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5 Alternative Treatments and Practices Worth Trying

healthandsurvival — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:11:24 +0000

5 Alternative Treatments and Practices Worth Trying

As a society full of technological advancements in all areas of our lives, we are sometimes hesitant to try traditional, or alternative, practices when it comes to our health and well-being. However, there has been a large increase in demand for therapies, treatments, and practices that are not aligned with our Western values.

Many people could feel the benefits of some of these practices, but have yet to try them. Here is a brief list of some alternative treatments and practices that are gaining popularity these days.

Therapeutic Massage

While this is the most popular alternative treatment by far, many people are still hesitant to undergo massage therapy for various reasons. Studies show, however, that there are many great benefits of utilizing massage therapy on a regular basis. Decreased anxiety, improved circulation, and increased flexibility and range of motion are just a few of these benefits. Talk to your physician or a licensed massage therapist and see if massage could help you.

Acupressure

Often confused with acupuncture, acupressure is less invasive and uses no needles to manipulate the body. Acupressure points are not generally related the affected areas, but rather associated with traditional Chinese medicine and the influences of yin, yang, and the individual’s chi. While this may not sound like something worth exploring, many who have undergone acupressure have finally felt relief which traditional medicine had been unable to provide.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture utilizes needles to manipulate the same points as in acupressure. Although acupuncture came first, some people are hesitant to undergo this procedure due to its extensive use of fine pointed needles. However, some people have gone so far as to claim acupuncture helped them to sleep better, quit snoring – even quit smoking. If you are adventurous and have explored your other options, you may want to consider acupuncture.

Reiki

Though this particular alternative treatment has no scientific basis, the people who claim to have experienced the healing powers of Reiki are growing on a significant scale. Reiki practitioners believe they’re able to manipulate a universal healing life-force energy, and that they are able to transfer this intelligent energy to their patients through the use of nothing more than their palms. People who undergo Reiki treatment claim to feel not only physical, but mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits from the treatments as well.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy involves the use of essential oils to manipulate physical and/or emotional responses to help with an individual’s healing process. This is actually a Western derivation of alternative medicine, as essential oils are used in various ways in other holistic treatment options in varying degrees. Aromatherapy is used, with varying levels of success, in many people who don’t wish to venture too far beyond the realm of traditional medicine.

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of medical coding online training. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

Posted in Alternative, Fitness, Longevitiy, Wellness, Women's Health Tagged: acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, reiki

Red Bull Causes Stroke..

healthandsurvival — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:01:27 +0000

The heavily marketed energy drinks are all similar. Monster, Full Throttle and various other brands may have similar effects. In addition, I have had a few patients develop irregular heart rates after drinking energy drinks. Both went to the ER for atrial fibrillation and they were instructed to stop drinking the energy drinks. They had no further episodes of the irregular heart rate…. (Warning Labels on Red Bull?)

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By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Just one can of the popular stimulant energy drink Red Bull can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, even in young people, Australian medical researchers said on Friday.

The caffeine-loaded beverage, popular with university students and adrenaline sport fans to give them “wings”, caused the blood to become sticky, a pre-cursor to cardiovascular problems such as stroke.

“One hour after they drank Red Bull, (their blood systems) were no longer normal. They were abnormal like we would expect in a patient with cardiovascular disease,” Scott Willoughby, lead researcher from the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, told the Australian newspaper.

Red Bull Australia spokeswoman Linda Rychter said the report would be assessed by the company’s head office in Austria.

“The study does not show effects which would go beyond that of drinking a cup of coffee. Therefore, the reported results were to be expected and lie within the normal physiological range,” Rychter told Reuters.

Willoughby and his team tested the cardiovascular systems of 30 young adults one hour before and one hour after consuming one 250ml can of sugar-free Red Bull..….read rest of story..

Cha Cha Slide McDonalds- As seen on Oprah

healthandsurvival — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:52:56 +0000

This is a cool commercial… Cha Cha Slide McDonald’s Commercial, as seen on Oprah Winfrey..

Erectile dysfunction predicts heart problems: study

healthandsurvival — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:31:06 +0000

Erectile dysfunction predicts heart problems: study

By Amy Norton

Problems with maintaining an erection may foretell heart trouble ahead for men with type 2 diabetes, two new studies show.

A number of past studies have found a connection between erectile dysfunction (ED) and heart disease. But the new findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, confirm that ED often precedes and predicts heart trouble.

This, say researchers, suggests that men with ED should be especially vigilant about controlling heart disease risk factors.

In one study, Italian researchers found that among 291 men with type 2 diabetes, those who also had ED had twice the risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular complication over the next four years.

