Aromatherapy - The Scent Through Your Skin

Scents play a big role in our lives. Some fragrances may recall memories or transmit sensations. Who has not felt better after going to sauna with eucalyptus smell? Or associated flowers` scents to the feelings of calm and peace? Aromatherapy took advantage of this basic human instinct to treat diseases, provide well-being, skin care and relaxation. It can be defined as the therapeutic use of essential oils for prevention and/or auxiliary treatment of physical, psychological and energetic problems.

 

The true Aromatherapy consists on the therapeutic application of 100% essential oils in baths, massages, compresses, diffusions, internal use, etc. Before being used, the essential oils are frequently dissolved in neutral lotions such as vegetal oils, cereal water or cereal alcohol. This preserves chemical properties and chemical/physical activity in the human body.

 

According to "The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils", the favoured technique of aroma therapists is the massage, because it ensures that the oils are absorbed in the skin and into the blood stream. On this method, the essence is diluted into base oil (jojoba, avocado, peanut, soy, peach kernel oil, etc). Another book, "Aromatherapy: Healing for the Body & Soul", emphasizes the importance of rubbing the oil in the skin. The author, Kathi Keville, claims that the human touch warms the body, relieves stress, relaxes and encourages deep breathing.

 

Benefits

 

Aromatherapy is known for bringing well-being and stress relieve to people, but this is only one of its possible benefits. This therapy can affect the body chemistry; the emotions and attitudes; and the ability of the body to function. The book "Aroma Therapy: Healing for the body and soul" cites a wide range of therapeutical uses for Aromatherapy:

 

• Reduction of pain, inflammations and spasms; 
• Stimulation of the immune system, hormone production and blood circulation;
• Skin infections;
• Heal of respiratory and digestive problems;
• Emotional problems, like depression and panic.

 

Precautions

 

Some essential oils, like camphor, thuja and red thyme, can cause damage to the patients due to their high toxicity levels, which can cause severe dermal irritation. Essential oils should not be applied directly at the skin; they should be diluted in a carrier oil or cream. It is also suggested to do a patch test on the skin before using the essential oil, because some people can be very sensitive or have allergic reactions. Some oils, like the lemon and the verbena, when exposed to the sun, may cause spots.

 

The "Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils" warns that pregnant patients or the ones who have diabetes, high blood pressure and epilepsy can not be massaged with some essential oils. It is recommended that they inform the therapist about their condition. It also adverts that essential oils should not be used at home to treat serious medical or psychological problems.

 

Oils Properties

 

The oils have different properties. Some of the most common essential oils are:

 

• Calming - chamomile, lavender, geranium; 
• Uplifting - ylang ylang, clary sage, rose, neroli, lemon, fennel;
• Energizing - rosemary, thyme (white), grapefruit, cinnamon; 
• Cleansing - rosemary, tea tree, lavender; frankincense;
• Decongesting - eucalyptus, pine, tea tree, peppermint;

 

Profession

 

Although nowadays Aromatherapy has become a widespread practice around the world, it is still considered a complementary medicine in the majority of the countries. In France, Aromatherapy is part of the formal education in Medical schools. During history, medicinal and aromatic plants were used to purify and scent places, scare away evil spirits, treat skin and other physical disorders as in the use of infusions, in the mummification process in ancient Egypt and Roman baths. 

According to The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA), the organization that promotes and supports the practice of this method, there is no licensure or laws for Aromatherapy in the US. NAHA determined that to become an aroma therapist is necessary to be graduated in a course of at least 200 hours. Some professionals incorporate the training of this technique with their licensed work. It is the case of many massage therapists, acupuncturists, doctors and nurses.

 

Aromatherapy: New Age Fad Or Age-Old Remedy?

Aromatherapy refers to the use of essential oils that have been extracted from plants, shrubs and trees. These essential oils can be used for a wide variety of purposes. They can be used to treat medical conditions or alleviate psychological ailments. Aromatherapy oils are used as cosmetics. Finally, aromatherapy can be used simply for pleasure, to help improve your mood or to reduce your stress. The essential oils of aromatherapy have the power to affect both your physical and mental state.

