If you are like most people you probably like to solve a problem and get rid of it, not just keep making it go away for a while only to have it return. That is one reason many people wonder why natural remedies only treat the symptoms of shingles. As you may know, shingles are caused by a virus that also causes chicken pox, an illness that usually only affects children. Shingles, on the other hand, is caused by the same virus, but usually occurs in older people.

Who may have shingles? Almost anyone can have an outbreak of shingles especially if you have lived in parts of the world with a temperate climate and you are over 15 years of age. If you fit into that wide category, you’ve probably been exposed to the virus. Typically, however, only about 1-3 people out of 1,000 in the general population will experience an outbreak of shingles.

Even if it has been years since you had chicken pox, you may still have an outbreak of this painful and aggravating illness because the virus often lies dormant for years, then traveling through the blood, finds its way to the ganglion, nerve endings that serve the skin. It then moves into the dermal layers and manifests s itching, rash, pain. While most commonly found on the torso, it may move to the face and even affect the eyes. So it is a rash and condition that must be taken seriously.

It can cause moderate to severe pain and that is why we treat the symptoms. It is a virus and therefore there is no cure for it, though natural remedies have traditionally been used in Chinese medicine and Western holistic care. One of the more popular natural remedies is tea made from Burdock Root. There are also ointments and salves that contain St. John’s Wort, an anti-inflammatory, which may relieve pain; violet leaf, which may relieve itching, calendula, burdock, & yarrow which may reduce redness and be soothing to the skin.

It would be nice if there was an actual cure for shingles and chicken pox but as of the writing of this article, there isn’t a cure. The best we can do is to try to make those who suffer from shingles comfortable and to offer support. It is said in medicine, “First do no harm.” That is a good motto and the best way to start to treat any ailment, in my opinion, is to start with natural ingredients. Of course, you should always consult a health care professional before undertaking any treatment.

Your doctor may prescribe medicines for your shingles outbreak, but you may also want to use traditional treatments such as those mentioned above, to treat the symptoms.

Netting Hammocks

Netting hammocks are positively ‘dynamic’, meaning the hammock netting changes shape to conform to any body shape or size, to provide support with no pressure points. This ability to conform makes netting hammocks the most comfortable and therapeutic hammocks available.

Relaxing in a netting hammock is truly ‘out of this world’ and has to be experienced to be believed. Every part of the body in contact with the hammock netting has support. There are no pressure points and this experience is known as ‘neutral gravity’. This is the closest feeling to the sensation of ‘weightlessness’, available on Terra Firma. In zero gravity, the body will assume a ‘neutral body position’. While relaxing in a reclining hammock chair the netting will provide the body with a level of support which mimics this ‘neutral body position’ – a posture similar to the fetal position, with “head facing slightly forward, shoulders rolled forward, abdominal area slightly bent at the waist and knees slightly bent”.
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Sprang Weaving

Sprang weaving is a technique of weaving developed more than 3,500 years ago which is still in use today by the Maya Indians of Central America to weave netting hammocks. The threads or cords of the hammock are not knotted, which enables the netting to change shape and conform to the users’ body shape. This provides a level of comfort impossible to obtain with Western Furniture, which will always require the body to change shape, to fit the furniture!

Health Benefits

Studies have been done on the therapeutic benefits of relaxing in hammocks. Sufferers of neck and back pain seeking natural remedies rather than medicating pain, are able to gain relief and lessen their discomfort while relaxing in a reclining hammock. This is due to the hammock netting changing shape and supporting the body’s weight evenly, which enables muscular tension and stress held within the body to be released.

It is well known that excess stress is detrimental to health, so anything we can do to reduce stress in our lives, will be beneficial. Relaxing in a hammock recliner is a great way to relieve stress naturally – the gentle swaying motion of the hammock will promote relaxation for body and mind, and reduce anxiety levels.

There are even therapeutic benefits for those who already have good health – studies have also shown that the gentle swaying motion of a hammock stimulates brain activity! Whatever the reason for relaxing in a hammock, be it for therapy or just ‘time out’, try power napping – you will be amazed at the therapeutic benefits available to everyone.

Hammock World netting hammocks are undoubtedly the most comfortable, therapeutic hammocks available. Our Hammock Recliner, together with the Comfort Cushion, which has been custom designed to provide extra comfort, offers total body support with no pressure points.

The hammock netting expands to fit everybody, regardless of body size or shape – customised comfort provides perfect back and lumbar support while offering therapeutic relief from accumulated body stress, muscular tension and back pain discomfort.

