Wacky Skin Care Tips

Wacky Skin Care Tips

by Karla Sutton

There are certainly some off the wall skin care tips I can give all of you, and this may get a rise out of some of you, but hey, these are all 100% legit and can be tried and tested. While these may be bizarre ways to keep your skin in top condition, they are highly effective. If you are looking for some new skin care advice, this article is for you.

Let's start with some of the more off the wall skin care tips I can give you. Many of these are situational, but they all fit into the lives of many of you and can certainly be effective if used properly.

First tip, for you smokers, do all you can to stop smoking. Smoking is one of the worst things you can do if you care about your skin. There are numerous toxins in cigarettes, and the habitual facial expressions actually induce wrinkles. Think about how many times you see a life-long smoker with good skin. It simply doesn't happen.

So, while I would say that stopping smoking entirely is a great start to better skin, my tip for those of you who need the nicotine fix is this: use an electronic cigarette. There are numerous models out there, and by using an electronic cigarette, you are essentially keeping many of the toxins away from your skin. While you are still making a habitual facial expression, the amount of toxins is greatly reduced when you don't have actual smoke blowing around your face constantly.

Second, sleep on your back. When you sleep on your stomach or on your side, you often times scrunch your face. What this does is make the constant facial expressions, which as noted above, helps wrinkles form. Try to sleep on your back as much as possible. It can be difficult, but it's proven as an effective way to prevent wrinkles.

Lastly, here is one to surely get a rise out of your family. If you are looking to improve your skin's texture and quality, cover yourself in an avocado. Simply remove the pit and mash up the green material, and lather it all over your body. Avocado's are a great natural moisturizer, and using avocado on your skin can be a great way to smooth it out and add moisture. Just be sure you have a shower handy so you can wash it off when you are finished. If you look at some of the premier spa's in the world, you will find that avocado body wraps are popular, as are facials that contain avocado as an ingredient.

While this advice may be off-the-wall, you can follow this skin care advice and be happy with the results these treatments leave on your skin.

A Sensible Diet to get Weight Loss..

For many people weight loss is one of the greatest challenges with which they are held. It may take a little motivation to really get your weight, but people who do not know that it is not so difficult. Most people know what they need to do to lose weight, eat less and more than you. We all know that, but how you are perceived and how you must eat less. The weight loss is all the difference between the calories, the calories you eat in comparison to you burn calories. If you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight. 

This is the next question, which asked, how many calories my body is burning? Most of you will be pleasantly surprised by the amount of calories you burn each day to do nothing. I tell you, for example, a woman, 70 kg, you will burn about 1900 calories per day. It is not an exercise! For the loss of weight, start in a light and restrict your calories around 1500 calories per day and you lose about 0.5 kg per week. 

The biggest key to weight loss to a mode of time. Did you know that there are more than 250 calories in a bottle of coke? But it is more than 300 calories in a mound of chocolate mud? You can preservation of foods that you love in your fashion, but for the loss of weight, moderation is the key. You need intelligent substitutions of food. Instead a portion of the cake, in good health. A can of tuna or in certain vegetables with bathroom. You need 5-10 health snacks you know that you love and prepared in this way in advance if the desire to come, please contact your health snacks. That is the rush of what the real weight loss progress, so it is important to your body regularly with power, with serious food you do not feel hunger every hour. 

Make sure you write your goals. Studies have shown that people who write their diet reviews are also twice for the success in achieving their weight loss goals. Beginning of everything to make something sensible and you know that you are. Then, if the weight loss really happens, you can use your goals to zero and difficult for many. 

The key to weight loss leads your energy into the control. A site that's all for you, life is Australian and suitability. You have a number of tools for the loss of weight, which allow you to take all aspects of health and fitness, and you in the grounds under weight loss.

A Health tips for you!

Here are some simple health tips to help you, a healthy way of life. They help you to increase your energy and feel balanced and healthy. It is important to know what you can do to improve your health. 

•  Watch what you eat: Your meal should be a healthy diet with a good balance of nutritious foods. Know what your body needs, and is not acceptable to eat too little or you can find out what a healthy lifestyle. There are some resources to turn to find what your body needs. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it is important to have a breakfast menu, your health every day! 
  

• Combat drug abuse: This is in comparison to eat or not eat food and at different things. This imbalance can be easily your body and cause problems. 
  

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  Exercise: This should be at least four to five times per week. This helps your body to build muscle in many fields, helps to lose weight and can prevent diseases and epidemics. A good way for relaxation and rejuvenation. 

• Sleep: If you privately sleep, it causes your body to close. Make sure that you believe, rested and get the right amount of sleep. This allows your body to work, consistency and full speed from day to day. It is believed that the body through a process of healing while you sleep. So it is extremely important for the health always 

•  Take vitamins and supplements when needed: Attention to the point where your body does not feel balanced is also important. Once you have found, you can compensate by vitamins and supplements. 

•  Stay motivated: Often, it is easy to improve our health, for two weeks, then stop, if we do not immediately give the results. The largest part of improving your health remains coherent and well founded activities. Do what you must do to ensure that your health has become a routine. 

•  Never Stop Learning: There are different approaches, which means the improvement of health. This is not only food, but moves in comprehensive approaches, which are part of your diet. Research and conservation, with studies on what works and what does not work, you may be interested in improving and maintaining your health. 
  

• Consult: There are a number of providers of health and nutrition consultant who can help. If you have doubts about the measures you need to know in connection with the right person to see what you have to do.
  
  Always be aware that if you lead a healthier lifestyle when you can feel the changes in a physically and emotionally. You have a more fulfilled and balanced lifestyle. Knowing what you need to do, and take action, you can be sure that you will be able to make a more vigorous lifestyle.
  
  

Expectation When Colon Cleansing?

Unless you have really made a clean two points of treatment or program, you can not know what to predict. In fact, results from a double to clean heavily depend on the type of detergent used. Physical treatments are highly recommended, because, generally more gentle and do not use chemicals such as laxatives. 

Colon cleansing has many benefits, in addition they are usually in conjunction with it. A colon can be cleaned with nausea (colds, flu, etc), diarrhea, fatigue, constipation, body odor, bad breath, headaches, and more. If you use a cleaning treatment of two points, you flush toxins from your body, it is really not surprising that these benefits are often visit. Other benefits: better sleep, less heartburn, and weight loss. 

While you’re going through the colon cleanse process, it is customary for the gas and stomach, bloating in the first week. So you can see some aspect of the chairs comic at the last chair, and some have even parasites or tapeworms. Note that this is normal and expected, during treatment Detox. 

Since the toxic deposits on the walls of the colon is done over many years, there may be some treatment of two cleaning to thoroughly clean everything. The most important thing is to respect what is your patience and with the program all the way until the end

Massage Furniture - Tables For Massage Therapists

Massage, while luxurious and pampering for its receivers, is a serious profession for its deliverers requiring in depth knowledge, a highly developed skill set and unmatched professionalism. And along with these in order to make a massage profession a successful profession; there is the need for safe and effective massage equipments. 

As a massage therapist, the equipments need to depend largely on the method of seeing clients. If people work within an existing full-service spa then their massage equipment needs will be significantly less than if they have clients coming to their home or vice versa. 

If people do not see their clients in an existing spa, then people will have to provide a massage table and massage chair as part of the massage equipment. A massage table can be a permanent piece of furniture or foldout table that people should bring along with them to appointments. Massage table is generally a long table with a cushion for the client to rest their face when they are on their stomach. When purchasing this piece of massage table one should be sure that the table is of adequate length and sturdy enough to hold a variety of weights. 

There are many kinds of massage tables that are available in the market for use. Some tables are normal fixed tables and as well as some that are portable. The different types of massage tables are manufactured and sold by companies that produce massage therapy equipment. There are massage tables that are found in different price ranges. As one looks through the different kinds of tables there are, one should make sure that he is getting a table that will be suitable to his needs. Basic massage tables are made from sturdy and durable materials designed to help the massage therapist to deliver a good massage. 

A massage therapist will find that spas have massage tables that accommodate the various types of massages. For example, one might find a wet or multi-adjustable massage table. This table will allow the massage therapist to move different sections of the table into positions that will allow for the best massage. For Shiatsu massages, the massage table will need to fold. When the tables are folded, they should look like a firm flat surface that the massage therapist can kneel on when giving a massage to the client. 

Portable massage tables are lightweight, compact and sturdy. All the same, they are excellent for giving the clients a different form of massages. The compact cushion covering also supports the client throughout the intense workout they are going to be getting. Before deciding on what massage table to buy, a massage therapist should first establish what kind of massages they are going to be performing. So they need to get one that is sufficient for their needs. 

However, more important than the massage equipment or possibly considered the most important piece of massage equipment of all; it is the massage therapist's ability to connect with their client and deliver a relaxing, feasible, therapeutic massage.

The History Behind The Hot Stone Massage Revealed

Perhaps the hot stone massage is one of the fastest growing techniques being used for massage therapy world wide. Even though it is relatively new therapy, hot stone massage is growing in popularity very quickly. The healing powers of this new massage make it one of the most popular therapies. This hot stone massage therapy was first developed in Sweden and it is just like it sounds. Hot stones are used with the more traditional massage therapy to help people relive stress as well as aching tight muscles. 



The use of the hot stones massage is quite different then the usual massage technique. A therapeutic body massage is done by using a gentle touch that slowly works the kinks out of the body muscles. People may be surprised to find out that in some cases the massage therapist may even massage people without even touching them; that is where they come into play. The only time the therapist may have to touch people is to reposition the stones to ensure that they are getting the full benefits and that they are where they need to be. 

