Click here for the original post. This breathing-out-stress exercise can be done when you’re all alone, with eyes closed in a quiet place, or when chaos seems to surround you, such as rush hour traffic (but with your eyes open and hands on the wheel). Sit quietly in a straight-backed chair with your eyes closed, […]
Q&A: Vitamin E and Heart Attacks
Click here for the original post. Q: I just read in Consumer Reports that vitamin E doesn’t help prevent heart attacks. Is this true? If so, is there any reason to take E? A: As early as 2001, clinical studies around the world were beginning to cast some doubt on the effectiveness of vitamin E […]
Fast Food Favorites: Salmon in a Pouch
Click here for the original post. Here’s a fast-food favorite that’s new to us: skinless, boneless Alaskan salmon in a pouch. No liquid to drain and no cans to open, making it an utterly convenient lunch or snack food. It makes an easy dinner too. Several brands offer this presentation. One we see here in […]
Less Stress: Guided Imagery
When you use guided imagery, you deliberately and consciously use the power of your imagination to create positive images (called healing visualizations) that will trigger healthful changes within. The whole concept of guided imagery works because in terms of the physiology inside your brain, picturing something and actually experiencing it are very similar. Let’s pretend […]
Antioxidants and Exercise
Click here for the original post. If you study nutritional medicine long enough, some concepts make good intuitive sense, but then you find nobody has done a study to verify the assumptions. It’s always struck me that if you did aerobic exercise–you know, the huff-puff of jumping jacks or other high-intensity activity–you’d get a greater […]
Glandular Therapies
Click here for the original post. A surprising number of so-called alternative therapies actually have their roots in conventional medicine. For example, reflexology, originally called Zone Therapy, was first discovered by an ear, nose, and throat specialist who used pressure from rubber bands applied to the fingers and toes for surgical anesthesia. “Bach” of Bach […]
Sinus Infections
Click here for the original post. One of the most common wintertime phone calls/office visits/e-mails I receive from my patients is the desperate need for something (namely, an antibiotic) for self-diagnosed sinus infection. Most people are quite good at making this diagnosis. Typical sinusitis develops a week after a cold that almost seemed to go […]
Staying Smart
Click here for the original post. Readers of this newsletter age 40 and up have, to a person, one perpetually lurking fear: that they will they get dumber with each passing decade. You suddenly go blank trying to locate the right word or match a name with a familiar face. Or you walk into your […]
Q&A: Chiropractor for Son’s Back Pain
Click here for the original post. Q: My 12-year-old son is really into sports. Josh wrenched his back playing soccer last week and still has some pain, though it’s milder with the ibuprofen I gave him. I’ve been treated very successfully by a chiropractor for my own back pain and was wondering if you thought […]
More on Lyrica, the Fibromyalgia Drug
Click here for the original post. Several readers sent me a link to this New York Times article about fibromyalgia and the newly approved drug Lyrica. The article addresses a continuing (and unnecessary) controversy about fibromyalgia. Namely, whether fibro is a “real” disease that deserves its own medication and, alternatively, if it’s not a disease […]
Anger, Part 2
While you’ll probably never be able rid your world of people or incidents that enrage you, you can learn to control your reaction to them. Here are a few tips to help you get started: • Think before you speak. When you feel yourself entering into anger, pause. The ancient Greeks tell us that the […]
Anger
Today’s tip and Wednesday’s are adapted from my book, The Triple Whammy Cure. Anger is one of those everyday emotions that we’re stuck with because we’re human. In the long run, anger serves no useful purpose and we’re all better off without it. If you put the brakes on an episode of anger and thoughtfully […]
PMS Rx
Click here for the original post. For our new January newsletter readers, let’s review my PMS prescription, explained in far greater detail in The Triple Whammy Cure. When you feel crummy, you’re menstruating, AND your symptoms appear predictably on a monthly (or every-other-month) basis, the problem is definitely hormonal and definitely fixable. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) […]
A Solid Thumbs-Up on Nutritional Supplements
Click here for the original post. Every morning and evening for more years than I like to ponder, I reach for my two vitamin trays (yes, I need two), mentally check that I’m not taking them on an empty stomach, and dutifully swallow my eighteen pills and capsules, plus an aspirin. That’s 37 a day. […]
Stress Less: Acupuncture
Click here for the original post. It’s pitch dark in your living room. You bang your shin hard against the edge of a coffee table, and momentarily you actually see stars. You reach down and rub the sore spot; within seconds you actually feel a little better. Although you may not be aware of it, […]
Q&A: Alcohol and Breast Cancer
Click here for the original post. Q: I wanted to ask your opinion on the recent research that shows drinking even moderately can raise a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer by 30 percent. I enjoy my nightly wine, and this new information really has me wondering. A: When you’ve been in practice as long […]
Fear Factor
Posted 01/09/2008 Readers of this newsletter regularly hear about the dangers of stress to their health. We experience the emotional and physical reaction known as stress whenever we’re in a situation where we can’t control the course of our lives. The minor stresses (late for an appointment, a botched recipe) are unavoidable, part of life […]
Q&A: Flu Shot
Click here for the original post. Q: Hi Dr Edelberg. I’m a semi-retired woman, age 62, with no real health problems. Do I need to get a flu shot? A: Absolutely yes, and try to get yours as soon as possible. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the flu is currently making its annual […]
Nutritional Research: Busy Month
Click here for the original post. I’ve had the feeling recently that everybody’s getting tired of prescription medications. To begin with, we’re taking far too many unsavory chemicals for problems mostly attributable to our unhealthful lifestyles–controlling adult-onset diabetes, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, cooling heartburn, sedating our stress-laden lives. And did I mention side effects? […]
R&R for 2008
This new year’s eve, consider a resolution that will make your cheeks glow and your heart happy.
Consider scheduling a long weekend, or even a week, at a health spa.
Many of my patients who have followed through on this (my favorite) prescription consider their health-spa visits life-altering. The healthy food, massage, long walks, and yoga sessions, lack of TVs, and turned-off cellphones helped them see how eliminating stress could lead to a whole new approach to good health.