Mind Body Medicine
Integrative Medical News Update
This week we feature a round up of integrative medical news published in the last 30 days. Prebiotics Support Beneficial REM Sleep and Reduced Stress Response Emergency Room Doctors Warn of “natural cures” that promote high-concentration peroxide cleanses. Lianhuaqingwen’s antiviral activity and immunomodulatory effects discovered on viral influenza infections. Read
Medical Words of the Year: Mindfulness in Medicine
Surreal is Webster’s Dictionary 2016 word of the year. From the Brussels and Paris attacks to the election, emotions were high and answers didn’t come easily. And, as we enter into a new year, the status of healthcare in American remains a bit of a mystery. If it were possibleRead
Income and Education Linked to Non Use of CAM Therapies
Retrain the Brain for Healthier Eating
Integrative Psychiatry Effective but Overlooked for Cancer Patients
Nearly three-quarters of cancer patients who have major depression are not currently receiving treatment for depression, and that a new integrated treatment programme is strikingly more effective at reducing depression and improving quality of life than current care, according to three papers published in The Lancet Psychiatry, The Lancet, and The Lancet Oncology. Lead author Professor Michael Sharpe from the University of Oxford in the UK, says “The huge benefit that DCPC delivers for patients with cancer and depression shows what we can achieve for patients if we take as much care with the treatment of their depression as we do with the treatment of their cancer.” By M Sharpe, et al., published in the Lancet and Lancet Oncology, Aug. 2014.
Drop Diastolic & Systolic Blood Pressure with Yoga
Lifestyle modification is a cornerstone of hypertension (HPT) treatment, yet most recommendations currently focus on diet and exercise and do not consider stress reduction strategies. Yoga is a spiritual path that may reduce blood pressure (BP) through reducing stress, increasing parasympathetic activation, and altering baroreceptor sensitivity; however, despite reviews on yoga and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and anxiety that suggest yoga may reduce BP, no comprehensive review has yet focused on yoga and HPT. By Anupama Tyagi, MA, PhD(c) and Marc Cohen MBBS(Hons), PhD, BMedSc(Hons), FAMAC, FICAE, published Alternative Therapies in Health Medicine, Vol. 20, No. 10.
Interview with Martha Stark, MD: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
Dr Stark is clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a teaching and supervising analyst at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis. Over the past 15 years, Dr Stark has adopted a more holistic approach to the mental and physical well-being of her patients. Her particular interests have becomeRead
Insight-motivated Learning: Improve Adherence for Treating Chronic Health Conditions
Why do patients resist prescriptive actions? Clearly their reasons are complex, reflecting intentional as well as nonintentional factors. Behavioral research suggests that people fail to follow prescriptive actions when they do not understand potential benefits, when they do not believe they can change, or when they lack an effective plan and reliable social support. Patients may feel uncomfortable about clinicians’ recommendations because they
do not feel understood or they feel they do not have the time or energy to make the necessary lifestyle changes due to recurrent work-family daily pressures. This report addresses a novel means to improve patient compliance, called Insight-Motivated Learning.
Healing Cancer in a Holistic Environment, Interview with Karin Whitney Cooke
Karin Whitney Cooke, RN, president and cofounder of Kokolulu Farm and Cancer Retreats, Inc in Hawaii, is a cancer survivor and a registered nurse with 40 years of experience and research in allopathic as well as complementary and alternative medicines…