Alternative treatments for fertility; boosting fertility naturally.

Infertility, defined as the inability to conceive after a year or more of trying, affects about 10 percent of couples — 6.1 percent of women between the ages of 15-44 according to the CDC. While many TV shows have covered it as of late, mainstream media can have many people thinking that the only options could be IVF Surrogates due to high profile celebrity practices in the public eye. 

There are many ways couples can boost their fertility naturally including acupuncture, Chinese medicine, supplements, fertility yoga and others. Most couples like to explore some of these options before venturing into more expensive — and invasive — treatments. Here, we look at a few of the top natural fertility boosters:

From MNN

Acupuncture

In regard to fertility, the Eastern perspective looks for energetic imbalances, where energy is blocked and how to get energy to flow more freely. From a Western perspective, acupuncture improves fertility by increasing blood flow to the uterus, and that in turn can thicken the endometrial lining, which makes implantation easier. “There is definitely a balancing and regulating affect on hormones that can regulate ovulation and can relax the uterus and decrease uterine contractions that interfere with implantation,” says LeGendre.

 

Acupuncture releases beta-endorphins, and in addition to having a stress relieving affect, it has been show to improve all of your reproductive hormonal functions. So, not only does it soothe the sympathetic nervous system, but it has an effect on the entire nervous system.

Chinese medicine

In addition to needling, most acupuncturists also prescribe Chinese herbs in correlation with regulating hormones and balancing your menstrual cycle. Different formulas are given depending on what each woman’s specific issues are.

 

A study in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine found women receiving Chinese herbal treatments were twice as likely to get pregnant within a four-month period as those receiving conventional Western medical fertility drug treatment or IVF. LeGendre says it usually takes about three months of once weekly treatments and she often sees a pregnancy in the three- to six-month window.

 

LeGendre also recommends women’s male partners have treatment, as acupuncture and Chinese medicine can improve both sperm count and quality.

 

Fertility yoga

“We all know what it’s like when shoulders and neck get tight, so imagine all the structures in your body doing that because of the stress of trying to conceive,” says Jennifer Colletti, a master yoga teacher and Ayurveda yoga specialist at Fertile Grounding Yoga in Minneapolis.

 

Stress really hardens the body, so fertility yoga works on opening up the body with a lot of flow movements and breath work that can open the heart and uterus, or the low  belly area — the musculature and ligaments there. Colletti explains that when we stress, we round in and crunch into the fetal position, and so the heart and uterus are shutting those areas of the body off. The idea is to soften and open those areas with gentle poses. Of course, yoga is a relaxing, stress-relieving and restorative treatment, too.

 

Some of Colletti’s clients are undergoing ART (artificial reproductive therapy), and some aren’t. “The way I look at it is if we want children in our lives, we have to make space for them and when our lives are overwrought with stress, there is no space for babies, so I teach them to find space in their lives so they can invite babies in.” Fertility yoga opens up that space in both your mind and body. Colletti said she doesn’t boast the successes, but she sees many, many pregnancies.

 

Fertility-friendly lifestyle

Researchers have found that 83 percent of couples living a fertility-friendly lifestyle got pregnant within one year.  That includes:

• Stop smoking
• Avoid environmental toxins
• Get plenty of sleep
• Avoid alcohol
• Skip recreational drugs
• Eat healthy

“We tell men not to sit in a hot tub, not to work outdoors in prolonged warm temperatures, avoid tight undergarments, and avoid biking for long time periods, as warm temperatures can affect the production of sperm,” says Maher Abdallah, M.D. FACOG, an OB-GYN at American Reproductive Center in Costa Mesa, Calif.

 

Being overweight can also greatly reduce fertility, so diet and exercise is crucial.

 

Other natural treatment approaches

Other natural fertility treatments include chiropractic adjustments, hypnosis, and colored glasses that control melatonin production and may increase fertility by simulating approaching winter, the time of maximum fertility.

original article here: http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/alternative-therapies-for-fertility

A natural folk remedy that can stop bedbugs in their tracks?

"Generations of Eastern European housewives doing battle against bedbugs spread bean leaves around the floor of an infested room at night. In the morning, the leaves would be covered with bedbugs that had somehow been trapped there. The leaves, and the pests, were collected and burned — by the pound, in extreme infestations." 

Which has the medical and pest fighting communities working on it. 

