PERSONAL HEALTH : Garlic Works on More Than Just Vampires

You’ve tried the “Dear John/Jane” letter. You’ve tried moving with no forwarding address. But the beloved you had hoped would be your ex-beloved still won’t take the hint. Consider this new solution to an old problem from Atlanta psychoanalyst Alfred Messer, as reported in Clinical Psychiatry News: On the first day of his psychiatric training, Messer was assigned to “Joyce,” who was having no luck in breaking up with “Larry.”

Messer advised her to eat large amounts of garlic before going out with ol’ Lar that evening, and on subsequent dates he instructed her to dab a little garlic clove on her arms and neck. One week later, Joyce came in beaming. “After two dates, Larry announced that they would stop seeing each other for a while,” said Messer.

Muscles Slow to Recover

There is truth to the idea that you should take up an exercise program gradually and rest between hard workouts. According to new research, it can take months, for muscles to heal from an intensive workout.

In a study in the May issue of the Journal of Physiology, a group of men and women ages 22 to 32 worked their forearms to the max. All the subjects said they were most sore two days after exercising and that the soreness was gone by the seventh day. Swelling was gone by the ninth day. But it took most of the people nearly six weeks to regain just half the strength they had before the rigorous exercise.

The study shows that muscles are damaged more severely by intense exercise than previously thought.