In the winter of 2015 my darling eight-year-old goldendoodle, Maple Sugar, nearly died of bacterial meningitis, a rare but potentially fatal brain infection. Her life was saved with the help of steroids and antibiotics, but she was left with significant brain damage and poor health. She had lost her sense of balance which left her nauseous and falling down as the world spun around her. She lost ten pounds the first week, about a fifth of her body weight, when she was so sick she could not eat or drink, then I had to feed her with a syringe for several more weeks. Her energy was low, her fur began falling out in clumps, and she was suddenly prone to eye, ear, and bladder infections. She was a sad shadow of her previous vital, energetic, playful self.

When she was out of imminent danger the neurological veterinary specialist said that she would likely eventually regain some of her lost brain function but she would probably need to stay on a low dose of steroids for the rest of her life. They did not expect a full recovery, and while steroids can be necessary in an emergency they also have negative long-term side effects.

That was when I began to treat Sugar with whole body vibration and homeopathy (a type of energy medicine), two natural health methods which helped me to change my life and health. Whole Body Vibration (WBV) is most famous for its workout effect. When you exercise on the vibrating plate of a whole body vibration machine, every neuron in your body fires, causing all your muscle fibers to tense and relax at the same rate the machine is vibrating, 20-50 times per second. This adds up to over 1000-3000 contractions, kind of like little tiny reps, per minute!  Additionally, holding your body weight against the vibration increases the effects of gravity. Because of this physical reality (described mathematically as gravity equals mass times acceleration), your muscles must hold up to three times your actual weight, the exact amount depending on the amplitude and frequency of the vibration. If you have any doubt about this, consider the arm and shoulder muscle development of men who operate jackhammers.

Hundreds of research studies over the last fifty years have shown that ten minutes of working out on a powerful WBV machine gives you the benefits of an hour of conventional weight lifting, in terms of muscle strength, bone density, balance, coordination, and flexibility. Originally developed for Olympic athletes in Russia about fifty years ago, WBV is now used by many professional athletes, and teams worldwide.  NASA now sends these machines into space so that the astronauts do not lose muscle and bone in zero gravity outer space. WBV is even used in the elite world of horse racing, where EquiVibe makes a WBV system big enough for horses.

This quick system of exercise is a godsend for millions of ordinary people too; exercise is critical for health, but with our sedentary lifestyles and busy schedules it can be hard to fit in a workout.

Of course, Sugar wasn’t keen on exercising on the vibrating plate, but you don’t actually have to work out on the plate to get many of the benefits.  Just standing or sitting on the plate will give you many of the benefits—don’t forget that many of the research studies were, in fact, originally done using animals standing or sitting on the plate. The vibration automatically triggers the nervous system to fire no matter what position you are in. Those signals light up your brain and causes your muscle fibers to tighten and relax, all of which leads to a cascade of benefits.

Studies of WBV have shown numerous hormonal benefits. Human growth hormone, our major repair and regeneration antiaging hormone, increases.[1] Testosterone levels increase, which is linked to energy and zest as well as libido.[2] Cortisol, a critical stress hormone decreases, which promotes weight loss as well as healing.[3] And recent research has shown decreasing levels of insulin which helps protect against diabetes.[4]

One of the most important benefits for Sugar, who had brain damage, was the effects on her neurological system. The latest research has shown that nothing helps your brain develop and stay healthy more than exercise, and WBV is exercise on steroids! A recent New York Times magazine article, “Jogging Your Brain,” states, “For more than a decade, neuroscientists and physiologists have been gathering evidence of the beneficial relationship between exercise and brain-power. But the newest findings make it clear that this isn’t just a relationship; it is the relationship. . . . Exercise, the latest neuroscience suggests, does more to bolster thinking than thinking does.”[5]

The massive stimulation of Sugar’s nervous system, where 20-50 times per second every neuron in her body fires signals into her brain, promotes a process called neurogenesis – the creation of new brain cells. Once thought to only happen before birth, this process is now known to continue at a slower pace throughout life. This allows for the creation of new neural connections that can help you relearn lost skills, or learn new ones, and to increase the ability to learn, think creatively, and change.

Actually, there is an animal who has been using whole body vibration for thousands of years already. Cats purr, creating a vibration that travels through their entire body, and they purr when they are happy but also when they are sick or stressed. Could this be why cats rarely suffer bone or joint issues, including hip dysplasia, arthritis and ligament problems and even bone cancers?

Cats also have a remarkable ability to heal from injuries. Veterinary research has shown that cats do often live through and heal from things that would kill other more ordinary beings. Researchers who looked at the records of 132 cat falls from an average height of 5½ stories, found that 90% had survived. The record height for a cat falling and surviving is 45 stories!  Perhaps purring is the root of the myth that cats have nine lives….

Returning to the story of Maple Sugar, within a few months of beginning WBV, with the help of good nutrition and homeopathy, she made a full recovery. She is now ten years old, off the steroids (and any other drugs) for two years, and full of life, fun and joy. She is so playful and full of energy that occasionally people still even think she is a puppy!

 

[1] C. Bosco, et al., “Hormonal Responses to Whole-Body Vibration in Men,” European Journal of Applied Physiology 81 (2000): 449–454.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Mitch Leslie, “Good vibrations: A bit of shaking can burn fat, combat diabetes,” Science Magazine, March 15, 2017, http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/good-vibrations-bit-shaking-can-burn-fat-combat-diabetes.

[5] Gretchen Reynolds, “Jogging Your Brain,” New York Times magazine, April 2012, 46.