Exercise and Alcohol

An informative look at recent Holistic Fitness News

DR KAPLAN'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Return to the Fitness training News and Holistic Health Archive

Reviewing the medical news of the last few months has taught me one thing about the health columnists. They are obsessed with the health benefits or risks of drinking alcohol. There is an important message in this. Let me explain

Over the last few years, it has emerged that a daily intake of alcohol is good for you. The recommended daily intake has varied (according to studies) from one unit to four units. Wine has always had the best reputation but now this has been proved to be a myth.

Researchers in North Carolina, have discovered that it's not that wine is better for you than other forms of alcohol. It is not the wine but the wine drinker that is superior. Compared to both teetotalers and drinkers of beer and spirits, wine drinkers smoke less, exercise more and have healthier diets. The lager and spirit enthusiasts also lead healthier life styles than the non-drinkers.

This shows how misleading many news items on health are. Teetotallers may be less healthy than alcohol consumers but this does not necessarily mean that alcohol is good for you. It may simply mean that the sort of person who is teetotal may tend to lead less healthy lifestyles than most moderate drinkers. Every week we get more and more news about what is good and bad for you. I say it may be bad for you to take too much notice of all this. Today's health news may be refuted next week. It may be much healthier to wait until the latest fad becomes established medical knowledge before jumping on the bandwagon. On this basis, I can confirm that smoking really is bad for your health. And careful driving really does save lives.

A good healthy lifestyle involves a combination of exercise and nutrition, like The Bodydoctor's personal fitness training programme which you can do yourself with the fitness book and DVD.

Here is a long word that appeared in the health columns this week: METHYLDIBROMOGLUTARONITRILE. This 27 letter chemical is added to some sun creams, moisturisers and shampoos to inhibit the growth of bacteria. However scientists are concerned that it is the cause of a big increase in allergic skin reactions in recent years. So much so that they have advised all EC countries to ban the long-named chemical until they can establish how much of it can safely be included for human use.

Homeopathic Tip of the Week

Going to the dentist? If you have any work done that involves drilling or removing teeth (with or without local anaesthetic) you should always take some homeopathic ARNICA afterwards for a couple of days. Take Arnica 30c twice a day for 2 days or Arnica 6 (more easily available) 4 times a day for 2 days for quick recovery from pain and swelling.

Dr Kaplan's personal website is: www.drkaplan.co.uk and his practice website is www.140harleystreet.co.uk and he can be contacted on (020) 7487 3416