At the start of the study, all of the men had had evidence of “silent” heart disease — meaning they had plaque buildup in their arteries on imaging tests, but no heart disease symptoms, such as chest pain. Having ED seemed to pinpoint those men who were at particular risk of a complication.

There was some good news as well, however: Taking cholesterol-lowering statins appeared to reduce the risks associated with ED, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Carmine Gazzaruso of the Clinical Institute “Beato Matteo” in Vigevano, Italy.

In the second study, Hong Kong researchers found that among diabetic men with no indications of heart disease at the outset, those with ED were 58 percent more likely to die of heart disease, or have a heart attack or other non-fatal cardiac “event.”

“Erectile dysfunction is an important warning sign of future adverse heart events or even death,” study chief Dr. Peter Chun-Yip Tong, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told Reuters Health.

The main reason, he explained, is that ED is an early manifestation of the blood vessel damage caused by diabetes and other risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure.

Tong recommended that all men with diabetes tell their doctor if they begin to have problems getting or maintaining an erection. They can then have a comprehensive assessment of their cardiovascular risk factors — such as measurements of their blood pressure, cholesterol, waist size and kidney function — and work on getting those under control.

Indeed, the Italian study suggests that diabetic men with ED can cut some of their heart risks by using a statin. Gazzaruso’s team found that among patients with ED, those who were on a statin had a one-third lower chance of suffering a heart attack or other complication during the study.

There was also evidence that men taking a class of ED drugs called PDE-5 inhibitors, which includes Viagra, had lower heart risks. According to the researchers, this may reflect the fact that the drugs improve the function of the inner lining of artery walls.

The bottom line, according to Tong, is that men with diabetes and ED should have all of their modifiable heart risk factors “identified early and treated aggressively.”

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, May 27, 2008.

Health Business Management Program

healthandsurvival — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:35:51 +0000

Being involved in a health related business, I understand the importance of being able to keep customer information organized and getting appointments scheduled with easy to use appointment scheduling software. I came across a company that will provide strategic marketing, ecommerce options and easy scheduling- that company is MindBody Solutions.

Mind body is specifically designed for Dance Studios, Health Clubs, Martial Arts, Personal Trainers, Pilates Studios, Retail and Yoga Studios. If you are involved in one of these lines of business, then you should really consider this type of web based program.

The strategic marketing section allows you to maximize your business and give your customers what they want. It will help you upsell any products you may have. In addition, you will be able to send your customes emails, newsletters and surveys.

Mindbody also provides Hair Salon Management Software and Spa Management Software that will allow salon and spa owners to more efficiently run their business. The cost of this software can start at only $65 per month for small businesses, easily paying for iteself in no time.

A big benefit of the software is that clients are able to purchase classes, pay for visits or buy products you may sell. This service will allow your clients to schedule and pay for their services online making the front desks’ less busy. This is a win win for all parties involved. To learn more about this web based software, visit : http://www.mindbodyonline.com/

Vitamin D may help curb breast cancer, study finds-

healthandsurvival — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:55:16 +0000

HEALTH ALERT- This article should be sent to every women you know, it may help save their life. To Purchase vitamin D for $0.21 cents per day- please visit here

The evidence keeps mounting! I have published several posts in the past regarding the benefits of Vitamin D. I have been checking patient levels for about a year and a half and have convinced many of my colleagues to do the same. About 90% of my patients in Southern California, are D-ficient.

This is one of many studies to show that Vitamin D supplementation (or increased sunlight) can help prevent cancer. Although my experience has taught me that most people will need between 2000 IU- 6000 IU daily of Vitamin D3. I have several patients on doses as high as 10,000 units/day. There are no studies to suggest toxicity of at these levels.

I personally used to take 800 IU daily with my multivitamin only to discover that my levels were deficient ( I live in Southern California too and don’t use sunscreen). I now take Vitamin D3 4000 IU daily. The article also states that the test cost about $25- in reality, it will cost between $75 to $150 depending on the lab.

I would recommend that everyone reading this article ask their doctor to check their Vitamin D 25-OH levels (Not Vitamin D 1-25 OH). If they are below 32 ng/dl, then supplementation should be considered. As with any disease, prevention is the key.

To Purchase vitamin D for $0.21 cents per day- please visit here

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By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer-

Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found — adding to evidence the “sunshine vitamin” has anti-cancer benefits. The results are sure to renew arguments about whether a little more sunshine is a good thing.

The skin makes vitamin D from ultraviolet light. Too much sunlight can raise the risk of skin cancer, but small amounts — 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen — may be beneficial, many doctors believe.

