A new study reports that fast food packaging contains concerning levels of certain perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAs), a relative of the chemicals used in non-stick pans, furniture, packing tape, and waterproof clothes. Among the items tested for PFAs were dessert and bread wrappers, sandwich and burger wrappers, paperboard containers, and paper cups. The dessert and bread wrappers were the biggest offenders, with 56% of them containing PFAs. Not only do these PFAs break down slowly in nature, but they’ve also been linked to higher cholesterol, higher rates of kidney and bladder cancer, weakened antibody responses to vaccines in children, and suppressed immune systems.

It’s Not Just the Wrappers

Fluorosurfactants come in many forms. They can be called PFAs, PFOA, PFOS, and PFCs. These chemicals are in the majority of stain-resistant, waterproof, non-stick, and fire-retardant items. The plethora of acronyms make it difficult to understand which ones have been banned. This creates confusion companies can use to their advantage.

The EPA has established a safety limit for these products, but the government doesn’t regulate them beyond that. The FDA did ban three PFCs found in pizza boxes and microwave popcorn bags in 2016, and a form of PFAs, known as long chain PFAs, was banned in the early 2000s. All PFAs found in products like fast food wrappers are now short chain PFAs, which are the long chain PFAs minus a set of carbon molecules.

The Slow Takeover

In 2013, the Environmental Health Perspectives Journal published a study linking PFOAs in Teflon pans to thyroid disease. Many scientists have called for companies to stop using non-essential PFAs, while the FDA has approved nearly 100 new PFCs to use in food packaging in the last decade. The speed at which new fluorosurfactants are being developed makes it unlikely that scientific concerns will be taken as seriously as they should be.

Since fluorosurfactants take so long to break down in nature, they have plenty of time to migrate to water sources, release into the air, and contaminate soil. After looking at 36,000 water samples from more than 4,800 public water sources in 2016, Harvard University found that 16 million Americans are drinking water with PFAs. Of those water sources, 66 of them had levels at or above what the EPA considers safe.

Persistent Waste Creates Persistent Problems

One wonders where the ever growing number of PFAs will end up when they run out of space. No one seems to be clear on how they got in our water, and it doesn’t seem likely that anyone is going to step up and regulate them. PFAs continue to resist decomposition and mysteriously leach into water supplies and the food they are wrapped around unchecked, leaving us with a higher likelihood of thyroid disease, certain cancers, infertility, and developmental disorders in children. At some point, the advice to avoid fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn, and nonstick cookware will only minimize the exposure to PFAs. True avoidance will no longer be an option.

Related Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• Glyphosate Found In 93% of Urine Samples
• How to Detoxify From Antibiotics and Other Chemical Antimicrobials
• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

Sources:

• Fast Food Packaging Found To Be Just As Nasty As Fast Food – Rodale’s Organic Life
• The Madrid Statement on Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) – Environmental Health Perspectives
• Nonstick Cookware + Teflon Dangers – Rodale’s Organic Life
• What are PFASs, the Toxic Chemicals Being Found in Drinking Water? – PBS
• FDA Bans Three Toxic Chemicals From Food Wrapping – Too Little, Too Late – Environmental Working Group

Hospitals typically restrict women from eating and drinking during labor. Women are given ice chips and intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration. A review of previous studies looks at women who were allowed to eat before delivery and found that they had a slightly shorter labor than those who were restricted to ice chips and water.

Concerns go back to a 1940s study that showed women who delivered under general anesthesia were at risk of regurgitating and aspirating food that was inside their stomachs while they were under sedation. Fortunately, the use of general anesthesia during delivery is far less common today.

The information does not prove that eating caused deliveries to happen sooner, but we suspect there is at least a cause and effect happening like the way that eating can lead us to defecate sooner than if we had not eaten. There’s only so much room in there. Regardless of whether or not our theory is true, the woman’s uterus is mostly muscle. Our muscles need fuel. As anyone who has ever tried to run a marathon, ride a century (a 100-mile bike ride) or otherwise push their body to the physical limit knows, you will bonk, or hit the wall, if you run out of sugar. A long and intense labor is like completing an ironman triathlon and then going back for more. Even at its best, labor uses a massive amount of energy.

Recommended Reading:

• Circumcision, the Primal Cut – A Human Rights Violation
• Galactagogues Foods, Herbs, and other Ways to Increase Breast Milk Production
• Scientists Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research

Sources:

• That Time We Had a Baby in South Korea – HeyElise.com (image credit)
• Less-Restrictive Food Intake During Labor in Low-Risk Singleton Pregnancies: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis – Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Eating during labor may be safe – even beneficial – for women – Reuters

Amid today’s discussion of the renewable energy crisis and the impacts of fossil fuel harvest and consumption, many people are forgetting one major industry that is fed by the oil rigs – the textile industry.

This sleeping giant is responsible for greater environmental contamination and more waste than any other industry, and due to the unawareness of the general population, its demand is ever-increasing.

The discussion surrounding carbon emissions and fuel consumption is a worthwhile one to be had, for sure, but the silence surrounding the flagrant disregard for environmental safety in the textile industry is one that has gone on long enough.

It’s time to bust this can of worms wide open and acknowledge what many of us have wondered the extent of for some time – the vast and unconscionable lapse in ethics and environmental concern in the textile industry.

