YOUR GUIDE TO LIVING WELL
TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012
HEALTH POST BRIDAL BOOTCAMP: THE RECKONING >PAGE 9
HOW I BEAT DEPRESSION
Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
>PAGE 11
Lose the blues and you’ll be in the pink, say colour therapists >PAGE 6
Off the spectrum
2 NEWS APP OF THE WEEK
HEALTH BITES
Canto-pop stars share tips to help you stub out
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...................................................... Katie McGregor healthpost@scmp.com Quit Smoking – Tobacco Control Office of the Department of Health Free Rating 9/10 Despite the uninspired “Together, we can create a smoke-free Hong Kong” slogan, this governmentproduced app is recommended, not least because you learn that the Health Department has several programmes for “smoking cessation”, including one that uses traditional Chinese medicine. I thought it was all taxation and scary pictures on cigarette packets. Number one on the app menu is a device to monitor your progress. At set-up, you enter how much you usually spend a day on cigarettes, and then enter a reward that you would like to save up for. Small steps first, I entered a goal of HK$6,000 for a holiday. Doing the maths, this goal would be achievable within four months if I stayed clean. Every day, either tap the “I stayed clean today” or the “I smoked today” button and see your saving’s total rises, or not. The app comes with a nicotine dependence test, information about the department’s quitting services, discussions of ways to quit, benefits and hazards of quitting, and a section on myths. Myths such as “cigars are expensive therefore less damaging” and “I am old, so why
bother quitting?” are quashed. Cigars also cause many fatal diseases such as lung cancer and oral cavity cancer, and even if you are over 60, you may also reclaim three years of your life if you quit. I must tell my father. The app also helps you deal with cravings, with tips and advice, and has a daily alert to help with maintenance. This would probably work better if I was more of a follower of the Canto-pop and film scene, but I still got the idea. The Health Department has enlisted the support of a string of stars, including Vincy Chan, Yan Ng and Sherman Chung who, through YouTube videos, share their tips. If they can stay clean, I can, too.
Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com
Of smoke and signals Mothers must keep cellphones at bay and cigarettes away. Two studies have shown both could affect your child’s health. In a study published last week in Scientific Reports, Yale School of Medicine researchers found that the offspring of pregnant mice exposed to cellphone radiation had impaired brain development, potentially leading to hyperactivity. The researchers say further research in humans is needed, but limiting cellphone exposure of the fetuses seems warranted. In the other study, by Haukeland University Hospital in Norway published in Respirology, children exposed to passive cigarette smoke had almost double the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adulthood compared with nonexposed children. Childhood passive smoke exposure was, overall, a much stronger risk factor for COPD and related symptoms than adulthood passive smoke exposure in the study population, which included 433 COPD patients and 325 controlled subjects.
Sex, alcohol and fruit flies A new discovery by University of Missouri researchers in the US could lead to a greater understanding of the relationship between the social and physical causes of substance abuse in people and help treat addictions. In the study, published recently in the journal Science, sex-deprived male fruit flies were found to prefer food mixed with 15 per cent alcohol, while those that had mated repeatedly for several days showed no preference for the alcohol-spiked food. The researchers believe the alcohol may have satisfied the flies’ desire for physical reward. “Identifying the molecular and genetic mechanisms controlling the demand for reward in fruit flies could potentially influence our understanding of drug and alcohol abuse in humans, since previous studies have detailed similarities between signalling pathways in fruit flies and mammals,” says Professor Troy Zars.
ASK THE DOCTORS DR ANTHONY LUKE Q: I have a gym membership, but I find it difficult to exercise regularly. I’d like to be motivated to be more active, but I’ve had trouble getting energised. What can I do to get on track? A: From what you describe, it sounds like you have a goal to exercise, but you’re having difficulty meeting it. There are many resources to get you motivated to improve your health. Each person responds best to specific methods. A nice goal-setting approach is the “Smart” method. In this method, coined by George Doran in 1981, each letter outlines a quality of the approach: S stands for specific; M for measurable; A for attainable or achievable; R for relevant or realistic; and T for timely. A specific goal will usually answer the following five “W” questions. • What do I want to accomplish?
• Why: what are the specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing this goal? • Who is involved? Anyone else besides me (such as a personal trainer or dietitian)? • Where will this take place? • Which requirements and constraints should I consider? Try answering these questions to see how you can achieve your personal goals. This approach to setting and solving personal goals will help you measure and quantify success. It’s better to set an achievable goal than aim unreasonably high. Don’t forget to set a reasonable timeline to help you frame the challenge at hand. Dr Anthony Luke is an associate professor of clinical orthopaedic surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. Reprinted with permission of the American College of Sports Medicine’s ACSM Fit Society Page
> CONTACT US Deputy Culture Editor: Choong Tet Sieu tetsieu.choong@scmp.com Health Post Editor: Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com General inquiries: healthpost@scmp.com Advertising: tel: 2565 2435; e-mail advertising@scmp.com
White and wrong It’s an Asian staple, but eating white rice regularly significantly increases the risk of type-2 diabetes, claims a study published last week on the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) website (bmj.com). Harvard School of Public Health researchers analysed the results of four previous studies – in Japan, China, the United States and Australia – in which participants were diabetes-free at the start. They found a link between eating white rice and risk of type-2 diabetes (with a stronger association among women than men), and estimate that the risk is increased by 10 per cent with each increased 158 gram serving of white rice. White rice has a high glycaemic index, which results in a higher and more rapid increase in blood glucose levels. Compared with brown rice, it also has a lower content of nutrients, including fibre, magnesium and vitamins.
