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Sweet dreams are made of this

Sleep is a key component of restoring our physical and mental health, yet it is something so many people struggle to achieve. The medical Journal of Australia reported up to 35% of Australians experience disrupted sleep and inadequate amounts of sleep.

But since a well-rested life is a happy and healthy one, we’ve enlisted the help of specialists, nutritionists, yogis, acupuncturists, trainers, and more to nail down the best steps you can take throughout the day and night so you can get the most out of bedtime.

sweet dreams

Eat more protein

Adding more protein to the diet could play a major role in regulating your sleep and stabilizing blood sugar level. High protein food are ideal snack before bedtime because they boost satiety and increase your body’s energy expenditure.

Exercise Regular

Exercise regularly. Regular exercise can improve sleep quality and duration. However, exercising immediately before bedtime can have a stimulant effect on the body and should be avoided. Try to finish exercising at least three hours before you plan to retire for the night.

Make your sleeping environment comfortable

Temperature, lighting, and noise should be controlled to make the bedroom conducive to falling (and staying) asleep. Your bed should feel comfortable and if you have a pet that sleeps in the room with you, consider having the pet sleep somewhere else if it tends to make noise in the night.

Try Acupuncture

Acupuncture pinpoints the root of your sleeping woes, literally. High stress, high anxiety, and digestive disorders are all culprits of insomnia, and are luckily all curable via this practice. Acupuncture combined with Chinese herb remedies can address the root of stress and anxiety, as well as aid in digestion.

Embrace Essential Oil

Essential oils are used by many people experiencing sleep issues for their calming properties. Lavender, roman, chamomile and ylang ylang were particularly effective relaxants. Adding a few drops to a bath before bed or using the oils in a vaporizer or oil burner are fantastic ways to encourage restful sleep.

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Power foods for old age people

Old age brings along many health problems including insomnia, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, elevated blood pressure levels and increased risk of cardiac problems. Here are 6 power foods for old age that will help you prevent or at least delay the onset of these old age related health issues.

power foods

Whole Grain

One serving of whole grains a day makes old people 25% less prone to diabetes and cardiac problems compared to those who do not include whole grains in their meal. The dietary fibers in oats and folic acid in whole wheat help rejuvenate the body cells to carry on with a healthy life even during the last years of life. The minerals like magnesium and potassium in brown rice, bran and other cereal help maintain bone health and brain health.

Salmon

Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids which is required to maintain a healthy bone density. Just three ounces of salmon a day can reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and the chances of a cardiac arrest and also the pain of rheumatoid arthritis! Alternatives include cold water fish like tuna, sardines or mackerel. For vegetarians, the alternative is lots of soybeans and a few walnuts and flaxseeds every day. Omega-3 fatty acids is also known to fight prostate cancer and depression!

Calcium And Vitamin D

Old age needs more than one source of calcium to prevent osteoporosis or the weakening of bones. Have enough skimmed milk, low-fat cheese and egg whites from early old age to avoid the pain of living with brittle bones. For vegans, broccoli, soy milk, apricots and figs are good alternatives. Include a small glass of orange juice or a small serving of unsweetened yogurt to get the required amount of vitamin D so that the body can assimilate most of the calcium it receives.

Beans

Beans are easy to digest if steamed and they taste great with a lean meat steak. This easily available vegetable can be cooked in easy-to-digest ways to give all the proteins, fibers and antioxidants an old body needs for energy, muscle strength and blood health respectively. Beans are known to reduce LDL or bad cholesterol and even prevents colon cancer! Have beans just thrice a week to go easy on the stomach.

Tomatoes

The lycopene in tomatoes fights against free radicals to prevent prostate, lung and stomach cancer. It can even decrease the Prostate-Specific Antigen in people who have already been diagnosed with cancer. The beta-carotene along with the lycopene also help rejuvenate the skin thereby delaying the occurrence of wrinkles on the skin.

Apples

Apples are one of the easiest-to-digest fruits and very good for the lungs too. The pectin in apples lowers LDL orbad cholesterol and keeps blood sugar levels under control. Boron present in apples also reduce the risk of osteoporosis and boost brain functions.

So these are the power foods for old age and also, don’t forget to drink enough water if there’s no restriction on liquid intake because water helps keep the aging skin hydrated and flushes out the toxins of medicines.

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Hay Fever and Allergies: Health concerns in spring

hay fever
Let’s celebrate spring! It’s the time of the year where flowers bloom with sunshine and wind breeze. It’s the time of the year that we do spring cleaning and gardening.

While some people enjoy the scenery of a garden full of tulips and admiring their own little flora garden in their backyard, others may not be happy with the pollens or might even afraid of the thought of spring– Their biggest fear is the allergies and hay fever.

