Around the sun leaving a bright trail behind. For more than
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Even though it tires you out, exercise won't guarantee a sound sleep. If it is too strenuous1 especially just before bedtime, it can drive your pulse too high, causing a restless night. Joyce and Kales use moderate afternoon exercise, along with methods such as psychotherapy to treat severe insomniacs. What is the best thing to do on occasional sleepless nights? Forget sleeping pills. They can actually cause insomnia after three days, by altering the brain's chemistry. Watson recommends drinking milk or eating cheese or tuna, because they are rich in natural sleep-producing aids. "There's something to the old-fashioned remedy of drinking warm milk before bedtime," Watson says. Warming it won't make any difference, but it will help you relax.
14 ACUPUNCTURE Acupuncture, the method of treating diseases by using needles, is based on the Chinese model of health and disease. In this model, there are three main systems in the body. The first two of these are the circulatory and nervous systems as in the western view but, additionally, there is a sort of energy movement. The Chinese believe that all forms of life are controlled by two basic movements of energy. One is outward moving and the other is inward moving. When an outward movement reaches its limit, it changes direction and starts to move inwards. Similarly, when an inward movement reaches its limit, it changes direction and starts to move outwards. The operation is like a pump, and this constant pumping movement may be seen in almost every form of life - the human heart, for example. Understanding this idea of energy movement is important when looking at the theory behind Chinese Acupuncture. In this theory, there is a life force which consists of inward and outward moving energy in each person. Inward moving energy tends to increase activity and the other produces calm. The health of the body depends on the balance between the two. If this balance is disturbed, diseases occur. The Chinese also discovered that this movement takes place around the body along 26 channels called meridians. Each one of these is connected to a different part of the body and has a different funefion. Diseases also occur when a meridian is blocked. To help unblock energy channels, doctors place needles in different parts of the body, but to cure the disease the needles have to be placed in the right place and have the right depth. The earliest acupuncture needles were made of stone. These would have been used when the first books were written about acupuncture 4,500 years ago. The Chinese later used needles made of bone and then of different metals such as iron and silver. Today, they are made of steel. The Chinese first believed that the needle itself cured the disease. However, this was before it was discovered that there are certain points along the meridians which are connected to various parts of the body, such as the stomach and the heart. There are over 800 different needle points in the body. The doctor examines the patient and decides which part of his or her body are over-active or under-active; in other words, the doctor finds out where page 25
there is too much or too little energy. When the acupuncture points have been found, needles are placed in the skin at various depths. They are then left there for different periods of time, which might be as short as a few seconds. A major recent development has been the use of acupuncture in medical operations. In such cases, it is used Instead of anaesthetics, in order to take away the pain felt by the patient. In China today, this use of acupuncture is extremely common in both major and minor operations, even operations on the heart. In the East there are nearly three million doctors who regularly use acupuncture. It is taught in several Russian universities. And even in Europe and America there are thousands of doctors who have now learnt how to use acupuncture. The West, however, uses only one part of the technique intensively; that is, the use of needles to relieve pain during operations.
15 MAISIE'S AMAZING MENAGERIE An ambulance and the RSPCA were both called to the home of Maisie MacDonald yesterday in the centre of Glasgow. A doctor visiting the house in answer to an emergency call discovered the most bizarre collection of animals who share the house with Maisie. While the ambulance was speeding to the loc~il hospital with 83-year-old Maisie, a team of RSPCA vets and Edinburgh zoo-keepers were trying to solve the problem of who would look after Maisie's pets during her stay in hospital. John Mclnnes, the Head Keeper at Edinburgh Zoo, had this to say: 'I have never seen so many different kinds of animals in anybody's home. I am staggered that anyone could look after so many creatures, especially at the age of 83! Maisie has done a wonderful job and none of the animals has been neglected in any way.’ Alan Marsh, 32, an assistant keeper, said, 'She has close to two dozen cats in there and four fairly big dogs, but they're not interested in fighting. It's unusual to find such placid animals as these. They live mainly on the ground floor. The rest of the house is huge. There seems to be something different in every room.' RSPCA Inspector, Bill Miles, told our reporter, "We are making every effort to keep Maisie's pets alive and well Until she is released from hospital. I think we will have to consider the possibility of fostering many of them with families around Glasgow! The others can be taken to the zoo." So what exactly did they find in Maisiets house? There were cages of birds of all shapes and colour going up the three flights of stairs. A goat and several families of rabbits shared a room on the first floor. The bathroom had been taken over by a pair of mallard ducks and a Canada goose, a giant fish tank in another bedroom housed a collection of terrapins and salamanders. Yet another fish tank held a pair of baby alligators. But the top floor was the most surprising of all. A fully grown tiger was living in the attic! However, the zoo-keepers reported that it was as tame as a kitten and they had no trouble persuading it to get into the van to go to the ZOO. From her hospital bed Maisie, suffering from a broken hip, said, 'tMy animals are my whole life. I was cleaning out Rajah the tiger's room this morning when he got too playful and knocked me down. I managed to drag myself out and called one of the dogs. I often send him to the post office with a note to get things for me, so this time I sent him with a note asking for help. Everyone has been so kind, but I'm terribly worried about my pets."
16 MARGARET MEE Artist, adventurer, explorer, botanist and rain forest conservationist are some ways of describing Margaret Mee, a remarkable woman who spent the last 36 years painting the Amazon flora. In 1956, at the age of 47, the already accomplished artist made her first Amazon expedition to observe, collect and paint the flowers of the region. Thus began a series of 15 expeditions, the last of which was in May of 1988, successfully to fulfill her dream to paint the flowers of the rare moonflower cactus that grows along the Rio Negro and flowers for only one night a yean It was an inspiring sight to watch this frail-looking woman setting out on an expedition in a dugout canoe with only one Indian guide. She experienced many hardships and deprivations on expeditions but always returned full of enThusiasm and with many notebooks and sketches, as well as plant specimens to grow carefully in her home in Rio de Janeiro Until they produced flowers to paint. She was one of the greatest women explorers of this century. She became known beyond the botanical community and Brazil when, in 1968, she published a beautiful folio book of her paintings entitled 'Flowers of the Brazilian Forests' to be followed by another in 1980, 'Flowers of the Amazon'. Her paintings are distributed around the world in botanical institutions, private and public collections. She fell in love with the Amazon ecosystem as she studied and painted its flora. However, the period during which she worked coincided with the time when the Amazon rain forest was being destroyed. Consequently, Margaret Mee became one of the leading defenders of rain forests and her recent lectures always had a strong conservation message, born out of a deep understanding of the complex ecosystem.
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