Depressed patients with a history of back pain are more susceptible to back pain recurrence, according to a recent study published in the journal Pain. While the correlation has been evident for years, researchers ran into the “chicken-or-the-egg” issue: Does depression cause back pain, or does back pain cause depression? While a gray area remains, depression was specifically identified as an independent risk factor for back pain.
Essential oils from botanicals — used in holistic medicine to treat everything from bacterial infections to anxiety — are showing great promise as natural pesticides in large-scale farming. Coming on the heals of a United Nations agreement to ban the use of methyl bromide (a ubiquitous pesticide that has been linked to ozone depletion and cancer), this is good news for both environmental health advocates and conventional farmers.
While melanoma makes up only 4 percent of skin cancer cases, it is the most lethal type, accounting for approximately 8,000 deaths annually. Fortunately, there’s good news. Skin Self Examinations (SSEs) — a simple step-by-step, early detection approach — can reduce up to 63 percent of these deaths, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).
The AAD recommends taking photographs of suspicious areas to determine a baseline so that you can effectively monitor any changes. The “ABCD” approach can then be applied:
When Bill Williams was working on a 10-session bodywork protocol with his mentor Ida Rolf in the 1970s, he knew he wanted to take it further than the physiology that was being explored. His training in psychology and his interest in energy afforded him insight into the integration that could happen when body, mind, and spirit met. While Rolf, with whom he was teaching and researching at the time, didn’t want to take the work in that direction, she gave Williams her blessing to seek out his own truths. And so was born Soma Neuromuscular Integration.
To hold, press, or rub an area of the body that hurts is a natural response. We do it without thinking — for headaches, stomachaches, back pain, bumped knees, cramps — and such contact usually offers relief. Acupressure is a skillful way of relieving pain and disharmony through simple, intentional touch.
Having trouble sticking to your New Year’s resolution to exercise? Quit fretting about it and just start walking. According to a recent study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, regular exercise (such as walking) reduced mortality risk by 35 percent. For those who had high risk of heart disease, the decreased risk was even higher at 45 percent. And even obese subjects who were active had a lower risk of dying sooner.
What if there was a single pill you could take to reduce blood pressure, ease anxiety, improve concentration, and make you happier — all with no side effects? Chances are, everyone would be clamoring for it. While not in pill form, mindfulness meditation — the act of sitting quietly for 20 to 30 minutes once or twice a day and emptying your mind — appears to initiate these significant results.
Eating breakfast can result in fewer total calories for the day, according to a recent study published in The Journal of Nutrition. Researchers at the University of Texas in El Paso analyzed the weekly food diaries of nearly 900 adults. They consistently found that when more calories were eaten in the morning, calorie intake for the entire day was less in those subjects who skipped breakfast. And the more calories consumed in the evening, the larger the daily calorie intake.
Women suffering even mild depression are at greater risk of heart attack, according to researchers at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The four-year study reviewed almost 100,000 women aged 50 to 79. Women with no history of heart disease who experienced sub-clinical depression (based on inquiries about things such as crying spells and feelings of being disliked) had a 50 percent greater risk of dying of a heart attack during the four-year period than women who were not depressed.
Vitamin D consumption has been associated with a decreased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), a condition affecting approximately 400,000 Americans. The study tracked more than 187,000 women for 10 to 20 years and found that subjects who took at least 400 International Units (IU) daily — the amount found in most multivitamins — had about a 40 percent decreased chance of developing MS. Vitamin D also appears to prevent or slow MS-like symptoms in animals.
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