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Notes from Mount Rainier Anthony Ocana's food and beverage recommendations are misleading as they can encourage unstable blood sugar level and dehydration. Foods and beverages high in complex carbohydrates (and without caffeine) coupled with mineral water would be healthier choices. To replace fluids "as soon as the mouth feels dry" is too late as dehydration has already set in. The excellent article entitled "Water, life's most essential nutrient" by Michael Filosa and Erika Ebbel reinforces my point. L Mignault Winnipeg, MB Response from Dr. Anthony Ocana Thank you for your comments. You're absolutely right. These suggestions are not healthy in general. They are, however, very appropriate to the amount of exertion. We were burning an abnormal amount of calories very quickly for a prolonged period of time: 7 hours continuous uphill walking at 6 to 14,000 feet. Regarding "as soon as the mouth feels dry,", again, you're right. Under the situation, it is best to drink continuously. But I need to use both hands all the time, and it was easy to become preoccupied with the climbing, so I need to remember to drink whenever the "mouth feels dry." A better alternative is to be equipped with a portable hydration pack and just suck water as needed.
Your WellnessOptions, No. 11, p.25 article may well be called "Hottentot Bilge". I run PhotoShop at home and blew the accompanying photo up as I didn't quite believe my eyes. I have long been interested in the darkest continent and don't think I have ever seen such a physical manifestation as it is portrayed in your magazine. I do not mean to dispute the existence of steatopygia. It is just that the photo looks to be re-touched. Unless that is, these women are wearing ostrich shells on their derrieres. The delineation is just a tad bit too pronounced for my liking. The shadow patterns don't match either. M.B. Hora Editor’s note: We did not alter the photograph in any way. The photograph was published courtesy of the South African Information Service and is discussed in "Man and the Environment" by AS Boughey, a listed reference in our article. For further reading on steatopygia, please see "Biology and Sociology: The evolution of man and his technology" by A. McClary, McMillan Pub., 1975: p.60. We are all born beautiful and unique. There is beauty in all kinds and shapes, though interpretation is always personal and individual. It is a wonderful thing that the human body can evolve in different ways to cope with and overcome so many different types of environmental stressors.
Stanley Coren's article on the stress-relieving properties of pets is well-taken. Whatever you do, their love is spontaneous, unstinted and unconditional. However, I do not believe that this is the main reason that they are better than cats in helping to relieve heart disease. Dogs have to be exercised, whereas cats do not. I believe that it is this physical factor, and not a social factor, that gives them the edge as agents of cardiac risk reduction. A similar argument (in reverse) can be made about watching fish in an aquarium, an experience that can be very soothing (stress-reducing) and rewarding, but not physically taxing (except maybe on the eye muscles). Stanley is a dog-lover and naturally favours that species above all others. However, his love of the creature should not blind him to alternative explanations as to why they can outshine cats in the realm of reducing cardiac risks. Sincerely, David Romney, PhD Clinical Psychologist University of Calgary, AB P.S. Perhaps swimming regularly with dolphins would be the ultimate cardiac risk reducing experience for humans! Response from Dr. Stanley Coren Dear Dr. Romney, The point that you make about dogs requiring more exercise, which in turn would increase the fitness of their owners is well taken. However, the data still suggests that it is the social support provided by dogs that is most significant. In a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania on the four year survival rate of men who had suffered their first heart attack, those with dogs had a higher survival rate even if they were not the family member responsible for walking the dog. In England, physicians often recommend very small dogs to house-bound elderly patients who can not walk the dogs, yet still observe the health benefits of stress reduction. When I refer to dogs as being better than cats in this role, this is simply because taken as a whole, dogs are more socially oriented and attentive to humans. Some cat breeds (such as the Maine Coon Cat) and some individual cats which might be more socially inclined, could obviously provide the same benefits as a dog. Certainly any cat will provide some social interactions and are thus better than no pet at all. (Please do not quote that last statement to my own pet cat Loki, as it will make him even haughtier and socially disdainful than he currently is.) |
 
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