Category Archives: Integrative Medicine

The event, which this year returns to Singapores Hilton hotel from July 7-9, will feature speakers from the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, National University of Singapore and Mahidol University / The Food Science and Technology Association of Thailand (FoSTAT),

There will also be sessions revealing the latest insights from the Malaysian Dietary Supplements Association (MADSA), Food Industry Asia and Mercer.

Delegate registration is now open, with an earlybird 20% discount offer.

The event takes place as the number of older persons in the region is expected to more than double from 600 million today to nearly 1.3 billion by 2050.

Organised by the publishers of FoodNavigator-Asia.com and NutraIngredients-Asia.com, the event brings together brands, suppliers, regulators and market experts to assess how the industry can meet the food and nutrition needs of older consumers of today and tomorrow.

Editor-in-Chief of both titles, and Regional Head of APAC at publisher William Reed, Gary Scattergood, said:Crucially, the event comes from the perspective that healthy ageing begins from conception. It assesses innovative food and nutrition solutions across all age spans, which will ultimately help people enjoy a healthy, as well as longer, older age.

Confirmed speakers include:

John Hellmann, Vice President, Government Affairs, Asia Pacific, Herbalife

Dr Yong Shan May, Principal Scientist, Bioefficacy and Bioactive Discovery, Brands Suntory

Dr Sam Henderson, Chief Scientific Officer, Cerecin

Dr Lesley Braun, Director, Blackmores Institute

Tana Limpayaraya, CEO, Amado Group (Thailand)

Dr. Mario Chin, Co-founder & CSO, Avant Meats

Associate Prof Satoshi Fukumitsu, Innovation center manager, NIPPN

Assistant Professor Anadi Nitithamyong Mahidol University / FoSTAT

Dr Jung Eun Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology, National University of Singapore

Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Director, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine Jammu

EE Fern Wong, Board Member, Malaysian Dietary Supplements Association

Godelieve van Dooren, Partner, Mercer

Some of the key themes for the 2020 event will include:

Snacking for seniors:How the worlds leading FMCG brands can create options that aid Healthy Ageing

Reformulation and fortification:Expert insights on how to tackle the ticking economic and social timebomb of obesity and diabetes through reformulation strategies

Innovation for infants:How the latest research and product innovation is helping infants make the best start in life leading to tangible health outcomes in later life

Functional foods focus:The regions leading functional foods pioneers will share their healthy ageing strategies and experience in our dedicated showcase

Protein potential:The latest research around intake levels, product innovation and muscle health.

Indigenous insights:Research is booming in areas such at TCM, Ayurveda and Maori/Aboriginal botanicals and how they can be used for food and nutrition innovation. Well be hearing from an expert panel

Retail revolution:The regions leading retailers will share their views on how they can meet the needs of senior consumers, both online and offline.

Medical and clinical case studies:Well be hearing about the key advances being made in the area of foods for hospital patients as well as clinical nutrition solutions.

Markets and policy:Regulatory experts, decision makers, economists and trends analysts will be sharing the latest date into the economic, social and policy impacts of ageing.

To find out more, and view our highlights video from the 2019 event, please visit theevent website.

If you are from a major finished product brand and would like to discuss speaking opportunities, email gary.scattergood@wrbm.com

And to find out about our comprehensive partnership and sponsorship opportunities, email sueann.peh@wrbm .com and tim.evans@wrbm.com

Continued here:
Healthy Ageing APAC Summit 2020: Academic and industry experts from Singapore, India, Thailand and Malaysia join the bill - FoodNavigator-Asia.com

In early June of 2018 elite middle-distance runner Robby Andrews was on fire. Was, unquestionably, at the top of his running game. The then-27-year-old had just run one of his fastest races ever: 3:36 in the 1500 meters at the Oslo Diamond League Meet in Norway, beating out 18-year-old phenom Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Which is why, for Andrewswinner of the 800-meter national outdoor title in high school, holder of a national indoor record in the 800 meters as well as the 1000 meterswhat happened two weeks later was such a shock.

June 21. The USATF Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Andrews felt confident going into the 1500 meters, but mid-race he completely ran out of steam. He placed a disappointing fifth in his heat, not even qualifying for the finals. I dont know what happened, a confused Andrews told reporters after the race.

Kevin Morris

A few days later he came down with flu-like symptoms. For the next month he battled nasty upper respiratory and sinus infections and 102-degree fevers. Training just sucked, says the Olympian. My paces were nearly 40 seconds slower than theyd been just a few weeks before. Andrews went to his doctor, who ran tests for everything from Lupus to Lyme, but they all came back negative. I was told, There is literally nothing wrong with you, recalls Andrews. But there had to be, he knew. This could not possibly be all in his head.

Still, he had a contract with Adidas to fulfill, so Andrews traveled to Europe, where he clocked disappointing times: 3:44 in the 1500 meters at the Lignano Meeting International in Italy; 1:52 in the 800 meters in Flanders Cup Kortrijk in Belgium. For the remainder of the summer, Andrews felt constantly wiped out. Normally he would be up at 7:30 to train; now, he couldnt pry himself out of bed until 10. The few days a week he forced himself to run, hed get so dizzy and breathless hed have to quit after 20 minutes. Every afternoon, he napped for up to four hours.

He kept thinking how closely his symptoms resembled those of people he knew whod had Lyme, including his older sister Kristin (also a runner who is a 2020 Olympic hopeful) and his former roommate, Donn Cabral (a 2012 and 2016 Olympian in the 3,000-meter steeplechase), so Andrews asked to have his Lyme test re-run in September. It came back positive. The doctor wanted to prescribe antibioticsthe standard treatment for Lymeimmediately, but Andrews was worried about the side effects. Instead, he decided to take the advice of a holistic doctor who had helped his sister during her bout with Lyme in 2016.

Once a week Andrews swallowed eight drops, an hour aparta concentration of herbs such as ashwagandha, rhodiola, turmeric, licorice root, and cordycep mushroomsthat the holistic doctor said would help strengthen his immune system. He soaked his feet in a proprietary blend of herbs that he was told would draw toxins out of his body. He spent more than $1,000 on treatment. He didnt care if anyone thought he was nuts. He just wanted to feel better.

