Treating Muscle Injuries

Immediately after suffering a muscle injury, is it ice or heat?

The rule of thumb is captured in this acronym:  RICE.

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

First, stop all activity that involves the the injured area to provide rest.  Second, apply ice for at least 20 minutes to reduce swelling that can cause secondary injury to the muscle fibers.  Apply compression with a wrap to the injured area to prevent swelling.  Finally elevate the injured area to prevent blood from pooling and creating additional swelling.

If you have severe pain, broken skin, or are unable to use the injured area at all, seek medical help immediately.

So when would you use heat?  Heat is useful in non-acute situations or after an injury is well into healing (usually after 72 hours).  Notice that the main intent of the RICE treatment is to reduce swelling.   Heat increases blood flow and swelling, so is counter productive with an acute injury.

Overworked, fatigued and tired muscles respond well to heat.  The additional blood flow helps to free up muscle fibers and increase movement for these conditions.   The key in using heat is to move the affected area by gently stretching or walking after the application of heat.  This helps prevent the return of the original condition after the heat is removed.

If you’re using heat as part of your rehabilitation of an injury (after the 72 hour acute phase), always follow up the application of heat with a round of ice therapy.

There’s more information on hot/cold packs available at Mountain Waves here.

Energy Drinks Linked to Risk Taking

Two reports from researchers at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions demonstrate a link between frequent consumption (6 or more days a month) of energy drinks and risky substance use, sexual risk-taking and hyper-masculinity called “toxic jock identity”.

Monster Drink Ad

Energy drinks marketed under brand names like Monster and Red Bull have become increasingly popular with teens and college aged kids over the past several years, using sexual appeal and extreme sports themes.  The drinks can contain up to 10 times as much caffeine as caffeinated soft drinks along with other ingredients like the amino acid taurine, vitamins and plant extracts that can create unintended interactions.  So much so that researchers at Johns Hopkins University say that these drinks should carry labels indicating caffeine content and warn of potential health risks.

Several countries have instituted restrictions in the wake of a series of deaths linked to energy drinks.  Canada now requires warning labels while countries like France, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Uruguay and Iceland have banned high caffeine/taurine drinks outright.

While researchers at the University at Buffalo caution that consumption of energy drinks is not a gateway to more serious activity, frequent energy drink consumption can be used as a warning sign to indentify young people at risk for unhealthy and dangerous behaviors.

Source Links:

University at Buffalo (2008, July 25). Energy Drinks Linked To Risk-taking Behaviors Among College Students. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 4, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/07/080724150438.htm

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/warning-labels-for-caffeinated-energy-drinks/

Sunscreens and Our Worship of The Sun

The human love affair with Earth’s nearest star – the Sun, has had an on-again, off-again cycle through history that rivals some of the star-studded headlines of the grocery store tabloids. In ancient times, the sun was a central part of the religions of the Egyptians, Greeks and Peruvians. Having sun tanned skin was a good thing then.

Later, as societies developed systems to distinguish social class, the color of the skin was a determining factor in what class you were in. Those with tanned skin were the laborers working out in the fields, while the upper class remained indoors away from the sun or under fashionable parasols and wide brimmed hats. Having a sun tan during these times was to be avoided in order to ensure that you were associated with the upper class – a group of people who were generally Vitamin D deficient and suffering from rickets because of their low sun exposure.

Today the reverse is true. In our society, having a golden tan means that you have the ability to spend lots of time lounging in the sun, “working on your tan”, while the laborers of today are indoors in factories, warehouses, and offices under artificial light. A tan has the implication of health, youth and prosperity.

But it’s all relative to the society you live in and your culture’s definition of beauty, that defines the status of your love affair with the Sun. In American culture, we’re actually in the middle of a love-hate relationship or rather a love-fear relationship with the Sun. We love the tan, but fear the future probability of skin cancers from that tan. Well, thank the sun-gods for sunscreen which allows us to have our tan and age with it too – or so we hope.

How do you know whether your sunscreen is actually protecting you from your fear of the sun? According to a new study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), most of the commercial sunscreen products on the market do not meet their standards for sun protection and health safety. Only 15% of the 952 sunscreens they analyzed were effective in reducing exposure to UVA and UVB radiation and did not contain ingredients known to be human health hazards. Here’s the big suprise, the best selling brands were some of the worst products on the market!

