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“True generosity is giving privately without expectations of praise or reward. Autistic people donate the same to charity regardless of whether their generosity is being observed. This is not because they are oblivious to others, but because they are free of hypocrisy".-Ivan A. Ross

HUMAN BIOLOGY IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

Ivan A. Ross

Education is crucial in achieving the objective of an inclusive society where all humans have the opportunity and incentive to participate fully in the social and economic life of the world. Educational opportunities for children to gain knowledge to deal with mental and emotional issues such as clinical depression, anxiety, and stress, which can consequently lead to detrimental physical effects, can be dealt with through innovative approaches like reading, writing, and arithmetic. Including human biology in their curriculum will provide children, from five years of age, a fundamental understanding of the structure and functions of their bodies. It will be an investment in education as well as health. Not only is this form of education of benefit to healthy lifestyles, but good health is a prerequisite for educational achievement.

Health and education are inextricably linked. Health status is closely related to access to school as well as the ability to learn. Health behavior is associated with educational attainment. This link means that improving effectiveness in one sector can potentially benefit the other sector, and schools are therefore the most important setting for both education and health. The main reason for schools to be involved in health and education is to contribute to a major task of education: The development of identity and learning to participate in society.

Human biology – the fundamentals of the human structure and functions – will provide information that will enable children to realize and access their potential as they develop into adults. This form of education begins with the hope of motivating children to improve their lives and living conditions; to develop in them a sense of responsibility for health conditions, for themselves as individuals, as members of families, and as communities. It is the modeling of real scientific exploration that stimulates critical thinking, intuition, and the evolution of thoughts. This education will provide basic health knowledge that conditions ideas to re-shape the everyday habits of children with unhealthy lifestyles.

This type of conditioning not only affects the immediate recipients of such education but also future generations will benefit from properly cultivated ideas about health, which will eventually be ingrained with widely spread health education. Moreover, besides physical health prevention, health education can also help children to deal with situations of stress, anxiety, depression, and other emotional disturbances to lessen the impact of these sorts of mental and emotional constituents that can consequently lead to detrimental physical effects. This knowledge will encourage children to be actively involved in their own learning. If children are actively drawn into the process, they will feel a sense of ownership of learning. If children develop this ownership, the activities would lead to changes in their practices, behavior, and actions. It is vital for the ethical obligation to involve participants in decisions on health issues that are related to their own lives.

If one wants a general rule about changing educational programs, the best advice would be: Start early. Early experiences are formative and provide a strong or weak foundation for later psychological growth. This view was best expressed by Alexander Pope, three centuries ago: “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.” From this perspective, it is critical to ensure our children a good start in life by providing them the guidance, information, and resources that they need to make the choices that lead to healthy lives. Most parents followed this rule by exposing their babies to words, body parts, colors, textures, music, and people, helping the “whole child” to develop. However, by the age of five years of age, this rule becomes the responsibility of teachers. This parenting process is replaced by the schools, media, peers, and any source of information that children can access.

Philosopher Lao Tzu had this to say: “Fathers should not be too tolerant or too strict. Only when there are wise fathers are there good children. Only when there are kind fathers are there respectful children. How many people could ever become talented without being taught, act on their own without encouragement, and gain a sense of purpose without studying?”

The brain, a part of the nervous system, tells every other system of the body what to do, whether we are aware of it or not. It controls what we think and feel; how we learn and what we remember; how much we grow, and the way we move, and when to move. Although we can move these muscles as we desire, the brain still controls them. Muscles on blood vessels and the walls of the digestive tract are all under the control of the nervous system. What we do with our body, what we eat, how much we exercise, even the way we sit or stand, affect our health. The nervous system also controls things we may not think about such as whether we feel sleepy or awake, hungry or full.

Through our thoughts, we have influence over the brain’s control of the body. Our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can affect our bodies. By visualizing happy memories and events, and envisioning positive outcomes, we can actually change the chemistry of the brain. What we think, determines what we believe. What we believe determines how we feel, the way we feel, influences how we are going to act. The nervous system communicates with the body indicates that the mind plays a major role in influencing the level of wellness.

