Adam Charles in 2004. (Clearwisdom.net)

Adam Charles leads a life that is, on the surface, like that of most other people. He is probably happier than most because he has a strong sense of purpose: For 13 years, he has practiced a Chinese spiritual discipline called Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong.

“I was intrigued by searching for a deeper meaning in life and the idea that there is more to life and nature and people than meets the eye,” he said about how he started the discipline.

Charles is 40 years old and the founder of a marketing company in San Francisco.

He began practicing Falun Dafa in 1999, a couple of days before the Chinese communist regime initiated the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. He was living in San Francisco, working in advertising, and reading texts like the Taoist classic Tao Te Jing. He used to spend time with refugee monks from Tibet and Nepal.

“I had been casually studying mind-body medicine at the time. I came to understand that people and all living things have a system of energy circulating within them below the surface—a flow of ‘vital energy’ that sustains them,” he said.

The wish to “understand the human mind and body at a deeper level” and to cultivate the body and the mind led him to Falun Dafa. Charles defines cultivation as “a profound mind-body transformation, a process of personal elevation.”

This is what he found in Falun Dafa, a practice of five meditative exercises and the study of the moral precepts of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

“This teacher, whose name was new to me, was explaining topics related to a person’s spiritual transformation, one after another. This is information that a monk might spend a lifetime to uncover,” he said.

The experience of reading the principal book of Falun Dafa, “Zhuan Falun,” is an important part of the discipline, practitioners say. “It was like having a personal conversation with an extremely gifted teacher,” Charles said. “I could recognize the purity and the power of the words, and I could recognize the significance of the teacher even creating a book like this that teaches people cultivation.”

In addition, his body experienced “subtle sensations.” Was that energy he felt circulating? “I knew something was happening to me, that it wasn’t just reading a book. I was having a much deeper experience and more profound experience than that.”

The exercises of Falun Dafa are said to open the energy channels in the human body, promoting health and well-being. Practitioners often report their body feeling lighter as a result of performing the exercises.

Forms of “cultivation practice,” as such practices are otherwise known, are the basis of the philosophical and religious traditions of Eastern cultures. The concept encompasses Buddhism, Taoism, and forms of qigong. In its primal form, tai chi is also understood as a type of cultivation.

Chinese legends depict cultivation as solitary—taught by one master to a disciple in a setting isolated from society.

“To find a teacher who was both willing and able to do this on a large scale, people who have looked into this area of study would find that remarkable, very rare, and historically significant,” Charles said.

Having found a path for his cultivation and spiritual growth, Charles said he does not worry about anything. “People talk about ‘having belief.’ The truth is that belief is subjective; you can believe anything you want.

“To have knowledge of something, to have experience, is different from having belief. When one has real knowledge and experience and understands the true meaning of life and can see divine presence within all living things, one naturally becomes free of many worries,” he said.

Woman models the Eclipse hearing aid. (Courtesy of Hearing Solutions)

Special Feature

Dad is also concerned a hearing aid would spoil the hearing he still had left, because it would feed back or amplify really loud sounds. I admit, I had wondered about that too.

Modern hearing aids have made great strides. Digital technology allows the hearing aid to monitor and control sound levels. Devices are programmed to cut off at unsafe levels and control feedback as well as isolate specific sounds, making it easier to hear in a crowded room for example.

Wait Not, Want Not

According to audiologist Tracy Saunders, the audiology trainer at Hearing Solutions, if my father continues to avoid dealing with his hearing loss, the neurological components of his hearing that function properly may atrophy at an accelerated rate. It’s called auditory deprivation.

Reams of studies have been conducted on sound deprived children, adults, and unfortunate baby rats. Google it.

“When you have a hearing loss, you’re depriving the auditory system of the stimulation it needs to run efficiently,” Saunders says.

“The longer you leave a hearing loss untreated, the less efficient the system becomes. It [your brain] forgets how to process certain sounds.”

“Your 90- or 80-year-old self is really going to suffer for your decision at 70 to wait.”

Dad is worried a hearing aid will give him an ear infection. Today’s popular models, called open-fit hearing aids, don’t plug your ear completely. Air and sound enter the ear freely. There is little wax buildup, and you won’t feel like your voice is booming when you speak.

The tiny Eclipse hearing aid fits neatly in the ear. (Courtesy of Hearing Solutions)

For those rare individuals allergic to latex or the dyes in standard hearing aids, alternatives are available.

At nearly 74, my father is also concerned a hearing aid will make him look old. (It’s a perfectly legitimate concern for such a handsome guy.)

These days, the only visible part of an open fit hearing aid is a tiny, clear tube going into your ear. The largest part is hidden behind your ear.

“Those tiny hearing aids which tuck behind your ear have advanced technology with directional capabilities,” Saunders says.

There are also implantable hearing aids that stay in your ear for three months at a time. Others fit deep in your ear canal and are removed nightly.

“If somebody wants an inconspicuous hearing aid, we have a ton of options to show them.”

It seems there are several completely invisible options, and an added benefit, according to Saunders, is that “you will appear younger, [because] you’ll be part of the conversation again.”

Audiologists and hearing instrument specialists are health professionals

Here’s another common concern: If you go to get tested at a place that sells hearing aids, are you more likely to end up leaving with one?

I asked Chantal Kealey, director of audiology with the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologist (CASLPA), if she’d heard any complaints.

She objected to the idea that places that both test hearing and fit for hearing aids are doing more than offering a needed service.

“If you’re seeing an audiologist you’re seeing a health professional. Everybody has to have a master’s degree or equivalent,” Kealey says.

Fitting hearing aids is only a small part of what an audiologist does. You may also be tested and fitted by a hearing instrument specialist who is college-trained specifically in hearing aid technology.

The hearing clinics I spoke with use differing combinations of both. Professional conduct doesn’t appear to be the real issue.

“The biggest problem we have is getting people with serious hearing problems in the door for a test,” explains Bennett. “Even if the problem is easy to solve, you’ll never know if you don’t get tested.”

‘Did Kleenex always make a sound?’

The key to a successful experience is working with professionals you feel comfortable with.

Improper device tuning during the fitting process can create unsatisfied customers. A skilled professional will be able to provide you with good results.

Saunders sums it up. “What makes the difference between a good hearing aid and a bad one is how it’s programmed.”

In the event that you need to go back a few times to get the programming or the fit just right, you need to feel confident you will get excellent service and all the time you need.

It is also important that people get assistance and counseling when acclimatizing to the change in their hearing.

Saunders says some clients have forgotten what the world really sounds like. Accustomed to living with hearing loss, they are not used to hearing natural sounds at normal levels. “They ask, ‘Did Kleenex always make a sound?’”

Concern about the cost of a hearing aid is also common. Coverage differs provincially, but several provinces subsidize a portion of the cost. You can inquire when you call for a hearing test.

Note: As of the date of publication, my dad has not yet scheduled an appointment to get his hearing tested. I’ll keep you posted.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1 can be read here.

Oat Straw Tea helps rebuild strength after exhaustion from childbirth. (Cat Rooney/The Epoch Times)

During pregnancy, if a woman is following common advice, she will substantially cut down or cut out caffeine and alcoholic drinks, especially if she plans to breast-feed.

For the new mother and baby, sodas and fruit juices are overly concentrated sources of sugar or artificial sweeteners that are probably major players in the current obesity and diabetes epidemic. They have little nutrition or even a negative impact on nutrition.

In Dr. Robert Lustig’s video “Sugar, the Bitter Truth,” he said that these drinks should not even be in the house, but it would be OK to go out once a week to get a soda with a friend or relative, as he did as a boy.

So what drinks, aside from water, milk, or vegetable juice, would help resurrect a new mother from her often exhausted state? Midwives, both modern and ancient, have recommended certain herbal teas for healing new mothers.

Oat straw (Avena sativa) tea is highly recommended by homebirth midwives. It helps rebuild strength after exhaustion from childbirth. It has been known to relieve pain and anxiety, bolster the immune system, and heal varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Improved skin, hair, and nail health are additional benefits.

The tea is made from the dried stems of oat plants. Steep 2 teaspoons of oat straw in boiling-hot water for five minutes. Oat stems are rich in calcium and B vitamins, which nourish the bones and nervous system.

To get a stronger infusion than is usual for tea, put 1 ounce (about a cup) of oat straw in a quart mason jar and fill it with boiling water. Let this stand for four to six hours before drinking. Keep it refrigerated once brewed. Drink at room temperature or warm over the next couple of days.

If one has problems giving up sweet drinks such as soda or juice, oat straw tea or infusion is sometimes used to help combat addictions, including addictions to opiates.

According to herbalist Richard Whelan in an earlier version on his website: “My intuition about oats and depression, addiction … is that somehow [they manage] to touch that part of us that can feel very empty inside. Perhaps it is the same place that some people are trying to fill with drugs or the same place with which people feel overwhelmed with sadness.”

Oats contain phytates, which deplete calcium, magnesium, and other minerals. Horses experience this when fed too many oats, becoming high-strung, or “feeling their oats.” If you include oats in the tea or use oats in cooking, soak them for 24 hours to get rid of the phytates.

Untreated hearing loss has a lot of social and emotional consequences, and loss in communication is typical. (Photos.com)

Special Feature

You’d better take a deep breath and call from the top of your lungs if you want him to hear you from the living room.

Forget about talking to him on the phone—he won’t even answer it. He calls you a “mumbler.” The television volume is on max, always.

He just won’t admit he can’t hear and he won’t get tested. Sound familiar? Well, he’s my dad. Is he yours too?

He’s driving my mom crazy. “Instead of saying, ‘I didn’t hear you,’ he says, ‘you never told me,’” explains my mother. Miscommunication causes conflict, which is never good for a marriage.

Social activities have become more difficult for my parents. “It’s very annoying in the middle of plays, movies, or speeches, to have someone say, ‘What did he say?’ Now you have to stop listening to the rest of it to answer,” complains my mother.

When mom attempts to answer, dad will often respond “No, no. Not that. The other thing they said!” Other people in the audience fail to find this banter amusing.

My father’s hearing loss is becoming a source of resentment, especially because he’s refusing to acknowledge it. Now mom feels she’s stuck with his problem.

Loss in Communication

The loss in communication is typical, says Jerry Bennett, Doctor of Audiology and Clinical Practice Director for Sears Hearing Centre.

Hearing loss deteriorates slowly over time. Often the person with the hearing loss isn’t aware of the depth of the problem.

“People with hearing loss live in a world in which others expect them to hear normally. They may find themselves ridiculed, ignored or the target of anger and frustration,” explains Bennett.

“If left untreated, hearing loss is proven to negatively impact interpersonal and family relationships.”

And so, in support of my mother (and maybe your mother too), I sought to find out all about hearing aids and hearing tests, or die trying.

It turns out my timing couldn’t be better. May is Speech and Hearing Awareness Month.

According to the Canadian Association of Speech and Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) 10 percent of the general population, 20 percent of those over 65, and 40 percent of those over 75 have a significant hearing problem.

It seems my parents are certainly not alone.

Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3

I decided to get my hearing tested. I called for an appointment. Most places that dispense hearing aids offer free testing. The tests are similar no matter where you go.

The first test involved plugging my ears and changing the air pressure in the canal followed by some rather loud tones played at a couple of frequencies.

According to Tracy Saunders, an audiologist and the audiology trainer at Hearing Solutions, this tests for any mechanical impairment of the middle ear.

Changing the air pressure tests the health of the eardrum. The loud sounds test the acoustic reflex, in short, the strength of the stapedius muscle that controls the movement of the stapes in response to loud noise.

The stapes and the stapedius are the smallest bone and muscle in the human body. They indirectly connect to the eardrum to transmit sound.

If the test findings are outside normal range, you will be referred to an ear, nose, and throat specialist before being fitted with a hearing device. “We would always want to get medical clearance first,” Saunders explains.

What happens if there’s a blockage? It may be good news. Taking the wax out of your ear is much cheaper than a hearing aid. It saved my grandmother several thousand dollars! Lucky for her, wax was her only problem.

Next, I was placed in a booth with glass windows. Each ear is individually tested at a variety of volumes and frequencies. When you hear a sound, you press a button. Simple.

Next comes the word recognition test. It tests how clearly you hear. Though generally in English, you can call around to different hearing clinics for an audiologist or hearing instrument specialist who speaks your language.

My test was completed in under an hour. Apparently my hearing was “excellent.”

Effective Communication Saves Time

It’s time to address father’s many concerns about hearing aids, which my mother wrongly calls excuses.

Unfortunately, people with hearing loss may end up creating extra work for themselves because of ineffective communication, resulting in lost time.

“If you invest time in your hearing, you save time because you become a more effective communicator,” says Bennett, “Plus it’s exhausting straining to hear all day.”

This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 can be read here.

Contrary to the plant’s outward manifestations, its medicinal effects can induce moderation. (Benjamin Miller/Free Stock Photos.biz)

Kudzu is a legume (Pueraria lobata) that specializes in overabundance in our Southern states. Southerners who weave baskets from kudzu, herds of goats and cattle, even herbicides can’t keep up with its growth, which can cover farm equipment and small buildings in one season if not checked. Each vine grows at least a foot every week.

Having only known kudzu from watching acres of it fly by as I traveled by train in the South, I was surprised to hear a close friend say she would rather have some bottles of kudzu tablets than electronic cigarettes to cut down on her smoking.

She said that while exploring a new supplements store in her area, she found a bottle that was labeled “good for addictions.” It was kudzu tablets. On trying a pill three times a day, she found that kudzu made her forget to smoke.

While there haven’t been studies specifically addressing smoking and kudzu, researchers are getting closer to an explanation of the mechanism of smoking-addiction relief. This involves puerarin, a major component of kudzu. Puerarin discourages substances in the brain from getting on their accustomed receptor sites, thereby decreasing the desire to smoke.

Studies on alcoholism show a completely different mechanism at work. Kudzu eliminates a toxic byproduct of alcohol in the liver. The hangover cure that the Chinese have known for hundreds of years is explained by this mechanism.

Despite recognizing the positive effects of kudzu and puerarin, researchers are not sure why they have this effect.

In 1998, there was a Harvard study on alcoholic hamsters that drank the human equivalent of five cases of wine a day. After being given kudzu by injection, they preferred water.

Another study was done in 2005 at Harvard Medical School’s affiliate, McLean Hospital, on binge drinkers. Fourteen heavy drinkers (who drank three or four beers at a time) were enrolled in the study. The laboratory was outfitted like a living room, with a fridge containing everyone’s favorite drinks.

Seven subjects were given kudzu extract in pills every day for a week. The other seven were given placebo. At the end of the week, they all came in for drinks. The ones on kudzu drank about half their usual number, 1.8 beers. They took more, smaller swallows per beer and took longer to drink each bottle.

The placebo group drank the same as usual, 3.5 beers. The next week, the groups were reversed. The ones that had had the placebo were given the kudzu for a week. Again, those on kudzu drank half as much beer, except for one subject who did not seem to be affected by kudzu.

Contrary to the plant’s outward manifestations, its medicinal effects seem to induce moderation. My friend’s smoking did not cease altogether but went from almost a pack a day down to three to five cigarettes a day. The drinkers, including the hamsters, cut down only by half.

Online kudzu supplements were found not to work unless they were 30 to 40 percent kudzu extract. In that case, two pills three times a day were advised. Most supplements were assayed at 1 percent and were said to work because one has to take so many and gets so full of the ingredients that one no longer wants to drink.

In Japan, the plant is called “kuzu” and has many uses as food and in textile manufacture as well as medicine.

About seven million people in the UK have experienced tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears. (photos.com)

A new form of sound therapy could eliminate the irritating symptoms of tinnitus, a study has shown.

The treatment, now available in the UK, addresses the cause rather than merely masking the symptoms. Called Acoustic Co-ordinated Reset (CR) Neuromodulation, it delivers tones through in-ear headphones that match the perceived sounds of the individual person’s tinnitus to stop the brain creating the irritating noise.

Seven out of 10 patients in a recently completed clinical trial experienced a significant reduction in the symptoms of tinnitus. 

Lead researcher professor Peter Tass, director of the Institute for Neurosciences and Medicine at the Jülich Research Centre in Germany, said in a statement that patients showed a “significant and clinically relevant decrease” in tinnitus.

Acoustic CR Neuromodulation treatment requires patients to wear the specially designed headphones for up to six hours a day, with treatment lasting from six months to one year. 

Current treatments involve environmental sound therapy to distract the brain’s focus away from the tinnitus.

Tinnitus, the perception of ringing, buzzing, or roaring in the ears in the absence of external sounds, is caused by overactivity in the auditory part of the brain. 

Ten per cent of people of all ages in the UK suffer from mild tinnitus, according to the British Tinnitus Association. A spokesperson commented on their website, “The results of this exploratory first trial are interesting and encouraging.”