The economics of life and death The monthly suicide rate in New York City from 1990 to 2006 was 29 per cent higher at the economic low point in 1992 than at the peak of economic growth in 2000, a recent study shows. At the economic peak, the monthly suicide rate was 4.2 per million residents; at the low, it was 5.4 per million. White men under the age of 45 were the main link between suicide and the economy. Senior author Dr Sandro Galea of Columbia University says that while the reasons are not fully understood, this may be because white men are in jobs that are more exposed to economic vagaries than those of non-whites and women. Galea says when governments face budget shortfalls, they should think twice before cutting mental health services. “At times of economic stress, people need help.” Researchers from Columbia and Cornell universities in New York state, McGill University in Montreal and the University of California, San Francisco collaborated in this study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
NEWS 3 QUIZ ...................................................... Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis germ, which has existed since ancient times. Fragments of the spinal column from Egyptian mummies show evidence of TB more than 4,000 years ago. In Hong Kong, TB became a notifiable disease in 1939. The city’s rate of infection – about 70 per 100,000 people last year – is said to be many times higher than that of other Western developed countries. About one in 13 people in Hong Kong will develop TB at some stage in their life, according to the Health Department’s Tuberculosis and Chest Service. The airborne disease is transmitted through small droplets expelled when a TB patient coughs or sneezes. Prolonged exposure is usually required for the disease to be transmitted. It typically affects the lungs, but can also attack other organs such as lymph nodes, bones, joints, spinal
WORLD TUBERCULOSIS DAY MARCH 24 column, brain and kidneys. Symptoms include persistent cough, blood-stained sputum, weight loss, afternoon fever and night sweating. Sometimes, patients may have no symptoms. The usual tests used to diagnose TB include examination of chest X-ray and sputum. The Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is the most widely used and given to all Hong Kong babies. The degree of protection is not 100 per cent, and it’s effective in children but not adults. Most TB patients can be cured with drug treatment, provided by the Health Department free of charge. The usual course of treatment, introduced in 1979, lasts six months and involves four drugs. To mark World TB Day this Saturday, test your knowledge of the disease. 1. By what name was TB known in earlier times? a. Plague b. Consumption c. Polio 2. In which country was the first TB vaccine developed? a. Italy b. India c. France 3. How is TB transmitted from person to person? a. Airborne droplets b. Direct touch c. Sexual contact 4. Which part of the human body is not affected by TB? a. Hair and nails b. Heart c. Pancreas Answers: 1. b; 2. c; 3. a; 4. c
PETS
It could be our contentment that cats are purring about ...................................................... William Hageman We know that pets are beneficial to our health. They can lower a person’s blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and provide opportunities for exercise and socialisation. In some cases, the source of the benefits is obvious: if you walk a dog for three kilometres, you’ll be in better shape. But some of the reported benefits are baffling. A 10-year study at the University of Minnesota Stroke Centre has found that cat owners are 40 per cent less likely to have heart attacks than non-cat owners. Could a cat’s purr be the reason? “Cats will purr when they’re content, but they’ll also purr when they’re about to be euthanised. It’s thought they purr to communicate with their kittens,” says author and
animal behaviour consultant Steve Dale. “It’s thought to be a calming mechanism. If that’s the case ... maybe they calm themselves or other cats, but perhaps there’s a fallout and there’s another mammal species, us, that’s affected.” In another study, conducted at Kean University in New Jersey, subjects watched a Lassie film. Their levels of cortisol – a chemical associated with stress – were checked before and after the screening, and showed a decline after the film. This animal connection, Dale explains, “alters our neurochemistry. Not just the physiology, the blood pressure change, which is significant, but also the neurochemistry. The scientists are discovering there really is a difference here.” McClatchy-Tribune
Drug cocktail raises hope for sufferers ...................................................... Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com In an ambitious effort to stem the deadly tide of TB and deadly multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) around the world, international non-profit organisation TB Alliance yesterday launched a clinical trial to test a novel drug combination in both patients with TB and MDR-TB. The announcement comes ahead of World TB Day on Saturday. TB cases and deaths have been falling in the past 50 years or so, but the infectious disease remains a problem particularly in the Western Pacific region, of which Hong Kong is part. The World Health Organisation’s most recent estimates show 1.9 million TB cases and 260,000 deaths each year in the region. Cambodia, China, the Philippines and Vietnam are among the 22 high-burden countries globally, and account for 93 per cent of the regional caseload. Globally, there are 1.4 million deaths and nine million new cases a year. The TB epidemic tends to be concentrated in vulnerable and marginalised populations, but the situation is made worse by TB-HIV co-infection and the emergence and spread of drug-resistant TB, particularly MDR-TB. The region faces 120,000 incident MDR-TB
cases annually, which equals 28 per cent of the world’s MDR-TB burden. There were 4,926 new cases and 183 deaths in Hong Kong last year. Of these, 0.7 per cent of new TB cases and 2.6 per cent of retreatment TB cases were MDR-TB, according to WHO figures. Dr Mel Spigelman, president and CEO of TB Alliance, says the novel drug regimen being tested is “a step towards erasing the distinction between TB and MDRTB – and in the process, dramatically shortening, simplifying and
improving treatment”. Currently, a TB patient must take a course of drugs daily for six months, while MDR-TB patients must take a daily injection for the first six months and a dozen or more pills each day for 18 months or more. Around the world, many patients fail to complete treatment because they can no longer tolerate the side effects of the medication or fail to adhere to the long treatment, leading to drug resistance, be it MDR-TB or even extensively drugresistant TB (XDR-TB). The new, completely oral regimen being tested could increase treatment efficacy, lower the cost, and reduce treatment time by more than 80 per cent (to as little as four months in patients with TB and some forms of the drug-resistant strain). The clinical trial will treat patients for two months and take place at eight sites in South Africa, Tanzania and Brazil. There are many different drug-resistant patterns of TB, and often, due to the unavailability of accurate testing, many health care providers cannot identify the correct form of the disease, leading to improper treatment. Completely novel regimens, with little or no pre-existing resistance, would be effective against all forms of the disease.