If we are experiencing fear, anger, or other emotions that may increase our stress level, these disturbing thoughts are detected by the brain. The brain will stimulate the endocrine system to release hormones that cause a decline in immune functions which may result in a person becoming more susceptible to illness. The school curriculum has always been influenced by governments and other policy-makers about what is deemed a priority in relation to the education of young people and the needs of society.

The role of the education system is to produce young people who are more able to serve the economic needs of the country. With emerging problems as anxiety, clinical depression, substance abuse, obesity, and consequential problems, there is an urgent need to include human biology in the curriculum of our schools. Used correctly, the school curriculum can be an important tool to educate students, teachers, parents, and eventually the community about critically important aspects of themselves. This approach offers a vision of education within which health education and self-awareness seem to fit very well.

This vision goes far beyond preparing young people to be economically productive. In today’s rapidly changing society we need to be fully geared towards the need of our young people. The health-promoting addition to the schools’ curriculum will provide opportunities for young people to gain knowledge and insight and to acquire essential life skills. The curriculum is relevant to the needs of young people now and in the future. It will be an inspiration to teachers and others working in the schools and act as a stimulus for their own personal and professional development. In communities where the level of education of the parents is such that this support is not possible, this program will serve to cross-pollinate knowledge and education to the parents, resulting in an increased awareness in the extended family.

FOODS

Ivan A. Ross

Reflecting on some of the cultures that I have dined with reminds me of the complexity of foods, and that foods and dietary patterns are responses to both biological and social stimuli. The foods chosen, the preparation, methods of eating, time, and size of the meal, are all integrated parts of cultural patterns.

Although there are dietary diversities among cultures, there are also characteristics that are applicable to all cultures. Culture is acquired by people as they live their everyday lives. It is not biologically determined, and therefore it can be modified or unlearned. It is also a group phenomenon, not an individual one; it is transmitted from one generation to the next but in the absence of socialization processes, it does not continue. Culture is not static, it involves changes. Each generation learns the culture that it is born into, but it is never the same as its predecessor. It preserves traditions but also builds on mechanisms for change.

Food habits are part of this dynamic process in that they are stable and predictable, but at the same time undergoing changes. Changes occur over time because of economic and ecological events such as limited availability, discovery or innovation of food, and diffusion of food habits from others. We are unconscious of our culture. It is internalized so that most of our routine behaviors are without thoughts.

We internalize cultural traditions and they become an inseparable part of our identity. Food habits are acquired early in life and once established are likely to be long-lasting and resistant to change. Hence, it is important to develop sound nutritional practices in childhood as a basis for lifelong eating habits. Infants and young children are dependent on adults for what they eat, and food is one of the basic mediums through which adult attitudes and sentiments are communicated.

Children have to learn to like what is prescribed by the dietary culture in which they are raised. They have little choice in the matter. Young children have a preference for foods that are sweet and foods that they are familiar with. It may seem reasonable that parental eating example is important in getting children to accept unfamiliar foods, but this resemblance in parent-child preference is very low.

Early eating experiences are associated with family sentiments, of affection and happiness. It is not surprising that foods acquired the power to unlock childhood memories when they are encountered in later life. As children grow older, they are exposed to diverse experiences, viewpoints, and influences. Food habits that have been informally learned at home are either reinforced or contradicted in the more formal setting at school. The law of primacy implies that those habits learned earliest are most likely to persist in later life and are most resistant to change. Thus, when there is a conflict between what is taught at school and what is taught at home, the latter is more likely to dominate. This reinforces the idea that the creation of early likes and dislikes congruent with healthy eating habits is a desirable nutrition strategy.