The Rise of Man-Made Fibers

Once upon a time, things were made with pretty simple materials, but the process was very time and labor intensive, and as the industry grew, one of the first areas it took hold in was in textiles. We went from small farmers hand-spinning wool to gigantic factories mass-producing fabrics by the ton.

As the manufacturing process expanded and was refined, modern “improvements” were made. Chemicals were added to the fabrics to help prevent wrinkles and shrinkage. The fabrics were soaked in great vats of artificial dyes and flame retardants, and soon the factory workers had to wear masks to compensate for the health hazards associated with working with these chemicals.

Then came the advent of a petroleum-based textile that many forget is a product of the big oil industry – polyester. This cheap fiber was much more cost-effective to produce than natural fibers like wool and cotton and could be made in any color or elasticity. Its versatility quickly contributed to its rise with every major clothing and textile retailer in the world. Polyester began its reign.

The Effects on Your Health

First, let’s scale things down a bit and focus on how the modern textile industry’s functionality is directly affecting you. After all, there’s no greater way to tug on the heartstrings of a populace and compel them to give a damn than to show them how it directly affects them, so let’s engage in a little shameless emotional manipulation here.

With their convenience and cost-savings, these artificial fibers and manufacturing methods brought a host of problems that, for the most part, still remain quietly under the rug. We’re surrounded by fabrics all the time, and most of us never give a second thought as to how those textiles came about or the consequences of their production.

Polyester is essentially a plastic – a petroleum-based product that’s the result of a long, toxic manufacturing process. Plastics themselves have been found to cause hormonal disruption and are strongly linked to the formation of breast cancer cells¹.

The connections between health concerns and polyester and plastic are still being studied. Though polyester and plastic are derived from the same chemical compound, the finishing process creates a much different product. However, it has been discovered that polyester emits phytoestrogens³, which are known endocrine system disruptors and, are again, strongly linked with breast cancer.

The bottom line is, we’re still studying and understanding the long-term health effects of artificial fibers like polyester and the finishing processes that go into them. The textiles themselves are only the tip of the iceberg, and many printed clothes use PVC for screen printing – a compound that is considered so dangerous to human health, it’s been banned from use in water supply pipes and is on its way to being regulated out of the children’s toy industry⁴.

Flame retardant chemicals pose another threat entirely. Since synthetic fibers burn much more quickly than natural ones, manufacturers have taken to using a host of flame retardants decrease the flammability of these textiles. The result has certainly been effective at making products more fire safe, but the effects and health concerns linked to flame retardant chemicals are well known², and many government regulation bodies are taking a stand against their use.

…levels of the chemicals in the blood of North Americans appear to have been doubling every two to five years for the past several decades.”

Acting on growing evidence that these flame retardants can accumulate in people and cause adverse health effects — interfering with hormones, reproductive systems, thyroid and metabolic function, and neurological development in infants and children — the federal government and various states have limited or banned the use of some of these chemicals, as have other countries.” ~Elizabeth Grossman, Yale Environment 360

Despite this knowledge, there is no blanket ban in the U.S. for flame retardant chemicals, and a staggering number of companies and manufacturers are still using chemical cocktails that run the gamut, from electronics to baby bedding. The result?

“Many infants are in physical contact with products treated with these chemicals 24 hours a day.”

It’s a scary thought that some of our most fragile, precious lives are the ones most frequently and consistently in contact with these items, but it’s the humbling truth, and it doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.

Though legislation has been passed by a few state governments, the bottom line is that manufacturing of products drenched in these chemicals is still widespread, and the process isn’t likely to change until new formulations that are safer, but still effective at slowing fires, are developed.

How Do You Avoid Flame Retardant Chemicals?

The issue with flame retardant chemicals is a challenging one. We don’t want to expose ourselves and our children to chemicals that have been proven to be detrimental to our health, but in a world full of petroleum-based products that burn quickly and easily, it’s essential to protect ourselves from these highly flammable materials.

Companies have done some experimenting, but ultimately, what comes back is almost always another version of the same product with many of the same health concerns. The industries argue that these chemicals are saving lives, and who can debate that when the products they are treating are so highly flammable?

The solution is simple. We need to stop using highly flammable textiles in the first place. It all comes full circle back to petroleum-based products, and that’s where the majority of the issues lie. By sourcing products made from natural fibers, which burn much more slowly, we avoid the need for flame retardant chemicals.

We’re Poisoning Our Planet for Fabrics

It sounds sensationalist, but that’s as simple and cut and dried as it gets. The textile industry is responsible for a whopping 20% of industrial water pollution⁷, with many of the compounds being permanent fixtures in our world’s water supply. Cancer-causing endocrine disruptors and synthetic chemical compounds that won’t ever break down are now a part of our water supply, and there’s little hope of changing that.

Aside from the chemical cocktails that frequently pollute our water supply, there is a massive energy input needed for modern man-made textiles and a tremendous amount of waste in those industries. Most synthetic fibers are direct products of the petroleum industry, where a tremendous amount of energy is needed just to harvest the raw materials, let alone convert it to fabric.