In the United States, hot stone massages are not as popular as traditional message therapies, mainly because a lot of people simply don't know about it. And even if they did, it might be difficult trying to find a hot stone massage therapist who knows how to do the technique properly. However, this does not imply that the hot stone massage is worthless. In fact, there is actually a lot of history behind the hot stone massage technique, especially in ancient Native American culture. 

Previously in US, hot stone massages were used during sweat lodge ceremonies. Basically, as the people were sweating out their physical and spiritual impurities, hot stone massages were used for added relaxation. That massage technique worked so effectively that they became known as "grandfather stones." 

Also in Hawaii, the hot stone massages technique was used for the same purposes. As the Hawaiians have access to lava stones or pohaku, the type of stones used for the massage purpose were different and for that reason, in Hawaii culture, the hot stone massage became known as 'pohaku' a term that applies even today. Also in Asia the hot stone massage was prevalent, though it was used more for therapeutic reasons; still, it offered an excellent way to put the physical body at ease, something that is especially important when a person is ailing. 

This therapy utilizes a variety of Native American and Zen techniques. The type of stone used can vary depending on the therapist and the patient. The therapist need to evaluate the patient's needs and tailor the therapy as needed. Basalt stones are the stones that are used as they can keep the heat inside for the length of the massage and these are usually heated up to 120 degrees before they are used. 

It is very unfortunate that once acupuncture and other therapies became discovered, the hot stone massages lost some of their prevalence. As far as the United States, the hot stone massage came into being around 1993, when this therapy became popular by Mary Hannigan, a renowned massage therapist. She had even developed a new massage technique called the "LaStone Therapy."

The Fundamentals Of Massage As Therapy

Taking some time to find a highly skilled massage therapist is well worth the effort. With a wide selection of massage therapies to choose from it is possible to find the perfect massage for the needs no matter what they are. Many people think that there are only two types of massage therapies. A standard massage therapy that is done solely with the hands and the second variety is done by incorporating hot stones to providing a relaxing heated feeling. 

For the majority of people, staying to just these two varieties of massage therapies is wonderful. However, there are occasions when just a standard massage therapy is not good enough. Examples of special massages can include the sports massages, pregnancy massages, hot stone massages and even massages that utilize relaxing aromatherapy techniques. With a huge selection of massages available to choose from, it is possible to have a different massage every day of the week and notice different results after each session. 

In order to ensure a person is getting the biggest benefit for his or her body they need to do a bit of research and actually look around. People might actually be highly surprised by the options that are available to them when they take the time to search for their best massage. While considering the therapeutic benefits of massage, people often hear about different massage styles and techniques. Thai, Deep Tissue, and Sports are some examples. However, massage is therapeutic on a more basic level which is often overlooked. 

As a therapist, one always tries to match the right technique with each client's needs. Even most of them decide advanced certifications in several different styles, so that they can easily pick and choose what the client's body cues me to do. However, sessions do not always follow this pattern of technique-matching. When some one first began practicing massage therapy, mostly are keener to the deeply therapeutic effects of basic human touch; for the basic need and its healing effects. As one becomes increasingly skilled, it requires more effort to continually go back to the message fundamentals. Perhaps the most therapeutic feature of a good massage is the touch itself. A caring, conscientious touch from a therapist is more important than any expertise they have learned from any instructor. 

Most of the clients avoid telling therapists that they want a Swedish massage. They do not understand that Swedish strokes are the foundation of most other massage, and that Swedish massage can be performed lightly or firmly. One can barely leave Swedish effleurage out of any massage session, and the pressure is not the same as the technique. When people practice very instinctive, basic types of human touch, it often resembles Swedish-style effleurage. A fundamental massage, consisting of basic vital strokes, is common in massage research. Health experts know the links between child development and touch. They have also revealed how stress relief actually prevents disease, and how massage can contribute to health and even mental improvements. 

In conclusion, it is tempting to figure out which type of massage a person wants; but should never forget to include a good ole-fashioned basic massage in your health practices.

A sight for sore eyes: computer displays can be hazardous to your vision - Tech Tips

The personal computer has become ubiquitous in the business world since its introduction, but has not been without problems. Repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tuned syndrome, have heightened public awareness of the potential health hazards of spending long hours typing on a computer keyboard. Vision-related problems have also become an issue due to the corresponding increase in the use of computer monitors.

“The most common symptoms are eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision and dry or irritated eyes,” says optometrist Stanley Segal of Dr.’s Savoy and Segal in Jersey City, New Jersey. “The extent to which someone may experience these symptoms is really based on his or her own visual health,” says Segal. “Working long hours at a computer terminal may exacerbate an existing or undiagnosed eyesight deficiency, but it will likely not cause a permanent problem,” he says.

When you’re inputting data from paper to a computer, the eye has to refocus every time you switch attention from the monitor to the paper. This causes the muscles in the eye to grow tired, thereby producing eyestrain. Uncorrected vision, poor computer monitor design, workplace ergonomics and a visually demanding job can contribute to the development of eye problems. Older people may find it more difficult to adjust to these working requirements.

• Take frequent alternative task breaks. Stop working at the computer monitor for a few minutes and work on another task. After working at the monitor for one hour straight, do some filing or catch up on phone calls, etc. Anything that will not cause your eyes to work as hard is considered an alternative task break. Another way to relax your eyes is to simply close them for a few minutes.
  
  “Optometrists will tell you that the eye’s natural way of relaxing itself is by looking at a distance. When the eye does this, it does not require much focusing and therefore does not use as many muscles as if you were reading, doing needlepoint or working at a computer monitor,” explains Charlotte Rancilio, administrative director of media relations with the AOA

•  When looking at computer screens with dark backgrounds, use lower lighting. When working in a home office setting, use about half the normal office lighting. In an office setting, remove overhead fluorescent light bulbs. Dimmer lighting will reduce glare on the screen. The contrast between the screen and the characters should be high. Dark characters on a light screen are generally more legible than light characters on a dark screen. To check for sources of glare, place a small mirror in front of the monitor. It will direct you to the sources of light that cause glare.
  

•  Keep the computer computer clean. “When the monitor is dean, your eyes will not have to go through the dust and particles to refocus themselves,” says Rancilio. An adjustable chair that allows you to sit at a comfortable height, angle and distance from the monitor is also important. Reference material should be on an adjustable holder dose to your screen and at the same viewing distance as your monitor. Having the material at the same height and distance will eliminate focusing strain on your eyes thereby preventing tired eyes.
  
  

LASIK - a Cure for Blurry Vision?

Presbyopia is an eye disorder that normally sets in between the ages of 40-50. A lot many theories have been suggested to delineate its proper cause. However, the most convincing theory is that the eye lens loses its elasticity over time, and this in turn results in the loss of accommodation power of the lens. Consequently, the lens is unable to focus on nearby objects, and hence the patient’s near vision is rather blurry. Presbyopia affects everyone at a certain age and it is not routinely curable.

The loss of accommodation power can be compensated for through LASIK surgery by producing what’s called “monovision”. Normally, people possess binocular vision. That is, both eyes work together equally while viewing an object. On the other hand, in case of monovision, one eye is corrected for near vision and the other is corrected for distant vision. LASIK surgeons make use of this technique to counter presbyopia.

LASIK can be a viable option for producing monovision. However, there is a caveat. Monovision is not appropriate for everyone. Furthermore, monovision may also interfere with depth perception. That is, the patient may not be able to perceive the accurate distance of any object, since accurate 3D perception requires input from both eyes. Therefore, it is recommended that the patient first uses contact lenses to produce monovision, in order to ensure that he or she can adapt to the change. Apart from surgery, a patient may use prescription glasses (bifocal or progressive) to compensate for the loss of power of accommodation.

Intraocular lens implant is another viable alternative to counter presbyopia. In essence, the natural lens is replaced with a new lens to achieve accurate refraction. Another interesting aspect is that presbyopia may not have a major affect on people with myopia. In general, a myopic does not have trouble reading without glasses. Thus a myopic often possesses perfect reading vision, without any visual aid, even in the old age and even after presbyopia sets in.

Lazy Eye: It May Not Be What You Think It Is

Lazy eye is a disorder of the coordination between the eye and the brain, usually beginning in childhood. This disorder causes the body to prefer one eye over the other. It is known medically as amblyopia.

Lazy eye is characterized by poor or blurry vision in an eye that otherwise seems normal.

Someone with lazy eye experiences no transmission or poor transmission of the visual image from the eye to the brain for a period of time during early childhood. Lazy eye usually only affects one eye but it is possible to be amblyopic in both eyes if both are similarly deprived of a good, clear visual image.

Studies estimate that about one to five percent of the population suffers from lazy eye. It is believed that three percent of children under six have some form of amblyopia. Many people who are afflicted by lazy eye, especially those with a mild case, aren’t even aware they have it until they are tested at later ages. This is true because vision in their stronger eye is normal.

A severe case of lazy eye, however, can be associated with other visual disorders, particularly poor depth perception.

Lazy eye cannot be corrected by glasses or contact lenses, and is not due to any eye disease. The brain, for some reason, does not fully acknowledge the images seen by the amblyopic eye.

Many people think someone who has a crossed or “turned” eye has lazy eye. However, “crossed eyes” is actually a different eye condition known as strabismus.

Because of this misunderstanding, many people describe someone who has “crossed eyes” as having a lazy eye.

