SWINE FLU - PANDEMIC PANDEMONIUM
Following the ‘money trail’
So how does the pharmaceutical industry stand to profit from outbreaks? There are three massive sales growth factors that result when public and bureaucratic hysteria sets in:

     1. Consumer demand: The drug industry has discovered that bypassing the medical practitioner with its marketing is a very powerful tool to increases sales of drugs, any drug. If patients are lead to associate their symptoms with a medicine, then they tend to demand this from their MD. And while the pharmaceutical industry may be limited from direct advertising in most countries, it would seem that with the right media release, with enough "sizzle", the media machine quickly spreads the news without the need for a cent to be spent on advertising.

     In part three of his look at swine flu, Dr NICK HODGSON puts forward his theories on how the pharmaceutical industry stands to benefit and outlines a natural approach to the issue...  | more...|

FOR PREVIOUS:

So what can be done to cut the virus off at the pass? In terms of prevention here are the ground-breaking recommendations from the medical authorities: Frequent hand-washing, covering coughs, and having ill persons stay home, separation of the sick from others in single room if available until asymptomatic, cups and other utensils used by the ill person should be thoroughly washed with soap and water before use by other persons.

     In part two of his look at swine flu, Dr NICK HODGSON looks at treatment options and a lesson from the past...  | more...|

Swine flu huffs and puffs, and blows the health house down.

     "Pandemic, deaths, lethal viruses, stay indoors, lock your windows and doors!" It seems like we are bombarded annually by the mass media with the threat of a super bug which is going to wipe out half of the world's population.

     In the first of a three part series, Dr NICK HODGSON takes a look at the what it means to call the swine flu outbreak a 'pandemic', how it's diagnosed and what the possible sources of the outbreak are... | more...|

SUPER HEALTHY EXERCISE TIPS

How much exercise should I be doing?
For the vast majority of people the answer to this question is a very simple one - a little bit more than you are doing now. If you haven't been doing any exercise then start at the beginning - don't go and take out a gym
membership - start walking around the block. If you have been doing some aerobic exercise - increase the intensity to the next level, increase the number of sessions to the next amount, or add in some strength or stretching exercises. If you have been working out at a fitness centre - add in more aerobic exercise, increase the amount of stretching you are doing, increase the number of reps, or increase the resistance/weights. But only move up one step at a time regardless of where you are now!

     The keys to exercise
Your exercise program should cover three key areas:

• Fitness - continuous aerobic activity to raise your heart and breathing rate;

• Strength - toning resistance exercises to build and maintain your muscles;
• Flexibility - stretching exercises to increase and sustain your range of motion and mobility.

Are you unlocking each of these keys?

     Dr NICK HODGSON gives his tips for exercise... | more...|

NATURAL PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT - HEALTH COACHING VERSUS HEALTH CARE

Unless you were born behind the Iron Curtain, you probably picked the sport that you most like to play, and that you have spent most of your spare time participating in. There could have been a number of reasons why you chose to start playing a sport, but guaranteed you would only continue to play the sport if you fell in love with it. Similarly, health coaching allows you to pick the game you want to play - weight loss, increased fitness, less allergies, digestive system that works better, greater flexibility, improved concentration, control over a habit or compulsion and so on.

     If you did live behind the Iron Curtain then they would have put you through a bunch of physiology tests and told you what sport you were going to play - based on their expert opinion. This is a bit like modern health care - if you have a health issue that you want help with, you will consult an expert who will run a bunch of tests, tell you what they will do to fix it, and you will do as you are told. And it might not be the game you expected to play: You want to run up a flight of stairs, your doctor wants to reduce your blood cholesterol and so on.

     Dr NICK HODGSON takes a look at what it means to be your own health coach... | more...|

WOMEN'S HEALTH LIBERATION

Being a woman has become a medical procedure. I have a theory that because health care has largely been dominated by the male species, the female experience has become an issue of control.