Now a group of American scientists is studying this bedbug-leaf interaction, with an eye to replicating nature’s Roach Motel.

A study published Wednesday in The Journal of the Royal Society Interface details the scientists’ quest, including their discovery of  how the bugs get hooked on the leaves, how the scientists have tried to recreate these hooks synthetically and how their artificial hooks have proved to be less successful than the biological ones.

At first glance, the whole notion seems far-fetched, said Catherine Loudon, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in bedbug locomotion.

“If someone had suggested to me that impaling insects with little tiny hooks would be a valid form of pest control, I wouldn’t have given it credence,” she said in an interview. “You can think of lots of reasons why it wouldn’t work. That’s why it’s so amazing.”

But even though there is no indication that the bean leaves and the bedbugs evolved to work together, the leaves are fiendishly clever in exploiting the insects’ anatomy. Like the armor covering knights in medieval times, the bedbug’s exoskeleton has thinner areas where its legs flex and its tiny claws protrude — like the spot where a greave, or piece of leg armor, ends.

“The areas where they appear to be pierceable,” Dr. Loudon said, “are not the legs themselves. It’s where they bend, where it’s thin. That’s where they get pierced.”

This folk remedy from the Balkans was never entirely forgotten. A German entomologist wrote about it in 1927, a scientist at the United States Department of Agriculture mentioned it in a paper in 1943, and it can be found in Web searches about bedbugs and bean plants.

But the commercial availability of pesticides like DDT in the 1940s temporarily halted the legions of biting bugs. As their pesticide-resistant descendants began to multiply from Manhattan to Moscow, though, changing everything from leases to liability laws, the hunt for a solution was on.

The first task was to determine exactly how the hooks — the technical name is trichomes — worked. The process was viewed through an electron microscope, Dr. Loudon said. “The foot comes down onto the surface, but as it’s lifting up, it’s catching on these hooks,” she said. “The point is pointing down. So all of their legs get impaled.”

“And as soon as one leg gets caught,” she added, “they are rapidly moving legs around and try to get away on the surface. That’s when they get multiply impaled.”

Dr. Loudon and her co-authors — Megan W. Szyndler and Robert M. Corn from Irvine and Kenneth F. Haynes and Michael F. Potter of the University of Kentucky — then set out to mimic the mechanism.

Using a casting process similar to one a sculptor might choose, the scientists replicated, with polymers from different epoxies, the geometry of the trichomes, the sharp point on their tips and their flexibility and strength. Sometimes the tips of the hooks broke off during the molding process, resulting in a hybrid of biological and fabricated materials.

On the natural leaves, bugs were snagged, on average, after six steps, or locomotory cycles. (In one cycle, each of the insect’s six legs moves once.) Once stuck, they tried to free themselves, but they usually ended up just flailing in place around the impaled limb.

Read more: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/science/earth/how-a-leafy-folk-remedy-stopped-bedbugs-in-their-tracks.html?ref=science&_r=1&

Childbirth and the place of Doulas, Midwives.

Around 2004 there was an influx of women asking for birth support, Gaby said, who is actively involved in training doulas.

Contrary to midwives, doulas have no medical role in the birthing suite and only offer advice when explicitly asked. But she said her real focus is delivering effective child birth education before the big event.

"I used to be a doula that just turned up for the birth, but I realised after the first 10 years - which I call my 'apprentice years' - that really the focus and effort is about the work I do prior to the birth."

The concept of an experienced woman attending birth is not new, she said, and can be found in various indigenous cultures around the world. She said doulas used to be called god sibs or montrice.

"Aboriginal women had them forever, known as Charrlies and in Japan they are called Josanp," she said.

"It's not a new thing but has become en vogue because there is such a high intervention rate and the medical model is so powerful in the hospitals that women's births have been seen as a medical procedure and not something that's a natural process".

Gaby, who describes herself as "a guardian of natural birth" is very passionate about helping women have the most natural birthing experience they can have and take away their fears and apprehensions.

Gaby said she believes what she calls "the cascade of intervention" was a factor explaining the rising rate of caesarean deliveries in Australia.

"Women need to know that the smallest amount of intervention can snowball. A lot of women end up with caesareans because they were induced.

A major focus for Gaby is tackling the trend of women electing for caesarean births, which is also on the rise.

"It's really sad that in our society women are so terrified of birth that they are willing to go through major surgery.

"They miss out on a beautiful experience. It's the most divine experience a woman can go through.