The most important means of determining if someone has lazy eye or amblyopia is a series of special visual acuity tests. The “20/20 letter charts” currently used by schools, pediatricians and many doctors are generally not sufficient for diagnosing lazy eye.

Since lazy eye usually occurs in one eye only, many parents don’t realize their child may have it. A large number of kids with lazy eye go unnoticed until they have their eyes examined when they get older. Therefore, comprehensive vision evaluations by a trained and qualified vision professional are a smart idea, even for infants and pre-schoolers.

Treatment options for lazy eye include glasses, drops, and certain vision therapies, possibly including the use of a patch.

Recent medical research has shown that lazy eye can be successfully treated up to the age of 17. As the patient grows older however, successful treatment of lazy eye requires more intense effort, including vision therapy. Improvements are possible at any age with proper treatment, but early detection of lazy eye still offers the best chance of a positive outcome.

Night Vision Binoculars Allow You To See At Night But How Do They Really Work?

Night vision binoculars allow you to see at night but how do they really work?

Night vision binoculars are the most fashionable and popular consumer durables available in the market. From children to oldies, night vision gear is bought and liked by everyone. It is very difficult to see far and if it is in the dark, it gets harder because of the simple reason that humans are not blessed with the eyes of an owl or a tiger. But the advancement of nightvision technology has solved this problem as well. Night-vision binoculars help to spot things in the night.

When infrared night vision was first launched in the market, they were very expensive and were considered as a status symbol. But with the advancement of technology and the increase in the number of binocular manufacturers, the price of these night scopes has come down substantially and now the common person can easily afford them. Presently, the cheaper night optics are used by security recruits in general days.

How do the Night-vision binoculars work?

The subsisting light is amplified by the optics used in the Night-vision binoculars. They make the light evident to our eyes and are also useful for infrared spectrum. Good and eminent night binoculars have illuminators that can amplify the existing infrared light.

But the things you see through a night vision lens will appear greenish to your eyes as your eyes don’t see the objects directly but they see their image, which is made on a phosphor screen.

The intensity of the amplified light or the performance of the night-vision binoculars depends on the conditions of the available light. There exists an inverse relation between the light situation and the power of the binoculars. You will need more powerful infrared night vision as the light situation gets weaker and weaker and vice versa.

Types of Night-vision binoculars:

The diverse “generations” of night binoculars are known as the different types of Night-vision binoculars.

•First Generation:
Generally the night-vision binoculars of first generation are used by the city dwellers. These are less expensive are easily affordable. They have the power to amplify existing light by an aspect of 1,000. These can be used when there is bright stars and a full moon covers up the sky in the night.

•Second generation:
This generation night-vision binoculars work well when there is a crescent moon. These are generally used by the law enforcement agencies. They are quite expensive as compared to the first generation binoculars but the images they provide to your eyes are brighter, sharper and even clearer as compared to the first generation night-vision gear

•Third generation and fourth generation:
Night-vision binoculars of third generation and fourth generation are used during dark and cloudy nights when the intensity of the light available is very low and weak. They are very expensive and hence are not affordable by common people. But the images they provide are much clearer and sharper as compared to all binoculars of previous generations.

How to buy the right Night-vision binoculars?

With plenty of options available in the market it is very confusing to choose the right one for yourself. There are simple binoculars for children with which they can have some fun and even some very sophisticated and classy ones, which are good for night navigation or surveillance. So, following are some tips to help you select the right one for you.

• The first and the foremost thing you should decide prior to buying any night vision equipment is its purpose. Night-vision binoculars and scopes are used for various purposes for instance, scouting games, exploring caves, camping, surveillance and security, wildlife observation, nighttime navigation, night hunting and night boating and fishing.
  

• The second thing, don’t compromise on the quality of the binocular because of the cost involved. In general, night-vision binoculars are more costly than the normal binoculars and hence be prepared for to pay for it. Always try and go for branded ones such as Weaver, Night Owl, Yukon, or N-Vision Optics as they come with more number of features than what the general manufacturers will offer.
  
  
• Range of Night vision is another important thing to look in a night-vision binocular. The range of a binocular depends on its resolution, gain and magnification. Look for binoculars with powerful lenses as they help in good magnification. Night vision binoculars are a good and a costly investment and hence, look for all the possible options available and then choose one for yourself; compromising on the quality is certainly not advisable.
  
  

Dry Eye After LASIK Surgery

LASIK is a procedure that permanently changes the shape of the cornea, the clear covering of the front of the eye, using an excimer laser. LASIK eye surgery is basically for people who are nearsighted or farsighted and have astigmatism. The goal of LASIK surgery is to change the curvature of the cornea, which is the outermost part of the eye. It allows the person to see without glasses or contacts. After the surgery some patients may develop severe dry eye syndrome, which can be treated with artificial tears and usually takes six months to recover.

On completion of LASIK surgery, the regular nerve impulses that direct the lacrimal gland to produce tears are often interrupted. It is considered an expected phase of the healing process. Dry eyes cause gritty and uncomfortable sensations. In order to avoid this condition, a surgeon carefully examines the eyes and recommends lubricating and moisturizing drops to the patients. They are also advised to keep the eye adequately bathed in tears for the eyes to heal properly and also refrain from overusing the drops.

Dry eye problems range from less serious to more serious complications. While a patient experiences itching, redness, or pain after the vision correction surgery, there are others who face minor problems that can be solved with topical treatments for the eyes. In order to resolve the serious cases of dry eye problem, a tiny plug is inserted that prevents tears from going to the nose and allows lubrication in the eye. People also rely on flax seed oil caplets and a humidifier in their home, which relieves the dry, scratchy feeling. New treatments for dry eyes include collagen or silicone punctal plugs and punctal cautery. These greatly reduce symptoms, promote healing and improve vision by enhancing the quantity and quality of the eye’s natural tear film.

Schedule an Eye Exam For These Five Reasons

Scheduling an appointment to see your eye doctor is one of those things you normally don’t think about too often, but you should start. Just off the top of my head, I can come up with several reasons why an eye exam is important. The first being that our eyes are our windows to the world. Without them we couldn’t see all those wonderful things the world has to offer. We also suffer in our development as individuals, personally and professionally.

Everyone isn’t necessarily required to have periodic eyeglass and eye exams done but it doesn’t hurt not to. Age should not be a factor either. Just because you have 20/20 vision today, doesn’t mean you will tomorrow. All those long hours of staring at a computer screen can take its toll on your eyes. It is important that you don’t wait until it’s too late to do anything.

Here just five reasons why you should schedule an eye doctor’s appointment today:

• 20/20 eyesight - You should visit your eye doctor on a regular basis to have your eyesight checked on. Not only do you want to see clearly but it can also alleviate other health issues you may not be aware of. Many people suffer from daily headaches or fatigue because of a slight over or under correction of their eye prescription. If you work on a computer and spend two or more hours each day staring at your screen, you are at risk for CVS, also known as computer vision syndrome. This causes headaches, focusing difficulties, burning eyes, tired eyes, eyestrain, aching eyes, dry eyes, double vision, blurred vision, light sensitivity, and neck and shoulder pain and can easily be treated with eyeglasses made for computer users.

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• Discover eye disease - Did you know that there are a good number of serious eye diseases which have no visible symptoms? Take glaucoma for an example. For years, doctors have referred to is as the sneak thief of sight since it comes on slowly and can cause total vision loss. Then there are cataracts and macular degeneration which develop gradually. You don’t realize something is wrong until your vision has noticeably decreased. It’s only through early detection from your eye doctor can these and other eye diseases be prevented.

•  Diagnose developmental issues - Certain learning and reading difficulties stem from eye problems such as dyslexia and ADD and stem from uncorrected vision problems as children. It can also cause lazy eye or eye turn which can lead permanent loss of vision if not treated.
  
  
• Find hidden diseases - Many doctors firmly believe that our eyes are the window to our bodies. Dilated pupils, for example can tell a doctor of the presence of undiagnosed hypertension, multiple sclerosis, strokes, kidney problems, or brain tumors.
  
  
• Keep current with styles - Eyeglass fashion and frames are always changing towards new new trends and fads. You don’t want to be wearing out-dated glasses and looking old fashioned, do you? The technology used to make glass lenses is constantly improving towards thinner and stronger.
  
  

Astigmatism Eye Surgery Procedures

Astigmatism is a refractive error of the eye that is caused by an irregularly-shaped cornea. The irregular shape of the cornea changes the way that the rays of light are refracted, and subsequently, are focused on the eye’s retina.

It is characterized by distortions in your field of vision, such as blurring of lines. Another common presentation of Astigmatism is the development of eyestrain and headache, especially with prolonged reading.

Treatment may either be surgical or non-surgical. Non-surgical treatment involves the use of corrective lenses. Surgical treatment of astigmatism, on the other hand, is via refractive eye surgery.

CORRECTIVE LENSES

The conservative method of treating astigmatism is via the use of corrective lenses. These corrective lenses are able to counteract the irregular shape of your cornea. Corrective lenses include the use of eyeglasses and contact lenses. Another procedure, known as orthokeratology or ortho-K, makes use of contact lenses to change the shape of your cornea. Ortho-K requires you to use the contact lenses only at night. By doing this, the shape of your cornea gradually changes.

REFRACTIVE EYE SURGERY

Refractive eye surgery is used in the permanent treatment. Refractive eye surgery changes the shape of your eye permanently. There are several kinds of corrective eye surgery that can be used in the treatment of astigmatism.