 

Aromatherapy has recently been labelled a New Age fad, but the practice of aromatherapy has a long history. The often negative use of the New Age label causes an unfortunate prejudice against a practice that has many potential benefits.

 

The effective use of aromatherapy requires considerable knowledge and expertise. The essential oils of aromatherapy can be applied in a wide variety of situations. They have been proven effective in treating both serious and minor ailments. Even when aromatherapy cannot provide a cure, it can improve an individual's mood.

 

We often practice aromatherapy on an everyday basis without realizing it. When we choose aromas, bath oils, and air fresheners, we usually choose based on what we like, or on how the fragrance makes us feel. The refreshing scent of a pine forest, the pleasurable aromas of herbs, or the many other daily experiences we have with the scents of plant-derived substances indicate that we are actually practicing and experiencing aromatherapy in many ways.

 

The practice of aromatherapy for treating ailments actually predates chemical-based medicine. The essential oils of aromatherapy have been used for hundreds of years in herbal medicine, disease prevention, and in religious and public ceremonies.

 

The proven benefits of plant-based therapies are being overlooked in favor of artificial substitutes. It's easy to forget that many commonly used pharmaceuticals were originally derived from plants. Many also doubt that something applied externally could possibly have an internal effect. But the answer to many of today's diseases has been with us from the beginning, stored in the plant life around us. Aromatherapy unlocks the power of these essential oils and applies it for our benefit.

Aromatherapy - Using Nature’s Aroma To Cure

Aromatherapy makes use of the essential oils from the plants and other aromatic compounds to help soothe the human mind and cure certain illness. You can do it at home with the help of essential oils, perfume and cosmetics. When it becomes a part of pharmacology, it is known as clinical aromatherapy. 

 

Aromachology studies the effects of different aromas on human behaviour. Certain aromas are believed to have relaxing effect on our mind and body. Aromatherapy includes not only the use of essential oils, but also absolutes, hydrosols, infusion, phytoncides, and carrier oils. The absolutes are oils extracted by superficial fluid extraction, like the rose absolute. Hydrosols, like the rose water, are aqueous by-products after distillation. Infusions are the aqueous solutions of plant material. Phytoncides are the natural volatile organic compounds extracted from plants. Sweet almond oil is an example of carrier oil, used to dilute essential oils.

 

Aromatherapy can be done through inhalation. By taking baths, massages and compresses, the essential oils can be absorbed by the skin. Through oral rinses and gargles, they can be absorbed through the mucous membranes. Ingestion is another method of aromatherapy. 

 

Aromatherapy causes various therapeutic effects like the antiseptic effects, anaesthetic effects, and psychological effects. Aromatherapy has its effects on the central nervous system and the metabolism. For home aromatherapy, you can blend neroli, eucalyptus, lavender, rosemary, nutmeg, and peppermints in the base oils and add a few drops of basil in that mixture. For bathing purposes, you can add oils like lavender, and rose to the water. Aromatherapy can heal depression, insomnia, acne, joint pains, stress, cough, and other types of diseases. For the skin, aromatherapy best solves acne and dry skin problems. 

 

Aromatherapy helps to enhance the skin and makes it glow. It gives a pedicure and manicure effect, and prevents skin wrinkles. The common essential oils used for aromatherapy are sweet almond, avocado, cocoa butter, grape seed, jojoba, olive, peanut, rose hip, sesame, sunflower and more. Make sure not to use ajowan, almond, arnica, calamus, garlic, melilotus, onion, mustard, wormseed, and wormwood, without proper supervision from the aromatherapy practitioner.

Aromatherapy: Revive Your Senses

The art of aromatherapy had been practiced since the earliest times. Strong evidences were found to link aromatherapy to ancient traditions. Though aromatic oils had been used to treat and cure various ailments and conditions for who knows how long, the formal study on their properties only started in the year 1928.