4 MEDICAL
MEDICINE MAN
Balms for the poor ...................................................... Amrit Dhillon healthpost@scmp.com Having been on his feet since early morning, Omkar Nath is tired by 4pm, but still faces a long journey home to a slum near the airport when most pensioners his age – 75 – are curled up on the sofa enjoying a nap. He has been going door to door around New Delhi neighbourhoods on his twisted, frail legs, shouting a cry that’s very different from that of the vegetable seller or broom hawker you normally hear in residential areas. ‘‘Give me all the spare and unused medicine you have.” Nath is the Indian capital’s medicine man. He begs for unused or surplus medicines so that he can pass them on to the millions of Indians who cannot afford to buy them. He began collecting medicine four years ago, after witnessing an accident. A gigantic pillar for a new stretch of the metro collapsed, crushing the labourers below. Those who survived were given cursory treatment at a government hospital and then sent home to their villages. “I knew they would go home and not have money to buy the medicine they needed to get better. They would die.
“That’s when I thought that I had to collect the medicines worth millions of rupees that lie unused in people’s homes until they expire and are thrown away, while thousands die untreated because they can’t afford them,” he says, sitting on a park bench. When a hawker selling coffee comes round, he takes a cup, eager for some refreshment because he has had no lunch. He keeps the two plastic bags containing the medicine he has collected that day near him. It’s precious cargo, obtained after travelling on congested buses or going by foot all over the city. A short, wiry figure, he attracts looks from the other people in the park who are enjoying the winter sunshine or having a snack. His orange shirt has his two mobile numbers written on it along with the words “Mobile Medicine Bank”. “The servant in a house or the security guard will shoo me away sometimes or insult me. They say I’m disturbing the ‘sahib’ [master], but it makes no difference to me. I am not begging for myself. I have a job to do,” he says. According to a World Health Organisation report, 649 million Indians have no access to medicine. Many cannot afford a simple painkiller. Government hospitals are meant to provide
Omkar Nath with the boxes of medicines he has collected (above). Photos: Corbis, Amrit Dhillon
A doctor will prescribe six medicines, say, but the hospital will tell the patient it only has two and that he must get the rest himself
medicine free of charge but the reality is different. “A doctor will prescribe six medicines, say, but the hospital will tell the patient it only has two and that he must get the rest himself. But no poor Indian can afford to buy them, so the patient will remain untreated,” says Nath. As someone who worked in a hospital in Noida, just outside Delhi, for 40 years as a blood bank technician, Nath approaches his job methodically. Whatever medicine he collects in a day, he lists on a sheet, mentioning the expiry date and the chemical composition of each medicine. Once he has a reasonable amount – he says he collects medicine worth more than 500,000 rupees (HK$75,000) every month – he gives them to hospitals, charitable clinics and NGOs to dispense to the poor. Nath’s dedication is all the more admirable given how hard his own life has been, and continues to be. At the age of 10, a car ran over him in his home town of Udaipur, Rajasthan, smashing both legs. He walks awkwardly, with his legs pointing towards each other in a ‘V’ and a large bone juts out prominently from one knee. Home is one room in a Delhi
slum, where his wife and 40-yearold son live. The couple’s son is mentally ill and undergoing treatment. “My wife thought I was mad to do this. But now that I’ve appeared on television and the media have written nice things about me, she has changed her mind and supports me,” he says. He does not complain about his poverty, only that it limits his effectiveness. Asked whether he could do with a scooter instead of travelling by bus and foot, he says, “Yes, I could donate to 20 hospitals instead of the 10 I do at the moment if I could get around faster.” He could also do with a computer and an assistant to record all the medicine he has collected. But, despite generous media coverage, no Indian has come forward to help him, although medicine has reached him from as far afield as Kuwait and Cairo. “I will keep doing this until my last breath. If someone is lying on the road hurt and my medicine helps him live, that is what gives me happiness,” he says. Contact Omkar Nath at B180, Gali No 4, Mangalpuri, Phase 2, New Delhi. Tel: (00 91 9250243298, 9971926518)
MEDICAL 5
CASE HISTORY
Cutting it fine Eileen Aung-Thwin healthpost@scmp.com
Mary Chay, 61, was uneasy when she regularly found blood in her stools, and went to see her doctor, who advised her to have a colonoscopy. Although the idea of having a thin, tube-like instrument inserted into her colon was unsettling, Chay (name changed for patient confidentiality reasons) was even more disturbed by the potential causes of bloody stools, one of which was colon cancer. She was referred to the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital for the procedure. During the colonoscopy, doctors found a suspicious looking polyp in her sigmoid colon, which is the lower part of the large intestine close to the rectum.