The process of turning petroleum into polyester is a nasty one. Factory workers, many of them children, often experience horrible work conditions and face a host of health issues. The superheating of the materials needed to create polyester is horribly energy-intensive, and the by-products are known to cause lasting, long-term, and often debilitating health effects.

Textile Safety and Sustainability – Even Natural Fibers Aren’t Exempt

Despite the stunning array of health and environmental concerns associated with man-made fibers and their chemical processes, it’s only fair to shed light on another issue that’s similarly troubling – the impacts of conventional agriculture on the natural fiber industry.

It’s an unfortunate fact that the cotton industry accounts for 6.8% of worldwide pesticide use and 16% of insecticide use, despite being grown on only 2.5% of the world’s agricultural lands⁵. Conventional cotton farming methods are far from sustainable. And the worst part? Those chemicals are in your clothes.

The health risks associated with the use of pesticides for humans is well-known and documented with the primary concerns being for neurological issues, endocrine system disruption, respiratory problems, and even cancer⁶.

Healthy Alternatives to Toxic Textiles

In a market so rampantly saturated with the use of pesticides, the best thing you can do for your health and safety is to source organic cotton and wool products whenever possible. Organic cotton is grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and is typically grown in areas with greater regulation for worker safety – not factories and child-labor powered institutions.

Wool is a fantastic material as well that is often produced by small farmers, so purchasing it is a great way to support them. Organic mattresses often use a combination of organic wool and organic cotton. Natural latex options are a great way to avoid polyesters in furniture and mattresses, and there are even some manufactured foam products that are made without the use of nasty chemicals like formaldehyde and parabens. Of course, organic cotton and wool are also a great choice for mattresses, pillows, and furniture cushions.

Take a good hard look around your home, and you’ll see that petroleum-based products dominate our lives. From plastics to polyesters, these products seem unavoidable, but the health effects and environmental concerns are too far-reaching to overlook.

It’s time to start making better product selections. Get started with the area of your home where your skin makes the most contact with synthetic fibers every day – your bed. Natural mattresses are a crucial stepping stone to putting your foot down and saying no to the toxic, unsustainable practices of the textile industry.

OEKO-TEX: The Easy Way to Spot Safe Materials

If you’re buying lots of manufactured items like baby toys, bedding, and equipment, OEKO-TEX maintains a fabulous standard for vetting products and materials for safety compliance. This third-party testing system consists of an international group of scientists and laboratories who offer their certifications to products meeting their stringent standards and objective test criteria.

There is no data manipulation, no conflict of interest – just the information you need to make an informed purchase decision. If a product has met their standards for testing, they won’t be quiet about it. Look for the label or a mention of this certification in product descriptions.

It gets pretty technical, but if you’d like to take a look for yourself, dive into the OEKO-TEX guidelines here. Now we recommend you clean out your closet and check out Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System, and make sure you’re sleeping on a nontoxic mattress like the ones below.

Related Products:

• Green Lifestyle Market – Home

Recommended Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• How Himalayan Salt Lamps Work
• Why your Couch is Killing You
• Animal Textiles
• Hemp
• Corporations, Our Health, and a History of Failed Technologies

Sources:

• What is the connection between chemicals and breast cancer? – Tufts Journal
• Are Flame Retardants Safe? Growing Evidence Says ‘No’ – YaleEnvironment 360
• Is polyester upholstery fabric bad for our health? – Doctor Healthy
• Is your T-shirt toxic? – Green Living
• The risks of cotton farming – Organic Cotton
• Effects of Pesticides on Human Health – Toxipedia
• Sustainability of textiles – Retail Forum for Sustainability

Glyphosate. The world’s most popular herbicide. An alleged cause of cancer. Available in supermarkets across the nation, whether you want it or not. So what is the latest accomplishment for Monsanto’s golden child? Fatty liver disease!

Dr. Michael Antoniou from King’s College in London has found a link between the herbicide and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition whose symptoms include fatigue, nausea, jaundice, cirrhosis, and abdominal pain, among others. It is found primarily in overweight and obese people, people with diabetes, and those with high cholesterol. According to Dr. Robin Mesnage, another author of the study,

The concentration of glyphosate that was added to the drinking water of the rats corresponds to a concentration found in tap water for human consumption. It is also lower than the contamination of some foodstuffs.”

Where is the Science?

Glyphosate has been on the market since 1974 and since the advent of genetically-modified, Roundup ready crops in 1996, more than 18 billion tons of the stuff has been used worldwide (nearly a fifth of that was in the U.S. alone). It’s been linked to environmental degradation, and the number of studies linking glyphosate to health issues are growing. The work from King’s College is the first to definitively identify a real risk glyphosate poses to human health. Dr. Antoniou says,

The findings of our study are very worrying as they demonstrate for the first time a causative link between an environmentally relevant level of Roundup consumption over the long-term and a serious disease.”

Long-term studies on the impact of glyphosate are few and subject to huge amounts of scrutiny. A previous two-year study, the Seralini study in 2012, tested rats for long-term toxicity and found that the rats developed tumors and had shorter life spans. The study was heavily criticized, and the publisher retracted it in 2013 despite protests from the authors.