Spring is a season where everything starts to grow and flourish. Just like the nature, our human body needs to function in a more active way in the transitioning from winter to spring. However, for those who suffers from allergies and hay fever, their immune system is not strong enough to adapt to this seasonal changes, especially when there are other external factors (e.g. Dust, pollens, windy weather etc.) to further bring down their immune system.

Some of the signs and symptoms of allergies and hay fever are as follow:
– Runny nose/ Blocked nose
– Sniffling and Sneezing
– Rhinitis/ Sinusitis
– Post-nasal drip
– Itchy Eyes/ nose/ throat
– Red swollen eyes
– Itchy skin/Rashes
– Hives
– Fatigue
– Headache

How Can Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Help Respiratory Problems?

Reconsider those anti-histamine drugs and decongestants that you take over and over again every year. They definitely worked to relieve the signs and symptoms to make you feel better but did they treat the real cause of your allergies? Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture works in a way that strengthen your immune system, help your body to fight the allergies instead of suppressing the allergies. The combination of Chinese Herbal Medicine and acupuncture boost your health inside out. As mentioned before, spring is the best time for new life to sprout, same goes to our health and immune system.

What to Expect from Acurepoint Health Treatment?

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we say that every individual is different. Two person who has the same allergy might be treated differently depends on the presentation of signs and symptoms. Practitioners will have a detailed consultation with you to gather information. They would then come to a Chinese Medicine Syndrome that explain your whole body condition. Using that diagnosis, practitioners will choose suitable acupuncture treatment and prescribe you a personal herbal prescription to address your concerns.

Remember, allergies and hay fever are strongly related to body immune systems. It is important to have a strong defense to protect yourself from invading pathogens. Build up your health using natural treatments instead of taking medication to suppress the reactions.
Do not panic if your allergies occur in other seasons because it is common that different seasons have their own types of allergies

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Chinese herbs for bed-wetting

A bed-wetting problem frustrates parents and children alike. A good night’s sleep gets regularly interrupted by the need to change sheets and clothes. While doctors can offer prescription medicines that may offer relief of bed-wetting, there is a natural approach to help a child overcome bed-wetting. Nutritional supplements and herbs can help your child have a dry bed day after day.

bed-wetting

Reasons for bed-wetting

For some, bedwetting may be an inevitable part of growing up, but it doesn’t have to be traumatic. Understanding bed-wetting’s causes is the first step to dealing with this common childhood problem.

A small bladder  For young children, usually under age 5, the bladder’s size causes the child to wet the bed. Their bladder may not be developed enough to hold urine produced during the night.

A hormone imbalance  In most people, the body produces ADH during the night to suppress kidney activity. However, some kids don’t produce enough anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) to slow nighttime urine production.

Urinary tract infection  This infection can make it difficult for your child to control urination. Urinary tract infections can cause bed-wetting, especially if a child begins to wet the bed after age 5.

Stress  Stressful events — such as becoming a big brother or sister, starting a new school, or sleeping away from home — may trigger bed-wetting.

Chinese Herbs for bed-wetting

According to Chinese medicine theory, bed-wetting may be due to deficient kidney. Because the kidneys are responsible for urination and the bladder’s retention, it follows that a child’s not yet fully developed kidneys may lead to urinary problems. If bed-wetting is due to weak kidneys, it will involve nighttime enuresis of 1, 2 or more times per night, clear urination, pale complexion, lower back or knee soreness or weakness, and possibly cold limbs and an aversion to cold. Bed-wetting may also be due to a weakness in the spleen and lung organ-meridians, in which case the symptoms will involve nighttime enuresis, shortness of breath, white face, weak appetite, loose stools, spontaneous perspiration, lack of strength, and a dispirited nature.

Treatment for bed-wetting is straightforward once the correct cause is determined. Chinese herbal medicine can help to strengthen the organs and correct imbalances for your child.

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Chinese medicine for men’s health

men's health

Men have unique, gender-specific health concerns that they should know about. Certainly, there are plenty of similarities between the functioning of a man’s body and a woman’s, but there are enough differences to consider this its own field of health and wellness.

men's health

Generally speaking, most men’s health problems can be traced back to an imbalance in or low energy of the Kidney system, especially if they exhibit symptoms such as the following:

  • Impotence
  • Low libido
  • Premature ejaculation
  • Infertility (low sperm count, poor sperm morphology)
  • Prostatitis
  • Lower back or knee pain

The Kidneys are considered the root of life and represent the deepest aspects of a person. They store what’s known as Essence, which can be thought of as vitality, or that which gives us life and makes us our unique self. As the holder of Essence, the Kidney system is responsible for birth, reproduction and sexuality.

