Holistic Answers

 OCTOBER

12 Face your fears at Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear, a traveling exhibition developed by the California Science Center. Kids can experience the scary emotion in a safe environment as they learn how their brain and body work together to confront danger. Visit Boston’s Museum of Science to get your heart pumping in hands-on activities, including an interactive video game where the player learns how fear helps animals survive in nature.

Boston

www.fearexhibit.org/about_exhibit Read the rest of this entry »

Whether your hair turns gray and falls out or stays a thick mane of vibrant color is dependent on your body having proper levels of thyroid hormones. New ground breaking research has documented that human hair follicles are direct targets of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 which modulate hair biology parameters from cycling to pigmentation. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people think of the sleeping brain as similar to a computer that has “gone to sleep” — they believe that it does nothing productive. But this is incorrect. Sleep enhances performance, learning and memory. And most unappreciated of all, sleep improves the creative ability to uncover novel connections among seemingly unrelated ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

As discussed in Stress and Chronic Fatigue Part 1, stress is a major culprit that leads to Chronic Fatigue because stress over works your adrenal glands, the glands that specifically deal with all survival responses in relation to any form of stress. Prolonged stress leads to adrenal exhaustion technically called Chronic Fatigue. Read the rest of this entry »

Chronic Fatigue with its debilitating constant tiredness, is a condition of our times, affecting teenagers, as well as men and women of all ages. But have you ever wondered what its real cause might be? Part 1 of this article series examines the hidden causes of Chronic Fatigue.

It might surprise you to learn stress is the culprit. Read the rest of this entry »

The next time that you experience a cold or the flu, remember this: giving your body plenty of rest while allowing the cold or flu to run its course is good for your health. Conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry would have you believe that there is no "cure" for the common cold, that you should protect yourself against the flu with a vaccine that is laden with toxic chemicals, and that during the midst of a cold or flu, it is favorable to ease your discomfort with a variety of medications that can suppress your symptoms.

Unfortunately, all three of these positions represent a lack of understanding of what colds and flus really are, and what they mean to your body. Read the rest of this entry »

Ayurveda is an ancient holistic system of medicine and natural healing from India, and is the oldest known form of healthcare in the world. We can find historical evidence of Ayurveda in the ancient books of wisdom known as the Vedas, written over 6,000 years ago, of which only a small portion is available to us from that time.

Tibetan medicine and traditional Chinese medicine both have their roots in Ayurveda. Early Greek medicine also embraced many concepts originally described in the classical Ayurvedic medical texts. Ayurveda has been used and practiced throughout the subcontinent, Indonesia and many other countries in the surrounding region for thousands of years, although it was often suppressed during various occupations in those areas. Read the rest of this entry »

High intake of the artificial sweetener aspartame may lead to the degeneration of brain cells and various mental disorders, according to a research review conducted by South African scientists from the University of Pretoria and the University of Limpopo and published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"We propose that excessive aspartame ingestion might be involved in the pathogenesis of certain mental disorders, and also in compromised learning and emotional functioning," the researchers concluded. Read the rest of this entry »

A new study shows that people who use the blood thinning drug warfarin may have larger amounts of bleeding in the brain, and an increased risk of death if they suffer a hemorrhagic stroke.

Warfarin is commonly prescribed to prevent blood clotting. But if it makes the blood too thin, it can increase the risk of brain hemorrhage, a type of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are into healthful eating, it can be tough when friends or family want to go out to the local restaurant to eat. You know most of the food there is laced with monosodium glutamate (MSG), and this knowledge can really spoil your fun. Now a new study has found that pre-treating yourself with a supplement of red clover before you go out can nullify the potential for brain damage from MSG. Read the rest of this entry »

 The Pennsylvania state Department of Agriculture has reinstated the raw milk license Hendricks Farms and Dairy after tests found no trace of the bacteria that has sickened at least 10 people in recent weeks.

Laboratory analysis of raw milk samples taken over several tested negative for campylobacter. Read the rest of this entry »

The world’s soils continue to be degraded at an unprecedented rate that will only exacerbate the current food crisis, scientists are warning.

The current surge in food prices has been blamed on factors such as the diversion of food crops into biofuels production, coupled with poor harvests caused by droughts, floods and pests. But the situation was a long time in coming, experts say, with unexpectedly poor harvests stressing an already weakened food production system. Read the rest of this entry »

Taking human growth hormone does not boost athletic performance but does lead to negative health effects, according to a study conducted by researchers from Stanford University and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers reviewed the results of 27 prior studies on a total of 303 people between the ages of 13 and 45. They found that while taking artificial growth hormone did lead to a change in body composition, namely an increase in lean body mass, this change did not lead to increased strength or endurance. Read the rest of this entry »

A California appeals court has ruled that homeschooling of children is illegal unless their parents have teaching credentials from the state.

"California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach their own children at home," said Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association. Read the rest of this entry »

For five happy years they enjoyed simple lives in their straw and mud huts. Generating their own power and growing their own food, they strived for self-sufficiency and thrived in homes that looked more suited to the hobbits from The Lord of the Rings.

Then a survey plane chanced upon the ‘lost tribe’… and they were plunged into a decade-long battle with officialdom. Read the rest of this entry »