     Female infants receive more vaccines than their male counterparts despite the unknown long-term effects of the new cocktails being injected directly into the depths of the immune system, and in spite of the fact that some of them are irrelevant until the sexually active era - some 16 to 20 years later.

     Pharmaceutical and cosmetics interests push the use of synthetic coatings, colorings and fragrances - all aimed to make the girl and then woman look and smell better than how they perceive themselves to currently be, a perception which is bolstered by the advertising and media imagery of the same interests.

     Dr NICK HODGSON argues that it's time women started making their voice heard in the health and wellness arenas... | more...|

THE CURSE OF THE CANOLA CLOUD?

Spring! It’s that time of the year when the cropping fields of the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria - where I live - are filled with golden flowers. The sides of the roads are also increasingly covered with similar looking golden weeds. As a local health care professional, it’s also the time of the year when patients arrive with a dreaded seasonal affliction - sneezing; runny nose and eyes; itching, hot, red and painful eyes; constricted airways; painful and congested sinuses.

     My observation over the last few years has been that this malady is increasing in severity, prevalence, and sudden dramatic onset. And my observation is that this seems to coincide with the arrival of a fine yellow dust that covers car bonnets and windscreens, and even internal household surfaces.

     But I’m not alone. A recent study, which involved 25 residents in a small Scottish village, investigated respiratory symptom reporting in the presence or absence of oilseed rape over a two-year period.

     Dr NICK HODGSON takes a look at the growth of canola... | more...|

TEMPTATION, DECEIT AND LIES - WELCOME TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Life is about choices - and the consequences that follow.

    In the book of Genesis, we see Eve being deceived by the snake. Earlier, God had warned Adam that even though the tree in the centre of the garden was called the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil, if man ate from it, it meant death.

      The thing about deceit is that most of it sounds plausible, and even attractive: “the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil” sounds pretty good to me - knowledge of good and evil seeming an admirable thing to aspire to. But there is also a masked lie - “You won’t die if you touch or eat from it”  says the snake. Often we miss the lie amongst the good-sounding sales pitch. Eve missed it; Adam was too passive and slow to prevent it. And look at the mess we’ve been in ever since!

     Dr NICK HODGSON nravels the deceptions that can lead to substance addiction... | more...|

THE REAL REASON WHY ATHLETES TAKE DRUGS

Why would enormously successful sportsmen and women risk their careers, reputations and livelihoods for the temporary high of sex, drugs, violence and perhaps even crime?

    There is a commonly held yet ultimately flawed assumption that the reason athletes need to take something to enhance their performance is so that they can become ‘Number One’.
      This assumption, however, ignores the fact that substance abuse exists at all levels of sport, and, actually, at all levels of our community. What athletes are really searching for is an inner sense of fulfilment; a sense of wellbeing and achievement. The fact that their sporting achievements have failed to fulfil this inner desire leads them to the point of experimentation with stronger stimulation.

     What we are talking about is a compulsive and ultimately addictive process.

     Dr NICK HODGSON argues efforts to tackle the problem of athletes taking drugs needs to come out of an understanding that it's all about self-fulfilment and not being on top... | more...|

SUPERNATURAL HEALING

The universe we live in is extremely complex; amazing in its intricacies and interrelationships. So too the human body is awe-inspiring in the way that it is built and even more-so in the way that it functions - brilliant.

       Just one of millions of examples: if the planet Earth was not positioned exactly where it was in relationship to the moon and the rest of the cosmos; then life would not have been possible. And “life” itself is a metaphysical concept in the sense that we struggle to quantify or locate the actual anatomy or physiology that produces it - what is it that appears or manifests at the moment of conception; and then disappears or transcends at the moment of death? Science and mainstream medicine could be accused of under-selling these miracles in the way that they reduce the planet and the body that we live in to an accumulation of chemical and mechanical parts that are destined to decay and degenerate, ultimately to die a diseased demise.