Some dermatologists have criticized the study saying that it lacks scientific rigor and that the group’s rating system is arbitrary. Perhaps, but the interesting point that the EWG reveals is the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has wasted the last 30 years debating sunscreen effectiveness and safety and has failed to implement any mandatory standards, even though Congress passed a law in 2006 requiring them to do so.

This means that sunscreen manufacturers are free to make exaggerated claims of effectiveness with minimal product quality assurance. The American College of Preventative Medicine in an article published in 1998 concluded that there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against the use of sunscreen as protection from skin cancers. They do however, recommend some conventional sun avoidance measures like wearing protective clothing and avoiding direct sunlight during peak times of the day for long periods.

While I don’t fear the sun, I do respect it. Personally, I don’t typically apply a sunscreen, unless I’ll be in an exposed area for a long period. I prefer sitting in a shaded area while receiving the benefit of the sun through reflected sunlight where the ultra-violet rays are less intense, wearing a hat and protective clothing. But for my next sun-bathing experience, I’ll be looking at my sunscreen brand and checking how it ranked on the EWG’s list.

For more healthy sun habits, check out these links:
http://www.skinbiology.com/morehealthysuntanning.html
http://jhcpan.nutrition.tufts.edu/consumers/sun_exposure.html

Mayonnaise: Summer Food Spoiler or Preservative?

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Summertime means back yard bar-b-ques and long hikes to secluded picnic spots in our national forests. That means side dishes like potato and macaroni salads, prepared with mayonnaise. On my sandwiches, I prefer mayo over other condiments like mustard. Yet, I am regularly warned by concerned family members about not taking my sandwiches with mayo on hikes where there won’t be any refrigeration for a while. Or in leaving the potato salad out on the picnic table for too long allowing the mayonnaise to spoil. Are they right? If so, why haven’t I gotten sick? Here’s why.

Traditionally, mayonnaise is a blend of oil and egg yolks that is seasoned with vinegar, lemon juice, salt and sometimes mustard. The egg yolks serve as an emulsifier that stabilizes the mixture. However, mayo gets it’s bad reputation from these egg yolks which can spoil quickly especially in home made varieties that use unpasteurized eggs. Commercial brands of mayonnaise use pasteurized eggs, or substitute the egg yolks with another emulsifier that doesn’t spoil.

But aside from the fact that I’ve never attempted to make, let alone use, home made mayo, here’s why I’ve never gotten sick. The vinegar and/or the lemon juice in commercial mayonnaise creates a very acidic mixture, with a pH in the range of 3.8 – 4.6. That’s a pretty hostile environment for bacteria like salmonella and staphylococcus, the ones that cause most food poisoning.

One study at the University of Wisconsin found that mayonnaise actually reduced bacterial levels in prepared salads, thereby retarding their spoilage. What the researchers found was that the bacteria begins to grow on the other ingredients of the salad or sandwich, not in the mayo. They found that when they added the mayo, the bacterial count immediately dropped! After 24 hours, the food samples with the mayonnaise had fewer bacteria than the food without.

One of the conclusions the researchers came to was that mayonnaise should be added during the initial preparation of the salad or sandwich, rather than adding it shortly before consumption. The reason is that the other ingredients receive the protection of the mayo’s high acid content, reducing bacterial growth during the time outside of refrigeration.

Now, it’s important to add that putting mayonnaise on your food is not a substitute for proper refrigeration. The researchers also add that unrefrigerated foods should be kept out of direct sunlight and that any leftovers that have been without refrigeration for several hours should be discarded.

So, when it comes to your next picnic, there’s no need to hold the mayo – unless you love mustard.

References:
Study Finds that Mayonnaise Can Inhibit Spoilage of Food
Wikipedia
Really? Can Mayonnaise Increase The Risk of Food Poisoning?

Escape Without Really Leaving

The Mountain Waves Escape

A guest recently told me one of the reasons she loves coming to Mountain Waves Healing Arts. “It’s like a mini-vacation without the expense or the hassle of traveling,” she said. I began thinking about this and developed a greater understanding of how important Mountain Waves Healing Arts is becoming during these times of economic uncertainty.