By natural selection, the body is designed to enjoy foods that are sweet and fattening, ideal for hunters and gatherers. Thus, sweet and fattening foods are typically rare in nature and are very pleasurable to eat. With advanced technology, sweet and fattening foods are easily available to consumers. Unfortunately, this promotes obesity. Good nutrition is our first defense against diseases, and our source of energy to live an active life. While young children are the most vulnerable to malnutrition, good nutrition is essential for all. Problems of malnutrition – under-nutrition, nutrient deficiencies, and over-eating – exist in all cultures and are contributors to disabilities and deaths worldwide. Lack of suitable food for children contributes to lower academic performance, lower test scores, and eventually less successful students and less productive society.

BREATHING

Ivan A. Ross

Recently, I observed a fitness trainer teaching a client the “proper way of breathing”. Since I was shocked by the promotion of that method of breathing, I explored the internet to learn from where that trainer could possibly obtain her information. I found the following that was presented by a health expert on Webmd. It is referred to as the 4-7-8 breathing exercise. “The total number of seconds that the pattern lasts for less important than keeping the ratio. A person who cannot hold their breath for long enough may try a shorter pattern instead, such as: Breathe in through the nose for 2 seconds. Hold the breath for a count of 3.5 seconds. Exhale through the MOUTH for 4 seconds”. I have learned in physiology that the proper way of breathing is to inhale through the nostrils and exhale through the nostrils also. I have also learned that in yoga, it is taught that the proper way of breathing is to inhale through the nostrils and exhale through the mouth. I believe in the natural process of breathing which is as follows: The lungs are a primary source of our energy level. They extract oxygen from the air that we breathe, primarily on the exhale. Because the nostrils are smaller than the mouth, air exhaled through the nose creates back pressure when one exhales. This delays the expiration of air from the lungs giving the lungs more time to extract oxygen.

The proper oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange is necessary for the blood to maintain a balanced pH. Carbon dioxide is a major component for the maintenance of the body’s pH. If carbon dioxide is lost too quickly, as in mouth breathing, oxygen absorption is also decreased. Nerves that regulate breathing area in the nasal passages. The inhaled air passing through the nasal mucosa carries the stimuli to the reflex nerves that control breathing. Mouth breathing bypasses the nasal mucosa and makes regular breathing confounding. The nasal cavity also provides around 90% of the respiratory system air-conditioning requirement and also recovers around 33% of exhaled heat and moisture. During mouth breathing, the brain thinks carbon dioxide is being lost too quickly and sensing this, will stimulate the goblet cells to produce mucous, slow the breathing, and cause constriction of blood vessels.

Breathing through the nose also limits air intake and forces one to slow down. Proper nose breathing reduces hypertension and stress for most people. The nasal cycle, which is part of an overall body cycle, is controlled by the hypothalamus. Sympathetic dominance on one side causes nasal vasoconstriction of the ipsilateral turbinate, while parasympathetic dominance on the other causes nasal vasoconstriction of the contralateral turbinate. Increased airflow through the right nostril is correlated to increased left brain activity and enhanced verbal performance, whereas, increased airflow through the left nostril is associated with increased right brain activity and enhanced spatial performance (Shannahoff-Kalsa 1993).

The Rhythm of Alternating Cerebral Hemispheric Activity (International journal of Neuroscience 70, 285-298), stated that each nostril is innervated by five cranial nerves from a different side of the brain. Each nostril functions independently and synergistically in filtering, warming, moisturizing, dehumidifying, and smelling the air. The nostrils and sinuses filter and warm the air going into the lungs. The mouth breather bypasses this. The sinuses produce nitric oxide which is a pollutant, but in small doses, is harmful to bacteria. Nitric oxide is one of the very important chemical parts of sexual arousal. It vasodilates and plays a part in maintaining an erection.

