Valentine's Day Special
Sink into our luxurious couches with your loved one and melt away with a chocolate mint foot bath and 30 minute head, neck and shoulder massage. Then enjoy a chocolate sugar scrub and 30 minute massage for your feet while your hands are enveloped by warm paraffin. Priced for 2 - $238 (available Feb 9 - 18th).
February 12th - 14th we will be serving champagne and organic truffles for all of our guests.
February Special
Fall in love all over again with a milk and love aromatherapy bath then melt your cares away with an hour swedish massage. Finally, revive your skin with an extended daydream facial including lip and eye contour treatments. $185
The Big Picture, Part Two
by Dr. Peter Borten, LAc., DAOM
In the first part of this series, I introduced the idea of reductive versus holistic thinking about health. (You can read it HERE.) In a nutshell, a holistic approach is one that assesses a person as a whole, integrated unit. It also sees a person as being integrated with their environment. Therefore, no condition may be holistically evaluated without considering its context – the whole person and the world they live in.
The reductive approach is to assess signs and symptoms in an isolated way, without regard for the person they belong to and the environment that person lives in. There is a failure to appreciate the tremendous range of human variation and the significance of age, heredity, mental and emotional makeup, nutrition, weather, occupation, location, family, exercise, and other factors.
Of course, in certain cases – fingers cut off when reaching under a running lawnmower, for instance – we can safely be reductionistic about the cause. But there’s no reason for reductionistic thinking in the treatment. Surgery is a given, but it would be shortsighted ("small picture" thinking) to assume that recovery proceeds along the same course for everyone. Do you think you would recover better while lying alone in a hospital room, watching television and eating processed food, or while enjoying frequent visits from friends and family, and eating nutritious, home-cooked meals?
Now, let’s see just how big the big picture can be. We’ll begin with the straightforward environmental factors. The environment is very much a forgotten influence on our lives. For most of human history we have been intimately connected to the land, the weather, and the cosmos. We were perceptive of the ways these vast entities affected us. Then two things happened. One, we developed the ability to live mostly in climate controlled buildings and cars – to effectively turn the outside world into mere scenery. Two, empowered with science, we dismissed most of our long-held beliefs about the role of nature as naive or superstitious.
Luckily, there has been a recent trend toward revisiting the wisdom we abandoned in the twentieth century. We’re seeing that maybe our grandparents knew something of real value. More people are standing by the validity of their own firsthand experience, despite a lack of scientific proof. And, finally, more scientists and doctors now support the role of the environment (and many other factors) on our health.
Nearly everyone is familiar with the irritating or even harmful impact of common airborne particles and waste gases. These include smoke, pollen, dust, carbon monoxide, ozone, industrial chemicals, pesticides, radon, and others. But most people think of air pollution as an outdoor issue, when the reality is that the insides of many homes are exponentially worse than outdoors.
The indoor culprits that get the most attention are dust, animal hair and dander, and mites. Besides the usual sneezing, nose running, eye itchiness, and asthma, they can cause a more insidious symptoms such as lethargy, mental fog, itchy skin, and a puffy face. So, even if you don’t have obvious allergies, it’s still worth doing some basic maintenance, such as dusting, cleaning air ducts, replacing your furnace filter, and using mite-proof pillows or getting a new pillow every couple years. About ten percent of the weight of a two year old pillow can be dead mites and mite feces. A mattress is said to double in weight over ten years for the same reason. Plus, mites are worst in moist climates, like Portland. Another indoor irritant people don’t often consider is cockroaches. About ten percent of people are sensitive to roaches and their debris, and respond with skin rashes, allergies and asthma. Even if they’re not in your home, chances are they’re in the restaurants you eat at and the factories where your food is processed. And they’re most certainly in processed crops from tropical areas, such as chocolate and coffee.
While the organic irritants above sure cause some problems, it’s the synthetic ones that need more of our attention. These come from petroleum-based furnishings such as mattresses, carpets, and couches; construction and decorating materials such as paints, stains, sawdust, drywall dust; air fresheners, candles, and incense; cleaning agents; cosmetic products such as hair spray and nail polish; office chemicals such copy toner, rubber cement, and the ozone that copiers emit; flame retardant, which is applied to all sorts of appliances; other miscellaneous household chemicals, such as insect repellent, adhesives, solvents (paint thinner, stripper, goof off), flea treatments, and more.
I believe most people aren’t aware of what happens to these chemicals as they disperse through the air. For instance, many air fresheners are composed of a gel substance or liquid that gradually disappears over a month or two. Where does it go? When we stain a piece of furniture, we smell the solvents very strongly for the first day or two, and then the smell dissipates. Where does it go? When we burn a candle, it starts out big and ends up small. Where does it go? The short answer to these questions is: nowhere. These chemicals generally stay in our house.
When we smell these chemicals, it’s because minuscule airborne molecules of them are floating around and we’re actively drawing them into our lungs. As the smell dissipates, it’s because these chemicals are finding things to stick to. Thus, they’re no longer airborne, but they’re still here. Often, they stick to dust, which can still be readily inhaled and eaten. Kids and pets are especially at risk since they are low to the ground where most of the dust settles. They are also the most likely members of the family to roll around on the floor and eat things directly off it. Plus, they have the smallest bodies in the house, so they’re most affected by these toxins. You would never eat air freshener because it’s poison. But when it "disappears" from the dispenser into the air, you and your family end up consuming it. Choose your products wisely.
People who don’t have asthma or chemical sensitivities may not think much about these irritants and toxins, but years of exposure significantly raises our risk of dying from a lung-related illness. Long term exposure to organic solvents is proven to cause permanent damage to the nervous system, including the brain. And there is growing evidence that many of these chemicals act as "endocrine disruptors" – that is, they have some effect on hormone receptors in our bodies and can thus upset the balance of very delicate systems. Some scientists believe this is a factor in our high rates of obesity and early puberty.
The key with toxins is our total accumulated exposure from all sources. Most people open a window or go outside when using spray paint, because it’s so obviously toxic. But the cumulative impact of inhaling what’s emitted from our foam mattress, our carpet, our candles, and our scented detergents may actually pose a more significant hazard. Likewise, drinking a martini while spraying the lawn with weed killer poses a similar hazard, because the alcohol and the herbicide place a combined burden on the liver.
We have just scratched the surface here, but we’re beginning to broaden our view of what can affect human health. The next time you or a friend are feeling unwell, consider the role environmental factors may be playing. Meanwhile, it’s easy to cut down on household chemical exposure. Vinegar, baking soda, lemon (or any cold-pressed citrus oil), and enzyme-based cleaners can take care of most cleaning needs. Open the doors and windows and turn on fans when using toxic chemicals – or, better yet, go outside. Every home should have a good respirator that blocks dust and organic solvents. You can find one for about thirty dollars at a hardware store, and if you do any kind of deep cleaning or home improvement, there will definitely come a time to use it. It’s also a good idea to wear a cheap, basic dust mask when dusting if you’re sensitive or have used any chemicals in the house. Finally, treat yourself to some lovely new houseplants – they are great at removing chemicals from the air and they make the house more pretty.
With Love,
Peter and Everyone at The Dragontree
