Topic: Health & Healing

Recognized as a national wellness campaign, Healthy Aging Month is designed to put a spotlight on the longevity of people and how they can successfully age; avoiding declines in physical, mental and emotional health.

September is Healthy Aging Month, a national observance focusing attention on the positive aspects of growing older. Recognized as a national wellness campaign, Healthy Aging Month is designed to put a spotlight on the longevity of our citizens and how they can successfully age; avoiding declines in physical, mental and emotional health.

Although this press release takes a pro-irradiation stance, we are publishing it because it supplies worthwhile information for our readers.

The Food and Drug Administration’s new (Aug. 22) regulation that will allow irradiation pasteurization to be used on fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce to kill illness-causing bacteria is a step that two Iowa State University professors have long advocated.

Maryland School of Pharmacy researchers are learning how Gingko biloba extract works on memory symptoms.

Scientists have known for more than 10 years that a certain extract from leaves of the ancient eastern tree, Ginkgo biloba, can somewhat ease symptoms of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease patients.

In alternative health, açaí is all the rage. While relatively new to the American consciousness, açaí has been around for centuries and has helped many people with its healthful qualities. In order to benefit completely from açaí, however, one must truly understand what it is and what it does.

Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a new study by the University of Florida showed extracts from acai (ah-SAH'-ee) berries triggered a self-destruct response in up to 86 percent of leukemia cells tested, said Stephen Talcott, an assistant professor with UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Açaí is a distinct purple berry indigenous to the Amazon rainforest. The açaí fruit may be found in some of the large palm trees that grow in the thick forest; these trees can reach as high as 82 feet. Unlike cherries, which grow individually in trees, the açaí berry grows in bunches, more like bananas. On average, each palm tree can yield anywhere from three to eight bunches.

As new evidence becomes available, healthcare providers are becoming increasingly aware that ongoing opioid therapy for chronic pain might actually worsen the pain in some patients – a condition called Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia or OIH.

Opioid medications are essential for helping to relieve all types of serious pain. However, relatively recent evidence suggests that in some patients they can paradoxically worsen the pain.

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In some patients, opioid analgesics paradoxically make pain worse.

Scientists have found that lycopene molecules in tomatoes that are combined with fat and subjected to intense heat during processing are restructured in a way that appears to ease their transport into the bloodstream and tissue.

Turning up the heat on the red tomato during processing has the potential to give the popular garden staple added disease-fighting power, Ohio State University research suggests.

A growing body of research suggests that there is a potent way to fight symptoms of depression that doesn’t involve getting a prescription. This potent weapon? Hope. “We’re finding that hope is consistently associated with fewer symptoms of depression. And the good news is that hope is something that can be taught, and can be developed in many of the people who need it,” a researcher said.

Cheavens and Laura Dreer of the University of Alabama at Birmingham discussed some of the latest research on how hope can battle depression during a symposium Saturday Aug. 16 in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

Air-Pulse Autonomic Meditation Therapy is a non-denominational therapy that allows individuals to balance body and mind without the loss of identity that some feel when adopting ancient meditative healings.

Dr. Ajrawat's Air-Pulse Autonomic Meditation Therapy, a therapy developed by Dr. P.S. Ajrawat, recently received a patent trademark. The therapy, also referred to as a scientific, non-denominational khalistani meditation therapy, is part of Dr. Ajrawat's Dynamic Model designed to effectively manage and treat pain and stress from a scientific perspective, bringing balance between the body and mind.

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Oriental medicine practitioners have long known that Ashwagandha, an herb used in the 5,000-year old practice of Ayurvedic medicine, helps fight disease when used with anupana. Anupana may be derived from many different substances, from olive oil, to beer, to ghee. Researchers examined whether consuming whole cows’ milk with the herb can increase the body’s white blood cells, which help boost immunity. They have found that it does.

Eastern and Oriental medicine practitioners have long known that Ashwagandha, an herb commonly used in the 5,000-year old practice of Ayurvedic medicine, helps fight disease when used in combination with a liquid known as anupana. Anupana may be derived from many different substances, from olive oil, to beer, to ghee. Each liquid is thought to have different properties, so an Ayurveda practitioner selects an anupana that has the qualities that best fit a given situation. Traditionally, one method of administering Ashwagandha and milk was to boil them together.

An insight into some of the most pervasive myths about the science and art of hypnosis from hypnotherapist Taylor Peterson.

Although hypnosis has been repeatedly shown to be able to assist individuals with a number of different problems, ranging from overcoming phobias to kicking bad habits and from reducing pain to speeding up the healing process, a number of different myths and misconceptions remain in place to this day. Some of these misconceptions include: