National Nap Day - Or National Alarm Day?
HOLISTIC HEALTH NOTEBOOK
carolSIMONTACCHI csimontacchi@earthlink.net
When I sat down to write this article, I planned to celebrate National Nap Day. It is the day after Daylight Savings Time ended so we lost an hour of sleep over the weekend. This is distressing to the American public that is already sleep deprived by over an hour per night. We could all use a good nap.

But when I brought up the Internet this morning, all hopes of sleep fled. A recent study revealed the presence of pharmaceutical drugs in the water supply of over 41 million people - the major metropolitan areas. Presumably, these drugs are present in the water supply in small urban and rural areas as well; they just didn't test them all.

This is not surprising to me. Several years ago, I read Our Stolen Future, written by a team of scientists who discovered the presence of large amounts of estrogen in the Great Lakes and the Florida Everglades. The estrogen was concentrated in doses large enough to affect the sexual reproduction of the animals that live there. Estrogen is a very small molecule, too small to be filtered out through municipal filtration systems so as we read this article and sip a glass of water, we are drinking the estrogen that our mothers, sisters, and wives took in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy.

This recent study revealed the presence of antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones. In recent times, I have been pleased to announce that even at the age of 60, I take no drugs at all. Well, I guess that isn't exactly accurate, is it? Who knows what drugs we are taking?

Researchers said that we need not worry, however. The concentrations of these drugs is very small (parts per billion or trillion) far below the levels of a medical dose. Should we be comforted? No, since some of these drugs are biologically active in parts per trillion concentrations. And what about the cumulative affect of many drugs, especially in a body that does not need them? What is the dosage range of the combination of the drugs?

I am getting scared. Bottled water may be no better, since estrogens leach from plastic containers into the water, especially when heated to over 100 degrees. Imagine a water delivery truck, un-air conditioned, sitting in the hot Florida sun.

Sigh. Maybe I do need that nap after all. A little sleep to dull the senses.

- Carol Simontacchi is the owner of the Island Nutrition Center on Sanibel. She can be reached at 472-4499 or on the Web at www.islandnutritioncenter. meta-ehealth.com.