Retiree Peter Humphries, a 20-year tinnitus sufferer, said in a statement that he experienced positive changes within two weeks of starting the therapy. “Since starting the treatment my tinnitus has gradually and consistently changed in both volume and pitch. The tone has decreased and now I hear little or no sound.”

The treatment is now available for private patients at the Harley Street’s audiology centre, The Tinnitus Clinic, at a cost of £4,500. 

Mark Williams, principal audiologist, says on the clinic’s website, “CR stimulation was initially developed in order to reduce neural synchrony in neurological disorders, like Parkinson’s disease, via deep brain electrode stimulation.” 

The results of the German study, published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience were presented on Tuesday at a conference at the British Medical Association in London. 

You know there’s lymph somewhere inside you, but what, exactly, is it doing for you?

The lymphatic system is comprised of capillaries and vessels that transport lymph, a constituent of the circulatory and immune systems. (Photos.com)

A less-talked-about but no-less-crucial constituent of the vascular system, lymph is a light oily substance that floats in the layer of fat just below the skin, moving around in its own system of vessels.

Lymph is essentially plasma that transports hormones and fat to cells. It’s responsible for moving large particles and everything fat-soluble. It also transports waste, debris, bacteria, toxins, and other unwanted material from cells for elimination.

One of the crucial functions of lymph is to deal with toxins—to “take out the trash.”

And here’s the kicker—the lymphatic system has no pump. The motion of lymph depends upon exercise. Our sedentary lifestyles combined with the sheer volume of toxins our bodies are bombarded daily with make it easier for the tiny vessels lymph travels through to become clogged.

When lymph drainage is sluggish or impaired, the waste and toxins that should be eliminated can be stored in our fat. There they stay, causing symptoms from stiffness and puffiness to skin irritation, fatigue, severe swelling, physical pain, and weight gain.

Mild and severe symptoms can be relieved with lymphatic drainage.

Manual lymphatic drainage was pioneered by Emil Voder in the 1930s to help lymphedema patients. Voder’s technique of gentle massage has been the mainstay for lymphedema patients until now.

Canadian Innovator

Registered Massage Therapist Marie Graff has created a unique method of manual lymphatic drainage. The results have pleasantly surprised patients at the downtown health and wellness clinic Bodyone where Graff is the proprietor, heading a team of massage therapists, acupuncturists, and aestheticians.

Photos.com

Graff Lymphatic Recovery (GLR) uses a combination of all-natural fat-splitting ingredients that are absorbed by the skin, in combination with aggressive lymphatic drainage massage to help unclog parts of the lymphatic system that are not circulating properly.

“The primary problem,” says Graff, “is that when the lymph gets backed up and stagnant, it gets thick like lard. The [lymph] vessels are microscopic. You are not going to get lard into a microscopic vessel.”

Graff’s method of splitting the fatty molecules uses ingredients you might find in your refrigerator, which break up the congestion below the skin. The aggressive massage flushes waste and toxins through the lymph vessels and into the elimination channels of the spleen and liver.

“Many of the things that weight the body down come from toxicity,” explains Graff. “Toxicity is corrosive and aggressive to tissue. Getting it out is important and in modern life we accumulate toxins like never before.”

Purposeful stimulation of the lymphatic system has a surprising number of uses.

Pre- and Post-Operative

A number of Graff’s clients have found GLR treatments helpful in recovering after liposuction, breast enhancement, and other kinds or surgery where the lymphatic system had been damaged.

“Some plastic surgeons in France and the United States will not do elective surgery without a regime of lymphatic drainage before and after surgery,” says Graff, “the results of healing are so much greater.”

Forty-three-year-old IT professional Irina experienced serious complications after cosmetic surgery.

“There was no movement in the tissue in my cheeks, chin, and sides. The tissue was swollen and very tight. Touching and moving the skin on my face would result in needles-picking sensation with a shooting pain. I would get very strong headaches and severe pain in my temples area in the evenings.”

In essence Irina had lost the use of her face.

After seven GLR treatments, Irina reported that her condition improved significantly.

“I was able to start feeling my face again. I stopped to feel as if I had a hockey mask on top of my face.”

Swollen?

For other patients, like Margaret, the lack of proper lymph circulation created serious problems.

“I had severe total body swelling … pain greatly inhibiting my ability to walk, climb stairs, or sit without pain,” recalls Margaret.

“Prior to the treatment my feet and legs were so swollen I could not get boots on.”

After seven days of intensive GLR treatments, Margaret wrote in a letter of thanks.

“I can walk now with no pain except in one localized area [where a previous injury had occurred]. … At the end of my last day of treatment, my body congestion [and] inflammation were reduced by over, in my estimation, 85 percent. …You provided a solution that was drug-free, effective, and not available anywhere else.”

Continued on the next page: Improved Skin Quality

Dr. Mosaraf Ali and Morgan Freeman (Courtesy for Dr. Ali)

An impressive variety of people believe in Dr. Mosaraf Ali and his healing skills. His grateful, smiling patients include villagers at his free clinic in the Himalayas, Prince Charles, Morgan Freeman, Tico Torres of Bon Jovi, guests at his London and Tuscany health centers, and thousands of others.

Tall and friendly, with a kind and caring manner, Dr. Ali likes to share—in medical detail, yet with simplicity—the key to his curative success: the neck.

The basic concept of his new book The Neck Connection, and 25 years of putting it into practice, is this: the carotid artery, located in the front of the neck, supplies blood to the conscious, or voluntary, brain—the part that thinks and makes decisions. The vertebral arteries and veins, however, nourish the “subconscious brain,” the part that controls all the automatic functions of the body. Without this part of the brain, nothing in the body can work. That’s why nature has protected these vertebral arteries so carefully. And if blood flow is impeded for any reason—stress, accidents, illness— it’s not good. On the other hand, when blood to the subconscious brain is flowing correctly again, serious problems can be cured, and well-being can be greatly improved.

Dr. Ali has had remarkable results using his special treatments that involve massage, diet, and herbs.

“Problems around the neck cause psychological, emotional, and physical problems. By improving the blood flow, it should reinstate all those functions,” explains Dr. Ali. He’s onto something good. Really good.

Based in London, and a bestselling author in Europe, Dr. Ali visits New York to see patients, to appear as a guest on the Dr. Oz Show, as an expert on Sharecare.com, and to talk about The Neck Connection, which is available in paperback as well as on Kindle. A members-only website is in the planning as well, wherein people can submit their health questions.

He’s also seeking collaboration with an American medical university that can conduct research on his “thesis.” The top medical researchers could, for example, apply the latest scanning techniques for closer examination of the vertebral arteries.

Ultimately, he would like to teach his method to more doctors so that more patients can be helped.

“I came out with this, which is not fundamental science; it’s logic-based,” says Ali. “It’s not physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology. It’s based on logic. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle—they all used logic. They didn’t know what physics was. They didn’t know what chemistry was. So, I’m going back to the old-fashioned way of using logic to build a case.”

Lese Dunton: Using logic, but also backed up by your many successful case histories over many years?

Dr. Ali: It will be very difficult for doctors to prove I’m wrong in all this because 25 years is a long, long period. What can I do in my lifetime? Am I going to treat all of America? I want to start training. My brothers are trained in this. All we need to do is to have a proper course.

A lot of this old, traditional information had been lost because fathers would hand it down to their eldest children. In the East, a lot of it was lost. I want to leave it for posterity. The only way I can do it is to raise the profile for international acceptance; research it.

LD: Your book can educate both patients and doctors.

DA: It’s a book to stay. People will begin to realize how the neck is connected to health. The idea is the blood flow. It’s very simple.

This story originally appeared in The New Sun. Lese Dunton is the founder of The New Sun, on online publication since 1994, which “seeks to find the best in life and give it good coverage.”

Going for a walk or exercising is very beneficial. You are not only taking more deep breaths, you are also improving your mood and distracting yourself from negative thoughts. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

We live in an age of anxiety. We worry about our health, our finances, our work, our children, our parents, our taxes, our snowstorms.

Now, thanks to the Internet and the media, we also worry about global warming, floods, earthquakes, terrorists, and a myriad of other concerns.

When we aren’t feeling safe and secure, when we feel powerless, overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted—that’s when anxiety rears its ugly head.

While anxiety and stress may be part of life, there are things we can do to manage it better and keep it from affecting our quality of life.

Deep Breathing. Take deep breaths from your diaphragm, inhale to a count of 4, hold it in for a count of 4, and let it out for a count of 6. This simple exercise is an effective way to diminish anxiety.

Statistics. Did you know that a study found that 98 percent of the things we worry about never come to pass? This is a good statistic to remember whenever you are feeling anxious.

Questions. Ask yourself, “How important will this be in five years from now?”

Distract Yourself. Tell yourself a joke, or sing a song, or pet your dog and see how taking your mind off your worries helps calm your anxiety.

Negative Self-Talk. The average person thinks between 50,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day, and 87 percent of these thoughts are usually negative. Become more conscious of what you are thinking

Keep a Journal. Keeping a journal can be very effective when dealing with anxious thoughts. Expressing your anger and fears on paper helps to let it go.

Exercise. Going for walks or exercising is also very beneficial. You are not only taking more deep breaths, you are also improving your mood and distracting yourself from negative thoughts.

Get Support. Talking to positive-minded friends lowers anxiety. It distracts you from your problems and improves your mood.

Avoid Caffeine. Caffeine increases anxiety. Just cutting down on the number of cups of coffee or tea you consume per day can make a big difference.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep. Lack of sleep can contribute to anxiety as well as depression. Increasing your hours of sleep will lower your anxiety and give you more energy to follow these tips.

Rhonda Rabow M.A. is a psychotherapist with a private practice in Montreal. To sign up for her free monthly self-empowerment newsletter, go to www.rhondarabow.com and click on “Newsletter.”

Over the holiday season, set realistic expectations about what you can accomplish, and try to establish some balance between what you do for others and what you do for yourself. (Photos.com)

While the holiday season can be a time of joy and good cheer, for many people it can also be quite stressful. Between planning events, attending family and work gatherings, financial pressures related to shopping, as well as the challenge of finding the right gifts, the Christmas season can certainly take a toll.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, has released the following tips for coping with stress during the holiday season.

• Set realistic expectations about what you can accomplish over the holiday season. Try to establish some balance between what you do for others and what you do for yourself.

• If spending time with family is stressful for you, set limits on the amount of time you spend with them.

• Consider sharing the holiday meal preparations with friends and family to ease the load.

• Holidays can bring up feelings of loss and a sense of being alone and disconnected. If you have a friend or family member you can talk to, try to spend some time with them or connect with them on the telephone.

• Some religious organizations or groups have special services you can attend for people who are alone during the holidays. This can be a good opportunity to talk to others and meet new friends.

• The holidays can be a tempting time to overuse alcohol and other substances in order to relax. For someone with a substance use problem, this can be a particularly difficult time with all of the socializing that occurs and because our society promotes the use of substances at these times. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse has put together Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines to help people reduce the harms related to alcohol use.

• Volunteer your services. Food banks and other organizations often need help at this time of year. This is also a good way to meet new friends and help those in need.

• Give yourself permission to feel any sense of loss or emotions that can surface during the holiday season.

• Do something enjoyable for yourself. See a holiday movie or treat yourself to a new book.

• If you experience distress during the holidays, do not hesitate to contact your family doctor or visit your local hospital emergency room. ConnexOntario operates three help lines that provide health services information for people experiencing problems with gambling, drugs or alcohol, and mental illness. (www.connexontario.ca)

Compiled from CAMH information. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development, and health promotion to help those affected by mental health and addiction issues.

Prisoners at Bombay's Arthur Road jail laugh during a laughter class led by Dr. Madan Kataria. Dr. Kataria teaches people how to use laughter in a therapeutic way. (Sebastian D'Souza/AFP/Getty Images

A Russian youth, a member of the Siberian Ski Patrol, arrived home after guarding the frontier for several months. He was asked by a TV interviewer, “What do you do first on arriving home after being away for so long?”

He replied, “I make love to my wife.”

The interviewer replied, “I understand that, as you’ve been away a long time. But what do you do next?”

The young man replied, “I make love to my wife again.”

“Yes, but then what do you do?” the frustrated interviewer continued.

The young Russian replied, “Oh, I take off my skis.”

Some readers may be thinking: Don’t sell the farm if you plan to be a comedian. But I do hope that at least this joke made some of you laugh because studies show a good laugh is one of the best medical treatments.

Dr. Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Oxford, says that animals groom, pat, and delouse one another to develop bonding. Fortunately, humans don’t have to delouse one another, but Dunbar claims our social chuckles are “grooming from a distance.” He adds that a hearty laugh also increases endorphins, morphine-like substances that help to decrease pain.

To prove his point, he showed research participants a number of different videos, some of which were comical. He tightened a blood pressure cuff to test their pain threshold and showed that laughing at funny scenes did decrease the amount of pain.

Many years ago, Norman Cousins, a former editor of Saturday Review Magazine, developed a crippling joint disease following a stressful trip to Europe. His doctors told him he faced a grim future.

Cousins decided to see if laughing could affect the course of his illness. Day after day, he watched old movies of comics Laurel and Hardy. He discovered that after 10 minutes of laughter, he could sleep without pain for two hours.

Cousins’s doctors at the University of California were so impressed with his recovery that for many years, he was asked to lecture to medical students on what he called “the muscular benefits of internal jogging without having to go outdoors.”

A good belly laugh also provides a good workout for abdominal and chest muscles. After laughing, the heart rate and blood pressure drop. This calming effect lasts for 45 minutes.

A hearty chuckle also produces nitric oxide, which relaxes arteries and decreases blood pressure.

Laughter can’t cure everything. If you have Type 1 diabetes, you will still need insulin.

Through the ages, laughter has helped to ease much emotional pain. Abraham Lincoln once remarked during the Civil War, “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh, I would die.”

Today more than ever, we need more laughter in this troubled world. As Alan Alda remarked, “When people are laughing, they’re generally not killing one another.” They are also not getting as ill as unhappy people. And no one in history is known to have died of laughter.

So this week, here’s another attempt to improve your health by having a good laugh: A doctor says to his patient, “You’re in good health and you’ll live to 80.”

The patient replies, “But doctor, I’m already 80 years old.”

The doctor says, “See, what did I tell you?”

Enjoy the week. Have a good laugh.

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto. His website is DocGiff.com. He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com.

Stressful situations can produce a wide range of reactions in people, such as sleeplessness or anxiety, or becoming on alcohol or cigarettes dependent for instance. (Anna Khomulo /Dreamstime.com)

More than 13 million working days are likely to be lost to stress-related illnesses this year. Stress management has never been more important than it is today. According to recent research by insurance company Axa, stress levels have doubled in the last four years.

National Stress Awareness Day is on Wednesday November 2nd, and it aims to bring down the nation’s stress levels, with a special emphasis on wellbeing and resilience at work.

What happens when we feel stressed is that our body’s natural protection response kicks in – the flight or fight response – pumping us full of “stress” hormones. If this physiological response is triggered over prolonged periods it can be dangerous in the long-term.

Stress can destroy relationships, careers and long-term health, as well as hitting the British economy hard. But it doesn’t have to.

So how can we avoid or reduce stress? And what should you do if you are suffering?

As a cognitive hypnotherapist, I help people with a number of ways to combat stress.

We all respond differently to stress, and stressful situations can produce a wide range of reactions in people, such as sleeplessness or anxiety, or becoming dependent on alcohol or cigarettes for instance. Some people struggle with it more than others – so the important thing is to understand why we feel the way we do.

The first thing I do is get to the bottom of why someone is suffering. Then I can address that specific issue and help to reduce the stress in the long term. People are often surprised at how quickly they can learn to control or overcome the stressful feelings they have – and therefore stop the harmful effects of those feelings.

National Stress Awareness Day is an opportunity for us to recognise how stress is affecting our lives, and to take action so we can all chill a little.

Jenny Amir is a cognitive hypnotherapist who holds clinics in Wimbledon and Central London. For further information see:http://www.hypnotherapistforhealth.co.uk 
National Stress Awareness Day http://www.isma.org.uk/national-stress-awareness-day

Dr. Schneider has helped thousands of people to see better. (Self-Healing.org)

A doctor friend of mine used to tell me that medicine is like religion for many doctors. She wasn’t talking about surgeons with God-complexes. Or even the reverence that a white coat and stethoscope induces in many. Until I started writing about alternative health, I didn’t really know what she meant.

If you go into your local opticians and ask them if there is any way that you can improve your vision, chances are they’ll laugh at you. Optometrists believe that in adults visual fitness can’t be improved. Vision can deteriorate. It doesn’t get better.

Fifty-six-year-old Meir Schneider should be someone that any optician with a keen, enquiring scientific mind should be eager to meet. He was born blind to deaf parents.

Five traumatic operations during childhood to correct his congenital cataracts went wrong and left him with scarred lenses. Over the years, doctors and optometrists told him that his vision would never improve. But he was sure that one day he would be able to see well.