She said while most partners are welcoming her into the delivery suite to take the pressure off and provide a calm and relaxed environment through her experience, she sometimes faced hostility from medical staff.

"In a lot of the private hospitals here in Perth the midwives really are hostile to me," she said.

"They see me as a threat. They even got to a point where you have to sign a consent form that you won't speak to your client, or encourage them or give them advice at any time."

Gaby found that her skills are gaining acceptance by the medical profession, and her new book A Labour Of Love II proudly features a foreword written by Perth's Professor Fiona Stanley.

With the new book, the sequel to her first birthing guide A Labour Of Love, Gaby aims to "empower through knowledge to give women the birth they want".

"If you don't know what your choices are, you don't have any," she said.

"Should you need medical interventions, you can't feel disappointed if you have put everything into your mental and physical preparations. People spend more money on their cot, their prams and their baby car seats etc than what they do on education. Birth education is invaluable."

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/national/health/the-rise-of-the-doula-20130408-2hhg8.html#ixzz2QeUOD52L

New Study: Acupuncture has proven results for reducing pain, inflammation after knee surgery.

New research concludes that acupuncture reduces pain and inflammation after knee replacement surgery. The research also finds that acupuncture improves range of motion following knee replacement surgery. Further, physical measurements of the swelling around the knee were significantly lower in the acupuncture group than in the control group.

Acupuncture was applied to patients with total knee arthroplasty starting at day 7 following knee replacement surgery. Acupuncture was administered three times per week until day 21 when the treatment regime was discontinued. Range of motion improved, swelling measurably decreased and pain levels were significantly lower in the acupuncture study group than in the group that did not receive acupuncture therapy. As a result of these findings, the researchers conclude that acupuncture is effective in the post-acute phase of knee rehabilitation following total knee replacement surgery.

This study builds on earlier findings that acupuncture benefits the knee. In other recent research, investigators discovered that acupuncture reduces knee pain and increases range of motion for patients with osteoarthritis. An interesting study, it compared sham acupuncture with modern acupuncture and classical acupuncture techniques. The sham acupuncture, a form of simulated placebo acupuncture, did not significantly improve the knee condition. However, both modern and classical approaches to acupuncture were highly effective in reducing pain and improving range of motion. The modern acupuncture style involved the application of points known to benefit the knees and the classical acupuncture style derived custom acupuncture prescriptions based on a differential diagnosis. The modern acupuncture style was over 60% effective and the classical acupuncture was over 70% effective in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. The researchers concluded that the efficaciousness of acupuncture is “method-specific.”

Reference:
Mikashima, Y., et al. "Efficacy of acupuncture during post-acute phase of rehabilitation after total knee arthroplasty." Journal of traditional Chinese medicine= Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan/sponsored by All-China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine 32.4 (2012): 545.

Max Karner, Frank Brazkiewicz, Andrew Remppis, et al., “Objectifying Specific and Nonspecific Effects of Acupuncture: A Double-Blinded Randomised Trial in Osteoarthritis of the Knee,” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2013, Article ID 427265, 7 pages, 2013.

http://www.healthcmi.com/acupuncturist-news-online/714-acupuncturekneereplacementsurgery

Meditate your way to a better sexual experience?

Many outlets have been touting Meditation as something of a cure-all and a life enhancer. While this can be true, the headline "Meditate Your Way to A Better Sex Life", along with the current era of "all enhancing pills" just seems almost too good to be true. 

But then Yahoo has a top headline that leads a reader to the following: 

According to researchers at Canada's University of British Columbia and Israel's HadassahUniversity Hospital, just a few sessions of meditation can boost your sex drive and speed arousal time.

The researchers measured the reactions of 24 women who were watching an erotic film, then measured for a second time after they attended three 'mindfulness' meditation courses.

Even though the participants were watching the same film, they were more turned on than during the first viewing.

The reasons for this aren't fully understood, but researchers believe the art of meditation allows you to 'turn off' the active part of your brain and focus on specific feelings and sensations instead.

In this interview, researcher Lori Brotto of  the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a Buddhist meditator herself, describes how she uses mindfulness meditation to help women who are unable to have intercourse because of actual or anticipated pain.