I had the great honor to speak with James “The Thinker” Smith on Sunday night. First off, very nice guy. What a source of knowledge as well. Here are some of the key points to our conversation:

Strength training can mean but doesn’t have to be weight training. Weight training is a form of strength training. Read that again if it doesn’t make sense at first glance. The whole goal of training athletes is to improve their performance in their chosen sport or game. You must always think of how you are going to accomplish this. Sometimes, weights are not what is called for. I had some of my guys do a contrast speed day last night and the only ‘weight room’ stuff they did was a superset of TRX rows and walking parking lot lunges at the end. Again, what is going to make them better?

The more advanced an athlete is skill wise (talent), the less they are going to need and be able to handle in the weight room. Their central nervous systems are so advanced that they will simply not require a ton of work to get an adaptation. On the flip side, too much can fry them a lot quicker than it would a lesser athlete. This is why at the professional level of sport, you don’t see as much heavy lifting or lifting in general going on.

You have to think of the CNS as a cup of water. At the beginning of the workout (hopefully), your cup should be full. I say full because it depends on your recovery and recuperation methods up until this point. Actually, you can think of this as a two way cup. If you put any too much of one component in and then try to fit too much of another in, the cup will overflow and this will not be good. If this happens, you did not create a positive adaptation. As well, you only have some much in the CNS tank going into a training session. Once that cup is empty, it is empty. Again, many strength coaches spend 99% of their time on strength work. That is going to leave them 1% for the rest of the skills they may need to work on, including, power, strength endurance, core, flexibility, coordinated movements and so on.

I have about 5 pages of notes from the other night and I am a smarter coach for speaking with Coach Smith. Learn from the best!

I recently saw a very health conscious 40 year old male who, 6 months before, successfully adopted a low carbohydrate lifestyle losing 20 pounds. Over the last three months, however, he added a morning smoothie with bananas and various “healthy” juices, as well as whey protein.

He has also began eating bananas and apples throughout the day and after work-outs. His recent lab tests show his fasting sugar has increased above 100 mg/dl, his triglycerides have increased by 50 points and his VLDL’s (very low density lipoproteins) doubled.

In addition, his weight loss leveled out and despite working out a lot, gained weight and some fat around the mid-section. Do you wonder what is going on here? He is demonstrating signs of fructose toxicity.

Sugar, or table sugar, is made up of 50 % Fructose and 50% glucose. Juices, apples and bananas have higher concentrations of fructose approaching 60% fructose and 40% glucose. Fructose is a toxin. The metabolism of fructose in the liver causes the elevation of triglycerides, VLDL and acyl-glycerols that get trapped in your liver causing fatty liver changes (elevated uric acid levels that cause Gout and even high blood pressure.)

Fortunately, these changes are rapidly reversed by getting rid of sugars and high fructose foods. So, what is the physiology behind why fructose is really a toxin?

When you eat products containing sugar or high fructose corn syrup, your body breaks it down to glucose and fructose in your intestines. Glucose is used by your brain, muscles, organs systems and even some by the heart, but the heart runs much better on fats.

When glucose hits your liver for metabolism, 80 percent of it is already used by your body, and the remaining 20 % is broken down in the liver. Unfortunately fructose is very different. Fructose is not used by your brain; it is not used by your muscles or any organs in your body.

In fact, it doesn’t even cause insulin levels to go up, and therefore leptins won’t signal your brain that you have plenty of food and are satisfied. So you’re still hungry. It is then transported 100 % intact to the liver for metabolism. And here is the big problem. It overloads your liver’s ability to metabolize substances.

Fructose enters the liver cells and is ultimately converted to 4 main compounds.

1. The first involves a number of enzyme systems and is called de novo lipogenesis new fat formation. So it is fructose that causes fat formation, NOT fat!
2. The second produces compounds that gum up the liver resulting in elevated liver enzymes and a condition called fatty liver.
3. The third is the production of VLDL’s or very low density lipoproteins which are now being considered more atherogenic (arterial plaque producing) than the “bad” LDL’s.

Lastly excess triglycerides are pumped out of the liver resulting in the classic metabolic syndrome lipid abnormalities of high triglycerides, high VLDL’s, and low HDL’s. And it get’s worse. Because of the tremendous load on the liver it causes an increase in uric acid. This is known to cause gout, but another problem with uric acid is that it blocks the relaxation of arterial blood vessels, thus causing hypertension.

So to summarize, what do you call a substance that our body can’t use, and that the only way it is metabolized is through the liver? And the breakdown products result in products that are dangerous to our body? That is the perfect definition for a toxin and fructose is a toxin. So getting control of sugar consumption is a lifesaving goal.