I’ve spoken to more and more people who are curtailing or eliminating distant vacation plans in order to stay closer to home this summer. I’ve heard it called “taking a staycation”. It makes sense to me, since we live in a place where many people from around the world want to vacation. So taking advantage of our many local attractions is a good way to save fuel and money. One of the reasons to get away, however, is to find that mental and emotional rejuvenation that comes with leaving it all behind.

That’s where Mountain Waves comes in. We have classes every day of the week, mornings and evenings. In a little over an hour you can return to a place of mental clarity and physical revitalization for only $12 (less if you subscribe with one of our monthly passes). All of our classes in Yoga, T’ai Chi, Pilates, Feldenkrais® and meditation are intended to bring greater balance to your mind, body and spirit. After a class, you can sit in our lobby and enjoy casual conversation with friends over a fruit smoothie, lingering a little longer on your mini-vacation.

On vacations, many people love a little pampering. Our massage and bodywork is truly therapeutic work. Yet our therapists incorporate the intention of building greater awareness of the relationship between your body and your mental and emotional states. We do this in an environment that is personal and nurturing, allowing you to let go of the pressures of responsibility, by allowing someone else to care for you for a while.

The ultimate escape, hands down is our AquaZaé, aquatic bodywork. For an hour you are floated in 98 degree salt water with a therapist who moves you in relaxing movements allowing the resistance of the water to relax your muscles and calm your nervous system. AquaZaé creates the conditions by which you can escape your body. In fact, many guests report loosing all sense of their body, the water and the room during the session – allowing them to leave it all behind and vacation at their own custom resort within themselves. When they are finished, many have reported being able to hold on to their feeling of wellbeing for days, just as if they’d been away on vacation for a week!

Best of all, instead of only having one vacation per summer, you can have these mini-vacations at Mountain Waves multiple times per week! So if you haven’t taken the opportunity to sample our many services, I invite you to explore the many possibilities for escape at Mountain Waves.

I look forward to seeing you on your next vacation.

The Social Stigma of Walking

A little over two years ago, our family went from owning two cars to one and bought a scooter that gets about 80 miles per gallon. We’re loving it now that gas is over $4 per gallon! About that same time, we also starting commuting to work using our bicycles and our feet.

By choice we live in town, near parks, shopping and public transportation. We’ve designed it so that we live about a mile from both my office and my wife’s office. It’s perfect. Some times I notice that I haven’t driven the car or ridden the scooter in a couple of days in a row! We have a true urban lifestyle, right here in Flagstaff.

Living an urban lifestyle is not new to me. I lived in New York City for a time in downtown Manhattan. During that time, I didn’t own a car. I walked, used the subway or took a taxi. When I needed a car to leave the city, I rented one. In fact, in the urban lifestyle, the ability to drive is never assumed. A standard question on employment applications is “do you have a driver’s license?”

I’ve now lived in Flagstaff for nearly 20 years and during that time, I’ve grown accustomed to the “freedom” of driving anywhere, anytime I choose. So two years ago, when my wife and I decided to re-adopt a more urban lifestyle, I have to admit that I felt a little uncomfortable.

At first when I would walk to work, I felt self-conscious as the motorists drove past me. In my mind they were thinking “oh, he must not be able to afford to drive”, or “he must have lost his license”, or “what’s wrong with him – where’s his car?” I know that’s what they might have been thinking because I recall having those same thoughts over the years as I sat in my car at the traffic light watching someone walk across the street carrying a sack of groceries. In fact, the very first day I began my new urban lifestyle, I hadn’t walked a block from my house when a friend who was driving by saw me and immediately stopped and jumped out of their car wondering what was wrong asking if I needed a ride!

“No thanks” I said, “I’m just walking”. With resignation, my friend accepted my answer and slowly drove off.

In the west, we drive. We drive to work. We drive to get food. We drive for fun. We drive to the gym to get some exercise. In fact, the only reason to walk is to get some exercise. For a while when I was walking to work, the only time I really felt comfortable was when I was wearing shorts, tennis shoes and a tee shirt. That way people might think that I was only out getting some exercise – not commuting to the office.

