Nearly everyone starts at sometime working on their health. Some wait until an accident or health event creates a sudden interest and action. At this point anger or fear often generate the energy to address ones own health. Best not to sustain for a lifetime it can create bitter lonely persons. At some point one can accept where they are at as a baseline without emotional baggage. The power to make self directed changes comes from a deeper spiritual place.

Never really considered myself having radical ideas on health and healthcare. But my list of physical and mental attributes to monitor and work on to improve, prevent a problem, maintain or slow rate of decline is different than other list I am finding.

Most important mental clarity. Good mental ability can assist in making adjustments for physical challenges. Actively learning new information or hobby to keeps life exciting and keeps the mind active. Participate in activities to connect with society and friends.

Physically I am more concerned about flexibility of joints, balance when walking or standing, stamina and hand or grip strength than weight. Weight by itself does not indicate health status. Rapid weight changes can be used to monitor for specific health problems. Ability to breath well is important, air in, air out, oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange with blood. A simple test for changes in lung capacity occasionally checking how fast you can blow up a balloon or blow out a set number of candles (maybe on a cake).

I want to avoid having to be responsible for trying to take control of a natural body functional system like blood sugars. It is complicated and preventing the condition is easier than treating the condition. Other functionalities to optimize ability to fall asleep and maintain state of sleep during night, minimal digestive problems and minimize thyroid problems. I lump pain control with body systems since it involves more than the site of an injury or where one thinks they are experiencing pain.

This still does not address all the risks of accidents, infections, chemical and radioactive exposures and genetic landmines.

The truth about hydration: should you drink eight glasses of water a day?

“Nowadays this is not considered sensible,” says Stuart Galloway, an associate professor in physiology, exercise and nutrition at the University of Stirling. “As humans, we have this homeostatic system, so when we need water, we feel thirsty.” Drinking when you are thirsty, he says, maintains your body’s water level within about 1-2% of its ideal state. “For most people, this is absolutely fine. Even for athletes, a loss of around 1% is considered to have negligible impact upon performance. So, although thirst may not kick in until you have lost some body water, this is not necessarily a bad thing.”

As we get older, our sense of thirst can get fuzzier and that is when dehydration can become a threat. It is a similar story for children, too. So perhaps the advice to drink water before you feel thirsty was originally aimed at parents and the elderly but now healthy adults are putting away gallons of water in a quest to be their best selves.

Why breast cancer genes need to be rebranded

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are tumour suppressors that are responsible for repairing faults that can naturally occur within DNA. When they do not function correctly, it makes it more likely that other genetic errors will occur, leading to cancer.

Both men and women have the same risk of developing BRCA1 and 2 gene mutations, but men are ten times less likely to get tested for them. One potential reason for this is the general misconception that the genes are synonymous with breast cancer and many men don’t believe they have breast tissue.

Men certainly have less breast tissue than women, which translates to a much lower risk of developing breast cancer even if they have BRCA2 – but that ignores the other risks that come with mutations in this gene.

If their daughters end up inheriting this mutation, they have a 50%-85% chance of developing breast cancer by the age of 70
...
And it’s not just about how this gene mutation affects women. Male BRCA2 mutation carriers are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime than non-carriers, according to one recent study. In fact, 12% of men with metastatic prostate cancer carry a BRCA mutation, which is a higher rate than the percentage of women with breast cancer who carry a BRCA mutation. And prostate cancer in BRCA2 gene mutation carriers is often much more aggressive.

Continuing the Journey into Chinese Medicine

For my Great grandparents ancient Chinese medicine was an alternative when the regular doctors were unsuccessful in treating a condition. American Medical Association was unable to close Doc Hay's practice.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6yId_j75Nw]

The Chinese were part of the fabric of the Oregon before my relatives migrated from the eastern states and Europe. The anti-Chinese sentiment being fostered the last few years is reminiscent of some of the darker times of our local and national history. The push to decouple our economy from China feels like preparation a slow progression to war.

