   Healthier Younger   Miracle Living   Money Wisdom    Living Life

Prayers Unanswered   Happiness Wisdom  Nothing Everything   Healthy Pregnancy

Aging Revelation   Marriage Divorce   Deadly Sins   See Better  Biblical Wisdom

No Ego

Go to: TAO in Everyday Life.

Thyroid and Vision Health

Eye diseases are not the only conditions that can have a negative effect on our eyes. Sometimes other diseases and disorders in the body can cause problems for our vision.

A thyroid problem may cause involuntary weight fluctuation as well as vision problems.

The thyroid uses iodine that has been consumed by you to store hormones, which are then released into the bloodstream as necessary to various parts and cells in the body.

The thyroid releases two types of hormones (T3 and T4). When the body is in need of more or less of these two hormones, the brain will send out another hormone to alert the thyroid that there is an imbalance in the T3 and T4 hormones.

When the two thyroid hormones are not balanced, they can cause lots of trouble for your body.

Often these imbalances stem from poor communication between the brain and the thyroid. This is when weight gain begins. Thyroid problems are often associated with weight gain, but can be linked to numerous other hormone related issues.

When the eye muscles are attacked, it causes the tissue around the eyes to swell and become inflamed. This can lead to several other symptoms: redness; eye and eyelid pain; puffiness around the eyes; extreme dry eye; bulging eyes.

At least 30 million Americans have a thyroid disorder and half—15 million—are silent sufferers who are undiagnosed, according to The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Are you one of those?

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Healthy Pregnancy

 

All About . . . .

Pregnancy is a nine-month period during which a baby develops and becomes a human being. The mother-to-be and the father-to-be have many dos and don'ts in order to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy. This book provides not only a list of all the dos and don'ts, but also all the whys and why nots because as a mother you would like to know why there are certain things you should do and why there are things you should not do to guarantee a safe and healthy pregnancy.

This book is concise with a holistic approach to a safe and healthy pregnancy through the mind, the body, and the spirit.

Click here to get your copy.

An Excerpt from the Book . . . .

THE PRE-PREGNANCY

Pregnancy is more than just nine months; it is a lifelong project that requires adequate preparation to ensure better results.
   
The Dos

Do physical checkup first for both you and your partner. (why: to resolve all health issues and problems, e.g. chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.).

Do blood tests to check your immunity to German measles (why: it can cause malformations in the baby) and chicken pox (why: immunization before conception if you have not had it before); to check your antibodies from toxoplasmosis (why: an infection that may affect conception and pregnancy).

Do discuss medical conditions with your doctor: previous pregnancy problems, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, premature baby; genetic disorders in family; current prescribed medications.

Do dental checkup (why: gum diseases may lead to premature birth), and dental work (why: avoiding filling or extraction during pregnancy).

Do weight management (why: overweight may lead to diabetes and high blood pressure during pregnancy; underweight may result in a small baby, problems during labor, and after birth).

Do find out your ideal weight: to determine that, you need to know your height, and weight, as well as your waist size (i.e. your waist circumference between your rib cage and above your belly button). A waistline of 35 inches or more for most women may indicate overweight.

Do find out your Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a measure of your body fat based on your weight and height. Your BMI is determined by this formula: BMI = (body weight in pounds) divided by (body height in inches x body height in inches) multiplied by (703). To illustrate, if you are 5’11” tall and you weigh 165 pounds, your BMI will be: (165/71x71) x 703 = 23   The BMI numbers have the following implications:

Any BMI that falls between 19 and 24.9 is considered ideal and healthy.

Any BMI that is below 18.5 is considered underweight.

Any BMI that ranges from 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight; any BMI that is above 30 is considered obese.

You should be within 15 pounds of your ideal weight before pregnancy, and that also applies to your partner (why: an overweight partner may have decreased testosterone leading to depressed libido).

Do birth control until you are ready for pregnancy. Hormonal contraception may take months for fertility to return to normal. Natural family planning is the way to go.

Do boost nutrients for a healthy pregnancy. Important nutrients include the following:

Calcium (why: avoiding back and leg pain, insomnia, and irritability)-eat figs and raw leeks.

Folic acid (why: avoiding structural defects) -- eat chives. Chives are a nutrient-dense food low in calories but high in nutrients. Always use a sharp knife to cut chives (why: avoid bruising the herb), and add chives to any dish near the end of cooking (why: avoid losing its flavor).

Iron (why: healthy growth of baby) -- eat chives.

Magnesium (why: cellular development; over-coming early pregnancy discomfort, such as constipation) -- eat chives.

Manganese (why: baby’s normal skeletal development) -- eat raw leeks.

Vitamin B6 (why: avoiding nausea and morning sickness; metabolizing proteins, carbohydrates, and fats) -- eat raw leeks.