Dr Li developed a unique technique that would avoid even that small incision and its related drawbacks Using the endoscope, the doctor immediately removed the polyp and sent it for further tests. Results confirmed that the polyp was a malignant tumour and that Chay had early stage colon cancer. Happily, the cancer was localised and contained within the polyp. But the oncologist wanted to remove the part of the sigmoid colon where the lesion was found to ensure that any remaining cancer cells were completely removed. For this operation, called a colectomy, the oncologist enlisted the help of Dr Li Ka-wah, director of the Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery Development programme and a specialist in general surgery. Conventional colectomies require a long incision down the abdomen to give surgeons access to the colon. But this method increases the patient’s surgical and infection risks, post-operative pain, and recovery time. However, advancements in minimally invasive surgery have given patients such as Chay a much less risky and painful option called laparoscopic colectomy. With laparoscopy, a large incision is unnecessary as surgeons are able to look inside the abdominal cavity and operate on the organs using only thin instruments
which leave small wounds that heal fast and with much less pain. But in laparoscopies such as Chay’s, in which part of the colon had to be removed, an incision 5cm long still had to be made into the abdomen so that the resected tissue can be taken out. This would then add to her pain and slow the recovery process. Li, though, had developed a unique technique that would do away with even that small incision and its related drawbacks. He intended to remove the resected tissue via the anus using equipment from an established procedure called a transanal endoscopic operation (TEO), in which lesions are removed from the rectum. This hybrid method of TEO and laparoscopy, called EndoLaparoscopic Colectomy, allows Li to view the area of concern from above and below, as well as to remove the affected section of the colon without creating an exit wound. During Chay’s procedure, a hollow needle was first inserted into her abdomen to pump carbon dioxide into the abdominal cavity to inflate the skin away from the organs and create more room in which Li could work. A thin, lighted tube with a camera on the end (the laparoscope) was then inserted so that Li had a clear view of the organs within the abdomen. Other specialised instruments were then inserted into the abdomen to manipulate the colon and to clamp down on either side of the section of colon to be removed. The TEO equipment, inserted through the anus, was then put in place. A camera gave Li a clear internal view of the intestinal tract. Once the carbon dioxide was introduced, Li was able to access the affected part of the colon from below, and – using the laparoscopic equipment – even pass surgical tools up the tract so that they could be manipulated and then removed. Working in tandem with another surgeon operating the laparoscopic equipment, Li was able to cut away the targeted part of the colon, remove it via the natural orifice, and then staple the two ends of the colon back together without creating any significant wound. Within 24 hours, Chay was up and walking about with 16.5cm of colon missing, and had only five tiny holes in her abdomen to show for it. Because of the minimally invasive procedure, Chay suffered very little pain and was discharged one to two days earlier than if she had undergone only the laparoscopic colectomy.
Illustration: Angela Ho
...................................................... measuring 5mm to 12mm wide,
6 COVER STORY
The essential Coloured light is thought by some to affect bodily functions and have healing properties, writes Eileen Aung-Thwin
D
o you ever see red or feel blue? Go green with envy much? Colour is inextricably linked to the way we – literally and figuratively – see the world. It has been used to mark moods, spice up language and influence decisions in everything from the minutiae to the important. Many studies have found that colour affects our mood, performance and judgment in many unconscious, but important, ways. Most recently, a study published in January by the Journal of Consumer Research shows that colour might even be able to help you stay slim. Participants were asked to serve pasta with white or red sauce on either a large white or large red plate. On average, changing the colour of the plate so it was high contrast reduced how much people served by 21 per cent, and changing the colour of the tablecloth reduced how much people served by 10 per cent. But our physiological connection with colour goes beyond the realm of mood and behaviour. There is a growing body of research to show that coloured light affects the way our bodies
function, and can therefore be harnessed for healing purposes. Colourpuncture, for example, applies coloured light to the acupuncture points of the body in order to access the meridian network, and through it, the organs in the body. According to Keven Duff, a Hong Kong-based certified colourpuncture therapist, studies show that cells or organisms use light to communicate. “If cells can use light to communicate, we can potentially use light to communicate with and to regulate the cells,” she says. Duff says that colourpuncture has a direct effect on brainwaves and is very soothing in cases of stress, and is also effective in improving lymphatic flow, regulating endocrine function and boosting the immune system. For example, colourpuncture helped clear up one client’s recurrent infection that failed to respond to several rounds of antibiotics. It helped another with managing her exhaustion and stress, while experiencing a difficult divorce. While mainstream medicine remains largely sceptical of claims that colour heals, a growing market hungry for non-invasive,
If cells can use light to communicate, we can potentially use light to communicate with and to regulate the cells KEVEN DUFF, COLOURPUNCTURE THERAPIST
alternative therapies has been quicker to embrace the healing potential of colour in fields such as chromatherapy, which includes colourpuncture. Chromatherapy encompasses various methods of applying colour to the body, including the use of crystals, coloured water, oil, light and even meditation. It holds that the body emits a field of electromagnetic energy, which, if in balance, transmits energy through a network of meridians or energy channels, and helps the body function optimally. The meridians are controlled by seven energy centres called chakras, each of which has a specific energy vibration and corresponding colour.
Chromatherapy aims to activate these energy centres, move energy and thus stimulate healing and promote health. One of Duff’s clients, Wendy Forster, 58, is a firm believer in colourpuncture. She says it has helped her overcome emotional turmoil, decades-old digestive issues and even boosted her ability to focus. She first consulted Duff nine years ago during a difficult emotional time. Despite the use of tranquilisers and sleeping pills, she was unable to find relief. Her doctor advised her to seek complementary medicine to help with her issues. “I used to be a very angry person, but after my first session of colourpuncture I smiled for the first time in years,” Forster says. “After a few sessions, I no longer needed sleeping pills or tranquilisers.” Her digestion has improved, bowel movements are regulated and abdominal pains are gone. Perhaps one of the most wellaccepted and well-known healing applications of coloured light is the use of blue light to treat neonatal jaundice in infants. Discovered in the 1950s in Britain,
COVER STORY 7
hue blue light therapy for neonatal jaundice is widely used around the world today. Blue light has also been found to be effective in killing acnecausing bacteria, and blue light therapy for acne treatment has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sparking a proliferation of skincare treatments using light therapy in the market. Studies also show that blue light delays the production of the body’s sleep hormone, melatonin. With this knowledge, researchers at John Carroll University in Ohio developed special glasses that block blue light to advance the body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm. Trials show that the use of such glasses helps relieve insomnia and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They further theorise that blocking blue light can also relieve depression and lower cancer risk. A study by the Medical College of Wisconsin found that red light emitted by light-emitting diodes (LED) increases energy inside cells and speeds up healing by 150 to 200 per cent. With red light, the
50% • the percentage by which red light hastens the healing of mouth ulcers, lacerations and musculoskeletal injuries (Medical College of Wisconsin figure)
Daniela Nesta co-authored a study that showed women wearing red were more attractive to men. Photos: Richard Baker, Corbis
healing of mouth ulcers, musculoskeletal injuries and lacerations accelerated by up to 50 per cent. The use of deep light therapy, which uses infrared and red light, in the management of muscle pain and stiffness is now FDAapproved. Research is continuing to develop light therapy for applications as diverse as managing nerve disorders and rejuvenating skin. On a more basic level, colour can change mood and behaviour, and its impact depends on the context. Take red, for example. Exposure to this hue can help or hurt you, if you know how and when to use it. Need a burst of strength and speed? Looking at the colour red increases the speed and force of human reaction, according to a study published last year in the journal Emotion. Want to best your opponent in sport? Wear red. Athletes who are up against opponents in red are more likely to lose. “Red enhances our physical reactions because it is seen as a danger cue,” explains the study’s co-author Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology at the University of
Rochester and a lead researcher in the field of colour psychology. “Humans flush when they are angry or preparing for attack,” he says. “People are acutely aware of such reddening in others and its implications.” Women wearing or framed in red, in a 2008 study by Elliot and colleague Daniela Niesta published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, were perceived to be significantly more attractive to men, and were more likely to be asked out on a date – and a more expensive one. On the flip side, even a little exposure to red can impair your ability to perform mental tasks – subjects who were exposed to even a little splash of scarlet before taking a test were more likely to do poorly, according to another Elliot study published in 2007 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Researchers think that while the effect of colour might have something to do with our deeprooted cultural associations with various hues, some studies also suggest that our response to colour may go deeper than that.
