Why Do Angels Have Wings?

Angels have been pictured in art for thousands of years. Angels are depicted with wings growing from their shoulder blade area. This is shown in the sculpture of an angel's wings seen in the photo and the images in the drawing below. Perhaps the recurring motif of wings is to point us towards a source of hidden human potential.

The shoulder blade area and mid-back is very important bio-mechanically and has effects on spinal mobility and mobility of organs within great cavities, the chest and abdomen.

Pictured below in red are the shoulder blades. The shoulder blades have no bony attachment to the spine or the ribs with only tendon attachment to the spine and the ribs.

In the picture below the muscle/tendon attachments of the shoulder blades can be seen. The shoulder blades move with the arms, spine and ribs.

An angel, with wings attached to the shoulder blade area, would need to have a mobile spine and pliable ribs to be able to flap their wings smoothly.

We should all pay attention to the tendons that allow our shoulder blades to coordinate movement that 'opens' up the spine and chest. Breathing, heart function and mobility of the organs in the abdominal cavity are affected by expansion and contraction of the chest. 

We all have the power to grow angel wings that, although hiddem, can carry us a little closer to a good life.

So come on................... get younger with iHeart.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iheart-physiological-age-system 

Keeping Your Internal Organs Happy and Healthy

Life is supported by the actions of the body's internal organs. These include the heart and lungs in the chest cavity and the liver, spleen, pancreas, intestines and kidneys in the abdominal cavity. These organs are mostly soft and squishy. Organs can be thought of as sponge-like. Circulation of blood through each organ depends on alternating compression and relaxation cycles.

The liver has many tiny canals taking blood from a central location and delivering it to the cells that do the actual metabolic work. These canals are called sinusoids. In the microscopic picture of the liver below, there is a blood vessel at the centre of the picture with sinusoids seen radiating away from the blood vessel.



 How does blood move through these sinusoidal spaces? Just as a sponge needs to be squeezed and released, the liver, as well as other internal organs, needs to be compressed and released in order to maintain optimal flow of blood to cells within the organ.

The liver, spleen, pancreas and kidneys lie under the diaphragm muscle. With every breath the lungs take in, the diaphragm descends and compresses these organs. With every breath out the diaphragm rises and releases pressure on the internal organs. Movements of the rib cage and abdominal wall also apply pressure to the internal organs.

Movement of the diaphragm, ribs and abdominal wall are affected by mobility of the spine. The spine is connected with joints to the ribs. The spine has direct ligament attachments extending from the diaphragm. Movements of the spine determine range of motion of the abdominal wall. Spinal mobility is crucial for motion that induces flow through the internal organs.

iHeart measures Aortic Stiffness, that is closely related to spinal mobility. With increasing spinal mobility there is greater motion within the abdominal and chest cavities that is so important for keeping the internal organs in good health.

Aortic Stiffness is related to the risk of death from all causes. This is easier to understand now that the connection between stiffness affecting motion of the abdominal and chest cavities and internal organ circulation and health has been explored.

So come on................... Get younger with iHeart!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iheart-physiological-age-system

Why Does My Heart Physiological Age Vary?

The iHeart Physiological Age System www.iheartalive.com uses a fingertip pulse sensor to measure Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity (AoPWV). The Aorta, pictured in red below, is the body's largest blood vessel, located just in front of the spinal column, coursing through the chest and abdomen.

When the heart beats a pulse wave travels down the walls of the Aorta. Towards the bottom of the Aorta this 'primary' pulse wave reflects back towards the heart. The speed with both the primary and reflected waves travel depends on Aortic Stiffness and Blood Pressure. The speed with which these waves travel is known as AoPWV.

With aging there is an stiffness throughout the body that affects the Aorta as well. With increased Aortic Stiffness there is higher AoPWV and the reflected wave returns to the heart earlier and earlier.

In the diagram below the reflected wave is circled in red. In a young person the reflected wave appears late in the cardiac cycle. In a young person the reflected wave returns just as the heart is ending its contraction phase. In a young person the reflected wave induces flow of blood into the arteries that feed the heart muscle. In an older person the reflected wave returns when the heart is still contracting. This forces the heart to work harder, it creates high peak pressures that damage the fragile blood vessels of the brain and when the heart contraction ends there is less force to induce flow of blood into the arteries feeding the heart.