Vitamin C (why: proper absorption of iron) -- eat fresh fruits and vegetables.

Vitamin K (why: healthy bone growth and proper blood-clot formation) -- eat raw leeks.

All the above nutrients and vitamins are especially important not only for pre-pregnancy but also for the first trimester of pregnancy.

Do get sufficient sleep (why: research has shown that the more sleep you get,  the less time of labor may ensue; getting less than 5 hours of sleep may even increase the chance of having a C-section for delivery. Do set a schedule for your sleeping hours to help your body get on a set schedule of sleep. Do go to bed earlier.

Do take herbs to increase fertility (why: drink clover flower tea and nettle tea to increase female fertility).

Do avoid unpasteurized milk and blue-veined cheeses.

Do cook all your food thoroughly.

Do help your partner to enhance his fertility. According to a Danish study, overweight men have fewer sperms. According to State University of New York, placing laptop computers on laps may decrease sperms (why: due to accumulation of heat). Certain drugs on men’s hair loss, high blood pressure, and ulcers may also affect the quality of sperms. Do increase his intake of folic acid, vitamin C, and zinc to enhance the quality of sperms.
   
The Don’ts

Don’t start a teenage pregnancy (why not: pregnancy between age 15 and 19 may result in many emotional traumas, such as difficulty in keeping up with peers, financial problems, and health and life challenges).

Don’t contact mold (why not: harmful to fetus, leading to birth defects, such as paralysis, developmental problems, and even miscarriage).

Don’t eat bacteria-harboring foods (why not: increasing the chance of developing food-borne infections during preconception stage and in a developing embryo).

Don’t stress out, develop anxiety or depression in pre-pregnancy stage.

Don’t eat raw, such as sushi, raw clams, and oysters.

Don’t eat undercooked meat and eggs (why not: avoiding bacteria growth; do refrigerate food below 40°F/4°C).

Don’t take certain herbs (why not: some herbs, such as echinacea, ginkgo biloba, and Saint-John’s wort may prevent conception).


THE DOS AND DON'TS DURING PREGNANCY

Overcome the Computer Stress

Using computers is a way of life, and only few of us can do without a computer in our daily lives.

Using video display terminals (VDTs) on a regular basis will inevitably lead to computer visual stress. Prolonged VDT use causes two common eye problems: focusing and eye coordination. Other side effects may include: headaches, blurring of images, and eyestrain.

Computer visual stress takes a great toll on the eye with respect to the following:

·       Binocularity (using both eyes together)

·       Convergence (bringing the eyes together at close range)

·       Eye accommodation (focusing)

·       Shifting (eye movement skill)

Computer-induced visual stress is a common workplace problem, which is manifested in nearsightedness, eyestrain, eye focusing difficulties, changes in color perception, double vision, and general stress.

Optimizing the Computer System

Be aware of how information appears on your computer screen, and adjust your tracking and scanning visual skills accordingly.

The characters on your computer screen should be 10 times brighter than the screen background.

The lighting of the room should be three times brighter than the computer screen background.

The character size should be appropriate: approximately 80 characters per line with 25 lines per screen.

The VDT viewing distance (18 – 25 inches) should be greater than the normal reading distance (12 – 16 inches). The recommended viewing distance is 20 inches between the eye and the computer screen.

The line of sight to the top of the computer should be 20 degrees below horizontal, and the line of sight to the bottom of the screen should be 20 degrees lower.

Overcoming Computer-Induced Visual Stress

The following are some of the tips to reduce or overcome computer-induced visual stress:

Use a screen filter to help eliminate the glare, static, and radiation problems related with VDT viewing.

Every now and then, rotate your head forward and backward, and sideways to relieve tension in the neck, which may adversely affect the functioning of the eye.

Do the palming exercise to relax the eye; even a 2-minute session will significantly relieve eyestrain.

Do the thumb rotation exercise:

Sit in a relaxed posture.

Cover your right eye with your right hand.

Hold out the left hand directly in front of your nose, with your elbow straight. Slightly clench your fingers, leaving the thumb erect.

Now, look at your thumbnail, and begin moving your left arm up, then outward and downward to a point that is level with your nose (like in a quarter circle).

Follow your thumbnail with your left eye. Move only your arm and your eyeball.

Repeat the above with your right hand

The objective of this thumb rotation exercise is to improve your eye movement and to organize your visual space. You can easily practice this exercise even at your workplace

Given that computer-induced visual stress may have long-term impact on your vision health, be aware of the time you spend on the computer. It is very important to give yourself breaks and during those breaks, give yourself time to practice eye palming exercise to relax your eyes. Remember, even a five-minute palming will do wonders to relax your eyes.

Stephen Lau
Copyright©2018 by Stephen Lau