Female baboons and chimpanzees redden visibly when nearing ovulation. The males respond sexually to this visual cue and are more attracted to the females displaying red. However, in a non-sexual situation, primates, like humans, also see red as a warning sign. Male rhesus macaques avoided humans wearing red but not those wearing green or blue, according to a study published last year in Psychological Science led by neuroscientist Jerald Kralik of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Conversely, mood can also affect the way colour is perceived. Scientists at the University of Freiburg in Germany, in their study published in 2010 in Biological Psychiatry, found that people with depression had trouble detecting contrasts between black and white – in other words, their world really does look more grey. Using what was essentially an electrocardiogram (ECG) of the retina, the researchers found that the more severe the depression, the weaker the retina’s ability to identify contrast. healthpost@scmp.com
8 HEALTH THERAPY ENERGETIC CELLULAR HEALING
Glow and behold ...................................................... Richard Lord healthpost@scmp.com A vital energy force flowing through all organic life that can be manipulated for healing the body and mind. Any of this sound familiar? Energy medicine, while considered in the West to be an alternative therapy not subject to rigorous evidence-based examination, clearly has a lot in common with traditional Chinese medicine. The supposed non-physical energy at the heart of it bears a strong resemblance to qi, and treatments are often similar to reiki and qigong healing. Therapies that purport to treat this kind of theoretical energy field suffer from a credibility problem in Western medical circles. Regardless of how many practitioners claim the therapies work, and how many patients say they have benefited from them, the absence of solid scientific evidence remains a major stumbling block for many people. One such practitioner, Tjitze de Jong, who refers to himself as an energetic cellular healer (you’ll also hear names including biofield energy healer, spiritual healer and contact healer), visited Hong Kong recently to conduct private healing sessions and courses. De Jong’s main claim is that his healing can be effective against cancer – all types of cancer, he says, of any duration, in any part of the body (except, for some unknown reason, brain tumours). His trip here was the first time he’d taken his practice away from the Findhorn eco-spiritual community in northern Scotland, where he attracts patients from around the world to a clinic that has been fully booked for the past 16 years. After starting his professional life as a crisis social worker in his native Netherlands, 20 years ago, de Jong, on the advice of a friend, went to Findhorn to take a short course in massage – and never left. That was partly because he felt at home there, and partly because he discovered he had a talent for massage. Within a year, he was fully booked as a massage therapist, attracting clients from more than 150 kilometres away to a small community 25 kilometres from the nearest town, served by just three buses a week. Then things got stranger. “During the massages, I started to see black strings from people’s mouths, throats and bodies,” he says. “I thought I was going crazy.”
Fortunately, looking through a local library, he found the spiritual healing classic Hands of Light, by American author and healer Barbara Brennan, which exactly described some of the phenomena he had seen. Within two weeks he was in Florida on a course at Brennan’s School of Healing. When he opened his own clinic, the waiting list was soon up to a year. He returned to Brennan’s school 30 times, graduating as a healer in 2001, and, in 2007, as a teacher of healing science, after which he opened his own Energetic Cellular Healing School. He claims some startling results among his patients, such as one woman whose CT scans showed that her cancer had spread all over her body before seeing him, and that it had completely disappeared afterwards. (Her doctor, says de Jong, commented that “it’s great you get so much benefit, but I’m not allowed to believe that it works”.) Energy here is defined as a life force, something that differentiates living from non-living objects, often conceptualised as a field, and it’s completely different from the physical type of energy. That there is absolutely no scientific evidence for this type of energy’s existence is something de Jong cheerfully admits, although other people’s scepticism seems to frustrate him. Edzard Ernst, for example, the world’s first professor of complementary and alternative medicine, at the University of Exeter, England, and a leading proponent of an evidence-based approach to alternative therapies, says that “healing continues to be promoted despite the absence of biological plausibility or convincing clinical evidence that these methods work therapeutically and plenty to demonstrate that they do not”. In his book, Trick or Treatment, cowritten with science writer Simon Singh, he adds: “At best it may offer comfort; at worst it can result in charlatans taking money from patients with serious conditions who require urgent conventional medicine.” Perhaps part of the problem is the tendency of proponents and practitioners of energy medicine to use language almost calculated to infuriate fans of science. When treating a patient, de Jong says, as well as getting information verbally about their condition, he also closely observes “how their chakras and aura function”, and then, via his touch, “the energy from around us energises and balances their field.