The Bates Method

In his late teens, Schneider heard about W. H. Bates, an American ophthalmologist. He devised a system of eye exercises and techniques in the early 1900s. Meir devoted himself to following the Bates method. He did sunning, palming, and visualization and memory exercises. The British Bates Association website seeing.org has some interesting vision games, which anyone can try.

Today, Dr. Meir Schneider can see well enough to have been granted a non-restricted driver’s license in the United States. He has a doctorate in anatomy and a school for self-healing in San Francisco, which specializes in massage, movement, and vision improvement. Schneider credits himself with helping thousands of people to see better, to recover from injury, to overcome paralysis, and to prevent many problems. He is now training others to do the same.

Optometrists, ophthalmic surgeons, and opticians who have examined his eyes with and without an auto-refractor are shocked. The auto-refractor measures how light travels through the eye and the amount of light that reaches the back of the eye. This will determine your prescription. Because of his scarred lenses, only a tiny fraction of light can go through to Schneider’s retina. According to conventional theories, Schneider is still blind. Yet he can see well enough to read and drive without glasses.

He is proof that, contrary to popular belief, a diagnosis of visual impairment isn’t necessarily an indicator of visual acuity.

Some top ophthalmologists have come forward to praise Schneider’s methods and said that his ideas need to be re-thought.

Meir is adamant that everything that he’s done for his eyes is repeatable.

“The trouble is that people don’t have the support that they need when they want to do some work on their vision. They need a little guidance.”

There are a small number of highly trained Bates teachers in the U.K. and the United States.

Narrow Vision of Opthalmology and Optometry

Many professionals with training in ophthalmology and in optometry say that they have spent little time looking into natural vision improvement.

Geoff Roberson of the Association of Optometrists explains why the Bates method is only taught in passing.

“We don’t believe that there’s any scientific basis to it. If there was any real benefit to the Bates technique, we would all be using it.”

“Because in the 1800s the fathers of ophthalmology made up their minds about how the eye works,” Meir explains. They thought that the eye is like a static camera, and vision works eye to brain. According to Bates, vision is much more complex than that.

Myer told this author: “It’s up to people like you to help me get the message out. Engaging with the industry has been fruitless.

“What we do is provide physiotherapy for the eye. Opticians don’t want to have to re-write all of their books. Would you like to think that you spent four years at university learning theories that weren’t right, and that you spend your professional lives giving patients the wrong advice?”

Meir Schneider’s latest book “Movement for Self-Healing” is available from Amazon.com. His website is Self-Healing.org

Mastoor Khan is a freelance writer with an interest in preventive health issues.

Low-intensity laser therapy (also known as low-level laser therapy) is an effective treatment modality for reducing pain and promoting healing. (ThorLaser.com)

Sir William Osler, former professor of medicine at McGill and John Hopkins universities once remarked, “A doctor does not fully understand a disease until he suffers from it.” Due to a recent illness, I couldn’t agree more.

During Arthritis Month, I wrote a column about osteoarthritis and how it is possible to decrease the risk by losing weight; taking vitamin C to manufacture collagen, the major component of cartilage; and using your two legs to pump nutrients into damaged cartilage.

It’s ironic that a few weeks later I suddenly developed increased pain in one hip. Then one morning I could hardly walk even with the help of a cane. Osler was right. You have to experience pain to know how crippling and soul-destroying it can be.

I believed that time and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) would cure me. I was wrong. Finally, I consulted an orthopedic surgeon who wondered if I’d suffered an undetected fracture after a recent fall during a trip or possibly had a bone malignancy. However, tests showed osteoarthritis but not enough for a hip replacement.

While this was going on, I noticed an ad on TV during the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Former tennis star Billie Jean King was stating authoritatively that playing tennis can fight pain.

That’s a very misleading remark. If Billie Jean had handed me the racket a few weeks ago and told me to play tennis to relieve pain, I might have said some unladylike things to her.

What she didn’t acknowledge to viewers were her two knee replacements. I’d bet she wasn’t hitting tennis balls before surgery relieved her agony. I totally agree that exercise can help decrease the risk of arthritis. But once acute pain strikes, patients are unable to exercise. The pain is simply too severe. Osler knew that and so do I.

Moreover, there aren’t a lot of options for relieving arthritic pain. I found NSAIDs of no help. Neither were a couple of drinks at 5:00 o’clock. But at least these made me happier.

So what to do? Since I wanted to return to my office, I once again relied on Dr. Fred Kahn, founder of Meditech in Toronto and a pioneer in the use of low-intensity laser therapy (LILT). Several years ago, this treatment gradually eased spinal pain and saved me from surgery when I suffered a ruptured disk.

LILT is now used to treat a number of conditions such as chronic and acute back pain, sciatica, tender joints due to arthritis or injury, and other orthopedic conditions. I’m convinced this non-invasive therapy can spare many patients from the surgeon’s scalpel.

How does low-intensity laser therapy work? Dr. Kahn says, “LILT gives a jump start to the body’s natural healing process. It delivers energy to the tissues that is then transformed into biochemical energy. This decreases swelling, accelerates healing, and increases the pain threshold.

“LILT also triggers the release of endorphins, morphine-like substances that inhibit pain sensation. It also increases cortisol, the forerunner of cortisone, and angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels”

So what was the result of my call? I limped with difficulty to Dr. Kahn’s clinic in downtown Toronto for several days. But pain continued and I began to wonder if this time LILT would fail.

Dr. Kahn, however, is a very persuasive physician. He urged me to continue. By his 12th treatment, pain began to subside, and I was able to discard my cane. Now I’m back to work.

Today, arthritis is the leading cause of disability affecting 50 million North Americans. I don’t know how many of these sufferers could be helped by LILT, as no therapy cures everyone. But it is non-invasive, does no harm, and I’ve seen many patients helped by it. And the sooner osteoarthritis and other painful conditions are treated, the better the result.

LILT is not available in all parts of the country, and unfortunately treatment is not covered by government health plans. For more information call 416-916-8125. Dr. Kahn’s staff may be able to direct you to a clinic near you.

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto. His website is DocGiff.com He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com

Gelsemium is an important homeopathic remedy for anxiety and flu-like ailments. (Franz Eugen Koehler, Koehler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen/via Wikimedia Commons)

Gelsemium belongs to the Loganiaceae family of plants. According to the Bombay School of homeopathy, the homeopathic remedies in this family experience the sensations: “shocked, shattered, and torn to pieces. The shock is so sudden as to paralyze the person.” They can also experience disappointment and feel ruined.

Once persons needing remedies of this family are successfully treated, Dr. Sankaran of the Bombay School says these people are “composed and calm in the most shocking circumstances.”

The most striking instance of Gelsemium’s effectiveness in my experience was an animal case.

At the time, we were living in a more rural area in the northeast. A neighbor had two donkeys that were to be taken to a nearby fair so small children could ride on them.

To move a donkey, pulling it by its bridle is not an option since donkeys plant their feet and won’t move if they do not wish. So one has to pick up their hind legs and walk forward with them—a comical sight.

When the donkeys were loaded onto the back of a pickup truck, the older donkey began shaking from fright.

I gave the donkey a dose of Gelsemium, and within 30 seconds, the trembling stopped and did not return.

Patients who are especially fearful before dental procedures or before airplane flights report that their anxiety is considerably lessened after taking a dose of Gelsemium.

People needing this remedy frequently experience trembling with anticipation of some ordeal, such as giving a speech or taking an exam. Accompanying this anticipation is also a great sense of weakness, palpitations, and possibly loose bowels. Also, one may experience incoordination and may drop things.

Gelsemium was one of the principal remedies for the 1918 flu epidemic. When treated homeopathically, hospitalized patients had an average mortality rate of less than 1 percent.

Symptoms indicating the need for Gelsemium include a feeling of great weakness, fatigue, and heaviness of the limbs. One does not want to move due to this great sense of fatigue. This may be accompanied by mental dullness, a hot head with dark-red color of the face, dilated pupils, cold extremities, and muscular twitching. One may experience chills going up from the lower back.

Interestingly, if one has a headache, it may be relieved by passing large quantities of urine. There may be a peculiar fear that if one does not keep moving, the heart will stop beating.

Dr. McCoy has been practicing homeopathic medicine for more than 30 years.

Please consult your physician before treating yourself for any illness.

References: Materia Medica of Homeopathic Remedies by James Tyler Kent, M.D., Sankaran’s Schema by Dr. Rajan Sankaran

SLEEPING-PILL DANGER: One problem with taking sleeping pills is the possibility of overdosage. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

Insomnia is an extremely common and complex problem that can result from a number of different causes. Insomnia is a symptom of disturbance, not a disease in itself. Addressing this condition requires a thorough analysis of each case to identify factors that may cause or contribute to the problem.

Medications used to treat insomnia are associated with frequent complications and side effects, and they only rarely solve the problem. These drugs only address the symptoms of insomnia and fail to resolve any of the underlying issues. They deliver a modicum of temporary relief, sometimes exacerbating the condition.

Treatment of insomnia begins with a thorough evaluation and investigation into the circumstances surrounding the health, environment, emotional state, behavior, and diet. Once any contributing factors from these areas are identified and addressed, classical homeopathic medical treatment (CHM) commences.

Resolution of both acute and chronic insomnia can be achieved using a holistic analysis. This may result in increased overall health and well-being beyond the “quick fix” temporary resolution of symptoms so common in the allopathic medical system.

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician and internist who practices in New York. He is a clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at New York Medical College. His website is HomeopathicMD.com

, via Wikimedia Commons)”]

NUX VOMICA: An important homeopathic remedy for the treatment of insomnia. (Franz Eugen Kohler, Kohler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (List of Koehler Images) [Public domain

Naps, commonly discouraged with insomnia, can be extremely beneficial if they are regularly scheduled events, restricted to a single, brief “power nap” during midday.

The nap period should not exceed 20 minutes, even if actual sleep is not achieved during this time. Naps should be a scheduled part of the daily routine, best taken after lunch or sometime in the early afternoon.

Nap breaks can be extremely refreshing, improving alertness, enhancing job performance, and increasing energy without resetting the circadian rhythm or disrupting the nighttime sleep pattern.

The napping process also provides the nervous system with practice in the art of relaxing. This exercise helps in calming the mind whether or not sleep is actually achieved. Naps can help the body relearn the art of sleeping.

Classical Homeopathic Medicine. Once the hygienic factors are addressed, classical homeopathic medicine (CHM) can be extremely helpful in permanently resolving insomnia. Since CHM does not involve the use of drugs, chemicals, or herbs, it usually doesn’t interfere with or worsen sleep disturbances or lead to rebound or withdrawal symptoms when it is stopped.

CHM has a track record of improving overall health and reducing the dependence on conventional medications by helping the body balance and resolve underlying conditions.

Numerous studies attest to the fact that homeopathy helps the body recover more quickly from illness, thereby significantly reducing the risk of exposure to potentially harmful medications and their side effects. This choice of holistic treatment makes more sense as a first-line option before pharmacologic interventions are attempted for insomnia.

Following a detailed, in-depth analysis is more likely to reveal these determining factors and to assure that a proper and accurate selection of medicine will take place.

Failure to implement CHM prescribing methods (even if so-called homeopathic medicines are used) is more likely to result in treatment failure since adherence to the law of similars is the determining factor of whether a homeopathic medicine is likely to work.

In other words, if homeopathy is not applied homeopathically, namely on the basis of homeopathic laws and principles, it will be no more likely to succeed than placebo. Homeopathy, like any other system of medicine, must be utilized according to the dynamics upon which it is based, or it may not produce the desired results.

Homeopathy is a complete system of medicine. It is not an integrative, adjunct medical modality that can simply be substituted into treatment plans in place of conventional medications. CHM is not an allopathic medical system, and it cannot be applied allopathically with any realistic expectation of success.

Certain homeopathic medicines are particularly well-suited to the treatment of sleep disorders. These medicines, cited in the next part of this article, should not be construed as anything more than examples out of a large group of medicines. These may be useful in a pinch, but should not be substituted for a thorough, in-depth CHM analysis.

Argenticum Nitricum. Individuals needing this medicine frequently suffer from anxious insomnia. They are extremely distraught and kept awake by numerous fears and worries.

Arsenicum Album. Individuals benefiting from this medicine also tend to be anxious, but they also demonstrate a physical restlessness. They frequently don’t sleep because they can’t get physically comfortable and must continually change places and positions at night.

Coffea Cruda. Individuals benefiting from this medicine often experience a heightened sense of awareness and mental activity at night. Their minds are active, racing through many thoughts even though their bodies may be exhausted.

Nux Vomica. Individuals who benefit from this medicine are typically accustomed to relying on a pattern of various medicines to sleep and others to wake up in the morning. There is frequently a history heavy coffee and alcohol use.

A thorough CHM analysis is part of comprehensive care. Each homeopathic medicine is capable of affecting many different organ systems, ailments, and conditions. The common denominator in this method of prescribing is the individualized application of data gleaned from the scientific laws of observation in each case.

This is the ninth of a 10-part series.

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician and internist who practices in New York. He is a clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at New York Medical College. His website is HomeopathicMD.com

PUT THOUGHTS OUTSIDE: When trying to get to sleep, write down troubling thoughts and put the list outside the bedroom. (Louise McCoy/The Epoch Times)

Activities that overstimulate mentally or physically late in the day can disrupt sleep cycles. Vigorous physical exercise, animated conversation, unfulfilled sexual arousal, television, homework, and other activities that are stimulating can all contribute to insomnia.

Establishing a regular evening routine that culminates in the act of going to bed is extremely important in training (and retraining) the brain to fall asleep. This routine should involve a series of activities that do not lead to excessive stimulation.

Every attempt should be made to adhere to a regularly scheduled pattern that keeps exercise early in the day while reserving evening hours for a more relaxed “winding down” of activities.

Behavioral habits should be part of a regular and predictable pattern that is repeated on a daily basis at consistent times. There should be minimal or no difference in this pattern on weekends and weekdays.

Activities like paying bills, studying, working on the computer, doing homework, worrying, or trying to work out the problems of the day should not be engaged in in the bed or in the bedroom.

Good sleep hygiene may include the technique of writing down bothersome thoughts, worries, and anxieties and leaving them on paper to be set aside and consciously picked up the next morning.

Once concerns and to-dos are written down, the note pad should be set aside, sometimes even placed outside the bedroom door, in a symbolic gesture of exclusion. This action is helpful in establishing a more relaxed and clean state of mind and environment.

If worries or anxieties cannot be vanquished in this manner, then the practice of meditation or guided imagery should be added. Techniques that help calm the mind are taught in many societies throughout the world but are almost entirely forsaken in the United States.

This neglect has unfortunate consequences since these skills not only provide lifelong benefit regarding sleep and emotional stability, but also improve mental focus, concentration, and cognitive function.

Nocturnal waking should not be accompanied by the use of bright lights since these can reset the internal clock. After returning to bed from the bathroom, it is helpful to pre-empt the thinking process by meditating. This should be accomplished by refocusing on the dream state or by practicing a focused meditation or visualization. This technique can help prevent thinking, which inhibits sleep and initiates hormonal pathways stimulating alertness.

If sleep does not come within 20 or 30 minutes after going to bed, it is best to get out of bed and focus on some other activity for a short period of time. Staying in bed trying to fall asleep is usually counterproductive and leads to greater loss of sleep and more frustration.

If the mind is preoccupied, then either resolve the issue or make adequate notes so that this concern can be taken up the following day. Consider having a light snack before returning to bed.

Shift work that continually alters sleep-wake cycles can seriously impair the ability to attain full and restful sleep leading to a condition known as shift work disorder (SWD). Shift work patterns are usually more easily tolerated at a young age, but as the brain and body age, there is less ability to adapt to the changing patterns in sleep-wake cycles that this type of shift work demands.

This is the eighth of a 10-part series.

Next week: Insomnia: naps and homeopathic treatment.

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician and internist who practices in New York. His website is HomeopathicMD.com

PEACEFUL PREGNANCY: Hopefully, this mom-to-be will deliver a child of normal presentation. (Photos.com)

What would a solution to the breech-birth dilemma that benefits everyone look like, and what challenges would it present?

Dr. Fischbein explained at a breech-birth conference of professional birthers in Los Angeles in June that parents have to know there are options. They are not offered options because obstetricians/gynecologists do not have the training and the skills for a breech birthing other than a C-section in a hospital setting.

The clear conclusion was the need and necessity to bridge the immense gap of these two choices and the present gap in our system. Neither choice is ideal.

As it stands today, parents have only two choices: to deliver at home naturally with a midwife, without the backup of the doctor and a facility to make it safe for the high-risk delivery, or to deliver in a hospital, which demands intrusive surgery.

A birth professional at the event stated that she didn’t even know that it was lawful to give birth vaginally to a breech baby in a hospital. She thought it was not allowed because it was against the law.