And he did, for a few months. My energy went way up. I could run three miles without having to stop, says Andrews. Then, in February, it all fell apartan almost overnight, dramatic decline in his physical and emotional health. Fatigue weighed down his body. Headaches crackled through his brain. He was sweating so much at night that he had to change the sheets. And perhaps the worst? Really depressive thoughts. It was a dark couple of months, Andrews says. If it wasnt for my girlfriend and family, I would have gone days without talking to anyone or leaving the house. He raced at the U.S. Championships at the end of February on Staten Island, in the 1000 meters. I felt bad from the first step. Something was wrong. He clocked in at 2:26dead last.

Drew Reynolds

Patrick SmithGetty Images

Disillusioned with the holistic protocol, Andrews finally accepted a prescription for antibiotics in March. His doctor told him to take them until his symptoms were relieved for a full month. Andrewss concerns about side effects were valid; the antibiotic gave him severe fatigue and headaches, brain fog and GI issues.

Desperate to make the 2019 world championship team, he ran the 800 meters at the Adrian Martinez Classic in April, only to come in last, again. In June he set his sights on the Princeton Qualifier. I missed my college roommates wedding for it, that is how important this race was for me, he says. Midway through the 1500-meter race, he dropped out, wheezing and depleted.

Andrews felt like he was out of options. And although he didnt know it at the time, he had entered the Lyme Wars, a fiercely contested fight about why some Lyme patients develop chronic, relapsing symptoms even after treatmentand what to do about them.

A stealth pathogen. Thats what some researchers call the corkscrew-shaped bacteriaBorrelia burgdorferithat causes Lyme disease, now one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in America. More than 300,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Black-legged ticks pick up Borrelia from the birds and small mammals they feed on, then they pass the bacteria into our blood when they feed on us, usually from May to Septemberprime months for logging miles on wooded trails and grassy park paths.

Removing a tick quickly lowers your risk for infectionit takes an estimated 36 to 48 hours for the arthropod to transmit Borrelia. But once the bacteria enters your body, it is a master of evasion. The Borrelia can spread from the skin to other tissues, which can make it more challenging to treat. Your immune system takes days to a few weeks to recognize any infection, including Lyme. Thats why the standard Lyme testwhich checks for antibodies (not the bacteria itself)can more easily give a false negative test early on, like Andrewss did.

When your body finally detects Borrelias presence, it launches an immune response to fight it, which is what can bring on flu-like symptoms such as sluggishness, fatigue, muscle aches, and joint pain. Runnersespecially those who spend hours outside during the summer training for fall marathonscan attribute symptoms to overtraining.

The majority of Lyme cases are easy to treat and cure with a 10- to 28-day course of antibiotics, says Paul Auwaerter, M.D., the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Ying Zhang, MD, Ph.D., a leading expert on the Lyme bacteria and a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, disagrees. Lyme can be a really terrible disease and a very complex one. Different patients have different responses, and the disease can manifest in different ways, says Zhang, who believes Lyme can indeed develop into a chronic form that resists the current antibiotic treatment.

Indeed, for around 20 percent of Lyme patients, a dose of antibiotics isnt the end of the story. Not by a long shot. They continue to suffer from a variety of symptoms that can last for months, even years: fatigue, headaches, muscle and joint pain, difficulty concentrating, and sleep disruptions. The frequently used medical term for these persistent problems is Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS). PTLDS means that we know that a patient has had Lyme, has gotten a course of antibiotics, and doesnt feel like theyve bounced back, says Auwaerter.

PTLDS is often referred to as chronic Lyme, a term Auwaerter disparages as a catchphrase for otherwise unexplained fatigue, pain, and neurologic symptoms in people who dont meet the diagnostic criteria for Lymeusually obtained by medical history, a positive blood test, and physical exam. But diagnosing Lyme can be tricky. In the first three weeks after infection, the test detects Lyme only 29 to 40 percent of the time and some 30 percent of all Lyme patients, like Andrews, dont get the telltale bullseye rash.

Drew Reynolds

Drew Reynolds

What really keeps the controversy alive is this: There isnt yet a sensitive and reliable test that can determine if ongoing symptoms after Lyme treatment are due to an ongoing active infection, says Brian Fallon, MD, director of the Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University. Without one, some medical organizations, like the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), believe chronic symptoms may be due to the persistence of the Lyme bacteria. They suggest that for some patients, the potential risks of treating with antibiotics for longer periods of time outweighs the consequences of an untreated persistent infection. Giving credence to this argument are several recent studies that found Lyme bacteria remained in animals even after they were treated with antibiotics. And in March, Zhang and his colleagues found that a slow-growing form of persister Lyme bacteria not only resisted standard single antibiotic treatment, but also caused more severe arthritis-like symptoms in mice. They found that a cocktail of three antibioticsdaptomycin, doxycycline, and ceftriaxonecompletely killed the bacteria, and they are now planning clinical trials to see if the result is the same in humans.

On the other hand, groups including the IDSA maintain that symptoms that linger after antibiotic therapy are not due to an ongoing active infection of the Lyme bacteria and therefore should not be treated with additional rounds of antibiotics because theyre unlikely to help. Six clinical trials have shown that long-term antibioticsbeyond the recommended 28 dayare not effective, says Auwaerter. Plus, long-term use of antibiotics can lead to serious side effects, such as blood clots and, even, in rare cases, death.

If chronic symptoms are not caused by an active infection, then what? It could be due to an autoimmune reaction, where a prior infection has triggered an immune reaction that is now acting independently, or it could be that the prior infection changed the brain activation patterns, Fallon says. Theres some evidence to support both of these processes.

While researchers debate, patients are left sick, with lots of questions, and no good answers. Its devastating for peoples lives and some are willing to try anything to get better, Fallon says. After his dismal race in Princeton, Andrews was one of them.

