Science Horizons

Alternative and complementary medicine are of such interest to the medical community that the National Institutes of Health has an entire agency dedicated to technical research into non-mainstream treatments. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative medicine (NCCAM) uses technical research to explore complementary and alternative treatments, including natural remedies and other practices mentioned below.

The term alternative medicine refers to health care practices that are used in place of conventional medication. For example, using a special diet to treat malignancy instead of undergoing radiation or chemotherapy is alternative medicine. Complementary medication is not the same as alternative medication. Complementary medicine is used together with mainstream medicine. Using dietary supplements for diabetes in addition to mainstream medical treatment is an example of complementary medicine.

Complementary and alternative medicine includes a range of medical systems. Eastern cultures have used long-established Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and acupuncture for centuries. Homeopathic medication and naturopathic medication are very recent alternative medical practices.

Mind-body medication utilizes techniques such as meditation, art, mental healing, and dance to enhance the mind’s ability to affect the functioning and healing of the body. Clinical depression may responds well to these techniques.

Food supplements, herbs, and vitamins are natural remedies used in complementary and alternative therapies. For illustration, research shows that leaves and flowers of the hawthorn tree are safe and effective for treating mild heart failure. Flaxseed oil can be used to treat arthritis, while ginger decreases pregnancy-related queasiness and vomiting. NCCAM continues to research the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on heart disease.

Chiropractic, massage therapy, and osteopathic manipulation involve moving certain parts of the body to re-set alignment, relax the body, and support curing ability. Energy medicine uses invisible energy fields for healing. Reiki, therapeutic touch, and the utilization of electromagnetic fields are examples of energy medicine. Reiki is a 20th century Japanese healing art in which the practitioner places his or her hands just above the body of the individual being treated. In addition to promoting overall health and well being, Reiki can give relief from the side effects of mainstream medical remedies such as radiation and chemotherapy.

NCCAM finances research on complementary and alternative approaches to obesity. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, affecting kids as well as adults. A lot of health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, that had formerly been seen typically in adults have now become normal in kids and adolescents. The complexity of obesity warrants a multi-faceted line of attack to prevention and treatment.

The NCCAM urges people who are utilizing complementary, alternative, and natural cures to tell their MD’s. Doctors need to be aware about other remedies because of potential conflicts with mainstream therapies. For illustration, certain natural remedies interact with prescription medications and may cause unwanted sides effects.

There is another reason to discuss complementary and alternative treatments with doctors. Increasingly, physicians trained in mainstream medication understand the curative power of other approaches. Many are well-informed about complementary and alternative therapies and willing to work with patients who are interested in using natural remedies and cures and other non-conventional avenues of healing.

Richard Ealom Alternative Medicine alternative medicine, disease, health care, holistic medicine, home remedies, natural medicine, remedies, sickness

Even those over-the-counter, and “non-addictive” sleeping pills are indeed addictive! Those who take sleeping pills generally do so out of necessity, because they want sleep, not to take pills. But, if your attention is focused on this article for about three minutes, you may find out a few interesting things about sleep and sleeping pills that will hopefully change your life for the better.

1. Sleeping pills are addictive. By repeatedly using a sleeping pill, even an over the counter product, you create a dependency on that product to produce sleep. A psychological addiction can be just as strong as a chemical addiction, and have the same impact on your life. Once your subconscious mind accepts the idea that you need a pill to sleep, it simply will not remember how to fall asleep naturally some other way, without the proper re-training.

2. In a word, Puffiness. That wonderful, bloated look your face and body have in the morning after youve used a sleeping pill. This is a tell-tale sign from your body that your usual overnight healing and other bodily processes have been hindered or even prevented by the drug you have taken. Basically, the toxins are not being properly processed out of your body. No wonder you feel like crap the next day!

