Health involves exercise, rest and diet

I lost a friend a week ago and it was not because he was not health conscious. This friend knew he had to exercise to keep physically fit. He would cycle long distances, sometimes into a neighbouring country to enjoy the scenes and improve his health.

Once, about three or four years ago, he invited me to partner him in a canoe race along the Merbok River with the competition ending at Pantai Merderka (Merdeka Beach).For me it was the first time I had ever paddled anything in a river and, knowing that, he got us involved in taking a boat from Pantai Merdeka to the starting point about five days before the competition. That was exhilarating but extremely tiring. Fortunately, our muscles recovered sufficiently to find us ready to the race.

This friend likes to travel around on his bicycle and it was good exercise for him. His stamina was good. His rest was usually enough, being able to sleep soundly through the night each day. However, he forgot about limiting the amount of certain foods in his diet until it was a little bit too late. His diet consists of too much fata and oils and this lead to high blood pressure. It was only when he discovered that his cholesterol level and blood pressure were too high that he decided to eat less fats and oils and take oats for breakfast.

Unfortunately, his arteries were already narrowing and one morning, while he was driving somewhere, someone honed loudly as a car overtook his and that caused a heart-attack from which he lost his life.

Perhaps, if he had looked into his diet earlier, he could be alive today. Whatever it is, let us check ourselves and confirm we have enough exercise, rest and a healthy diet so that we may move into our future with greater assurance of good health.Let us give good health first priority.

Of course, there is hope for brain injured children

A few days ago, I wrote about having hope where some doctors said there were none. I was talking about brain injured children. Somehow I got interested in brain injury and the kind of help available to such children. Down's children is fairly commonly seen. There are children with hyperactive brains and there are those who are mentally retarded. As a teacher I have seen some of them in schools. As for brain damaged, autistic cerebral-palsied and brain-damaged children we seldom see them but that is not to say that they do not exist.

Having gone through some of the books, watched the you-tube videos and read about the well known people involved in neuroplasticity, I know there is hope for brain injured children and adults, no matter the cause. In my previous posting I have written about Glenn Doman and his Institute For The Achievement Of Human Potential which developed the therapies for brain injured children through their understanding of the cause of the limitations of brain injured children and the stages of development of the human child. Besides Doman, there is Anat Baniel who had worked with Feldenkrais and developed a method for getting the brain to register movements to overcome limitations imposed by brain injuries. Her book 'Kids Beyond Limits' is very informative on the techniques she uses. Her success in this field has been well known to many who needed her assistance.

Feldenkrain himself had trained practitioners to help such brain injured children too. To know what such practitioners do, go to you-tube where you can see movements they use to assist the children.

Besides Anat Baneil, there are many other practitioners trained by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. One of the practitioners I frequently visit on you-tube is Jeremy Kriauss whose method is clear and interesting to viewers. His explanations on his approach, The Jeremy Kriauss Approach, is very clear on how he achieves the aims he desires.

For further information on neuroplasticity, two excellent books by Norman Doidge are Brain's Way of Healing and The Brain That Changes Itself. They contain information that can lead you not only to solutions for brain injured children but also for well childrens greater development and adultswith brain problems such as stroke and possibly prevention of Alzhemer's.

Well, hope the above information can be of help to someone..

And there is always hope

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A few years ago, someone told me the brain cannot replace the cells and neurons that have died due to some kind of injury, be it from birth or some other external traumatic forces. Why can other parts of the body be repaired naturally and not the brain? As someone who is growing older each day, I was suddenly curious about this as I know aging people can develop brain problems such as slowly and gradually forgetting things. Now that started me on reading up on the matter. Unfortunately, there was nothing in our libraries or even the local bookstores with such a subject available. Then, the point in my destiny came and I read somewhere about The Institute of Human Potential. I sent them a letter and the beautiful thing was, they replied to my queries with pamphlets. There was a booklet which revealed their work. Parents accompanied their little brain-injured child to the Institute so that they could learn what to do each day to overcome the problem faced by their beloved children.

A few years later, I bought the book 'What to do about your brain-injured child' by Glenn Doman, the founder of The Institute For The Achievement of Human Potential from the Popular Bookstore. I learned from the book and knew there is always hope for people with brain in jury.

Then, one day I was told by the 'Longevitology' group to which I participate in that a brain injured child need the help of two volunteers. I gladly offered my assistance as I could see that my destiny beakons.

The next day, when I reached the eight month old baby's residence, the mother told us, actually 'Chang Sen Sue' or Longevitology was not their first choice. But then, nobody seem to be able to offer any help, especially those people in the medical profession. When I heard that I told her what I knew of the Institute For the Development of Human Potiential. That evening she went to the internet and found that this particular institute was holding a course in Singapore. She immediately contacted them and the next morning found her at the course and allowed entry despite the fact that she had missed one day of the course. Yes, she had been successful in her pleas for permission to attend with the understanding that she must go through the first day of that course at a future date at another location.

The mother had finally found hope for her child. Before this, doctors had told her the child will always be unable to do everything a normal child can no matter what treatment is applied.

And with hope, lots of patience, universal qi from Longevitology and the right movements, the child has slowly but gradually improved. The parents, their relatives, friends and myself are obviously delighted with the development of the baby. There is certainly hope, hope of one day having this little girl running towards us for a hug.