the-psoriasis-treatment

I used to listen to this incredibly motivated motivational speaker years ago who was always talking about how you need to exercise daily to "release endorphins". The endorphins would make you high. Then you'd feel completely fantastic. And all your greatest creative ideas would enter your brain. What the heck are these endorphins anyway? Well, they are your body’s own natural painkillers (1) and they are distributed throughout the brain stem binding to receptors. The drug, morphine, attaches to the same receptors to dull pain (1). The name endorphin , in fact, comes from “endogenous morphinelike substance” (1). So, what about exercise? Anything to it? Yes. I was able to find in quite a few studies that exercise, almost any kind, does increase endorphin levels in the blood (2-7). In fact, a study in 1995 showed that when compared to meditation, running was more effective for releasing endorphins (7).To get the most potent pain-killing buzz from your workout, do high-inten

How is it that a traditional Ayurvedic medicine like Mucuna pruriens can be more effective than regular synthetic levodopa for Parkinson’s? Many reasons, apparently. The botanical with natural L-DOPA appears to actually help restore endogenous levels of endogenous levodopa, dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin in the substantia nigra (1). And, unlike synthetic levodapa, it doesn’t produce DNA damage (2). The neuroprotective effects are thought to come from copper-chelation properties (2). One clinical trial on 60 patients with Parkinson’s disease taking Mucuna pruriens reported that adverse effects were limited to only gastrointestinal issues, not lab reports (3). Reference List 1. Manyam BV, Dhanasekaran M, Hare TA. Neuroprotective effects of the antiparkinson drug Mucuna pruriens. Phytother Res 2004;18:706-12. 2. Tharakan B, Dhanasekaran M, Mize-Berge J, Manyam BV. Anti-Parkinson botanical Mucuna pruriens prevents levodopa induced plasmid and genomic DNA damage. Phytother Res 2

Got a tension headache? Don’t want to take an analgesic like aspirin or acetaminophen? You might try electroacupuncture. Sound like something out of sci-fi novel? Electroacupuncture is used widely in China; it’s just like acupuncture, but in which the needles deliver electrical pulses between therm. And according to a randomized, controlled, crossover trial in 2004, it can provide some effective relief for a tension headache, albeit only short-term (1). Get headaches way too often? You might as well take poison. No, seriously! The same neurotoxic dinoflagellate contaminant that produces shellfish poisoning, and even botulinum toxin, could be injected to impede nerve impulse causing headache pain to provide significant relief (2-4). Reference List 1. Xue CC, Dong L, Polus B et al. Electroacupuncture for tension-type headache on distal acupoints only: a randomized, controlled, crossover trial. Headache 2004;44:333-41. 2. Lattes K, Venegas P, Lagos N et al. Local infiltration of gonyautox