Clipping Board » Life Tips ─ Life is also a subject of study...
Text/Li Caihong
The body is like a most intricate chemical factory, but most people don't know what their body factory does, and often, they unknowingly "abuse" their own cells...
Every morning at four, when the city's night owls are just falling asleep, Dr. Li Feng, a former attending physician in the pathology department at National Taiwan University, gets up. She starts her day by drinking a glass of water, then meditates and exercises. After having a bowl of multigrain porridge for breakfast, she leisurely leaves the house at seven. Every evening at eight, while many office workers are still working overtime, Li Feng begins her meditation, preparing to sleep by nine. Her diet is light; she cooks brown rice and vegetables for lunch, and for dinner, she eats only half to one-third of her lunch portion. Her daily diet consists mainly of whole grains and vegetables.
It's hard to imagine that thirty years ago, Li Feng was diagnosed with lymphoma. Some of the doctors who treated her cancer have since passed away, but Li Feng is still living healthily. If asked why, the possible answer is: she now lives every day "respecting her cells."
For over thirty years, Li Feng's work has involved observing the life cycle of human cells under a microscope. She says that when people are happy, their cells are plump, like those of an eighteen-year-old; when angry, the cells resemble those of an eighty-year-old, wrinkled and shrunken. Moreover, healthy cells and diseased cells are completely different. "Cancer cells are twisted and chaotic," she says. The more she understands cells, the more she feels ashamed of how she used to mistreat her own cells. It wasn't until she learned to "respect her cells" that her health began to improve. Because of her experience of coexisting with cancer and "gaining thirty years," many people seek her out to share her experiences.
On a Wednesday afternoon in June, Li Feng received another phone call. The caller complained of discomfort after a bone marrow transplant and asked her to recommend a masseur. Li Feng didn't recommend anyone but simply shouted into the phone, "Go exercise!"
"The body has sixty trillion cells and countless biochemical factories; we can't manage all of that! Just supply the raw materials, give it the right environment, and let the body operate on its own," Li Feng said. What she refers to as "providing the right environment for cells" is actually common advice—regular routines, a light diet, and exercise.
Take the liver, for example. Why should one lie down to sleep by eleven at night? Because from eleven to three in the morning is when the liver and gallbladder system is congested and needs to operate and detoxify. At this time, lying flat allows the liver to settle and fill with enough blood, making it two to three times its normal size. If one is still sitting or standing after eleven at night, she says, "It's like the pig liver hanging in the market, it can't hold much blood."
· The liver is the largest detoxification factory.
According to medical research, when a person stands, the liver's blood flow decreases by thirty percent compared to when lying down. During exercise, the liver's blood flow decreases by fifty to eighty percent compared to when lying down. Therefore, doctors advise liver patients to rest more, as lying down can increase liver blood flow, aiding in the recovery of liver health.
The liver is described as the body's largest chemical factory because this organ, weighing one and a half kilograms, can perform over five hundred chemical reactions, far exceeding the speed and efficiency of any man-made chemical plant. During human growth and activity, various chemical changes naturally occur in the body, requiring "enzymes." The human body has two thousand kinds, and the liver can produce one thousand of them.
When toxic substances enter the body, the liver automatically detoxifies through chemical processes. Some heavy metals like mercury and bacteria from the intestines are also excreted with bile secretion. This operation is an extremely complex project, so among artificial organs, artificial lungs and kidneys can achieve the functions of natural organs, but only the artificial liver cannot perform hundreds of chemical engineering tasks like the natural liver.Now, let's talk about the lungs. The lungs can hold up to 6,000 cubic millimeters of air, but when a person is sitting in a chair, each breath only takes in half a liter of air, utilizing just one-twelfth of the lung's capacity. Modern lifestyles, such as working in offices, traveling by car, or taking elevators, mean that each breath only involves 500 to 1,000 cubic millimeters of air, leaving much of the lung's capacity unused. "It's like having a house with twelve rooms but only using the bedroom every day because you're always busy working outside," says Li Feng. The only way to utilize every part of the lungs is through regular exercise. During intense exercise, muscles consume oxygen faster than the heart and lungs can supply it, doubling the breathing rate and increasing the amount of air inhaled with each breath by more than five times. Additionally, deep breathing can fill the alveoli, which are usually not reached by normal breathing.
