Poking and Prodding: The Practice of Acupuncture

While acupuncture may seem almost barbaric to Western observers, it is in fact more firmly established and much older than any of the Western style medical treatments available today. This 5000 year old medical procedure has had a lot more development and study than any of the most trusted medical treatments in existence.

There are six commonly used types of acupuncture needles. Each of these types varies in size and shape; some have wider shafts, some have differently shaped heads. The needles are inserted at different angles to the skin surface; the different angles produce different effects in the body. The practitioner then applies a special technique to the needle: rotation, raising and thrusting, a combination of these two techniques, or vibration. Like the type of needle, insertion point and angle of insertion, the type of technique used depends on the desired effect.

Light Therapy as an Acne Treatment

For those with severe acne problems, there are limited treatments. Some dermatologists prescribe certain acne drugs or acne facial soaps or other external treatments. But many dermatologists have taken to using blue light or red light therapies to treat acne.

Besides these two types of light, sunlight is the best acne treatment; but the UVA and UVB rays in sunlight are extremely damaging to the skin, especially during prolonged exposure. Since artificial UV didn’t work as well as real sunlight, blue and red visible rays were found to be effective and safer. These two lights actually have the ability to destroy the bacteria that cause acne in the skin. The prescribed therapy is generally 3 days of exposure; this can get rid of almost all (99.9%) of the bacteria in the skin. The only real precaution dermatologists need to take with this treatment is appropriate eye protection.

Yoga and the Mind

Yoga practice is actually becoming a common practice that is recommended by medical professionals for a variety of illnesses and problems. While not all physical ailments can benefit from yoga, almost all types of mental illnesses can reap some benefit from the practice of yoga.

Psychiatrists and psychologists often recommended yoga to their patients as a way of gaining self-awareness and insight. When a person practices yoga, they calm their minds and focus only on their breathing and poses. This allows for the mind to filter out all that is superfluous and can help the person gain new perspective on their thoughts. Depression and anxiety are often greatly helped by the regular practice of yoga. People with depression often find that they are awakened to the simplicity and beauty in life through yoga. People with anxiety are often calmed and soothed when they practice yoga. It should be stated that before anyone does yoga, they should consult a doctor.

Why Has Iridology Not Been Approved In the US?

Many proponents of alternative therapy wonder at why some of the available therapies, treatments, and diagnostic practices have not been approved by the United States government for established medical use. While the reasons for the lack of approval vary according to the alternative therapy method in question, in the case of Iridology it is simply a matter of a complete lack of scientific evidence of the efficacy of the method.

There have been several scientific studies of Iridology performed by researchers and the results of each of these studies have been almost identical. The general conclusion is that the effectiveness of iridology as a diagnostic tool is no better than chance. In other words, it is statistically just as likely for a person to guess at a patient’s illness as it is for a trained Iridologist to assess the illness correctly. Because there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Iridology works, the United States government has not approved it as a legitimate diagnostic tool.

Let the Sunshine in

The number of diagnosed and treated cases of depression and seasonal affective disorder has grown over the last few years. This has, of course, brought about the development of new treatments for all types of depression. One of the newer alternative depression treatments is light therapy. The use of “light boxes”, which provide 10,000 lux of artificial light, not only has been proven to help persons with Seasonal Affective Disorder, but recently they have been shown to help all types of depression.

Though these light boxes do not cause any skin damage the way other types of light therapies � like ultraviolet light therapies � do, there has still been research into other types of light therapy for depression. The use of blue light to treat depression is just as effective as the use of light boxes for younger patients; however, it is not effective in older patients.

Rolfing + Yoga = Better Health

The practice of yoga focuses on bringing balance and strength to the body by using movements and poses. The practice of rolfing focuses on bringing balance and proper structure to the body through movements and soft tissue manipulation. This, of course, points out the similarities between rolfing and yoga, as well as pointing out the subtle differences. But the best part about these two practices is that they can be used � and often are used � together to produce the same effects.

Since yoga does not use soft tissue manipulation, it is thought by rolfers that it is not quite a perfect method of helping and therefore healing muscular and body structure problems. However, combining rolfing with yoga adds the need to manipulate soft tissues to complete the lengthening process of the tissues, thus bringing the body into balance.

Meditating On Meditation

Meditation is the practice of concentrating one’s thoughts and awareness on a specific thought. This concentration may not seem like something that could in any way affect a person’s health, but in fact studies and thorough research has shown that in fact meditation can help improve a person’s health.

The most interesting physical benefit of meditation is improved cardiovascular health. There are many theories about why meditation helps the cardiovascular system, but one of the dominant theories is that the calming effect of meditation not only relaxes the mind, but it also relaxes the entire body. Over time, regular meditation can help a person’s heart to be healthier. Since heart disease is prevalent in both men and women, meditation is helpful for everyone. Of course, meditation also helps a myriad of other ailments by the same relaxation method.

Markers and Crayons: Not Just for Kids

Have you ever watched a young child drawing with markers or crayons on a blank piece of paper? They seem to be able to let go and scribble with an abandon rarely matched by an adult. And why would an adult want to doodle for no reason? Because there might be a practical purpose to art after all.

Art therapy is a widely used form of therapy using both the creative process and psychotherapy to elicit a healing response in the patient. By using simple tools like the ones found in any child’s craft box � crayons, markers, colored pencils and paints � a professional art therapist can help a patient discover and deal with internal emotional turmoil. Art therapy is frequently used in mental health clinics, but can also be found in more casual places like art studios.