 

In its simplest form, aromatherapy is the use of essential plant oils for therapeutic purposes. They are normally employed to relieve a person from stress and a variety of stress-related conditions. And also for promoting an individual's general well-being and in invigorating the body and the psyche.

 

Aromatherapy works by inducing the olfactory nerve cells with aromatic oils, which then carries out the message to the limbic system in the brain. Limbic system is the part of the brain that is responsible for controlling memory and emotions.

 

Aromatherapy is concerned in both the workings of the physical and emotional aspects of the person under treatment. Physically, aromatherapy helps in relieving specific conditions trough the stimulation of the nervous, immune and circulatory system. In emotions however, they may evoke pleasant memories.

 

Yet, the medical circles do not agree if aromatherapy in itself is instrumental to the complete healing of a certain condition. But the idea of recovery through aromatherapy is widely accepted.

 

Essential Oils

 

Essential oils are derived from the distillation of the elements of a plant like the leaves, roots, flowers, stems and bark. They hold the true essence of the plants from which they originally came in high concentration. Though termed as oil, essential oils normally do not have the real properties of oil. Some essential oils are yellow like that of the lemongrass and orange and many are clear.

 

These oils are used in a variety of methods: through inhalation, by adding them in the bathwater and by the application of the diluted oil on the body.

 

The use of oil in aromatherapy is only restricted to those with unadulterated qualities. The purest of the essential oils alone have the therapeutic values.

 

The following is a list of the most common essential oils used in aromatherapy. Some of which are used as carrier oils (also known as vegetable oils or base oils):

 

• Almond, Sweet
• Apricot Kernel
• Avocado
• Borage
• Cocoa Butter
• Evening Primrose
• Grapeseed
• Hazelnut
• Jojoba
• Kukui
• Macadamia Nut
• Olive
• Peanut
• Pecan
• Rose Hip
• Sesame
• Shea Butter
• Sunflower

 

Below are listed essential oils that are not advisable to use in aromatherapy, especially if not supervised by a professional aromatherapy practitioner.

 

• Ajowan
• Almond, Bitter
• Arnica
• Birch, Sweet
• Boldo Leaf
• Broom, Spanish
• Calamus
• Camphor
• Deertongue
• Garlic
• Horseradish
• Jaborandi
• Melilotus
• Mugwort
• Mustard
• Onion
• Pennyroyal
• Rue
• Sassafras
• Thuja
• Wintergreen
• Wormseed
• Wormwood

 

Aromatherapists put into practice the workings of aromatherapy in a spectrum of work environments including:

 

• private practice
• mobile visiting practice
• natural health clinics
• beauty therapy clinics
• health clubs
• hospitals
• hospices and
• nursing homes

 

In spite of the lack of formal research on aromatherapy therapists and European physicians are often prescribing certain aromatic oils for a range of complaints including colds and flu, insomnia, sinusitis, migraines, digestive problems and muscle pains. It must be understood though that aromatic oils must never be taken orally and should be first tested to determine the degree of skin's sensitivity to some oils.

Are Alternative Medicines Effective?

A growing number of people have become interested in alternative medicine to treat illnesses. Alternative medicine as a practice has created a significant amount of controversy both inside and outside the traditional medical field. Alternative medicine refers to a treatment or substance that is unproven under the application or accepted scientific standards. The most common types of alternative medicine include herbs, supplements, therapies and activities that are outside traditional medical practice. Some of these raise questions about their safety and effectiveness.

 

Acupuncture, massage, meditation, herbal tea, and plant extracts are popular among devotees of alternative medicine, but many traditional doctors believe these treatments are ineffective or even dangerous. Alternative medicine has become increasingly popular as more people face the aches, pains, and illnesses that accompany aging. In some cases, individuals have not obtained a cure with traditional medical approaches and turn to other options to treat their illness. In still other cases, people feel very strongly that natural methods of treatment are better than traditional medicine, so they look for answers from alternative practitioners instead of the family doctor.