One of the most common patterns in men with impotence is Kidney Yang Deficiency. In addition to impotence, other signs of Kidney Yang Deficiency include dizziness, blurred vision, fatigue, sore back and knees, cold limbs and frequent urination. Another way of describing this pattern is to say that Ming-men or Life Gate Fire—thought of as the Yang aspect of Kidney Essence—is deficient or declining

Clearly, ignoring these bothersome symptoms will not only impact your quality of life as a man but may also eventually affect your longevity and result in the development of more serious diseases.

Taking preventative action is a key tenet of Chinese medicine for health and wellness: if you have any of these symptoms, address the underlying imbalances in your body and lifestyle today to ensure a long and healthy life.

Some simple self-care tips that can help you preserve the energy and healthy function of your Kidney energy:

  1. Suitable exercise and reduce stress!Chronic stress continually forces the Kidney to give extra energetic support to the Liver, the organ most affected by stress. Chinese exercise therapy can significantly help body, mind, and spirit recuperate from stress and can increase the body’s Yang, especially the Kidney Yang.
  2. Start the day with a healthy breakfast!Food is the body’s primary source of renewable energy. If you skip breakfast, your body draws on its limited reserve of Kidney energy to fuel its activity, instead of using renewable Stomach energy generated by your digestive system.
  3. Eat foods to support your Kidney Qi. Incorporate seafood (especially salmon, oysters, clams, shrimp, and lobster), beans (red and black), nuts (walnuts, cashews, pine nuts), and seeds (black sesame seeds) into your diet, as these foods contain a healing essence that supports your Kidney.
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Stress – beat it without side-effects: how Chinese medicine help you

stress

If we cannot reduce our level of stress, we can do 2 things—find a form of therapy which is deeply relaxing and rejuvenating, and strengthen our bodies so they are not worn down by stress. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are superb at helping us to do both.

stress

Many feel energized and invigorated after an acupuncture treatment. It is deeply relaxing—many patients fall asleep on the table. The response increases over a series of treatments, and the result is a resilience of mind and body that makes a person more resistant to stress.

Chinese acupuncture and massage, as well as Tai Chi and Qigong exercises, can alleviate stress symptoms by releasing endorphins, the body’s own natural painkillers, and improving the circulation of blood and lymphatic fluids, which brings fresh oxygen to body tissues. This increased oxygen flow eliminates waste products from inside the body and enhances recovery from diseases. Chinese medicine also decreases the stress hormone cortisol, lowers blood pressure, reduces heart rate, and relaxes muscle tissue. Tai Chi and Qigong exercise teaches stress management technique. Learning stress management technique is an important aspect of keeping future stressors at bay.

Each person may exhibit a different stress symptom depending on individual temperament. A stress symptom can manifest physically, mentally or emotionally. It is important to monitor for a stress symptom so you can manage stress levels as soon as possible.

A physical symptom of stress such as tight muscles and body pain, fatigue or headache is tempting to self-medicate. Trying to fix a physical symptom of stress with caffeine or pain medication merely masks the problem, which inhibits long-term healing. People who suffer a physical symptom of stress should seek acupuncture and Chinese medicine, which have high success rates at treating physical and emotional stress symptoms. Mental stress symptoms include poor concentration, fuzzy perception and negative self-talk. Emotional symptoms include irritability, nervousness, moodiness or hostility. Along with a healthy diet and exercise, any stress symptom can be eliminated.

Once treatment begins to solve the problems of stress by bringing the self into balance and encouraging stress management technique, these symptoms will diminish remarkably. Chinese medicine has been treating problems at their core for thousands of years, helping people to maintain a tranquil state of health and lives of minimal stress.

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Infertility Treatment – the ancient art

infertility treatment

infertility treatment

Acupuncture and traditional Asian herbal medicine comprise the oldest medical system in the world. Evidence suggests that acupuncture has been in use since as early as 300 B.C. Literally thousands of years of research and development have gone into the system we currently have in acupuncture infertility treatment.

Acupuncture has been shown in many clinical trials to be of benefit to couples having difficulty with conception. Acupuncture can increase pelvic blood flow, decrease stress, improve ovulation, improve overall sperm quality, and generally increase conception and live birth rates in patients suffering from an inability to conceive. Clinical trials have also shown that acupuncture increases pregnancy rates in patients undergoing assisted reproduction therapies, including intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization.

Among other things, acupuncture is known to reset the hypothalmic-pituitary-ovarian axis, which reestablished normal hormonal levels. Acupuncture is effective in treating all functional aspects of infertility including advanced maternal age, endometriosis, luteal phase defect, polycystic ovarian syndrome, premature ovarian failure, and unexplained infertility.

In the same way that acupuncture effects female infertility, it is frequently used in the treatment of male infertility as well. While the anatomy of the male is obviously different from the female, the energetic function of the male is quite similar and the treatment principles remain intact. Acupuncture has been shown to affect all parameters of sperm analysis, as well as male sexual function.

