Another factor that influenced societal and medical approaches to mental-emotional disease in traditional Chinese culture was the role of the extended family unit. Just as self-denial and self-control were seen as necessary to keep peace within society, they were also seen as essential to keeping peace within the family. Thus, while the extended family on… Continue reading →

One of the priorities of Chinese culture and society following the disruptions of the warring states period (475 – 221 BC) was to achieve some degree of social harmony and to avoid further anarchy, warfare, and dispute in a vast country with many different cultural minorities. Confucianism, which even moreso than Daoism became the dominant… Continue reading →

“Experts at curing diseases are inferior to specialists who warn against diseases. Experts in the use of medicines are inferior to those who recommend proper diet.”

On the Treatment of the Aged, Zhi Chen; 11th century

When we succomb to sensations of stress, various changes affect our body:

• We enter the ‘fight or flight’ mode which alerts the adrenal glands to produce adrenalin and noradrenalin

• Calcium is released into the bloodstream

• Perspiration increases

• The sympthatic nervous system shuts down immune action and reduces bloodflow to the digestive system and to all… Continue reading →

We all know that stress is not good for our health. I recently came across a survery of 2,050 adults (reported in Natural Health magazine; August 2015, P104 -105) that found twenty per cent of them had taken time off work for stress and ten per cent had sought professional help. As well as reducing… Continue reading →

There is much current debate about how healthy eating fruit actually is. Fructose in fruit is a sugar, and most western diets are not exactly short of sugar.

Perhaps more significant than the amount of fruit we eat is how we eat it. Some detox and quick-fix diets talk up the power of juicing. However,… Continue reading →

Each adenal actually contains two glands, the medulla and the cortex. The medulla is inside the cortex, and they derive from completely different embryonic tissue. The medulla derives from nervous tissue, and it secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline. It rarely malfunctions, except in the very rare case of a benign tumour, which will lead to excess… Continue reading →

The pituitary gland is only peanut-sized but produces nine different hormones. Disorders of the pituitary involve over or under secretion of one or more of these hormones.

Hypopituitaryism, or Simmond’s Disease, involves a loss of secretions of the anterior pituitary usually resulting from head injury or from post-partum haemorrhage. This leads to a loss… Continue reading →

I recently read a piece in a national newspaper in which seventies pop star, Leo Sayer, spoke about treatment he had been receiving for chronic digestive problems. This was the first time I had heard of this therapy. It is called BICOM therapy and apparently is administered mostly by acupuncturists. The aim of the treatment… Continue reading →

This is a type of massage that is percussive in nature. Tapotment acts principally on nerve trunks, conveying a series of shocks to the nerous system. The aim of the treatment is to stimulate the muscles and to make them contract – which is pretty much the oppposite of what you are trying to do… Continue reading →