This June, after battling symptoms for nearly a year, Andrews visited Mark Sivieri, M.D., a board-certified family practice doctor in Maryland who is also board certified in integrative medicine (which pairs traditional medicine with complementary therapies). Andrewss cousin had been seeing him for her own ongoing Lyme symptoms. There was an instant connection: Sivieri had also been a professional runner; he and Andrews even shared a coach at one point. During the three-and-a-half-hour appointment, Sivieri studied Andrewss previous blood tests. He noticed that, in addition to Lyme, Andrews had tested positive for two other tick-borne infections (Andrews says the doctor who had ordered the test never mentioned them).

Ticks carry and transmit loads of other bacteria, parasites, and viruses beyond Borrelia burgdorferi. A single tick can make a person sick with several diseases at the same time, including Anaplasmosis (a bacterial infection that causes fever, aches, chills, and muscle aches), Babesiosis (a parasitic infection that attacks red blood cells), and Powassan virus (which can cause an infection in the brain and can even be deadly). And not all doctors check for these when they are focused on Lyme; those who do test for them may believe the antibiotics prescribed for Lyme will be enough to wipe out the co-infections. The estimates for co-infection rates with Lyme disease can widely range anywhere from about two to 40 percent. And not only are some, such as Powassan, more dangerous than Lyme, but simultaneous infection, some research suggests, may make Lyme harder to treat or recognize, and might affect how the immune system responds to Burgdorferi.

Sivieri put Andrews on a 60-day course of the two antibiotics hed previously been taking to kill the bacteria for Lyme; he also prescribed a medication to wipe out the co-infections. He said the night sweats and the shortness of breath, thats what the Babesia parasite does, it eats your red blood cells and prevents the oxygen from moving around your body. Thats obviously a big concern for runners. I couldnt breathe well when running, right from the start, says Andrews. And Im a trained athlete.

Sivieris tests showed that Andrews was also sensitive to gluten and dairy; he recommended avoiding them to help take pressure off his immune system. My stereotypical Italian grandma was aghast when I told her no more pasta and chicken parmesan, Andrews says. That was a big transition for me. But if thats whats was going to get me better, I didnt care at all.

Drew Reynolds

Sivieri then turned to natural remedies to help strengthen Andrewss immune system, putting him on adaptogenic herbssaid to help with all types of stresssuch as curcumin which can reduce the inflammatory response caused by Lyme.

Using alternative medicine to nuke hard-to-kill bugs might sound like folklore, but science is starting to back the theory: Zhang recently found that, in laboratory dish tests, 10 oilsincluding from garlic cloves, myrrh trees, thyme leaves, allspice berries, and cumin seedsshowed strong killing activity against the non-growing and slow-growing persister forms of the Lyme bacteria, even better than standard antibiotics. We need to do proper clinical trials, to see how to use them more effectively without being toxic but [in the future, I believe that] the more effective treatment is going to come from a combined approach of antibiotics with essential oils or natural products.

The combination of traditional and alternative medicine helped Andrews. The past year has been brutal, but he finally feels like his old self again. I wake up in the morning and I have energy all day, he says. Im not sweating at night, [there are] no headaches. The depressive thoughts are gone. Im training at full capacity. He plans to run the indoor season in 2020, still in hopes of achieving the Olympic qualifying time.

He stopped taking antibiotics in mid-August, now its complementary treatmentsincluding vitamin C for his adrenals and immune system and curcumin for inflammation. He still avoids gluten and dairy and is content to continue the regimen for the near future. The supplements could be pointless, but hes not going to chance it. It seriously feels like I have my life back, he says. This is me. Im back to me.

Excerpt from:
Robby Andrews Lyme Disease Recovery | Running With Lyme Disease - Runner's World

My first experience with olfactory virtual reality was truly trippy. Wearing a VR headset and holding a controller in each hand, I stood in a 3D room at OVR Technology in Burlington, gazing at a virtual table holding plates of tomato slices, garlic bulbs and basil leaves. As instructed by Jesse Stein, vice president of product and marketing, I used the controllers to pick up items with my white-gloved hands, bring them to my nose for a whiff and place them on the pizza beside me.

After I'd plunked down a few slices and bulbs, a lawn mower drove by, unattended, sounding just like a lawn mower and spewing grass in my general direction. As the four-wheeled interloper receded, I pushed a red button to slide the pizza into the oven.

The visual and auditory elements of this surreal experience were amazing. I felt like I'd been transported onto the Holodeck in a "Star Trek" show. But most remarkable were the scents provided by OVR Technology garlic, cut grass, hot Italian pie that wafted toward my nose at just the right moments.

The first time OVR Technology CEO Aaron Wisniewski tried VR, "It kind of blew my mind," he told Seven Days. "I immediately was like, 'This is the future. This is so cool. There is so much that can be done with this. But the thing that's missing, the thing that would make it feel like a real experience, is what I specialize in, which is scent.'"

Unbeknownst to many, "Our sense of smell is the only one of our senses with a direct link to the memory and emotions section of our brain, the limbic system," Wisniewski said in a TEDx Talk recorded in Stowe last May. "Every time you have an experience, it's inextricably linked to the smell of that moment and stored in the memory banks that make us who we are."

He believes that olfactory virtual reality could serve many purposes, from enjoyable to life changing. It could enhance a meditation practice, train employees in a task, teach first responders greater resilience to stress, diagnose anosmia (a loss or impairment of the sense of smell) and deepen exposure therapy for vets with posttraumatic stress disorder.

OVR Technology's mission, Wisniewski said in an interview, "is to have real-world positive impacts by enhancing the virtual world through scent. It's not just a cool thing or a gimmick. We want outcomes and impacts that are measurable."

The company aims to improve health care, education and training, and its first product is a three-component platform called Architecture of Scent. One component is the small ION device, which straps onto a VR headset, close to the wearer's nose. ION contains the second component, nine cartridges that store and emit highly realistic scents created by the company, or "scentware." The third component is software that interacts with VR software to cue delivery of scents in precisely measured doses timed to correspond to the headset wearer's behavior.

The scent of a rose should "be more intense the closer you get to it," Stein said. "Or, if there's a wind blowing" in the VR environment, the software calibrates "how the wind carries that scent."

