Canaries In The Caves

According to the New York Times, something mysterious is causing bats to die off by the thousands. Bats, who are supposed to hibernate during the winter and stay safe in their caves during the day time, have been spotted flying out of their caves in daylight, and even during snowstorms, only to fall to ground and die. Many of them are covered by a white fungus that biologists think might be a secondary effect of whatever is causing the deaths. In one cave, the population dropped from over 15,000 bats to 1,500 bats in approximately 2 years.

Bats dying is bad news for humans. Bats eat insects, and without them chowing down it’s probable that insect infestations could cause big problems for humans, not just at dusk on summer nights, but to some of our major food sources. The ecosystem is so complex, there are also a myriad other consequences of a potential bat extinction of which we are not even aware. What I find even more disturbing than all of that is what the (potential) mass extinction of any species says about the health – or lack thereof- of our ecosystem, the one we live in with the bats. If things are out of balance, if there are new predators out there that are causing mass extinctions to one species, it’s only a matter of time before we are affected.

Take for example the case of CA MRSA, a virulent staph bacteria that can lead to death in 1 out of 5 cases, resistant to most normal antibiotics, that used to affect only hospital patients, but is now loose in the public, affecting unsuspecting Manhattanites, among others. I have no idea how I got it, but I’ve realized – and become quite freaked out – by how many possible ways I might have caught it: holding the subway rail, shaking someone’s hand, patting someone’s arm, taking change after making a purchase, opening a door, using gym machines, etc. If you think about how many times during the course of your day you encounter someone else’s skin, or an object just recently touched by someone else’s skin, you start to see all the possible ways you could pick up some nasty little bacteria – regardless of how hygienic and careful you are.

As I’m still radioactive, in addition to protecting myself from new infusions of germs, I’ve also had to make efforts to protect my friends and work colleagues from my germs. It’s been such a surprise to me how often I now have to stifle the urge to touch my friends. It turns out that I’m rather touchy-feely. I hug my friends when I see them, when I leave them, I pat them on their arms, and they do the same. Of course, now that I’m a pseudo-leper, I have to maintain my distance. I douse my hands in hand sanitizer that I keep next to my computer any time I touch something “new,” and I offer my friends handi-wipes when they leave my office in the event that they have to open the door by turning the handle. Being full of germs is no fun, nor is being a germaphobe, but I’m having to deal with the former, and I think I might become the latter, as survival tool. I have no interest, whatsover, in catching MRSA again, or anything else for that matter.

But, back to the bats. Unlike us humans, they don’t have handy bottles of purel that they can douse their wings with hanging from the stalactites of their caves. They don’t have protection from the new micro-predators, an example of which is AC MRSA, that are developing at alarming rates, some of which, studies indicate, we humans have created with all of our anti-bacterial soups and lotions and antibiotic fed cows. Is there a direct connection? I don’t know. But the fate of the bats (not to mention the fate of bees, who have been mysteriously disappearing) is certainly connected to our own fate.

Reading the article made me think of Oryx and Crake, one of my favorite books, in which one species after another died off, and humans – the ones who could afford it – were forced to move off of the toxic, barely inhabitable surface of Earth into sterile corporate space pods, leaving behind the poorer humans to scavenge among the refuse. In the book, before humans were forced to leave Earth, before things got really bad, species started to die off, and kids played a computer game based on betting which species would become extinct next.

The animals are the canaries in the coal mine. If they go, we’re next.

Beauty Detoxification

Despite the chill that has descended upon New York with a vengeance, I had a terrific weekend that was the perfect balance of social and me-time activities. I started the weekend off with yoga in my favorite studio in the city, lead by the best yoga teacher ever. He makes everyone laugh while they’re gritting through their downward dogs and is constantly talking about this or that pose feeling “yummy” and “delicious.” He could easily be the poster child for positivity and I love him. From yoga, I went to Sounds of Brazil, where I met a bunch of my girl friends for salsa dancing. It was such a blast! Although my favorite music to dance to is probably hip-hop, it is so much fun to be twirled around and dipped all over the dance floor. I got spun around like crazy and was laughing the whole time.

Saturday, I went running and lifted weights, did some shopping, and then met a different group of friends at Employees Only, where I had a delicious peach Bellini. Yum. Sunday was probably the best day. I did pilates, went to church, met some new people, practiced my Swedish, did some more shopping, and then did restorative yoga in the evening. Maybe that’s why the weekend was so great, because it started and ended with yoga? I was thinking while I was luxuriating in one of the restorative poses – drifting in and out of awareness – that when I do yoga, it makes me feel like I’m on vacation. It’s funny, the more I do it, the more I love it. It’s kind of like a drug (if drugs were healthy); you end up feeling so blissed out a the end of each session, that your body and mind start to crave it.

Speaking of mind-body awareness and health, I’ve been having a bit of an awakening around the whole issue of toxic chemicals, and their prevalence in our environment. I’ve been aware of the toxicity of household cleaners, but I had not thought about the potential toxicity of chemicals in things like cosmetics, shampoos, and other beauty products. If you’re curious about what toxins you dabbed around your eyes today or slathered all over your shower-dampened skin, check out this web site: Skin Deep. Just type in one of your beauty products and then check out the detailed rating and the write-up. I was shocked because several of my products from Origins were ranked 7 (out of 10, with 0 being the lowest and least harmful level of chemicals). Personally, I’m trashing all of my normal shampoos and conditioners and going natural; from here on out, I’m only using products with a 0-1 ranking, like California Baby (good for babies and adults). Another of my favorites for natural, organic beauty products is Lush (they also have awesome bath bombs like Sex Bomb and Youki Hi, filled with all natural, organic aphrodisiacs, but that’s a different story).

I think I’m also going to trash all of my moisturizers and make-up that doesn’t pass the toxicity test, but I think I’m going to have to phase them out gradually. It has not escaped my attention that a lot of my cosmetics have parabens in them, which can mess with your hormones, and my hormones appear to be short-circuiting. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I think it’s worth it to explore the topic further and eliminate even potential risks.

Period Weirdness

Usually I get my period every 22 or 23 days as part of a 28-day cycle that includes one week of bleeding and three weeks off. The week of bleeding is not normally 7 full days; it’s more like 5.

This month, strange things are happening. I got my period in the first week of December, and then about a week later I got it again. Two full periods in the span of 3 weeks – very strange. Then, this past week, I didn’t bleed, but woke up this morning to find more blood. If this morning’s bleeding turns into a period, that’s going to be three full-blown periods in the span of about 5 weeks.

It’s really strange and I don’t know what to make of it. This in conjunction with the spot and the weirdness on my head (which I will not go into now) is making me think something is amiss. What’s going on body? Too much sexual attraction of late? Involuntary purging? The affect of beginning to take a multi-vitamin? I’m at a loss.