The pulse shapes shown above are characteristic of younger and older pulses. iHeart uses a very high resolution and high sampling speed pulse sensor to perform pulse analysis, precisely locate the reflected and determine AoPWV. AoPWV determined by iHeart corresponds closely to AoPWV determined using the 'gold standard' Carotid-Femoral method recommended in the scientific literature.


Once AoPWV is obtained using iHeart, the reading is compared to average AoPWV values from the entire human age spectrum in order to calculate a corresponding Physiological Age.

AoPWV is affected by changes in Aortic Stiffness but is also affected by changes in Blood Pressure (BP). In the same way that BP readings in a doctors office should always be taken after resting for several minutes, iHeart AoPWV readings should always be taken in a condition of rest. An iHeart reading taken just after standing up will show a lower AoPWV reading because blood pressure drops upon standing.

It is normal for iHeart Physiological Age to vary up to 10 years at different times of the day and from day to day. This is related to short term changes in blood pressure. Immediately after an exercise session your Physiological Age may be increased above your usual because Blood Pressure rises with exercise. A few minutes to an hour or so after exercise Physiological Age may be lower than your usual because Blood Pressure drops for a few hours after exercise before returning to baseline.

If you are emotionally stressed, have had a restless night or there are other factors that would affect your blood pressure your Physiological Age will change.

Watching your trend over a few weeks is the best way to see if you have had benefit from attention to exercise, diet or stress management.

iHeart is a simple way to follow changes in the shape of your arterial pulse as a result of AoPWV effects. It does not take long for someone to get familiar with their unique personal rhythms as displayed by iHeart.

So........

Come on, get younger with iHeart!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iheart-physiological-age-system

A New Window On The Human Condition Opens

For 20 years I learned Tai Chi from a Taoist monk and had many positive, life changing experiences. At the end of his life he asked me to show people health benefits that flow from stretching between the heart and the kidneys. Tai Chi, Yoga and other ancient Eastern movement arts focus on stretching along the spinal axis.

As a Physician I was intrigued and gladly accepted my teacher's request. Surprisingly there is an extensive body of medical scientific literature showing that stiffness of the Aorta, the body's largest blood vessel travelling from the heart through the chest and abdomen, is an indicator of heart health and predicts risk of death from all causes. Aortic Stiffness appeared as a way to judge stiffness throughout the body's core regions, bounded by the spine. A few articles about Aortic Stiffness are found at http://www.iheartalive.com/faqs#studies-that-prove

An even more surprising discovery was that the shape of the arterial pulse, the same pulse that you can feel just above the thumb on your wrist, has a shape that gradually changes with aging as a result of increasing Aortic Stiffness.

Starting by soldering LED's and Photodiodes on my kitchen table I built simple circuits that I placed on a fingertip letting me see the shape of the pulse wave. With the help of friends with engineering knowledge, computer programs were developed to analyze pulse shape.

10 years later an affordable Bluetooth pulse sensor and a iOS app are ready and able to give people a way to use their fingertip pulse signal to assess Aortic Stiffness. The iHeart Physiological Age System iheartalive.com uses pulse signal analysis to determine Aortic Stiffness and provide users with their associated Physiological Age. 

Exercise is a very effective way to improve Aortic Stiffness and lower Physiological Age. A recent article showing this, 'Effects of Exercise Modalities on Arterial Stiffness and Wave Reflection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials', is found at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0110034 The article shows that the more vigorous the exercise the more profound the benefit and that the stiffer a person is initially the better the exercise effect.

iHeart allows people to objectively see health benefits from exercise. In the past equipment to measure Aortic Stiffness cost over $10,000, used multiple sensors and required a skilled operator. iHeart, using a 30 second simple test and with a retail price of $149 makes it possible for everyone to start using Aortic Stiffness as a personal road map of their health direction.

Core Mobilization is not a current focus of exercise training. It is however a big part of Yoga and Tai Chi. iHeart is a bridge between ancient Eastern wisdom and Western scientific understanding of health.

This blog will focus on showing how Aortic Stiffness, measured using iHeart, will emerge as a new way to monitor health and give people a reason to focus on Core Mobilization with improved organ function, better health and longer life.

So........ come on, get younger with iHeart!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iheart-physiological-age-system