Alternative Well-Being No. 215: Your August Issue

Dear subscribers,

This issue of Alternative Well-Being is definitely all about paradoxes!

• The most unpopular political measure of recent months could save your life and prevent Alzheimer's.

• The warmest month of the year is essential to prepare you for winter.

• A man confined to a wheelchair for life explains how to regain the best use of your legs.

• A very unpleasant manual healing technique puts an end to your pain.

• The world's healthiest oil may also be the worst.

• An illness may be your best chance for recovery.

• A policeman becomes a healer.

• The most archaic conditions of childbirth can also be those from which the woman recovers the best.

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Summary:

• Health investigation: Raising the retirement age, what effects on health?

The general trend toward longer working years in Europe is generating much debate. But what will be the health effects? Is work good or bad for older people? In this area, several scientific studies are shedding new light on a debate that is far from over.

Philippe Chavanne has explored several years of scientific research on the subject. He shares his findings on pages 3 to 7.

• Alternative consumption: Olive oil, avoid fraud and choose it wisely

Despite strict European regulations, olive oil is often the target of fraud. Furthermore, some oils contain contaminants, and many marketing claims mislead consumers.

Responsible consumption expert Rémi Moha helps you avoid the pitfalls and offers a selection of safe olive oils on pages 8 to 11.

• Prevention and cure: August – that strange month that prepares for winter!

For traditional Chinese medicine, August marks the transition to autumn. Even in the heat, it's already time to start preserving your energy for the colder season. After reading this article, you'll never experience this month the same way again.

Annie Casamayou has left the paths of naturopathy to introduce you to this ancestral vision which has lost none of its relevance, on pages 12 to 15.

• Psycho & Soma – What is the illness trying to tell me? Three questions to help us hear it

What if illness carried a message about your buried emotions? What if becoming aware of them could promote healing? In this second episode of Psycho & Soma, you'll discover three keys to understanding your body's coded language.

Follow the subtle words of Philippe Dransart, a doctor specializing in the meaning of illness, on pages 16 and 17.

• Herbalist Secrets: Poppies to the Rescue of Your Nights

Poppy generally refers to those small, bluish-gray seeds sometimes found on specialty bakery breads, from which the pharmaceutical industry extracts opiate derivatives. In herbal medicine, this variety of poppy is rarely used, but two others contain everything you need to improve the quality of your sleep.

Herbalist Caroline Gayet tells you the essentials about the virtues and uses of poppies and eschscholtzia, on pages 18 and 20.

• I tested it for you: the Bowen technique

Still relatively uncommon in French-speaking Europe, this manual healing technique from Australia aims to stimulate the body to mobilize its own healing mechanisms. This very specific therapeutic gesture seems to trigger a kind of reset of the body's structure.

Pain relief, well-being: Emmanuel Duquoc wanted to test the effects of this approach. His results are on pages 21 to 23.

• Healing Journey: Stéphane Haskell, Saved from Paralysis by Yoga

At the age of 40, filmmaker and photojournalist Stéphane Haskell suffered a spinal cord injury. Condemned to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he sought a way to overcome this grim prognosis. He found the solution in a special form of therapeutic yoga.

Clélia Fortier retraces this exceptional journey on pages 24 and 25.

• Live the month of August to the fullest

Anti-sunburn ointment, plant-based shampoo made from your own harvests, artichoke cream and a night of shooting stars: Philippe Chavanne gives you his precious advice for enjoying the joys of this end of summer.

Read on pages 26 and 27.

• Health mavericks: Florian Lucas, the police officer turned magnetizer

18,000 individual consultations given, 1,400 people trained: Florian Lucas is one of today's most renowned magnetizers and the author of several best-selling books. Yet neither his background as a disabled child nor the early part of his professional life seemed to predestined him for this role.

He gave Sandra Franrenet the keys to his career, on pages 28 and 29.

• Health from elsewhere: Waltaska, the postpartum ritual from the Andes

In the Andes Mountains, women who have benefited from this ritual are said to suffer none of the fatigue, pain, discomfort, or depression characteristic of those who have recovered from childbirth without receiving care. However, this tradition is spreading beyond its cultural boundaries.

Writer and social science researcher Sylvie Taussig takes you on a journey of discovery and reveals its accessible equivalent in Europe on pages 30 and 31.

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Take care,