TabsMagic

Even though economic conditions are far from good, the sales of alternative medicines are rising. The Daily Mail, a UK newspaper reported a study that revealed how the alternative medicine market in the UK has grown by 18% in the last two years making it worth £213 million yearly. In the next four years that is forecast to rise to £282 million.

What is especially interesting in the study is that the rise in purchases of alternative medicines also includes categories that are not so well known such as Indian ayurvedic medicine.The U.S. has also experienced a rise in sales to the tune of $639 million but at a lower percentage rate of 10%. As some sources were not included in the figures they could be higher still.
The reasons for the growth in spending on alternative medicines according to the study group Mintel, is that governments and the people have greater acceptance of alternative treatments and medicines than only a few years ago. Acupuncture is even available via the National Health for example.

Another reason is that in many cases alternative medicines or treatments are less expensive, particularly in the U.S. than seeing a doctor and getting a prescription. From a study paper conducted by the Associated Press it was stated that, “climbing sales of herbal medicines have paralleled the tanking economy.”

One more reason is that with an increasing number of people having mood disorders but not wanting to depend on potentially harmful psychiatric drugs, they are looking to homeopathy treatments like St John’s Wort which is being used to help relieve depression. In 2008 in the UK 1.5 million people bought this remedy.

In December the U.S. National Institutes of Health released the results of their study which revealed that 18% of American study respondents said they had use nonvitamin, nonmineral products for their health care, with 25% foregoing or delaying conventional medical treatment due to the cost.

Self-employed bookkeeper, Cathy Birleffi said “The doctors are so much higher [in cost]; the insurance isn’t paying as much.” She and her husband now look to herbal remedies to treat their health problems.

A remote Welsh village called Myddfai is to revive its centuries old tradition of herbal treatments. Myddfai is a tiny village with a parish population of about 400, but in recent years the fortunes of the village have been steadily dwindling as the younger generations are forced to go elsewhere to find work.

The “terminal decline” as one parisher put it, is set to be reversed with the help of £400,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Village SOS scheme. The money is to be used to re-establish Myddfai as a centre for herbal remedies and other branded goods
From medieval times, the village was renown across Europe as a source of potions, oils and unguents all derived from herbal plants. Prince Charles who owns a holiday home in the area is bound to approve of the venture.

Project leader is Jo Gideon, who sees the project as a “lifeline” for the Carmarthenshire village. She said, “The absence of any amenities has meant it is in danger of terminal decline as younger generations are forced to leave to find employment.” She also voiced her concerns that the traditions and knowledge that had been passed down could be lost.

The legend of the village is that a lady rose from the lake, married a local man and had 3 sons. Before returning to the lake, she imparted her knowledge about the medicinal properties of herbs and plants to her eldest son. The son and his following generations were the physicians of Myddfai who were renowned across Europe. The son certainly existed, but the lady of the lake is not so certain.

Local hill farmer, Lewis Jones, shared his thoughts about the village: “It has been known for centuries for its physicians. We want life here again.” The money is to be spent on building a hall and café and the refurbishment of an adjacent old building in which the herbal Myddfai treatments will be sold.

A study has revealed that women with breast cancer are able to extend cancer survival by learning to relax. The study conducted in the U.S. examined the survival rates of women who had their cancer return after their initial treatment. The group of women volunteers worked with psychologists to come up with ways to reduce stress; stress being one of the main causes of cancer complications.

Reducing stress levels enabled the immune system to remain strong and resulted in Improvements in the quality of the women’s lives. The women who were part of the support group that helped them deal with stress lived on average 6 months longer than those that did not.

From Ohio State University, Columbus psychology professor Barbara Andersen said, “If you have someone who can provide effective, research-supported ways to reduce your stress, not only will that affect your mental health. It will likely affect your symptoms and your recovery.”

The 227 women who volunteered for the study were newly diagnosed with Stage II or III breast cancer. Some of the women received therapy to enable them to understand their stress, cope with it, stick to the cancer treatment prescribed to them and develop an over all better emotional state. The other women received a psychological assessment.

What was unusual about the results was that the therapy enhanced the women’s survival rates which had not been known before in other studies.

Andersen further explained the details of the study, saying: “It was far more than the popular notion of support groups of patients in a room talking about their troubles,” adding that “Certain patients talked about things that were stressful to them, but they also learned really effective ways to cope with that stress.”

Previous parts of the study showed that 45% of women who had attended the support group had less likelihood of their breast cancer returning after 11 years of follow ups.
The enhanced survival rates revealed in this last phase of the study were above and beyond any drug treatment improvements.

From Washington University in St. Louis, Sarah Gehlert stated that “An intervention that increased survival would be incredibly valuable. It represents a new tool for improving the lives of women with breast cancer.” She had no connection with the study.

Stress killing you?

Stress is recognised as the biggest killer in modern society.
It can be argues that stress is what allows your body to be susceptible to diseases such as cancer and arthritis, immune system problems and many physical disorders.
It will also effect you mentally and cause you problems in how you conduct your life with respect to relationships and general decisions and choices that you have to make.