Previously, a procedure known as astigmatic keratotomy, or AK, was used to cut the patient’s cornea in order to change its shape. However, with the advent of excimer lasers and novel refractive eye surgery techniques, the use of AK has diminished significantly. Newer refractive eye surgery techniques have been able to decrease the risk of complications and have produced better results, making them more favorable for both ophthalmologists and patients.

Nowadays, LASIK eye surgery is the most common refractive eye surgery used in the treatment. LASIK involves creating a corneal flap and using an excimer laser to alter the shape of your eye’s cornea. Another refractive eye surgery used in treating astigmatism is PRK, wherein only the surface of your eye is ablated. However, PRK is not as commonly used anymore. One of the newer kinds of refractive eye surgery is LASEK, wherein a thin layer of the cornea is opened so that the laser can ablate the layers underneath.

It can be adequately treated with both non-surgical and surgical techniques. Ask your ophthalmologist about the risks and benefits of these various options.

Corrective Eye Surgery Prices

Corrective eye surgery is a heaven-sent for most people. Because of this procedure, they have improved their vision and eliminated the need for those bothersome eyeglasses and contact lenses. Today, corrective laser eye surgery is one of the newest and bays ways to have your eyesight corrected. There are generally two types of corrective laser eye surgery. There’s PRK, which stands for photorefractive keratectomy and Lasik, which means Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis.

Corrective laser eye surgery works by reshaping the cornea, allowing you to see much better. Laser eye surgery works best for people who suffer from myopia, or nearsightedness, hyperopia or farsightedness and astigmatism. The whole process takes less than ten minutes per eye so the surgery doesn’t require patients to stay in the hospital overnight. In fact, many patients walk out the door an hour after coming into the clinic! Then they can expect to resume to their normal, everyday activities in just a matter of days after the surgery. Patients report to having their eyesight dramatically improved so they no longer have to go through the hassles of wearing glasses and contact lenses.

Still, not everyone who wishes to undergo corrective surgery can. Prices of such seemingly simple surgeries can be prohibitive. Some corrective eye surgeries cost about a thousand dollars, just for one eye! In the United States, patients pay anywhere between $500 to about $2,000 per eye. The variations are due to a number of factors, including the area or the state where the corrective eye surgery is performed, as well as the equipment used and the degree of visual impediment of the patient. For example, if you suffer from severe astigmatism, then you are likely to pay much more compared to someone who suffers from mild astigmatism.

Unfortunately, most health insurance companies don’t cover corrective laser eye surgeries because this type of surgery is deemed as cosmetic. Still, keep in mind that you shouldn’t settle for anything less than the best. After all, you are dealing with a very valuable asset, your eyesight. Do not choose a doctor solely on the basis of how little he or she charges. Even if he or she charges just a little, he or she may not have the right experience, skill and equipment as other, more credible doctors. To finance your corrective eye surgery, don’t be afraid to ask around. Some clinics have partnerships with other health insurance companies that can help lower the cost of your eye surgery.

Herbal Medicines For Eye Problems

Severe problems with eyes should always be referred to a specialist, but alternative therapies can support orthodox treatment and may be very useful in conditions that affect the eyelids and tear glands. When treating infections and inflammations of the eyes, wash your hands between treating each eye, and use fresh materials so that you do not transfer infection from eye to eye.

Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis symptoms are red, itchy eyes; a yellow discharge; and inflammation around the eye or eyelid. It is normally caused by infection or allergy and is not serious except in newborn babies.

Treatment

Herbal Medicine Herbal eye baths made from infusions of eyebright (euphrasia), chickweed, elderflower, or camomile flowers are a soothing, effective treatment.

Consult a qualified practitioner/therapist for:

Homeopathy A homeopath may prescribe Argentum nit. 6c for “gritty eyes” or Pulsatilla 6c for itchy eyes with a discharge.

Eyesight Problems

Hazy vision, difficulty in reading, tired eyes, headaches are all types of eyesight problems. They may be the result of vision problems, high blood pressure, and eyestrain, among other factors.

Treatment

Yoga Candle gazing is a beneficial yoga exercise for eyestrain. Sit comfortably and gaze at a candle about 3ft/1m away, without blinking, for ten seconds. Palm for 30 seconds, then resume gazing with one eye only then the other, then together, turning the head Gradually increase the time (20 then 30 seconds) over several weeks.

Consult a qualified practitioner/therapist for:

Homeopathy Specifie remedies to be taken for eyestrain include: Arnica, when the muscles, are tired; Natrum mur., when eyes ache upon looking lip down or around; Ruta grav., when the eyes burn or feel strained after close work or reading; Phosphorus, tired eyes are associated with great nervousness and apprehension.

The Bates Method This is designed to strengthen the eye muscles and rectify vision problems as a natural alternative to wearing glasses.

Cataracts

Cataracts cause cloudy, distorted vision resulting from, changes in the protein makeup of the lens. They are most common in old age, but may be caused by iritis, babies are born with cataracts.

Treatment

Diet And Nutrition Research suggests that vitamins B2 and C can help improve the condition in which sight deteriorates as the lens becomes opaque. Supplementing with vitamin E and the antioxidant mineral selenium can help rectify dietary deficiencies that can exacerbate the condition.

Homeopathy Specific remedies include Phosphorus, when there is a sensation of mist being pulled across the eyes; Calcarea, for the early stages, with circular lines visible in the lens; Silica, for the later stages, when cataract begins to interfere with sight.

Glaucoma

Gradual loss of vision, aching pain in and above the eyes, seeing “rings” around lights are the symptoms of glaucoma. The disease is caused by a buildup of fluid in the front chamber of the eye. Glaucoma may be asymptomatic and vision may be lost before the sufferer is aware of the disease. If there is a family history of glaucoma, ensure regular screening by an optician.

Treatment

Hydrotherapy Home hydrotherapy treatment offers immediate relid - place alternate hot and cold face towels over the eyes.

The Bates Method These exercises can also be used to treat this condition.

Homeopathy Take Belladonna 30c every 15 minutes for up to ten doses when symptoms start.

Squint

Squint is the inward or outward turning of the eye or eyes. In adults, squint is normally caused by damage to the eye muscles or the motor nerves that control the eye muscles, usually the result of diabetes, high blood pressure, brain tumor, or brain injury. In children, squint should be treated before the affected eye becomes lazy and ineffective.

Treatment

The Bates Method Minor squints can be successfully treated with the Bates Method.

Yoga Palming relaxes the eye muscles and improves squints. Rest with your arms on a table and rub your hands together. Cup hands over closed eyes, shutting out all light, and relax for 20 seconds while being aware of visual sensations. Repeat at least twice a day.

Use Eye Exercises To Improve Your Sight

How does this thing called vision function? How do we see? The eye, as is constantly pointed out, operates in many respects like a camera. At this moment you are looking across the room. Perhaps there is a painting on the opposite wall. Perhaps you see an easy chair with a lamp beside it. Whatever it is, for our purposes it constitutes a picture.

Suppose you want to record that picture with a camera. First, you adjust the focal length so that the image is sharp and clear without blurring or distortion on the film. If the object is at a distance, you shorten the focal length. If it is close, you lengthen it. Then you snap the picture. That is, you let light in upon the exposed plate and the picture is taken. You cannot see it, however, until the film has been developed.

How does this compare with the functioning of the eye? The eyeball of a normal eye involuntarily adjusts itself so that the image is focused on the retina (film of the camera). Once again there must be sufficient light to make your picture clear. Once again, if the object is at a distance, the focal length (the distance from the cornea to the retina) is shortened; and vice versa if the object is close. This process of adjustment to far or near sight is called accommodation. the conflicting opinions which exist in regard to its functioning.

Light enters the eye through the small hole in the iris called the pupil, and comes to a focus on the retina where, by a chemical reaction, it is changed from radiant energy into nerve impulses. Sensitive nerve receptors of the retina, which are a part of the optic nerve, carry these impulses to the visual centers in the brain where, with the assistance of memory, imagination, experience and judgment, a picture is developed. That is, the mind interprets the image.

It is, therefore, the brain that sees. The greater the degree of mental control, that is, the better your memory and imagination, the better you see.

When the camera is in the hands of a person who does not understand its functioning, the pictures are unsatisfactory, and so with the eye. If the eye fails to accommodate, as a result of some malfunctioning, it is improperly focused. If it strains to see, the individual begins to suffer from some form of eye trouble.

He goes to an ophthalmologist and, after examination, departs with a pair of glasses. The glasses fix on the individual the trouble which they are supposed to correct, while the underlying cause remains unchanged. Meanwhile, the sight will worsen when the glasses are removed. For instance, a person with 20/70 vision will find, a few weeks after being fitted with glasses, that his vision has degenerated to 20/200 when he removes them.

While many eye troubles are preventable and many more can be vastly alleviated, the only solution that is offered for this appalling condition is to fit the eyes with glasses. There are glasses for young and old, dark glasses and colored glasses, reading glasses and ornate affairs; glasses for the near-sighted and for the far-sighted; glasses for eyestrain and to relieve headache. Glasses for every purpose, indeed, except to get at the cause of the eyestrain. This is how we see.

How Do I Stop Sweating Under My Arms?

I am sure you are aware that sweating is a natural body function. However unfortunately for a very small percentage of people they sweat more frequently and to a greater extent. The question becomes why do some people sweat more than others?

So knowing that sweating is necessary, and understanding the fact that its purpose is to control and maintain our body temperature why am I one of the few who sweats so much under my arms? Sweat, which is also called perspiration, is the secretion of fluids through your skin. These fluids are composed mainly of water. .