It can be locally clearing and restructuring a chakra, aura or organ, or it can be spiritual surgery where a spirit guide works through me.” He also claims to talk with sprites in the forest near his home. The energy field he manipulates, he adds, can be manipulated by anyone. “I never promise I can heal you. I don’t heal. I’m the simple son of a Dutch pig farmer and I’ve got no specific skills. Anyone can do it. I learned it.” Susan Jamieson, a qualified medical doctor who describes herself as an integrative specialist, using traditional Chinese and Indian medicine along with Western alternative practices as complementary treatments, was responsible for bringing de Jong to Hong Kong. While theoretically anyone can heal, she says, “anyone can play the piano – it’s not complex – but some will be better at it than others.” She sees her belief in de Jong’s powers as empirical, because it’s based on what appears to help people – for whatever reason. “As doctors, we have to be open to what benefits the patient
I never promise I can heal ... I’ve got no specific skills. Anyone can do it TJITZE DE JONG (RIGHT)
and not bring our own prejudices to it,” she says. “I’m a scientist and I don’t want to endorse anything flaky. We can’t say that Chinese medicine or acupuncture is rubbish – people do it, it works and it’s ancient. We’re recognising the qi force that the Chinese have recognised for centuries and trying to bring it within the framework of science. I think science is behind. We’ll probably find out in 10 or 20 years how it works, but for the moment I don’t need to know. It doesn’t do any harm and it seems to help people.” As ever with alternative therapies, however, perhaps the main harm it can do is to your bank balance. “Everything we do can be explained, but it goes into realms that can’t be tested scientifically,” adds de Jong. “Most people are not open to it – they’re scared of it, because it’s untouchable, unscientific. All you have to do is open up and become an instrument of it. It’s been around for thousands of years.” And still we’re waiting for proof that it works.
FITNESS 9 BRIDAL BOOTCAMP IT’S A WRAP
Love me slender ...................................................... Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com Seven weeks ago, you’d probably have had to pay Chalothorn Vashirakovit a million bucks before he’d remove his shirt. When the 30-year-old first embarked on a bridal bootcamp to lose weight for his wedding last weekend, his belly was a blob of jiggly fat. Now, with abs that look a million bucks, no coaxing is required. He gladly strips for the photoshoot, revealing a freshly carved six-pack that’s the delight of his new wife, Melina Lee – and the envy of the wives of his pals. “He’s starting to look like he’s 18 again,” says Lee, Chalothorn’s high school classmate. And he’s probably feeling 18 again. Back then, he kayaked and dragon boated competitively, then took up cycling and did amateur races. But five years ago, with work and social life a priority, he turned completely sedentary and started piling on the pounds. Despite an expanding waistline, shrinking wardrobe, and occasional breathlessness, he never felt motivated to start working out again – until the thought of looking bad in his wedding photos entered his mind. So Health Post sought the help of Pure Fitness to whip Chalothorn into shape. Personal trainer Matthew Ha worked with him three times a week, focusing on burning fat and building lean muscle through circuit training with functional fitness tools such as the TRX, Bulgarian bag, kettlebell and ViPR. Boxing coach Jimmy Leung met him once a week to build up his cardio, strength and agility. At the first weigh in on January 27, he was 74.3kg, had 18.2 per cent body fat and a body mass index of 24.3 – overweight and in the “moderate to high risk” category of an undesirable state of health by WHO standards. At his final session last Tuesday, Chalothorn was down to 73.3kg and 15.7 per cent body fat. He’s visibly significantly slimmer and more toned, and slips into old clothes again. Most importantly, he’s fitter
Chalothorn Vashirakovit and Melina Lee at their wedding in Phuket last weekend. Photo: Julian Abram Wainwright and healthier, and has rekindled his love for exercise. “After the first few weeks, I realised that I was beginning to enjoy working out again,” says Chalothorn, an investment associate at a global investment firm. “I like how energised and fresh I feel after working out. Going forward, this is going to be the key motivation for me to continue my workout regime.” The highlight, says Chalothorn, has been the drastic change in his diet. Once a meat and coffee lover who skipped breakfast and shunned fruit and vegetables, he now starts every day with a good morning meal, has salad for lunch, fruit for tea, and a light, no-carb dinner. “I’ve begun to enjoy the taste of eating salad and
He’s super strong willed. On Saturday before the final photoshoot, he actually had salad for all three meals MELINA LEE, WIFE OF CHALOTHORN
fruit, and the feeling I get after eating them – I still feel pretty ‘light’, but I’m actually full.” Chalothorn recalls the first hour-long session with trainer Ha fondly: he was so exhausted he had to sit for 30 minutes in the gym’s chill-out lounge to recuperate before being physically able to take a shower. But that seems like a lifetime ago. Ha reels off a list of “impressive improvements” that his client made, including the doubling of bench and leg press weights to 40kg and 82kg respectively. “Recently, after training with me, he would do an additional 30 to 45 minutes of cardio on his own,”
Chalothorn is flanked by personal trainer Matthew Ha (left) and boxing coach Jimmy Leung; the slimline version of the newlywed (above). Photos: K.Y. Cheng
adds Ha. Chalothorn says the hardest part of the programme was the last two weeks, when he stepped up training to six days a week – twice on his own, including a two-hour spinning session on one of the days. Combined with a stricter diet, he admits he needed “a fair bit of mental strength and discipline” to stick to the regime. “But I knew that it was all good for me, so I didn’t see it as torture, but more as an opportunity to push myself.” Lee says she was surprised that her husband managed to build up muscle so fast. Undoubtedly, his tenacity and determination were key. “He’s super strong willed,” she says. “On Saturday before the final photoshoot, he actually had salad for all three meals.” Initially sceptical of the effectiveness of a personal trainer, Chalothorn believes Ha and Leung have been “crucial” in pushing him to work on his weaknesses, monitoring his progress and adjusting the programme. Ha advises Chalothorn to continue exercising two or three times a week and watch his diet. “If he goes back to his old diet, he’ll soon lose the muscle mass he’s built,” says Ha. Apart from a steak to reward his weeks of hard work, Chalothorn doesn’t plan to return to his old ways. In fact, he hopes to start cycling and maybe even compete in some races again. “Now that I’m much leaner and fitter, it’ll be fun to hop on the bike again. “This programme has provided a great kick start to change my lifestyle. I now have a workout schedule and routine, and know how much I can push my body to achieve results.”
