Sarah Myhill - The Energy Equation: From the Naked Ape to the Knackered Ape

First published in 2021 by Hammersmith Health Books
an imprint of Hammersmith Books Limited
4/4A Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2RP, UK
www.hammersmithbooks.co.uk

2021, Dr Sarah Myhill and Craig Robinson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

The information contained in this book is for educational purposes only. It is the result of the study and the experience of the authors. Whilst the information and advice offered are believed to be true and accurate at the time of going to press, neither the authors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may have been made or for any adverse effects which may occur as a result of following the recommendations given herein. Always consult a qualified medical practitioner if you have any concerns regarding your health.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A CIP record of this book is available from the British Library.

Print ISBN 9781781611852
Ebook ISBN 9781781611869

Commissioning editor: Georgina Bentliff
Designed and typeset by: Sylvia Kwan
Cover design and chapter openers by: Madeline Meckiffe
Index: Dr Laurence Errington
Production: Helen Whitehorn, Pathmedia
Printed and bound by: TJ Books Ltd, Cornwall, UK

Dr Sarah Myhill mb bs qualified in medicine (with Honours) from Middlesex Hospital Medical School in 1981 and has since focused tirelessly on identifying and treating the underlying causes of health problems, especially the diseases of civilisation with which we are beset in the West. She has worked in the NHS and private practice and for 17 years was the Honorary Secretary of the British Society for Ecological Medicine, which focuses on the causes of disease and treating through diet, supplements and avoiding toxic stress. She helps to run and lectures at the Societys training courses and also lectures regularly on organophosphate poisoning, the problems of silicone, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Visit her website at www.drmyhill.co.uk

Craig Robinson ma took a first in Mathematics at Oxford University in 1985. He then joined Price Waterhouse and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1988, after which he worked as a lecturer in the private sector, and also in the City of London, primarily in Financial Sector Regulation roles. Craig first met Sarah in 2001, as a patient for the treatment of his CFS/ME, and since then they have developed a professional working relationship, where he helps with the maintenance of www.drmyhill.co.uk, the moderating of Dr Myhills Facebook groups and other ad hoc projects, as well as with the editing and writing of her books.

Stylistic note: Use of the first person singular in this book refers to me, Dr Sarah Myhill. One can assume that the medicine and biochemistry viii are mine, as edited by Craig Robinson and that the classical and mathematical references are Craigs.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.

To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete

Buckminster Fuller

SM: To my lovely patients, who have been willing guinea pigs, faithful to the cause and most forgiving when my suggestions have not worked. However, in doing so, they have pushed forward the frontiers of ecological medicine.

CR: To all those men who have ever been saved and made into a better man by the presence in their lives of an extraordinary woman. And yes, I have just dedicated this book to myself. And yes, the extraordinary woman in question is you, Penny, the love of my life.

ix

What determines the survival of the fittest is energy. Those animals with the most energy will be better feeders, movers and procreators. They will pass their energetic genes and survival strategies down to the next generation.

From hairy great apes, evolution has produced the super-successful, super-fit, clever calculating machines of us the naked little apes. Modern homo sapiens should be fitter, stronger and cleverer than all previous versions. But we naked apes have become knackered apes. Physical, mental and emotional fatigues abound and these are the fore-runners of obesity, diabetes, dementia, cancer and coronaries. Why?

The Energy Equation explains. It describes how to maximise energy delivery mechanisms in the body and then how to spend this energy efficiently by reducing immunological and emotional holes in your personal energy bucket and minimise energy-draining biochemical and mechanical frictions. Reducing and minimising these holes and frictions not only improves your own energy equation now, but also addresses the downstream effects of these holes and frictions namely, the serious pathologies of the Western World.

This leaves us with an abundance of energy to spend on life, creating a safe ecological niche for our families, having fun, being creative and avoiding the dread diseases of our age.

Thus we can live to our full potential. Energy gives us quality and quantity of Life. Just do it.

x

I have spent most of my medical life looking to identify and treat the root causes of chronic fatigue syndrome. For these unfortunate patients, fatigue is pathological, severe, unrelenting and life changing. What has become clear through my personal medical evolution is that we can all benefit from those very same interventions that allow these patients to recover. This book is about how to recognise that we are not functioning to our full potential, why that is happening and so drive the intellectual imperative to change. These changes are within the grasp of us all. Once tackled and achieved you will not look back.