Health Noise

First published in Daily Maverick Life   “Thank you for the most meaningful and deeply magical experience of my life, I am speechless”   “My heart is open, my mind is quieter and I enjoy life so much more and care less about petty things”   “ It has helped me heal and process emotional trauma.”   “The experience was deep and profound. It gave me the tools for my onward journey to healing and to what it means to be purposeful and energised.”   These are some of the comments on the Facebook page of psilocybin proponents.    Dr Makgathi Mokwena, who refers to herself as a “pilgrim in heels”,  describes her journey with magic mushrooms in a documentary series called, Pilgrim, that was broadcast on SABC 3 earlier this year. It is also available on You Tube.  Makgathi’s  journey was sparked by an insatiable desire to delve deep inside herself and discover her divine nature. She says “this longing could not be filled from outside...

First published in Daily Maverick Life Fans believe cold water swimming is the elixir of wellbeing. The first claims of the benefits of cold water swimming date back to 400BC. Since then  numerous studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that it has a wide variety of benefits.  Cold water swimming describes swimming outdoors in cold or icy water. This form of endurance sport is becoming increasingly popular. It can be used as a general umbrella term for swimming in cold to ice-cold water. There is no strict definition of what the temperature should be,  but the general consensus is that it be 15 degrees Celsius or less.  Ram Barkai,  retired CEO of a financial planning company, is the founder of the International Ice Swimming Association. He set it up in 2009. Barkai, a celebrated cold water swimmer was determined to establish swimming in icy waters as a recognised sport . Today its growing membership includes swimmers from 73 countries. Barkai describes cold wate...

  (First published on Maverick Life/Daily Maverick)   “A good night’s sleep is the best health insurance policy anyone can invest in.” So says Professor Matthew Walker, neuroscientist and author of the recent best seller, Why We Sleep. Regular, quality sleep is a non-negotiable for good mental and physical health.    This is especially relevant for South Africa today, where anxiety and insomnia caused by our tumultuous socio-economic conditions are epidemic. In April 2020, an online survey by the S.A. Depression and Anxiety Group showed that 55% of the respondents, a predominant number of them women, suffer from anxiety [1] . Such anxiety can cause chronic sleep deprivation and is the major cause of insomnia.   Anxiety causes a continuous release of adrenaline in the body, which triggers the fight or flight response that causes you to be unable to fall asleep or stay asleep.    The profound health benefits of a good night’s sleep have been scientifical...

Do you practice health rituals that work for you even though there is very little evidence of their efficacy? For years I was told that eating carrots would improve my night vision, chocolates cause pimples and cold weather triggers a cold. Several friends are adamant that the flu shot causes flu. Although these beliefs are unproven, those who follow them are convinced they make sense.   If I sprain an ankle, the first thing I do is grab a packet of frozen peas to ice the injury. This, was the so called golden rule to speed up recovery. Experts claimed that ice reduces pain and swelling, and stops inflammation. According to them, preventing inflammation was key to fast healing. Icing was an essential part of this theory. In 1978 Dr Mirkin created the acronym  RICE.  It promotes rest, ice, compression and elevation. These principles were regarded as the optimum treatment for a soft tissue injury.    Recently icing has become a hot topic of discussion. The latest ...