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Alternative Medicine: Meditation and its Effects on the Human Brain

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Over the course of thousands of years meditation has been seen as a way to calm the nerves, the senses and improve the function of the body and the mind. While the health aspects of meditation are loudly touted in all circles of alternative medicine many in the western field of medicine still dismiss the practice as a new age discipline rather than a beneficial medical practice.

Pundits claim that there are numerous ways that meditation helps maintain and enhance the body. They claim that meditation helps improve concentration levels and decrease respiratory rates. Meditators regularly show decrease in muscle tension, an increase in blood flow to the heart and show signs of a faster rate of post-operative healing. Meditation has also produced astounding results in patients who suffer from panic or anxiety attacks by reducing their blood lactate levels. In fact most people who start meditating can consciously see and feel a difference in themselves and their response to the outside world however in most cases this is difficult to measure by western standards.

In recent studies conducted by neurologists results have shown that subjects who meditate shift their brain function to different areas of the brain cortex. In the study, a group of workers in a high stress environment were separated randomly into two groups. One that was taught to use and practice meditation and the other that was not. The study showed that the group that the subject started using different parts of the brain. The meditators went from using their right frontal cortex which tends to be a stress prone area to the calmer side of the brain the left frontal cortex. Another finding was that those who meditate show less activity in the party of the brain that processes fear which is called the amygdala.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Alternative, Alternative medicine, Blood pressure, Brain, Health, Medicine, Meditation, Panic attack

Find Remedies for Your Ailments in Your Kitchen

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Over the counter drugs or medicines have potentially harmful ingredients such as dyes, synthetic binders, and preservatives. With natural remedies that are found in your kitchen, you can avoid those harmful ingredients. You can also make sure that your remedy is fresh and organic. And, these kitchen remedies are less expensive that over the counter medicines.

If you have sinus congestion, grab thyme from your spice rack. Put a teaspoon of dried thyme leave in a bowl and pour in a quart of boiling water. Hold your face 12 inches above the bowel. Drape a towel over your head to form a tent that will hold in the steam. Breathe the steam from your thyme mixture for 8 minutes and then blow your nose very gently.

If you are a woman and have a bladder infection, you may think that drinking cranberry juice is your only alternative to combat it. Not so! Parsley flushes the infection out of your bladder just as effective as cranberry juice. When you experience the early symptoms of a bladder infection, make parsley tea. Bring one quart of water to a boil. Add 1 cup of fresh parsley leaves and stems. Cover and let it steep for 15 minutes. Strain. Sip 1 cup of cooled tea over 2 hours. Repeat 4 hours later.

If the flu bug hits you, make miso soup. Place one heaping tablespoon of miso in a bowl. Add one thinly sliced raw carrot. Stir. Pour 6 ounces of boiling water over the mixture to create a paste. Add one garlic clove, a sprinkle of cayenne, and the juice from one-fourth of a fresh lemon.

Do you have a cold? Make ginger tea. Peel and thinly slice a two-inch section of fresh gingerroot. Put it in a saucepan with 12 ounces of water. Simmer for 7 minutes. Add a taste of honey and the juice from half of a lemon. Sip six ounces every three hours.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Alternative medicine, Cranberry juice, Home, Parsley, Thyme, Urinary bladder, Urinary system, Urinary tract infection

Alternative Medicine, Insomnia and Sleep

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The Mayo Clinic classifies insomnia as an individual’s inability to sleep, stay asleep or having non-refreshing sleep for more than one month straight. Insomnia is one of the most horrible experiences a person can face. The tossing, the turning, the exhaustion of the body and mind but the uncontrollable inability to sleep can make a person feel helpless and at times can lead to grave psychological and physical problems. Sleep is probably the most important of all human needs. Sleep is just as important in human functionality as water. Yet, while we can survive without water for days and without food for weeks, if we are without sleep we lose our ability to reason and think. Without sleep we cannot function, cannot process information and we put our mental health in jeopardy. So much so that forced sleep deprivation is thought to be a torture tactic and people who have a lack of sleep are at times legally not responsible for their actions.

Typical insomnia treatments include prescription sleep aids however these sleep aids can be harmful and at times can become addictive. Many sufferers of insomnia turn to many alternative forms of treatment both from the home remedy category to the alternative medicine approach to try to combat insomnia.

