If you’ve never tried acupuncture, you’ve still probably heard people swear by it. For allergies, for pain, for chronic diseases that weren’t ever properly diagnosed. And every now and then, a study comes out, showing how acupuncture is an alternative treatment that medicine is willing to legitimize, at least a little bit.
This week a small study was published showing that COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients faired better when they received acupuncture than those that got a placebo. They were able to walk longer, eat better (eating can become difficult with COPD) and generally reported an improved quality of life.
There are many explanations for how acupuncture works: it triggers your immune system to notice a problem, it relaxes muscles, or (within the practice) it opens up energy pathways.
The COPD patients in the study continued their western medications/treatments, and it’s usually recommended that alternative treatments be used to complicated traditional ones. (Acupuncture could probably also be used to ease many of the unwanted side-effects, as well).
COPD can be a result of lifelong smoking. Coneniently, acupuncture is also commonly used to help kick the habit, so this could be a great way to hit two birds with one stone!
Have you tried acupuncture? Did it work?
With a wave of baby boomers about to hit retirement, and a proportion of them also facing dementia and subsequent Alzheimer’s Disease, medical research is making a big push in order to find ways to treat or slow the progression of Alzheimer’s symptoms. Subsequently, there has been more progress in the last few months than the last several years!
The big news story for Alzheimer’s Disease this week is that clinical trials are going to begin for patients who don’t yet have Alzheimer’s Disease, but who are destined to get the disease due to a gene. Since it’s harder to treat Alzheimer’s symptoms after the brain has been damaged, the hope is that preventing Alzheimer’s Disease will be more effective than trying to reverse Alzheimer’s symptoms.
Other studies are trying to reverse or prevent Alzheimer’s symptoms by attacking some of the known risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease, like diabetes. The brain actually uses up quite a bit of energy so using inhalants to give it key nutrients, like insulin, directly may help high risk patients who are experiencing early signs of dementia.
The important takeaway of recent Alheimer’s Disease research is this: the earlier you notice and address symptoms, the longer you’ll have your memories. Working with a therapist on memory techniques at the first signs of Alheimer’s Disease (which can appear in the thirties!) can add years or more.
Do you intentionally do any activities that support your brain health (Crosswords, sudoku, etc.?)? Share your favorites in the comments!
If you’ve been feeling sluggish, spring weather and its accompanying activities can really highlight that fact. Energy levels can be affected by many things, so here’s a few tricks on how to get them higher, including which vitamins to take for energy:
1) Make sure you’re getting enough quality sleep. Whether you don’t have the time or aren’t achieving a deep rest, sleep is the first thing to check when you’ve got low energy. 6-8 hours is the perfect window for optimal health—no matter your age.
Reduce light & noise in your bedroom, and if your mind is spinning with stress, try a meditation before bed (example: visually list your problems and put them in a drawer for the night—practice not thinking about them as they come up).
Read more energy boosting tips…
We’ve covered how tick bites can transmit Lyme Disease (East), as well as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (All US), but ticks, as well as small mammals like rabbits and mice (and in one instance wild hogs) can catch and transmit Tularemia, a highly contagious disease that often causes mass rodent die-offs.
How do humans catch Tularemia?
Besides tick bites, if local animals become infected incidental exposure become more likely. Touching or handling an infected animal, accidentally mowing one in the yard, biting flies, eating undercooked meat of an infected animal (hunters are especially at risk of this) or by drinking contaminated water (say, swimming in a lake or river shared by infected animals or downstream of the contamination). Read more about Tularemia…
An early stage melanoma---click through for Glamour's guide to melanomas.
Skin Cancer is one disease that can be prevented, but according to a recent CDC report many people—young adults in particular—continue to ignore advice about preventing UV radiation from creating melanomas.
Tanning, in particular, is being attributed as a twenty-something vice that may lead to an increase in future skin cancers. Once marketed as safe, tanning can still cause burns, gives off UV radiation, and was recently (officially) declared by WHO to be a cause of skin cancer.
Besides being fashionable, being in the sun feels good. It triggers your body to create vitamin D, and tanning, at salons in particular, can actually become addictive. The trick is limiting yourself and being smart about it.
- In the summer, avoid getting too much sun in the middle of the day when rays are strongest.
- When travelling or hiking, remember that different places have different amounts of sun—higher in altitude/near the equator have more, and some cities may even be affected by their smog (whether it affects UV light or not the toxic air may increase free radical formation).
- Use sunscreen. Many healthier people avoid sunscreen because of the chemical content—it’s another one of those things you have to read the label for. Look for an old fashioned sunscreen with zinc or titanium as an active ingredient, and without fancy upgrades that use more chemicals (like aerosol spray or disappearing 100%—think back to age ten when there was a thin film of white). Of course, if you’ll only use the fancy kind that’s better than not wearing any!
- Start scheduling a yearly mole check. Make sure to cover in your hair, back, genitals, and bottoms of feet where most people are likely to miss a new cancerous growth. Caught early, melanomas leave minimal scarring and the development of skin cancer can often be avoided.
- Don’t ignore these guidelines if you have darker skin—while white people are more likely to get melanomas, people with darker skin are more likely to get skin cancer because they often think they are immune to UV radiation, and that can be a deadly presumption.
- When getting vitamin D making sun during the summer, try and do it in the early morning or evening, and adjust how long you’re exposed against where you’re located. Make it a social event and apply sunscreen whenever someone starts turning pink.
- Fight sunburns with aspirin (taken immediately its antiinflammatory effects can shorten and reduce the burn) and aloe vera. Once, burns got a dose of colloidal silver to help with healing, and many modern bandages that are for burns still include nanosilver.
Does the risk of sun cancer change how you spend time in the sun? Let us know below!