...in the last seven years we’ve carried out at least three studies now adapting the mindfulness based intervention to gynaecologic cancer survivors who we know have a high incidence of sexual side-effects following treatment. And most recently we’ve looked at either three-session or four-session mindfulness intervention versus a wait-list control group, or an education only control group. And women will report improvements in their level of sexual desire, their level of sexual arousal; we also measure the physiological sexual arousal response. We have women come into our lab, we expose them to some short video clips, neutral and erotic video clips and we measure their sexual arousal response  before and after treatment. And not only do we see an increase in the genital arousal response but we also see more agreement between the genital response and women’s self-report of being sexually aroused. So it seems that their mind and their body is more in unison following the intervention.

Read more of the original article here: 

http://www.theidproject.org/blog/nancy-thompson/2012/12/05/daily-connect-meditation-new-viagra

Using traditional yoga breathing techniques to aid in rest and sleep.

We have published many recent studies that link various prescriptions to unfortunate side effects, and oftentimes there is an alternative to big pharmacy medicine. With so many people experiencing unexpected side-effects from chemical based sleep aids, using breathing techniques derived from traditional yoga, used for centuries can make a significant difference without popping a pill. -C.M.J.

From Shape.Com

Everyone can use a little help falling asleep at night. Most people have a bedtime ritual, such as drinking a calming tea, lighting a candle, or maybe writing in a journal or meditating. If long, intricate, or even simple meditations are not your thing, here are two different breathing techniques used in yoga that can send you off to the land of zzzs. When trying these techniques, it is a great idea to have a pen and paper next to you so that if you have any gnawing thoughts that won’t quit, you can write them down so they go away (rest assured you will remember them in the morning). Sweet dreams!

Alternate Nostril Breathing
Encourages deep relaxation by balancing the left and right sides of the brain while calming the nervous system

Sit comfortably in or next to your bed (cross-legged, kneeling, propped up on blankets, or any way that feels the best for you), resting your left hand on your left thigh. Take your right hand with the fingers extended like you are waving at someone and bend your peace fingers (pointer and middle finger) so they curl into your palm.

Rest your right ring finger and thumb on either side of your nostrils, lightly touching them but not constricting. Take a big breath in and a big breath out, then close off the right nostril with your thumb and inhale through the left nostril fully for a count of four. At the top of that breath, close off the left nostril with your ring finger, hold and retain the breath for a count of four, and then release the right nostril and exhale for a count of four.

Next, inhale deeply for a count of four through the right nostril, close it off, hold and retain the breath for a count of four, and then release the left nostril as you exhale completely through it for a count of four. Proceed to inhale deeply through the left, repeating the cycle.

Do this as many rounds as you like, being sure to exhale through the left nostril to complete your last cycle. Once you are done, lie down in bed and drift away!

RELATED: Need more help conking out? Try these five simple tips for better sleep tonight!

Deep Throat Breathing
Calms the mind and relaxes the entire body

This one can be done lying down in bed. Lie on your back with your legs about hip-distance apart, arms relaxing on either side of your body, and eyes closed. Take a few deep inhales through your nose, exhaling out of your mouth. With each inhale, fill your lungs completely, and with each exhale, rid them of all of the air.

After three breaths, take a deep inhale through your nose for a count of four, slightly constricting the back of your throat so that it feels like you are breathing through a straw at the back of your throat and filling your lungs. The sound of your breath should almost mimic the soft sound of waves coming in and out. That sound is a huge part of what helps you fall asleep. (It can also be likened to the sound of a babysnoring.) Hold the breath at the top for a count of four while you quietly observe how you feel; try to feel full and relaxed. Then exhale through your nose for a count of four, again, slightly constricting your throat.

When all of the air is out of your lungs, start to fill them again as you inhale for a count of six. Hold this breath for a count of six, then exhale for a count of six. Continue in this manner, adding two counts each cycle for as long as is comfortable for you.

When you reach your max capacity of holding and breathing, start taking away two counts each time. So, if 12 beats is the most you can hold your breath comfortably, the next round, do 10 counts, then 8, and so forth.

Once you get back to a four-count breath, release all effort, come back to your normal breathing, and enjoy your slumber!

http://www.shape.com/blogs/working-it-out/yoga-breathing-fall-asleep-fast

Are Facial "Yoga" Exercises Better Than Botox?

A new trend on an old concept, facial exercises are used to tone skin, and make a person more aware of the muscles in their face that act voluntarily, affecting lines and wrinkles. 