The recently discovered link between glyphosate and fatty liver disease is peer-reviewed, scrutinized, published in Scientific Reports, and from a prestigious university. But it has only now been released. One of the authors on the paper is Gilles-Eric Seralini (he of the previously retracted study), and this study uses the same, roundly criticized breed of rat from the previous study. The Crop Protection Association has already called the validity of this study into question saying, “Glyphosate is amongst the most thoroughly tested herbicides on the market, and those studies by expert regulators have consistently concluded that glyphosate does not pose a risk to public health.”

Americans Enjoy a More Substantial Glyphosate Allowance

The Crop Protection Association is correct. Glyphosate is one of the most tested herbicides on the market (although generally for 90 days, not 730). From this testing, the government has decided that there is a safe amount of glyphosate that can be ingested. That amount, the allowable daily intake (ADI), is 1.75 mg per kg of body weight in the United States. In Europe, the ADI is much lower at 0.3 mg per kg of bodyweight. Immediately, this discrepancy calls to mind a certain stereotype, that of the overweight American tourist bobbing merrily through a sea of slim and sneering Europeans. With the link between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and glyphosate, is it too much of a leap to think that the rise of obesity in America could be caused by our lax attitude towards the omnipresent herbicide?

What is Non-Alcoholic Liver Disease?

Basically, fat accumulates in the liver when the liver cannot break it down or process it fast enough. The liver normally stores some fat, but when the liver builds up more than 5 – 10 percent of its weight in fat, it’s called fatty liver disease. In alcoholic fatty liver disease, the liver can break down if it is unable to process the amount of alcohol ingested. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease follows the same model, only without the alcohol. This problem, like so many health problems, starts in the gut.

Bacteria in the large and small intestine like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are responsible for breaking down fats in the body. The liver helps with this, sending bile into the small intestine to help with turning the food into smaller molecules. But a digestive system without enough beneficial bacteria to properly digest food is left with something closer to the original fat molecules. Unabsorbed fats should stay in the intestine, but the bile from the liver is responsible for cleaning the intestine. Almost all of that bile is recycled back to the liver, potentially carrying the less digested fats with it. From there, the liver can be overwhelmed by the accumulated fats that it can’t clear out, much like its response to alcohol in alcoholic fatty liver disease.

And the Glyphosate Is…?

Much of the blame for non-alcoholic liver disease can be placed squarely on the diet of those who have it. Processed sugars and refined foods feed opportunistic, less helpful microbes in the gut like Candida, that in turn crowd out beneficial bacteria and place more stress on the liver. It’s all about the processed foods – the foods likely to have the highest concentration of glyphosate. And the glyphosate is everywhere.

The Detox Project at the University of California San Francisco found glyphosate in 93% of the urine samples from their early tests. This is the glyphosate that was processed out of the body. Meanwhile, the poor liver chugs along like some cliche of an overworked housewife, left with the overload of improperly digested food molecules, toxic food additives, and who knows exactly how much herbicide piled on top of it.

Research Matters. So Where’s the Rest of It?

Lack of research is the biggest issue with current government attitudes towards glyphosate and why this study matters. The authors of this study saw the connection between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and glyphosate with a regular dose 75,000 times below the European limit and over 400,000 times below the U.S. limit. There is no way to measure how much glyphosate people are being exposed to through proximity to agriculture, their food, and even their tap water. Glyphosate is everywhere, and we barely even know the results of long-term, repeated exposure to it.

Imagine a study, much in the vein of this one, where scientists gave test subjects the full U.S. government allowable daily intake of glyphosate regularly for two years. Do you even want to see those results?

Further Reading:

• Is Wheat Poison?
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
• Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods
• How to Kill Candida and Balance Your Inner Ecosystem

Sources:

• Monsanto’s Roundup Linked to Fatty Liver Disease – Alternet
• Britain’s Most Used Pesticide is Linked to a Serious Liver Disease Which can be Fatal, Shocking New Study Claims – Daily Mail
• Multiomics Reveal Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Rats Following Chronic Exposure to an Ultra-low Dose of Roundup Herbicide – nature.com
• Glyphosate Levels in Breakfast Foods: What is Safe? – Alliance for Natural Health USA
• Glyphosate Found in 93% of Urine Samples – Organic Lifestyle Magazine
• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease – American Liver Foundation
• The Bile Ducts and Liver Bile – drclark.net

How we breathe affects almost every process in our body from digestion to memory to exercise recovery. This is because breathing has a profound impact on our nervous system, which communicates directly and indirectly with every cell in our body. The message our nervous system communicates to our bodies depends on the messages that it receives from our internal and external environments. This is why we play one of the most important roles in determining the quality of our health.

When we breathe more than once every 4 seconds, we tend to experience more anxiety, stress, and pain. As the anxiety, stress, and pain increases, so does our breathing rate. This creates a repetitive cycle of chronic stress in the body.

Luckily, there is something we can take to reverse this process – a deep breath. To do this we start by letting go of as much air from our lungs as we can, inhaling to expand our lower abdomen and rib cage while our shoulders remain relaxed. This and many other controlled breathing patterns can create 10 profound effects in the body.

1.) Exercise Recovery

How we breathe has a substantial impact on our ability to recover from exercise. But before we can explore how breathing impacts recovery, we must first understand how our bodies respond to exercise.

