Contraindications
Around 1980 gravity boots were in fashion, inspired by Richard Gere dangling from gravity boots in American Gigolo with Blondie singing Call Me in the background. But then concerns were raised by an American scientist called Dr Goldman that inversion therapy could cause an increase in blood pressure and too much internal eye pressure for comfort.
A couple of years later, after further studies, Dr Goldman adjusted this conclusion, finding that as long as participants were in general good health, inversion therapy could be beneficial.
I’m 83 years old, with a heart murmur, and that is me in the photos.
Hippocrates and Dan Brown
I read somewhere that Hippocrates described inversion therapy in Greece of 400 BC. The patient was tied to a ladder fitted with various weights and pulleys, and then turned inverted for the purposes of therapeutic stretching, to general acclaim.
When stuck at tricky points in his story, the author Dan Brown told an audience in New Hampshire, he would invert and escaped his mental blocks. He also used gravity boots when working out ambigrams – words that read identically upside down and right way up – for his previous novel Angels and Demons. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323350/Dan-Brown-hangs-upside-gym-equipment-help-write.html
Yogis Inversion Therapy
Inversion therapy goes back thousands of years documented in ancient stone seals discovered by archaeologists. Yogis practiced inverted poses to increase circulation, stimulate the brain, enhanced glandular system functioning, and relievinng pressure on the abdominal organs.
Today inversion therapy is perhaps mostly used to relieve back pain, including sciatica, which is not why I use it at all. In fact, if I don’t do it in an arched-back position, I can hardly stand up straight when I am done.
Slide Into Oblivian
Twenty years ago I started getting confused about all the files inside of files on my computer. Sickeningly confused. I surely was rapidly declining nto some sort of dementia. My brain felt like viscous gunk. I was losing it and worried my wife would be stuck with a great burden.
I jogged and worked with resistance weights, but this did not curb my slide into oblivian. Then, and I have no idea how this came to mind, I went to an excersise store and purchased an inversion board and gravity boots. It took little time till my mental functioning was back to normal. Today at 80, I am mentally alert as I was at least 40 years ago. I do lots of research and deal with hundreds, probably thousands of files on my computer and “in the cloud” with little problem.
Rx for Dementia
Hanging upside down increases blood flow to the brain. You feal that instantly, so much so that you will likely be limited at first to seconds rather than minutes. I set a timer for nine minutes and a bell rings for another minute. Nine minutes is comfortable for me using the board for so many years. The greatest discomfort now is boredom.
Partly to combat the bordom, I incorporate Attention Therapies into the inversion. My focus on breathing boosts oxygenation of circulating blood. It incorporates mindful meditation (Insight Meditation) into the inversion, so I accomplish so much of what I want to do within the ten minutes. .
Because it is dramatically effective, I often share this with others, though I doubt anyone gives it much thought. My family doctor noted this in my chart and on my annual visits he inquires if I’m still hanging upside down. But with nothing connected to anything he learned in medical school, I doubt he passed it on to others. Hopefully, he did.
So many are aging into dementia, though inversion therapy research will likely never happen because it lacks the huge financial backing and resources of the pill industry.
So I offier this blog post in hope it may save the life of even one person willing to give it a try. The investment for an inversion board is from about $100 to more than $300, plus the cost of gravity boots. I could not find my ‘Hang Ups,” but “Fitness Reality 790XLT” sold by Target looks pretty close and costs $106.00. Target offers free returns on the board for 90 days, so you have a window to try it out.
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
