DAAN Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture

As more consumers look to alternative healthy therapy for treatment, this article explains the basics of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Regular exercise and consumption of green tea can help breast cancer patients lessen their depression.

Depression is a major health issue for breast cancer survivors, but new research hints that regular exercise and drinking green tea may help.

Health

Exercising regularly and drinking green tea “may play an important role in the prevention of depression among breast cancer survivors,” report Dr. Xiao Ou Shu, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues.

They examined depression-related factors in 1,399 Chinese women who were 54 years old on average and treated for breast cancer in Shanghai, China between April 2002 and December 2006. Six months after their diagnosis, the researchers assessed the women’s physical activity levels; food, tea, and alcohol consumption; cigarette smoking; and use of herbal medicines and supplements.

In depression evaluations at 18-months post-diagnosis, the investigators noted distinct benefits among the women who reported some sort of exercise (62 percent of the total). At this time, exercisers were about 20 percent less likely to be either mildly or clinically depressed, the researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

They noted just 84 cases of mild or clinical depression among 437 vigorous exercisers (19.2 percent), but 161 cases among the 528 non-exercisers (30.5 percent).

Plus, compared with non-exercising women, the likelihood of depression was 28 percent lower among women who exercised more than 2 hours a week and 42 percent lower among those who increased their post-diagnosis exercise time.

Tea drinking also seemed to lessen depression. Compared with the 1,216 women who did not drink tea, among the 183 women who did, depression risk was about 36 percent lower. The vast majority of the tea drinkers — 90 percent — drank green tea.

The exercise and tea-drinking benefits remained when Shu’s group allowed for multiple other risk factors for depression.

No other factors seemed to alter depression risk.

Beverage makers are going to their archives and revamping recipes for tea-based drinks to pep up flagging sales.

These products, distinguished from green teas or oolong teas, contain a variety of ingredients, particularly herbs and grains.

There has not been a hit in this category since the 1990s when the marketing focus shifted to the fresh taste and healthy image of green teas.

Partied too much? Try these Chinese herbal remedies for hangover.

American Ginseng

The mildly bitter root calms the body by purging excessive Yang, or hot positive energy, from the body. Chinese elders will also tell you that the herb generates fluids and curbs thirstiness – perfect for that hangover dehydration.

American Ginseng can be consumed by simmering fresh slices in hot water to make a drink. To mellow out the mildly medicinal flavor, mix in some honey.

Arhat fruit

Named after Buddhist monks, the cloying sweet plant is known to nourish the lungs, aid respiratory health, quell thirst and get rid of sore throats. Arhat fruit is taken by breaking it open, and pouring hot water on it to make a drinkable infusion.

What’s good about it is that it’s actually tasty – Arhat fruit is comonly used as a sweetener in Chinese cuisine.

Ku Ding tea

Ku Ding tea, which literally means “bitter spike tea,” is a hangover cure-all. According to traditional Chinese wisdom, the tisane removes headaches, toxins, thirst and tiredness, improves sleep, stimulates digestion and brings back mental focus.

So what if it’s known for its acerbic aftertaste?

Read more: Three cure-all Chinese herbal remedies for hangovers | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/eat/three-cureall-hangover-busting-chinese-herbal-remedies-140462#ixzz0ajXxMmPu

Susan Yen, L.aC

Now days, you’d be hard pressed to find someone without any stiff muscles in the neck and shoulder area, since the upper back is one of the common places where we carry stress. Whether at home or in the office, we increasingly spend more time hunching over the computer screen, and this helps to stiffen up the upper back muscles even more.

Stretching is by far the most direct and fastest way to relieve such tension because it allows the fatigued muscles to take a break from being in a certain position for a long period of time. Here are some easy stretches to relieve upper-mid back tension.

• Drape over the exercise ball on your back with both feet firmly on the ground. Look up with arms out wide. Hold for 5-10 reps of deep breathing.
• For those who are at the office, plant both feet firmly on the ground and your back snugly against the back rest. Slowly raise your head and look up at the ceiling. Hold for 5-10 reps of deep breathing. (If you have the space, stretch out your arms.)
• Lie on the floor with your feet propped up onto the wall, look up and hold for 5-10 reps of deep breathing.
• For those who absolutely have no time to take a break, get a menthol cone and rub it along the sore spots around the neck and shoulders.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is used as a therapy in treating H1N1.

Children suffering A(H1N1) influenza could benefit from taking Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Beijing traditional Chinese medicine bureau said.

Tu Zhitao, vice-director of the bureau, claimed that children sickened with the flu should be cured within three days.

“Some children will be cured with only one dose (of No 2 Cold Medicine), while others might need two,” Tu said.

An increasing number of medical schools in the US are exposing students to the theory and practice of alternative (including traditional Chinese) therapies:

Future doctors and nurses are learning about acupuncture and herbs along with anatomy and physiology at a growing number of medical schools. It’s another example of how alternative medicine has become mainstream. And it’s often done with Uncle Sam’s help.

The government has spent more than $22 million to help medical and nursing schools start teaching about alternative medicine — lesson plans that some critics say are biased toward unproven remedies.

Additional tax money has been spent to recruit and train young doctors to do research in this field, launching some into careers as alternative medicine providers.

Doctors need to know about popular remedies so they can discuss them nonjudgmentally and give competent advice, the government says, and many universities and medical groups agree.

“Patients are using these things” whether doctors think they should or should not, and safety is a big concern, said Dr. Victor Sierpina, an acupuncturist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston who heads a group of academics who favor such training.