Maintaining a keen sense of smell is very important for enjoying life and for safety and social acceptance. Think of all the beautiful smells we enjoy with our noses. Smell influences our behavior, our memories, and many autonomic nervous system functions which are beyond the level of conscious awareness. This is because the receptors in the nose, known as olfactory bulbs, are direct extensions of a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus, also known as the brain’s brain, is responsible for many functions in our bodies, particularly those that we consider automatic: heartbeat, blood pressure, thirst, appetite, and of course, the cycles of sleeping and waking. The hypothalamus is also responsible for generating chemicals that influence memory and emotions.

Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome, a medical description for what we call snoring, is a problem for millions of people in the world. Snoring is a major social problem. It can also lead to major medical problems if snoring and mouth breathing combine to cause irregular breathing during sleep. What you do during waking hours carries over into sleep. Any opportunity for mouth breathing inhaling or exhaling will increase the chances of mouth breathing during waking and sleep. Hospital studies have established that nocturnal mouth breathing is a primary cause of loud snoring.

Snoring is a precursor to sleep apnea and apnea is a precursor to low cellular oxygen, almost any illness including heart attacks and death in one’s sleep. Nasal breathing imposes approximately 50 percent more resistance to the air stream in normal individuals than does mouth breathing, resulting in 10-20 percent more O2 uptake. (Cottle, 1972: Rohrer, 1915) There must be adequate nasal resistance to maintain adequate elasticity of the lungs. (Cottle 1980). Breathing through the mouth with the nose obstructed usually imposes too little resistance and can lead to micro-areas of poor ventilation in the lungs (atelectasis). Many years of breathing against excessive resistance as with nasal obstruction, may cause micro areas of poor ventilation (emphysema). Barelli (Behavioral and Psychological Approaches to Breathing Disorders. p. 50). Mouth breathing also accelerates water loss increasing possible dehydration. Body temperature may also be influenced by the temperature of expired air (Scott, 1954; Weiner, 1954).

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BRAIN AND SYSTEMS OF THE BODY

Ivan A. Ross

Our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can affect our bodies. What we do with our body, what we eat, how much we exercise, even the way we stand or sit can impact our mental and physical health. This results from the relationship between the mind and body.

The nervous system, tells every other system of the body what to do, whether we are aware of it or not. It controls what we think and feels, how we learn and remember, how much our bones grow, and the way we move. It also controls things we might not think about such as the beating of the heart, our breathing, whether we feel sleepy or awake, or hungry or full.

The nervous system and the other systems of the body are essentially inseparable. The brain, a part of the nervous system, gives us the ability to think, and our thoughts control our feelings. Through the process of thinking, we have very much control of the systems of the body. By visualizing happy memories and events and envisioning positive outcomes, we can actually change the chemistry of the brain. The nervous system plays a major role in influencing the level of wellness.

Our emotions and attitude, both positive and negative, can affect our health and also the outcome of medical treatment. If we are experiencing fear, anger, or other emotions that may increase our stress level, these disturbing thoughts are picked up by the brain. The brain can cause a decline in immune function which may result in the person becoming more susceptible to illness.

Sometimes, the brain gets in the way of the heart in making decisions. In its pursuit of a choice, the brain can excite the heart. It is very important to calm down so that the heart can relax before it can help to find the best choice.

A system can work alone and also with other systems. As you continue to read, the nervous system is at work, your eyes are seeing these words and your brain is interpreting what you see and remembering all of the information about systems. If you think about it, you are also using the muscular system to move your eyes, and the skeletal and muscular systems are keeping your head up. All of the systems are connected. A simple example is a connection between the circulatory and respiratory systems. As blood circulates through the body, it eventually needs fresh oxygen from the air. When the blood reaches the lungs, a part of the respiratory system, the blood gives up the carbon dioxide that it picks up from the cells as waste, and takes up oxygen as we inhale.

If you think of other systems that work together, two that come to mind are probably the respiratory and digestive systems. The mouth is part of the digestive system, but if we have a cold and our nostrils are clogged or if we are running and become tired, we will begin to breathe through our mouth as if it is a part of the respiratory system.

