Natural Health Care

Researchers in Canada have found that speaking two languages over the course of one's life can help to delay the onset of dementia by approximately four years.

Dementia is defined as a progressive decline in brain function due to damage in the brain beyond what might be expected with normal aging. The most common symptoms of dementia are:

I recently received a letter from a reader that asked for my opinion on a stretching technique called Active Isolated Stretching (AIS).

According to Dr. James Vaupel of the Laboratory of Survival and Longevity in Rostock, Germany, a person's life span has very little to do with genetics.

Dr. Vaupel explains that while certain physical traits like height are determined in large part by one's genetics, "only 3 percent of how long you will live compared to the average person can be explained by how long your parents lived."

One of the best gifts that we received for Christmas was a small kit of emergency items that we now have tucked away in the trunk of our car in case we ever find ourselves stuck on the road this winter.

If you do not have such a kit in your car, I encourage you to use the following list to prepare one as soon as possible.

Back StretchWhen you have to sit for long periods of time, do you naturally tend to slide your bum forward so that your lower back is slightly reclined? If so, you might consider purchasing a chair that has a built-in reclining feature.

Contrary to popular belief, sitting in a reclined position is healthier for the lower back than sitting upright is. This contention was bolstered by information presented at a recent meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.

In reading through dozens of airplane safety tips posted on government and airline web sites, it's apparent to me that the two most important plane safety tips are:

1. Whenever possible, choose to fly in the largest plane available. Planes that seat 30 or more passengers are subject to the strictest safety regulations. They also have more "meat" to absorb energy upon impact, thereby increasing the chances of passengers surviving.

vaginitis treatmentVaginitis is a condition that often goes unaddressed by women and their health care providers due to many people often feeling embarrassed about it. Vaginitis is also frequently misdiagnosed as a urinary tract infection, which can leave a woman unaware of lifestyle factors that are chronic, recurrent causes of vaginitis.

One of the main goals that I have for this web site is to encourage our readers to learn how to be their own best doctors.

Please don't misunderstand me; I think that there are some wonderfully caring and competent doctors in our world.

But there are also many doctors who don't have each of their patients' best interests at or even near the top of their list of priorities. Read more »

According to researchers at the Childrens Hospital Boston, surgery used to remove breast cancers can sometimes promote the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) that can contribute to metastatic cancer development later on. This hypothesis is congruent with the tendency for younger women who develop breast cancer to experience early recurrences of their cancers.

Researchers looked at data from 1,200 women who had surgery to remove breast cancers. They found that the two most common periods for recurrence was at 18 months and five years post-surgery. They also found that 20 percent of premenopausal women with breast cancer whose cancer had spread to their lymph nodes experienced recurrence within 10 months of surgery to remove their primary breast cancer tumours. Read more »

A joint analysis performed by researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, the University of California at Davis, the University of California at San Francisco, and the University of Pittsburgh indicates that most women at high risk for developing breast cancer do not experience an increase in life expectancy by taking the drug, tamoxifen.