One simple suggestion is to drink warm liquids before bed. Drinks such as chamomile tea or milk have been known to help alleviate mild symptoms of insomnia. Another remedy to try is to practice deep breathing exercises and use meditation techniques to still the mind before going to bed. Another is to incorporate a regular exercise regime into your schedule. Many patients report that once they include strenuous activity into their day they sleep more soundly. If none of these remedies work you can try some holistic therapies such as valerian root or melatonin which can be bought at a health food store. Both are reported to have calming effects and can help with the onset of sleep.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Alternative medicine, Conditions and Diseases, Disease, Health, Insomnia, Sleep deprivation, Sleep disorder, United States Department of Health and Human Services

Celebrities and Alternative Medicine

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Celebrities were some of the first people to introduce eastern medicine and holistic medicine into the Western vernacular. Celebrities trying unorthodox methods is nothing new in 1980 Steve McQueen went to Mexico to try alternative therapies such as the use of apricot pits and coffee enemas as a last resort to deal with his lung cancer.

Currently there are many celebrities spouting out medical advice. Tom Cruise famously called psychiatry a pseudo-science and came out against Ritalin and anti-depressants.

Suzanne Somers just wrote her 18th book entitled Knockout which claims to be interview doctors who are curing cancer with alternative therapies. Having had a scare with breast cancer in 2000 she announced in 2007 that she was cancer free. Somers says her experience woke her up to the establishment’s inability to consider alternative therapies viable options for some patients. She states that while chemotherapy is helpful for certain cancers it does not typically help in prevalent cancers such as breast and lung and claims chemotherapy can be more harmful than helpful. However, she maintains that her therapies are not for everyone and all must make that decision themselves.

Jenny McCarthy, former playboy model and TV host, has written two books on autism after her son Evan was diagnosed with the disease at the age of two. She believes that her song got autism due to vaccines. She states that the sudden spike in autism coincided with the tripling of the United States children vaccine schedule rising from 10 in 1983 to 36 in 2007. She believes that because kids are injected with some many vaccinations, which she claims are toxins, at such an early age there has to be a correlation. She says that since the start of her child’s autism she has worked only to educate other about the condition. She states that what helped her child was a gluten-free diet, vitamins and supplements and detoxification from metal.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Alternative medicine, Cancer, Health, Jenny McCarthy, Steve McQueen, Suzanne Somers, Tom Cruise, United States

The Lion of Herbs

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All children are enchanted by the dandelion.

Unfortunately, modern adults consider the dandelion (which derived its name from resembling a "lion’s tooth") an obnoxious weed and will immediately destroy all evidence in lawns and gardens. This is a shame as the dandelion is a noble plant with many valuable uses.

Once upon a time, when man was perhaps wiser than today, dandelions were recognized as one of the most useful items on the planet. Although true that the dandelion can rob the soil of nutrients, it is equally true that adding dandelions to compost puts that richness right back into the soil. Not only rich in nutrients for gardens, whether potted or in the soil, the dandelion was also used for cures in certain ailments and illnesses.

Because the dandelion is chocked full of minerals and nutrients, every part of the dandelion has a use; one of the most beneficial aspects of this little “weed” is that, used as holistic medicine, it can supply remedies for liver ailments as well as kidney problems. The greens can be cooked and eaten for health benefits; roots can be ground and roasted for a splendid coffee substitute that is particularly good for kidney health issues.

Down through the ages, dandelions were recognized for their health benefits; dandelion wine, made from the delicate petals, was considered a superb tonic for the household. In fact, in times past, the whole family would pick dandelions and ready the petals for this tonic that was considered a necessary part of the family health and well being. As modern man has become more urbanized, the dandelion has lost recognition as a beneficial plant but is now considered as a weed to be destroyed.

Yet, for those interested in holistic medicine and alternative natural remedies, it would be definite wisdom to learn how to use this easily available “Lion’s Tooth”, not only for the benefit of one’s garden but one’s personal health, as well.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Alternative medicine, Garden, Health, Herb, Nutrient, Soil, Taraxacum, Weed

10 Conditions Acupuncture Can Cure

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Acupuncture is a highly successful modality for pain management, but it’s not guaranteed to work on every ailment. Here are conditions that acupuncture can help with.