These days, I don’t have that problem. I look forward to my walks. I proudly commute with my brief case in hand, sometimes even wearing dress shoes, as I walk to work. Now that monsoon season has started, I admit that I’ve relished the thought of carrying an umbrella and walking in a downpour!

Commuting with your feet carries with it a return to simplicity – the simplicity of childhood when learning to walk was the “freedom” that the car becomes to the adult. Walking brings a few minutes of simple slowness into my life, where time expands and I notice the birds singing, the sun on my shoulder and other people out mowing their lawn, riding their bikes and doing what I’m doing – walking!

Now I look at the people commuting in their cars and I give thanks for having this short time where I have no stress, can breathe deeply and circulate the blood in my veins – the perfect receipe for wellness, something that I know the motorists along side of me don’t have at that moment.

It’s taken me a while, but I now feel I’ve finally overcome the social stigma of walking.

Food Coloring Ban Update

Back in October 2007, I wrote about the call in Britain for banning certain artificial food coloring additives.  Well, today, the Center for Science in the Public Interest called on the Food and Drug Administration to ban 8 food colorings citing research linking them to hyperactivity and behavior problems in children.  The colorings the center seeks to ban are: Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, and Yellow 6.

For a list of food additives and colorings and their associated risks published by the Center, click here.

Below is the text of the article I wrote for our e-newsletter, The Mountain Wave, in October.

Wellness Tip: New Research Confirms Link Between
Food Additives and Hyperactivity

The idea that food additives can cause hyperactivity in children was first proposed by allergy specialist Dr. Benjamin Feingold in 1975. This sparked international inquiry with mixed results. In a new study financed by Britain’s Food Standards Agency and published online by the British medical journal The Lancet researchers have conclusively confirmed this link.

The study focused on a variety of food colorings in combination with sodium benzoate, a common preservative. In the six-week trial, researchers gave a randomly selected group of several hundred 3-year-olds and 8 and 9-year-olds drinks with color additives and sodium benzoate — a mix that mimicked children’s drinks that are commercially available. Their diet was otherwise controlled to avoid other sources of the additives.

A control group was given an additive-free placebo drink that looked and tasted the same.

All of the children were then evaluated for inattention and hyperactivity by parents, teachers and through a computer test. Neither the researchers nor the subject knew which drink any of the children had consumed.

The researchers discovered that children in both age groups were significantly more hyperactive and that they had shorter attention spans if they had consumed the drink containing the additives.

In response to the study, the Food Standards Agency advised parents to monitor their children’s activity and, if they noted a marked change with food containing additives, to adjust their diets accordingly, eliminating artificial colors and preservatives.

The color additives used were:

Name in UK	Name in U.S.
Sunset Yellow (E110)	Yellow #6
Ponceau 4R (E124)	Banned in U.S.
Carmoisine (E122)	Banned in U.S.
Tartazine (E102)	Yellow #6
Quinoline Yellow (E104)	Banned in U.S.
Allura Red (E129)	Red #4

While some of these color additives are not available in the U.S., its still a call for each of us as consumers to read beyond the marketing on the front of a food label, and read the list of ingredients. One rule of thumb: the shorter the list of ingredients the better. If you can’t pronounce an ingredient, think twice about eating or drinking it.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Sodium Benzoate
NewsTarget.com: Ground-breaking study links food additives to hyperactivity in children
Childrensdisabilities.info: Developmental Disorders and Food Additives
NYTimes.com: Some Food Additives Raise Hyperactivity, Study Finds

OTC Placebo: the Cure for Children or Parents?

At Mountain Waves Healing Arts, we go to great lengths to help teach our guests and clients how to use the power latent in themselves to heal. That power does not lie in the practitioner, instructor, counselor, the modality, ritual or class taught. Rather, the power exists in the person seeking to heal. More specifically, it exists in their belief that they can heal.

As I work with clients in massage and bodywork sessions, I make it clear to them that I as the therapist can not make them relax. I can only help them achieve a level of comfort and trust in which they can let go and let themselves relax. They are the one doing the healing – and my clients do it over and over again with regular success. As they become more practiced in achieving this trust for themselves, they’ll realize that they really don’t need me to facilitate it.

