This article was published in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday 2 May 2000

Some Smart Moves

Exhaustion is the cause of many debilitating ailments. Barbara Lantin finds an intriguing answer to the problem of a drained immune system

THIS time last year, Sue Rogerson, a 52-year-old area manager for a children's charity, was learning to live with arthritis. Previously an active woman who spent weekends gardening or decorating, she now found these activities extremely painful.

"Sometimes, I worked through the pain but afterwards I was in a really bad way. My wrists, knees and thumbs were very sore and quite swollen. My doctor told me to take painkillers - and gave me a leaflet about arthritis with a picture of an 80-year-old woman in a cardigan. It was really depressing."

Today, most of the pain and swelling has gone and the analgesics remain in the cupboard. "I think the arthritis is still there because I can hear my joints clicking," says Sue. "But I am heaps better. I drove non-stop for five hours the other day and didn't even feel stiff when I got out of the car."

Sue attributes the transformation to a unique set of movements that look like a cross between Indian temple dancing and t'ai chi. According to the man who devised them, they can ease a wide range of ailments from digestive problems to ME.

Sue has done the exercises night and morning since last summer and credits them, not only with alleviating her arthritis, but also with curing her chronic and long-standing insomnia.

Biokinetics are the brainchild of John Eastman, a softly spoken New Yorker who trained as a psychotherapist, but now practises as a nutritional therapist and naturopath at the Hale Clinic in London.

"I wanted to create a series of movements that were intended only for healing," explains Mr Eastman, pointing out that t'ai chi, although now used as therapy, is actually a martial art.

"Everything from the tips of the little fingers to the heel stretches and then goes back gradually, like an elastic band.

"The whole body is moving at the same time and at the same rate. The twisting and turning movements drain the lymph glands carrying toxins from the body, unblock the acupuncture meridians and dramatically increase circulation.

"It is very energising. One patient told me that 15 minutes of biokinetics did her more good than two hours in a yoga class."

There are two exercise sequences - the 12 Steps to kick start you each morning and the Ten Pillars to calm you at the end of the day. There is no contradiction in this, says John Eastman. "People think they have to be ready to die of exhaustion before they can get to sleep. In fact, you can be perfectly alert a moment before you sleep: that is how children do it."

Mr Eastman has been teaching biokinetics for three years and is now trying to spread the word by training teachers. The sequences take less than an hour to learn and need no further supervision.

"I used to give each exercise a number but people told me they found it easier to remember names," says Mr Eastman.

So a downward stroking motion has become "smoothing the vase" and a fingertip stretch with one arm in front and the other behind is "pointing the star".

Although Mr Eastman's patients display a variety of symptoms, he has come to believe that there is usually a common underlying cause. The fact that so many people presented him with multiple, apparently unconnected, problems - frequent colds, allergies, joint pain, irritable bowel syndrome - led him to wonder if their various illnesses were linked in any way. He now believes that behind many of these conditions lies a set of worn-out adrenal glands.

"The adrenals facilitate the fright, flight or fight reaction," he explains. "When adrenaline is released into the bloodstream, blood goes from the skin and internal organs to the heart, lungs and muscles to help us flee or fight.

"They were designed to cope with a few stressful situations a day, but today the adrenals are constantly under stress - at work, when we try to cross the road, when we watch something exciting on television and also from pesticides in food and environmental pollution.

"Suddenly, the body is confronted with a more demanding and toxic environment which it has not had time to deal with. People are fond of saying stress motivates us. That is nonsense: stress exhausts us."

People with adrenal exhaustion, he believes, often feel tired, weak and mentally sluggish. The desire for a biscuit or a cup of coffee may seem to be the answer but in fact it is part of the problem. Snacks and caffeine cause the blood sugar level to rise rapidly and insulin is produced to bring it down. Sensing that the cells are not receiving sufficient glucose, the adrenals start producing glucocorticoid hormones to boost blood sugar, so exhausting them further.

Digestion is also affected by constantly remaining in flight or fight mode: if the blood is being carried to the muscles, it cannot help process food in the gut. And if adrenaline is churning around the body all night, sleep becomes impossible. "You worry about not sleeping and the greater your anxiety, the more adrenaline you produce, and the less sleep you get. Half the patients I see have a sleep disorder."

Because glucocorticoids are the body's natural anti-inflammatory hormones, adrenal exhaustion can lead to arthritis. And because the glands are involved in producing cortisol and sex hormones, exhaustion can also result in loss of libido, premenstrual problems and raised or lowered blood pressure.

"When the adrenals are exhausted, the immune system does not work so well," says Mr Eastman. "Patients go to their doctors with a range of apparently unconnected symptoms such as chronic tiredness, frequent viral infections and a general feeling of being unwell, which makes diagnosis difficult. The patients know they should be feeling better, but when the doctor tells them that they are exaggerating, or that this is part of growing old, they accept it and suffer in silence.

"But it is not normal for people to wake up tired and to feel that way all day because they are past 40, 60 or even 80."

Mr Eastman's approach is to use herbal remedies and food supplements targeted at the adrenal glands, and to improve general health by changing people's habits, such as switching to a organic diet and encouraging healthier eating. He also teaches clients how to practise biokinetics.

Former England rower Chris Long sought Mr Eastman's help to fight a persistent cold virus, but was so impressed with biokinetics, he is teaching the exercises at the Molesey rowing club in Surrey, where he coaches.

"They are brilliant for helping your body recover between sessions and for dealing with injuries," says Mr Long, 37, a computer consultant. "I wish I had known about them when I was rowing. I think I would have been less injury prone and been a better rower.

"They have a massaging effect on muscles which prevents knots turning into injuries. I tripped while skiing this winter and expected to have to visit the doctor when I got home. But by the end of the week, the pain had completely gone."

Sue Rogerson is also convinced of the benefits of biokinetics, though her recovery started strangely. "I felt an improvement almost immediately," she says. "Then my knees began to feel worse. I felt as if the pain was literally travelling down my left leg and out through my foot. For two days, I couldn't put my foot down. Then the pain left my foot and was gone. The same thing happened with the other leg."

"My right knee is perfect now and I just have a few twinges in my left, but if I don't do the movements for a few days, the pain comes back. I also sleep much better and deeper. I used to wake up in the early hours, but now I sleep in like a teenager. I feel taller and slimmer because I use my body in a better way and I have much more energy. I feel heaps better than I did when I was 50."