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This was written for me by a friend who enjoys our gardens. Both the perennials in the front of the house and the roses ‘out back.’
We all need roots in Mother Nature.
Blue Flower of Wellbeing
The blue flower
extends a single root
into the earth,
a gold thread
descending through
crust and the mantle,
to the iron core.
Your wellbeing,
your wealth,
your weal,
is a garden well
drawing water
toward sunlight,
toward fields
of blue flowers.
©Jon Obermeyer 2021
Over the last year we have all spent more time at home. Thanks to the pandemic rules in most states, we’ve been cloistered with our spouses and children, breathing the same air and exposed almost 24/7 to the same environment.
Many health experts have now taken to analyzing the psychological impact this can have on your family. Especially now that winter weather is keeping much of the country confined, even on the weekend.
But, from a building biology standpoint this also means we are being subjected to more EMF’s from wifi, phones and electricity.
Studies show that once building tradespeople were approved as essential workers, we collectively began to take care of all those small repair and remodeling jobs that we could ignore when we spent 8- hours a day at work.
What does this mean for the air which is now contaminated with paint fumes and new building materials out-gassing? Then add those chemicals to the mold particles that build up in our sealed winter environment and you have a recipe for disaster.
It’s no wonder we feel sicker, more lethargic and don’t understand why. Over time, these chemicals (VOC’s, xylene, styrene, glyphosate) build up in our bodies and lead to serious health issues.
So if you are experiencing a sudden health issue, you might want to start by surveying your home environment and consider some testing to determine your body burden. It could be the cause of your poor health.
According to Helena Riess, Ph. D. humans seem to be the only mammal, who consciously, skip the amount of sleep needed for healthy functioning.
The result can be disastrous. Studies have shown that inadequate sleep can impact our mental and physical health in numerous ways. Cognitively, sleep is important to brain function for a number of reasons. In addition to consolidating memories, and improving creativity, sleep has been shown to clear out toxins.
Studies at the University of California at Berkeley have shown that during periods of sleep many mammals, use the time to clear out harmful molecules, like beta-amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease, that can build up and affect brain function while we are awake.
If these free radicals are allowed to build up, our susceptibility to brain diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s. or dementia are increased over time.
Still other studies have shown that lack of sleep can decrease our ability to fight off disease. Some have called sleep a “natural antibiotic” which, may increase our ability to fight off routine colds or even the flu.
According to Dr. Riess, increased or at least adequate sleep, is the best defense when flu season rolls around. “If more people would simply get enough sleep and allow their bodies to fight off the germs associated with flu, we might be able to strengthen our bodies so that we would not need to get flu shots at all.”