10 WELL-BEING WALKING HOME
Let’s not go through that again ...................................................... Rob Lilwall healthpost@scmp.com The Darwin Awards are bestowed annually upon humans who are so mind-bogglingly dim that they earn themselves deselection from the gene pool for dying in the most moronic of circumstances. My expedition partner, Leon McCarron, and I might well have qualified for it following our – on hindsight, silly – decision to walk through the 18-kilometre Zhongnanshan Tunnel, the world’s second-longest road tunnel which cuts through the middle of the Qinling Mountains in the southern part of China’s Shaanxi province. Feeling rather like when the Fellowship of the Ring decided to brave the mines of Moria, we decided to try our luck at walking through it, because we were behind schedule and faced even further delays if we walked up and down all the passes and descents along the small roads that wound through the mountain range. We had, after all, already crossed the Gobi Desert and walked down the Yellow River valley, covering more than half of our 5,000-kilometre Walking Home From Mongolia expedition so far. At this point, we’d take any short cuts we could get. We are heading for the Yangtze, about three more weeks’ walk away. In the past week, we walked south out of Xian’s city walls, and then through the city’s giant grid system of buildings and roadworks before finally reaching the countryside. At the edge of Xian, we reached a steep hillside, beyond which a patchwork of fields spread as far as the eye could see – which on that particular day was probably only about one kilometre, as the air was filled with a damp, grey smog. Three hours later, the flat monotony ended, and towering before us were the giant Qinling Mountains – huge limestone cliffs jumping out from the ground like a
Above: sunset in the Qinling Mountains; Zashui Caves (left). Photos: Rob Lilwall
battalion of soldiers determined to stop anyone passing. In fact, through history, these mountains have proved a brilliant defensive barrier against invading marauders, as there are only a handful of crossing points through the cliffs. They also act as a rain barrier that contributes to the aridity of the north, and in
their deciduous forests is an incredible ecological diversity, which includes even wild pandas and leopards. It is probably partly because of the different climates on the two sides of them that the mountains have been considered a symbolic barrier between the elusive concept of “northern” and “southern” China.
EAT SMART
Ditch the dairy for a dish with heart ...................................................... Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com Ah, heavy cream ... thick, rich, delicious. Combined with butter and cheese, it’s what makes a great creamy pasta sauce – but it’s also an artery-clogging one. Do your heart a favour: make your own sauce – and make it tomato-based. Tomatoes have a host of health benefits, especially when cooked into a sauce. A 2005 study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that participants who ate cooked and processed tomatoes had significantly higher levels of the antioxidant, lycopene, in their blood than those who ate raw tomatoes.
This recipe by Les Artistes Cafe in Tin Hau makes a sauce from raw tomatoes, but you could saute the tomatoes and onions in a pan to release more nutritional goodness. Mediterranean-style baked fish fillet with angel hair pasta Serves 1 2 stalks celery, shredded ½ carrot, shredded ¼ tsp salt ¼ tsp sugar 1 tsp olive oil 120 grams fish fillets 4 pieces assorted mushrooms 210 grams angel hair pasta, cooked For the tomato sauce 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
¼ onion, finely chopped ¼ tsp sugar • To make the tomato sauce, mix tomatoes and onion. Season with sugar. Set aside. • Marinate celery and carrot with salt, sugar and olive oil for 30 minutes. • Marinate fish fillets by placing the vegetable shreds on top of them for about two hours. • Wrap mushrooms, vegetable shreds and fish fillets together in aluminium foil and bake for about 20 minutes. • Serve with angel hair pasta and tomato sauce. Recipe provided by the Health Department as part of its EatSmart@restaurant.hk campaign. For more information, visit restaurant. eatsmart.gov.hk
Although never officially defined, in general, the north has been seen as wheat-growing, Putonghua- speaking and horseback fighting, while the south grows rice, speaks mainly non-Putonghua dialects, and is better at naval warfare. The night before we reached the Zhongnanshan Tunnel, we passed a village where a group of migrant workers, gathered around a little fire, invited us to sleep on a couple of old doors (insulation from the cold ground) in their house. The next day at 4.30am we climbed up a verge onto the stilted motorway, sneaked past a snoozing policeman in a guard hut, and entered the tunnel. Neon lights stretched before us into the smog, and in the distance was the thundering sound of a stillunseen vehicle heading towards us from the middle of the mountain. The air was warm in here, and there
was an alarming sense of thick fumes in the air. We should have more seriously considered the risk of suffocation, but had rather assumed that as this is quite a new tunnel (opened in 2007) it would have state-of-the-art ventilation systems. But as we walked fast into it, our adrenaline speeding our steps, we noticed that only about half of the fans on the tunnel ceiling were working. We gasped and pressed forward, and every 250 metres there was a little escape room, where we sometimes stopped to try and find fresh air. After an hour, Leon had a headache and I was feeling dizzy, but we were not sure whether it was due to the fumes, our early start, or just adrenaline and nerves. Occasionally, cars would pass by, with drivers staring unbelievingly at two haggardlooking Caucasians walking through the tunnel so early in the morning. By the end of the second hour, we were both desperate to reach the end and so, for the first time in the expedition, started to jog, rather than walk. It was now far too late to turn back – we were past halfway, but we really wondered whether we would make it. (Well, obviously we survived, but to find out what actually happened, you will have to wait for the television show.) Back in fresh air, we continued along the smaller mountain roads again and stumbled upon the Zhashui Caves, crossed the valley of the Han River, and arrived in the city of Ankang. We are now truly in southern China, and before us, about 10 days’ walk – and many mountains away – is the Yangtze. Rob Lilwall’s previous expedition, Cycling Home From Siberia, became the subject of an acclaimed motivational talk, a book, and a National Geographic television series. Every week in Health Post, he will write about the progress of his latest expedition, Walking Home From Mongolia, which is in support of the children’s charity Viva. www.walkinghomefrommongolia.com
WELL-BEING 11 THE TASTE TEST LOW-FAT CHIPS
PERSONAL BEST
...................................................... Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com
Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Regular potato chips have about 160 calories and 10 grams of fat per 28 gram serving. The following snacks contain fewer calories and less fat, but beware of the salt: each serving of these “healthier chips” packs 250270mg of sodium – much higher than the 170mg in regular varieties.