Marie-Paul Baxiu concludes: “This information should be made available to the parents who don’t know what is actually possible and are only offered a few different choices that are restricted by people’s skills in medical profession, which often don’t include options that are more holistic and safer for all involved.

“Bottom line: Mother and baby should be allowed to give birth and be born breech if this is how they chose to come to the world.

“Let’s not forget that babies are conscious beings and that skills can be acquired not just by midwives and passed down from one another but by the elite of birth professionals such as obstetricians and gynecologists, who indeed will create a safer heaven for these babies to enter this world.”

This is the concluding part of a three-part series.

Marie-Paul Baxiu is a clinical hypnotherapist, birth doula, and the founder and owner of Childbirth Hypnosis Training: EasyBirthing.com

PREGNANT MEDITATORS. Meditating while pregnant slows the brain waves, which facilitates communication with the fetus. (Photos.com)

An unborn baby will usually turn to present himself in whatever position it is going to be born around week 34 to 36 of a pregnancy. Before that, it is mainly in an “across” position.

Some recognized medical reasons contributing to breech presentation at the time of labor include the following:

• Preterm labor and birth if labor starts when the baby is still too small to move easily in the uterus.
• A placenta in the fundus: The placenta takes up some of the space in the top of the uterus.
• An unusual shape of the mother’s uterus or fibroids in the lower part of the uterus.
• More than one fetus (such as twins).
• A very relaxed uterus from many previous children.
• Too much or too little amniotic fluid.

Yet more subtle or emotional factors can be at play.

Describing how she establishes communication with an unborn baby, while encouraging the parents to communicate as well, Baxiu says: “Well, when a mother is relaxed (connected to her own body), her brain waves are much slower (4 to 7 hertz, theta brain waves. Most of us operate at beta brain-wave level, our regular cognitive state of mind, at 13 to 30 hertz).

“A mother gets into the same brain wave her baby is in continuously while relaxed, and so there is a way to establish true connection and communication. Babies are completely conscious and capable of responding to their mother’s deepest thoughts.”

With the father, she adds, “It works differently. They can only connect to their voice, since they don’t share the same physical space.”

Midwives are traditionally trained by one another and have preserved and passed down skills that have helped eons of people be born throughout the ages. “They are often the experts who facilitate the training of gynecology students in all that is natural,” Baxiu says.

There are some obstetricians/gynecologists who feel comfortable assisting women with breech babies in a hospital, people such as Ronald Wu, M.D., located in Glendale, Calif. Dr. Wu has the knowledge to facilitate such birth. He has helped breech single and twin babies to be born vaginally in the hospital setting. Unfortunately, he will soon retire.

Dr. Stuart Fischbein explained at the breech-birth event that he is comfortable assisting a woman giving birth to a breech baby as long as the baby is a frank presentation (where the baby is presented with its butt close by the cervix and his feet are close by his head).

Dr. Fischbein pointed out that any other breech presentation, such as feet first, can make things more difficult to handle in a natural vaginal birth in a home setting.

For parents facing breech birth, when choosing a natural home birth with a midwife, they won’t have the safety net a hospital birth could offer with backup doctors and equipment if a last minute C-section is needed.

What does this imply? It means that to encourage natural-minded parents to deliver in a hospital, doctors will have to learn to keep their hands off, allowing a woman to give birth without the constriction of time and all the interventions that are usually taking place unnecessarily, which too often lead to a C-section.

This is the second part of a three-part series.

Next week: Solution to the breech-birth dilemma.

Marie-Paul Baxiu is a clinical hypnotherapist, birth doula, and the founder of Childbirth Hypnosis Training, EasyBirthing.com

GOOD THOUGHTS: Communication with the fetus can help it present itself in an optimal position in utero, solving breech-presentation problems. (Photos.com)

One thing we all have in common is we come into this life through birth. However, the quality of the experience and the different choices parents make regarding the event can vary widely.

These experiences and choices can be limited for those who are in breech position in the womb and for their mothers-to-be.

In breech birth, the baby enters the birth canal with the buttocks or feet first as opposed to the normal headfirst presentation in which the baby is positioned head down, facing back.

Today, about 3 to 4 percent of babies present themselves in a breech position, and the vast majority will be born by cesarian section.

Early in June, I joined leading professionals from the Los Angeles-area birthing community to discuss prevention and management of care for breeches and other malpositioned babies.

Sharing information, experiences, and insights, we addressed real alternatives to C-sections for breech births, which are so common in the United States. Ana-Paula Markel, doula (birth coach) and childbirth educator, hosted the event at BINI Birth in North Hollywood for 100 people.

Many questions were discussed, such as: Why are some babies in a breech position? Can we prevent a breech or posterior presentation? What are the options for a mother with a breech baby in our community?

Markel moderated the panel, which included Naoli Vinaver Lopez, a midwife from Mexico; Davi Kaur Khalsa, an LA-area midwife; Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, who specializes in vaginal birth of breech twins in hospitals; Jessica Jennings, a prenatal yoga instructor who works at BINI; Dr. Elliot Berlin, an LA-area chiropractor who specializes in helping with breech babies; and Dr. Stuart Fischbein, an obstetrician-gynecologist who assists women who choose to give birth at home. Under certain conditions, Fischbein will deliver breech births at home.

Breech presentation carries the risk of serious complications to the baby during the process of birth. For example, since the largest part of the body, the baby’s head, is the last part to emerge, it may have difficulty getting through the birth canal.

Additionally, there is the risk of cord prolapse, a condition in which the umbilical cord is compressed as the baby moves toward the birth canal, slowing the baby’s supply of oxygen and blood.

For these reasons, a vaginal mode of delivery for breech presentation, as opposed to the more accepted C-section, has been very controversial in the fields of obstetrics and midwifery.

Yet a cesarean birth is not without its own risks, mainly to the mother, such as infection, hemorrhage, and stroke.

According to Vinaver, traditional midwives have many techniques that are used with a breech baby, such as specific exercises for the mother or use of ice, heat, or even a bell placed at the mother’s hip, to stimulate the baby to turn. She estimated that these techniques were successful in 98 percent of cases.

Dr. Fischbein spoke of his practice of assisting women whose babies are breech to give birth at home. However, he said, “There is zero training for breech deliveries.” There are only a handful of doctors in the Los Angeles area willing to help a mother attempt a vaginal breech birth, and hospitals frown on the procedure.

We know now that babies are fully conscious in the womb, and that communication can take place. Babies can be guided to present themselves as they are most easily born.

I feel there were some important issues missing from the forum, including the use of hypnosis to help babies present themselves in an optimal position in utero or to be guided to turn around before the birth.

At the event, we only looked at the mechanics of turning babies, treating them as ‘objects’ instead of honoring the fact that they are fully conscious beings and can be spoken to.

This awareness would lead us to explore the phenomena of why babies choose to present themselves breech and enable us to step away from the limited causes that medicine presently recognizes.

This is the first part of a three-part series.

Next week: communicating with the unborn baby.

Marie-Paul Baxiu, originally from Paris, is a clinical hypnotherapist, birth doula, and the founder and owner of Childbirth Hypnosis Training, EasyBirthing.com

TEACHING NUTRITION: U.S. first lady Michelle Obama harvests vegetables from the White House Kitchen Garden with students to focus attention on health and nutrition. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Better education, particularly among mothers, is widely associated with better health. Experiences in several countries have shown the power of education to increase the nutritional levels and the health status of the poor.

Girls’ education is one of the most effective investments a nation can make toward development and better health.

For example, in urban India, it has been found that the mortality rate among the children of educated women is almost half that of children of uneducated women. In the Philippines, primary education among mothers has reduced the risks of child mortality by half, and secondary education reduces that risk by a factor of three.

A study in rural Ghana on health-protective behaviors related to HIV-AIDS infection among adults found that individuals with more education practiced more protective health behaviors, thus decreasing the risk of contracting the infection.

In addition, those living in poverty and suffering from malnutrition have an increased propensity to a host of diseases, a lower learning capacity, and an increased exposure and vulnerability to environmental risks. Poor children frequently lack stimuli critical to growth and development.

Poverty cannot be defined solely in terms of lack of income. Little or no access to health services, lack of access to safe water and adequate nutrition, illiteracy or low educational level, and a distorted perception of rights and needs are also essential components of poverty.

Poverty is one of the most influential factors for ill health, and ill health—in a vicious cycle—can lead to poverty. Education has proven to be critical to breaking this cycle.

There is a two-way link between poverty and health. Illness impairs learning ability and quality of life, has a negative impact on productivity, and drains family savings. Poor people are more exposed to environmental risks (poor sanitation, unhealthy food, violence, and natural disasters) and less prepared to cope with them.

Because they are also less informed about the benefits of healthy lifestyles and have less access to them as well as to quality health care, the poor are at greater risk of illness and disability. It is estimated that one-third of deaths worldwide—18 million people a year or 50,000 a day—are due to poverty-related causes.

More than 1.5 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, 80 percent of whom live in developing countries. Poor people have little or no access to qualified health services and education and do not participate in the decisions critical to their day-to-day lives.

Those who live in extreme poverty are five times more likely to die before age 5, and two and a half time times more likely to die between 15 and 59 than those in higher-income groups.

The same dramatic differences can be found with respect to maternal mortality levels and incidence of preventable diseases. Level of education in relation to health is particularly important among women. In addition, education for women is closely associated with later marriage and smaller family size.

Increased income alone cannot guarantee better nutrition and health because of the impact of other factors, notably education, environmental hygiene, and access to health care services, which cannot necessarily be bought with increased income in the developing world.

Several strategies can be used to improve the access of mothers and children to educational opportunities as a way of improving their health status. At the national level, governments, particularly in developing countries, have to establish education—including the education of the parents—as a priority and provide necessary resources and support.

Interventions should be targeted to vulnerable groups such as those with lower income or with less access to adequate food.

At the international level, lending institutions have to implement debt-reduction policies for those countries willing to provide increased resources for basic education.

Although an important goal is to reduce economic inequity to improve the health status of populations, emphasis on education can provide substantial benefits in the health of populations even before reducing the economic gap between the rich and the poor.

Dr. César Chelala is a public health consultant for several international organizations.

EFT: Emotional freedom technique is practiced by tapping on meridians and stating the problem. (Photos.com)

Some individuals claim to be emotional eaters. The idea is that they sometimes feel driven to eat foods as a result of their emotional state. Usually, this is in response to states such as stress, anxiety, or sadness.

I’m going to suggest two approaches that, in my experience, can be highly effective for dissolving emotional eating effectively and quickly. Before that, I wanted to explore whether “emotional eating” is always as emotional as we think.

Imagine someone who suffers from unstable blood sugar levels. When blood sugar levels drop, biochemical and physiological changes occur in the body including the secretion of stress hormones like epinephrine. The brain will also tend to increase its production of a substance called glutamate, which increases anxiety.

Low blood sugar levels can also provoke a craving for foods that replenish sugar quickly into the bloodstream such as chocolate, biscuits, or bread. But here’s the question: What caused the food cravings—the person’s emotions or lowered blood sugar levels?

In my experience, many individuals who believe they have an emotional-eating problem appear to have nothing of the sort. I have seen time and again that when an emotional eater eats properly and stabilizes his or her blood sugar level, emotional eating disappears. In many individuals, what appears to be a psychological issue is, in reality, physiological in nature.

To understand how best to approach this sort of issue, it helps to understand a bit more about the mind. The brain can be thought of as having two major components: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind.

The conscious mind allows you to think about things, rationalize, and work things out. While you’ve been reading this article, it’s likely that your conscious mind will have been quite active.

The unconscious mind controls unconscious thoughts and behaviors. Many emotional responses are seated here. An example is my spider phobia. I am afraid of spiders even though I know that here in the U.K. they can’t hurt me in any meaningful way.

In my unconscious mind, I have associated spiders with some form of threat. And no amount of talking it through with a therapist or attempting to rationalize this in my own mind is likely to make much difference.

Basically, taking a conscious approach to a problem that is unconscious in nature is of questionable value. It’s a bit like attempting to work on a problem with a car engine without first opening the hood.

For a genuine emotional-eating issue, we need to open the hood and get access to the unconscious mind. In my experience, two approaches that have considerable merit are hypnotherapy and the emotional freedom technique (EFT). The latter can be learned and self-applied relatively easily, and plenty of resources regarding it are available online.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com

CROCUS: A homeopathic remedy for the treatment of a variety of conditions. (Louise McCoy/The Epoch Times)

Crocuses are one of the earliest flowers to appear in the spring. They are now appearing in upstate New York.

Crocus sativa (saffron) is in the Iris (Iridaceae) family of plants. Its homeopathic use was first discovered by Drs. Stapf and Gross, two of Dr. Hahnemann’s closest colleagues. (Dr. Hahnemann was the founder of the homeopathic system of medicine.)

One symptom that persons needing this remedy have is “a peculiar sensation as if something alive were moving about in the abdomen or chest.” (From A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, by John Henry Clarke, M.D.)

Persons needing this homeopathic remedy may have uncontrollable laughter, such as a case of the giggles observed in some children.

Dr. Clarke relates this case: “On one occasion, in hospital, I happened to see a young girl who was really desperately ill with heart failure and valvular disease, in a fit of hysterical laughter. This made me think of Crocus. The only definite sensation she complained of in the heart region was a ‘jumping’ sensation. Crocus 30 was given, and very soon she was able to lie down flat (after having been propped up for weeks), and from that time she made a rapid recovery.”

Those in need of Crocus may suffer from extreme mood swings: from being affectionate to being very angry and then back to being affectionate again, from being happy to weeping and then being happy again.

A solitary crocus. (Louise McCoy/The Epoch Times)

Some women who need this remedy imagine that they are pregnant. Dr. Dorothy Shepherd says in Magic of the Minimum Dose: “She is certain that she is about to become a mother and nothing that you or any other doctor can say will convince her it is not so. ‘But doctor, I feel the baby move.’ One mother booked with the nurse in spite of all I said to persuade her to the contrary. … She had [a] few doses of Crocus, and she forgot her previous delusion. …”

Another indication for this remedy is the compulsion to sing once one has heard a single note of music played. “If someone happens to sound a note, she begins to sing involuntarily and then laughs at herself; nevertheless, she soon sings again in spite of her determination not to sing anymore.” (From Additions to the Materia Medica Pura, by Ernst Stapf, M.D.)

Dr. Syndey J. Bush (Courtesy of Sydney J. Bush)

We all know to look for the catch. Everyone knows that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Promises make us skeptical and suspicious. The best lessons are learned the hard way.

I remember being fearful in the early 1950s that TV would expose us to brainwashing. Subliminal advertising frightened many. A single frame that we did not realize we had seen, inserted into a film clip, could send us to buy a product. It was scary.

Simultaneously, in the early 1950s, a new advertising campaign was starting. Nobody knew that it was going to last over 50 years. It has been improved, added to, approved by governments, and has brainwashed 90 percent of us into parting with far more than our money—our health!

We were told that high cholesterol was bad and could cause heart attacks, and the level for normal cholesterol was lowered.

Recently a sick woman of 50 asked me if she needed to take a statin, which had been forced on her by her doctor. She was experiencing the statin’s disagreeable side effects.

Her latest cholesterol level was very low. A medicine for high cholesterol wasn’t needed! I wrote her doctor to tell him that her arteries were fine on retinal photography, that vitamin C and vitamin E would dissolve her plaque without any side effects, and that she would definitely live longer by taking the vitamins.

After decades of taking statins, trusting patients don’t know and never ask if life-extension claims exist for them. A recent paper concluded that statins are “better in secondary than primary prevention.” You have to have a first heart attack to perhaps benefit in preventing a second!

Perhaps after a first heart attack, you also do a few other things, like eating less!

I photographed her retinal arteries and sent a photo to her physician, who replied that the National Health Service (NHS) director took a dim view of an optometrist’s meddling.

I didn’t mind being reported to the NHS. I had already been refused a new license because I refused to stop telling people that their arterial disease is reversible and bypass operations avoidable.

Unfortunately, seeing what is not there is difficult. Everyone knows that there is “good” and “bad” cholesterol. Why is there never any good cholesterol in food?

I saw my ophthalmologist this week and asked if there were any signs of macular degeneration.

“No.” she said.

“Eggs are good.” I said. “They have lots of lutein and zeaxanthin.”

“Too much cholesterol!” she replied.

Annoyed, I said, “But the Masai eat nothing but red meat, blood, and milk and then win Olympic marathons to prove they have the best hearts in the world.

She didn’t answer.

Dr. Bush practices optometry in the U.K. His website is LifeExtensionOptometry.org

via Wikimedia Commons)”]

LEDUM: The most important homeopathic remedy for puncture wounds. (I. Sacek senior [Public domain

Ledum palustre, marsh tea, is a flowering plant. In North America, it is found in Canada and Alaska. It is one of the most important homeopathic remedies for puncture wounds.