A healthy life requires learning about our own internal self. One of the best places to look for ways to feel better is our own thoughts. As we explore our thoughts, we may find many thoughts that have not been explored. Thoughts that may have been repressed for fear or negative feeling. Repressed thoughts can lead to health problems, such as high blood pressure or digestive disorders. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts…” – Marcus Aurelius

Herbal medicine is part of the general quest for effective medicine to treat illness. This search began even before the appearance of humans. Relying on instinct, much like the movements of sucking, licking, and rubbing that occurs with discomfort, animals will occasionally in a reflexive action seek out particular herbs. Research shows that instinct leads animals to find needed plant materials. Pregnant giraffes know how to search out scarce plants that are high in phosphorous and calcium, as do lactating dairy cows. There is also evidence that primates use certain plants in a medicinal manner.

Actual physical evidence of human beings using herbal remedies goes back some 60 000 years to a burial site of a Neanderthal man uncovered in 1960. Working in a cave in what is now northern Iraq scientists uncovered what appeared to be ordinary human bones. Analysis of the soil around the bones revealed extraordinary quantities of plant pollen that could not have been introduced accidentally at the burial site. Someone in this cave community had consciously gathered eight species of plants to surround the dead man. Seven of these are medicinal plants that are still being used throughout the herbal world.

Herbal medicine existed as a side stream of medicine for the last three hundred years. Its knowledge was preserved by health care practitioners who were generally accorded lower status than physicians. Modern medicine is a system where even information that is two to three years old is considered out-of-date, much less that which is centuries old.

The changes occurring in the world of remedies were part of the general abandonment of herbal knowledge and the adoption of the scientific creed by the medical community. The demise of herbal medicine was part of this transformation. With William Harvey’s discovery of the pathways of blood circulation in 1616, the scientific revolution came to medicine. Herbal medicine was considered too imprecise; potency too difficult to standardize, and the method of combining many plants seemed to go against the grain of scientific precision. For the new scientific elite, herbs were part and parcel of the old theories. No one proved or disproved their effectiveness; they were simply not a part of the new scientific health care. With the invention of sulfa drugs and antibiotics in the 1930s and 1940s, it seemed as if chemical medicines would take care of all of our ills. In fact, while there continue to be great strides made in the understanding and use of pharmaceuticals, there is also widespread dissatisfaction both with these and with the system of medicine that utilizes them. This dissatisfaction is centered on the feeling that they are too disease-oriented, perhaps too limited by their precision to cope effectively with the subtle factors and interrelationships that comprise human health and diseases. The precision and pure nature of modern biomedical pharmaceuticals also tend to increase their side effects. In addition, with the victory over many common infectious diseases, more people are concerned with chronic degenerative processes and with the prevention of diseases. These areas are not the forte of modern medicine. This has led to a renaissance of interest in herbal medicine throughout the modern industrialized world.

Medical doctors are oftentimes hesitant to prescribe herbal medicine because of the lack of scientific evidence of plant medicine available to them. Medical training ignores the history of healing. Pharmacology teachers rarely mention that a large percentage of drugs are still derived from plants. From time to time medical journals will publish articles describing harm done by the inadvertent use of plant material. The number of people harmed by herbs is, however, only a small fraction of the people who are harmed by modern medicine and modern medical practices. Nonetheless, the majority of what physicians perceive about herbs is decidedly negative.

The reliance on herbal medicine in Guyana has never faded. However, what has been disappearing are people with knowledge about the use of herbal medicine. As a result of skepticism and confusion with both modern and traditional medicine, recent generations are not as enthusiastic as their ancestors were about herbal medicine and the number of people with herbal knowledge has significantly diminished.

Herbal medicine has its roots in four major traditions: African, Chinese, Indian, and native Indians. Guyana is blessed with a culture that comprises three of these ethnic groups.