 

There are risks associated with alternative medicine. Some of the risks arise through the use of untested, ineffective, and even unsafe substances. The manufacturers of these substances sometimes exaggerate the claims of their effectiveness. They may misrepresent the science related to the material to convince consumers to buy the product, even if its use can endanger a person’s health.

 

Some herbal remedies are advertised as being able to improve memory, raise metabolism, or cure cancer and heart disease. In reality, the remedies may cause harm if taken at high doses. Another risk is that someone with a serious disease like cancer will not receive traditional and proven treatments, preferring to use alternative methods that may not be effective. In these cases, people are risking their lives. Sometimes, patients may be using alternative treatments, but not telling their doctors about them. This can lead to dangerous drug interactions. If a traditional doctor is unaware of the substance a patient is taking, medications that produce harmful interactions may be unknowingly prescribed.

 

It is possible to recognize potentially risky alternative treatment. If a treatment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. While this is a cliché, it is often very true in situations involving alternative medicines. Be careful of products labelled ‘miraculous’ or ‘ancient remedy’. If you are thinking about treatments such as acupuncture or reflexology, check the qualifications of the practitioner before being treated. Ask about the training received, and research the treatment to determine if it has been scientifically tested and found to be effective.

 

It’s a good idea to ask your doctor about an alternative treatment you are considering. Trained medical professionals have the experience and education to help you make safe decisions about your health.

Alternative Treatments For Headaches

There are now many alternative and natural treatments to help people who suffer from headaches and migraines. In this article, I write about these type of remedies and also recommend the types of food people should avoid if they are always suffering from headaches and migraines.

 

There are many causes of headaches including:

 

• Excessive amounts of alcohol
• Over eating
• An incorrect posture
• Too much stress 
• Problems with teeth
• Problems with a person eyes

 

It is important that we learn to deal with stress and to become more care-free. A lot of people react to stressful situations by turning to alcohol. This can only add to their problems and can lead to even more headaches. 

 

If the person drinks to excess they may wake up with a hangover. If this happens to you I would advise you to drink plenty of water as you are likely to be dehydrated. Vitamin C is also useful to remove the alcohol quicker from your body.

 

If you are unable to live a stress-free life, it may be worth looking at alternative treatments. These are the types of natural therapy I would advise:

 

• Osteopathy
• Acupuncture
• Homeopathy
• Yoga
• Tai Chi
• The Alexander Technique

 

There are also certain foods and drinks which are a must to avoid for people who have regular headaches. These include:

 

• Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit
• Chocolate
• Cheese
• Alcohol

 

Migraines

 

Headaches are annoying enough, however migraines can be severely painful. I have suffered with migraines for a number of years and have now studied the subject seeking a cure. I am determined to not have to live my life, having these migraines regularly throughout the year, as the pain is unbearable. Maybe I am a bit of a wimp, but they really do cause me a lot of grief.

 

There are a number of reasons or causes for migraines. These include bright lights, certain foods or loud noises. I have to say that I think my own migraines are caused by stress and anxiety. I have always been a worrier and have suffered with a low self-esteem for most of my life. There are many reasons for this lack of confidence, which I will not bore you with at this stage.

 

I decided that I needed to deal with my stress as well as learning about how to eradicate the migraines. 

 

I am now able to relax and have accepted that no one person is perfect. I realise that I will make mistakes and as long as I learn from them, then that is OK. Worrying does not help me in any case therefore I have to stop doing it.

 

I have also used alternative health therapies to help me to reduce my stress including:

 

• Herbal remedies
• Meditation
• Yoga
• Tai Chi

 

I still have headaches as I have to admit that I do like to have a few beers around once a week. I have not however had a migraine for around nine months now. I am a lot happier in life and have learnt how to manage my levels of stress. I regularly meditate and use other natural remedies as mentioned above. This is what has helped me and I hope it helps you too.

Alternative Therapies For Asthma Treatment -- Biofeedback Holds Promise

Recent research has shown that asthma attacks can be effectively treated using alternative therapies. Learn about biofeedback as a means to control asthma.