Small groups of Cantonese-Chinese miners, who arrived in Oregon Territory in 1850-1853, represented the first Chinese migration beyond northern California, the earliest and primary location of Cantonese-Chinese settlement in America (1850-1860). In the early 1850s, these miners and a handful of merchants settled in two different but widely separated parts of Oregon Territory.
...
The Cantonese-Chinese presence is best characterized as that of a pioneer community, which embraced a small population of highly mobile miners and merchants who moved about in response to opportunities to mine for gold or to "mine the miners" (both Chinese and white). Conditions were not conducive for the formation of permanent ethnic Cantonese-Chinese communities in Oregon.
....
From 1870 to 1885, a rapid acceleration and expansion of the anti-Chinese movement took place in Oregon, paralleling similar developments elsewhere in the American West. A decade earlier, a nascent anti-Chinese movement in the state had produced isolated instances of ridicule and harassment, and local anti-Chinese ordinances had been designed to put the Chinese in their place, as outsiders. In the 1870s, the movement gained strength as state labor and political leaders called for both the expulsion of Chinese residents and the exclusion of future Chinese from Oregon.

As late as the mid-1880s, expulsion efforts included the burning of two large buildings in Portland's Chinatown and the raid by eighty masked men on Chinese woodcutters' camps near Albina, with the Chinese there being shipped to Portland. The anti-Chinese club in Portland sponsored rallies with speeches, fundraising, brass bands, and dancing. In 1885, about five hundred Chinese were ejected from Tacoma, Washington, and many were sent by rail to Portland, creating further tensions in the city.

The most notorious incident occurred in 1887, when a small group of white men massacred thirty-four Chinese miners in Hells Canyon in Wallowa County. The injury and ejection of Chinese in Oregon and throughout the West helped usher in Chinese exclusion.
...
In Oregon, the period 1882-1943 is known as the Exclusion Era. During this period, as a practical matter Chinese could not legally enter the United States, and Chinese women were excludable as wives of banned Chinese laborers. Oregon also banned interracial marriage. Cantonese-Chinese men in America had several options: (1) remain celibate; (2) engage prostitutes; or (3) seek out common-law marriages or consensual arrangements with black, Native American, Hispanic, or white women. During this time, Chinese were ineligible for naturalization on the basis of a 1789 law that limited naturalization to white immigrants. Additionally, Chinese were discriminated against in housing; banned from attending public schools, entering professions, and serving on juries; and not allowed to vote or hold office.
...
If exclusion and the Great Depression made daily life difficult for the Chinese in Oregon, World War II and the end of exclusion reversed things. The older sojourner generation declined, as many retired, returned to China, or died. Oregon's increasing numbers of Chinese were either American-born Chinese (ABC), whose numbers increased dramatically between 1940 and 1970, or emigrants to Oregon from California and elsewhere. These Cantonese-Chinese, as Chinese Americans, were culturally assimilated, having either been born, raised, and educated in America or immigrated (legally and illegally) in their youth. Their experiences and identifications led them to successfully compete in both classrooms and the job market.

Among the foreign-born Cantonese, a significant number had served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II, and as veterans they were allowed to send for or otherwise obtain Cantonese-Chinese wives. Scores of Chinese in Oregon began to relocate beyond Portland’s Chinatown, living and working in mainstream white society. In Portland and other urban communities, these Chinese were viewed in a positive way. They worked hard and were friendly, law-abiding citizens who paid their taxes and did not get involved in anti-social behavior (e.g., their children were well behaved and excellent students). They also spoke English well and had nice homes and cars. In this way, the Chinese in Oregon transitioned from being viewed as undesirable foreigners to admired fellow Americans.
...
After 1980, many Chinese immigrants were not Cantonese, but were Chinese from Taiwan, Burma, Singapore and Malaysia, and Indochina (Vietnamese Chinese, Cambodian Chinese). After the later 1980s, there appeared a growing number of Chinese immigrants from Mainland China. In this way, Min speakers from Fujian, Wu speakers from Shanghai and elsewhere in the lower Yangtze, and Mandarin speakers from northern and southwest China settled in growing numbers in America. These groups are well represented among the Chinese in Oregon since 1990.