The first question is why does this happen? Why do I sweat more under my arms rather than in different areas of my body? To clarify the medical term for excessive sweating is called “hyperhidrosis”.

The process that decides where to sweat begins in the brain which controls the nervous system. Here a decision is made as to where and how much to sweat, this is different for different people. In this case it picks the most efficient sweat gland or where it feels it can excrete the most.

So as it happens each of us can sweat excessively in different areas of our bodies. Some of us may sweat more on our hands, feet, or back etc. This is also the case for those of us who do not suffer from excessive sweating.

So what happens when excessive sweating occurs? Excessive sweating is caused when the Sympathetic Nervous System goes into overdrive. There is no one answer and it is not completely understood what exactly causes excessive sweating.

One fact is that people sweat less at night. When you exercise you can sweat less afterwards. Excessive sweating can occur when people smoke cigarettes or drink coffee, it can also happen when you have too much salt in your diet. So believe it or believe it not a healthy diet can actually reduce sweating.

So when looking at the evidence mentioned above a reduction in sweating can be directly related to reducing the stimulus to your nervous system, hence keeping your muscles and mind relaxed. When this happens your body feels that it doesn’t need to sweat due to an overactive nervous system.

So how to stop sweating in your underarms begins with understanding and observing when you start to sweat excessively. You can implement different techniques to stop sweating through a process of elimination.

Have You Heard Of The Stop Sweating-Start Living Technique?

Have you heard of the stop sweating start living technique? Nobody likes to have sweaty arm pits or sweaty anything for that matter. This can be extremely embarrassing. Not to mention if along with it you have body odor. The medical term for excessive sweating is called “hyperhidrosis”.

The brain which controls the nervous system makes a decision as to where and how much to sweat. It picks the most efficient sweat glands or where it feels it can excrete the most. This could be on your back, feet or underarms to mention a few.

With the stop sweating start living technique the goal is simple. Reduce lower arm, hand, face, foot, and your overall sweating by up to 95%. It does not matter what you have tried before this method will help you reduce sweating significantly and they guarantee it.

Some of those who have tried the “stop sweating start living technique” have claimed positive results within five days some as soon as the next day. Many thought there would be a catch but much to their delight the results spoke for themselves.

Now they feel cured and confident. This has helped these folks start living again. No more trying to avoid certain clothing or interacting socially. Now they no longer have to fear raising their arms in Public.

So if you are tired of excessive sweating and have tried many methods, don’t give up. In actual fact you should never give up! Observe patterns and times when you start to sweat excessively. Try this method, you have nothing to loose because if you are not satisfied you get your money back. Make the change in your life today!

Do You Want To Stop Excessive Sweating?

Concerns about hyperhidrosis mostly has to do with the occurrence of excessive sweating. Hyperhidrosis is a condition where the body sweats more then it actually needs to. Also a common hyperhidrosis issue is underarm sweating.

Several different types of hyperhidrosis exist. That’s why no one has a definitive answer as to the exact cause of hyperhidrosis to this day. Excessive sweating does not necessarily take place in one location of the body.

When the body starts to sweat excessively it is known that the sympathetic nervous system runs at an extremely high activity level. For those people who experience hyperhidrosis the sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive. This leads to stress and sometimes even socially debilitating situations in both ones professional and ordinary life.

No one likes to have sweaty armpits and it can often to lead to social anxiety. This prevents the individual who suffers from the above condition to recede socially. They begin to avoid social environments such as dances, parties and dates. There is also the concern that while one is at work that they are sweating excessively and causing body odor. This then can lead to feelings of embarrassment and depression.

So what treatments are there for this condition? There are ointments and salves that are available, they work by drying up the sweat glands. There is electrical shock therapy this consists of light electrical stimulation which is typically applied to the hands. The objective is to “stun” the sweat glands, and the treatment can last anywhere from six hours up to once week.

One of the most recent treatments is injecting Botox into the affected area. This can take many injections to notice a difference and its effectiveness lasts for one to six months. However there is a simple treatment that is available that you can try that could relieve your sweat problem for the rest of your life!

Showering, Bathing And The Importance Of Keeping Clean

Besides an abundance of fresh air day and night, summer and winter, personal cleanliness immensely aids to health and the ability to sleep. In the old days people bathed to clean themselves when dirty. In those days once a week was considered frequent.

Today we shower to keep clean. Someone, probably Joseph Fels, has said that the civilization of a people may best be estimated by the amount of soap and water it consumes. If we start out well-groomed in the morning fresh from the bath with clean linen, clothes brushed and all our personal needs duly attended to we carry our heads higher, feel an uplift of body and mind that is impossible to the careless or untidy person.

The same influence applies to going to bed at night. If we retire soiled and worn from the day’s experiences, we may toss and turn with discomfort whose source we may not understand, or we fall into heavy, unrefreshing sleep.

The body does most of its breathing during sleeping-time. You know how the moisture from the breath shows on a mirror when you breathe on it: well, the skin gives off about three times as much moisture as the breath, and, unless the pores of the skin are free from all obstructions such as dust, old, dried perspiration, and similar soil, it cannot perform its work properly and to the advantage of the sleeper. If you don’t like water, use oil as the Easterns do. Even dry rubbing, if the skin is moist, will keep the pores open.

The little trouble entailed is more than offset by the refreshed feeling, the lightening of the mind as well as of the body, the more restful sleep, and the better health resulting from the practice.

One of the advantages of the night shower or bath is that it reminds us to change all the clothes we have worn during the day. If they must be worn again the next day, they should be spread out on the backs of chairs or on hangers, that they may be thoroughly aired before morning.

If we feel that we must have something more than the pajamas or night-robe, then there should be separate sets of underclothes kept for that purpose alone old, thin, partly- worn ones may be reserved for this use. Whether showers should be hot, warm, or cold must depend upon the individual. There is no set rule that applies equally to all persons.

Many people do find the cold plunge or shower most invigorating in the early morning hours, it is too stimulating to be taken at night and others cannot stand the shock of contact with cold water at any time. There is but one wise thing to do to experiment for yourself and adopt the sort of wash that seems best suited to your needs. Most people will find the warm shower more satisfactory than the hot or cold.
 

Healing Plants: Medicine of the Seminole Indians

It is a pleasure to review this delightful book co-written by Alice Snow, a woman in her seventies who has spent much of her life using her Seminole knowledge of medicinal plants, and Susan Stans, an anthropologist who has lived as a friend in Alice’s community for two years. The result of this collaboration is a book rich in ethnobotanical information, well and clearly presented, and enhanced by the introductory chapters giving the social history and background of the Florida Seminole Indians.

The story is told simply and with no attempt to idyllicise a way of life that is rapidly disappearing. Effects of Westernisation, both good and bad, are remarked on. Alice Snow herself is a woman of few illusions, anxious to preserve the old knowledge while accepting that change is inevitable. As a child, she had the foresight to appreciate the importance of learning to speak English, despite being discouraged by her parents’ generation from attending school. Her resulting knowledge of English has enabled her to act as interpreter and go-between for her people during a lifetime that has witnessed enormous changes. In addition to rearing her family, Alice has worked in a large number of jobs, apart from her unpaid work with herbs.

The materia medica that Alice draws upon is more limited than that reported a generation earlier by Sturtevant, a fact that emphasises the importance of preserving such knowledge before it is all irrevocably lost. Her knowledge of healing plants has been handed down from her mother and grandmother, and she has been determined to preserve it. This book was written despite some opposition from older members of her community. As Alice herself says, all she is telling is the names of plants; she does not claim to convey the whole system of healing. Her own role is that of assistant, collecting the plants that are then taken to a medicine man who empowers them. The overlap that is reported between Western medicine and the traditional healing methods is interesting too: sometimes one is used, sometimes the other, and sometimes a combination of both.

Healing herbs of the east: find total wellness with these 12 superstars from Chinese medicine and Ayurveda

WHEN IT COMES TO HERBS, we Westerners like to keep things simple: For this ailment, take this herb. Catching a cold? Take echinacea. Feeling stressed and anxious? Try lavender. Migraine? Feverfew! In fact, we often refer to our herbal cures as “simples.”

The herbs of the East, on the other hand, seem more complex. Instead of our one-herb-one-cure approach, Traditional Chinese Medicine and India’s Ayurveda–two of the world’s oldest healing traditions–tend to approach herbs as team players, creating complex formulations that sometimes contain as many as 40 discrete ingredients. Both systems consider patients to be more than the sum of their symptoms, using methods like acupuncture, yoga, and diet to help unblock and rebalance energy to correct illness. And both systems are best accessed through qualified practitioners who can tailor a treatment plan to your own unique, exact needs.

But you don’t necessarily need the ongoing supervision of a professional to tap into these potential treatments. Asian herbs are some of the most powerful remedies out there, and they can be just as easy as Western herbs to use. Some have already become Westernized–consider ginger, now considered the premier natural remedy for nausea caused by motion sickness or morning sickness.

Others are still unfamiliar to Americans, especially as health aids. But while you may eventually want to graduate to a more comprehensive use of Eastern practices, you can still get the “simple” head-to-toe benefits offered by the dozen powerhouse herbs described here. All are considered safe when used as recommended, though you should always consult your physician when starting or altering an herbal regimen. (NOTE: The recommended dosages are for typical extracts and formulations; when using commercial products, follow package directions. Talk to your health-care practitioner to fine-tune dosages based on your specific needs.)

