- By Ray Filar
You are in bed, sweating and trembling, dosed up on a selection of painkillers and herbal tranquillizers. Noises outside make you jump. Your heart beats frantically, furiously, unremittingly. You sleep for brief periods, twenty minutes, ten minutes. A police siren goes past and you wake up with a start...
Big Pharma’s focus on blockbuster cancer drugs squeezes out research into potential treatments that are more affordable. Says one researcher: “What is scientific and sexy is driven by what can be monetized.”
On a low, windswept rise at the southeastern edge of the Navajo Nation, Jackie Bell-Jefferson prepares to move her family from their home. A mound of uranium-laden waste the size of several football fields, covered with a thin veneer of gravel, dominates the view from her front door...
If you’re confused by food labels, you’re not alone. Marketers use a variety of tricks to make foods seem healthier and more appealing than their competitors, particularly when it comes to products aimed at children. One of the most powerful advertising tools a food manufacturer has is the packaging.
- By Sarah Varcas
Despite the obvious challenges of recovering from a heart attack, the blessings of this bizarre sequence of events are greater than the drawbacks. Suddenly being awakened to the presence of my physical heart has triggered a process of what I can only describe as re-heartening...
There was a time when standing desks were seldom seen inside a regular office setting. That's changed, in large part due to research showing that the cumulative impact of sitting all day for years is associated with a range of health problems...
There’s plenty of nonsense out there suggesting that we poor old menopausal biddies just can’t cope with the loss of our youth and fertility or our children leaving home — don’t buy into that for a minute. You haven’t gotten this far in life without...
I often asked my patients three important questions before surgery: Why do you wish to live longer? Do you wish to be happier? and What does being happy mean to you? These queries gave me an opportunity to discuss spiritual matters as well as physical and emotional ones...
- By Kat Duff
Occasional insomnia is not a serious problem because our bodies do their best to make it up as quickly as possible. However, several consecutive nights without enough sleep can begin to wreak havoc, especially for those who...
To reduce the frequency and severity of your migraine attacks, it’s important to identify your triggers. Triggers are the stimuli that excite oversensitive neurons and initiate the chain of events that lead to our migraine attacks. Although you may find...
A US heart researcher looks set to inflame an argument over saturated fats. But an editorial published in Open Heart suggests that...
It would seem, and particularly for mothers, fathers, and grandparents everywhere, that using plastics for anything other than decorations is not at all wise. Just what would be your decision if you knew that what you were feeding your children, or your grandchildren, might one day lead to...
Each of us manifests our own energetic makeup, and this determines the balance of foods that promote vitality and health with the foods that detoxify and eliminate cancerous agents. The dynamics of the yin and yang aspects of different foods and how they relate to each person are also significant...
When art is expressed from the deepest levels of our being, profound healing occurs. Just as you may not consider yourself an artist, you may not think of yourself as a healer, either. You may have never used this powerful inner part of yourself consciously...
For the first time, I was experiencing my pain in a strange, new way. I stood in front of my canvas and was in control for the first time. I painted my emotions. The painting captured and contained a moment that was now past. The painting remained, though the emotion had passed...
It never ceases to amaze me how many myths we’re bombarded with concerning diet, exercise, and weight. Following are some common myths that I hear frequently from my patients. Have you heard them, too? Have you begun to realize that they’re false?
Ten years after Medicare's vaunted prescription drug program was signed into law, the Obama administration and Congress are re-evaluating whether it does enough to stop inappropriate prescribing and fraud by physicians.
The idea that Grace belonged to a group of “different minds” stayed with me. For a long time, I turned over in my head thoughts of famous artists and writers and actors who had seemed to exist at a different altitude, their senses keener and their experiences both sharper or more colorful and, often, more painful.
In our Western culture, doctors attain mystical status. As our holy men and women, they hold the power of life and death in their hands, and whatever they say is gospel. Few brave souls ever question their doctors. Whatever prescriptions given, especially to vulnerable, elderly patients, are taken without objection or inquiry...
- By Julie Steele
Vinod Khosla has stirred up some controversy in the healthcare community over the last several years by suggesting that computers might be able to provide better care than doctors. “...the science of medicine is way too complex for human beings to do.”
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the lower part of the neck. It has a very important role to play in the different metabolic processes occurring in your body. Your thyroid is responsible for releasing two main hormones. These are triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). These hormones help in controlling the metabolism in your body.
When you go on the offensive and try to fight your symptoms, it only makes them stronger. Try this: whatever you do, do not think of an elephant. What happens? The harder you try not to think of it, the elephant's image becomes even more prominent...
Raw fruit and vegetable juices are great immune system fortifiers, especially during an active infection with a cold or flu. This time of year, it's critical to get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and bolster the immune system with freshly made juices rich in...