     Dr NICK HODGSON looks at the "intelligence" behind our body's ability to heal itself... | more...|

EXPOSING THE WELLNESS 'HIT PARADE'

I can still remember one of my first health education workshops that I ran in my practice, way back in 1990. I made up some hand-written, colour posters that I posted all around town (I didn’t have a computer or colour printer back then). The title was Health and Wellness into the 21st Century! This was also back in the days of milk bars which were one of the best spots to put up a public notice. As I handed the poster to the owner, she read the poster and said to me, “Wellness! Is there such a word? I’ve never heard of it. What is it?”

      If wellness wasn’t in the dictionary at the time, I wish that I had patented it because it’s now being used, overused and abused by many people wanting to find a more effective path towards better health; and also by a massive number of entrepreneurs wishing to make money from those on this path. To give you an idea of how trendy this term is, I just “googled” the term “wellness” and was offered 220 million potential links.

     Dr NICK HODGSON imagines some of the songs which could make up the 'Top 100 Wellness Hit Parade'... | more...|

PART II OF THE COUNTDOWN IS NOW ONLINE!

Dr NICK HODGSON counts down to the top three songs in his 'Wellness Hit Parade'... | more...|

REWARD DEFICIENCY? THE COMMON THREAD CONNECTING COMPULSIVE AND ADDICTIVE TRAITS

Jack is depressed, and is becoming increasingly frustrated. And things aren’t improving. Each time he tries to overcome his addiction to marijuana and then relapses, the feelings of failure, desperation, disconnection and hopelessness increase. But Jack’s struggle isn’t just destroying his own life. His sister Sue is tired: tired of Jack disappearing in search of fulfilment of his compulsive need for “relief”; tired of him reappearing in a dark, dishevelled, unwell and dirty state; tired of dealing with the calls from authorities telling her to come and get him; tired of the angry outbursts, the coughing and hacking through the night as Jack dries out once again.

       Jack’s niece Kath hates him: why does she have to have her junky uncle living in her home? Why can’t he just get his life on track? Why can’t the many rehab centres that he has checked into keep him clean? The last thing she needs is another dysfunctional male in her life - she is trying to break things off with her "loser" boyfriend and is fighting her own struggle with depression and anorexia.

      Dr NICK HODGSON takes a look at Reward Deficiency Syndrome... | more...|

KICKING THE SICKNESS 'HABIT'

Have you ever wondered why when you get run down or sick, it tends to hit you in the same part of your body, seemingly every time? When I was a teenager, and into my early twenties, no matter what kind of minor infection I "caught", it would head straight for my chest/lungs. I would be choked up with bronchitis for weeks.

    Many people who consult me as a chiropractor need to because when they get stressed, run down, overworked, physically or emotionally fatigued, or mysteriously ill; they always seem to end up with their neck or lower back "going out", or a bunch of headaches piling on top of each other.

      We all seem to have our weak spots and if they recur often enough and severely enough we usually give our seemingly permanent residents a name: Migraines, Asthma, Irritable Bowel, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Sinusitis, Depression and so on.

      Dr NICK HODGSON on how to break the sickness cycle... | more...|

WALKING COMFORTABLY INTO THE FUTURE?

"Wear and tear", "osteoarthritis", "degenerative joint disease", "arthritis", "spondylosis", “human rust”, “just getting old, Mrs Jones" - no matter what you call it, the pain and suffering caused by joints of any part of your body wearing out can be debilitating.

      Progressively losing the abilities to participate in the activities we all love is no easy path to walk - whether it be loss of productivity in the workplace; restricted ability to maintain and clean your own home and gardens; reduction of sporting prowess; difficulty participating in social and family activities; or loss of general mobility and fitness.
      Sometimes we can cope with the slow reduction in our physical capacities with the passing of time but when we start to lose the ability to be involved in our most fulfilling roles in life, then our quality of life and state of wellbeing deteriorate proportionately.

