Recent Blog Articles
New urine test may help some men with elevated PSA avoid biopsy
Dupuytren's contracture of the hand
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How — and why — to fit more fiber and fermented food into your meals
Tick season is expanding: Protect yourself against Lyme disease
What? Another medical form to fill out?
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Harvard Health Ad Watch: New drug, old song, clever tagline
Alternative & Integrative Health Archive
Articles
Mindfulness: Not just for stress reduction
Image: iStock
The meditative practice is being used for everything from boosting happiness to treating high blood pressure.
Mindfulness, which trains you to focus your mind on the present moment, is more than a popular meditation technique. It's been shown to help treat depression and anxiety and improve sleep quality. And it's now being studied as a complementary therapy for cancer, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and pain. "We're seeing an exponential increase in doctors embracing mindfulness as a treatment," says Dr. Ronald Siegel, assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and faculty editor of the Harvard Special Health Report Positive Psychology.
Can calming your mind help your heart?
Many people practice meditation in hopes of staving off stress and its related health problems, including heart disease. While some studies of meditation haven't been the most scientifically rigorous, other research strongly suggests that this ancient, mind-calming practice can actually help lower blood pressure — and that it may offer other benefits for the entire cardiovascular system.
"The evidence that chronic stress is pretty toxic for the cardiovascular system is mounting," says Dr. Laura Kubzansky, a professor of social and behavior science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Dietary supplements can be hard to swallow
In the Journals
A study in The New England Journal of Medicine casts light on a little-known hazard associated with America's multibillion-dollar dietary supplement habit: difficulty swallowing among older people who take vitamin and mineral supplements—particularly calcium supplements.
Using a decade of records from 63 hospitals, researchers with the CDC and FDA estimated that 23,000 Americans end up in the emergency room because of bad reactions to dietary supplements. This includes herbal supplements and those containing vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients (such as amino acids).
Is there a natural remedy for anxiety?
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Ask the doctor
Q. I find myself getting more and more anxious, but I don't like to take medications. Is there an alternative natural treatment I can try instead?
A. Anxiety is an incredibly common problem. Although there are many FDA-approved medications that have been widely studied and proved effective, studies show that up to 43% of patients with anxiety use alternative medicine to treat it. Among alternative therapies, herbal treatments are widely used both for therapeutic purposes and for comfort.
Boot camp for better sleep
Image: Bigstock
Do you worry yourself awake frequently? Cognitive behavioral therapy can help.
If you have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep, that's insomnia. It happens to everyone from time to time. But it can also become a chronic problem. For some men, fretting about whether they will be able to sleep—and the emotional upset of not being able to when they try—can itself become the root cause of insomnia.
Yohimbe supplements found to be dangerously strong
Image: Bigstock |
In the journals
Dietary supplements containing the herbal ingredient yohimbe often contain prescription-strength active ingredients that are potentially dangerous, according to a study in Drug Testing and Analysis.
Scientists analyzed 49 popular brands of supplements with yohimbe. They found evidence that 39% of the products tested appeared to contain a pharmaceutical-grade extract of the herb.
Study suggests tai chi improves life for people with chronic health problems
Image: Thinkstock
Research we're watching
An analysis published online Sept. 17, 2015, by the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that doing tai chi enhances the quality of life for people with common chronic conditions.
Researchers analyzed data from 33 studies involving nearly 1,600 adults. Most were in their 60s or 70s, and all had one or more chronic conditions: osteoarthritis, breast cancer, heart failure, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). All 290 participants in the breast cancer studies were women. There were 452 women (85% of participants) in the arthritis studies, 76 (16%) in the heart failure studies, and 92 (19%) in the COPD studies.
Can you find a good night’s sleep at the drugstore?
Almost everyone suffers from trouble sleeping at one time or another. Insomnia — defined as trouble falling asleep or staying asleep — isn't a single disorder itself, but rather a general symptom, like fever or pain.
Because insomnia is so common, you can walk into any drugstore and find a bewildering variety of over-the-counter sleep products. And people are buying them. One small survey of people ages 60 and over found that more than a quarter had taken nonprescription sleeping aids in the preceding year — and that one in 12 did so daily.
Ask the doctor: Saw palmetto and prostate health
Q. Some of my friends take saw palmetto supplements to reduce urinary problems caused by an overgrown prostate, which I was recently diagnosed with. My friends swear by it, but is there any good evidence this stuff helps? Is saw palmetto safe?
A. The short answer is that we don't have great scientific evidence that taking saw palmetto truly reduces male urinary problems. On the other hand, it doesn't appear to cause major side effects either.
Ask the doctor: Should I take a vitamin E supplement?
Some studies have shown that taking vitamin E supplements may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease and acute macular degeneration. |
Q. Are there any benefits to taking vitamin E supplements? Or any risks?
Recent Blog Articles
New urine test may help some men with elevated PSA avoid biopsy
Dupuytren's contracture of the hand
Why play? Early games build bonds and brain
Moving from couch to 5K
How — and why — to fit more fiber and fermented food into your meals
Tick season is expanding: Protect yourself against Lyme disease
What? Another medical form to fill out?
How do trees and green spaces enhance our health?
A muscle-building obsession in boys: What to know and do
Harvard Health Ad Watch: New drug, old song, clever tagline
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