While the vitamin is found in certain foods and supplements, most don’t contain the best form, D-3, and have only a modest effect on blood levels of the nutrient. That’s what matters, the Canadian study found.

Only 24 percent of women in the study had sufficient blood levels of D at the time they were first diagnosed with breast cancer. Those who were deficient were nearly twice as likely to have their cancer recur or spread over the next 10 years, and 73 percent more likely to die of the disease.

“These are pretty big differences,” said study leader Dr. Pamela Goodwin of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. “It’s the first time that vitamin D has been linked to breast cancer progression.”

But people shouldn’t start downing supplements, she warned. Experts don’t agree on how much vitamin D people need or the best way to get it, and too much can be harmful. They also don’t know whether getting more vitamin D can help when someone already has cancer.

“We have no idea whether correcting a vitamin D deficiency will in any way alter these outcomes,” said Dr. Julie Gralow, a cancer specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The study was released Thursday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will be presented at the group’s annual meeting later this month.

Lots of earlier research suggests vitamin D may help prevent prostate, breast and especially colon cancer. In lab and animal tests, vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth, curbs formation of blood vessels that feed tumors and has many other anti-cancer effects.

Other evidence: People who live in northern regions of the world have higher cancer rates than those living closer to the equator, possibly because of less sunshine and vitamin D.

The Canadian researchers wanted to see whether it made a difference in survival. They took blood from 512 women at three University of Toronto hospitals between 1989 and 1995, when the women were first diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.

A decade later, 83 percent of those who had had adequate vitamin D blood levels were alive without extensive spread of their cancer, versus 79 percent of those whose vitamin D levels were insufficient and 69 percent of those who were deficient, as defined by widely used medical standards for measuring intake.

One red flag: The few women with the very highest levels of vitamin D seemed to have worse survival.

Though the study was too small and those results were not conclusive, “there may be an optimal level of vitamin D in women with breast cancer and it may be possible to take too much,” Goodwin said.

The federal government says up to 2,000 international units of vitamin D a day seems OK. Taking 800 units per day will, on average, raise blood levels to the middle of the range that seems best for bone and general health, Goodwin said.

Vitamin D is in salmon and other oily fish, and milk is routinely fortified with it, but dietary sources account for little of the amount of D circulating in the blood, experts say.

“It’s very hard to make a recommendation” because how much difference a supplement makes depends on someone’s baseline level, which also can be affected by sunlight, skin type and time of year, she explained.

Doctors do suggest breast cancer patients get their vitamin D levels checked to see whether they are deficient. The simple blood test is available in many hospitals and labs for about $25, Goodwin said.

Dr. Nancy Davidson, a Johns Hopkins University cancer specialist who is president of the oncology society, said those tests are growing in popularity, even in ordinary medical care.

“Rightly or wrongly, I’m increasingly seeing physicians who are measuring this,” she said.

The Canadian study was paid for by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in New York, established by cosmetics magnate Evelyn Lauder.

“It’s a very provocative paper. It’s confirmatory of a tremendous amount of evidence that vitamin D is an important component of health,” said Dr. Larry Norton, chief of breast cancer programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a medical adviser to the foundation.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. About 184,450 cases and 40,930 deaths from the disease are expected in the United States this year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080516/ap_on_he_me/vitamin_d_breast_cancer

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On the Net:

Government vitamin information:

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

Cancer conference: http://www.asco.org

Basics of Parkour

healthandsurvival — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:23:51 +0000

If anyone is interested in learning Parkour- here is a good video to help get you started.

Exercise Reduces Breat Cancer Risk

healthandsurvival — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:52:38 +0000

This is another great reason to start exercising. Breast cancer will affect 1 in 9 women according to statistics. In addition to reducing breast cancer risk, one’s heart will be healthier and the complications of being overweight, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and sleep apnea will be reduced. There is also evidence that Vitamin D3 supplementation can also reduce breast cancer from 50-67%, depending on the blood levels of Vitamin D 25-0H… Combining these two simple strategies could make a huge impact. Best of Luck!

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The results of a literature review of published studies confirm that while all women are likely to reduce their risk of breast cancer with regular physical activity, certain subgroups benefit more than others.

According to the report posted online by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, postmenopausal women and those with a normal body mass index (BMI) are among the groups that achieve the greatest risk reduction with physical activity. BMI is the ratio of height to weight.

The findings also indicate that certain activities influence the risk reduction more than others. For instance, recreational physical activity cut the risk of breast cancer to a greater extent than did work-related activity.

Dr. C. M. Friedenreich, from the Alberta Cancer Board in Calgary, Canada, and Dr. A. E. Cust, from the University of Melbourne in Australia, examined how the timing, type, and level of physical activity affects the breast cancer risk. Their literature search identified 62 studies.

