Hi Brian,

You quoted the following regarding magnet therapy:
The theory is that all of the daily stresses and traumas of modern life disrupt the negative charges of our red blood cells. This causes them to clump together instead of staying apart. When this happens, the blood cells move more slowly, thus limiting your oxygen intake. When you limit your oxygen intake, your cells begin to weaken and die. Because magnetic therapy strengthens the negative charge of the blood cells, you require less time during sleep for damage control.

I think a physiology lesson is in order here so that you may better understand and analyze what you are doing with your body. If I sound condescending I apologize as it is unintentional. Sorry if I ramble a bit.

Gases are exchanged in the lungs as we all know. In order for this to occur, the individual blood cells are brought into very close proximity to the lining of the lungs. This is done through a narrowing of the blood vessels from the pulmonary arteries (about the same diameter as a garden hose) down to capillaries. Capillaries are so norrow that blood cells can only pass through the vessels one at a time in single file (much like the check out line at the grocery store). If the blood cells were to clump together (as the theory states), the blood cells would not be able to pass through the capillaries (depending on the affinity of the attraction between the individual RBC's).

Oxygenation of the tissues occurs in the same manner except that the gas exchange in the tissues is reversed from the lungs. In the lungs; CO, CO2, and other gases are deposited and oxygen taken up. In the tissues oxygen is deposited and other gases are picked up.

Now as for pushing the blood through the blood vessels. That is determined by the blood pressure. The blood pressure is regulated by more mechanisms than I can explain here (CO2 levels, vagus nerve stimulation, % body fat, etc...). One possible determining factor could be the thickness of the blood. The thicker the blood is, more difficult it is to push through the blood vessels resulting in increased blood pressure. The thickness of the blood in a healthy individual is mostly determined by your fluid intake. That is one of the reasons why you start to get headaches if you don't drink enough fluids. You start to get dehydrated, the blood thickens and the pressure goes up (not to mention the chemical changes going on in your body from a lack of water).

Can the charging of the RBC's (red blood cells) decrease the viscosity? I can't speak to it as I have not seen or heard about any studies on the subject. I do know that if you slouch you interfere with your breathing mechanisms potentially leading to an alkaline chemistry in your body. Alkaline chemistry actually sensitizes the nerve cells that are responsible for carrying pain information from your body to your brain for interpretation. Alkalinity also changes the chemistry of the brain which can lead to abnormal homonal release which can really mess up your system! My advice is to BE CAREFUL! If some activity starts to cause aches and pains when it didn't used to bother you, you may want to seriously think about what you are doing with your chemistry.

Body chemistry, physiology, and mechanics are extremely complicated and not fully understood by anyone at this point in time. All those drugs that are on the market are very well researched, but you are an individual and there is no-one else on this planet that will respond to a drug (or other chemical) in the exact same way as you do. Thats why there are so many POSSIBLE side effects listed in those drug adds you see in most magazines.

I also know that there are many reasons so many people are having problems with thier health. 1.) sedentary lifestyle, 2.) eating poor quality food (McDonalds instead of home cooked), 3.) flexion dominate activities, 4.) altering body chemistry through drugs and other means, 5.) not getting proper health care for injuries leading to functional adaptations leading to pain and other problems, 6.) etc...

I have not yet seen or heard of any studies that support any use of magnets for the reasons that the company is promoting. I have heard of a study done this last summer that concluded that magnets don't work. I haven't read the study so I don't know how it was done or what they based thier results on.
Having said that, I have talked with people who swear that they were saved by magnet therapy and others who've said that it was a waste of money for them. I don't know if they do anything or not. So experiment if you want. I know I wouldn't spend $500 on this kind of research because my personal opinion is that I don't believe it would do any good.

If you have any questions please ask me or search out a biochemist (easily found at most colleges/universities) and ask them.

I hope this has been informative for all.

Gregory