1.   Carpal tunnel syndrome – a National Institute of health consensus statement in 1997 concluded acupuncture was an adequate treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome.
2.   Fibromyalgia. Scientific literature reviews finds acupuncture for the relief of fibromyalgia pain very promising.
3.   Headaches and migraines. There are well defined trials that find acupuncture is a valid tool to reduce headache and migraine symptoms. According to these studies, acupuncture works as well as headache medications. Acupuncture is also reported to help relieve tension headaches.
4.   Low back pain. When patients with lower back pain are looking for Complementary and Alternative Medicine therapies to relieve pain, the American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians recommends that patient consider acupuncture. In fact, there are some studies that show acupuncture actually works better for pain relief than conventional treatments. A May 2009 clinical trial showed that traditional acupuncture and simulated acupuncture both have the same level of success in patients with lower back pain.
5.   Menstrual cramps. Two literature reviews report acupuncture can help relieve the pain associated with menstrual cramps.
6.   Myofascial pain. Evidence is promising when it comes to using acupuncture to treat myofascial pain.
7.   Neck pain. When compared to simulated treatments, acupuncture provided more pain relief for patients with neck pain.
8.   Osteoarthritis and knee pain. Acupuncture is especially effective for patients with osteoarthritis, especially if that patient has pain in the knee. Studies report that acupuncture not only helps relieve pain in the knee, but it can also improve how well that knee functions.
9.   Postoperative dental pain. A 1999 study of dental patients proved that acupuncture can help provide pain relief after dental surgery, for example, the extraction of a tooth.
10.   Tennis elbow. When used for lateral epicondyle pain, there’s strong evidence that acupuncture provides short term pain relief.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Acupuncture, Alternative medicine, American College of Physicians, Headache, Health, Medicine, National Institute of health, Pain management

Alternative Medicine and Acupuncture

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Acupuncture as a medical procedure dates back to the second century and is one of the oldest documented medical practices to date. Like a variety of eastern medicines, acupuncture became popular towards the end of the 20th century and has steadily increased in popularity and acceptance into the medical community as time goes on. Acupuncture is an important contribution to the rise in popularity of holistic medicine. Holistic medicine is a medical practice that seeks to treat the individual as a whole, taking into consideration their physical, mental, spiritual and emotional well being instead of simply treating the acute, visible illness.

As one of the most popular alternative medicines, acupuncture works towards this end by promoting a healing process that connects various physical and mental maladies with various pressure, or meridian points, on the body. Acupuncture increases blood flow to the troubled areas by puncturing the skin with a specially designed stainless steel needle. According to traditional Chinese acupuncture lore, the act of pricking and leaving the needle in the pressure point allows the blood (or more specifically the life-force called qi) to move freely in the body, bringing blood and sustenance to the trouble area. Each pressure point connects directly to a specific organ such as the liver, stomach or heart, etc…

Acupuncture, noted for its longevity and consistency, has been one of the first alternative medicines to be used by traditional western medical professionals. Both the World Health Organization and the United States Institute of Health have issued official statements stating that acupuncture has been effectively used in the treatment of neurological conditions and the pain relief. Specifically acupuncture is used to alleviate after-surgery nausea and lower back pain. The relative acceptance of acupuncture has led to scores of people who have never used alternative medicines or heard of holistic medicine to undergo acupuncture procedures with amazing results.

As acupuncture becomes more popular as an alternative medicine more and more doctors are turning to this ancient Chinese practice to address some of the most basic physical and neurological symptoms such as chronic pain and headaches.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Acupuncture, Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Alternative, Alternative medicine, Health, Medicine, United States, World Health Organization

Easy Home Health Items

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If you are interested in holistic medicine and alternative at-home ways to stay healthy, there are some very simple everyday items that can help your search for knowledge and health.

One of the easiest and most effective items for great health is:

The Apple

Right now you are thinking, “yeah, yeah, an apple a day…blah, blah, blah…”. Well, besides being the ultimate symbol of immortality, the apple is truly a great way to stay healthy.

Apples have the ability to cleanse the liver; as a healthy liver is an absolute necessity for good health, this is a definite plus. The apple is also known to cure constipation and help with gum problems. Apple cider is an incredible health booster. It can rejuvenate the kidneys, and aid with stomach acid and gas issues. Baked apples can even be used as a poultice for skin problems.

Another household food that is a definite help in the area of holistic medicine and natural health, is:

The Blackberry

Besides being rich in Vitamin C, the blackberry fruit is a great source of fiber. The leaves make a perfect poultice for eczema while a poultice of buds and leaves also helps burns, wounds and sores. The root gives a good cleanse that not only helps the kidneys but also the urinary tract.