Tetanus, a dreaded disease caused by Clostridium tetani, was a serious problem in the past. Descombey developed tetanus toxoid vaccine in 1924. The use of tetanus toxoid during World War II was credited with the very low rate of tetanus associated with battle-related injuries.

Before the introduction of tetanus toxoid vaccine, homeopathic physicians had successfully prevented tetanus by using the homeopathic remedy Ledum.

James Tyler Kent, M.D., writes in the Lectures of Homeopathic Materia Medica (1904): “The horse sometimes steps on a nail. If that nail goes through and strikes the margin of the coffin bone, tetanus will follow. It is known to be almost sure death. Put Ledum on the tongue of that horse and there will not be any trouble for it prevents such conditions.”

Since most people today were vaccinated against tetanus when they were young and have booster shots about every 10 years, the demand for Ledum for tetanus prophylaxis is small. However, those parents who choose to avoid having their children vaccinated have the option of considering Ledum for tetanus prophylaxis if one of their unvaccinated children experiences a puncture wound.

Ledum is also indicated if a person is experiencing arthritic pain that is accompanied by restlessness and is diminished by cold applications or immersing the limb in ice water.

Perhaps the most commonly used current indication for Ledum is in the treatment of Lyme disease in animals and humans.

A homeopathic vet who treats pets all over the country told me that, in his experience, Ledum is the most commonly indicated homeopathic remedy in the treatment of pets with Lyme disease.

More than 10 years ago, my wife had Lyme disease three times and I had it twice. For both of us, Ledum was the indicated remedy. After taking Ledum, our symptoms were gone, and we have had no recurrences since.

Some of the interesting symptoms we experienced were the inability to find a comfortable position while trying to sleep, the inability to sleep due to pain, and a partial paralysis of the limbs.

While Ledum is not the only homeopathic remedy indicated for Lyme disease, it is probably the most commonly indicated remedy.

In this homeopathic physician’s experience, Ledum can make the symptoms disappear in patients with blood-test-documented Lyme disease and can make the Lyme blood-test results go from positive to negative.

Of course, this only occurs in those patients for whom Ledum is indicated. Ledum will not work where another homeopathic remedy is indicated instead.

Please consult your physician before starting any form of treatment.

THE GOOD LIFE: When people think of quitting smoking, they often recall the good times they will miss: a cigarette after a meal or with a drink or coffee with their friends. (Photos.com)

Cigarette smoking is generally unhealthy, and smokers who stop are usually taking a big step forward in enhancing their health and decreasing disease risk in the long term.

Stopping smoking is not always a bed of roses. First of all, some people struggle with withdrawal symptoms. And many individuals find that stopping smoking can trigger an unwelcome weight gain.

Today, I came across a study published in March in Obesity that assessed health in smokers, never-smokers, and ex-smokers. The presence of metabolic syndrome was addressed as were the levels of visceral fat (fat in and around the abdominal organs) and subcutaneous fat (fat under the skin).

Overall, metabolic syndrome was found to be more common in ex-smokers compared to current smokers and never-smokers. Ex-smokers also tended to have higher levels of visceral and subcutaneous fat.

This study was epidemiological in nature, which means we cannot use it to conclude that stopping smoking leads to worsening health in terms of fat levels and risk of metabolic syndrome. However, fat accumulation after stopping smoking is a common experience, and it seems likely that the obvious benefits of stopping smoking may be somewhat offset by changes in fat levels, particularly with regard to visceral fat.

I am an ex-smoker, having started this habit at the age of 13. By the age of 14, I smoked regularly, usually three or four cigarettes a day. By the time I stopped for good, I was smoking about 30 cigarettes a day.

I attempted several times to stop smoking prior to my doing so completely in 1987. Here’s what I remember about those attempts:

•  Terrible withdrawal symptoms, which meant I would spend much of the day thinking about cigarettes.
• Withdrawal symptoms that would last for many weeks before I caved in and started smoking again.
• A voracious appetite to the extent that I had what seemed like permanent hunger no matter how much I ate.

This month marked the 24th anniversary of my stopping smoking. While stopping smoking had some challenges for me at that time, what I recollect was that the withdrawal symptoms were relatively mild and short-lived, and I don’t remember any increase in appetite.

Yet I was withdrawing from a 30-cigarettes-a-day habit. Paradoxically, this was so much easier than quitting a three- or five-a-day habit in my teens. When I finally stopped, I did not use any form of nicotine replacement either. So why the difference?

I’ll never know for sure, but I think a lot of it had to do with the book I read that sparked my stopping. The book—“The Easy Way to Stop Smoking,” by Allen Carr— takes a largely psychological approach to kicking the habit.

I only read the book in its entirety once, but I still remember aspects of it. Part of the reason for this is that the book is quite repetitive—and it needs to be to break down some of the mental barriers some of us have to stopping.

The crux of the book is that many of us attempt to stop smoking expecting it to be hell. We expect to miss the positive aspects of smoking, such as certain social aspects, and imagine how we might feel bereft of a cigarette when drinking alcohol or coffee or relaxing after a meal. 

The book encourages the reader to take a positive attitude to stopping smoking by concentrating on all the good things about not smoking, such as the freedom it brings, enhanced health, and increased self-esteem. The book also makes the point that if you don’t feel you’re missing something by not smoking, there’s less tendency to replace cigarettes with something else (like food).

I have no idea if this thinking made the difference when I finally stopped smoking for good, but I have a feeling it had a lot to do with it. And to this day, when talking to people about stopping smoking, I almost always suggest two things:

• Getting one’s mind in the right place, particularly focusing on the positive aspects of stopping smoking.
• Reading Allen Carr’s book.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com

A study by scientists at the University of Massachusetts, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Bender Institute of Neuroimaging in Germany found that deep meditation for 27 minutes a day for eight weeks produced changes in the areas of the brain associated with memory, empathy, and stress.

Dr. Britta Hölzel was the lead author of the study, published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging on Jan. 30. She says, “It’s fascinating to see the plasticity of the brain, and the practice of meditation can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase prosperity and the quality of life.”

“Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of tranquility and physical relaxation, doctors have long argued that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,” says Dr. Sara Lazar, a coauthor of the study.

Sixteen people participated in the study. They underwent a brain scan two weeks before and two weeks after the study. The magnetic resonance images of the brain structures of the individuals showed an increase in gray-matter density in the hippocampus, the area of the brain that deals with memory, emotions, spacial orientation, and navigation.

Meditation’s major benefits are being discovered by those who practice in a continuous, disciplined, and dedicated manner.

Meditation is done by sitting comfortably with one’s back straight and tension-free and having a positive, sincere, and respectful attitude. A  suitable environment and proper position is essential for successful meditation. It’s helpful to have a good guide or instructions from a master.

Falun Gong, a traditional Chinese practice of mind, body, and spirit, includes exercises and meditation that refine the body and mind, allowing one to enter deep tranquility. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a form of qigong, which has roots in China’s ancient culture.

The aim of many forms of meditation practice is to awaken one’s inner wisdom and to live harmoniously with others.

In July 1977, the American Psychological Association recognized meditation as an important healing agent and a facilitator of the therapeutic process.

DEMI-PLIE: Start in this position, then straighten your legs and rise to the balls of your feet to the releve position while tensing the buttocks. (Photos.com)

Pelvic strengthening and aligning (PSA). These exercises should be performed several times daily. They can be practiced whenever there is free time. This can be accomplished while standing in lines, waiting for busses or trains, or even while brushing the teeth.

If one is unfamiliar with these exercises, they should initially be practiced in front of a mirror or with the guidance of an instructor or a physician who can correct postural errors. These maneuvers are actually two sets of complementary dance exercises called the demi-plié and the reléve.

The demi-plié and reléve are classical ballet exercises, which, when performed correctly, will strengthen, balance, and align the bones and muscles of the pelvis, sacrum, and low back.

These exercises must be performed with active (isometric) tightening of the muscles of the buttocks against the resistance of the pelvis (this postural counter-pressure is known to dance students as tucking).

Demi-pliés and reléves should be performed in alteration, in sets of five, several times daily. It is essential that these maneuvers be performed with active tension in the buttocks, pelvis, and thighs while breathing with the abdominal and diaphragm muscles (forced diaphragmatic breathing, or FDB) in a neutral posture.

Correct alignment of the knees and ankles (classical ballet first or second positions) with an upright back should be practiced. The position should feel neutral and comfortable.

All three of these exercises should be performed regularly, using conscious, slow, intentional movements with the emphasis on remaining balanced. The exercises should not be performed strenuously or with too-rapid exertion.

The goal of these maneuvers is to correct alignment, maintain postural integrity, and strengthen the back and its support systems. The goal is not to increase muscle mass, body sculpt, or build endurance.

These physical modalities along with classical homeopathic treatment have proven to be extremely helpful in treating and speeding recovery from acute and chronic back injuries and preventing recurrences of back injury. These techniques help maintain the strength and integrity of the entire back and pelvis so that common strain patterns and chronic injuries are avoided and corrected.

These exercises, when used together, strengthen the core muscles of the back, buttocks, abdomen, and pelvis to such a degree that the back is protected from careless injuries of imbalance and overstrain.

These simple techniques coupled with classical homeopathic treatment and other CAM [complementary and alternative medicine] modalities are excellent alternatives to conventional treatments. Using these techniques, chronic patterns can be alleviated, and a healthier, pain-free back can be maintained in most circumstances.

Conclusion. Low back pain is a common medical complaint. Most cases arise from unknown causes, but some can be the result of serious pathology. A full medical evaluation is necessary to determine if pathology is the cause.  

Many conventional treatments for back pain act by masking symptoms and leading to chronic patterns of illness and drug use.

Classical homeopathic medicine is particularly helpful and should be given careful consideration as an extremely safe and effective option in resolving acute and chronic cases.

Daily use of three specific back-strengthening exercises—forced diaphragmatic breathing, controlled isometric walking, and pelvic strengthening and aligning—can be extremely effective in speeding the resolution of back symptoms and preventing recurrences of injury and strain.

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician and internist who practices in New York. He is a clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at New York Medical College. His website is Homeopathicmd.com

Learning another language could help delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease by up to five years, according to research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science last week.

The study was carried out on 211 Alzheimer's sufferers by a team of Canadian researchers, including Dr. Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor from University of York in Toronto. Age at onset of cognitive impairment was recorded, along with language history, with 102 patients classified as bilingual and 109 as monolingual.

The team found that the bilingual patients had been diagnosed an average of 4.3 years later and had reported the onset of symptoms 5.1 years later than the monolingual patients. There appeared to be no effect from other factors such as education, gender, occupational status, or immigration.

“Instead, our results show that people who have been lifelong bilinguals have built up a cognitive reserve that allows them to cope with the disease for a longer period of time before showing symptoms,” Bialystok said.

The ability of patients to speak more than one language appears to "contribute to cognitive reserve, which acts to compensate for the accumulation of amyloid and other brain pathologies," according to the study. These compensatory skills can combat symptoms such as memory loss and confusion.

“Overall, bilingualism should be seen as an important tool for healthy aging, along with exercise, diet, and other lifestyle choices,” Bialystok said. “It’s also another reason to encourage people in multicultural societies like ours to keep speaking their native tongue and pass it along to their children."

"Once the disease begins to compromise this region of the brain, bilinguals can continue to function," Bialystok said, according to Fox News. "Bilingualism is protecting older adults, even after Alzheimer's disease is beginning to affect cognitive function."

The study suggests that maintaining an active lifestyle in terms of social, mental, and physical engagement can help to protect against the development of dementia by contributing to "cognitive reserve."

Some of the study's findings are published in the November 9, 2010 issue of the journal Neurology.

CONTROLLED ISOMETRIC WALKING: This kind of walking is especially beneficial to help reduce back pain. (Photos.com)

All cases of back pain require thorough evaluation by appropriately trained medical personnel to rule out serious, life-threatening causes of back pain or risk of neurological damage. Once this has been accomplished, homeopathic and physical therapy modalities can be confidently applied.

Analgesic, narcotic, and NSAID pain-relief treatments are best avoided since these medications slow down healing, are associated with increased pain sensation, and cause other undesirable effects.

Homeopathic treatment should be individualized to the exact mechanism, sensory awareness, and symptoms. Generic prescriptions of homeopathic medicines are rarely helpful in these situations and lead to the false impression that homeopathic treatment is little more than placebo treatment.

A series of specific physical-therapy exercises should be instituted to treat back pain and prevent recurrences. These exercises are described below. They include a combination of three simple techniques that are most effective when utilized preventively on a daily basis even when back pain no longer exists.

These exercises are helpful not only in alleviating pain and assisting the body in the reparative process but also in preventing future back injuries since they work by strengthening the back and pelvis and promoting healthier dynamics, which help prevent injury. The exercises include:

• Forced diaphragmatic breathing
• Controlled isometric walking
• Pelvic strengthening and aligning

Forced Diaphragmatic Breathing (FDB). This type of breathing should be utilized in association with the other two exercises described in this section. FDB involves a conscious breathing process that expands the abdomen and forces the abdominal muscles to stretch outward while inhaling (as if the belly were being inflated with air).

This action is followed by a contraction of the abdominal muscles (pulling them in) while forcing air out of the lungs during exhalation.

FDB requires an active, strenuous, and conscious participation in the breathing process. This method of breathing is counterintuitive for most people since it utilizes the muscles of respiration in a system that is opposite to the way in which they breathe naturally.

Most people breathe unconsciously, primarily by utilizing the intercostal muscles of the chest wall. This allows the abdomen and the diaphragm to play a secondary, passive role in respiration.

Unconscious breathing allows the diaphragm to weaken and atrophy, but FDB actively strengthens it and recruits the core muscles of the abdomen to contract. This technique can be utilized frequently throughout the day when sitting, walking, and standing. It should also be used with the following two exercises.

Controlled Isometric Walking (CIW). This exercise should be performed with FDB whenever possible. CIW can be used as a once-a-day exercise, or it can be done whenever walking.

This exercise combines FDB with a variation of power walking. The technique blends walking with a conscious voluntary contraction of selected opposing muscle groups of the torso and limbs. The process of CIW involves walking, performing FDB, and simultaneously flexing and extending opposing muscle groups against each other.

Examples of this technique include contracting the buttocks while walking and simultaneously tightening the abdominal muscles; walking while contracting the biceps against the resistance of the triceps and vice-versa; and contracting the pectorals against the resistance of the rotator cuffs, upper back, and rhomboids.

In other words, one consciously emphasizes the forced contraction of different opposing muscle groups to simultaneously resist each other. This provides resistance for both sets of muscles as they act as counterweights for each other. These resistance and counter-resistance exercises are done while gently walking in a neutral, upright posture.

Any opposing muscle groups can be utilized in this process, but the muscles of the buttocks and abdomen must ALWAYS form the main component of this activity.

The goal of this activity is to strengthen and tone muscles of the core and skeleton in a balanced and controlled manner. The use of hand weights or resistance tools is not recommended since these adjuncts may overstress the body, causing imbalance and injury in the process.

These resistance exercises help strengthen the back in a safe and sustainable fashion that will not usually result in imbalance or injury of the skeleton or core musculature because the body provides its own counterweight to each exercise. If one muscle group provides the resistance for another group, the body is unlikely to overstress, unbalance, or injure itself.

The CIW technique requires active, conscious intent, and it cannot be accomplished without full, ongoing concentration. Distraction usually leads to a failure in active muscle recruitment and less exercise, as opposed to injury from inattention when weights are used.

Next week: Pelvic strengthening and aligning, conclusion

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician and internist who practices in New York. He is a clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at New York Medical College. His website is Homeopathicmd.com

Graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) could moderately improve outcomes for chronic fatigue syndrome, according to a new British study. (Photos.com)

Two types of therapies were found to alleviate chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) symptoms and help patients with CFS cope with their conditions, a recent British study has found.

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET), combined with specialized medical care, could “moderately improve outcomes for chronic fatigue syndrome,” which is characterized by excessive and debilitating fatigue and aches, according to the study, which was published online in the medical journal The Lancet on Feb. 18.

Cognitive behavior therapy attempts to alter the way patients think about their fatigue, while graded exercise therapy attempts to intensify physical activity step-by-step to help combat their chronic fatigue, MedicineNet reported.

"Patients who received either graded exercise therapy or cognitive behavior therapy reported less fatigue and better function than those who received either adaptive pacing therapy or specialist medical care alone,” study author Peter D. White, professor of psychological medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine, said, according to HealthDay.

The benefits of cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise therapy outweighed any potential risks, said Gijs Bleijenberg and Hans Knoop of the Expert Centre for Chronic Fatigue of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, in an accompanying commentary.

“Few patients receiving cognitive behavior therapy or graded exercise therapy in the … trial had serious adverse reactions, and no more than those receiving adaptive pacing therapy or standard medical care," Bleijenberg and Knoop wrote in a Lancet editorial, according to MedicineNet.