This approach is the anti-thesis of the medical model, which says that the doctor has the power for the successful outcome of the patient’s condition. The patient is merely the one to be acted upon (or operated upon, depending on the the doctor’s medical degree). In fact, many doctors scoff at the patient who self-diagnoses their condition by saying they are unqualified to do so.

Yet, this medical model regularly proves that the source of healing power lies in the patient when placebos are used in studies of the efficacy of a new pharmaceutical or treatment.

“A placebo is a substance or procedure which a patient accepts as a medicine or therapy but which has no specific therapeutic activity for the condition. Any effect is thought to be based on the power of suggestion.” Wikepedia

Hence the terminology “the placebo effect”.

“A placebo effect is a therapeutic and healing effect of an inert medicine or ineffective therapy…. [It] occurs when a patient’s symptoms are altered in some way by a treatment, due to the individual expecting or believing that it will work. The placebo effect occurs when a patient is treated in conjunction with the suggestion from an authority figure or from acquired information that the treatment will aid in healing and the patient’s condition improves. This effect has been known since the early 20th century.” Wikepedia

The difference between the placebo effect and self-healing is in the awareness of the patient. For a placebo to work it must be prescribed by an authority figure who provides the suggestion that it will work. It’s really about deceiving the patient that the power is in the placebo, rather than in themselves.

This is the key to a new product set to be released next week called Obecalp (placebo spelled backwards). It was created by a woman who is the mother of three young children. As she says on her website, “I invented Obecalp when I realized that children might need a little more than a kiss to make it go away.” This product, given in a chewable cherry flavored pill (or soon to be released liquid), is really an inert pill that is made up almost entirely of the sugar dextrose. It truly fits the definition of placebo when given to a child by a parent under the deception that it is medicine.

What really is her intention here? If someone is ill in a way that requires more than a reassuring hug and a kiss, then I’d be the first to suggest they really do need medical attention. But if a parent’s reassurances can’t satisfy a child who doesn’t need medical attention, then is the issue really about the child’s illness or the parent’s inability to parent?

Proper parenting takes attentive work which can be exhausting – especially during times of a child’s illness or injury. These are times when as a parent you sometimes feel powerless to help your child heal. The truth is you’re right. You never had the power to heal your child. Only your child has that power. Accepting that as a parent, is as difficult as the medical doctor accepting that they are only the facilitator of their patient’s healing. After all, our children look to us as parents to be all powerful. Right? But it’s so hard to teach a child how to recognize their own power within themselves, why not give them a little sugar pill so mommy or daddy can get some sleep and be ready for that important business meeting in the morning.

To me, choosing to use a product like Obecalp is really an attempt to hide from this truth and avoid looking at our own insecurities. It’s not about making the child feel better, it’s about making us, as parents, feel better.

Here are some additional perspectives on the topic that you might find interesting:

Treating Childhood Ouchies with Placebos

Experts Question Placebo Pill for Children

Invented by a Mother

The Real Secret to Anti-Aging

Forget all of the anti-aging creams, botox, and plastic surgery. The real secret to anti-aging is all around you and best of all – IT’S FREE! But first, we have to understand the process of aging.

Aging, at it simplest level, is caused by oxygen (O2). That’s right the element that is the third most abundant by mass on the planet is the problem. Oxygen is highly corrosive and is the catalyst that causes iron to rust, fire to burn, and living cells to die. And worst yet, the stuff is everywhere!

Proteins, carbohydrates and fats all contain oxygen, as do our teeth and bones. Even our water is made of the stuff (H2O). In fact, chemists characterize water is oxidized hydrogen! Oxidation is the process that causes the slow corrosion of iron that results in rust. Fire is described as “rapid oxidation” of a fuel. Aging in humans is the result of free-radical production from the oxidation of the chemicals in our body.

Pure oxygen is toxic and living beings can overdose on it when breathing it at high pressures. That’s why scuba divers use different mixtures of breathing air that is delivered at appropriate pressures for the depth of the dive to avoid oxygen toxicity.

So if oxygen causes aging, it stands to reason that if you hold your breath, you’ll live forever. Well, this paradox proves to me that the universe and its creator has a sense of humor. The thing that will ultimately result in our death is the same thing that gives us life! All living things on this planet are destined to die as the result of living. So let’s embrace that fact and rust away with enthusiasm.