Elements of india

AYURVEDA AND Traditional Chinese Medicine evolved in fair proximity over thousands of years. “As one might expect of geographic neighbors, Ayurveda and Chinese medicine share many concepts,” says psychiatrist Alan Brauer, M.D., director of the TotalCare Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif. One is the idea of life energy–qi in Chinese thinking, prana in Ayurveda; another is the view of the body as a microcosm of the world it inhabits.

Psychic Power Comes of Age. . - Book Corners - review of “Reinventing Medicine: Beyond Mind-Body to a New Era of Healing “

Western medicine is experiencing a consumer-driven transformation. There are three distinct stages to modern medicine: Era I dates to the mid 1800s and encompasses the beginning of medicine as a science. Man is viewed as a machine and mind is considered to be a property of the physical brain. Any therapy that focuses on the effects of material things in the body such as the many forms of modern medicine: drugs, surgery, CPR, are included.

Era II is the period of mind-body medicine which encompasses Era I and moves beyond. Mind is a major healing factor within individual people. Examples of Era II medicine include therapy that emphasizes the effects of consciousness: psychoneuroimmunology, counseling, hypnosis, biofeedback and relaxation therapies.

Era III includes the best of the previous two eras and moves way beyond. Mind or consciousness is nonlocal; that is, it is not limited to brain and body. “The brain breathes mind like the lungs breathe air,” says Huston Smith. So the brain, rather than producing the mind, interacts with the mind.

“The imagination of man can act not only on his own body but even on others and very distant bodies. It can fascinate and modify them; make them ill, or restore them to health,” said the Persian physician Avicenna (980-1037C.E.)

These Era III ideas are not new. Popular interest in all things PSI, however, is manifesting in the world of medicine, the world of healing.

Larry Dossey, MD experienced a trio of dream premonitions that sparked his interest in what is often referred to as The Sixth Sense; a ‘knowing’ that goes beyond our five senses. Evidence for the existence of this 6th Sense or nonlocal mind consists of (1) the everyday experiences of millions of people and (2) scientific findings. Reinventing Medicine: Beyond MindBody to a New Era of Healing features impeccable research into both as they apply specifically to the healing of human beings.

Intercessory prayer and distant healing intentions have been rigorously studied. The capacity of human consciousness to function outside of the confines of individual brain and body is the issue.

Memory, Wisdom and Healing: The History of Domestic Plant Medicine - Review

Although described in its title as a “history,” this work is a series of eight intelligent interlocking essays on traditional herbal remedies as used by non-professional healers in mainland Britain, rather than a history which tells a story starting in the past and progressing towards the present. The information which survives from earlier times is fragmentary and unsatisfactory, so Hatfield is wise to avoid a strictly historical approach. Much of her information is recent, and includes the results of her own fieldwork.

Herein lies a problem. Most of Hatfield’s collecting was done in East Anglia, particularly Norfolk, and one wonders how representative her findings there are of Britain as a whole. For example, yarrow, a plant of major importance in herbal remedies, gets only three rather insignificant mentions. On the other hand, it is interesting to learn that the field poppy, widely known as “headaches,” and said to cause headaches, was used in Norfolk as a cure for headaches.

Hatfield concentrates on the herbal remedies used in rural areas, which utilised easily available local or cultivated plants. She considers the remedies used in urban areas, where a variety of exotic plant materials were available, to be beyond her scope. Even in the most urban areas, there were many people who had moved in from rural homes, and there is much evidence that they frequently used remedies which they had learnt from their families, who collected country plants and despatched them to their urban relatives.

The whole of Hatfield’s study shows a great deal of common sense. She does not consider the users of her remedies to be noble savages with abundant instinctive wisdom, neither does she belittle the work of domestic healers. They were simply ordinary people, doing their best with what was available. Sometimes this common sense, and her examples, are repeated too frequently, so that the reader develops a sense of deja vu. However, despite this, it is worth persisting, and all readers will gain worthwhile insights from the work.

Body, mind, & consciousness: deepen your understanding of Ayurvedic healing

Ayurveda is India’s 5000-year old science of life, health, and longevity. According to Ayurveda, there is no separation between body, mind, and consciousness. Therefore, the concepts of health and disease must address all of these aspects. The mind is organically related to the physical body. Any imbalance of the doshas (psycho-physiological principles, or humors) will create signs and symptoms at all levels. The doshas rule and regulate all functions of the organism and determine disease proneness at the physical level and emotional response at the mental level. They are known as vata, the energy of movement; pitta, the energy of metabolism and transformation; and kapha, the energy of lubrication and cohesiveness.

The bond between body and mind can be easily observed when physical fluctuations disturb our mental state, as when we have a flu and aren’t able to concentrate, or when our behavior changes depending on diet and lifestyle habits. This is one of the reasons why Ayurveda places great emphasis on diet and lifestyle for preventing disease and restoring health through balancing the doshas.

The body-mind complex is an organic unity, but mind and body are not the same. The mind appears to be wherever we direct our attention. It can function apart from the body consciousness, as when we are dreaming. The physical body is primarily an organ of perception and expression through the senses and motor organs. We could say that the body is a gross form of the mind, as it serves as a vehicle for the mind to perceive, act, and express itself. On the other hand, the mind is influenced by the impressions of the world we receive through the senses and motor organs. So body and mind work constantly together. Yet what gives us the sense of who we are is not the physical body. It is what we think and feel, how we perceive and experience the world and others around us. So let’s look at the mind in more detail, from a philosophical and yogic perspective.

Healing the heel - Health & Medicine

In response to over 5 million Americans who suffer from chronic heel problems, DeRoyal has developed a healthcare kit to treat them. The self-care kit contains a recovery handbook that discusses heel pain, signs and symptoms of an injury, treatments, protection, stretching, foot muscle and ankle strengthening, eversion and inversion exercises, physician/podiatric follow-up and orthotics. The kit also includes a plantar fasciitis night splint, foot control strap, silicone heel cups, exercise band and ice pack.

Each piece addresses a point of heel protection. The night splint holds the foot in a healing neutral position while you sleep. The foot control strap is a pronation strap that reduces the heel’s movement, while preventing the plantar fascia from over-stretching. The silicone heel cup improves the shock absorbency and cushioning of shoes, while providing pressure relief to the tender spots of the heel. The exercise band is designed to strengthen the muscles around the ankle and foot which help control foot pronation. Lastly, the ice pack reduces inflammation and swelling of the plantar fascia in the injured areas.

Healing medicine

The biomedical model we have used for the past century has reached its limit of effectiveness. The word “healing” is not used in medicine today, with one exception. The first-year histology course includes some talk about wound healing, But outside of that, the word healing is not used in medicine. One of the points that I made in Spontaneous suggest that the human body has a healing system. Not a very radical idea. All you have to do is watch cut finger heal to see very clearly that the body has a capacity for awareness of troubles and the mechanisms for repairing tissue. Yet it is discouraging to find that it’s much easier to talk with children about the body’s healing capacities than with most of my colleagues. If a kid gets an “owie” you say watch what happens. If you try to talk to most physicians about the body’s system, it’s easy for them to dismiss this as more New Age fluff. It is not New Age fluff, it is physiological reality. Any level of biological organization that we examine, from DNA up to the most complex body systems, shows the capacity for self-diagnosis, for removal of damaged structure, for regeneration of new structure.

Why are medical students never taught that the body has healing functions or healing systems? First, consider the great lopsided emphasis on disease processes rather than on health in the pre-clinical years of medical school. Second, when medical students get to their clinical years, they are seeing very sick people, hospitalized people, a population in which healing responses occur less frequently than in the general population. If your whole world of illness is hospitalized patients, that tends to make you more pessimistic about possibilities of healing.

But there is a deeper problem here with the nature of western science and medicine in general. We are very locked into looking at the body as a set of structures and structural systems rather than functional systems. The healing system is not a structural system. I can’t show you a slide of it, the way that I could show you a slide of the circulatory or digestive systems. In some cases, as with circulation and digestion, structure and function are relatively synonymous. But other cases, notably healing, demonstrate no neat correlation of a function with a set of body structures. The healing system makes use of all of the structural systems — the normal operations of the circulatory, nervous, immune, and endocrine systems, and more, for its operations.

Homeopathy: The Safest Medicine for Pregnancy and Labor - Healing with Homeopathy

The Safest Medicine

Homeopathy is the safest form of medicine you will ever find, plain and simple. Safe for pregnant moms, for newborn babes, for debilitated, elderly folks at the end of their lives, patients who are hypersensitive to other medications, and for animals of all sizes and species. Homeopathic medicines are made from any substance in nature. You name it and it’s a potential homeopathic treatment. Honeybee, table salt, sea water, every flower, plant or tree you can think of — they’re all potential homeopathic medicines to treat a variety of physical, mental, and emotional complaints, either acute or chronic.

Pregnant women, with good reason, are wary of conventional medications. Some, such as thalidomide, have been clearly and publicly implicated in serious congenital malformation. Others, including Prozac, have been shown to cause minor birth defects but they are so well-advertised that you would only discover such a problem by carefully examining the scientific literature as we did (Reichenberg-Ullman and Ullman, Prozac-Free (Prima, 1999, p 23). Many other pharmaceuticals have not been adequately tested during pregnancy. Although, in general, herbs are gentler and safer than prescription medications, many are contraindicated during pregnancy. Not so with homeopathy. A pregnant woman can rest assured that homeopathic medicines are absolutely safe.