      Dr NICK HODGSON gives tips for living with arthritis... | more...|

THE 12 HEALTHY WAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Now that we are in the midst of the '12 days of Christmas', I doubt that any of us will achieve any of the 'purchases' in the carol. So instead I would like to share what I regard as the '12 healthy ways of Christmas'. Strive for these achievements to guarantee a healthy time during your festive and holiday seasons.

      On the first day of Christmas my chiro said to me: "Get adjusted regularly". Treat yourself - Have a massage, pay a little extra for a spa in your motel-room or at the pool, have a sauna, get your legs waxed, have a facial, ask the locals who is the best chiropractor in town and go and have some tension reducing adjustments, have half a day by yourself and go and sit on a hillside or next to a stream. You choose.

      On the second day of Christmas my chiro said to me: "Exercise a little; and get adjusted regularly". Exercise only a little bit more than you normally do - A common disaster on holidays is the felt- need to catch up for missed exercise routines. The resultant physical overload from attempting to 'make-up' can potentially destroy a holiday. Multiple crisis visits to us chiropractors, walking on a pair of crutches or lying flat on your back in agony are not good ways to spend time-out.

      Dr NICK HODGSON gives his 12 tips for a healthy Christmas... | more...|

ILLNESS BY ACCIDENT OR HEALTH BY DESIGN?

When it comes to health, it would appear that there are only two choices: illness by accident or health by design.

      There seems to be a prevailing belief system within our culture that sees illness, sickness and disease as being a game of chance over which we have little influence; someone else is dealing the hand. You get an infection because a bug that is going around chooses you as a potential home, and if you are unfortunate enough to be exposed to that micro-enemy by a carrier passing by who sneezes in your general direction, then you are out of luck - sneezes and snuffles are just around the corner.    

      Mental malfunction is the result of chemical imbalance within our brain, over which we have no control. Cancer is just a game of chance, the uncontrolled growth of a tumour that has mysteriously housed itself in its new home - the sufferer. And now the concept of genetic predetermination and that if you are one of the unlucky ones to inherit a gene for a particular malady - then it is just a matter of time until that malfunctioning gene is going to produce a malfunctioning body.

      Dr NICK HODGSON says there is a growing realisation that infections may come from the inside out and not the other way around... | more...|

WHAT ARE THOSE 'LITTLE VOICES' TELLING YOU?

Ever had one of those days when you are actually feeling pretty good? 'Things' are running quite smoothly and then a friend walks past and says, "You look exhausted". About 20 or 30 minutes later you suddenly realise that your energy is dropping and your enthusiasm oozing away. Did the person do something to you to make you tired? Did they cast some kind of weird spell on you?

      Well in a sense, they kind of did! But it wasn't what they said that made a physical change to your body, it was what you said to yourself, sometimes repeatedly, after your friend left the scene of the crime: "I look exhausted, I look exhausted". What we have here is a prime example of your thoughts changing and leading your physiology. The words that are running around in the space between your ears can actually change the chemical reactions inside the rest of your body, in this case releasing the wrong kind of chemicals.

      Dr NICK HODGSON gives some tips on how to counter those negative voices... | more...|

CLEANING THE TEMPLE: Dr NICK HODGSON on how fairy-tales can help us to see basic truths about our health... | more...|

   Dr NICK HODGSON gives some tips on defeating bugs and viruses before they beat you... | more...|

Dr NICK HODGSON takes a look at why we shouldn't exclude the possibility of miracles... | more...|

Dr NICK HODGSON outlines his two week 'cleansing the temple' diet... | more...|

Dr NICK HODGSON on how you can prepare for your holiday... | more...|

THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO MEN'S HEALTH: Dr NICK HODGSON outlines nine simple steps for maintaining a healthy male outlook... | more...|

BACTERIA - THE GOOD, THE BAD OR THE UGLY? Dr NICK HODGSON takes a look at the state of your insides... | more...|

COPING WITH THE STRESS OF CHANGE: Dr NICK HODGSON takes a look at the stress that can come with change... | more...|