Sep 02
One of the main tenets staying health is eating locally produced product, this is not only good for the environment, but it also is great for your body.
By now you’ve noticed the sun is starting to set a little earlier. The daylight hours are shorter and the nights are beginning to get cooler.
Perhaps your flower or vegetable gardens are not as plentiful as they were a few weeks ago. I am one of those people who really do enjoy the Northeast weather. I welcome the change of seasons each year.
The hot and humid weather in summer makes me appreciate the cooler days in the fall. The snowy, icy cold days in the winter make me long for the warmer and more colorful days in the springtime. Each season brings its own special newness.
Tagged with: Produce
Sep 01
Chinese medicine can provide the relief you need from sports related injuries.
From the Chinese medical point of view, the body is an energetic collection of functions, not just a mechanical collection of parts. We contain life energy, or qi, and a person is said to be in perfect health when this energy is flowing unimpeded, and in an adequate amount throughout the entire body.
Qi is the basis for the proper functioning of all body processes: it provides structural integrity and stability, physiological efficiency, and the potential for healing. When you sustain an injury the flow of energy in and around the area becomes disrupted, causing stagnation and pain. This energy stagnation also inhibits the proper circulation of blood and lymph to the area, extending healing times, prolonging swelling and bruising, and increasing the need for pain medications. Enhanced circulation also carries dead cells and cellular waste products away from the injured site.
Tagged with: Sports Injury
Aug 31
Tea offers tremendous amount of health benefits you may not realize, this article provides some insight on why tea is a drink that is good for your body.
Many foods and beverages contain them. Berries, soy, lemons, tea, apples, dark chocolate, red wine and onions are just some of the sources of them. But what is it? It’s the natural plant substance, flavonoids, and tea is one of the best sources.
Flavonoids are a group of plant substances that offer health benefits. They seem to work in the body to improve the function of veins and arteries. This means they can contribute to maintaining health.
Drinking tea has been linked to several health benefits that have been associated with antioxidant activity; however, this hypothesis has recently been dismissed. Experts now believe that tea flavonoids (including catechins), theanine and caffeine most likely provide the health benefits.
Many studies have linked a high intake of flavonoid-rich foods with a reduction in the risk of developing certain diseases that include heart disease and stroke. Further research suggests a link to cancer, but the results are still conflicting, and no clear conclusion can be drawn.
Aug 29
If you are trying to quit smoking, you may want to turn to acupuncture as many have found to be effective in kicking the habit.
Dr. William Terrell uses acupuncture to treat smoking at the Iowa Acupuncture Clinic in Clive, but with a slightly different method. He puts acupuncture needles in the ear’s auricle (the outer portion of the ear). The cost is around $58 a treatment, but Terrell offers a sliding scale. “The ear is basically the control panel for the whole body,” Terrell said. “Smoking calms you down, and that’s what acupuncture does. It’s tuning up your central nervous system and getting more blood flowing to the brain. It’s the same reason you feel so good after exercising.” Exercise releases endorphins, which leads to the feeling known as a “runner’s high.”
Tagged with: Smoking
Aug 28
Tai chi is not only good for the body and mind; but it also can ease painful joints.
Tai chi eases painful joints and other symptoms of fibromyalgia in a small but well-done study of this ancient Chinese form of exercise.
Tai chi combines meditation with slow, gentle movements, deep breathing, and relaxation. It can improve muscle strength, balance, sleep, coordination, and some evidence suggests, fibromyalgia.
Symptoms of the illness include fatigue, body pain, and tender points in joints, muscles, and other soft tissues. It is most common in middle-aged women. Its cause is unknown, and the lack of obvious signs or definitive tests has led some doctors to question whether it is a physical or psychological problem.
Tagged with: Tai Chi
Aug 27
Recent research has shown that a Chinese inspired meditation can greatly enhance brain function which can greatly improve mind-body awareness.
A CHINESE-influenced meditation technique appears to help the brain regulate behaviour after as little as 11 hours of practice, according to a study released Monday.
Researchers at the University of Oregon and Dalian University of Technology charted the effects of integrative body-mind training (IBMT), a technique adapted in the 1990s from traditional Chinese medicine and practiced by thousands in China.
The research to be published in the upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involved 45 test subjects, about half of whom received IBMT, while a control group received relaxation training.
Tagged with: Meditation
Aug 26
Acupuncture can provide relief for arthritis sufferers which can provide increase mobility and quality of life for those who suffer from this illness.
For almost everyone who lives long enough, arthritis will be a part of life. The effects of arthritis rob us of our mobility and ability to live our lives fully. In Western medicine, these changes in the joints are known as degenerative joint disease or osteoarthritis. Often, the patient is given pain pills and expected to live a life of increasing discomfort and disability. At some point, joints may be replaced. And that is all there is to look forward to. After all, our bodies just degenerate over time and then we die. How depressing! Especially since this is untrue.
Tagged with: Arthritis
Aug 25
Acupuncture can greatly reduce chronic headaches and it works better than asprin in providing relief.
Acupuncture works better than drugs like aspirin to reduce the severity and frequency of chronic headaches, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
A review of studies involving nearly 4,000 patients with migraine, tension headache and other forms of chronic headache showed that that 62 percent of the acupuncture patients reported headache relief compared to 45 percent of people taking medications, the team at Duke University found.
“Acupuncture is becoming a favorable option for a variety of purposes, ranging from enhancing fertility to decreasing post-operative pain, because people experience significantly fewer side effects and it can be less expensive than other options,” Dr. Tong Joo Gan, who led the study, said in a statement.
Tagged with: Headaches
Aug 24
One of the most exciting news recently is the discovery of Chinese herbs that are helping to reduce the intestinal side effects of chemotherapy.
Certain types of chemotherapy can be brutal, causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. However, an ancient Chinese remedy shows promise in animal studies for relieving some of those symptoms as well as enhancing the effects of chemotherapy in destroying cancer cells.
Dr. Yung-Chi Cheng, a professor of pharmacology at Yale University, tested an herbal preparation called huang quin tang that has been used in Chinese medicine for more than 1,800 years to treat stomach and intestinal disorders. The four herbs in the preparation — a set formation with specific pharmacological properties that Cheng calls PHY906 — are Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch, Paeonia lactiflora Pall, Scutelleria baicalensis Georgi and Ziziphus jujuba Mill.
Tagged with: cancer