 

Are there effective alternative therapies for asthma? Many researchers believe biofeedback holds promise as a way to help asthma patients. 

 

What is biofeedback all about? It involves measuring a person's body processes like heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response, etc and providing this information to the person in real time. This creates awareness of these processes and in turn, can help the person gain conscious control over related body functions. 

 

For instance, scientists have shown that a person can consciously influence his heartbeat. In fact, some studies at the National Institutes for Health have indicated that patients can be trained even to lower their blood pressure. 

 

Biofeedback training is part of what is called complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was Dr. Neal Miller, a neuroscientist at Yale who first said that it is possible to exert conscious control over automatic body functions. The scientific and medical establishment of the time scoffed at his statement and held that such things are impossible. 

 

However, subsequent research by several groups has shown that control over unconscious body functions is indeed possible. Many patients have found relief from migraine using biofeedback training. Some researchers are studying the possibility of using biofeedback as the main treatment for high blood pressure problems. 

 

How does biofeedback apply to asthma?

 

During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways are inflamed and contracted. If these muscles can be relaxed, air would flow more freely into the lungs and the distressing symptoms of asthma would be alleviated. Biofeedback systems train the patient to accomplish just that. 

 

In addition, asthma patients often have abnormal breathing patterns. The Society for Applied Psychotherapy and Biofeedback says that 'barrel breathing' is one such pattern. This is when the asthmatic takes in a deep breath and then doesn't fully breathe out. Instead, they take several shallow in and out breaths without emptying their lungs completely. 

 

As a result, their lungs can't be refilled with fresh air since they never empty fully when breathing out. 

 

Using a process called pneumographic biofeedback, asthma patients learn to recognize their altered heart rates that occur during barrel breathing. And they learn to change their breathing pattern to lower their heart rate as well as improve oxygen intake. 

 

Some studies have concluded that this type of biofeedback treatment not only reduced the symptoms of asthma but also brought down lung inflammation and resistance to normal breathing. The heart beat variability biorhythm treatment has also resulted in lowered medication use and better pulmonary function. 

 

The National Institutes of Health advices asthma patients who wish to use biofeedback training to work with a competent trainer and to keep their doctor fully informed. The latter is important because asthma patients should be monitored regularly and medication may need to be adjusted from time to time. 

 

Overall, biofeedback treatment is one of the more promising alternative therapies for asthma.

Alternative Medicines That Work For Me

There is a lot of hype about alternative medicines, and some of them are certainly without much value. Of course there is a lot of hype about regular medicines, many of which do as much harm as good. The fact that natural remedies and treatments rarely hurt people as much as prescription drugs is one reason to at least try them. Here are a few that I can vouch for from experience.

 

Tea Tree Oil

 

I had a lump on the side of my nose, growing slowly, bleeding at times. I had it for years, and the one time I asked a doctor about it, he wasn't sure if it was actually cancerous. I read somewhere that tee tree oil might work. I bought a bottle at a health-food store for $6. I applied a drop to the lump each day, and in less than six weeks, the lump was gone completely.

 

Coincidence? After having the growth for years? I don't think so. In fact I had another growth years later on my neck, and for several years, I couldn't remember what I had used the first time. When I found a clue in some old notes, I used tea tree oil on that growth, which was even larger than the first one. It was gone in about six weeks.

 

St. John's Wort

 

When hiking in Canada, I cut my foot. The gash was deep. I found St. John's Wort (Hypericum perfolatum), which has been proven to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. I mashed up a few leaves and bandaged them to the cut, replacing them occasionally. I have honestly never seen a cut heal faster.

 

St. John's Wort is one of the better known alternative medicines now. It is used as an anti-depressant, with numerous studies showing its effectiveness. It is also used by some as a temporary mood-elevator. This effect isn't proven yet, but whenever I've had tea made from the plant, it tasted awful and left me happy for two hours. Anecdotal and subjective evidence (I'm not even entirely convinced), but interesting.

