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How quickly the months come and go! Just the other day we were reading about record Summer temperatures, now its woolly jumper time already. Not everyone complains about winter; some like the prospect of thick snow so that they can put their snowboard tricks into practice. Of course, if the sun shone brightly like it does at some winter resorts perhaps we could all get to enjoy it. In the meantime we prepare for a rather more damp and grey season, which means S.A.D. to some people who need the extra light to prevent winter blues. This problem is all about melatonin, a hormone secreted in the brain in response to darkness. If the brain secretes melatonin during the day one can get depressed and tired, or experience lethargy during the day. Other symptoms may include social or physical withdrawal and irritability. Sleep is disturbed, with either excessive sleepiness or insomnia. People report wakening at about 3a.m. then having difficulty getting back off to sleep. A common symptom feeling that one's nerves are on edge, and being irritable, unable to cope with stressful situations or people. Sometimes one has feelings of exhaustion, poor concentration, and forgetfulness. The point is that all this dysfunction or discomfort is the result of a brain hormone imbalance. This is the sort of problem that Applied-Kinesiology is good at measuring through testing muscle strength. Every hormone or other chemical in the body begins as a food which is digested into smaller and smaller particles. In the case of melatonin it begins as protein, such as meat, which is digested down to amino-acids. These are then rebuilt into new combinations to make the required body tissue or chemical. One of the amino-acids is Tryptophan which becomes Serotonin, which itself becomes Melatonin. Through kinesiology it is possible to test for each of these to check for missing links, which in the above chain are enzymes that need minerals and vitamins to make them work. Frequently the problem is not that the diet lacks a vitamin or mineral but that one's liver is not converting the vitamins into their active forms. This too can be tested for through kinesiology. There are numerous other factors at work in our bodies, complicating the picture. For example, melatonin is suppressed by light. That means natural as well as artificial light because it works through the eyes. If you can see to read then there is sufficient light to switch off melatonin activity. Unfortunately we need melatonin to be active in order for us to sleep. We also need melatonin to keep our immune system active, and studies have shown that working at night under artificial light does reduce the efficiency of the immune system. Sometimes melatonin is secreted during the day because of a fault between chemical points on the chain between eye and pineal gland where serotonin and melatonin are produced. The daytime melatonin then leads to the problems outlined at the start of this article! Through our muscles and nerves nature has at least given us the opportunity to understand and correct our bio-chemical problems. More newsFor the past 6 years I have been looking at ways of improving the treatments which we offer to clients, particularly the physical manipulation techniques. The key point was my experience of treatments for a frozen shoulder which failed to respond to any of the usual therapies including physiotherapy and osteopathy. The eventual cure was quite simple: A short course of Bowen Technique treatment. After three weeks the shoulder was back to normal, and has been ever since. With this in mind I decided that my own clients should also benefit from this effective treatment. That led me to enrol on the comprehensive Bowen course in Newcastle in February, which I completed this month. What is Bowen Technique? This revolutionary therapy was discovered and developed by an Australian osteopath named Tom Bowen. His main principle and belief was that the body is able to heal itself. He also believed in the universal life energy called Chi. In traditional Chinese medicine, this energy must flow freely throughout the body in order to assure a state of maximum health. Bowen's gift was to discover a system of mobilisation to rebalance this natural flow of energy. The Bowen Technique affects the nervous system and the energetic system to bring the body back to a state of balance (also called homeostasis). The autonomic nervous system controls over 80% of bodily functions (cardiac, respiratory, peripheral circulation, reproductive, endocrine, gastrointestinal, even the size of the pupil of the eye) and is affected by emotional states. This could explain why so many people can't heal, or experience incomplete recovery from sickness or injuries. Stress causes the system to shift its balance toward more adrenaline type stimulation, but for healing to happen the system must shift away from adrenaline dominance. This is what the Bowen Technique does. During a Bowen Session it is very common that a patient will quickly fall asleep, drop in a deep state of relaxation or drift in a pleasant trance like state.
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