Wisniewski cofounded OVR Technology in 2017 with his brother Sam Wisniewski, company COO and CFO; Matt Flego, CTO; and Erik Cooper, head of design. The four met at Generator maker space in Burlington. There, the Wisniewski brothers founded Alice & the Magician Cocktail Apothecary, which sells edible elixirs and aromatic mists; and Flego and Cooper founded M//E Design, an industrial design and prototyping company.

The Wisniewskis still own Alice & the Magician, now located on Pine Street, but spend most of their time at OVR Technology. "A really talented operations manager takes care of the day-to-day" at Alice & the Magician, Aaron Wisniewski said.

Last June, Flego and Cooper closed M//E Design, which had designed such products as the popular Core 360 active seating chair, to focus exclusively on the new business.

In 2015, the four founders learned about VR from Kip Steele, technical leader at Asure Software. Steele, who worked in information technology at the University of Vermont at the time, brought a headset to Generator.

About a year later, Champlain College started an experimental project to combine scents with VR. Faculty members invited Wisniewski to serve as a scent expert, and soon he and the other founders had created software, scentware and a prototype of the ION device.

"It looks like an elaborate mousetrap," Flego said of the prototype. At the proof of concept a successful demonstration of the olfactory virtual reality technology "we impressed some people, got a little bit of traction and a little bit of money," he recalled. Wisniewski was convinced that the product had huge potential, and soon his brother, Flego and Cooper joined him in creating OVR Technology.

A key collaborator who has helped guide development of the Architecture of Scent is Albert "Skip" Rizzo, a research professor at the University of Southern California and director for medical virtual reality at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies. He researches the use of VR to assess, treat, rehabilitate and increase resilience in psychology patients. Rizzo received the American Psychological Association's 2010 Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Treatment of Trauma for his work using virtual reality-based exposure therapy to treat PTSD.

Rizzo "has a deep understanding of how scents are an integral piece of the puzzle of PTSD," Wisniewski said. "We've been working closely with him and getting feedback from him on what types of scents to develop and how our technology can be effective with exposure therapy."

Rizzo is currently perfecting his Bravemind VR program for vets with PTSD and plans to distribute it to more than 100 VA hospitals around the country. OVR Technology is developing combat-related scents to enhance Bravemind.

Closer to home, OVR Technology is collaborating with David Lg Tomasi, who teaches and conducts research in the UVM Integrative Health program and Larner College of Medicine. He's also a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist at the UVM Medical Center.

"There is a lot of neuroscientific evidence of the role that sensory activation plays in our brain for general well-being," Tomasi said, "and by that I mean either in the stimulation of the olfactory bulb or the virtual-reality type of strategy."

Just as people can trick their brains into stimulating salivation by thinking about sucking on a lemon, he explained, VR can trick the brain into releasing neurotransmitters that are specifically focused on well-being.

"What is brand new is this combination" of olfactory stimulation and virtual reality, Tomasi emphasized.

"We've been doing integrative medicine for years on the patient psychiatry unit, mostly focusing on dietary examples, exercise, meditation, art therapy," he continued. But some patients can't participate due to medical issues, and Tomasi believes OVR Technology's product could help reduce their pain, stress and anxiety.

Not all olfactory virtual reality scenarios are as wacky or surreal as the pizza-with-lawn-mower demo I experienced. Tomasi found OVR Technology's woods-like demo so realistic that it was "really peaceful and nurturing. You could walk around, see the trees, see the landscape, the leaves and stones and rocks. You could pick up a marshmallow to roast, and you could have some water."

Sometimes, users forget that they're not in the real world. "Early on, we had a demo with a picnic table in it," Wisniewski recalled. "People would become so immersed in the environment that, within a minute or two, they would try to lean on the picnic table and fall over." After seeing a couple of people "hit the deck," the company adjusted the demo to keep people safe.

Within the next month or so, Tomasi and OVR Technology will launch a pilot study to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 12 volunteer UVM Medical Center inpatient subjects on the therapeutic value of olfactory virtual reality. A lot of research went into the study, which the team is confident is the first of its kind worldwide in a psychiatric setting. "It is groundbreaking research," Tomasi enthused.

A few other companies are also developing olfactory virtual reality, but OVR Technology's current challenges stem from more immediate concerns than competition. Because the VR industry is evolving quickly toward faster and smaller headsets, the company is already designing a smaller version of the ION device. It's also creating a "volume knob" to allow users to control the strength of scents delivered by the device.

Truth be told, I had a hard time smelling the tomato, basil and grass clippings in the demonstration. Though my brother's nose made him a successful New York City sommelier, my sniffer thinks Bayley Hazen Blue is a lot like Brie left in the fridge too long. I'd have welcomed a way to control the scent intensity, as would others who've experienced OVR Technology demos, Flego said.

"It's a lot like hearing: Different people hear different frequencies, and there are tons of factors that degrade over time," Stein noted.

But the company is determined to make its technology seamless. In the long term, "we envision that the relationship between smell and virtual reality will become as ubiquitous as sound and television," Wisniewski said.

His commitment to this goal stems in part from a cautionary concern. Culturally, we have deprioritized our sense of smell and sanitized our environment to include fewer scents, Wisniewski noted. He cited research showing that anosmia can lead to depression, anxiety and physical harm.

"If we continue down the path of being glued to screens and virtual reality, while ignoring this extremely important primal sense that has been refined over millions of years, the implications are kind of alarming," he said. "We don't have that many senses. You take away one, and I don't see it going well."

Visit link:
OVR Technology Is Creating Olfactory Virtual Reality for Health Care, Education and Training - Seven Days

Therapies like yoga, meditation, mindfulness and sound healing programmes can help us manage work-realted stress, which often translates to ill health and low productivity levels.