 

Valerian Root

 

When my wife has cramps and pain, nothing works better than a cup of tea made from valerian root. You can get the tea in many stores now. I wouldn't try driving after having valerian root. This is a powerful relaxant.

 

In fact, valerian root is too strong for some people. A gentler herb that will relax you is chamomile. You can find this as tea too. It makes a great drink with honey, just before you are ready to go to bed.

 

There are so many alternatives out there. I have stopped a headache just by chewing on willow twigs. I have stopped diarrhoea with oak bark (careful - this can hard on the liver in large doses). I have watched a friend's poison ivy rash disappear overnight with the application of jewelweed juice. 

 

I am sure that I have tried just as many alternatives that didn't work, too, but you know what? Put all the ineffective ones together and the cost probably doesn't add up to the cost of one visit to a doctor. As for the effective ones, well, no doctor yet has introduced me to one of them. You have to do your own research on alternative medicines.

Alternative Medicines - Why The Silence?

If there are alternative medicines and natural treatments that really work, why don't we hear more about them? I don't think there are many true conspiracies around, but this is one of those areas that makes me wonder. The movement between government posts and positions in the pharmaceutical corporations is well documented. This easy movement between the boardrooms and the FDA and other agencies certainly leaves room for abuse and "back door agreements."

 

More often than not, though, there is just a conspiracy-of-common-interest that prevents safe alternative medicines from coming to market, or from becoming widely known. For example, drug companies don't want the competition of safe alternatives to their drugs. Meanwhile, it is politically safer for the FDA to not allow a product, because if they approve something and it causes any problems, they get the blame. This is a convenient coinciding of interests.

 

Also, natural products, like silymarin (Milk Thistle Extract), which is used all over Europe to treat poisonings and to protect the liver, are legal here, but not well known. This is because, as a natural product, there is no way to patent it. Without being able to exclude others from selling it, no company can afford to spend the millions it would take to get it approved as a medicine here.

 

A natural product also can't be marketed heavily. Imagine if a large company spent millions to promote a medicinal herb. As soon as they got the public's attention, all the smaller companies could undercut them on the price, since they spent nothing on marketing, and a plant product is usually the same no matter what the name on the label. No company wants to spend big money on a product they don't have an exclusive right too.

 

When a plant isn't approved as a natural treatment, there are no pharmaceutical reps out there educating doctors about it (Didn't you know that's how doctors keep educated?). In addition, even if a doctor has read about a useful plant, he is more likely to face a malpractice suit for an allergic reaction to an alternative medicine than from killing someone with a "standard and accepted" treatment. Which do you think he'll recommend?

 

Companies face the same issues of liability. In addition, the companies are limited in what they can say about these natural products. This is why you can look all over the box that some plant medicines come in, and never once see a mention of what it is for. It is tough to learn about these natural treatments, isn't it?

 

In other words, if you want to know about alternative medicines and medical treatment, you have to look outside the mainstream for your information. You have to read the magazines that cover these alternatives, and sometimes, when it is safe, you have to even experiment a little on yourself. 

 

As for my own approach, I like to see that there is actually some real research that demonstrates a benefit. Anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much. People get better all the time, and credit whatever they happened to be using at the time. On the other hand, if it is inexpensive and safe, like eating blueberries to improve vision, I'll try almost anything once.

 

Do natural treatments work? Sometimes. I have twice removed skin growths from my face that may have even been pre-cancerous. They were there for many years, yet it took just weeks to make them disappear using a simple and cheap natural product. I have also witnessed the fastest healing of a cut (on my foot) that I've ever seen, after applying a common plant to it. Some alternative medicines really do work.

Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine means different things to different people. Alternative medicine encompasses many different approaches from massage to Chinese medicine and yoga. Alternative medicine means practices or medicines that are used instead of the usual, or standard, ways of treating diseases or illness. Examples of complementary and alternative medicine are meditation, yoga, and dietary supplements like vitamins and herbs. Alternative medicine means that it is different to the dominant health care system and potentially can replace it. 