If a woman wants to self-treat during pregnancy she needs to make sure that the condition she is treating is uncomplicated and acute, rather than chronic, and needs to follow the guidelines carefully. (Our book, Homeopathic Self-Care: The Quick and Easy Guide for the Whole Family, and other books written by experienced professionals rather than writers with no clinical experience, are what we recommend.) The most trouble she can generally get into by treating herself with homeopathy is that an incorrectly chosen medicine will have no effect or, by taking a medicine far too often one can (rarely) develop symptoms of the remedy (proving symptoms). These will go away rapidly when the homeopathic medicine is discontinued. However, many pregnant women and new moms prefer treatment from an expert, which is often the best course of action.

In the spirit of healing; Morehouse medical professors win grant to teach the medicinal power of spirituality - Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlant

When a pastor who is also an internist, and a “Christian who happens to be a physician” get together, their conversations begin with medicine but always end on religion, says Dr. Valencia Clay of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

All those months of talking about what, to some, may seem like an unlikely intersection of faith and medicine paid off this past summer for Clay and Dr. Marvin Crawford, a professor of internal medicine at Morehouse. Clay and Crawford applied for and won one of eight Faith and Medicine Curricular Awards given by the National Institute for Healthcare Research (NIHR) and the Philadelphia-based John Templeton Foundation in August.

The $25,000 grant, makes Morehouse one of the nation’s first medical schools, and the first historically Black college or university (HBCU), to offer ground-breaking courses that explore spirituality and religion in patient care.

The award-winning courses, which begin this school year, range from African religious beliefs, death and dying to taking religious and spiritual histories. Crawford who co-designed the program with Clay, says the courses will be integrated into the required curriculum for second- through fourth-year medical students.

While Morehouse may be the first HBCU to formally offer such medical courses, the institution joins the ranks of a growing number of medical schools that are crossing the boundary that has long existed between science and religion. Courses on spirituality are being taught at nearly twenty of the nation’s 126 medical schools, according to NIHR, a non-profit healthcare institute that collects research on religion and medicine. The growing number of medical schools offering such courses represents what NIHR president Dr. David B. Larson calls “a new era in medicine” - one that focuses on the treatment of the whole person: body, mind, and spirit.

Studies show that 80 percent of Americans want doctors and other health care providers to include religious or spiritual concepts in their treatment, but only one out of ten doctors ever asks their patients about spirituality.

The sweet sound of stress relief: music-infused spa treatments add depth and harmony to the healing benefits of massage

Massage relaxes aching muscles, brings the body back into balance and helps relieve stress and worry–if only for the hour you spend on the table. But what happens when sound becomes an active part of the treatment?

“You get a holistic spa experience that brings you to a deeper state of relaxation than that reached through massage alone,” explains Kevin MacDonald, spa director at the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, Calif., which offers the sounds-on healing shown here, It’s one of our two favorite melodious massages:

• The Claremont Resort and Spa offers the Tibetan Sound Massage ($120 for 50 minutes; claremontresort.com). Throughout the soothing full-body rubdown, imported Tibetan bowls, which have been expertly crafted to “sing” when the rims are rubbed, are placed on or near the body’s various chakras, or energy centers. Each bowl is then “played,” and the resonating vibrations travel through the body to enhance balance and create a deep sense of serenity.
  
  
• At the Sea Change Healing Center in New York City, calming music and nature sounds are played during the Sea Note Musical Massage ($125 for 60 minutes; seachangehealing.com); each stroke of the masseuse’s hands is performed in rhythm with this orchestration. But it’s the subliminal track of tones and vibrations, played at a frequency lower than what the human ear is trained to hear, that’s designed to affect brain waves to promote feelings of peace and relaxation.
  
  

Friendly fevers: fever is not a disease in itself—it’s an important part of the healing process

Back in 1980, a prominent pediatrician named Barton Schmitt coined the term “fever phobia” to describe the understandable desire of many parents to bring down fevers in their children as quickly as possible. Although almost a quarter-century has passed since Schmitt’s phrase caught on, fever phobia is still alive and well.

A recent study in the journal Pediatrics shows that 91 percent of parents surveyed thought that a fever can cause harmful effects, with 56 percent of caregivers very worried about the potential harm of fevers for their own children. And 89 percent of parents reached for such fever reducers as acetaminophen and ibuprofen before temperatures reached 102 degrees.

Why should any of this matter? Because it is often not necessary–and may not even be wise–to be too quick to rush for the medicine cabinet when your child has a fever. “Nothing bad is going to happen if you don’t treat the fever,” says Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). She’s also author of Baby 411: Clear Answers and Smart Advice for Your Baby’s First Year.

A fever, not surprisingly, indicates that your child is fighting off some kind of infection, such as a simple cold, the flu, or an ear infection. It is not an illness in itself. In fact, a fever may do some good. A study published in the February 2004 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that children who ran a fever during their first year were less likely to develop allergies later in childhood than children who did not have fever.

More importantly, according to the AAP, a fever can help your child’s body fight off infection. Many illness-causing microbes do best at the body’s normal temperature. A fever raises the temperature beyond which certain microbes need to reproduce. A fever also kicks your child’s immune system into high gear, spurring the rapid production of bug-clobbering white blood cells. A small but growing body of research shows that letting a fever run its course may reduce the length and severity of such illnesses as colds and flu.

Is faith healing better than a trip to the doctor?

It started out as a routine checkup. You took your blood test, got you cholesterol and cardiovascular evaluations, even a flu shot. Later in the week your doctor contacts you to discuss an “abnormality” found during one of your tests and wants to see you in a few days for “possible counseling.”"What could it be?” you ask, slipping into an inexorable panic, as you mentally catalog disease while playing pick-a-plague in your head: “Isnt there a history of hypertension and diabetes in my family? And didn’t my cousin get diagnosed with cancer last month?”

At this point even a die-hard atheist just might throw up a prayer–and ask for the prayers of others–when confronted with the frailty of his own life. But can prayer be the cure for what ails you? Is faith healing better than a trip to the doctor’?

“I believe that they need to go hand-in-glove,” says Randall W. Maxey, M.D., Ph.D., of Los Angeles, who is president of the National Medical Association (NMA). “There should not be a separation between the two. In the world as I see it, physicians are often vehicles through which God works,and in my practice, I practice a blend that encourages people to have faith that they will be healed. “I am a Christian and I strongly believe that faith plays a role in healing,” Maxey affirms.

He continues: “Not only do I give traditional pharmacological medications that an M.D. would give, but I also make sure that I do pray for my patients,” says Maxey. “In many cases I pray with them, and I myself have seen many instances where it was clear that it was the faith component that led to their healing more so than just the medications that we give.”

And according to recently released information concerning faith and healing, the good doctor may be right.

Studies at several medical centers conclude that prayer and faith help in the recovery from heart attacks, drug addiction, stroke, alcoholism and depression. Research from the University of Miami showed AIDS patients who became long-term survivors were more frequently engaged in religious worship and involved in volunteer work.

Also, Duke University has just released a study of 4,000 men and women of different faiths, 65 or older. The study found that the relative risk of dying was 46 percent lower for those who frequently attend religious services. It also found that those who attend religious services have healthier immune systems.

Holistic healing

When she was growing up in Aurora, Colorado, Andrea Pennington always told people she would take over her mother’s medical practice one day. After graduating with honors from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and training in pediatrics at Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown University Hospital, she has done more than that. Today Andrea and her morn, Abigail Pennington, M.D., are partners in the three-year-old Silver Spring, Maryland, Pennington Institute for Health & Wellness. The 6,000-square-foot facility, with a staff of 13, earned revenues of $350,000 in 2003 by providing a blend of traditional medicine with acupuncture, fitness, nutritional consultations, antiaging solutions and motivational support.

Founder and president Andrea Pennington (above, left, with her room) is today a nationally recognized wellness expert who has appeared twice on the Oprah show and was a medical director and correspondent for the Discovery Health Network. She is also the author of The Pennington Plan: 5 Simple Steps to Vibrant Health, Emotional Wellbeing and Spiritual Growth.

Realizing the Vision: “I did my homework, and with personal savings and an airtight business plan, I was approved for a bank loan and financing in record time to cover the half-million-dollar start-up costs of renovation, equipment, furnishing and advertising. In our first nine months, I juggled a full patient load and 80-hour workweeks, and hosted two national television shows.”

Putting Patients at Ease: “We designed the facility like a spa so patients wouldn’t feel as if they were in a doctor’s office. Our 12-week Life Transformation Makeover is an intensive program of psychotherapy, physical fitness, acupuncture and beauty makeovers. We accept most insurance plans and offer incentives to patients with perfect attendance.”

Changing Lives: “One of our biggest success stories was a man who weighed 525 pounds and wanted a weight-loss solution without surgery. Within five months he lost 140 pounds and the need for several diabetes medications. Our trademark motto is: It’s your life, embrace it.”

Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations - Book Review

Historians of slavery have come a long ways since the days of Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, Stanley Elkins, even Eugene D. Genovese. An evolving field ever since its scholars put pen to paper, the last decade has perhaps witnessed the greatest upheaval in the study of human bondage. A flurry of innovative, imaginative, and ground-breaking interpretations have lifted enslaved peoples far and away from what was once the stultifying position assigned them by Ulrich Phillips. Slaves talk back, act back, and fight back. In the process, they, as much as those who claimed proprietorship over their bodies, gave shape and meaning to America’s “peculiar institution.”