"This finding is important and should be communicated to patients to dispel unnecessary concerns about the possible detrimental effects of cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise therapy, which will hopefully be a useful reminder of the potential positive effects of both interventions."

According to the US National Institutes of Health and National Library of Medicine, there is currently no cure for chronic fatigue syndrome, and doctors and scientists are unsure of the exact cause.

MASSAGE: A good foot massage is one way to treat back pain. (Chris Weeks/Getty Images for Chaum Center)

Back pain is defined as pain felt in the back and originating in the muscles, nerves, bones, joints, or other structures of the spine.

Back pain is the subjective experience of pain in the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or sacral areas of the spine. Almost 98 percent of back pain cases are the result of unknown causes.

Only a small proportion (2 percent) of cases occur as a result of serious pathology, which can include herniated discs, cancer, infection, or other identifiable causes. Nine out of ten people report at least one episode of back pain in their lives.

Low back pain (LBP), or lumbago, affects 80 percent of the population and accounts for more sick leave and disability than any other medical condition. In the United States, lower back pain is the No. 1 reason for individuals younger than 45 to limit physical activity.

It is the second-most common complaint in physicians’ offices. Most patients with acute lower back pain recover completely over a few weeks regardless of treatment modality.

A number of approaches used to treat back pain have gained favor and have been recommended with varying degrees of success. Conventional treatment of back pain typically includes analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), and muscle relaxants. In chronic cases, narcotics, antidepressants, physical therapy, facet injections, and even surgery have been used.

Conventional treatment of back pain is, for the most part, a failure. According to researchers at the Pain Research Center at University of Utah and the chairman of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, “almost everybody” now suffers from chronic pain, including back pain. Conventional medication, a “mainstay” of treatment, is one of the reasons for this.

Pharmaceuticals actually worsen pain over time. Use of most of these medicines causes an increase in pain sensitivity, slows down the body’s healing response, and leads to the well-known tendency to escalate use and eventually abuse these drugs.

It’s no wonder that many people overuse these drugs on a daily basis since pharmaceutical marketing strategies permeate the media with information suggesting that these drugs should be part of a normal daily routine. Our culture has become dependent upon medications for pain relief.

More of these medications are now used by more people than ever before in the history of mankind. As a result, we now suffer from more symptoms of pain and more chronic illness than ever before in history.

These medications are dispensed and used for even simple, self-limiting maladies. Many people would rather take a medication than correct their lifestyle, alter their exercise regimen, or change their diet to correct an imbalance.

With the exception of physical therapy, which offers some mechanical rehabilitative benefit, most conventional treatments of back pain carry significant risks of side effects and long-term injury. This is why a number of complementary and alternative (CAM) modalities have gained significant popularity. Many of these modalities have been recognized by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), but some have not.

Effective CAM modalities for treatment of back pain include:

•       Acupuncture
•       Exercise
•       Herbs
•       Naturopathy
•       Behavioral therapy
•       Alexander technique
•       Feldenkrais
•       Chiropractic spinal manipulation
•       Osteopathic manipulative medicine
•       Massage
•       Yoga
•       Tai chi and qigong
•       Relaxation, meditation, and visualization

Not commonly listed, classical homeopathic medicine (CHM) offers a unique, safe, and effective means of treating back pain. CHM is, by definition, individualized to the specific modalities, characteristics, and totality of symptoms of each individual. Homeopathy has been proven to be more effective than either placebo or physical therapy in treating patients with back pain.

HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES (Louise McCoy/The Epoch Times)

I have found that most cases of back pain respond well to a combination of specific preventive physical-therapy modalities, coupled with individualized CHM. Using these two complementary modalities together offers the opportunity to create lasting improvement and freedom from relapses while stabilizing underlying mechanical imbalances.

All this can be achieved without the use of conventional pain medication if one is willing to address the cause rather than the symptoms of the condition.

Next week: Part 2 on evaluation and treatment of back pain.

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician and internist who practices in New York. He is a clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at New York Medical College. His website is homeopathicmd.com

NUX VOMICA: This homeopathic remedy has many uses. (Koehler's Medizinal-Pflanzen)

Nux vomica, a homeopathic remedy made from the poison-nut tree, has been used for more than 200 years. Samuel Hahnemann, M.D., the founder of the homeopathic school of medical practice, described this remedy in his work “Materia Medica Pura,” in 1811.

A patient was in his hospital room following surgery. He asked why he was in the hospital, didn’t want to be there, and attempted to get up to leave.

On experiencing pain in the leg that was just operated on, he winced and lay back down.

“Open your mouth,” I said. He did, and I put a dose of Nux vomica on this tongue. Within 30 seconds, the patient was sleeping peacefully. What happened?

He had general anesthesia for his operation. General anesthesia, one of the great contributions of modern medicine, has a side effect—liver toxicity. In this case, the patient was demonstrating liver toxicity by an irritable mood, which was quite uncharacteristic.

Nux vomica antidoted this toxicity, and the patient went to sleep. On waking up later, his mellow demeanor returned.

An elderly physician who liked to drink one to three cups of coffee a day complained that although he got to sleep quickly at night, he would wake up at 3 a.m. and had difficulty getting back to sleep. When he finally got back to sleep, he woke up the next morning feeling that he had not had enough sleep.

After taking a dose of Nux vomica for several days before he went to sleep, he reported that his sleep was much improved, despite the fact that he continued to drink coffee.

Coffee is a liver toxin. Waking up at 3 a.m. is a common symptom for people whose liver is not functioning optimally. Nux vomica is a liver detoxifier. During the day, he toxified his liver with coffee, and he detoxified his liver before sleep with Nux vomica.

The wife of an alcoholic physician was distraught and didn’t know how to help her husband get over his addiction. She consulted a homeopathic physician (not Dr. McCoy) who suggested that the wife put a dose of Nux vomica in the bottle of whatever alcohol the husband was imbibing.

She did so, and in a matter of months, the alcoholic physician lost his desire to drink, joined AA, and remained sober for the rest of his life.

Nux vomica has a history of making alcohol less attractive to those who imbibe too much.

Disclaimer: The above are just a few vignettes demonstrating what homeopathic treatment can do. No recommendation is being given for anyone to prescribe for oneself or others homeopathic remedies. For any health problem, please consult your physician before beginning any treatment.

LILT: This patient is receiving low intensity laser light therapy. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

Why was it so hard for me to have a good night’s sleep? It wasn’t the continuing uncertain state of the economy. Rather, every time I rolled over in bed, my shoulder reminded me it wasn’t happy.

This wouldn’t have happened if I’d been smarter and taken my own advice about prevention. But luckily, low intensity laser therapy (LILT) has saved me from surgery a second time.    

Several years ago, I became involved with trap shooting. I enjoyed the eye-to-hand coordination that’s required, but one day I got careless and shot too many rounds. That’s when the excessive recoil of the gun caused a rotator cuff tear (RCT) in my shoulder. I would have told anyone else to lock up the gun for several weeks to allow healing. But I didn’t do it.  

What is the rotator cuff and why is it so prone to injury? One problem is that the shoulder joint moves in more directions than any other. This requires a complex array of muscles and tendons to connect the humerus (the upper bone of the arm) with the shoulder blade. So placing too much stress or too much repetitive work on the rotator cuff muscles often leads to a tear and painful nights.

RCTs can occur at any age and under a variety of circumstances. One of my friends can no longer use an overhand serve in tennis because of this injury. Another friend decided to use his arms rather than a winch to lift supplies onto his boat and is now sleeping poorly.

Jobs involving lifting, such as those in the construction business or hobbies that place undue demand on the shoulders, often trigger RCTs. And although this injury can happen at any age, it’s more likely to occur as the rotator cuff ages.

Disability depends on the severity and location of the rotator cuff injury. The main complaint is pain that prohibits certain movements.

One of my patients, only half joking, said, “I really need a scotch-and-soda before I try to put on my coat.” Reaching over the head or behind the back is often impossible due to intense pain. And, if there’s a major tear, muscle weakness follows.

Several years ago, I reported that a spinal disk suddenly ruptured in my lumbar spine. It caused a pain that left me crawling on my hands and knees. None of the usual methods of treatment helped to decrease the pain, and it appeared that major surgery would be required. This did not appeal to me.

Finally, I located Dr. Fred Kahn, an internationally known pioneer in the use of LILT. It’s a non-invasive treatment that relieved the back pain and had me standing up again after 15 treatments.

LILT is also useful in treating patients suffering from degenerative arthritis, neck pain, tendinitis, and sports injuries. Fortunately for me, it has also healed my rotator cuff injury and I’m back shooting.

LILT gives a jump-start to the healing process by delivering energy to the muscles and joints that is then translated into biochemical energy. This decreases swelling and accelerates healing.

It also triggers the release of endorphins, morphine-like substances that inhibit pain sensations. And by increasing cortisol, the forerunner of cortisone, a potent anti-inflammatory effect is activated and also an increase in the formation of new blood vessels. 

It’s unfortunate that although LILT speeds up the healing of diabetic ulcers, physicians are not utilizing it. This could save thousands of dollars in treating this chronic condition. 

Next time, I’ll take my own advice that prevention is better than cure and temporarily put the gun aside. I don’t plan on pushing my luck a third time. The same advice applies to those who have jobs or sporting activities that require repetitive shoulder motions. If it starts hurting, it’s time for a rest.  

Dr. Gifford-Jones is a medical journalist with a private medical practice in Toronto.

His website is Docgiff.com. He may be contacted at Info@docgiff.com.  

COCONUT CURE: One acne treatment is coconut oil. (Oel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

If you had a choice of remedies for acne, would you choose lauric-acid-filled nanobombs delivered by gold nanoparticles straight to the membrane of the offending acne bacteria? Or would you choose to apply coconut oil to your face and let nature take its course?

Lauric acid is only one of the antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral substances in coconut oil. If you chose the nanobombs, go to Sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100414184224.htm.

One would wonder why anyone would choose a medication using nanoparticles to deliver part of a natural substance (coconut oil) that contains even more ingredients with skin-healing properties: capric acid and vitamin E. Although nanoparticles are now being used to deliver medications to certain bodily sites, their long-term side effects are little-known.

On “Coconut Oil Reviews,” Acne.org/coconut-oil-reviews/474/page5.html, 28 people shared their experiences using unrefined, organic, extra-virgin coconut oil.

Not all of them had acne—some had dry skin or eczema—but most of them were benefited even though there were several individual methods of application. Some would wash their face, apply a little oil, either steam their face or just wait a few minutes, and then wipe it off. Others left it on overnight.

There was a wide variation in sensitivity to the oil. Four people found coconut oil made their acne worse, but most found the oil brought noticeable improvement.

The benefits they reported, along with clearing up acne, were healing scars, making pores smaller, and causing wrinkles to disappear. Generally, the total health of the skin is enhanced by coconut oil.

Although acne was greatly improved or cured in 21 cases, some broke out in whiteheads and stopped putting the oil on their faces. One waited two weeks before stopping. Others felt this was a detoxifying event and allowed the whiteheads to clear up.

Several people felt the oil was unsuitable to put on the face, at least at first, and used it on legs, arms, hands, and feet. For those who can put coconut oil on their faces, it does not cause the eyes to smart as many creams and oils do. Some chose to eat it—from 2 to 6 tablespoons a day, in smoothies, on ice cream, in soups, or just plain

Coconut oil has not been widely recommended by the media. One person had had acne for 25 years before discovering this use of the oil. For others, it was 12 and 7 years.

Coconut oil is very greasy and shiny when first applied, which almost everyone listed as a con. This did not prevent some from rubbing it all over their bodies after a shower, putting on flannel sleepwear, going to bed, and waking up with silky skin in the morning.

The oil is a solid up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Warmer than that, it becomes liquid. Most people found a little bit goes a long way. Since it is nontoxic, it can be applied daily, even several times a day.

“Coconut Oil Reviews” mainly addressed coconut oil and acne, but many other skin conditions respond to coconut oil. See: Coconutdiet.com/skin_health.htm. It could be the dermatologist’s best friend or worst enemy. After a while, people would tell their friends, and, since it isn’t a prescription item, dermatologists might have to take up another specialty.

A tractor hauling a trailer of beetroot. Borscht, a beetroot soup, is very popular in Europe. (Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images)

Dementia could be preventable with a daily drink of beet juice, a study conducted by scientists at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, suggests.

Researchers at the university’s Translational Science Center found that consumption of high-nitrate foods, including beets and leafy greens like celery and spinach, can help improve blood flow and subsequently oxygen supply in the brain, according to a press statement released by the university on Tuesday.

The "friendly" bacteria in people’s mouths convert nitrates into nitrites which act on the body’s blood vessels, causing them to vasodilate or open up. The scientists believe this can help “poorly perfused” areas of the aging brain, believed to be associated with reduced function and dementia.

Several studies have already shown that drinking beet juice can reduce blood pressure. This study investigated the effects of dietary nitrates on 14 participants aged 70 and over during a four-day test period.

The patients began days one and two with either a high—or low—nitrate breakfast, after fasting and having a health status check and a nitrite level blood test.

An hour later, the blood flow in their brains was measured using MRI scans. Their nitrite blood levels were tested again, and the participants went home with prepared meals containing the corresponding level of nitrites for each test group.

The scans revealed that blood flow increased in the white matter of the frontal lobes in study participants on the high-nitrate diet. In dementia and other degenerative diseases, this part of the brain is most commonly affected.

"I think these results are consistent and encouraging—that good diet consisting of a lot of fruits and vegetables can contribute to overall good health," said senior investigator Gary Miller, associate professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science, in a statement.

The university has teamed up with a company to create a better-tasting beet juice that will encourage more people to take this health-giving drink, and is also working on marketing it.

The team’s findings are available online in Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, the peer-reviewed journal of the Nitric Oxide Society, and will be published in print soon.

SUNNING: Exposure to sunlight is one way to keep away the winter blues. (Theo Heimann/AFP/Getty Images)

In the U.K., many of us are acutely aware that the days are already noticeably shorter. One of the risks associated with shorter days is lowered mood or full-blown seasonal affective disorder (SAD, also known as the winter blues).

Some people are more susceptible to this than others. For those who can feel down in the dumps in the winter, I suggest being aware of the potential impact lack of light has on mood.

The issue here is that many of us, in the depths of winter, can go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. So if we don’t get out at lunchtime, we run the risk of getting no sunlight exposure at all.

This is not a good state of affairs. One simple strategy for helping combat SAD or more muted versions of this condition is to make a commitment to getting out at lunchtime for half an hour or so.

Even on a dull day, the light intensity outside generally far exceeds anything you’re going to find in an office. Plus, the spectrum of the light coming from the sun is generally more conducive to having benefits for mood and well-being.

Research published in November 2008 in Depression and Anxiety showed evidence that suggests that the blue part of the spectrum is most effective for combating SAD.

A review regarding the management of SAD was published in November last year in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

One of the treatments assessed by this review was light therapy. The article quotes a systematic review published in April 2005 in the American Journal of Psychiatry of eight controlled trials lasting 7 to 42 days that found positive results across the board.

It also cited another review published in October 2009 by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence that found that bright-light therapy offered considerable benefits compared to no light but no statistically significant benefits compared to control treatments, such as exposure to sham light boxes or dim red light.

The suggestion from this review is that bright-light therapy may work primarily through the placebo effect. As I have stated before, if this is the case, then I don’t care and neither do my patients.

However, it is possible that any real effect was not discerned as a result of factors such as poor study design, inappropriate use of controls, and small participant numbers.

In short, I wouldn’t hesitate recommending that individuals who get SAD or something similar in the winter apply some light therapy from about now until well into spring. I will be taking my own advice, for what it’s worth.

One of the reasons for writing about this review is that it mentions a type of natural treatment for SAD that I was not previously aware of—the use of negative-ion generators.

Negative ions are found more abundantly in the air after a storm, in humid, plant-rich environments, and by the sea. Negative ions are believed by some to have benefits on mood and well-being. Positive ions, on the other hand, have the reverse effect and are found abundantly in heated and air-conditioned internal environments.

In one study published in the January 1995 issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, individuals with SAD were subjected to generators that gave off high levels (2.7 x 10⁶ ions per cubic centimeter) or low levels (10⁴ ions per cubic centimeter) of negative ions.

Fifty-eight percent of those exposed to higher levels of negative ions achieved remission of their SAD compared to 15 percent in the other group. The result was statistically significant.

One other natural approach worth trying concerns vitamin D. One study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine in September 2008 showed vitamin D therapy given to overweight individuals led to significant improvement in depressive symptoms during the course of the study.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is Drbriffa.com

BILL WILSON: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. (Courtesy of Hazelden publishing.)

The Book That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous [AA], Hazelden's new release, is a copy of the 1939 version of Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered From Alcoholism. Through its original edits, the book shows that AA’s simple steps were far from simple.

We asked Sid Farrar, the book’s editor and Hazelden’s editorial director, how the handwritten exchanges in the book reveal the philosophies that have kept the 12-step fellowship effective.