"Botox doesn’t last forever and skin creams are topical," warns facial yoga expert and author of 'Yoga Face' Annelise Hagen. "Neither fix what’s going on underneath the skin’s surface, such as loss of muscle tone and lack of oxygen. Doing regular facial exercises increases circulation and blood flow to the face, which has been proven to prolong the production of collagen and elastin."

Still skeptical? Annelise Hagen gives us the lowdown on facial yoga:  


1. It is better than Botox: "Botox is a quick fix, the benefits are temporary. It’s so obvious when you get it done and the risk of that is people may make the assumption you are doing it because you have low self-esteem. Facial yoga addresses the cause of the problem, such as loss of muscle tone, but all Botox will do is mask the symptoms."

2. Your facial muscles like doing their own thing:   "Facial muscles respond to exercise just like any other muscle, only they’re involuntary. They do what they want, when they want. Anything you feel or think registers on your face. Facial yoga teaches you to become aware of what your face is doing, because after years of scowling, thinking or frowning, small lines will have formed."

3. It gives your face a workout: “Some lines, such as forehead or pucker lines, form because of things your face is doing habitually, such as frowning or kissing. You can get rid of these by smoothing out and relaxing the face. Other lines, like the nasal labial fold that goes from the nose to the mouth, tend to caused by tension and the dragging down of gravity. The only way to get rid of these is to strengthen the muscles in that area. Contracting the muscle alone won’t work, you’ll need to apply fingertip pressure to the area so that the muscle is pushing against something. Don’t drag or pull with your fingers, simply offer a resistance point so that the muscle has something to work against."

4. The results are immediate: "A Botox jab smoothens the face because it effectively paralyzes the facial muscles. Relaxing your face does exaclty the same thing. As you go through the poses, you’re stimulating collagen and elastin production and increasing circulation to the facial area. This will make your face appear plumper and improve skin tone."

5. It helps relax and rejuvenate your face: "A lot of people don’t realize this but holding in tension anywhere from below the eye socket to the neck and collarbones will drag the face and it’s muscles down. Facial yoga releases the tension, eventually lifting the face."

6. You could even lose some wrinkles: "There are some very big muscles in our face (the zygomatic, the masseter and the mentalis) but by working them out and training them, we can actually change the way our face looks. We can help a droop become a lift, or at least be in neutral."

7. It allows you to age gracefully: "Everyone’s looks will fade. But doing regular facial exercises can help you look your best at any age and even lose a few years. If you’re impatient and want an expressionless face, go ahead and (try) turn back time with injections or surgery."

8. Overdo it will make you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Your brow ridge will gets more prominent with age, so you don’t want to look overly built in the face. Unless you want the facial structure of Arnold Schwarzenegger that is. Doing a sequence of six to eight facial exercises for 10 minutes two to three times a week is more than enough." 

http://www.metro.us/newyork/life/article/1153547--facial-yoga-is-it-better-than-botox

Marijuana and Cancer: Scientists find compound that stops spread of aggressive cancers.

From Huffington Post 

A chemical derived from Cannabis stops spread of certain aggressive cancers: but cannot be effective by just smoking the herb.A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

The Daily Beast first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

Desprez, a molecular biologist, spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread. Meanwhile, fellow researcher Sean McAllister was studying the effects of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Finally, the pair collaborated, combining CBD and cells containing high levels of ID-1 in a petri dish.

"What we found was that his Cannabidiol could essentially 'turn off' the ID-1," Desprez told HuffPost. The cells stopped spreading and returned to normal.

"We likely would not have found this on our own," he added. "That's why collaboration is so essential to scientific discovery."

Desprez and McAllister first published a paper about the finding in 2007. Since then, their team has found that CBD works both in the lab and in animals. And now, they've found even more good news.

"We started by researching breast cancer," said Desprez. "But now we've found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers--brain, prostate--any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present."

Desprez hopes that clinical trials will begin immediately.

"We've found no toxicity in the animals we've tested, and Cannabidiol is already used in humans for a variety of other ailments," he said. Indeed, the compound is used to relieve anxiety and nausea, and, since it is non-psychoactive, does not cause the "high" associated with THC.

While marijuana advocates will surely praise the discovery, Desprez explained that it's not so easy as just lighting up.

"We used injections in the animal testing and are also testing pills," he said. "But you could never get enough Cannabidiol for it to be effective just from smoking."

Read more and watch video here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/marijuana-and-cancer_n_1898208.html