 

Traditional Chinese Medicine is the oldest continuously practiced medical system in the world and is used by one third of the world's population as a primary health care system. Health is defined as a state of physical well-being, mental alertness, socially adjusted, and spiritually developed. Health care is not about drugs and the cost of drugs.

 

Conventional Medicine

 

Conventional medicine is continuing to lose market share. More and more people want options beyond what many consider to be essentially a high-tech slash, burn and poison medicine. Conventional medicine is used to describe the services that treat the symptoms of a disease or illness with prescribed medications and surgeries. Conventional medicine treats the ailing part of the body but may not address the underlying causes of the illness or disease.

 

Traditional practitioners don't express hopefulness when their medicine fails as they treat diseases first and then people secondly. On the other hand alternative practitioners, often encourage patients to be hopeful even when the situation is hopeless as they aim to treat the mind, body and soul of their patient.

 

Medicine is directly related to the biomedicine and health sciences. The term 'Medicine' today refers to the fields of surgery, clinical medicine and the medical research. Medical mistakes appear to be increasing, and if they are not, then at the very least, the publicizing of them is increasing. It makes people wary.

 

Herbal

 

Herbal medicine is a booming industry in the United States. The American market for herbal remedies has doubled the last couple of years. Herbs may be harmful if taken for the wrong conditions, used in excessive amounts, combined with prescription drugs or alcohol, or used by persons who don't know what they are doing. Just because an herbal remedy is natural, does not mean it is safe!

 

Acupuncture

 

Acupuncture needles are usually inserted to a depth of about a quarter of an inch into the skin. The therapist gently twists or twirls them for up to 10 minutes, leaving them in five to 20 minutes longer; or stimulates them with a weak electrical current; or heats them with a burning herb such as mug wort (see moxibustion). Acupuncture was used as an illustration of medical irrationality before James Reston's fortuitous appendicitis brought it to the United States. From the impact of the LA Leche League on the advisability of breast-feeding to current studies of botanical medicines such as ginger, echinacea and ginkgo biloba, folk and alternative medicines have continuously influenced medical research and practice.

Alternative Medicine to Lower Your Blood Pressure

If you have high blood pressure, there are alternative medicines that can help.  Home remedies are cost effective and eliminate the unfavourable side effects of prescribed drugs.

 

Home remedies and homeopathic medicine have begun popular over the years as an alternative to prescription drugs. Many people are not aware that there are also home remedies available to lower your blood pressure. What is nice about a home remedy is the lower cost and eliminating the unfavourable side effects of prescribed medicines. Another advantage of home remedies is that while it may be used to alleviate one symptom, it often has other health benefits. Many home remedies can be found in your local supermarket and health food store.  

 

If you suffer from high blood pressure, here are a few home remedies. These remedies will not only lower your blood pressure but are good for your general health too.

 

Below are a few home remedies to help lower your blood pressure:

 

• Potassium and Magnesium. Foods high in these minerals are bananas, molasses, soy and bananas. Some fruits such as watermelon and grapes are also a good source. Not only will these foods lower your blood pressure but are beneficial to your overall health too.
• Garlic has many beneficial properties that improve overall health, including lowering your blood pressure. Consumption of garlic will also reduce blot clot occurrences in individuals. It is believed by some researches that garlic will also lower the triglyceride levels.

 

Therefore, you are probably wondering what a triglyceride is. A triglyceride is a glyceride that occurs naturally in tissues and consists of three fatty acids that are bound together in a single molecule. They are an important energy source forming much of the fat stored in the body.

 

You can research on how to lower your blood pressure using home remedies in many ways. The internet has a wealth of information dedicated to home remedies and homeopathic medicine to lower your blood pressure. Bookstores and libraries also offer an abundance of information. With a little research, you can find alternatives to prescription drugs for lowering your blood pressure. 

As with any alternative health remedies, consult with your physician before discontinuing any prescribed medicines. Abruptly taking your prescription medicine could have serious and long-term effects on your health.