Increasing job uncertainty, grueling work hours and an abject lack of work-life balance often translates to heavy stress in our professional lives. Rapidly changing nature of jobs, 24/7 connectivity and the resultant pressure of constant deadlines have turned Indian workplaces into pressure cookers where thousands of young professionals struggle to maintain mental balance. Rates of burnout or exhaustion syndrome are high among bright professionals who fail to reach their full potential because stress gets the better of them on their way to success. A survey by insurance company Cigna TTK found that a whopping 89% of people were suffering from stress, with work and finances being the primary causes of stress.

Interestingly, a number of corporate organisations have realised the negative impact stress is having on their employee productivity, and holistic wellness programmes have gained much traction. However, it is important to educate people at individual levels as well to learn to cope with stress on a daily basis. While we cannot change the stressors, we encounter every day, we can most certainly change the way our mind deals with them.

A number of alternative therapies can help individuals achieve better mental health and wellness. These therapies can be adopted as a way of lives as coping mechanisms for the mind. A study published in the BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine journal concluded that yoga, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy were very effective in promoting overall mental health and preventing burnout due to work-related stress among participants.

Lets take a look at some alternative therapies that can help you cope with professional stress:

Mindfulness:

Mindfulnessis a psychological process through which one tries to maintain complete awareness of the present moment. It trains the mind to prevent distractions of the future or past musings. Achieving a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, acts, sensations as well as the environment plays a very impactful role in reducing stress. When you are bathing, you are focusing completely on the act of water interacting with your body; when you are eating, you are doing it so mindfully that all your thoughts are focused on your movement from the plate to the palate and beyond. A study published in theJAMA Internal Medicinereview found that a mindfulness-based programme helped reduce anxiety symptoms in people with generalised anxiety disorder. Another study published in the journalBiological Psychiatry found significant changes to the brain on scans after just three days of mindfulness meditation on 35 unemployed people experiencing major stress of a job search.

Mindfulness works by inducing a sense of calmness and improving focus. Mindfulness is even associated with lower levels of inflammation markers.

Yoga:

Yoga and meditation are widely known to induce benefits for mental health including stress management. Yoga combines the physical and mental disciplines to help achieve a peaceful alignment between the body and mind. When combined with meditation, yoga relaxes and soothes the nerves, aligns the mind towards a calm centre and helps an individual become more mindful of the present. Approach has significant benefits for stress and anxiety. Yoga doesnt just help in stress management, it also helps curtail the negative impact of stress on the body and reduces risk factors for chronic diseases, such as heart disease and high blood pressure. Yoga modulates the stress response systems by training the mind to perceive stress and anxiety differently.

Sound Healing:

Sound healing or music therapy is another highly under-utilised therapy that has significant benefits on stress and anxiety healing. It can effectively be termed as vibrational medicine with the use of music, singing, and sound tools that release vibrations to better the mental, emotional and physical state of a person. Sound healing creates a shift in our brainwave state by using entrainment; a bio-musicological sense that refers to the synchronisation (e.g. foot tapping) of humans to an external perceived rhythm such as music and dance. Entrainment creates a stable frequency in the brain. This allows for the mind to go from the normal beta state (normal waking consciousness) to the alpha state (relaxed consciousness). Quite similar to meditation which regulates the breath, sound healing influences the shift in the brain through its frequency.

Sound healing particularly helps in reducing anxiety, stress, and sleep disorders. A study published in the Journal of Evidence-based Integrative Medicine examined the impact of sound meditation, specifically Tibetan singing bowl meditation, on mood, anxiety, pain, and spiritual well-being. It found participants experienced a significant reduction in tension and feeling of spiritual well-being also significantly increased through sound healing.

The author is the director, Poddar Wellness Ltd and managing trustee, Poddar Foundation

See the article here:
Alternative therapies to cope with workplace stress - The Sunday Guardian

Congestion home remedies: From ginger to honey, carrots and cardamom, there are many remedies that can offer relief from cough, cold and increased congestion. Read here to know all about them. HIGHLIGHTS

Congestion home remedies: The rains have delayed the respite from cold weather that Delhiites may have been expecting this time around. Coughing, cold, congestion and sneezing may have increased for some of you. This is the right time to take some precautionary measures if you want to prevent your condition from getting worse. The most important thing to do is wear appropriate clothes and keep yourselves covered with warm clothes. Wear a muffler, cap, gloves, socks, jacket and everything else that will offer protection from the cold weather.

Besides, there are a few home remedies that can help in reducing congestion because of cold weather. Lifestyle coach Luke Coutinho shares a few of them on Instagram.

Ginger contains anti-inflammatory properties that can be beneficial for you in more ways than one. It can help in reducing congestion and clearing nasal passages. To make ginger tea, mash a piece of ginger (fresh ginger). Add 3 black pepper corns, a pinch of cinnamon, some cardamom, and 3 mashed garlic cloves. Boil all the ingredients well in a glass of water and reduce it to half. Add a tsp of honey to sweeten this infused tea. According to Luke, this tea "works the best" for reducing congestion, cold, cough, sneezing and other symptoms that worsen in the cold weather.

Ginger can offer relief from cough and cold during change of weatherPhoto Credit: iStock

Also read:Ginger For Congestion: Know How It Works And Ways To Use Ginger For Reducing Cough, Cold And Congestion

Carrots are a rich source of Vitamin C, the immunity-boosting vitamin which can help in fighting colds, allergies and sinus infections. Carrots also contain Vitamin A, which can help in keeping your mucous membranes healthy. Eating carrots, winter squash and sweet potatoes can provide you with beta carotene which your body converts into Vitamin A. Coconut oil, on the other hand, can help in dealing with irritated or sore nose, which often occurs after a few days of suffering from cold. Prepare carrot juice with fresh carrots and add 1 tbsp of raw coconut oil to deal with increased congestion because of change in weather.

Also read:Speed Up Your Weight Loss Process With Carrots This Winter; Know Other Health Benefits

Blocked nose, sinus infection and congestion can be effectively curbed with the help of steam inhalation. Luke suggests adding 1 tbsp of ajwain to the steam water. Inhale it for 5 minutes and it can help in breaking down of mucous, he says.

Honey can be helpful in offering relief from cold and congestion. You can prepare a lemon infused tea and add 2 tsp honey to it. Honey can soothe you while lemon juice in hot water can reduce congestion.

