I’m going to ask you to do something painful right now: think back to hitting puberty. Ouch. This is often an awkward time to look back on, as you recall adjusting to the changes in your body, developing an interest in dating and comparing yourself to friends. For most of us, the onset of puberty…
As important as it is to comprehend the meaning of qi in order to fully understand Chinese philosophy as it pertains to health, there isn't a literal equivalent in the Western world or an easy way to explain what it represents. In the U.S. and other Western nations, qi is much like what we think of as…
Unbeknownst to most, healthy fats in your diet, including long-feared cholesterol, are proving to be key players in brain and psychological health. In previous generations, people believed cholesterol clogged arteries and caused heart problems. However, today we understand that the standard Western diet, which contains a large amount of hydrogenated fats and refined carbohydrates, leads to…
While regular exercise has a ton of proven benefits — lowering stress levels, giving you more energy, better managing your weight and improving heart health — this doesn’t mean that overtraining can’t cause the opposite types of effects. Despite what some people assume, due to the chronic stress it places on the body, the risks…
Did you know that about 25 percent of the drugs prescribed worldwide are derived from plants? Of the 252 drugs in the World Health Organization's essential medicine list, 11 percent are exclusively of plant origin. In fact, about 200 years ago the first pharmacological compound, morphine, was produced from opium extracted from the seed pods of…
The loss of pituitary gland hormone production — also known as hypopituitarism — can be a serious, life-long condition. The pituitary gland is our master gland. It helps to produce many hormones that are necessary for our bodies to function properly. Symptoms for this rare condition can be severe. However, with appropriate treatment, individuals with hypopituitarism…
Phytoestrogens, or plant-based estrogens, are an almost mysterious part of nutrition. Just like it's hard to tell if soy is bad for you or not, sometimes phytoestrogens are bad for you, and other times they can fight certain cancers! To illustrate just how confusing phytoestrogens are, there are countless studies that show they can, in fact,…
Hormone replacement therapy is now a widely available treatment option that's growing in popularity among women over the age of 35 — specifically those who feel run-down, prone to weight gain (sometimes for the first time in their lives) and out of other options when it comes to managing symptoms of menopause. This includes options…
It's perfectly normal for a man's prostate to grow throughout his adult life. For some men, this doesn't bring about any serious symptoms, but for others, an enlarged prostate can lead to issues that affect not just prostate health, but their quality of life. An enlarged prostate affects one in five men between the ages…