In patients who are not undergoing IVF or IUI treatment, frequently traditional Asian herbal medicines are used to enhance fertility along with acupuncture treatments. Herbs are used to nourish the body so that the patient can attain greater levels of reproductive health.

Over the last twenty years or so there has been an increasing interest by Western doctors in acupuncture for the treatment of many disorders, including, but not limited to, both female and male infertility. Mainstream OB/Gyns have begun referring their patients for the treatment of endometriosis, menstrual cramping, and menopausal symptoms

General pregnancy support program

Modern clinical trials have shown acupuncture, in conjunction with IVF, to significantly improve the chances of a successful pregnancy.

If you are considering IVF, it is helpful if you are able undergo 2 or 3 months of Chinese medicine treatment prior to beginning IVF to help prepare your body.

During IVF, you may or may not be able to use herbal medicine, depending on your circumstances, however acupuncture is always compatible and well tolerated.

Treatments can be flexible and are able to take your individual circumstances into account, but as a guide, we generally suggest weekly acupuncture during the IVF cycle. Then towards the end of the cycle, treatments are timed with your egg collection and pre and post embryo transfer.

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Hot flashes – the natural and relaxing way to cool down

We have treated many women suffering from hot flashes, and in most cases acupuncture helped them very well, and in a natural way, by restoring balance in the body. It reduced the severity of the heat sensation, and often they felt themselves “cooling down,” sometimes even during the treatment itself. The treatments were also profoundly relaxing for most of them, as many of the points used have a deeply calming effect on the nervous system.

The women we treated had hot flashes for one of two reasons. The most common cause, of course, was menopause. The second was chemotherapy, which in some cases seemed to push the younger ones into premature menopause.

hot flashes

Changes You Can Make Right Now to cool down hot flashes

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine is a wonderful natural treatment for these symptoms, which focuses on restoring the body’s natural balance and regulating its processes as opposed to replacing a missing substance from externally (as oestrogen is replaced with HRT). The treatment is gentle, gradual and natural, and my patients rarely experience side effects. Effects of treatment are usually sustained once the treatment stops.

Regardless of which treatment path you choose to address your menopause symptoms, there are some simple lifestyle practices you can adopt immediately which can have an effect.

  • Limit caffeine intake (a few coffees a week might be fine, 3 a day are probably not). Don’t forget there’s caffeine in tea and chocolate.
  • Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol is like pouring petrol on a fire.
  • Eat unprocessed foods that are in season
  • Balance your periods of activity with enough rest to allow your body to recover.

Balance your stressful times with periods of mental calm and relaxation.

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Arthritis – 3 Ways Acupuncture Treat It

 

Your hips are stiff and painful, or your knees hurt to the point that you have trouble climbing the stairs. Or your elbow hurts and you might have to give up golf or tennis. Indeed, arthritis can affect almost any joint.  Acupuncture is a very effective form of pain control in that it can relieve pain in three ways.

  • Acupuncture increases the production of endorphins and enkephalins, which inhibit the perception of pain. Since these hormones are produced by the body itself, there are no side effects.
  • Acupuncture works through the nervous system by blocking the transmission of pain signals to the brain. Studies using MRIs have also shown an increase in the activity of pain-killing receptors in the brain.
  • Acupuncture deactivates trigger points. Trigger points are tender and extremely reactive areas that develop in the muscles and fascial sheaths of the body. They are often responsible for chronic pain and are frequently found around arthritic joints.

Acupuncture will not only control the pain, but also have a positive effect on joint deterioration that appear in the three primary forms of arthritis

The first form, rheumatoid arthritis, is characterized by inflammation (swelling, heat, redness and pain) in and around joints

The second and most common form is osteoarthritis. It involves the gradual wearing of cartilage in joints along with the deposition of calcium, which limits mobility of the joint.

The third form is gouty arthritis, which is characterized by deposits of oxalic acid that make movement of the joint extremely painful.

How Many Treatments Are Necessary for Arthritis?

Each person is unique. Some people will respond to acupuncture more quickly than others. Most patients should experience some symptomatic relief after couple of treatments. Weekly treatment for a couple of months can bring long-term benefit, often for several months, as I have observed with my patients. I have also observed that when the pain cycle is broken, some patients have had what appears to be a permanent reduction in pain.

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Other Conditions

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends acupuncture as an effective treatment for over forty medical problems. The conditions suitable for treatment with acupuncture include: Painful conditions; Musculoskeletal conditions; Neurological conditions; Gynecological problems; Pregnancy and labor; Gastrointestinal disorders; Ear, nose& throat disorders; Urogenital disorders; Cardiovascular disorders; Addictions such as smoking and drug withdrawals; and other general health problems.