It can make you tired, irritable, depressed, nervous, hyper, hungry, overweight, underweight, lethargic, controlling, indecisive, tearful, have bad skin, bad hair, bad nails, ……

It can make you snappy and cause you to hurt those that you love and care for.

Stress can ruin your life.

People suffer stress for a multitude of reasons, life is stressful, there is no way around that, but you can help minimise your stress levels and learn to minimise the detrimental effects that stress has on you, your body and your family.

I can help you do this. I work as problem solver and stress management consultant. I can help you identify the reasons that you feel stressed, work out how to stop them, or work with you to help you control the effect that it has on your life.

I work as a nutritionist, personal trainer and sports massage therapist so can physically help to to counteract the bad effects that stress my have had on you such as comfort eating, nutrition deficiencies, over or under your optimum weight or fitness level or muscular tensions.

A study has revealed that people in bereavement can be consoled with soothing massages. The study found that an eight week course in hand and foot massage provides considerable relief to people in grieving.
 
The study involved 18 people from 34 to 78 years of age who had recently lost a relative due to cancer. They were offered foot or hand massages for an 8 week period. The sessions took place once a week at home, work or hospital and lasted 25 minutes. Eight of them selected hand massage, nine selected foot massage and one selected both.
 
Dr Berit S Cronfalk the study author and palliative care provider from the Sjukhem Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, said “Details about the massage study were included in an information pack provided by the palliative care team when people’s relatives died.”
 
Describing the massage, Dr Cronfalk said, “Soft tissue massage is gentle, but firm. This activates touch receptors which then release oxytocin, a hormone known for its positive effects on well-being and relaxation.” He further explained that “In this study the hand or foot massage was done with slow strokes, light pressure and circling movements using oil lightly scented with citrus or hawthorn.” After which “The relatives were then encouraged to relax for a further 30 minutes.”

Before starting the massage sessions, some baseline information was gained from the volunteers during a 60-minute interview. Another 60-minute interview was carried out a week following the end of the 8 week programme.

During the interviews one of the grieving relatives said, “Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. I just felt I needed to do something to get rid of that pain and it seemed like a good alternative.”
 
Another one said, “I suddenly realised that I could go through my thoughts in a much calmer way…I was more sensible in my thinking.”
 
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing’s April edition.

I can’t really say that this is groundbreaking news for me. Massage makes the body feel better and this in turn makes a person feel happier as a whole.

Beauty.

Something sought after by all, if not in the physical sense then in the emotional and mental. What a person sees beauty in is as subjective as their tastebuds, but we all seek it.

What is it that makes a person beautiful?

Most of us would like to think that we look past the physical, and look for the ”inner beauty” of those that we love and are close to.
However we are all prone to fall for the seductive lure of physical beauty at various stages in our daily life, but does this mean that we are any less able to see the person underneath, and do we really treat all the people in out lives equally, regardless of their external appearance.

Many clients of mine have commented on this which causes me interest. Especially those in the weight loss departmant. ”i get much more attention from the oppersite sex thanks to you Tabs” was one I recieved last week from a 35 year old female who had lost 2 stone on a weight loss program with me.

So, am i right to assume that due to the weight loss she is deemed as more attractive to the opposite sex, hence the attention.

Thats what she thinks. I question it.

Could it not be possible that it is a change in her confidence levels that is allowing her to perceive that others are attracted to her, wheas before her low self esteem had already written herself off with respect to any man finding her attractive.

Is it more a case of her self confidence allowing her inner beauty to show?

I do not know the answer, but i do know that the way a person feels about themselves effects the way that they think, act and talk to others. Skin deep? As a sufferer of acne for most of her adult life Bethany Alderson has been interested in this issue for many years, working in the beauty industry she has fouud that the problem of skin disorders greatly effects the self confidence of her clients. The diffence the way a person projects themselves after they have had a make up consultation which has allowed them to feel confident about the way that they look is apparent the second that they look in the mirror. Bethany has worked with top end celebrites from both the TV and film industry but has started a personal campaign to research the roots of skin problems and how they can be dealt with so that she can use her own experinces to benefit anybody that suffers skin issues.

These women are often stunningly beautiful, but the detrimental effect on their self confidence that acne has can lead to depression and associated such problems. As is the effect that I have found with weight gain and poor diets.

There is a lot to be said for looking deeper than the surface to find inner beauty, but if the surface is the factor distorting the inner person, then maybe that treatment for the surface is indeed more than vanity.

Medical students have given a 75% approval to integrating more complementary and alternative medicine into conventional medicine. The survey was the largest undertaking of its kind with medical students across the country being surveyed by researchers from UCLA and UC San Diego. The result showed that most medical students felt that “conventional Western medicine would benefit by integrating more CAM therapies and ideas.”