One of the greatest at-home remedies for alternative holistic medicine cures is:

Cayenne Pepper

That’s right, cayenne pepper! It is completely safe and is something that you should carry with you at all times. Cayenne is an incredible cure for wounds and cuts; sprinkling cayenne directly on the cut will stop the bleeding and helps close the wound. Cayenne is great internally for sore throats and especially heart health.

Do not take cayenne in capsule form as the body needs your taste buds to prepare the stomach for impact; a little cayenne in your lemonade or with food is a great way to absorb this wonder herb.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Alternative, Alternative medicine, Cayenne pepper, Health, Holistic and Integrated Medicine, Holistic health, Medicine, Practitioners

Chiropractic Care and Alternative Medicine

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Once considered a pseudo-scientific approach to human healing grown out of the vitalist movement of the 19th century, Chiropractic spinal adjustments have quickly grown into the realm of a legitimate and respected profession in alternative medicine. Chiropracticâ€™s move from the fringes of accepted science to the mainstream is characteristic of many branches of holistic medicine which seek a preventative health care that addresses an individualâ€™s mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and social well being instead of simply treating the visible physical or psychological ailment. Within the realm of holistic medicine there are a variety of alternative medicines that treat different ailments. Chiropractic medicine is only one of these.

Chiropractic medicine diagnoses, treats and seeks to prevent the misalignment of the skeletal system. A majority of chiropractic practitioners are focused on aligning and correcting the spinal cord of a client. Those suffering from lower back pain, headaches and injuries from traumatic accidents like whiplash and neck pain claim that spinal and chiropractic adjustments have alleviated much of their pain. While never promising to â€œcureâ€ any of these maladies, chiropractic care provides pain relief and offers avenues into diagnosing and treating other areas of acute pain.

The stated purpose behind this practice, and why it is considered a holistic approach to medicine, is that chiropractic care claims that the nerve-rich spine is has a direct effect on the nervous system. If the spine is out of balance the brain may not be receiving sufficient neuron transmissions or adequate blood flow into vital areas, thus affecting the physical, emotional and mental faculties of a client. Chiropractic care, along with a majority of other practices listed as holistic medicine, seeks to bring all of these factors into alignment. Chiropractors start with the spine, the largest muscoskeletal system in the body.

Chiropractorâ€™s acceptance into the mainstream medicine has been a long and slow practice. In some states, such as New Mexico, chiropractors are permitted to write prescriptions and in Oregon they are allowed to perform minor surgeries and even deliver a baby in a natural birth; another step in legitimizing alternative medicine.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Alternative, Alternative medicine, Chiropractic, Health, Holistic health, Medicine, New Mexico, Oregon

(Acu)Punture the Stress Balloon

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Acupuncture is a health treatment that at first might seem…counter-intuitive. Feeling unwell? How about sticking you full of pins and needles like a pincushion or a hedgehog? That will put you right! Indeed, the prospect of getting stuck full of needles is an intimidating one and it’s likely to become more so the more one needs it, since acupuncture is among other things so good for relieving stress. The more stressed one may be, the less appealing the imagination makes something like acupuncture, but it’s worth overcoming that fear. Acupuncture is one weapon in an arsenal of alternative medicinal strategies to combat illness, and stress is a foremost foe.

It is a stressful world today, and society’s heavy emphasis on productivity, efficiency and time-management does nothing to help that. It’s a bit of an old saw that people built technology to make life easier and it ended up making life more complicated, but that’s because it’s true. Most people think not in terms of how they want to spend their time but rather how much they can accomplish in that time. Free up more time and they will simply revalue it as a tool for producing something else. While time is certainly a tool to be used, it’s not healthy to be always concerned with production. Relaxation is difficult – people become overworked and overwhelmed. Muscles tense and cramp; knots build up; the pressure becomes unbearable.

Acupuncture helps relieve that pressure. The precise placement of the needles allows muscles to relax and release – the knots smooth out and the stress bleeds out, metaphorically speaking. This kind of holistic and alternative treatment is in dramatic contrast to the typical strategy of throwing pills at the problem and is practiced by many who might not want to deal with the traditional (and sometimes bloated) medical / hospital establishment.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: Acupuncture, Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Alternative medicine, Health, Medicine, Practitioners, Stress, Time management