When we exercise, our sympathetic nervous system activates to increase our breath rate and mobilize energy stores. This allows us to continue exercising by increasing the delivery of oxygen and energy to our tissues.

This is extremely beneficial during exercise, but if the sympathetic nervous system remains activated after exercise, recovery will take much longer. Shallow chest breathing is one way to keep the sympathetic nervous system activated. This breathing pattern tells the brain that we are still in a state of stress even when we are trying to recover.

With the sympathetic nervous system activated, your parasympathetic nervous system will struggle to do its job. And its job is to initiate recovery. Throughout our lives, our nervous system is switching between the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system depending on the demands we put on our bodies. In times of danger or activity, our sympathetic nervous system activates to meet the demand. When we are no longer active or in danger, we switch over to our parasympathetic nervous system to rest and digest.

To activate the parasympathetic nervous system and improve recovery from exercise, we can take deep diaphragmatic breaths into our lower abdomen. This type of slow controlled breathing can even illicit better recovery than just sitting and breathing normally.

2.) Pain Sensitivity

Pain is a sensation that our brain creates to protect us from threats. Our initial response to a threat is to increase our breathing rate and muscular tension to protect ourselves and/or run away. We even increase our sensitivity to pain in anticipation of a perceived threat. The body’s ability to increase pain sensitivity serves as a protection mechanism to keep you safe from danger.However, our brains cannot tell the difference between a perceived threat and an actual threat.

We may not be able to keep real threats from happening, but we can control our body’s response to perceived threats. To do this we must activate our parasympathetic nervous system with slow controlled breaths. When we take slow controlled breaths, our bodies’ response to the perceived threat will decrease and our brain will reduce the amount of pain and tension in our bodies.

3.) Immune System Response

Although chronic shallow chest breathing can increase pain, stress, and tension, intermittent power breathing (Whim Hof breathing techniques) can be used to create an anti-inflammatory response.

Whim Hof has used these breathing techniques to withstand freezing temperatures without shivering or getting sick. He has even climbed Mount Everest while only wearing shorts. This doesn’t mean that we should sprint up a mountain naked, but it does exemplify the power that certain breathing techniques can have over our bodies.

These breathing techniques work by stimulating deep breathing in a controlled way that triggers the release of epinephrine and reduces our inflammatory response.

Two specific breathing techniques were studied that created these effects. The first technique is described as hyperventilation “…for an average of 30 breaths. Subsequently, the subjects exhaled and held their breath for 2–3 min (“retention phase”). The duration of breath retention was entirely at the discretion of the subject. Breath retention was followed by a deep inhalation breath, that was held for 10 s.”

The other breathing technique that was studied consisted of “deep inhalations and exhalations in which every inhalation and exhalation was followed by breath holding for 10 s, during which the subject tightened all his body muscles.”

4.) Memory

Stress stimulates the release of glucocorticoids that increase energy while they impair our ability to form memories and retrieve memories. This explains why we struggle to find the right answer when we are anxious during a test or a job interview.

Whether the stress is from a lion chasing us or a job interview, our bodies’ react in the same way every time by releasing glucocorticoids. These hormones prepare the body to fight or run, not to come up with the right answer to a question.

This is when deep breathing can save the day. When we are anxious, we can improve our brain function and reduce our anxiety by slowing down our breath. This lets our brain know that we are safe and our body can relax. In this relaxed state, we can easily access the answers we need and form new memories.

5.) Meditation

Meditation provides a plethora of benefits including increased prefrontal cortex thickness and function. But it is hard for most of us to simply sit and meditate. Our minds are flooded with thoughts, emotions, and things to do. Ten minutes feels like 100 minutes, but there is a way to make that 10 minutes into the most blissful experience of our day. We can do this by starting our meditation with controlled breathing.

When we concentrate on deepening our breath, we create a relaxed state. In this relaxed state, we will be able to dissociate from our thoughts and emotions. This allows us to meditate easily and reap the benefits of meditation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67SeR3LxtdI

6.) Digestive System Function

In a stressed state, all of our digestive processes are reduced. This is because our body is focused on removing the threat or removing ourselves from the threat. Once there are no threats, our brain will allow us to rest and digest. This means that when we rush through our meals, we will make it harder for our bodies to digest food.

Rushing through meals can cause stomach aches, nausea, and diarrhea in the short term. If we have prolonged stress, we can aggravate chronic diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and heartburn.

To improve our digestive function, we must activate our parasympathetic nervous system. One way we can do this is by taking deep breaths. This will send the message to our brains that we are ready to rest and digest.

7.) Joint Mobility

Some of the muscles that we use to breathe are also used during other movements. This means that when we breathe rapidly into our chest, we can alter the function of our postural muscles. The primary purpose of these muscles is to provide strength and stability to the bones and joints. When the postural muscles are recruited to take on the task of breathing as well, they become stiff due to being overworked. This will restrict joint motion in the joints that the overworked muscle(s) effects.

For example, during a shallow chest breath, a muscle called the trapezius may try to help expand the ribcage. If this is our most common breathing pattern then our trapezius will be chronically tight and pull the shoulders up toward the ears. This can cause neck tension that limits neck mobility.

By taking deep diaphragmatic breaths for a couple minutes before activity we can give the overworked muscles a chance to relax. This can decrease joint stiffness and improve function.

