Many of us are getting tired of the grey days, the ice, the inability to get out and walk outdoors, and being cooped up inside. And it is only January!
Consider trying acupuncture to help with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Research has shown that acupuncture has an impact on all of the endocrine organs, including the pineal gland and hypothalamus, which are core elements of our day/night and seasonal settings.
THE HOLIDAYS are here. This is such a stressful time. Holiday stress management is always a challenge. Even when you try to plan ahead, keep it simple, and not add too many obligations, the stress is infectious. I went to the grocery store last night and picked up the feeling of stress, from the music, the crowds, the urgency in shoppers trying to find that special ingredient. In planning my holiday cooking I keep finding myself wanting to add one more dish to the menu and try one more new kind of cookie recipe. And I am not a big holiday person. Our culture has so much impact on us this way.
So we must be sure to build in stress management activities during these weeks. Here is my personal list:
Go to bed early instead of late
Use my SAD light for 30 minutes when I wake up
Don’t forget to walk after work when I feel tired
Be sure to take some time for myself to do something I love, like knitting or photography
Avoid drinking too much alcohol
Let Holidays be about people and relationships and not be about stuff
Listen to a lot of music that I like
Don’t spend hours in front of the computer or TV, find other ways to relax
Don’t worry about what I eat
Keep smiling!
Share joy!
Appreciate the people that I love, and try to appreciate the people that can trouble me
Remember that THE LIGHT IS COMING BACK soon
Be Thankful when you notice that the days are getting longer!
Consider having a massage or acupuncture for my wellness and stress management
You might find a lot more ideas for your list, but hopefully this one will give you some ideas to begin.
Happy Holidays
319-341-0031 Call for Appointments
Yes, flu season is here. You may not want to have a flu shot but there ARE things you can do at the first sign of getting sick. We have a whole protocol to help you manage symptoms, get better faster, and strengthen your immune system to prevent getting sick. Chinese herbs can be personalized for your exact condition. Supplements can assist with your immune system. Professional Chinese herbalist Laura Christensen is trained to help you!
Call for an appointment today and Laura can make a personalized plan for you. 319-341-0031
Fall Vegetable Soup recipe
Fall is time for soup! Have you noticed that you get a hankering for soup when the weather gets colder? I’m going to show you how to whip up a quick and satisfying soup while you get ready for work in the morning. Or anytime.
Tools:
Soup Pot, preferably 6-8 quart. Or instant pot.
Knife and cutting board
Big spoon for stirring
Ingredients:
Onion
Garlic if wanted
Carrot
Celery
Bell pepper if wanted
other veggies: squash, zucchini, green beans, canned tomatoes, cabbage, or whatever else you have on hand or want to eat.
Olive Oil or other oil or fat such as bacon fat, butter, or lard
a liter or quart of homemade chicken or bone broth, or canned broth or bone broth
water in equal amount to broth
salt, pepper, and whatever other seasonings you want (see below)
optional: rice, barley, or other grain or pasta in small pieces
optional: cooked chicken or other meat
Method:
Chop your onion, carrot, celery and optional bell pepper into 1/2 inch squares. Mince or press garlic.
Heat your oil or fat in the big pot and sauce your chopped veggies with a little salt till they are getting cooked. Throw in the garlic.
Cut up the rest of your veggies into larger chunks and drop them in with a little salt and pepper and stir them around till they get warmed up a bit.
Pour in your broth and some water to cover everything and then up to about 2-3 inches above the veggies.
Bring the whole thing to a simmer on medium high and cook on low about 10 minutes. Then add your grain or pasta if desired, and meat if desired.
Simmer the pot about another 15 minutes on medium low till grain or pasta is cooked through. Adjust the seasonings.
This is the point at which you could go in a number of directions by adjusting seasonings:
For Italian: add canned tomatoes, basil, oregano, and thyme
For Mexican: add canned tomatoes or tomato paste, cumin, chili powder, and mexican oregano
For Japanese: season with soy sauce and fish sauce.