Why is eating ice bad for the stomach? Li Feng once observed gastric fluid in an operating room and noted that it is hotter than the body's normal temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. This means that stomach cells can only function properly at this temperature. Drinking a glass of ice water causes the temperature of the gastric fluid to drop sharply, causing all stomach cells to temporarily stop working. They only resume their function once the body redistributes heat from other organs to restore the stomach's temperature.
· Save Your Life, Stop Abusing Your Cells
The problem is that most people, whether they are successful business owners or elite intellectuals, do not understand their own bodies. Ben Kubassek, who started his own business at 21 and owned three companies by 27, earning a million dollars, describes in his book "Life is Not a Stunt" how modern people often don't know why they get sick after falling ill. "They abuse themselves with cigarettes and are shocked when they get cancer!" he points out.
Chan Chi-hsien, the current director of Chi Mei Hospital, once vividly described how ordinary people do not understand their bodies. He noted that a diligent high school girl could recite the production areas of rice, sugarcane, ramie, and tung oil in Sichuan but could not locate the liver, pancreas, and spleen in her body. Similarly, an engineering student could discuss the differences between a graphics card and a sound card on a computer motherboard but could not distinguish between the pituitary gland and the pineal gland in the human brain.
"Getting sick is your cells crying for help!" Li Feng believes that people should take responsibility for their illnesses, reflect on their behaviors, and treat their cells well. Some people go to the doctor demanding to be cured in three days because they have a business trip to Beijing. "The illness won't get better this way. Only by relaxing can the cells have a chance to recover!"
The human body is a marvelous microcosm. Every day, it digests rice, vegetables, beef, and manages absorption and excretion, which is a huge task. "The biochemical reactions involved are incredibly complex if you really study them!" says Zhang Tianjun, director of the Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology at National Taiwan University Hospital. He describes the human body as a cell factory where different cells perform different tasks, such as stomach cells digesting food and liver cells storing nutrients, eliminating waste, and detoxifying.
How should we maintain this seamless body factory? Li Feng's advice remains the same: "Don't abuse your cells. Overeating, drinking excessively, and staying up late are all forms of cell abuse!"
Secrets of 60 Trillion Cells
路人乙
2006/06/14 13:00
The body is like a most intricate chemical factory, but most people don't know what their body factory does, and often, they unknowingly "abuse" their own cells...
Every morning at four, when the city's night owls are just falling asleep, Dr. Li Feng, a former attending physician in the pathology department at National Taiwan University, gets up. She starts her day by drinking a glass of water, then meditates and exercises. After having a bowl of multigrain porridge for breakfast, she leisurely leaves the house at seven. Every evening at eight, while many office workers are still working overtime, Li Feng begins her meditation, preparing to sleep by nine. Her diet is light; she cooks brown rice and vegetables for lunch, and for dinner, she eats only half to one-third of her lunch portion. Her daily diet consists mainly of whole grains and vegetables.
It's hard to imagine that thirty years ago, Li Feng was diagnosed with lymphoma. Some of the doctors who treated her cancer have since passed away, but Li Feng is still living healthily. If asked why, the possible answer is: she now lives every day "respecting her cells."
For over thirty years, Li Feng's work has involved observing the life cycle of human cells under a microscope. She says that when people are happy, their cells are plump, like those of an eighteen-year-old; when angry, the cells resemble those of an eighty-year-old, wrinkled and shrunken. Moreover, healthy cells and diseased cells are completely different. "Cancer cells are twisted and chaotic," she says. The more she understands cells, the more she feels ashamed of how she used to mistreat her own cells. It wasn't until she learned to "respect her cells" that her health began to improve. Because of her experience of coexisting with cancer and "gaining thirty years," many people seek her out to share her experiences.
On a Wednesday afternoon in June, Li Feng received another phone call. The caller complained of discomfort after a bone marrow transplant and asked her to recommend a masseur. Li Feng didn't recommend anyone but simply shouted into the phone, "Go exercise!"
"The body has sixty trillion cells and countless biochemical factories; we can't manage all of that! Just supply the raw materials, give it the right environment, and let the body operate on its own," Li Feng said. What she refers to as "providing the right environment for cells" is actually common advice—regular routines, a light diet, and exercise.
