empowereddoctor.com - integrativemedicine

The Medicine Called Sleep

2008-11-21

Deep, adequate sleep is like a healing medicine to the body. But the opposite is true, too. In fact, consistently poor or insufficient sleep can contribute to diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems and weight gain, according to experts at the Cleveland Clinic. Blood pressure, for example, rises and falls during sleep. But when sleep is interrupted, there can be an unhealthy impact on the blood pressure's normal variability, causing it to rise and setting off problems with the heart and arteries.

Seven Anxiety-Fighting Foods

2008-11-11

Step aside, Prozac and Valium, and make way for some natural alternatives that, while they might not do as dramatic a job at relieving anxiety, certainly have the anxiety-relieving benefit that they have no nasty side effects whatever. Berries. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries - any berries at all are loaded with vitamin C and other beneficial plant chemicals that counteract the human stress hormone cortisol. And the carbohydrates they contain are the good, complex kind. The body breaks them down into sugar slowly, so you don't experience a blood-sugar crash.

St. John's Wort and Depression

2008-10-27

Some studies show St. Johns wort helps alleviate depression, and some don't. But one government agency, one educational institution and a nonprofit biomedical group recently gave it a something of a thumbs-up. "There is some scientific evidence that St. John's wort is useful for treating mild to moderate depression," according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). And the University of Maryland Medical Center says that, "in numerous studies, St. John's wort has been effective in reducing depressive symptoms in those with mild to moderate but not severe [or major] depression."

Alternatives to Antidepressant Drugs

2008-10-07

Even though the movement is still small, psychiatrists are increasingly shying away from pharmaceuticals in the treatment of depression. There is a subtle shift toward supplementing drug antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, with treatments like herbs, nutritional supplements, meditation and acupuncture, as scientific evidence mounts for the latter's effectiveness.

Eight Strategies to Reduce Triglycerides

2008-09-29

High triglycerides in your bloodstream can be just as much a danger signal for the health of your heart as high cholesterol, according to the Harvard Heart Letter. Trouble is, people's awareness of the threat of cholesterol, hyped in the media for years, is far greater than that of triglycerides, the most common form of fat in food and the blood. Researchers have determined that the triglyceride danger threshold is 200 milligrams per deciliter of blood. So if your level is above that, the best way to reduce it is to change your lifestyle in the following eight ways.

Sleep Is Food for Your Body

2008-09-18

Just as important as food, water and exercise for the health of your body is sleep. In fact, without sleep, animals in the laboratory die in a matter of weeks. In humans, lack of sleep works havoc on biological systems. It not only causes the relatively minor symptoms of drowsiness, irritability and concentration difficulty, but it appears to also cause hormonal changes that result in increased appetite, weight gain, obesity and greater risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. It also contributes to motor vehicle and on-the-job accidents.

Meditation as a Brake on Aging

2008-09-17

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.

Happiness Promotes Health

2008-09-10

Paul Hershberger, a professor at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio, found the most impressive aspect of his study to be how the researchers isolated the happiness and contentment variables from all of the other elements that affect future health.

Acupuncture May Help Some Women Conceive

2008-09-09

A study at a Virginia University is giving hope to women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) that they will be able to return to normal fertility and become mothers. Lisa Pastore, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Virginia Health System and the study's principal author, has been thrilled by her results. "Over the last year, we have seen women who never had a regular menstrual cycle start having regular periods," she said. "We can also boast several pregnancies since the study began. Now we would like to recruit more people to the study in order to complete the study. It is important for research to have enough participants to ensure that the results are scientifically credible and not due to chance."

How Stress Causes Weight Gain

2008-09-05

The mounting stress in today's society leads to a vicious descending spiral of ever-increasing weight gain. But the good news is that the spiral is not inevitable and can be reversed and transcended. "In times of economic hardship and stress, people gain weight," said Dr. Sasson Moulavi, a bariatric physician in Port St. Lucie, Fla. This is because: -- When the economy deteriorates and the gremlin of stress seizes people, they tend to buy less expensive, lower-quality food, which is calorically rich and nutritionally poor.