For Thai: add a can of coconut milk,
Lemongrass, Kafir lime leaf, fish sauce to taste, or curry powder
Add seasonings to your liking, simmer a little longer. You could puree the whole thing before adding meat and grain. You could have just vegetables with no meat or grain. You could make it vegetarian without meat and maybe add tofu or egg for protein. The variations are endless. Look in your fridge and see what you’ve got and go for it! I hope you enjoy this Fall Vegetable Soup recipe as much as I do!
Herbs for cough and sore throat
It’s that time of year again. Everyone has a cold. It starts with a stiff neck and scratchy throat, then fatigue and chills and stiff body. Next step is getting a low grade fever alternating with feeling chilly and the sore throat gets worse. Next the nose begins running, the sore throat gets worse, it is painful to swallow. And then the nasal mucus gets thick, you are coughing up thick mucus and the cough gets spastic. You are hot and cold, your cough wakes you up at night, you still have a bit of a sore throat, and you feel very tired. Finally, your cough gets better, your nose gets less runny, you begin to get your energy back, and you feel some better. As each day goes by, your symptoms recede and finally, 2 weeks later, you are almost back to normal.
This is the usual progress of an uncomplicated ‘cold’. If things go sideways, you could end up with a severe bronchitis where you might need antibiotics, or even pneumonia, where the infection has settled into your lungs. What began with a little virus has turned into a bacterial infection that really requires antibiotics and some major over the counter medicine to control cough, help liquify phlegm, and dry out nasal secretions.
We’ve all been through it and this fall it is happening again. Once the kids are back in school the crud seems to make the rounds.
How can you reduce the severity of symptoms and get better faster?
Your acupuncturist has a wide variety of traditional herbal formulas to address each stage of this disease process, helping to support your immune system, reduce your sore throat, suppress that hacking cough, cut down on runny nose, and address the fever and chills that plague you.
Call at the very first sign of a cold and you can get the help you need.
Call to make an appointment or to order herbs for your cough and sore throat!
319-341-0031 Acupuncture of Iowa
Effective Herbs for fall allergies
This fall we are having amazing results combining acupuncture with our favorite product for sniffles and itching, Rootology.
This effective formula is based on a traditional and very effective herb formula called Bi Yan Pian. The American manufacturers of Rootology have combined the traditional herbs with a couple of additional ingredients to calm the histamine reaction and support appropriate immune response. They have come up with a product that I think is even more effective than the original. You can take this product as needed, or two to three times per day during severe outbreaks. It even works for itchy eyes and even itching all over.
The acupuncture treatment that is working well is one that combines a Master Tung point combination called 4 Horses with local points to open the sinuses and calm the immune reaction. We might vary this combination depending on the exact symptoms you have.
Call for your appointment now for effective herbs for fall allergies. 319-341-0031
Acupuncture Iowa City 52240
Seasonal Affective Disorder alleviate by Acupuncture and light box therapy
Acupuncture can help with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Now that the hours of daylight are becoming so few, it is time for us to get our acupuncture treatment and SAD lights going. Yes. SAD stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder. These lights that help reduce the effects of the shortened daylight hours. You may have noticed that you begin feeling “blue” or depressed sometime in December or January. This is commonly the result of the reduced hours of light during our day. Using a 10,000 lux daylight bulb light for 20 minutes upon getting up in the morning is one of the best ways to alleviate SAD before it happens. NOW is the time to begin doing this, because by the time you have symptoms, it will not work as well. The light that I use is the Sun Touch Plus from the Nature Bright company.
It is a lightweight box that I can place next to me in the morning while I read or do emails first thing. You can even use it during meditation. Just point it toward yourself even with eyes closed, at about 2 feet away. It really helps.
The other thing that can really help is acupuncture. I’m now using an approach called Sa’am acupuncture that is very powerful with just 4 needles. WE can bring you energy, help with conditions worsened by cold damp, assist with craving sweets (holidays are coming up), and help with insomnia. A few sessions of acupuncture at this time in the year can help us get back into balance as the seasons change around us.
Our body is very sensitive to seasons, outdoor temperatures and humidity. However, we can do a lot to optimize our health and comfort during these changes.
