I personally postponed trying reflexology because of extreme ticklishness. Just the thought of something other than a floor or a pair of socks touching the soles of my feet sent shivers up my spine. It never dawned on me that connecting the soles of the feet to the meridians of Chinese medicine is the entire basis of reflexology.
Category: Knowledge Base
Your Brain: Is Low Thyroid a Factor?
We continue this month with our series on why your brain might not be functioning the way you feel it should.
Hypothyroidism, or an underfunctioning thyroid gland (commonly called low thyroid), is often overlooked by doctors as a cause of poor memory. It’s neglected because many physicians rely solely on a not-very-good blood test to confirm or reject a diagnosis of low thyroid.
Your Brain: Could an Undiagnosed Medical Problem Be to Blame?
We’ve been talking about the causes of brain fog, forgetfulness, and lack of focus these past weeks. My final suggestion isn’t likely, but it’s worth including.
An undiagnosed medical problem, such as high blood pressure or kidney or liver disease, could compromise your ability to think clearly.
Your Brain: Could It Be Something You Ate?
Sensitivity to certain foods or to food additives/preservatives are less common causes of brain fog, but certainly possible. So is hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.
Your Brain: Maybe You’re Depressed
Depression is the result of low levels of the stress-buffering brain chemical serotonin trying, but failing, to protect you against assaults of unchecked stress.
The same holds true for similar disorders, like anxiety, fatigue, and fibromyalgia.
Your Brain: Maybe It’s a Human Version of Computer Overload
Maybe there’s nothing wrong with your brain at all. Maybe it’s a human version of computer overload.
Stop and reflect on the amount of information our parents or grandparents dealt with every day and compare it to the volume of 24/7 info-tainment most of us are exposed to today.
What’s Happening to My Brain
That’s a question I hear from patients several times a week. The inquirer, usually a woman in her late forties or early fifties, knows for certain something is wrong.
Name-That-Food Quiz
Today’s food quiz comes from Alice Henneman, dietitian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in Lancaster County. Thanks, Alice.
Townsend Letter
If you’re interested in the current status of alternative medicine in the US, consider a sample issue of Townsend Letter.
Now in its 25th year of continuous publication under the direction of pioneer integrative physician Jonathan Collin, MD, the publication is subtitled “The Examiner of Alternative Medicine.” I learned early on that a subscription to Townsend Letter was virtually a requirement if I wanted to keep abreast of the many fields of complementary and alternative therapies.
Flower Essence Therapy: How Do I Choose My Remedies?
The Bach Center has prepared a self-help questionnaire to guide you through the remedy selection process. The questionnaire is usually tucked next to the remedy display at health food stores, but is also online by clicking here.
Stress Less: Flower Essence Therapy, Part 2
Last time we talked about Edward Bach, the British homeopathic physician who combined homeopathy with the mind-body connection in treating emotional states such as chronic grief, loneliness, hypersensitivity, and lack of confidence in order to cure chronic health disorders.
Less Stress: Flower Essence Therapy
I first encountered flower remedies when visiting a couple who had just lost a long-awaited infant by miscarriage. Although their home was very much a place of mourning, they bore their grief with fortitude. At one point during the conversation, they brought out a small bottle, placed a few drops under each other’s tongues, and then continued talking.
Q&A: Citicholine and the Aging Brain
Q I saw an article in our local paper on citicoline, which they called a natural substance found in all living things. The article said taking citicholine as a supplement could boost the power of aging brains. Is this true? Also, what exactly is it?
Vitamin D, Part 2
Last time we talked about the Vitamin D Council and its research on vitamin D deficiency. Today I’ll add some observations from the front lines of doctoring, as well as my updated recommendations on supplementing with D.
Vitamin D – Again
Nutritionally oriented physicians agree that the hottest topic over the last couple of years has been vitamin D.
Travel Snacks
If you travel at all, you don’t need me to describe the dismal food options at most airports. Yes, there are occasionally some decent choices, but what to do in the face of cinnamon buns, cold white-bread lunchmeat sandwiches, and mini-pizzas?
Basic Foods for Cupboard, Fridge, and Freezer
When a young family member set up life in his first apartment, the inevitable shopping list for stocking the kitchen posed a good question. Just what are the basics you need to function day-to-day and meal-to-meal?
Does Meditation Work?
Meditation is embraced by conventional medicine today as a perfectly acceptable means of lowering blood pressure, reducing pain, helping migraines, easing menstrual cramps, and, most importantly, reducing stress and anxiety.
Stress Less: Meditation
Meditation is the simplest relaxation technique to explain and by far the hardest to master.
Like acupuncture, yoga, sushi bars, and Thai restaurants, meditation comes to us from the East, from religious practice that required quiet contemplation in order to induce a state of tranquility.
Melatonin for Mild Cognitive Impairment
I doubt the subscription list of the Journal of Pineal Research is significantly beyond the high two digits, but it did contain the following nugget.