3. Both prescription and over the counter sleeping medications are designed to slow down brain function. Your brain has a mechanism to slow down naturally, passing from your normal waking brain activity, slowing down until it reaches the slow rhythm of sleep. There are ways to create this slowing down process naturally, but sleeping pills do it by acting on and suppressing other areas of the brain, not just slowing down its rhythm. They create deterioration in the brain cells. For these reasons, sleeping pills are known to cause unwanted side effects, including poor concentration/fatigue, confusion, impaired coordination, memory, judgment, addiction, respiratory depression, and in extreme circumstances, death.

4. Know how people die of sleeping pill overdoses? They die of asphyxiation because sleeping pills cause respiratory depression (poor oxygen intake from the lungs). Sleeping pills accentuate the GABA neurotransmitter, which keeps the nerve cells in the lung tissue from firing properly, therefore decreasing proper lung function. People suffering from sleep apnea, or who snore, should be especially concerned, therefore, about using sleeping pills. Could this situation have contributed or caused Michael Jackson’s death?

5. Because sleeping pills dont address the root cause of insomnia, or retrain the brain to fall asleep naturally, they actually do nothing to cure the condition they are taken for. Which in turn leads to deeper dependency, because you continue to need to apply the band-aid, but you never actually heal. Fortunately, there are ways to re-train the brain how to fall into the rhythm of sleep naturally, which do not create a dependency because it uses the brains natural mechanism for slowing down and creating the deep delta brain rhythms of sleep. Why dont more people try brainwave entrainment to resolve insomnia before taking sleeping pills? Simply because it is not commonly known. Those who do use brainwave entrainment frequently find that they are able to re-train their brains to fall asleep naturally, without any chemicals.

Cindy Locher, CHT Meditation alternative health, alternative medicine, brainwave entrainment, BWE, complementary medicine, Health, holistic health, holistic medicine, insomnia, Meditation, self improvement, sleep, sleeplessness

Acupuncture for weight loss is a great tool for helping someone to make changes in their weight as it improves all circulation, digestion, absorption, muscle tone, lymphatic flow, transformation and transportation on a physical level.

Changing the shape and size of your body is important but changing the mindset is equally important if not more important. What i mean is changing your attitude towards yourself and your body. It will take effort, discipline, persistence and action to name a few but the key is to never give up.

We are the only species on the planet that has the ability to create our own circumstances by choosing our own thoughts. We are creative beings with an intellect in a physical body. Acupuncture works on all levels, the mental, emotional and physical.

The great achievers in the world do not necessarily agree on everything but one thing they do agree on is that we become what we think about. We have an infinite supply of power flowing to and through us but it is up to us to develop and use it to change ourselves, by changing our thoughts, our feelings and our actions.

How many people do you know who start the gym at the start of every year, last for three weeks then quit because they have some excuse. This is because their reason why was not big enough to follow through to completion of their goal, their will and their thinking was not strong enough.

Have a very detailed image of the body you want in your mind eye. In your leisure time you must think of it, first thing in the morning and last thing at night you must hold the image of the you you want to create. It is hard work but thought energy is the most potent energy there is.

Using affirmations everyday such as I am so happy and grateful now that i am slim, trim healthy and feeling fantastic about my body and myself on or before December 2010. Always start an affirmation with i am so happy and grateful and say it in present tense and put a dead line on it. Saying i am so happy and grateful changes the vibration we are in, helps us focus on our image creating space to allow things to change. Saying it in the present tense creates it in the now therefore empowering it . Giving it a deadline helps us stay on track but it is only a guess, it does not have to happen on that particular time so do not be discouraged if it does not manifest.

Daily tasks must be done everyday to accomplish your goal. Creating good habits will create change until these habits become automatically in your life. It may not feel so good at the start as you are moving outside your comfort zone but stick with it as your mind does not like change but just focus on your goal and never mind the obstacles. Your tasks are stepping stones towards your goal so when the going gets tough the tough gets going.

Niall Devlin Weight Loss acupuncture and weight loss, acupuncture for weight loss, acupuncture treatments, acupuncture weight loss, alternative medicine, chinese acupuncture, Health, holistic medicine, how to loss weight, Weight Loss, weight loss acupuncture