Call for your appointment today. 319-341-0031
Over the past 5,000 years or so the Chinese and their forebears developed a comprehensive system of medicine that is designed to be able to address any health condition effectively. The medicine originated, like many primitive medicines, dominated by ideas of possession by negative spirits but has evolved over these medicine to be a systematic approach to all types of illness.
In China practitioners may specialize in treating trauma, broken bones, perform surgery, treat infectious illness, all aspects of women’s reproductive health, or pediatrics. They do this with a wide array of tools, many of which are not seen in the US.
The primary tools that Americans know are acupuncture, oral medicinals such as herbs, and cupping. There are also moxibustion (burning of moxa near the skin) and bleeding (where small amounts of blood are released from the body safely). All acupuncturists trained in the US learn these primary tools in their three-to-four year graduate level education programs.
The diagnostic system of Chinese medicine may seem strange to westerners, but it is grounded in Eastern philosophies and world views that are completely natural to their place of origin.
We do not depend on a Western conventional biomedical analysis of a health problem to be able to determine what treatment is appropriate in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine was developed long before these modern scientific approaches came along.
So, for example, in the fall in the midwestern part of the US we see an increasing amount of illnesses that are considered “dampness” in Chinese medicine. That includes increased runny and stuffy noses from ragweed, mold spores from rotting leaves, and airborne material from farm activity as they remove dusty moldy crops from the fields. People complain of increased joint stiffness and swelling, and feeling worse in damp cold weather. To the Chinese, this indicates an excess of dampness inside the body. So herbs can be used to improve the situation, or acupuncture strategies that help the body metabolize dampness better.
As the weather shifts through the seasons we tend to see physical health problems that parallel those shifts and we can respond to each pattern effectively with diet, herbs, and acupuncture.
Call today for help with your fall illness. 319-341-0031
Acupuncture is effective for lumbar disc herniation treatment. A recent study conducted at Xinzheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Henan, China found that a combination of acupuncture and a modified Shen Tong Zhu Yu Tang herbal formula relieves pain and improves quality of life for patients with lumbar disc herniation. This study compared treatments of acupuncture and herbal medicine with the anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical celecoxib. Acupuncture patients experienced greater relief from pain and improvement in quality of life with a 90.69% total effective rate and no reported adverse effects. [1] In comparison, the control group experienced an 81.40% total effective rate.
Treatment was administered daily for a total of 14 days.
Results
The results of this study show that acupuncture and herbal medicine enhance the efficiency of traditional anti-inflammatory drugs like celecoxib. This treatment is not only effective, but is reported as safe as well. For more information, contact your licensed acupuncturist.
Reference:
[1] Ma Zhenlin (2019) “Observation on the Effect of Acupuncture Combined with Modified Shen Tong
Zhu Yu Decoction in the Treatment of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Herniation” Asia -Pacific Traditional Medicine Vol.15 (2) pp.129-141.
Acquired from HealthCMi
Acupuncture and herbs improve sleep for children with intractable insomnia. Kaifeng Pediatric Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine researchers find that the An Hun herbal formula combined with acupuncture applied to a single acupoint is effective for the relief of intractable pediatric insomnia. In a randomized controlled investigation, a total of 104 children were recruited for the study and were randomly assigned to a treatment group or a control group. The cured, markedly effective, and effective scores were added together to determine the total effective rate. In the acupuncture plus herbs treatment group, there were 20 cured, 25 markedly effective, 4 effective, and 3 ineffective cases, yielding a total effective rate of 94.2%. [1]
Acupuncture and Herbs
Participants in both groups were offered guidance in the areas of sleep hygiene, family sleep management, and diet. In addition, participants in the treatment group were prescribed the An Hun herbal formula.
Acupuncture was administered to a single acupoint: Yintang.
The results of this study indicate that a combined protocol of acupuncture and herbs provide effective relief from intractable insomnia in children. The use of a single acupoint proved effective, making this treatment suitable for young children that may have difficulty sitting still.
Retrieved from HealthCMi
Reference:
1. Zhu Bao (2018) “Clinical research on acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine for children with intractable sleep disorders” Chinese Integrative Medicine Pediatrics Vol. 10 (5) pp. 400-403.