Honey can offer relief from cough and sore throatPhoto Credit: iStock

Also read:Surprising Benefits Of Honey For Weight Loss, Wound Healing And Much More

(Luke Coutinho, Holistic Lifestyle Coach - Integrative Medicine)

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

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Change Of Weather May Have Increased Congestion: Try These 4 Home Remedies For Immediate Relief - Doctor NDTV

By Deepak Chopra, MD and Menas Kafatos, PhD

At the present moment a lot of the basic principles of traditional physics are in a confused state of disarray. Occasionally the media carries a story about strange discoveries by modern science on the order of black holes or dark matter and energy, suggesting that such phenomena are as yet unexplained. What isnt publicized is that many if not most of the most commonly cherished ideas in traditional physics are dead as dodos. They are either wrong, impossible to verify, or contradicted by other more modern ideas without the contradiction being resolved.

Here is a list of the dead dodos, although some might still be clinging to life tenuously.

Without giving it a passing thought, countless people accept these outdated or outright dead ideas as a given, the same way that religious societies accept the idea of an external God as a given. If you accept either the traditional religious or scientific worldview, you are unwittingly living by unexamined ideas that came to you second hand. It would be better to expand human potential by living free of second-hand ideas. But this is a daunting proposition.

As discussed in a previous post, Why Einstein Was Wrong about the Moon, even the most brilliant minds can wind up defending flawed ideas as if they were facts. The nub of the matter was Einsteins stubborn belief in the physical world as something independent and pre-existing, needing no input from human beings. To repeat the incident that began this series of posts, [Einstein] once walked back from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton with the late Abraham Pais. The moon was out and Einstein asked Pais, Do you really believe the moon is not there when you are not looking at it?

Why was this even an issue? Surely we can believe in the moon, and all gross physical objects, existing without us. Youd never suspect, cocooned in a worldview you take for granted, that Einstein of all people could be wrong about something so basic and obvious to our senses. But beginning with the quantum revolution over a century ago, as old accepted ideas went the way of the dodo, they were replaced by ideas closer to what is the actual reality. Here is a list of the most crucial ones, which weve selected because they apply to you as an individual.

In our book, You Are the Universe, we expand upon these ideas in detail. What matters to the individual is whether a better worldview exists than the one propped up by shaky, often dead ideas absorbed second hand.

Such a worldview lies beyond theory and is centered entirely on the creative aspect of consciousness. The replacement ideas just listed are not wishful thinking or anti-scientific. There are leading physicists, other scientists, and philosophers expounding them every day. Lets imagine that a new and better worldview did arise and got accepted. Some time in a future we cannot predict, a team of advanced alien explorers from a distant star system might send back a report to their home planet about human beings that would read like the following:

The human species is no longer as lonely, isolated, insecure, and self-doubting as they once were, nor as arrogant. They no longer attack and despoil their planet. Instead, they realize that they are immersed and entangled in the very fabric of Nature. They take responsibility as conscious agents who shape their own personal reality and in turn their environment. They humbly recognize that the universe at every moments springs from an inconceivable source.

Rather than worshiping this source or ignoring it, humans celebrate the infinite creative potential of consciousness. Now that they understand how consciousness works at the very basis of reality, humans have adopted the role that always belonged to them, as co-creators of everything they know as real. The very universe they participate in is tailored to support human evolution.

This shift in worldview represents the merger of two realms that humans kept apart, quite arbitrarily, for centuries, the realms of in here and out there. The two got united as one consciousness creating and governing everything. In fact, humans now see the world as nothing but consciousness modifying and reshaping itself constantly. This shift has had the practical effect of bringing body and mind together as a unity, the bodymind.

There is enormous optimism on the planet for the first time in memory. No longer tied to conditioning from the past and anxious anticipation about the future, humans have learned to live in the present moment. In the present they have rediscovered the richness of insight, intuition, imagination, curiosity, love, compassion, personal growth, and their common humanity.

Old rigid barriers of religious dogma, racial divides, and aggressive nationalism have come down thanks to the global effort that saved Earth from ecological disaster, just in the nick of time. Humans see boundless untapped potential within themselves, and this belief is taught to every child growing up. All of these changes are rooted in one tremendous insight, that reality is consciousness-based. No longer insignificant life forms clinging for survival on the speck of a planet floating in the cold void of infinite space, humans have reimagined themselves. In so doing, they realize that they have been imagining themselves all along. Its lucky they made this insight in time to turn their destiny around.

No one can read the future, but we can say that everything in the aliens report is plausible and has science on its side. Coming to terms with a new and better worldview will spring from science naturally, as the next step of the human project to understand who we are and why we are here.

DEEPAK CHOPRA MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. He is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego. Chopra is the author of over 89 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His 90th book and national bestseller, Metahuman: Unleashing Your Infinite Potential (Harmony Books), unlocks the secrets to moving beyond our present limitations to access a field of infinite possibilities. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.

Menas C. Kafatos is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics at Chapman University and the Director of the Center of Excellence in Earth Systems Modeling and Observations. Author, physicist and philosopher, he works in quantum mechanics, cosmology, the environment and climate change and extensively on philosophical issues of consciousness, connecting science to metaphysical traditions. Member or candidate of foreign national academies, he holds seminars and workshops for individuals, groups and corporations on the universal principles for well-being and human potential. As dean and vice provost, he promoted interdisciplinary educational and research projects, leading many grants. His doctoral thesis advisor was the renowned M.I.T. professor Philip Morrison who studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer. He has authored more than 333 articles, is author or editor of 20 books, including The Conscious Universe (Springer, 2000), Looking In, Seeing Out (Theosophical Publishing House, 1991), Living the Living Presence (in Greek, Melissa, 2017; and in Korean, Miruksa Press, 2016), Science, Reality and Everyday Life (in Greek, Asimakis 2019), and is co-author with Deepak Chopra of the NY Times Bestseller You are the Universe (Harmony/Random House/Penguin, 2017, translated into many languages and at many countries). You can learn more at http://www.menaskafatos.com

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Einstein, the Moon, and You - SFGate

For the growing numbers of Americans who seek help dealing with anxiety, depression and sleep disorders, centuries-old Chinese medicine provides a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical and highly effective solution.

