Most people know very little about the quality of the water they use. Even those of us who recognize the potential health risks in tap water often choose cost-effectiveness and convenience over superior quality.
Searching for information about your local water quality and how to improve it can make you feel like you're in chemistry class! Here's primer on why you should filter water and types of filtering systems.
What you eat and how often you eat play an important role in the health of your teeth and preventing cavities. Research shows that children who have healthy dietary practices are 44 percent less likely to exhibit severe dental caries in early childhood compared to children with poor diets.1 For adults, a healthy diet can protect tooth enamel and result in fewer trips to the dentist.
Years ago, a physician who suspected a patient had heart disease would probably not refer him to a gum specialist. The same holds true for diabetes and arthritis. Times have changed. The past 5 to 10 years have seen a growing body of research linking the health of your mouth to the overall health of your body. According to the American Dental Association, 40 percent of people with gum disease also have a chronic health condition. What's feeding the link? Not taking proper care of your mouth results in bacterial growth, which causes inflammation that not only spurs diseases of the teeth and gums, but can cause problems for other body systems if left unchecked. Oral problems can also be a symptom of other diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease.
Colonic irrigation, also known as "colon hydrotherapy," is the use of clean, temperature- and pressure-regulated water to flush out the lower intestines. This gentle flushing can aid in the elimination of toxin-containing waste in the colon, and relieve constipation by reestablishing regular bowel movements.
While the use of enemas is ancient, this particular therapy dates back to the early 1900s and has a long history of clinical evidence from physicians who routinely saw the difference it made in their patients' symptoms. It is also surrounded in controversy, as many alternative healers make wild and fantastical claims of its benefits.
Unless you're the parent of a toddler who has just mastered "going potty," poop is probably not a hot topic in your household. But the composition of what you deposit into the toilet has important implications for health. Did you know the features of fecal matter--such as the size, color, shape, odor, and consistency indicate how well the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is functioning? Those same features also provide clues about how your body is (or isn't) faring against threats of infection and more serious diseases like celiac disease, hepatitis, urinary tract infections, malabsorption disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, and cancer.
DHEA
By Gene Bruno, MS, MHS – Dean of Academics, Huntington College of Health Sciences
Over 2500 medical articles have reported the benefits of dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, a hormone secreted from the adrenal glands. As a dietary supplement, DHEA has many applications to human health. Following is a discussion of some of these applications.
Aging is a gradual deterioration of our various organs and systems. It is not just "getting older." People don't simply die because they are older. Death results from failure of an organ or system.
The Science of Bathing
Water is commonly employed to affect the human body using hot baths to relax muscles or ice packs to reduce swelling. In holistic medicine, water is also used as a healing modality to restore proper blood flow and ultimately restore the health of the blood and the whole person. Water is a miraculous substance because it can carry great amounts of energy and heat. It conducts heat to and from a living system and can conform itself to any shape. The use of water to restore health is commonly referred to as hydrotherapy.
Hydrotherapy can be performed in many ways, but essentially it causes tissues to relax (heat) and then contract (cold), thereby moving stagnated blood and immune components, releasing toxins, easing stress, and flooding tissues with nutrients. There are many other types of hydrotherapy, such as alternating heat and cold packs, alternating hot and cold soaks on specific parts of the body, poultices, compresses, and constitutional hydrotherapy (typically done by doctor or trained staff). One powerful form of hydrotherapy you can do at home is bathing.
To start off this new year I will be working on a new series called The Pillars of Primo Health. By pillars I mean foundational supporting parts that are key to achieving optimal health (Primo Health). I've adapted some of these from my studies and from the work of other colleagues. But this final list is my own. I've concluded that there are 10 Pillars of Primo Health.