8.) Joint Stability

Many musculoskeletal injuries are caused by a lack of stability, especially in people with low back pain. Spinal instability is commonly the result of shallow chest breathing patterns. When we breathe into our chest, diaphragm, deep core muscles, and back muscles do not activate effectively. This creates instability of the spine that can lead to injury.

Ideally, our movements should be accompanied by diaphragmatic breaths. During inhalation, the diaphragm is designed to contract to bring air in, while it simultaneously creates spinal stability. During exhalation, the deep postural muscles of our back and core activate to create stability.

The stability we create with diaphragmatic breaths allows us to activate our postural muscles in the right way at the right times so that we can decrease the chance of injury and increase stability.

9.) Sensory acuity

The acuity of our senses changes throughout the day. One of the causes of the change in our sensory acuity is the state of our nervous system. When we are in a stressful state, we tend to overwhelm ourselves with past regrets and future concerns. This significantly reduces our sensory acuity.

Taking deep breaths will indirectly increase our sensory acuity by keeping our attention on the present moment. When we focus on something in the present moment like our breathing, we can bring ourselves back to what’s happening now instead of stressing about the past or future.

10.) Neck Issues

Neck pain is correlated with breathing dysfunction. It may seem strange to us at first, but with a deeper understanding of a dysfunctional breathing pattern we can easily find out why it correlates with neck pain.

Dysfunctional breathing is commonly characterized by a shallow inhale into the chest that causes the shoulders to raise toward the ears. During this type of breathing pattern, muscles around the neck, like the scalenes and sternocleidomastoid, activate to pull the shoulders up when these muscles would normally be relaxed.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, an average adult takes 12 to 20 breaths per minute. This equates to breathing between 17,280 and 28,800 times per day.

If our most common breathing pattern is to overuse our neck muscles, that means that these muscles are being used 17,000 or more times than they should be used throughout the day. Imagine all of the extra work that these muscles have to do. This is why dysfunctional breathing patterns are a major cause of chronic neck tension and pain.

When we take a breath, our lower abdomen should expand before the chest, and the shoulders should remain relaxed. This allows the neck muscles to take a break at the right time and function properly.

Related Reading:

• How to Breathe
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Natural Remedies for Chronic Stress
• Insomnia – A Comprehensive Look with Natural Remedies

Sources:

• How We Breathe Affects Our Thoughts and Emotions, Northwestern Researchers Find – Big Think (image credit)
• The Science of Breathing – University of New Mexico
• Cell Communication – Brain Facts
• Diaphragmatic Breathing Reduces Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress – Hindawi 
• A pain neuromatrix approach to patients with chronic pain – NCBI
• The Effect of Deep and Slow Breathing on Pain Perception, Autonomic Activity, and Mood Processing—An Experimental Study – Wiley Online Library
• Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans – NCBI
• Stress and memory: opposing effects of glucocorticoids on memory consolidation and memory retrieval – NCBI
• Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness – NCBI
• Neuroscience For Kids – University of Washington
• Muscles of Respiration – Physio-pedia
• Breathing evaluation and retraining as an adjunct to manual therapy – Musculoskeletal Science & Practice
• Introduction to Sensory Processing Concepts – University of Kansas Medical Center
• Respiratory dysfunction in chronic neck pain patients. A pilot study – NCBI
• The Respiration Connection – Pain Science
• Dutch father-of-five dubbed the Iceman because he can ‘turn his own thermostat up’ by using his mind sets world record for climbing Everest in just his shorts – Daily Mail
  Stress and the Digestive System – HealthDay
• Vital Signs – Cleveland Clinic

Living a life that’s light on the planet is important to you. Why else would you be on this site? You probably buy organic whenever possible and reject gas-guzzling SUVs in favor of eco-friendly engine options. Perhaps you only permit planet-safe products to join you in the shower by choosing natural body washes. However, one glaring area of the American lifestyle has been grotesquely missed by the natural living trend. If you’re like most people, there’s a really good chance you don’t think twice about the chemicals your clothes keep close to your skin every day.

Few possessions are more intimately used than the clothes on your body. Doesn’t it make sense to keep toxic chemicals far away from them?

Laundry Detergent? It Can’t Be THAT Bad… Can It?

Oh, but it can. Take the time to read the ingredients list on your regular detergent sometime. How many terms do you recognize? While smart sounding scientific names aren’t always a sign that a product is loaded with toxins, in the case of most detergents this isn’t far from the truth.

In fact, research has shown that the laundry room is usually one of the most polluted rooms in your entire house. Detergents are to blame. These prettily packaged products are filled with as many as 25 volatile organic compounds- seven of which have been shown to be toxic to breathe in. For this reason, the EPA considers the air inside your home to be as much as five times more polluted than the great outdoors. Yikes.

Detergent’s Cost to the Natural World

The danger in detergents comes from their scents. Far removed from their natural-sounding names, most laundry fragrances are actually a cocktail of chemicals designed to degrade as slowly as possible to give you a “just been cleaned” feeling all day long.

