Last summer, a research group from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) quietly published the results of a new approach in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. What they found was striking. Although the size of the study was small, every participant demonstrated such marked improvement that almost all were found to be in the normal range on testing for memory and cognition by the study’s end.
Sitting, and its effects on health, is a hot topic these days. I recently wrote a review of current research, showing how excessive sitting increases our risk of chronic disease and death; it even cancels out the benefits of regular exercise.
It seems like I’m hearing more about this everywhere I turn.
Healthy lifestyle habits: we know we should do them, but sometimes, it just seems like work. Yes, Dr. Peters, I know that a Mediterranean diet and exercise will decrease my risk of dying, but it’s just one more thing to add to the daily to-do list. A phenomenon has popped up in recent years that makes it just a little less onerous to keep our minds and bodies fit:
This is the headline would like to see, whenever we hear about the latest scientific research in the media. However, even with the best scientific journals, pinning down “the truth” in medicine can be a tricky business. I think that science is important in guiding our health care decisions this, but we must be wary about overreliance on so-called evidence-based medicine.
Imagine two co-workers: one slim, the type who can seem to eat anything without gaining a pound — and therefore does not feel the need to exercise; the other one overweight, but who works out regularly. In spite of your latter colleague’s efforts, he has found it very difficult to lose weight. Which one is at greater risk for health problems down the road?
There has been a lot of speculation about the increasing rates of obesity over the last few decades. Many of the causes of this phenomenon are well known, and I have covered them in past articles: the move from whole foods to more processed foods, a decrease in physical activity with the rise in technology,
In the dog days of summer, “women of a certain age” probably know well the difficulty of getting a good night’s sleep, especially when dealing with postmenopausal hot flashes. The benefits of sleep cannot be overstated in terms of our overall health. Inadequate sleep can lead to diabetes, obesity, elevated blood pressure, and even certain types of cancer.
This is the time of year when many folks’ New Year’s resolutions include shedding a few (or a lot) of those excess pounds. A healthy, balanced diet with proper portion control is the place to start, of course. And starting an exercise program has tremendous health benefits, even beyond the waistline.
Starting with last week’s article about policosanol, I have been outlining five of the most common misperceptions I encounter in the field of natural medicine, and examine some more effective alternatives.
Myth #2: Cinnamon controls blood sugar (or even “cures” diabetes).
T’ype 2 diabetes and “pre-diabetes” (insulin resistance) are on the rise in the U.S.,
It’s that time of year.
Yes, the weather is still blazing summer heat (though we’ve finally been getting a break now and then!), but we hit a transition in the last couple of weeks. Somewhere in there, we reached the point where it’s still dark outside when my 5:30am alarm goes off. There’s about a three-month period —