Forty-seven of the 62 (76 percent) studies indicated there was an anti-breast cancer effect for increased physical activity, with typical risk reductions of 25 percent to 30 percent, the authors report. In 28 of 33 studies, they found evidence of a dose-response effect, which means more exercise correlated with more benefits.

In terms of activities, recreational activity, vigorous activity, and lifetime or later life activity provided the strongest reductions in breast cancer risk.

In addition to postmenopausal women and those with a normal BMI, other subgroups most likely to benefit from physical activity were non-white women, women who half given birth, and those without a family history of breast cancer.

Exercise also had a greater effect in reducing hormone receptor-negative tumors than hormone receptor-positive tumors, the findings indicate.

“Further observational epidemiological research is needed to clarify the biological mechanisms underling the association between physical activity and reduced breast cancer risk,” Friedenreich and Cust conclude, “especially with regard to the type, duration and intensity of activity and to explain differences in population subgroup effects.”

SOURCE: British Journal of Sports Medicine, May 12, 2008. Sports Medicine, May 12, 2008.

Being Fit Can Lower Stroke Risk

healthandsurvival — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 05:11:09 +0000

Study: Being fit can lower stroke risk

By STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press WriterFri Feb 22, 5:02 AM ET

Being merely moderately fit — walking briskly half an hour a day — can lower the risk of having a stroke, according to a new study whose findings apply to women as well as men.

Much of the previous research on stroke and fitness has been on men and relied on participants to report their physical activity, said Steven Hooker, who heads the University of South Carolina’s Prevention Research Center in Columbia and led the study. About a quarter of those in the new study were women, and everyone had a treadmill test to measure his or her fitness level.

“It seems that benefits we’ve been observing in men for many years … are also observed in women,” Hooker said.

He said even those who were moderately fit had a lower risk of stroke. Most people can reach that fitness range by walking briskly for 30 minutes a day, five times a week, said Hooker, who presented the findings Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.

Stroke is the nation’s third-leading cause of death. It occurs when blood flow to the brain is stopped when a blood vessel is blocked by a clot or bursts. Hooker said physical activity can help prevent blood clots and the buildup of artery-clogging plaque.

For their research, Hooker and his colleagues used data from a study of more than 61,000 adults at the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. After taking a treadmill test, the participants periodically answered health surveys. The latest research divided the group into four levels of fitness and looked at how many of them had strokes, following them an average of 18 years.

Overall, there were 692 strokes in men and 171 in women.

The study found that men in the most fit group had a 40 percent lower risk of stroke than the least fit men. The most fit women had a 43 percent reduction in their risk of stroke compared with women in the least fit group.

For moderate levels of fitness, the risk reduction ranged from 15 to 30 percent for men and 23 to 57 percent in women.

The lower risks held true even when taking into account other risk factors for stroke such as smoking, weight, high blood pressure, diabetes and family history.

Fitness is “a strong predictor of stroke risk all by itself,” Hooker said.

The study’s participants were mostly white, well-educated and middle-income or higher; other populations should be studied, he said. Fitness tests were only done when people entered the study so the researchers didn’t know if their fitness level changed over time.

In its stroke prevention guidelines, the American Stroke Association recommends at least 30 minutes of physical activity of moderate intensity on most days of the week. The new study “is certainly consistent with all of the recommendations that we already have in place,” said Dr. Larry Goldstein, a spokesman for the group and director of the Stroke Center at Duke University.

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On the Net:

American Stroke Association: http://www.strokeassociation.org

20 Desk Exercises! No More Excuses-

healthandsurvival — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:35:34 +0000

Are you a deskbound all day long? No time for exercise? Do these 20 desk exercises and get buff!

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Not everyone has the time to make it to the gym during their lunch break. But just because you can’t get out of the office (or your cubicle) doesn’t mean that you can’t get some exercise, or “deskercize” during the day. Here are some suggestions for web workers who want to get a work out and get their work done at the same time.

1. Buns of steel
No, you don’t need a shiny lycra bodysuit or big hair to do this popular glute workout. All you have to do tighten and squeeze your buttocks, hold five to ten seconds, and release. Repeat these squeezes 8-10 times, as many times during the day as you feel up to, and notice your newfound buns of steel in just a few weeks.

2. Upper back stretch
The upper back can be a place where tension accumulates throughout the day. By taking just a few seconds to stretch it out, you can release tension and work your muscles. What you need to do is extend your arms in front of you, grab onto your wrist with the other hand and gently pull your arms forward as you round your upper back. Hold it for twenty seconds and then switch sides…..read more here