Flexibility is a measure of the range of motion, or the amount of movement possible, at a particular joint. Improving your range of motion through stretching exercises will enhance your efficiency of movement and your posture. In addition, flexibility exercises have been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence and severity of musculo-tendinous injuries.
A regular program of stretching exercises can enhance psychological as well as physical well-being. Tai chi is an ancient Chinese form of exercise that combines stretching, balance, coordination, and meditation; it is widely practiced in the West today. Yoga, which originated in India and also combines stretching, coordination, balance, and meditation, is even more widely practiced. Both are excellent for improving flexibility. Many factory workers in the United States now begin their workdays with simple forms of flexibility exercises, a concept introduced from Japan.
Flexibility is enhanced by the controlled stretching of muscles that act on a particular joint. The primary strategy is to decrease the resistance to stretch (tension) within a tight muscle that you have targeted for increased range of motion. To do this, you repeatedly stretch the muscle and its two tendons of attachment to elongate them.
The three major types of stretching techniques are static, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), and ballistic. Static techniques involve the slow, gradual stretching of a muscle and its tendons, holding the muscle or muscle group at a point of mild discomfort (a burning sensation is felt within the muscle), followed by the slow return to the starting position. When static stretching is done properly, it stimulates the tension receptors to allow the muscle being stretched to relax and permit the muscle to be stretched to greater length. Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) techniques have been shown to be superior to other stretching techniques for improving flexibility; unfortunately, PNF techniques in their original form are quite complex and a certified athletic trainer or physical therapist may be required to help you perform them correctly. Several PNF techniques (e.g., hold/relax, contract/relax) have been simplified to the point that they can be performed with an exercise partner or even alone. With PNF techniques, a 6-second contraction of the muscle to be stretched is followed by an assisted stretch of 10 to 30 seconds’ duration. Ballistic stretching involves repeated bouncing motions, during which the muscle and tendon are rapidly stretched and returned to resting length. This process can be likened to taking a rubber band between two fingers, rapidly pulling it apart, and then releasing the tension, again and again. And just as a rubber band can snap in your fingers if you apply too much tension, the muscle fibers being stretched in this way can be torn during these rapid movements. The risk of injury with ballistic stretching is so high that this type of stretching is no longer recommended.
Of the three types of flexibility exercises, static stretches are the most commonly used. The primary goal of static stretching is to cause permanent elongation of the targeted muscle or muscle group, thus permitting greater range of motion at a given joint. With static stretching, the end position is held for 10 to 30 seconds, and each of the major muscle groups should be stretched at least four times in close succession for optimal improvement. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive stretching program must be performed a minimum of two to three days a week.
*25/277/5*
-
-
Unnecessary jealousy is the most tragic of all. If one could only realize its implications, one would never be guilty of it. It implies that one does not believe himself attractive enough to hold another except by force. And that is an insult to oneself or at least an indication of an inferiority complex. Or it implies that one’s husband or wife is insincere or incapable of a deep and lasting emotion. If this is false, then the jealous person himself has shown that he does not really know or love the other. On the other hand, if it is true, why should he continue to desire the love of such a one?
Some foolish people, however, even enter marriage with the assumption that jealous watchfulness is the normal thing and may be heard to boast how they are not going to let their husband or wife out from under their eye. The popular moral tradition is partly to blame for this because it tacitly approves jealousy and sometimes even murder (“the unwritten law”) in the case of marital infidelity. It assumes that love, even though it has to be hypocritical, is a duty, and that failure to do one’s duty merits revenge. To call love a duty is obviously a contradiction in terms, and it is difficult to see how any intelligent person could value dutiful love. The double standard of morality also has led many women to believe that all men are naturally unfaithful, and therefore to be guarded carefully.
*94\275\8* -
Research has revealed that the species originated in Mexico and Central America some 70,000 years ago. Four times it colonized North America, each time being almost wiped out by glaciers during successive ice ages. Each new wave of evening primrose cross-pollinated with survivors and so continued the line.
American Indians are supposed to have used the evening primrose for hundreds of years. According to folklore, a tribe called Flambeau Ojibwe was the first to realize the medicinal properties of the evening primrose plant. They used to soak the whole plant in warm water to make a poultice to heal bruises, they used the plant for skin problems and asthma, and brewed a cough mixture from the roots.
From America, the evening primrose spread all over the world. Botanists first brought the plant from Virginia to Europe in 1614 as a botanical curiosity.
Most of the strains, however, came to Britain during the next century as stowaways in cargo ships carrying cotton. As cotton is light, soil was used as ballast. The ballast was dumped on reaching port, and with it stray seeds of evening primrose. Even today there are areas around the major ports, such as Liverpool, where evening primrose plants – descendants of the cotton ballast – grow in profusion.
In Europe, the evening primrose became known as ‘King’s Cure All’ by those who knew its almost magical medicinal properties. For centuries, however, the evening primrose was left to straggle along without anyone but a few specialist herbalists taking much notice. It wasn’t until this century that scientists began to look at the plant for its industrial potential in such things as paint.
In 1917 a German scientist called Unger examined the plant, and found that the seeds contained 15% oil, which was extractable with light petroleum. In 1919 the Archives of Pharmacology published a paper by Heiduschka and Luft who were the first to do a detailed analysis of the oil. They extracted 14% oil with ether, and apart from the normal oleic and linoleic acids, found a new fatty acid, which they named gammalinolenic acid (y-linolenic acid). In 1927, three German scientists repeated the Heiduschka and Luft test, and came up with a more detailed analysis of the chemical structure of this gammalinolenic acid (GLA).
Twenty-two years later Dr J.P. Riley, a British biochemist in the Department of Industrial Chemistry at Liverpool University, came across the German papers on evening primrose oil and decided to analyze the oil for himself, but this time using modern techniques. So Dr Riley set off for the sand hills near Southport in Merseyside and picked a bunch or two of evening primrose plants. He dried the plants, separated the seeds, and extracted the oil. To his great satisfaction, he found for himself the unique gammalinolenic acid.
It wasn’t until the 1960s, however, that British scientists began investigating the oil for its possible health uses. The first experiment was on rats. The aim of this experiment was to compare the biological activity of the commonly-found linoleic acid with the rare gammalinolenic acid.
The rats were put on a diet lacking in essential fatty acids, and after a few weeks they developed loss of hair and skin problems. They were then divided into two groups. One group was fed linoleic acid and the other group was fed gammalinolenic acid. The results of this first experiment were remarkable. The rats in the GLA group recovered more rapidly than the other group, and there was evidence that the GLA was far more efficiently taken up by the cells of all the important tissues and organs of the body.*2/60/5*
Recent Comments