Auricular acupuncture, which is centered on the ears, is a particularly intriguing technique for treating a variety of symptoms related to these issues.

This form of auricular therapy has been used successfully to relieve acute and chronic pain experienced by soldiers and veterans. Called battlefield acupuncture, its been studied extensively by the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration medical centers, with proven results in reducing back, musculoskeletal, neuropathic and headache pain.

Similar to other forms of acupuncture, auricular therapy focuses on how areas of the body are connected through pathways called meridians or channels.

For instance, massaging a specific area of your temple can eliminate a migraine, said Denise Demback, LAC, an experienced local acupuncturist. We have found that stimulating certain areas within your ear can alleviate a number of ailments.

Unlike other acupuncture therapy, ear seeds - small gold buttons or tacks placed within the ear can remain in place for several weeks, supplying a constant, ongoing source of relief. In addition, inserting the ear seeds is a quick and convenient process, with no need to disrobe or lie down for an extended period of time, making it easier for patients to consider. In fact, the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association protocol used by practitioners for both emergency response and community wellness calls for insertion of ear seeds while the patient is standing.

Patients who are experiencing severe anxiety, depression or other mental health issues may want to consult with their healthcare provider about ear acupuncture as a way to relieve symptoms and improve overall well-being.

Be wary, however, of doing it yourself by purchasing ear seeds online and placing them in your ears.Its best to see a trained acupuncturist or an AcuDetox specialist licensed to perform the NADA protocol in the state of Delaware.

Ear acupuncture focuses on these five areas, shown to be connected to other pathways in the body:

1: Sympathetic, located along the outer edge of the ear, is connected to the stress response. Acupuncture releases spasms and dilates blood vessels, helping balance the autonomic nervous system, which controls breathing, heartbeat and digestive processes.

2: Shen Men, an oval-shaped depression inside the upper ear, is also known as the spirit gate. Acupuncture in this area is believed to anchor the spirit and calm the mind, used to help patients deal with insomnia, pain management, hyperactivity, high blood pressure, fear and panic attacks.

3. Kidney, in the ears center, is known as the water element, and is at the root of Chinese medicines yin and yang balance for optimal health. Acupuncture in this area, thought to control the essence of graceful aging, can help strengthen lower legs, spine and bone marrow, improve digestion and fertility, and more. It is also used to help calm fear, paranoia and mistrust, and boost confidence.

4. Liver. Found along the ridge inside the ear, the wooden element is connected to regulating blood flow. Acupuncture provides relief for metabolic functions, such as nourishing the liver, ligaments, skin, nails and hair, and helping regulate menstruation, sleep, mood, and digestion. Stimulating this area with acupuncture is also helpful in dealing with emotions of anger, violence, frustration or depression.

5. Lung. The area on the lower side of the ear ridge, known as the metal element, controls respiration and functions of the skin. Acupuncture is associated with clearing up imbalances of apathy, lethargy, lack of inspiration and grief.

Dr. Uday Jani treats the whole patient using an integrative medicine approach at Shore View Personal Care, a concierge practice on Route 9 near Milton. He is board-certified in internal medicine and fellowship trained in integrative medicine. For more information, call 302-684-0990 or go to http://www.udayjanimd.com.

Denise Demback, a licensed acupuncturist and diplomate of Oriental medicine, has been in practice since 2002. A graduate of the Maryland Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, she is nationally board certified in both acupuncture and Chinese herbs. For more information, call 410-241-7467 or go to http://www.activelifeacupuncture.com.

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Ear acupuncture can help manage pain, anxiety and depression - CapeGazette.com

Photos by Marlena Sloss/The HeraldJasper Police Officer Brent Duncan looks at his Fu Manchu mustache shaved as a joke by Mike Cravener of Jasper, left, while getting a hot towel shave at Mike's Barber Shop in Jasper on Thursday. Members of the Jasper Police Department grew out their beards during November and December to raise money for the Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center, and Mike Cravener volunteered to give the officers hot towel shaves. Duncan said it was his first time getting a straight razor shave and he was nervous beforehand.

By BILL POWELLbpowell@dcherald.com

A series of hot, straight-razor shaves done gratis Thursday at Mikes Barber Shop officially ended a Jasper Police Department extended, augmented No-Shave November that raised money for the fight against cancer.

Jaspers police department had traditionally allowed officers to grow beards in November in exchange for participation donations funneled to local worthy causes. That practice rose to the next level this holiday season.

Officer Michael Stallman came up with a new approach after talking with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers during an October training workshop. The Indy officers were already sporting beards and Stallman learned that, since October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they were doing something special to support a female officer who fought and won that particular battle.

Stallman returned and went to his department brass with a proposal: Jasper police could raise money for the Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center by paying $20 a month during November and December in exchange for the opportunity to sprout beards.

But he took the proposal further.

Stallman wanted to make the fundraiser open to everyone in the department, including dispatchers, administration and detectives. And his idea was also to support the fight against all types of cancer.

Jasper Police Chief Nathan Schmitt has his beard shaved with a straight razor for the first time by Chinno Rivera of Evansville at Mike's Barber Shop in Jasper on Thursday. "They do a better job shaving you than I do," Schmitt said after his shave was done.

Since he and his wife, Autumn, operate a custom embroidery and banner business MAS Whatknots they would give each participant a T-shirt in the color promoting awareness of the cancer fight important to them: pink for breast cancer, yellow for bone cancer, orange for leukemia and so on.

For dispatchers and others whose uniform of the day is a polo shirt, the Stallmans also offered to embroider department shirts with the color thread that promoted awareness of a particular cancer.

Cancer has affected a lot of the people at the police station in some way or form, Stallman says.

His sales pitch worked. The program got a stamp of approval and the Stallmans handed out more than 30 shirts.