Your mind might associate these scents with pleasant vistas and spring fed streams, but the truth is that these chemicals are actually actively destroying the places they make you reminisce about. The status quo for the EPA is to let the vast majority of these chemicals pass through the cracks of their testing every year, assuming that the majority of their chemical creations are “safe until proven otherwise”. This makes the detergent-buying population into non-consenting guinea pigs happy to smell like a mountain spring, unaware of the damage they are unintentionally doing to these same sacred wild spaces.

When you do a load of laundry, you are fouling our limited water supply with toxic chemicals that eventually make their way into rivers and ponds. The soap in detergents actually “cleans off” the natural mucous on fish scales, making it easy for fish to absorb any of the 80,000 different chemicals used commercially in the United States directly through their skin. These chemicals have a range of impacts, from reducing the effectiveness of breeding to killing fish eggs and even causing widespread deaths throughout vast swatches of water. Worst of all, this chemical damage works its way right up the food chain and stricken seabirds, larger fish, and even the humans who eat them.

The Sinister Effects For Your Health

Unbeknownst to most people, skin is your body’s biggest organ. This stretchy layer of cells actually operates as a semi-permeable barrier that lets plenty of microscopic substances shift in and out. This is great news for aromatherapy adherents and smokers relying on nicotine patches, but not so good if you look too closely at your detergent label. Each of these chemicals, 4-dioxane, benzoxazolyl, polyalkylene quaternium-15:, can be found in most detergents. They are a big cause for concern if you care about your reproductive health, staving off allergic reactions, and staying cancer free.

Worst of all, these chemicals aren’t something you are exposed to only on laundry day. Instead, they come with you wherever your clothes go. Traces of these chemicals create fumes you constantly breathe in, and even tiny amounts can agitate your breathing and cause headaches, neurological problems, and allergy flare-ups.

If that’s not enough to scare you off, keep in mind that the long-term effects of these combinations of chemicals are almost completely unknown.

Sustainable Alternatives to Commercial Detergents

Unless you shed your layers and opt to join a nudist colony instead, washing your clothes is probably not optional. However, you have plenty of control over the kinds of chemicals you expose your cotton to. Below are some of my all-time favorite detergent alternatives that will keep your clothes clean without putting your health or the environment at risk.

Toss aside your dreadful detergent bottle and try one (or all) of these clothes cleaning methods instead! Trust me, you won’t be going back.

Soap Nuts

Why use detergent at all? In truth, soap nuts are an out of the box way to clean your clothes that still manages to be shockingly effective. As the fruits of the Mukorossi tree, soap “nuts” are native to the Himalayas, though they are grown in arid climates around the world. The Mukorossi tree’s gift to the world is that its berries are filled with a natural surfactant called saponin that naturally interacts with water in a way that agitates dirt off clothing, binds dirt particles to soap molecules, and makes it simple to wash these particles directly down the drain.

Besides their effectiveness for keeping clothes clean, there’s a lot to like about soap nuts. Not only do they thrive in areas ill-suited for other kinds of agriculture, they also prevent erosion on the steep mountain slopes where they grow best. They are a perfect option for gray water systems because the nuts are 100% biodegradable and actually act as a natural form of fertilizer wherever they end up. Best of all, soap nuts require minimal packaging and often come in eco-friendly boxes that are a cinch to recycle.

At first glance, these nuts may seem confusing to use, but in truth, the process couldn’t be simpler. All you need to do is place five nuts in a drawstring bag (normally included with your nut purchase) and toss it into the washing machine. No need to fret about pulling the nuts about before the start of the rinse cycle; they can stay right in until the very end! You can also say goodbye to fabric softeners and other detergents, as these simple nuts will do it all. In most cases, you can get five to ten washes out of your nuts before they become papery thin and translucent. At this point, it’s time to toss them in the compost bin and start again.

Looking to buy some soap nuts? They can be found online through many organic distributors like Eco Nuts.

Homemade Detergents

If you’re looking to stick with cleaning solutions a little more familiar, there are plenty of ways to make your own homemade detergents that get your clothes as clean as any chemical-laden commercial product. Not only will you be making your health a priority, you’ll also be saving money and becoming more self-sufficient in the process.

Here are some simple tips to make eco-friendly swaps in your laundry routine.

Switch out your fabric softener and add a ½ cup white vinegar to the rinse cycle.

Baking soda is a great way to scrub away stains and brighten colors. Just make a simple pre-treatment with baking soda, water, and washing soda to get a deep cleanse for your clothes.

Ditch your dryer sheets by making your own. All it takes is a few drops of essential oil added to a damp rag that’s thrown right in with your sodden laundry. You can also use recycled wool dryer balls to fluff up your clothes while reducing static.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

This simple recipe is so easy it will quickly replace all your commercial detergent needs. Best of all, you can change the scent based on what type of soap you choose to use.

All you need to do is combine one bar of grated soap with 2 quarts water, and slowly heat the mix until the soap has fully dissolved. Next, add 4.5 gallons of piping hot tap water to a five-gallon bucket, and stir in 2 cups each of washing soda and borax. Pour in your stove top soap mixture and stir everything together. Cover the container and let it sit overnight before pouring it into easy to use containers. To use, all you need to do is add a half cup per medium load and your clothes will soon be clean and fresh.

If you have trouble finding washing soda at the store, you can make your own.