Herbal medicine in Guyana started with the native Indians. The population of native Indians has been decreasing and is even extinct in some countries. Guyana is, however, one of the few countries with an increasing population. Today there are eight tribes that comprise approximately seven percent of the population of Guyana. They are still the most knowledgeable users of plants for food and medicine. The European colonists had considered the native Indians “ignorant savages”, except when it comes to health and healing. Colonists who were familiar with the plagues, pestilence, and suffering back home, were amazed at the good health, physical stamina, and fine teeth of the natives. Not surprisingly, they became eager herbal medical students of the natives. Even today their primary source of medicine is from the plants in their environment. They have recognized the most fatal poisons in their environment, such as curare; how to tame poisonous substances; have the knowledge and ability to use the same plant material for both life and death. The root of the bitter cassava, (Manihot utilissma) contains the deadly cyanide (hydrocyanic acid). When washed it is safe for food and the water from the wash is used as a poison for the tips of arrows. The wash can also be processed into casareep. Casareep is used as a flavoring agent and as a preservative. Meats cooked in casareep are called pepper-pot. Pepper-pot has the ability to withstand spoilage without refrigeration, as long as it is brought to boil daily. This ingenious identification and separation of plant constituents by the natives is incomprehensible.

Africans arrived in Guyana during the seventeenth century. Coming from the cradle of human civilization, they brought with them the most knowledge and experience of traditional healing available until that period. The history of healing in Africa can be traced back to about 3200 BC, during the reign of Menes whose son was credited with knowledge of many therapeutic medications. The first African physician Imhotep, lived about 2980 BC, during the reign of pharaoh Zosar of the third dynasty. Hesy-re, who lived about 2600 BC, was the chief of dentists and physicians during the third dynasty. The Ebers papyrus summarizes more than 1000 years of medicine and listed 876 herbal formulae that are made from more than 500 plants, including about one-third of the herbs that are used in the world today. The papyrus contains very striking formulae, for example, bandaging moldy bread over wounds to prevent infection. Penicillin and other antibiotics are derived from molds. The list is composed of plants used as food, in keeping with the belief at that time that every disease that men are liable to contract depends on the food that they eat. As a child, I could never tolerate the bitter taste of “Karailla” (Momodica charantia) a vegetable that was served at least once a week in my home. “Karailla” contains a chemical that is only one amino acid different from insulin, thus, the closest natural chemical to insulin. My most dreaded moments were weekends when it was time to have a dose of tea made from the flower of “carrion crow bush” (Cassia alata). “Carrion crow bush” flowers contain chemicals that eliminate intestinal parasites from the body and will also cleanse the liver. It is evident that millennia later we are still following the tradition of our ancestors.

Indians migration to Guyana began during the nineteenth century. India’s herbal tradition goes back to about 2000 BC. Ancient India called their medicine Ayurveda from two Sanskrit words, Ayur, “life” and Veda, “knowledge”. Ayurvedic medicine developed from the Vedas, India’s four books of classical wisdom. The oldest, the 4 500 years old rig Veda, contains an astonishing detailed description of eye surgery, limb amputation, and formulae for medicines using 67 healing herbs, including ginger, cinnamon, and senna.

At about 1200 BC, a young Indian man wanted to study medicine but had no money to pay for his teacher. He approached the founder of India’s first medical school and offered to become a servant in exchange for medical training and his offer was accepted. After seven years, the young man asked the professor when his studies would complete. Instead of giving him a direct answer, the professor challenged him to search the countryside and collect all the plants that are considered medicinally useless. After several days the young man couldn’t find any and with that disappointment didn’t return to the professor. A few months later the young man went to the professor and told him that he had failed and was too embarrassed to return…he couldn’t find any plant that is medicinally useless. The professor replied, “Go, you now have the knowledge to be a physician”.

Recently in Guyana, as in the rest of the world, there has been a great increase in the interest in herbal medicine from all traditions. In part, this has been a response to some of the above-mentioned problems with modern medicine, and in part, it is due to cultural revival following the era of colonization. It is my hope that we share our knowledge to create awareness of the importance of plants in our environment. These plants are often in danger of being destroyed and completely eradicated.