Articles:
Massage Works Wonders
Today, more people are turning to alternative forms of medicine for chronic neck pain, back pain, and joint pain. Massage can works wonders for those in distress. It increases flexibility and can decrease aches and pains.
- Hand massage can reduce stress significantly. It releases tension and calms the heart, lowering blood pressure.
- Scalp massage helps stimulate nerve endings. This allows more oxygen to get to the brain, thus stimulating clearer thinking.
- Back massage can cut pain in half and reduce headaches significantly.
- A shoulder massage before bedtime can help ward off insomnia. Rubbing the shoulders helps release melatonin, which help promote deep sleep.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound Of Cure
By Lotus Heart Holistic Center
No one can argue that preventative health care is important, especially in today’s environment and economy. With healthcare costs continuing to skyrocket and access to affordable heath care extremely limited we are faced with the reality that we have to take a much more proactive role in staying healthy.
Currently we are facing an upcoming flu season that promises to be challenging at best. The World Health Organization is estimating that worldwide infections of H1N1 (Swine flu could exceed one billion people, possibly affected up to 60% of the American population. Given the risks associated with this particular strain, it behooves all of us to begin the process of, proactively, brining our bodies back into balance.
We all know that maintaining a healthy diet and exercise is key to staying healthy—but it’s only a piece of the pie. A critical component in staying healthy is the Immune System. The Immune system is our first line of defense in protecting the body from bacteria, viruses, fungi and other harmful organisms. If your immune system is compromised, your body is subject to fatigue and illness and cannot fight off infections.
Our Immune system is impacted daily by toxins in the environment, toxins in our food supply, poor diet, bad habits (smoking, etc.), stress, lack of exercise and; last but not least, the toxins that are currently resident in our body systems.
So, what can we do immediately to start cleaning up our acts? To start your own “good health” practices, here are five things you can do immediately without any medical knowledge:
First: Listen to Your Body.
What it is telling you. Did you know that sugar craving could be a sign of
protein deficiency? Or, that bloating could be indicative of a congested
colon that limits the body’s ability to absorb the nutrients it needs.
Muscle fatigue could be a sign of a lack of nutrients or amino acids. Do
you fatigue easily? We live in such a fast paced world we often do not take
time to listen to what our body is telling us until it is too late.
Second: Eliminate Habits That Weaken The Immune System
There are 4 major habits that interfere with the body’s ability to function
properly: smoking, overdosing on sugar, excessive alcohol, and too much fat
in your diet. Eliminating these will go along way to strengthen the body.
Third: Detox Your System
Detox sounds scarier than what it really is. People equate the word more so
with sobriety however; there are others ways of being toxic other than alcohol
and drugs. Everything we put into our bodies determines our state of toxicity.
When toxic metals and chemical food additives get inside your body, it takes a strong cleanser to scrub your body clean from the inside out. The combination of ionic foot detox, vitamins, and minerals through detoxification work in this fashion to remove toxins from your body tissues and organs, from your water stores, fat deposits, and within your bloodstream. Natural cleansing is critical to remove body toxins, and protects from re-depositing them somewhere else in the body.
Toxins such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and the effects of aspartame's by-product of formaldehyde, block nutrients from getting into normal body cells in the same fashion a lead shield blocks radiation during an x-ray.
When toxins are present within your body, oxygen and the your body's "food supply" cannot get inside your cells to supply needed nutrients, nor can the waste products in the cells get out. This produces an environment for diseases to form.
Critical to any detox program is to first identify what toxins are present in the body and which nutrients the body is lacking. Have a Hair Analysis test done to identify what toxins are present and which essential minerals and nutrients are out of balance. Once you’ve identified what’s going on you can work to remove the toxins. Ionic Foot Detox Baths (supported by detox teas) is a viable and gentle way to detox your system.
Fourth: Restore Your System:
Restoring lost nutrients is supported through good nutrition and specific nutritional
supplements specific to your body that are recommended in your Hair Analysis
report.
Fifth: Get Moving
Moderate, regular exercise helps the immune system by moderating the effects
of stress. Lowered stress has a beneficial effect on your health. High, constant
stress is detrimental to your health.
Sixth: Make Healthy Living a Habit
Newsbrief Below Printed in the Magazine Mynaturalawakenings.com June 2009 Issue
The Benefits Of Massage
What exactly are the benefits of receiving massage or bodywork treatments?
Useful for all of the conditions listed below and more, massage can:
• Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion.
• Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten
maternity hospital stays.
• Ease medication dependence.
• Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body’s natural
defense system.
• Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
• Help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous
workouts.
• Improve the condition of the body’s largest organ—the skin.
• Increase joint flexibility.
• Lessen depression and anxiety.
• Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
• Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation.
• Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling.
• Reduce spasms and cramping.
• Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
• Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body’s natural
painkiller.
• Relieve migraine pain.
A Powerful Ally
There’s no denying the power of bodywork. Regardless of the adjectives
we assign to it (pampering, rejuvenating, therapeutic) or the reasons we seek
it out (a luxurious treat, stress relief, pain management), massage therapy
can be a powerful ally in your healthcare regimen.
Experts estimate that upwards of ninety percent of disease is stress related.
And perhaps nothing ages us faster, internally and externally, than high stress.
While eliminating anxiety and pressure altogether in this fast-paced world
may be idealistic, massage can, without a doubt, help manage stress. This translates
into:
• Decreased anxiety.
• Enhanced sleep quality.
• Greater energy.
• Improved concentration.
• Increased circulation.
• Reduced fatigue.
Furthermore, clients often report a sense of perspective and clarity after
receiving a massage. The emotional balance bodywork provides can often be just
as vital and valuable as the more tangible physical benefits.
Profound Effects
In response to massage, specific physiological and chemical changes cascade
throughout the body, with profound effects. Research shows that with massage:
• Arthritis sufferers note fewer aches and less stiffness and pain.
• Asthmatic children show better pulmonary function and increased peak
air flow.
• Burn injury patients report reduced pain, itching, and anxiety.
• High blood pressure patients demonstrate lower diastolic blood pressure,
anxiety, and stress hormones.
• Premenstrual syndrome sufferers have decreased water retention and cramping.
• Preterm infants have improved weight gain.
Research continues to show the enormous benefits of touch—which range
from treating chronic diseases, neurological disorders, and injuries, to alleviating
the tensions of modern lifestyles. Consequently, the medical community is actively
embracing bodywork, and massage is becoming an integral part of hospice care
and neonatal intensive care units. Many hospitals are also incorporating on-site
massage practitioners and even spas to treat postsurgery or pain patients as
part of the recovery process.
Increase the Benefits with Frequent Visits
Getting a massage can do you a world of good. And getting massage frequently
can do even more. This is the beauty of bodywork. Taking part in this form
of regularly scheduled self-care can play a huge part in how healthy you’ll
be and how youthful you’ll remain with each passing year. Budgeting
time and money for bodywork at consistent intervals is truly an investment
in your health. And remember: just because massage feels like a pampering
treat doesn’t mean it is any less therapeutic. Consider massage appointments
a necessary piece of your health and wellness plan, and work with your practitioner
to establish a treatment schedule that best meets your needs.
Review the clinical research studies examining the benefits of massage.
Review massage information from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health.
To set an appointment, please visit our Melbourne center, or contact us by telephone. We look forward to meeting you soon.