Martha Rosenberg: The Book That Started It All contains high-resolution photostats of original edits in many different colors, including plain pencil. There are comments and even disagreements written in the margins. Do we know who wrote the remarks and who was the final arbiter?

Sid Farrar: Bill Wilson’s handwriting [the founder of AA, also known as Bill W.] is somewhat recognizable in places, and there is a wonderful note at the beginning of the book from his wife, Lois. The identity of the other editors could not be known without a handwriting analysis.

As far as who was the final editor, Bill Wilson sent the original manuscript to 400 people for their input. All the remarks were incorporated by all the editors working with Bill Wilson at the time, and there was no single author. This was an early example of the group conscience that still governs AA today—that no one is in charge, and “leaders are trusted servants who do not govern.” It also reflects that members are anonymous.

Ms. Rosenberg: The book Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly referred to as The Big Book, is still in wide use today, and the individual stories in the back of the book have not changed much since the first edition. What are the biggest changes in the front of the book from the way it was originally written to the way it appears today?

Mr. Farrar: One of the most pervasive changes that readers will see is the transition from the “you” voice to the “we” voice. Instead of giving directives to people trying to recover from alcoholism and telling them “you need to do this,” text was changed to the “we” voice of the fellowship, to show by example.

Ms. Rosenberg: Suggestions rather than orders or commandments? Like “We have found this works for us?”

Mr. Farrar: Yes. The nonjudgmental tone is also seen in a passage which had read, “God has to work 24 hours a day in and through us, or we perish” in the early part of the book. This was deleted by an anonymous member who wrote, “Who are we to say what God has to do?”

Ms. Rosenberg: There are other parts of the 1939 version that are also uncomfortably judgmental. In the “How It Works” section, it originally said something like, If we haven’t convinced you by now that you are an alcoholic, reread this book or else throw it away!

Mr. Farrar: Even the 12 steps, which to many members seem to have come down from above, were edited to be less directive. Step 7 [Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings] had originally contained the phrase “on our knees,” which was also deleted.

Ms. Rosenberg: AA is credited with evolving the public view of an alcoholic from a sinner who needs redemption to an ailing person who needs recovery. Getting on your knees in a traditional supplicant pose could have turned off a lot of people and not just atheists.

Mr. Farrar: By the time Bill Wilson left the Oxford Group, which had used stronger Christian language, he already had a sense of needing to acknowledge that some alcoholics were atheists and agnostics and the need for religious inclusiveness if AA were to reach any problem drinker. Remember, he is the one who wrote the “Chapter to the Agnostic” in The Big Book.

Ms. Rosenberg: What other surprises are found in “The Book That Started it All” besides battles over “you” and “we” and getting down on your knees.

Mr. Farrar: There are some fascinating essays about the history of AA and a complete annotation of the 1939 manuscript. There is also the text of a speech that Bill Wilson delivered in 1954 that has never been released. He was expected to talk about the “Traditions” but he ended up reminiscing about how The Big Book came about. … The CD of that speech is also available.

Ms. Rosenberg: Few people have heard Bill Wilson speak! What was he like?

Mr. Farrar: Kind of what you would expect—down to earth, a great sense of humor, and very articulate.

Martha Rosenberg is a journalist who lives in Chicago.

ALMADEUS STAR GIOELI: Author of 'Cancer Is Good for You.'(Courtesy of Almadeus Star Gioeli)

After watching doctors fail to cure his father’s cancer and then trying himself to find the answer through six years of biomedical cancer research, Almadeus Star Gioeli immersed himself in classic mysticism. Years later, during a prayerful fasting retreat, Gioeli finally experienced a comprehensive revelation about cancer that he later detailed in his book Cancer Is Good for You.

Gioeli felt that he understood not only the cause and cure for cancer but also the nature of cancer itself. Gioeli suggests that a toxin-challenged body, which is the result of an unhealthy lifestyle, habits, and environment, is programmed with the intelligence to create a new organ, a tumor, to normalize unhealthy blood chemistry.

The tumor does this “by transforming the noxious chemical[s] into a product which can be managed by the other normal organs and tissues or utilized by other cells, organs, or systems.” “And the product created by the new organ [tumor] may be excreted or secreted out of the blood stream and out of the body. Sometimes, the tumor itself is an excretory organ, which dumps toxins out of the skin or into the bowels,” writes Gioeli.

Gioeli coined the term “organomutagenesis” to replace the word “cancer.” “In extreme cases of life-threatening blood disorder or toxicity, the radical biological response of organomutagenesis is predictable. Organomutagenesis is a biological, programmed process of creating a unique, original organ [a tumor] to correct the disorder or toxicity.

“The survival-motivated process has been misdiagnosed as cancer for decades, if not centuries. Malignancy occurs when organomutagenesis fails to produce a successful new organ. Mutated cells, individually or in the form of tumors, are not the cause of death. They are a symptom of toxicity or other blood disorder,” Gioeli told me in an interview.

While detoxifying one’s body to cooperate with the intent of the cells to correct abnormal blood chemistry will improve chances of remission, not also changing one’s life will just increase the problem.

“There are limitations to the successful development and ultimate function of a [benign] tumor in terms of quantity of abnormal substrate which needs to be transformed. It is possible for the level of abuse or toxicity to exceed the capacity of a potential tumor to manage, process, and transform.

“For example, there was a man who smoked 48 cigarettes a day for 30 years until he died of it … and he had a tumor. His whole body died … including the tumor. It was just too much.”

Through his understanding of organomutagenesis and its remission as being a very orderly and sequential process, Gioeli facilitated remissions of six individuals diagnosed with various forms of cancer. The remissions occurred in less than a month in all cases.

In each case, he lived and worked with them and tailored a program to match their specific needs and lifestyles. By switching them from a highly processed, omnivorous diet to a plant-based diet and assisting them with natural healing practices, Gioeli helped these people heal from brain cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and myelodysplastic syndrome, a precancerous condition.

Since one-on-one healing intervention is limited, Gioeli wrote “Cancer Is Good for You,” hoping to instruct and inspire individuals to apply the principles and practices that promote remission.

Cynnea, a medical intuitive, shared how she and her husband, an emergency physician of 40 years, used Gioeli’s book to guide her husband’s brother, Larry, into remission three years ago. Larry suffered from a rare form of mesothelioma and was given six months to one year to live.

“Larry made major changes in his diet, modified old habits, changed old thought patterns, built his faith back up, and started running races again. Larry today is in remission and thriving. He just completed a half marathon a few weeks ago and has become an activist for mesothelioma victims. I give this enlightening book much credit for myself as a coach and my husband as a messenger to aid Larry out of his darkest hours.”

Gioeli will be answering questions at an upcoming book signing in Southern California. For details, visit his website at Cancerisgoodforyou.com

Gina Sanchez is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in Santa Monica, Calif.

argling with salt water can actually help with a cough or cold, according to a new report this week, harking back to advice from old wives’ tales.

Gargling salt-infused water cannot actually cure the cold, but can sure help with the symptoms, according to Dr. Philip T Hagen, chief editor of the book “Mayo Clinic Book of Home Remedies,” the New York Times reported. The book will be released next month.

The saline solution can remove excess fluid from inflamed mucous membranes in the throat, thus reducing pain, according to Dr. Hagen. The gargling action also helps break down thick mucus and release irritating substances like allergens, fungi and bacteria from the throat, which can cause coughing.

In a full glass of warm water, put a half-teaspoon of salt inside, the Mayo Clinic advises. After that, gargle the water for a few seconds and then spit it out.

Sun exposure is one way to boost brain function. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

Traditionally, exercise has been touted for its health benefits. Research published in July in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience links walking with improved “connectivity” in the brain.

In this study, a group of sedentary individuals aged 59 to 80 had their brain function assessed. This finding appears to have particular significance for the “aging brain,” as walking appeared to mitigate changes in brain activity that can come with aging and may impair experience of life.

One simple reason that exercise may enhance brain function is that it likely helps boost blood supply to the brain. Generally, tissues, including brain tissue, function more optimally when there is more blood getting to them. Good levels of oxygen and nutrients will also help ensure optimal function of whatever it is the blood is being delivered to.

A recent study tested the impact of taking a multivitamin and mineral on certain aspects of brain function and the effects of mental testing on mood and fatigue. The study, published in August in the journal Human Psychopharmacology, took 215 women aged 25 to 50 and randomized them to take a multivitamin and mineral preparation (brand name Supradyn) or placebo over a period of nine weeks.

At the start and end of the study, the women had their brain function assessed through a variety of tasks, including those assessing the ability to multitask. The impact of these tests on mood and energy levels was also assessed.

The women who had been taking the multivitamin and mineral were found to perform better in terms of multitasking and also performed better on other assessments of brain function, including mathematical processing. Also, these women fared better in terms of their mood and energy levels after performing the mental tests.

This research provides good evidence that nutrient supplementation has the potential to enhance brain function. Here, in no particular order, are some other things that can help keep our brains in good working order:

Hydrate properly. Dehydration can cause a serious dropping off in mental energy. Drink enough water each day to keep urine color a pale yellow.

Eat a primal diet. That’s a diet rich in meat, fish, seafood, nuts, seeds, non-starchy vegetables, and some fruit. This will help ensure a steady supply of fuel for the brain. Plus, the protein provides amino acids that are the building blocks of neurotransmitters in the brain.

Keep up omega-3 fat intake. Omega-3 fats such as EPA and DHA appear to be important for optimal brain function. They can be found in fish (particularly oily fish, such as mackerel, herring, sardines, salmon, and trout) and as supplements.

Get adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation can cause quite-rapid deterioration in brain function. Aim for about eight hours (depending on need) and consider getting into bed a bit earlier whenever possible.

Be active. A walk once or twice a day, particularly in some green space, can be enough to improve mood and boost brain function

Get adequate sunlight. Lack of sunlight in the winter is a major cause of low mood and low mental energy. Even on a dull day, it makes sense to get some sunlight directly into your eyes. Some may consider investing in a device that simulates the sun’s rays.

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is Drbriffa.com

Journaling can be a good way to slow down and be present with what is going on for you. (Photos.com)

In Part 1, I shared some thoughts on sickness and on healing: thoughts of my own and thoughts of others that have inspired mine.

As I reflected, lovely, prosaic, and poetic as these notions may seem, they may feel difficult to apply given the practical realities of our daily lives.

Here, in Part 2, I’ll offer suggestions on how to experiment with these: on ways to be with sickness and on ways to find healing—all paths to finding your way home.

First, experiment with being in the moment. Be in this very moment as you read these words. Not in the next moment, not in the past moment. Not in your thoughts of the future, worries, or reflections on the past. Just be here in this moment.

Being with the breath can be the easiest way to experience being in the moment. See
“The Omnipotent Power of Breath,”  theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/30474/

Experiment with meditation. It’s not about not having thoughts or quieting the monkey mind. It’s just another experience of being in the moment. Take a class. Read this article: theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/34154/

Try journaling. Write off the top of your head whatever you are thinking and feeling. Journaling can be a good way to slow down and be present with what’s going on for you.

Then try writing about your dreams and desires. Don’t limit yourself. Don’t let any circumstances of your present life inhibit you: finances, relationships, health concerns, work, or geography. Write in the present tense.

Be intimate with yourself. Love, accept, and cherish yourself unconditionally. All of you. Your blemishes, your tarnish—all of you. Your fears, your insecurities, your anxieties, and your upsets. Accept and cherish them all. Be gentle with yourself as you would with a child or a beloved pet.

Be even gentler with yourself. Delete “should” from your vocabulary.

Feed your inner child. Dialogue with a picture of yourself as a young child, real or imagined. Ask the little one what he or she needs. Try to give yourself some of that.

Explore intimacy with another: the intimacy that reveals your true self, that self that you allow yourself to love and cherish—unconditionally. Blemishes, tarnish, fears, insecurities, and anxieties. All of you. If this notion is a hard one for you, or it feels scary or stressful, then just consider becoming friends with a pet. Or a child.

And speaking of children, take time to watch them play. Feel their spontaneity, their unselfconsciousness. Breathe some of that in. Experiment with being a little childlike, a little bit, every day.

Experiment with faith. Experiment with surrendering. If you’re a non-believer, then pretend. Pretend that you are not in charge. Experiment with surrendering to something greater than yourself, even if it’s just the weather.

And consider that this very moment, whatever is going on for you, is perfect, no matter what—no matter what is your mental, emotional, or physical state. Don’t try to change it, resist it, make it go away, or make something come to you.

If you are dealing with feelings that are difficult, find more suggestions in my series “Emotions and Your Health,” theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28777/ If you are suffering acutely, physically, or emotionally, seek the support and guidance of practitioners and resources with whom you feel comfortable.

And if my suggestions feel challenging or even unreasonable, suspend your disbelief. Start with a couple of inhalations and exhalations, with your eyes closed, phone off, in a place where you can just be, and be quiet.

Being still, being here now.

This can be a way to find your path home, to wholeness.

Part 1 of this article can be seen here: theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/36526/

Dr. Muehsam is a physician, writer, and musician based in New York City. Her e-mail is: transformationalmedicine@gmail.com

Healing is that process of allowing for our return to wholeness, this mending of our brokenness. (Photos.com)

While doing research for a book project, I happened upon some inspiring writings that I’d like to share with you: thoughts on sickness and healing. What follows are some of these words of wisdom.

In part 2, I’ll share a few suggestions on how you might apply these ideas in your daily life.

On sickness. “All Sickness Is Homesickness” is a book written by Dianne Connelly on illness, healing, and living. She is a scholar and practitioner of five- element acupuncture.

She writes: “All sickness is homesickness; homesick for ourselves and for each other. … It is a call home to the ground of being. … All of our daily events, events born of the day, are our journey manifest, our call to come home.”

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., a physician with spiritual leanings, suggests that for Westerners without a spiritual framework or practice, illness can be a “form of meditation”—an opportunity to become quiet, to reflect, and to reevaluate our lives.

On healing. The etymology of  “heal” comes from the Anglo-Saxon root meaning “whole.” I like to think of healing as a returning home to a state of wholeness. We are always whole, but we may not feel whole.

We may feel broken, incomplete, in need of mending. Healing is that process of allowing for our return to wholeness, this mending of our brokenness.

Ted Kaptchuk, O.M.D., a scholar of traditional Chinese medicine and author of “The Web That Has No Weaver,” writes: “Genuine healing is a journey … into a broken and hurt self, the purpose of which is to encounter a depth of humanity deeper than the tragedy of any illness … into disorder and brokenness, whether it is curable or incurable, to find an intactness and reconciliation that profoundly reflects and manifests the genuine self. …

“Healing is a crucible to encounter the source of our being in worst times; it is our genuine and potentially intact response to chaos, anguish, and suffering … an opportunity to uncover the truth of who we really are. … Healing is not something we do only when we are sick; it is part of the process and journey of life.”

Lovely, prosaic, and poetic as these notions may seem, they may seem difficult to apply, given the practical realities of our daily lives.

In Part 2, I’ll offer suggestions on how to experiment with these ideas: on ways to be with sickness and to find healing—all paths to finding your way home.

Dr. Muehsam is a physician, writer, and musician based in New York City. Her e-mail is: transformationalmedicine@gmail.com

Arnica is the most important homeopathic remedy for trauma. (Louise McCoy/The Epoch Times)

Homeopathy is extremely straightforward, safe, and user-friendly as long as a few rules are observed:

Carefully select the remedy that best matches most or all of your symptoms.

For first aid, if a remedy doesn’t work within two to six hours, try something different or seek professional advice.

Discontinue taking any homeopathic medicine once you feel either better or worse.

Do not eat or drink immediately before or after taking a homeopathic medicine. Wait at least five minutes.

Store remedies out of sunlight, away from electronic equipment, microwaves, cell phones, and computers.

Properly stored homeopathic medicines will last indefinitely.

Homeopathy has an extremely small carbon footprint. It is ecologically sound, environmentally friendly, and will not harm wildlife.

Homeopathic treatment is extremely forgiving, with an excellent safety profile. The following homeopathic medicines have proven track records for being remarkably helpful in preventing and treating injuries.

Arnica montana (leopard’s bane). Arnica is the sine qua non for all forms of trauma, including soft tissue injuries, falls, blows, bruises, contusions, sprains, strains, broken bones, overexertion, mental stress, shock, and PTSD. Arnica is an essential addition to any sports first aid kit. Arnica can be helpful at the time of acute injury or even years later for injuries that have failed to completely heal.

Ruta graveolens (garden rue). Ruta is highly effective in cases of injured or bruised bones, joints, and tendons that present sore, aching pains and restlessness. Ruta has special affinity for the flexor tendons of the ankles and wrists. It is helpful in cartilage injuries and bruises of the periosteum. Ruta is helpful in sciatic pain that is worse when lying down at night and for persistent lameness and weakness after sprains or strains.

