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Lyme Disease and the Heart
Published in Stephen T. Sinatra, Mark C. Houston, Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2015
Accumulation of pesticides and herbicides in the body can be a large impediment to resolving chronic illnesses like Lyme disease because, like heavy metals, they create free radical damage in human tissues; disrupt normal function of metabolic enzymes; and alter the function of the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for regulating heart rate, heart muscle contractility, and blood vessel tone. These and other man-made chemicals are taken into the body via skin contact and by breathing contaminated air, but pesticides and herbicides most commonly enter the body through the consumption of nonorganic food and drink. Because of the bioconcentration effect, nonorganic meats/dairy/eggs usually have several times more pesticides and herbicides than nonorganic vegetables. In a vegetarian diet, the sweetest nonorganic fruits have the most pesticides and herbicides, followed by other nonorganic fruits, then nonorganic root vegetables, and then other vegetables (with the least pesticides and herbicides). Therefore, when trying to reduce the intake of pesticides and herbicides it would be wise for people to always eat vegetarian when eating out so that they do not get the bioconcentration of food toxins in the animal-derived foods. They should also only eat organic meats and dairy products at home and try to make sure that most fruits (especially the sweetest ones) that they eat are organic and that the root vegetables are also organic. One type of bad oil that has found its way into foods is cottonseed oil. More pesticides and herbicides are sprayed on cotton plants than almost any other plant. Therefore, products with cottonseed oil should be avoided, because they are highly contaminated. People can reduce their exposure to other man-made chemicals by doing all of the following: (1) reading labels on all household products, (2) not putting anything on the skin or into the indoor air that could not be safely swallowed, (3) using low volatile organic compounds (low VOC) wall paints, (4) using only natural cleaning solutions in the house, (5) taking the outdoor shoes off at the door, and (6) opening several windows for ventilation of the house and office each day for several minutes (or even a few hours during better weather). It appears that various toxins (pesticides, herbicides, some heavy metals, solvents, other man-made chemicals, and possibly even biotoxins) are mobilized from the body, and associated symptoms are improved, when sitting in an infrared sauna at 110°F–160°F.80 It is beneficial to take ginger, yarrow, or rapid-acting niacin at a dose of 100 mg (gradually building to 2000 mg) just before the sauna. This will cause a flushing and blood vessel dilation in the skin, which presumably then carries more of the heat-mobilized toxins into the sweat glands and sebaceous glands for excretion by the body. A cool shower, with a thorough soap lathering, immediately after the sauna helps to bind excreted toxins on the skin and to wash them down the drain. Because minerals are also lost in the sweat, people undergoing sauna should take supplemental minerals after the saunas.
Effects of capacitive and resistive electric transfer and hot pack interventions on the autonomic nervous system in young women
Published in Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 2022
Haruna Matsushita, Momoko Nagai- Tanima, Tomoki Aoyama, Masatoshi Nakamura
Regarding the relaxation effect, there was no difference in the psychological relaxation effect (RAS scores) between superficial and deep thermal stimulation. Although far-infrared sauna and whole-body warming with blankets have a psychological relaxation effect (Masuda et al. 2005), the present study suggests that thermal stimulation of only one part of the lumbar region has a subjective relaxation effect as well. These results indicate that the Cret intervention and the hot pack intervention produce a subjective relaxation effect on the body, even if the heating is applied to a part of the body rather than the whole body. As described above, previous studies have shown that Cret intervention could be more effective for low back pain, chest mobility, temperature rise in deep tissue, and oxygen supply than hot pack intervention (Bito et al. 2020; Tashiro et al. 2017, 2020). Taking together the previous studies and this study, we believe that Cret could be a more useful physiotherapy approach rather than traditional surface thermotherapies, such as a hot pack and a paraffin bath. Future studies are needed to investigate Cret intervention’s effectiveness as a physiotherapy approach.
Serum from young, sedentary adults who underwent passive heat therapy improves endothelial cell angiogenesis via improved nitric oxide bioavailability
Published in Temperature, 2019
Vienna E. Brunt, Karen M. Weidenfeld-Needham, Lindan N. Comrada, Michael A. Francisco, Taylor M. Eymann, Christopher T. Minson
Heat therapy, in the form of chronic use of hot tubs and saunas, has been gaining attention recently for its utility as a health-promoting lifestyle intervention. Several studies have shown that infrared sauna therapy improves clinical symptoms and outcomes of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [1–3] and, in epidemiological studies, higher frequency and duration per session of lifelong sauna use has been associated with greatly reduced risk of CVD-related and all-cause mortality [4]. It is likely that these lifelong CV protective effects of heat therapy are related to effects on the vasculature, as the majority of CVDs are characterized and preceded by vascular dysfunction [5–7], including vascular endothelial dysfunction and stiffening of the large elastic arteries. These changes to arteries occur in large part due to superoxide-driven oxidative stress that reduces bioavailability of vasodilatory molecule nitric oxide (NO) [8,9]. We previously demonstrated that 8 wk of heat therapy via hot water immersion induces widespread and robust improvements in vascular function in young, sedentary adults [10], including improved brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (a measure of endothelial function), reduced arterial stiffness, and reduced blood pressure, all of which are independently predictive of CV-related morbidity and mortality [11–14]. Furthermore, using cutaneous microdialysis, we demonstrated that improvements in endothelial function were mediated by enhanced NO-dependent dilation [15].
Meta-inflammation and cardiometabolic disease in obesity: Can heat therapy help?
Published in Temperature, 2018
Brett R. Ely, Zachary S. Clayton, Carrie E. McCurdy, Joshua Pfeiffer, Christopher T. Minson
Sauna has also been investigated both as an intervention in clinical populations and in prospective cohort studies. Classic Finnish saunas involve air temperatures of 80–100°C with low humidity, and individuals spend 5–30 minutes at a time in the sauna with brief breaks in a thermoneutral room between multiple bouts. A 30-min bout in an 80°C sauna quickly increases skin temperature and heart rate, and raises rectal temperature ∼0.9°C.104 Two weeks of thermal therapy (60°C far-infrared sauna 6 days per week) in men with elevated cardiovascular risk significantly improved endothelial function, assessed via flow-mediated dilation.105 A study in men with congestive heart failure underwent the same therapy and similar improvements in flow-mediated dilation were observed.106 In addition, brain natriuretic peptide (a marker of cardiac dysfunction) was significantly reduced following thermal therapy.