Topic: Health & Healing

Like a page out of the Magick 101 textbook, researchers are now saying that the best cure for lonliness may be an imaginary friend.

New research at the University of Chicago finds evidence for a clever way that people manage to alleviate the pain of loneliness: They create people in their surroundings to keep them company.

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Nicholas Epley, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science,
Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.

“Biological reproduction is not a very efficient way to alleviate one’s loneliness, but you can make up people when you’re motivated to do so,” said Nicholas Epley, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. “When people lack a sense of connection with other people, they are more likely to see their pets, gadgets or gods as human-like.”

A survey from the Society for Women's Health Research gauges doctors’ opinions on depression risk factors, symptoms and life stages when women may be more vulnerable to depression.

Women and men doctors have some divergent views about women and depression, according to a recent survey conducted by the Society for Women’s Health Research, a Washington, D.C., based advocacy organization.

Women doctors are more likely than their male counterparts to believe that women are specifically susceptible to depression during two key times of hormonal transition in a woman’s life: puberty (67.5 percent to 48.2 percent) and perimonpause (92.8 percent to 67.5 percent). There was no difference in the beliefs of male and female doctors about the risk of depression in the postpartum or post menopause periods.

Stressful living and poor diets taxes our digestion, which negatively affects our vital functions, even creating emotional issues. Under these circumstances, it's easy to put on weight, and a lack of exercise keeps it on. Dahn Yoga, a body-mind fitness program from Asia, increases blood circulation throughout the body, allowing it to burn fat effectively from the inside. The outcome is losing weight naturally and learning how to keep it off.

Data gathered by Centers for Disease Control show that 65% of Americans are overweight and 31% are obese -- and both rates have doubled in the past 25 years.

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According to Ilchi Lee, president of the University of Brain Education in South Korea, "Our stressful lives and poor diets have been bad for our digestive system and therefore for our health. People are experiencing a build up of waste in their intestines, which negatively affects all our vital functions -- including the brain -- and has an unfavorable mental-emotional impact. One common result is putting on weight. Once this happens, a lack of proper exercise often keeps the weight on."

Probiotics, which means "for life," have been used for centuries as natural components in health-promoting foods. The original observation of the positive role played by certain bacteria was first introduced by Russian scientist and Nobel laureate Eli Metchnikoff, who in the beginning of the 20th century suggested that it would be possible to modify the gut flora and to replace harmful microbes by useful microbes.

During the Cold War Era of the 1960s, Russian researchers were looking for ways to support the immune system in conditions running the gamut from cancer to bio-warfare agents. Eastern Europeans, with a cultural love of fermented milk products, logically looked to probiotics, or lactobacillus, for immune support because it was safe, cheap and effective.

What if you could add 10 years -- 10 good years -- to your life? A new book investigates the mysteries of human longevity around the world and reveals a revolutionary, cross-cultural and easy-to-implement formula for living longer, better.

Here's some good news: The average American can look younger, feel younger and avoid about 70 percent of the things that foreshorten his or her life. Studies show that habits -- as opposed to genes -- determine up to 90 percent of our life expectancy. Only 6 percent of how long we'll live is explained by our parents' longevity. Adopting the optimal lifestyle, experts say, can give us up to 10 more good years of life. But what is the optimal lifestyle?

Training automatic bodily processes shows high success rate with Raynaud’s Disease.

Everyone has felt the discomfort associated with cold hands. But for individuals with Raynaud’s Disease, cold weather and/or stress can cause blood vessels to constrict, leading to coldness, numbness, color change, throbbing and swelling of extremities including fingers and toes. Biofeedback has been shown to be highly effective in treating Raynaud’s Disease. Research by members of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback demonstrates that thermal biofeedback is especially effective in the treatment of primary Raynaud’s Disease, with some reports indicating that 80-90% of patients report improved circulation and a reduced frequency of symptoms.

Proposed legislation would require patients to be eighteen years old before undergoing circumcision.

MGMbill.org is again calling on Congress and state lawmakers to enact legislation that would require men to be eighteen years old before undergoing circumcision. On Tuesday, more than 2,500 elected federal and state officials received proposed bills via email, fax, and mail from the group's state offices as part of an ongoing effort to make circumcision laws gender neutral.

The link between eating oatmeal and cholesterol reduction is stronger than when the FDA initially approved the health claim's appearance on food labels in 1997, a new study shows.

A new scientific review of the most current research shows the link between eating oatmeal and cholesterol reduction to be stronger than when the FDA initially approved the health claim's appearance on food labels in 1997.

Dr. Ben Kim explains how habitual blinking and simple eye exercises can promote healthy eyes and improve vision naturally.

Blinking frequently and doing a few simple eye exercises can keep your eyes healthy and improve your vision, says Dr. Ben Kim, editor of the health website http://drbenkim.com.

Ilchi Lee believes that overcoming fatigue requires good nutrition, sound sleep, and energy-related practices - regular exercise, deep relaxation and stress-managing strategies. Based on oriental health principles, yoga can stimulate the body's energy system. Too much stress and tension block energy flows, depriving the brain and body of their natural vitality. He describes five Dahn Yoga exercises to generate vibrant energy.

Fatigue, the persistent lack of physical or mental energy and motivation, is increasingly common in our stress-filled world. It is often accompanied by muscle aches, apathy, lethargy and drowsiness. Fatigue is a normal response to high emotional stress, physical exertion, boredom and inadequate sleep. However, it may be a sign of more serious physical and psychological problems, such as depression, under active thyroid, sleep disorder and allergy.