Take the liver, for example. Why should one lie down to sleep by eleven at night? Because from eleven to three in the morning is when the liver and gallbladder system is congested and needs to operate and detoxify. At this time, lying flat allows the liver to settle and fill with enough blood, making it two to three times its normal size. If one is still sitting or standing after eleven at night, she says, "It's like the pig liver hanging in the market, it can't hold much blood."
· The liver is the largest detoxification factory.
According to medical research, when a person stands, the liver's blood flow decreases by thirty percent compared to when lying down. During exercise, the liver's blood flow decreases by fifty to eighty percent compared to when lying down. Therefore, doctors advise liver patients to rest more, as lying down can increase liver blood flow, aiding in the recovery of liver health.
The liver is described as the body's largest chemical factory because this organ, weighing one and a half kilograms, can perform over five hundred chemical reactions, far exceeding the speed and efficiency of any man-made chemical plant. During human growth and activity, various chemical changes naturally occur in the body, requiring "enzymes." The human body has two thousand kinds, and the liver can produce one thousand of them.
When toxic substances enter the body, the liver automatically detoxifies through chemical processes. Some heavy metals like mercury and bacteria from the intestines are also excreted with bile secretion. This operation is an extremely complex project, so among artificial organs, artificial lungs and kidneys can achieve the functions of natural organs, but only the artificial liver cannot perform hundreds of chemical engineering tasks like the natural liver.Now, let's talk about the lungs. The lungs can hold up to 6,000 cubic millimeters of air, but when a person is sitting in a chair, each breath only takes in half a liter of air, utilizing just one-twelfth of the lung's capacity. Modern lifestyles, such as working in offices, traveling by car, or taking elevators, mean that each breath only involves 500 to 1,000 cubic millimeters of air, leaving much of the lung's capacity unused. "It's like having a house with twelve rooms but only using the bedroom every day because you're always busy working outside," says Li Feng. The only way to utilize every part of the lungs is through regular exercise. During intense exercise, muscles consume oxygen faster than the heart and lungs can supply it, doubling the breathing rate and increasing the amount of air inhaled with each breath by more than five times. Additionally, deep breathing can fill the alveoli, which are usually not reached by normal breathing.
Why is eating ice bad for the stomach? Li Feng once observed gastric fluid in an operating room and noted that it is hotter than the body's normal temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. This means that stomach cells can only function properly at this temperature. Drinking a glass of ice water causes the temperature of the gastric fluid to drop sharply, causing all stomach cells to temporarily stop working. They only resume their function once the body redistributes heat from other organs to restore the stomach's temperature.
· Save Your Life, Stop Abusing Your Cells
The problem is that most people, whether they are successful business owners or elite intellectuals, do not understand their own bodies. Ben Kubassek, who started his own business at 21 and owned three companies by 27, earning a million dollars, describes in his book "Life is Not a Stunt" how modern people often don't know why they get sick after falling ill. "They abuse themselves with cigarettes and are shocked when they get cancer!" he points out.
Chan Chi-hsien, the current director of Chi Mei Hospital, once vividly described how ordinary people do not understand their bodies. He noted that a diligent high school girl could recite the production areas of rice, sugarcane, ramie, and tung oil in Sichuan but could not locate the liver, pancreas, and spleen in her body. Similarly, an engineering student could discuss the differences between a graphics card and a sound card on a computer motherboard but could not distinguish between the pituitary gland and the pineal gland in the human brain.
"Getting sick is your cells crying for help!" Li Feng believes that people should take responsibility for their illnesses, reflect on their behaviors, and treat their cells well. Some people go to the doctor demanding to be cured in three days because they have a business trip to Beijing. "The illness won't get better this way. Only by relaxing can the cells have a chance to recover!"
The human body is a marvelous microcosm. Every day, it digests rice, vegetables, beef, and manages absorption and excretion, which is a huge task. "The biochemical reactions involved are incredibly complex if you really study them!" says Zhang Tianjun, director of the Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology at National Taiwan University Hospital. He describes the human body as a cell factory where different cells perform different tasks, such as stomach cells digesting food and liver cells storing nutrients, eliminating waste, and detoxifying.
How should we maintain this seamless body factory? Li Feng's advice remains the same: "Don't abuse your cells. Overeating, drinking excessively, and staying up late are all forms of cell abuse!"
2006/06/14 13:00
2007/04/20 09:47