Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand’

New Customers with Questions

August 17th, 2010

Spring in New Zealand? Well not yet but the past few mornings have been a little warmer.  Auckland is known for having “four seasons in one day” and almost every day during winter we experience rain; which can be torrential or simply annoying showers.  Now, in August we are looking forward to Spring, a time of warmer temperatures, days with sunny skies, rain with gale force winds (not so exciting to look forward to) and maybe weekends away at the mountains which will hold their snow for a few more months.

We’ve had many first-timers at the Vibra-Train studio where I work. I’m wondering if people are looking forward to summer and know that now is the time to improve their fitness and strength; and look great.

Last week’s customers all had questions about Vibration Training or they had specific desires, several wanting to only work out their upper body, telling me that they did a lot of running and that was all they thought they needed for their legs.

These customers are “the best” – they haven’t just come along because they’ve seen an TV advert for Vibration Training or an article in a magazine and come to try us out for a few visits, kind of like trying the latest flavour of icecream and then off to try some other fitness facility – they’ve come because they’ve already done some research or talked to a friend who’s getting great results – these are serious, long-term, new customers and they want their questions answered.

running woman on beachThose who are regularly walking or running need to understand how different Vibration Training is; how training on high-force, lineal machines builds muscle and is considered a form of resistance training whereas running is for cardio fitness. They soon realise that despite frequent running they must follow the full Safety Program to get the results.  If they vibration train regularly two or three times a week they soon be telling me how much easier their running is becoming because they’ll have increased their overall fitness; those who sprint get faster and those who walk or run longer distances find they have more stamina and don’t tire so soon.  An advantage runners and regular walkers have over other “newbies” is that their leg muscles are strong so they manage the squat positions very well.

New Zealand Government Bans Benzodiazepines` as part of Boy Racer Legislation

October 25th, 2009

New Zealand’s National Party led Government enacted legislation last week to put a stop to “Boy Racing” and “Cruising” around streets repeatedly.  Last night’s legislation is the last step before this act becomes law and the government intends pushing it through Parliament under urgency in the next fortnight.

This sounds good but -

they added a the last-minute inclusion of a ban on driving while affected by benzodiazepine, a prescription sedative and anti-anxiety medication that is often used as a sleeping pill.  Not only as a sleeping pill, the effect of which wears off overnight, but also taken before air travel and other events that cause anxiety in many people.

The list of drugs in the class “Bendodiazepine” is long and includes the well known, commonly used (especially by older people) simple, anti-anxiety agents, Diazepam (Valium), Oxazepam (Serepax, Alopam), and Lorazepam (Ativan), along with the stronger hypnotic and/or skeletal muscle relaxants, Triazolam (Halcion) and Tetrazepam (Mylostan).  The time to peak blood concentration for the anti-anxiety agents I’ve listed is 1-2 hours with the elimination half life being 10 to as long as 100 hours.  That’s how long they can be detected in your blood.

This change to, in my opinion, a previously excellent piece of legislation is frightening in that it’s been added without public consultation as a Supplementary Order Paper.  So many people are affected by this yet have not been allowed to voice an opinion!  This act is now law and regular folk could be breaking the law by driving to the shopping centre after a good night’s sleep, all because they took a low dose relaxant like Lorazepam at supper time.  Airport lounges and Airlines  might find alcohol becoming more popular as business people and travellers look to relax while flying (and remain within the legal limits) and can no longer take a simple anti-anxiety tablet without possiblybreaking the law when they pick up a rental car at their destination.

In New Zealand we live in a democratic society – yeah, right!   This government has behaved as a dictatorship in this instance as the people have not had a say and have, in effect, had their democratic rights and free will taken away.

The New Zealand Act Party have done a good job, putting this into perspective.

http://www.act.org.nz/blog/benzodiazepine-ban-short-sighted

Yes, benzodiazepines do have an effect on you which is why they are used for anxiety, panic attacks, sleep disorders, and related problems and they are a simple drug, that in low dose, actually works.

An email reply to a  letter sent by a friend to Hon Steven Joyce, MP, states that people will only be breaking the law in regard to taking this class of drugs if they are driving while “affected” by it and they would only be tested if they were pulled over by Police for another reason.  This sounds reassuring but where is the line, what is the definition of affected?  There’s no definitive fail point as  in alcohol testing.

It is my opinion that this legislation is seriously flawed and this will, in time, be shown in court cases where the defendant is shown to have a reading of benzodiazepine in their blood test and will be hard put to prove their driving was not adversely affected by it..

So, what next? Will simple antihistamines like Chlorpheniramine and  diphenhydramine (Benedry) also be tested for and what about other anti-anxiety drugs, prozac and similar.  Some will say I am over-reacting to a piece of legislation put in place to protect me but remember this law started being about reigning in “Boy Racers” and has ended up much wider in application and set under urgency thus removing my democratic right of submitting a comment or opinion before the it was passed into law.