There are so many shades of shirts out there we had to jump across a couple of different manufacturers to get all the different colors, Stallman says. It went really well.

The fundraiser channeled more than $1,200 to the Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center. There was overwhelming participation in Jasper and officers with the Huntingburg Police Department who had staged their own No-Shave event added their proceeds to Jaspers total to join forces. Connie Egloff, integrative medicine coordinator with Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center, was on hand at the barbershop to accept the donation Thursday.

There was also something to be said for the publics interaction with bearded officers with non-traditional T-shirt colors peeking out from under uniform shirts, said Stallman, who had sported a hot pink T-shirt under his standard uniform blouse.

Sometimes, for folks to see us not being clean-cut, maybe its an icebreaker, Stallman says. People do interact with us different. Its been a little bit of an icebreaker and started a few conversations.

Connie Egloff, integrative medicine coordinator at the Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center, center, hugs Jasper Police Officer Mike Stallman after he presented her with $1,240 for the Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center raised by the Jasper and Huntingburg Police Departments as Jasper Police Officer Brent Duncan, left, Jasper Police Officer Grant Goffinet, and Chinno Rivera of Evansville watch at Mike's Barber Shop in Jasper on Thursday.

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Razors end extended No-Shave November - The Herald

This dedicated, lushly meticulous David Bowie tribute band debuted at Metro in 2013 as a benefit for a cancer charity. Theyve carried that tradition forward (albeit with different charities) into each subsequent performance at the venue, as well as expanding their scope into other fund-raising events and special showsincluding a few full-album sets and a 2015 appearance at the David Bowie Is . . . exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. At the bands core are front man Chris Connelly and drummer Matt Walker, and their nine-piece ensemble can be swaggeringly loose or as tightly tailored as the Thin White Dukes trousers, as the moment demands. Theyve also folded in guest artists, among them Ava Cherry, Sinead OConnor, Shirley Manson, and actor Michael Shannon (whos played the roles of Bowies pals Iggy Pop and Lou Reed). Its no small task to manifest the charisma needed to do justice to Bowies material, and Connelly admirably sways up to the challenge. Hes more of an interpreter than an imitatorthough his performances are sometimes so uncanny that I wouldnt be surprised if hes subject to the occasional spirit possessionand he provides his own fresh nuance on beloved hits as well as deeper cuts. At this concert (which features Shannon again), Sons of the Silent Age will play two classic Bowie albums in their entirety: 1972s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and 1976s Station to Station. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to cancer patients at the NorthShore University HealthSystems Integrative Medicine Program. v

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David Bowie tribute project Sons of the Silent Age play two of the artist's most iconic albums - Chicago Reader

The holiday season represents many things including reconnecting with family and friends. Enjoying time with family and friends is an important part of the holiday season, highlighting their value in our lives. Not surprisingly, our pet companions have become a critical part of our families and our circle of friends. They play an important role, on many levels, in our daily lives. The number of households with pets continues to increase. An estimated 85 million U.S. families have pet companions in 2019. That is 67% of households compared to 56% in 1988 based on American Pet Products Association surveys. There are approximately 90 million dog and 94 million cat companions in the U.S.

The holidays provide an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate our bond with our pet companions. Including pets in our holidays continues to increase with an estimated $67 to $185 per pet spent for gifts this year, 54% of pets have a Christmas stocking, 29% will receive a Christmas card, 16% will be featured in their family Christmas card, and 3% of pets will write a letter to Santa.

These statistics are only a superficial reflection of how important our pets are to us individually. Pets provide unconditional love and companionship. They contribute to increased quality of life, reduced rates of cardiovascular disease and obesity, and lower levels of anxiety, depression and loneliness. Pet companionship also improves recovery from illness.

In addition to these contributions, pet connections have far reaching effects for children including benefits for child development, reduced childhood incidence of certain diseases, and improved response to therapy. Pet companions are great listeners that reduce stress reactions in children performing stressful tasks. Other studies show that classroom pets facilitate learning, respect and empathy. There is also a reduction in aggressive child behaviors.

The benefits of pet companionship extend beyond the classroom into the workplace. Pets in the workplace relieve stress, make the work environment more comfortable, facilitate social interaction, increase productivity, and improve interactions with customers. These factors lead to higher job satisfaction, higher employee retention, and a feeling that the workplace supports physical health and mental well-being.

With all this in mind it is easy to understand that pet companions also contribute to increased quality of life, life satisfaction, and physical and mental health in the elderly. Elderly that have contact with pets are more mobile and have improved social interactions.

During the holidays, take time to recognize and celebrate the contribution that pet companions make to all our lives. Dont forget that they need to be kept safe from holiday hazards like small toys they can ingest, foods that can be toxic to them, under-cooked foods that can lead to food poisoning, houseplants that can be toxic, salt on the sidewalks that can irritate feet, and the cold temperatures that can be problematic. Also remember that pets can become stressed by all the holiday activities that change schedules and bring people into our homes. Dogs need to stay on schedule with their normal exercise routines. Cats also benefit from exercise and play so take time for them. Ultimately these interactions will reduce your own holiday stress and improve the quality of your social interactions.

For pets that are stressed by the holiday activities, consider the Bach Flower remedies like Rescue Remedy, nutraceutical products designed to reduce anxiety, anti-anxiety herbs, and pheromones like Feliway for cats and Adaptil for dogs. Essential oils like lavender can be calming but be cautious with essential oils around cats because cats are susceptible to toxicity.

If you have questions about pet safety during the holidays or stress management for your pets, contact your veterinarian. Enjoy the holidays with your pet companions. Happy Holidays.

Ron Carsten, DVM, PhD, CVA, CCRT was one of the first veterinarians in Colorado to use the integrative approach, has lectured widely to veterinarians, and has been a pioneer in the therapeutic use of food concentrates to manage clinical problems. He is also the founder of Colorado Animal Rescue (CARE). In addition to his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, he holds a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology and is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist and Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist. He practices integrative veterinary medicine in Glenwood Springs.

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Integrative Pet Vet column: Celebrating the bond we share with our pet companions - Glenwood Springs Post Independent