Sharla M. Fett locates herself securely within this new interpretive framework. Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations adds yet another dimension to the unceasing struggle by enslaved peoples to reclaim, in this case nearly literally, their bodies from the master’s grasp. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including private papers, Works Project Administration interviews, and antebellum medical treatises, Fett redirects our attention away from a previous focus on medical therapies and toward the implicitly political contests that erupted between masters and slaves over the purposes and performance of healing.

Taking up first the meanings and methods Southern practitioners–slave and free–brought to their healing work, Fett demonstrates that slaves understood sickness (and its obverse–health) in relational terms. Social disruptions (jealousy, anger, fear) were as likely to result in illness and disability as were disease, injury, and poor diet. From the perspective of the enslaved, healing thus required attention be paid to community as well as corporal afflictions. To perform this work, slave healers (midwives, conjurors, diviners, and herbalists) selected from among a lengthy menu of strategies. Some of which they appropriated from their owners; some they borrowed from Native Americans; some they imported from Africa. Thus a healer might appeal to a Christian God, serve a tea steeped in the indigenous Jerusalem oak, or use divination to trace an “illness to its origins in social conflict.”

The energetics of eating - The Healing Secrets of Food

When Deborah Kesten called her book The Healing Secrets of Food, she was not referring to nutrient content or nutraceuticals. Rather, she was referring to food’s ability to nourish the spirit. Ms Kesten says, “The food-as-medicine approach is unique to America. Most cultures throughout the world do not relate to food as a “product” to be analyzed each time it’s eaten. Rather, they enjoy food as the social, ceremonial, sensual delight it is.” Although The Healing Secrets of Food includes basic nutritional guidelines, its strength lies in Deborah Kesten’s explanation of”integrative nutrition”–the social, spiritual, and energetic components of food and eating.

Socializing, connecting and uniting with others, as we eat is the first health secret. Ms. Kesten relates an experiment conducted by Dr. R.M. Nerem at the University of Texas in which rabbits were fed artery-clogging rabbit food. Rabbits that received cuddling and interaction from their caretaker at mealtime had 60% less plaque. Social interaction, rather than the consumption of wine, may be the primary explanation for the “French paradox.” The incidence of heart attack is very low in France even though the French diet is high in saturated fats and aerobic exercise is uncommon. Researchers point out that the French take long, leisurely meals and share the meals with friends and extended family. Extended family meals tend to be the exception rather than the rule in the US. Take-out and microwave food is the norm, and eating is often seen as a necessity to dispose of as quickly as possible. Ms. Kesten offers several suggestions for bringing social connections back into one’s life, such as arranging potluck get-togethers or simply turning the TV off during mealtime. For those who usually eat alone, Ms. Kesten suggests feeding a pet before sitting down to one’s own meal or setting the table for two and placing a photo of a loved one nearby to foster feelings of connection and love.

The healthcare field of fear. . - Book Corners - Healing Without Fear: How to Overcome your Fear of Doctors, Hospitals, and the Health Care System and

Healing Without Fear: How to overcome your fear of Doctors, Hospitals, and the Health Care System and find your Way to True Healing

by Laurel Ann Reinhardt, PhD; Foreword by James Jealous, DO

Healing Arts Press, One Park Street, Rochester, Vermont 05767 USA; www.InnerTraditions.com

paperback, 2002, $14.95, 175 pp.

After turning to alternative medicine for more effective help for her asthma, the author relates how, when faced with a lump in her breast, she felt a terrible fear rising up that sent her running back to an allopathic doctor. After waiting ten days for the results of her mammogram, by the time she saw the surgeon again, the fear had taken over and she was not able to take the time to make a decision that was not fear-based. Fortunately, it was a holiday and she couldn’t be scheduled for biopsy for some time. Because of the delay, she was able to think more clearly and finally decided to try alternatives (herbs and dietary recommendations) first. By the time she saw the surgeon again, the lump was gone.

Her doctor was as restricted by fear as she was — fear of being sued, fear of the medical board, etc. Even if we begin without fear, the author says, “the field in a doctor’s office or hospital is often palpable, and can induce that fear in us. Our society has become extremely fearful about health concerns, most of the fear being fed by pharmaceutical ads on TV, medical news, and government recommendations for screening, tests, etc. The author says “There is a collusion of silence, fear, and disempowerment of ourselves and each other that creates a morphic field of fear surrounding the Western health care system in general, and some illnesses, such as cancer and AIDS, in particular.”

The morphic field of fear which surrounds the practice of Western medicine is created by the following:

• The personal fears we each have about pain, illness, disability, life, and death
  
• The fears of doctors that we assimilate, sometimes called “white coat fever”
  
• Doctors’ fears of making mistakes, failing their patients, or being sued
  
• Fear-based methods of teaching and practicing medicine
  
• Financial fears of patients, doctors, insurance companies, and the government
  
• Fear-based sales tactics of insurance companies and advertisers
  
• Fears engendered by media reports on health care topics
  
• Fears of loss of power and control
  
• Fears of the unknown
  
  

The healing bath: mineral soaks wash away chronic pain and stress

IN HUNDREDS OF SPOTS across the country, the earth bubbles with mineral-imbued water that can nourish joints and bones, clear up skin conditions, reduce respiratory and circulatory problems, and melt away tension and pain. “Mineral springs are a unique healing resource that most Americans aren’t aware of,” says Nathaniel Altman, author of Healing Springs: The Ultimate Guide to Taking the Waters. “But in Europe and Japan, mineral bathing is a mainstream form of medicine. It’s even covered by health insurance.”

Indeed, much of the research on the therapeutic elements of mineral bathing, known as balneotherapy, comes from across the ocean: A recent Hungarian study found that soaking in sulfur spring water may ease lower back pain; a 2001 report from the Israel Medical Association Journal concluded that bathing in the Dead Sea improved symptoms in patients with psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia, and a 2000 investigation at the University of Vienna Medical School indicated balneotherapy’s potential value for people with high blood pressure.

The benefits flow from two sources, says Deborah Coryell, director of the health and wellness division of King Ventures retreat resorts in San Luis Obispo, Calif. “First, you start with hot water, which is good for anybody because of its relaxing quality,” she notes. “But you’re also working with water that’s mineral-rich, so your body can absorb the minerals into the circulatory system.”

Of course, some people take their minerals orally–see “Minerals 101″ on page 93 for more on supplementing–but swallowing pills doesn’t give you the sensory rewards of bathing. After soaking for just 30 minutes, you’ll feel a glow inside and out. And that’s a pleasure everyone should enjoy, not just those looking to rinse away aches and pains. “You can incorporate mineral bathing into your

health care like you would massage,” Coryell says. “Think of it as one of your resources for good health.”

Qigong: The Art of Self-Healing

Long ago in ancient Greece, the great hero god Heracles was invited to the cave of the centaur Pholos. Chiron, a wise and beneficent centaur and a great master of healing, was also present. As a token of appreciation and hospitality, Heracles brought a flask of heady wine to the gathering. The rich fragrant liquid attracted other centaurs, who, unaccustomed to wine, became drunk and then began to fight. In the ensuing melee Chiron was struck in the knee by an arrow shot by Heracles. Chiron then instructed Heracles in the art of treating the wound. Since the arrow had been tipped with poison from the Hydra-a many-headed monster nearly impossible to slay-the wound would never fully heal. Capable of healing others, the greatest of healers was unable to completely heal himself; and being immortal, Chiron lives forever with this wound as the archetypal wounded healer. Following his wounding, Chiron received and trained thousands of students at his cave on Mount Pelion. It is said that one of these students, Asclepius, learned from Chiron the knowledge of plants, the power of the serpent, and the wisdom of the wounded healer. It was through the lineage of Asclepius that Hippocrates began to practice the art and science of medicine.

Henri J.M. Nowen in his book, The Wounded Healer (1972, p. 82), identifies a wounded healer as “one who must look after his own wounds but at the same time be prepared to heal the wounds of others.” Nurses fit this description better than any group of people I know. We are constantly called upon to be healers not only in the work place but also outside the work place, while often ignoring our own needs and wounds, be they physical, emotional, or spiritual. Let’s explore the ancient practice of Qigong to better understand how we as nurses can heal ourselves in order to better heal those who come to us: our clients.

Holistic technology for the 21st century. . - Book Corners - The Handbook of Rife Frequency Healing: Holistic Technology for Cancer and Other Diseases

What happens when a writer/health educator/ psychotherapist/musician embarks on an eight-year journey to improve her own health? In the case of Nina Silver, PhD, that quest evolved into a 448 page well-researched, easy-to-read treatise on frequency healing. Not only does the book discuss the genius of its primary proponent, Royal Raymond Rife, it includes a superb explanation of the differences between allopathic and holistic approaches to treating disease.

At a time when health-conscious individuals are concerned about the over-medication of children, bio-terrorism, drug-resistant infectious diseases, the government’s push for mass inoculations, and the negative side effects of vaccines and other drugs, along comes a book that revives the natural healing of Rife frequency technology.

In the late 1920s, Rife invented a unique microscope through which he could observe microorganisms, even miniscule single viruses, in their living state. This allowed him to prove that the majority of pathogens, ordinarily considered foreign to the system, were once harmless proteins indigenous to the human body that change in response to their environment. When the environment becomes toxic, the microbes become toxic and more complex, causing symptoms that we call disease.

The book pays due respect to Antoine Bechamp, whose theories were quickly eclipsed by the germ theories of his contemporary Louis Pasteur. Bechamp understood that germs are everywhere and only proliferate when conditions favor their growth. A weakened or compromised immune system allows disease to take hold, whereas a strong immune system does not.