Meditation as a Brake on Aging
In today's fast-paced society, it's easier than ever to get wound up, worked up and stressed out. And that means enduring constantly high bodily levels of the "fight or flight" hormones cortisol and epinephrine.
While these two proteins are very helpful, when the body is constantly charged with them without any "down time," a lot of negative things start happening. These include mental decline, thyroid impairment, blood sugar imbalance, muscle loss, midriff fat gain, blood pressure increase and immunity falloff.
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Waiting May Reduce Need for Back Surgery
New studies demonstrate that waiting may be the best alternative to back surgery.
Approximately 1.5 million back surgeries are performed worldwide. These surgeries are performed to address painful problems associated with slipped or misaligned disks. Intransient sciatica and other lower back conditions are extremely painful and can impact the quality of life of those afflicted. New research though suggests that 75% of such cases will improve on their own if left untreated.
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ACUPUNCTURE AND FIBROMYALGIA
There is new hope for the millions of americans suffering from fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes muscle pain, stiffness and fatigue for unknown reasons. It affects between three and six percent of Americans, mainly women.
Treating the disorder using western medicine can be frustrating. This is why many are now turning to old, eastern medicine for an answer.
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Worried Sick? There Might Be Some Truth There
A recent report by health provider BUPA has found that people's worries are damaging their health by causing sleepless nights, loss of sex drive, and erratic eating habits. The 2007 Worry Report demonstrates that almost one in five people constantly worry about numerous things, and more than half feel they worry more now than five years ago. Half of the people surveyed this year, which is 6% more than in 2006, claimed they were more worried about their health and their family's health than about other concerning issues such as climate change or terrorist attacks. The survey finds that almost three quarters of people worry, but around 19% admit to worrying all the time or about a number of things.
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Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems
A Review in The Lancet reveals the importance of healthy lifestyle choices to reduce stressors related to cardiovascular risk factors. Researchers from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore examined records between 1990 to 2006. They observed how stress affects the sympathetic nervous system, impacts physiology, and the effect it has on the cardiovascular system. Lead author, Daniel Brotman, claims "Acute physical stressors such as sugery, trauma, and intense physical exertion are well known triggers of cardiovascular events. Emotional stressors are increasingly recognized as precipitants of such events."
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Rapid Rise in "Complementary" Medical Services
Have you been to a practitioner besides your family physician? Whether chiropractic care, acupuncture, yoga or homeopathy, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has become increasingly common in the United States, and 72% of adults use some form of CAM therapies according to the US National Centers for Disease Control and US National Center for Health Statistics.
A recent cover story in The New York Times Magazine highlighted how chronic pain tends to be under treated because doctors worry about over prescribing medications, and being liable for malpractice or even criminal penalties. Many doctors fear entering the field of pain management at all. Many patients are also concerned about becoming dependant on medication or about the invasiveness and dangers of surgery and anesthesia. CAM therapies, which are able to treat pain and help manage diseases without medication or surgery, are rapidly growing services as people search out better, safer approaches.
So how effective are Complementary and Alternative Medicine therapies?
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Yoga Is a Possible Treatment For Depression
Yoga may offer solutions for depression, anxiety and epilepsy.
Reports from the World Health Organization and elsewhere estimate that mental illness comprises fifteen percent of the global disease burden. Depression and anxiety disorders contribute heavily to these numbers. One treatment approach is offered by various medications designed to stimulate the brain's primary inhibitory neuro transmitter, gamma-aminobutyric (or GABA) levels. Findings released by Boston University School of Medicine report that yoga may elevate these GABA levels in the brain and may provide a way to treat these disorders.
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Back Pain
There's a good chance you or someone you care about has suffered with back pain that lasts a long time.
Back pain is the second leading symptom seen by doctors in the United States.
Now, one might think a powerful group of pain medicines can help relieve the agony.
But it appears, their effectiveness, at least with back pain, might be overblown.
Chronic back pain--meaning, pain that lasts more than three months--is reported in 19 percent of working adults. That's one in five!
Thambal Yima will tell you first hand how debilitating it can be. She suffered five herniated discs, and two fractures a couple of years ago. “I went through all kinds of medical treatments. I was in so much pain to get up on the examination table I would scream.”
She came in in intractable pain, certainly, sounding like someone, if there was someone, who would benefit from opioid pain medicines…drugs in the morphine family.
These are drugs like fentanyl, percocet, oxycontin, and vicodin. They are powerful pain killers. But according to new research in the annals of internal medicine, the difference in pain relief between these medicines and placebo was not significantly different long term, believe it or not.
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Massage Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis
No one said getting old is all fun. After 40 or 50 or 60 years of walking, running, and playing sport, the knees start to wear down.
Make no mistake, osteoarthritis is a serious condition.
It limits what people can do, affects quality of life, and can lead to disability and lost days of work.
Yes, there are medicines for it, but treatment isn'’t perfect.
Patrick Russo is only 43 but from years of high school football, osteoarthritis of the knee has set in big time. “"I have a Dalmatian who has to be in the park every day, so with her it got to be a real hassle because walking just hurt",” says Patrick. "“I don’'t like to take drugs for pain or any of that stuff, so I tried to find something that would help alleviate the pain.”"
Dr. Adam Perlman, of UMDNJ, says, “"We don’'t know how to cure it, and many of the treatments can have their own side effects such as irritation of the stomach from medications people might take, or other side effects of those medications.”"
But maybe something as simple as a massage could be the answer for Patrick and the millions of Americans who suffer from knee osteoarthritis.
According to new research in the archives of internal medicine, Swedish massage of the knee appears to provide lasting relief from osteoarthritis related pain, stiffness, and loss of physical function.
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ACUPUNCTURE FOR KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS
If you’ve tried all the pain medicines, the heat packs, and you still have aching knees, there’s new evidence that acupuncture might help with your osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of joint disease, and the most common location for osteoarthritis is, in fact, the knee. And with our aging baby boomers, more and more of us are going to have to deal with this problem, which is hardly insignificant.
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