Symphytum (comfrey). Symphytum is particularly helpful in injuries to bones, cartilages, and periosteum when there is excessive pain. It is good for old painful injuries that have failed to heal properly. It is useful in fractures and broken bones where there is a pricking or stitching sensation that remains after the wound is healed. Symphytum is known for its ability to help heal nonunion of fractures.

Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s wort). Hypericum is one of the best medicines for injured nerves, especially in sensitive areas like the fingers, toes, and under the nails. It is useful in crush injuries, painful lacerations, and when intolerable, violent, shooting, and sharp pains are present. It is helpful in cases of brain and spinal cord injury. Hypericum can be used when wounds feel tenderer than they look. It can also be helpful post-operatively for nerve injuries or after tooth extractions.

Rhus toxicodendron (poison oak). Rhus tox is helpful in cases where there is pain and stiffness of muscles and joints known as the “rusty gate” phenomenon. Rhus tox is helpful in strains and sprains caused by over-lifting or overexertion.

One of its characteristics is rheumatism that is worse in cold, wet, rainy weather. The pains are typically worse at night, and the person cannot find a comfortable position in which to rest.

Rhus tox helps in cases where muscles twitch excessively and where there is a sensation of crawling or numbness of the affected parts. Rhus tox may help cases of sciatica that are better by warmth and from continued exercise.

Bryonia alba (wild hops). Bryonia patients want to be left alone. They don’t want to be touched. They have severe pain with red, hot swollen joints or muscles. The affected structures feel worse with any motion, and the person is inclined to keep the injured areas absolutely still. Every little motion is met with stitching, tearing pains.

Bryonia is helpful in cases of bursitis when the entire joint capsule is involved and is intensely painful with even the least motion. Bryonia is helpful in cases of sciatica that are improved by lying quietly on the painful side. It is helpful in cases when knees are stiff and painful and worse from the least motion.

If simple first aid measures are not enough to bring about rapid resolution of symptoms and smooth healing, then consultation with a specialist may be necessary.

This information is not intended to replace care provided by a skilled physician. Always seek proper evaluation and diagnostic testing after an injury. Follow up closely with your primary care physician.

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician practicing in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and New York City. His website is Homeopathicmd.com

Veterinary homeopathy demonstrates remarkable cure rates in the treatment of animals. (Photos.com)

We do not understand the mechanism by which homeopathic medicines exert their effects on the body’s self-healing systems, but we do know (and research indicates) that they are much more than placebo effects.

The word placebo comes from 18th century Latin meaning “I shall please.” More recent usage implies a more derogatory connotation akin to a sham or a fraud.

Curiously, many of the studies that use placebo controls report significant improvement and even cure in the placebo-only groups. The percentages of cure by placebo have been as high as 30 percent in some studies.

These healing effects are frequently durable and permanent. Placebo groups also report a high incidence of side effects and adverse drug effects even though no active medicine was dispensed. This response is the negative-placebo effect, designated the “nocebo” response.

Both the positive and negative effects (placebo and nocebo) are completely real, even though their occurrence is unpredictable. Conventional medical researchers conveniently ignore these effects, but they are bona fide events that take place equally in all systems of medicine and in all frameworks of healing.

Placebo and Nocebo Responses

·      Placebo responses are responsible for up to 30 percent of healing responses across all medical paradigms.

·      The placebo response can save significant expense that would otherwise go toward more expensive medicines.

·      The placebo response is tremendously important in the delivery of health care.

·      Placebo and nocebo responses are examples of how often the body heals and harms itself.

·      They are examples of the powerful force of the mind and how it can be constructively harnessed if a little time is taken to address individual concerns.

The placebo effect has not only been eschewed by conventional medicine but also has been subjected to continual ridicule and lambasted as an enemy of “real medicine.” Imagine the hubris involved in making fun of the body’s ability to help or harm itself!

Homeopathic medicines, (often accused of being a placebo response) demonstrate an efficacy rate as high as 80 to 90 percent in large-outcome studies—well beyond the 30 percent observed from placebo.

Homeopathy is no more a placebo effect than conventional medicine for the following reasons:

·      Veterinary homeopathy demonstrates remarkable cure rates in the treatment of animals.

·      Pediatric homeopathy is effective in infants and small children, who respond dramatically to homeopathy while they typically fail to respond to a placebo.

·      Homeopathy has shown dramatic results in cases of coma, seizure disorders, and alterations of consciousness.

·      Homeopathy is effective in double-blind placebo-controlled clinical studies and meta-analyses. These studies consistently indicate that homeopathy is more effective than placebos.

·      Homeopathic provings demonstrate that when homeopathic medicines are administered repeatedly in a blinded fashion to healthy individuals, they produce symptoms of illness. This proving process, which is reproducible and is the foundation of homeopathy, has been shown to produce distinct and highly specific patterns of symptoms, depending upon the choice of the individual homeopathic medicine.

Placebo effects augment all medical treatments (conventional and homeopathic). Their power should be harnessed rather than ignored.

Next week: Part 4, Specific remedies for sports injuries

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician practicing in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and New York City. His website is Homeopathicmd.com

Homeopathy is a safe and effective subspecialty of medicine that promotes healing without the risk of worsening injury, causing bleeding, or delaying the healing process.

It works with the body to promote health and recovery after injury. Homeopathy has even been found to help prevent injury when used in marathon runners.

Homeopathy is based upon the:

·      Law of similars
·      Law of the minimum dose
·      Individualization of treatment
·      Innate power of the body to heal itself

“The physician’s highest and only calling is to make the sick healthy, to cure as it is called,” wrote Samuel Hahnemann, M.D., the founder of the homeopathic school of medicine.

The Law of Similars. Using medicines in small amounts can produce similar states of illness as the disease being treated and is an example of the law of similars.

The law of similars takes advantage of a direct relationship between the symptoms produced by a medicine and the symptoms that exist in an actual disease. When these two states match each other, there is an excellent chance of fostering a cure.

Conventional medical doctors in effect typically deny the possibility of cure since most conventional medical prescriptions are designed to palliate symptoms, not cure illnesses.

Conventional care is based on allopathy, not homeopathy. Allopathy is treatment based on opposites, not similars. Opposites oppose the body’s self-healing mechanisms while similars work with them.

The Law of the Minimum Dose. When extremely small (or infinitesimal) quantities of medicines are used to treat, the risk of side effects and associated toxicity is significantly reduced. Homeopathic medicines commonly fall far below the threshold of predicted biological and chemical activity due to the minute doses employed.

Concentrations of homeopathic medicines are so small as to be virtually undetectable by chemical means, but their biological activity has been proven.

No credible chemical or physical basis has been found to explain the mechanism by which such small concentrations could have such profound biological effects, but open minds can plumb the mysteries of the cosmos.

Individualization of Treatment. Homeopathic medicines are so effective at such small doses precisely because their prescriptions are so highly individualized. Each individual case is compared, in detail, to the picture of each individual medicine until the most precise match is made between similar states.

When homeopathy is practiced without paying attention to individual details, the results of treatment are frequently indiscernible from placebo effects.

“Give me a place to stand, and with a lever I will move the whole world,” Archimedes wrote.

Archimedes understood the principle of applying precisely the right amount of force to precisely the right spot, thereby individualizing the solution to match the problem.

Homeopathy follows the same principle in the individualization of treatment. Every solution must individually match the unique condition to which it is applied. This is a concept that has long escaped conventional medical science.

The Innate Power of the Body to Heal Itself. Homeopathic medicines provide a form of stimulation of the innate body systems that assist in healing.

Homeopathic medicines are not “drugs.” They do not act chemically inside the body, so they do not interfere with the body. They act to promote self-healing.

The body has an innate ability to work toward stability and to heal itself. This process is called homeostasis. Many systems of the body self-regulate and promote balance.

Many of the symptoms generated by the body during illness are signs of this self-regulating process. Some of the more common symptoms of self-healing include

•                Pain
•                Fever
•                Discomfort
•                Discharge

Each symptom generated by the body is part of an important physiological process that has developed to coordinate the healing process. These symptoms maximize the efficiency and allow the body to work more effectively in the process of disease resolution and autonomy.

When these innate systems are suppressed (by suppressing the symptoms with many conventional medications), then the underlying self-healing mechanisms are thwarted, and the body’s innate ability to heal itself is impaired.

Next week: Part 3: How homeopathy works

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician practicing in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and New York City. His website is Homeopathicmd.com

There is no need for incense, a yogi, wind chimes, gongs, or synthesized new age music. You just need yourself, a quiet place (not mandatory), and the will to give it a try. (Photos.com)

As meditation practices rely less on mysticism and more on practical application, more and more people are flocking to it every year. In addition, the scientific community has done their share of studies and concur, it's healthy. Meditation has been credited with helping manage post traumatic stress disorder, promoting anti-aging, and speeding up physical rehabilitation. There is no need for incense, a yogi, wind chimes, gongs, or synthesized new age music. You just need yourself, a quiet place (not mandatory), and the will to give it a try.

Having taught meditation for years, I have come across many people who tell me, "I can't meditate, every time I sit down my mind goes crazy thinking about everything. Meditation isn't for me." Actually it is one of the only things that can be for everyone. In its most simple form it guides you to relax and engage yourself in a more direct and nurturing way. Who is it for, if not for you. Then if it's so good for me then why doesn't it feel good? It will when you understand what is happening during meditation.

The kaleidoscope of random thoughts and emotions that race through our minds visit all of us, whether we meditate or not. This is because of the times we live in. Life today is fast, radically changing, and intense. The stakes seem to get higher the further we move forward. The difference between meditators and non-meditators is our ability manage instead of respond; choose instead of react.

When you close your eyes to meditate and the freight train of impulses comes rushing in, don't get on. Stand on the deck watch the train as it races by. Notice what it looks like. The clearer you see it, the clearer you see that it is separate from you. Some of us will see our fears come to life right in before us. We may see a boss writing a bad review of our work, our friends talking behind our backs, our children failing in their aspirations. Other people will see their dreams and wishes coming true. You will imagine winning the lottery, finding the person of your dreams, hitting a home run in the World Series.

Whatever it is that decides to show itself won't bother you if you are clear about what it is. Label what you see. Give it a name. Make a clear distinction between what you see and yourself. These things are just aspirations and anxiety, dreams and fears, nothing more. They are as normal as breathing. But just as we can choose to breath fast or slow, we can choose not to follow the whims of random thoughts and transient emotions.

Like anything worthwhile, this process takes effort but bit by bit you will gain more and more control of your mind. If you are a person more prone to impulse, quick response, and being reactionary then your brain is often operating from its amygdala. This region of the brain is responsible for initiating our fight or flight responses. This is reserved for life threatening situations and rapidly taxes the resources of our bodies. Unfortunately today many of us find ourselves developing habits and whole personalities that continually operate this way.

When we consciously make any choice we use a different part of our brain, the pre-frontal cortex. This area is associated with organizational thought, decision making, and positive feelings. When we meditate and organize our thoughts and make decisions, no matter how small we not only use this area of our brain but we can develop it. This is why many meditators meditate. To gain more control of themselves and to enjoy the positive feelings that come from nurturing ourselves with breath and kind attention.

Keep in mind a few simple things. Nothing worthwhile is easy. The more you do, the easier it gets. The less you do, the harder it is. Whatever you learn on your journey, be responsible to the pearls of knowledge that come along the way.

Zenon Dolnyckyj is a certified personal trainer who teaches in New York. His practice emphasizes teaching mindfulness and functionality. You may reach him at Zenon.d@golfbodypro.com . His website is golfbodypro.com

These bike racers in the Tour of the Battenkill have a challenging 62-mile circuit. If they sustain any injuries, hopefully they will avoid NSAIDs. (Louise McCoy/The Epoch Times)

Spring is here! With the change to warmer weather, many of us will be drawn outdoors into the fresh air and warm sun to exercise. With this newfound passion comes the added risk of injury. With injury comes the responsibility to care for the body without causing further harm.

“First, do no harm.”

There is a disturbing trend taking place in the field of sports and exercise medicine today. That trend includes the use of a class of drugs that not only complicate recovery but also increase the risk of developing sports-related injuries.

Athletes are using these so-called harmless drugs with greater frequency than ever before. These drugs are even recommended by physicians and physical therapists as an aid in the recovery process, even though they have been shown to have the opposite effect.

Many athletes choose to use a group of medicines called NSAIDs, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, to enhance performance, premedicate to avoid pain, and to treat existing injuries. This group of medications includes ibuprofen (Motrin, Aleve), acetaminophen (Tylenol), and salicylic acid (aspirin). They are far from benign.

On the surface, these medicines appear harmless, since they help fight inflammation and numb the pain, but they

·      Are the leading causes of kidney failure in the United States today.
·      Cause gastrointestinal bleeding in ALL users.
·      Cause gastritis and peptic ulcer disease in many long-term users.
·      Suppress the immune system.
·      Slow down the healing process.
·      Promote chronic injury.
·      Dull the perception of important pain signals.
·      Increase the risk of new injuries.
·      Increase the risk of worsening existing injuries.
·      Directly contradict the maxim: “Listen to your body.”

Athletes using NSAIDs before, during, and after exercise increase their risk of all these complications. Even in the absence of vigorous physical exercise, these agents are known to damage the body, but during vigorous exercise, the body is at even greater risk of injury from these agents.

During exercise the body typically experiences mild to moderate dehydration and hemo-concentration. This volume reduction increases the concentration of all medicines in the body. As a result, the kidneys, stomach, liver, intestines, and muscles all experience higher than normal concentrations of these drugs.

As concentrations increase, so does the risk of injury. The toxic effects of these substances are magnified during exercise, resulting in an increased risk of developing one or more side effects.

Not only are the toxic effects of drugs increased during exercise, but also the analgesic and immune-suppressing effects are magnified. As a result, small injuries and microscopic tissue traumas are more likely to go unnoticed. The cumulative effect of these injuries can lead to a spiral of diminished body awareness and aggravation of existing injuries.

Pain is not only an important message from the body indicating physiologic limits to activity, but also it is a key component in the healing mechanism. These medicines directly interfere with the inflammatory response, which is part of the body’s healing mechanism.

NSAIDs should never be used routinely by athletes either to prevent injury, enhance performance, or to treat an existing injury. A far safer and more effective tool for management of sports injuries is homeopathy.

Next week: Part 2: Homeopathic Treatment

Dr. Whitmont is a classical homeopathic physician practicing in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and New York City. His Web site is Homeopathicmd.com

Take charge of getting good quality sleep by incorporating good nutrition and a healthy environment for sleep. (The Epoch Times)

Poor sleeping patterns are caused by a number of different things such as stress, too much external noise, poor health, and an unbalanced body. To combat poor sleeping patterns, one needs to work on being able to let anxiety and emotional distraught go, create a good environment for restfulness, work on the ability to relax, and eat foods that offer the right nutrition.

To create a good sleep environment, make sure that you are able to keep you room dark, neither too cool nor too hot, clean, and quiet. Avoid watching television right before bed, as this will make it more challenging to fall into a restful slumber. Instead, take some time to meditate, breath deeply in a relaxing manner, or practice some light stretches before retiring to bed.

Be sure to be exposed to some bright light during daytime hours because it is known to be the most powerful regulator of our biological clock. Outdoor light, sunny or cloudy, is considered the brightest and most effective light for this. If you wake up at night, still try to avoid light.

Keep a pen and pad next to your bedside if you have the tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. Write down anything that may be weighing on your mind and think of a time the following day when you’ll be able to address it. Then let it go.

Plan an ideal bed and wake time. Setting this pattern helps reinforce a good nights sleep because our body gets used to the routine.

Nutritionally, there are five fruits known for their sedative powers. They are apples, kiwi, jujube, grapes, and mulberries.

An apple's full-bodied aroma has a very strong sedative and hypnotic effect. They are rich in vitamin B, vitamin C, potassium, zinc, iron, phosphorus, and calcium.

Kiwi fruit is rich in magnesium, vitamin C, and calcium. This nutrient combination stabilizes emotion and inhibits sympathetic nerve activity. A recent study shows that eating two kiwi fruit every day will improve the quality of one’s sleep by 40 percent.

Jujube is a blood tonic herb used in Chinese medicine. It calms the spirit and tonifies the spleen and stomach.

Jujube contains protein, sugar, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and other beneficial nutrients.
Recent studies performed in Italy have confirmed that melatonin, which can be found in grape skins, improves sleep quality. Experts also speculate that melatonin levels in wine might be increased as an effect of its interactions with the antioxidants and alcohol wine contains.

Mulberry can be used for treating insomnia, according to Chinese medicine. Other health benefits of the mulberry include nourishing blood, sharpening vision, and quenching one’ thirst. It also assists vital energy and eliminates excessive fluids.

Editor’s note: Before taking any herbal treatment, please consult your physician. Due to documented presence of heavy metals in herbs coming from China, it is recommended that the reader avoid consuming herbs grown in China.