The key to aging well is to actually breathe. How we breathe is important. Many people are “shallow breathers”. This means that they don’t fully inflate their lungs during inhalation. When you see these people breathe, you see their shoulders rise. Since they are only inflating the top part of their lungs, half of their lung capacity is not being utilized.

Air enters the lungs because of the negative pressure created by the diaphragm muscle at the base of the rib cage. In order to fully inflate the lungs, the diaphragm must pull down and displace the abdominal organs like the stomach and intestines forcing them outward. In a proper breath, the belly expands and the shoulders stay steady. Try it both ways and you’ll feel the difference.

Breathing fully helps stimulate the para-sympathetic nervous system which triggers the endocrine system to release hormones that reverses the state of heightened stress. Stress is a major factor in all disease in the body. By simply regulating your stress levels, you can achieve greater wellness which will impact how well you age.

This is because the body has natural processes which reverse the oxidation effects of oxygen. Enzymes in the body create other chemical reactions the help to repair the damage created by this free-radical oxidation. But the effectiveness of these processes are reduced when the body is in a heightened stress condition that occurs in the normal western lifestyle.

This is why stress reduction modalities like massage, yoga, tai chi and meditation that focus on breathing and stress reduction can improve your longevity. The bottom line is to breathe. Breathe deeply for longer life and live deeply while you breathe – because living is intended to be our cause of death.

Rising Fuel Prices May Affect Your Waistline

Price increases in fuel will have an impact on your waistline in a variety of ways, but perhaps not in the positive ways you might imagine. But first, what does the price of gasoline have to do with how much you weigh? It’s simple economics.

Most obviously, the foods that the average American eats are grown, processed and packaged at farther distances from where we eat them than ever before. Out of season fruits and vegetables are shipped half a world away to keep the supermarket shelves stocked year round. Processed foods are manufactured in one central location then shipped. The most common carrier these days is commercial trucking which relies heavily on cheap oil to move those products to market. So as the price of fuel rises, the cost of shipping rises and the price of the food shipped rises accordingly.

Secondly, the impact on food prices is directly related to the ramping up of ethanol production for our fuel supply. Currently, corn is the major source of ethanol in the United States.  Corn is also a major component in almost every food on your kitchen table today. Corn is the first choice in sweetening foods in the form of high-fructose corn syrup because it is sweeter, more stable and less expensive than sugar. Processed foods from soda to breads contain this sweetener in abundance.

Corn is also in milk, eggs, beef, chicken and other “non-processed” foods like them. How? The dairy farmer feeds his milk cows and egg laying hens corn. That angus cow on your plate was raised on corn, as was the chicken in your soup. Not to mention that humans occasionally like to eat the stuff before it’s consumed by other animals in the form of corn on the cob, canned/frozen corn, popped corn, etc.

So we have all of this competing demand for the simple kernel of corn: gasoline refiners, food manufacturers, dairy farmers, ranchers and people (not to say that the folks doing the other jobs aren’t people too – but you get my point). Back to the economics, as demand increases when there is a limited supply, prices rise. In 2005, corn sold in the U.S. for under $2 per bushel. Today, it sells for more than $5 per bushel. That’s a 150% increase in just over 2 years!

This price increase doesn’t affect the food supply evenly however. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the prices of processed foods will increase at a slower pace than the prices of food staples like eggs, dairy, fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry. That’s because there is more margin in the production costs for food processors in which they can absorb the rising cost of corn, than for the farmer or rancher. This means that the more nutritious whole foods will rise in price quicker and higher than the processed foods of lower nutritional quality.

Here’s how these price increases are likely to affect your waistline. Research has shown a correlation between obesity and income. People in lower socio-economic populations tend to eat fewer whole foods and more processed foods – the type of foods that contribute to obesity. So as food prices rise and you have to make a choice about where to spend your dollar, people who have less money to spend will likely spend it on the lower priced processed foods that are high in calories and low in nutrition, thereby fueling the already epidemic rates of obesity in the U.S.

A silver lining on the cloud may be that as fuel prices rise, people may drive less and actually begin walking or riding bicycles. This may offset the increased consumption of processed foods, keeping the obesity trend in check or even help to lower it. One can only hope.