Ryan Abbott, the study author and a researcher at the UCLA Centre for East-West Medicine said, “Complementary and alternative medicine is receiving increased attention in light of the global health crisis and the significant role of traditional medicine in meeting public health needs in developing countries.” He further went on to say that “Integrating CAM into mainstream health care is now a global phenomenon, with policy makers at the highest levels endorsing the importance of a historically marginalized form of health care.”
 
The survey team comprised experts from several fields, namely Western medicine, CAM, integrative medicine, medical education and survey development. Between them, they created a unique 30 question survey that they sent to 126 medical schools all across the United States. 3% of the medical students completed the survey making it 1,770 completed surveys.
 
74% of the responses “agreed to some extent that a system of medicine that integrates therapies of conventional and complementary and alternative medicine would be more effective than either type of medicine provided independently.”
 
Professor Michael S. Goldstein, a senior research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and also the professor of Public Health and Sociology was another study author. He said  “Even with the high prevalence of CAM use today, most physicians still know little about non-conventional forms of medicine,” adding that by “Investigating medical students’ attitudes and knowledge will help us assess whether this may change in the future.”
 
The National Institutes of Health, the Annenberg Foundation and the Gerald Oppenheimer Family Foundation provided funding for the project. The survey is to be published on the Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine website.

UK researchers have conducted experiments that resulted in the discovery that mint tea can relieve pain. Brazilian mint tea otherwise known as hyptis crenata appears to have equal analgesic qualities as proprietary pain killers.
 
A team of researchers from Newcastle went to Brazil to discover how the Brazilian tea medicine is traditionally prepared so they could recreate the same thing at home. They found that the most common method of preparation was to boil the dry leaves for 30 minutes and allow the concoction to cool before use.
 
Graciela Rocha, the lead researcher of the project said: “Since humans first walked the Earth we have looked to plants to provide a cure for our ailments – in fact it is estimated more than 50,000 plants are used worldwide for medicinal purposes. Besides traditional use, more than half of all prescription drugs are based on a molecule that occurs naturally in a plant.”

So, there! Here is me wondering how hard the pharmaceutical companies are going to be working to sit on that one!!

They certainly are not too forthcoming about shouting the benefits of sports massage for long term pain relief!

Mike Buss wants to be the ”fittest man in the world”

He has completed tasks like a 48 hour treadmill run with a 40lb backpack on his back, spent 96 hours continuously cycling, run countless marathons and raised a lot of money for charity whilst doing it! On the 9th Jan Mike will be attempting to break the World Record for the furthest distance covered on a Treadmill in 7 days…………

I’d give him the endurance award, stamina award, masochism award……..

But ”fittest man in the world”………?, sorry no……..

You see I strongly agree that you can do too much and that exercising past a certain point does more harm to your body than good- in the long run (ouch – sorry Mike!!)

Overtraining can have devastating effects on your muscles and bone structure. I would love to get hold of Mike for a sports massage! I imagine he is as knotted as a poodles tail!

But does he have muscular strength to match a heavyweight lifter?, agility to match a boxer?, speed to match a sprinter?, accuracy to match a golfer?!

So what does ‘fit’ actually mean?

I would argue that the fittest person in the world would have to perform in all these things and much much more, so what sport defines the need for the best ”overall” fitness?

You can have your say on this here

Good luck Mike – and well done on the charity effort, lets just hope your body holds out till the New Year!!

How do you feel?

Just take 60 seconds. Sit  or stand, take a deep breath, and as you breathe out, think about how you FEEL. Not the  superficial short term feelings that your immediate surroundings are affording you, annoyance at your boss, stress of doing too much, or the itch at the back of your knee. How do you feel underneath all this?

This can mean both psychologically and mentally and the two are not necessarily independent either. For example, if you feel the long standing back pain that you have been having physically does it really surprise you that you have felt irritable and grumpy recently?

If you feel that familiar headache in your temples, is it any wonder that you might feel psychologically drained today?

If you feel lethargic and dull, is it on par with your current fitness level?

The point is that you can get to used to feeling a certain way that you begin to feel this as ‘normal’. You begin to ignore your body’s warning signals. Our bodies do not feel without reason, if you feel pain in an area there is always a reason for this.

Would you ignore someone else trying to tell you something? You can be just as rude by ignoring yourself!

So listen a while, then, in the same way you would advise a friend in pain, depressed, despondent or stressed,  take action to mend things.

As a personal trainer I recognize that it is often hard enough to listen to something you have too long been blocking out. It is even harder to chance your life, your attitude and your routine in order to address the problem. So I do it for you.

Massage may be all you need to rid your body of the tension spots that have been causing you headaches, back pain, knee pain or that stiff neck.

I provide the motivation needed to start or modify that exercise regime, or change those long ingrained eating habits…….

In practicing, massage, remedial massage, personal training and nutrition, I have the pleasure of seeing people change their lives for the better in many different ways, I see the ease of movement when the stiff muscles ease, the change in  mood when the long term nagging headache is dissolved. The increase in energy levels as the body gains fitness, and the boost in confidence that follows accordingly.

So, next time someone asks you how you are feeling, take a breath, feel, and ask yourself how could a little magic  help you feel better?