the Somatics blog
Exploring somatic health, how the brain controls posture and movement, why we experience
muscle and joint pain, and how we can live our lives to the fullest.
7 Reasons Why Every Athlete Should Do Clinical Somatics
The benefits of Clinical Somatics exercises are so life-changing that every athlete needs to be doing them in order to improve their performance, prevent injuries, and extend their athletic career. […]
When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection
Dr. Gabor Maté’s phenomenal book When the Body Says No explores psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology—the science of how our psyche, nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system interact and affect our health. […]
What really causes muscle cramps?
Muscle cramps have long been attributed to electrolyte depletion and dehydration, but research actually points to altered neuromuscular control and muscle fatigue as the culprits.[…]
Why Do We Sleep, and What Are the Dangers of Not Getting Enough?
Why Do We Sleep, and What Are the Dangers of Not Getting Enough? I just finished reading the New York Times bestseller Why We Sleep by neuroscientist Matthew Walker, and it was fantastic. Sleep is essential for all aspects of health—from maintaining immune system, cardiovascular, and reproductive function to improving memory and preventing cancer, [...]
Remembering the Secret Language of My Body by Lisa Anita Wegner
Remembering the Secret Language of My Bodyby Lisa Anita WegnerI am an artist and performer and I have been diligently working on myself for as long as I can remember. The changes I’ll be writing about follow on the heels of ten years of trauma therapy, soul searching, body work, meditation, physiotherapy, chiropractic, shiatsu and [...]
Karoshi: Is Working Long Hours Worth the Health Risks?
Karoshi: Is Working Long Hours Worth the Health Risks? In 1969, a 29-year-old man working in the shipping department of Japan's largest newspaper died suddenly of a stroke. While at first his case was called occupational sudden death, it was later determined that his stroke was caused by shift work and an increased workload. [...]
Let There Be Light! Making the Most of Your Serotonin and Melatonin
Let There Be Light! Making the Most of Your Serotonin and Melatonin Humans evolved living outdoors, exposed to bright natural light during the day and total darkness at night. The systems of our body rely on natural light to keep us healthy—our eyes and skin actually need to be exposed to daylight in order [...]
How to Get Your Inactive Muscles to Wake Up and Fire
How to Get Your Inactive Muscles to Wake Up and Fire People often ask me how to strengthen or “activate” weak or inactive muscles. Well, there's a difference between weak and inactive, and it's important to understand this difference. Do you feel like you can't get a certain muscle group to “fire” no matter [...]
Anaya’s Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
Anaya's Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome When I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) two and a half years ago, the doctor told me surely the most famous of all CFS one-liners: “95% of people do not recover, so don’t get your hopes up.” My response internally was “Fuck that!” and [...]
Forced Exercise and Stress Reduction Reverse Parkinson’s Symptoms
Forced Exercise and Stress Reduction Reverse Parkinson's Symptoms If you read last week's post Doctors Call for an End to the Parkinson's Pandemic, you learned that Parkinson's disease is most often the result of a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors, which include exposure to neurotoxic chemicals, head trauma, lack of exercise, diet, [...]
Doctors Call for an End to the Parkinson’s Pandemic
Doctors Call for an End to the Parkinson's Pandemic Parkinson's disease is not new—descriptions of the condition can be found in ancient Chinese medical texts from 425 BC and Indian medical texts from 600 BC. There have been references to Parkinson's symptoms in documents from Greek, Roman, and other civilizations over the past two thousand [...]
The Amazing Possibilities of Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis
The Amazing Possibilities of Neuroplasticity and NeurogenesisYou may have heard the phrase “neurons that fire together wire together.” This short phrase summarizes the synaptic plasticity theory of learning described by Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb in his 1949 book The Organization of Behavior.Hebb explained how the connections between neurons (brain cells) change as a result of [...]
The Medical Mystery of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
The Medical Mystery of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has long been dismissed as being a psychological condition. Due to a lack of understanding in the medical community, in the past it has taken people years to get an official diagnosis, if they get a diagnosis at all. A 2015 report [...]