Homemade Laundry Powder

Why rely on liquids when powdered detergents are so much simpler to use? Not only are they easier to store, they also don’t need any preservation agents to keep them safe. You can make your own top quality laundry detergent by mixing three cups of Borax with two cups each of washing soda, grated, all natural soap (like Ivory Soap) and baking soda. Blend everything together and store it in an airtight container. To use, all you need to do is measure out two tablespoons for a medium sized load.

Homemade All-In-One Laundry Pods

If you can’t help your preference for convenient laundry solutions, you don’t have to forgo your favorite laundry pods if you’re committed to natural solutions. Instead, you can make your own single-use laundry pods with ease by following these instructions. Simply blend 1 ½ cups washing soda with a grated bar of natural soap and 2 Tbsp Epsom salts. After thoroughly mixing, and 3 Tbsp of hydrogen peroxide and ¼ cup vinegar. When mixed, add 15-20 drops of your favorite essential oil.

Once everything is blended together, it should resemble wet sand and clump well together. Cover a cookie pan with parchment paper and measure out rounded tablespoons of the mix, tapping them against the side of the bowl to ensure they clump together. Let these pods dry for eight hours before storing them in airtight containers. When it’s time to do a load, simple toss a pod right in with your clothes.

So, What Did We Learn?

If you’ve been thoughtless with your laundry habits in the past, the time has come to make a change for the better. Commercial detergents may make your clothing squeaky clean, but they come at a significant cost to health for you and the planet.

A better option? Turn towards sustainable laundry solutions and try out soap nuts or some homemade detergents to keep your clothes clean. You’ll save money, reduce the amount of obnoxious packaging ending up in landfills, and keep the planet in better shape for future generations to enjoy.

Clearly, swapping out your commercial detergent for a more sustainable solution is a change well worth making.

Recommended Reading:

• The Toxic Toothpaste Ingredients That You Need To Avoid For Good Oral Health
• How to Use Vinegar and Baking Soda to Clean Your Home
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Sources:

• The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality – Consumer Product Safety Commission
  Introduction to Indoor Air Quality – EPA
• Detergents occurring in freshwater – Lenntech
• Ingredient Watch List: Polysorbate 20—It May Be Contaminated with Carcinogenic 1,4-Dioxane – Annmarie
• Ingredient Watch List: Quats, the Preservatives that May Release Formaldehyde and Exacerbate Asthma – Annmarie

Malaria causes over 400,000 deaths a year.  Ninety-two percent of those deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, although a total of 91 countries still report cases each year. We know that malaria is primarily spread through the Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax species of mosquitos, but recent developments have made it clear that we need to adjust our prevention and treatment of the disease.

Typically, malaria prevention takes the form of insecticides sprayed inside houses and the deployment of nets treated with insecticides. The two most common species of mosquito spreading malaria have different territories. Plasmodium falciparum is concentrated in Africa, and Plasmodium vivax is everywhere else. Plasmodium vivax is already displaying resistance to the most popular antiparasitics, especially in South-East Asia. A team in London is now reporting the first failure of the anti-parasitic drug artemether-lumefantrine contracted from travel in Africa.

Heed the Resistance

More than 1,500 people a year in the U.K. are treated for malaria after foreign travel. The four cases of malaria that resisted the usual treatment were from individuals who traveled to Uganda, Angola, and Liberia. The treatment failures happened from October 2015 to February 2016, and the four patients were eventually treated with other means. Four doesn’t seem like many cases, but those four cases are from over a year ago and reported in a country where malaria is exclusively imported.

Drugs and Drug Combinations are Failing

The World Health Organization recommends that malaria drug regimens be routinely monitored. This is not the first time a treatment for malaria has failed. Another common malaria treatment is artemisinin-based combination therapy, a mix of artemisinin and piperaquine. While malaria has officially shown resistance to artemisinin (a derivative of sweet wormwood) since 2008, the combined use of the drug with piperaquine has yielded results until last year, when Cambodian doctors reported the drug combination had completely failed.

Controlling malaria and the carriers of the disease is becoming more difficult for a variety of reasons, and malaria’s actual drug resistance is not the only uprising occurring. Mosquitos, malaria’s long term carrier and partner-in-crime, are developing a resistance to the pesticides used to reduce their numbers. Mosquito netting sprayed in insecticide is a common prevention strategy, and more nets are being sprayed with two different insecticides. Who knows how long the double dose of insecticide will work, and at what point is the constant exposure to these pesticides considered too harmful for humans?

Running a Rigged Race

Here’s the bottom line: the bacteria and diseases are evolving and we aren’t. In fact, our ability to fight off infection through a strong immune system and a healthy, varied gut environment is going backward.

Scientists see this drug resistance as a warning sign rather than an invitation to panic. But these solutions do not help us to reclaim the microbiome diversity that we need to maintain a strong immune system. Diseases like malaria have already proven that conventional anti-parasitics have a shelf life. We’ve passed the warning sign, but have we hit the brakes yet?

Recommended Reading:

• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
• How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System
• Common Parasites and How to Kill Them
• Destroy Parasites With Natural Remedies
• How Echinacea Boosts the Immune System

Sources:

• Malaria Drugs Fail for First Time on Patients in UK – BBC News
• Malaria – World Health Organization
• Malaria Drugs’ Complete Failure Tracked – BBC News