Popchips Barbecue Potato 85g for HK$32.90, Market Place by Jasons Potatoes are heated and pressurised until they pop – instead of being fried (“unhealthy”) or baked (“undelicious”) – to create this crispy snack. Each serving has 120 calories and 4 grams of fat. Verdict: light and flavourful, though some tasters felt the flavour was a bit overwhelming and salty.
Ritz Toasted Chips Sweet Home Sour Cream and Onion 229g for HK$29.90, Market Place by Jasons The good old Ritz cracker is made over: these have 40 per cent less fat than regular chips and are said to contain 310mg of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids per serving from soya bean oil. But they also pack diet wreckers such as high-fructose corn syrup and monosodium glutamate. Verdict: tasty, but loses points for its unhealthy ingredients.
Stacy’s Pita Chips Simply Naked 226.8g for HK$24.90, Market Place by Jasons Pita bread pieces are twice-baked, then flavoured with only sea salt for an all-natural snack. Tasters commented that these had less flavour and seemed less salty than the other two products – though, surprisingly, each serving has 270mg of sodium. Verdict: not greasy but a bit too dry – needs to be paired with a dip.
Depression and the long road back ...................................................... Noch Noch Li healthpost@scmp.com Legs dangling out of the window into the unforgiving cold of a Beijing winter, I sat in a trance, wondering what had happened to me. At 28 years old, I was in the global management cadre of one of the most prestigious firms in the world with an awe-inspiring title on my business card. I had a loving boyfriend and many friends. But wrought with numbing migraines every other day for six months and ER visits every week, I could no longer cope with my work, with life or with myself. I had sunk into depression, ready to jump to my end. This was almost three years ago. Since then I have fought incessantly with depression and came close to killing myself several times. As I slowly regain my health, I wonder, what chance do I have for a career after this ordeal? How do I deal with the stigma of depression going back to the workplace? On day one of entering the corporate world, I vowed to break through the glass ceiling. Being female and Asian, raised mainly in Hong Kong, I worked doubly hard to get recognition in the corporate mammoth. It seemed to work, as I gained the respect of my seniors, peers and subordinates, not to mention top performance ratings and comments from my line managers.
The doctors concluded that my depression was likely triggered by stress, which I placed on myself in all aspects of life and work. Eventually, I was ordered to take a leave of absence from work. I gave up trying to manage my team via the BlackBerry – I was physically unable to stare at a small screen as my head thumped like a bulldozer, and I was vomiting every other hour. For the next 30 months, I hid from the world, lost about 15kg and fluctuated between insomnia and 30-hour blackouts, reeling in drowsy semi-consciousness in between. My company gave me the space and time to recover. I cut off contact because I could not face anyone, especially the managers who had supported my career advancement. I could not reconcile the reputation of a strong leader with this lump of fragility I had become. I was afraid to tell my colleagues lest they thought badly of me. Many regard depression as a personality weakness, not a health condition. During my hibernation from the world, eventually some friends found it strange that I had disappeared for so long. I ignored most of them, for I had no response, or rather, didn’t know how to respond. I did open up to a few close ones, and noticed a drastic difference in attitudes when I told them I had major depression and was suicidal. A lot of my Western friends accepted it, offered their empathy and
I am sometimes vaguely delusional, fearful of a man dressed in black in the shadows, surreptitiously watching me congratulated me for seeking help and talking about it. But a lot of my Hong Kong friends seemed hesitant to discuss it, and were flustered when I was frank about suicide attempts. “Don’t dwell,” they said. “Pull yourself together. This is not sickness, it’s all in your head.” I wish it was that easy. To battle this dark hopelessness, I started Chinese calligraphy and tai chi lessons to calm me down and maintain some sort of social contact. It served as meditation, which I had heard could help with depression. I was willing to try any form of witchcraft if there was the slightest chance of lifting me out of this despairing state. My psychologist suggested that I record my thoughts, however dark they might be. Gradually, I wrote lengthier journal entries, and began blogging about my experience. Writing became part of the therapy:
confronting my thoughts and suppressed emotions. I became more aware of who I was and appreciated the reasons for my collapse. Slowly, the feelings of negativity and helplessness subsided. Still, my psychologist said it would take at least a year for me to start recovering, and a few more years to fully regain control of my moods, rebuild self-confidence, and rediscover who I was and what I wanted to do. Despite improvements, the medical opinion is that I am not yet fit for work given the panic attacks, physical ailments and suicidal ideations. To this day, I am sometimes vaguely delusional, fearful of a man dressed in black in the shadows, surreptitiously watching me. The reality of such a long gap between jobs terrified me – how could I mend this cavity in my career? What would employers think of these three to five, or even more years lost in my life? But as I write and study depression, and learn about my personality, my passions and myself, I’m slowly beginning to think that depression can be a positive experience in the long run. Undeniably, we are brought down by depression. But through the battle, we become better equipped, with an increased selfawareness that allows us to face challenges in the future. There’s life after depression and I will live to see it happen.