Monthly Archives: October 2014

0 Acupuncture – Bodyweight Loss And Its Usefulness

Acupuncture and sound acupuncture is renowned across the athletic community, and it remains a safe way to tap into the human body’s energy meridians. Dieters, fitness professionals and common individuals have utilized the practice for chronic pain relief, nausea and weight reduction, and there’s a reason why.

A Multi-Purpose Approach to Weight Loss and Success

Weight is gained through a variety of reasons, including reduced metabolisms, hormone imbalances, poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

Regardless of the cause, weight gain is primarily caused by energy flow alterations. Each of the above causes directly relates to the body’s natural energy levels—as well as their disturbances.

The brain’s hypothalamus is responsible for keeping the body “in balance”. It’s no surprise hormone imbalance, altered sleep cycles and poor nutrition can warp the hypothalamus’s perception of that balance.

Acupuncture influences obesity hormones through increasing a hormone called ghrelin while decreasing leptin. Through acute manipulation of the hypothalamus, acupuncture can effectively increase weight loss through the following processes:

• Reduced hunger cravings
• Curbed appetite
• Boosting metabolism
• Regulating hormones
• Improving digestion

Other Bodily Functions

Similarly, acupuncture targets the body’s processes dealing with digestion. Acupuncture realigns energy involved with the liver—an organ responsible for producing vital digestive nutrients. Acupuncture increases the muscle’s smooth muscle tone, further curbing appetite.

Getting the Most Out of Acupuncture-Based Weight Loss

Many resources have defined acupuncture’s weight reduction benefits. In fact, the practice has become one of the Western World’s leading medical advancements. Authorities like The Balanced Life Institute and The International Journal of Obesity have researched clinical trials, and they’ve depicted positive results.

While acupuncture does, indeed, benefit weight loss, a supplemental exercise routine is advised. Acupuncture effectively stimulates the body’s fat loss, and pairing it with a healthy routine can “jump start” an individual’s fat burning processes

Where acupuncture, itself, is considered, its practice has become incredibly popular among medical practitioners and alternative medicine providers. While the world waits for increased evidence, many individuals have obtained amazing results. It’s time to shed the extra weight, and it’s time to realize the power of restorative techniques.

0 Western verses Chinese Medicine Diagnostics

Chinese and Conventional Medicine Diagnostic Techniques: What Are the Differences?
Conventional medicine, sometimes referred to as Western medicine, is that which is widely accepted and practiced in mainstream society, based on modern notions of biology and chemistry and grounded in scientific method. When visiting a doctor or hospital in a developed country, it is conventional medicine practices that will be used to diagnose and treat illness. While conventional medicine dates back to the age of Enlightenment in the late 17th century, Chinese medicine practices are over thousands of years old. Beginning in parts of East Asia and slowly spreading across the world, they are now used as an alternative or complimentary practice to conventional medicine, most commonly in the forms of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Here we outline some of the main differences between Chinese and conventional medicine diagnostic techniques.
Underlying Philosophies of the Human Body
Conventional medicine adopts a reductionist approach to health, which sees the body as made of many smaller units that make a whole. This approach allows medical professionals to hone in on a particular component of the body and treat it accordingly, such as the lungs, the heart or the brain. Comparatively, Chinese medicine adopts a holistic approach, believing that each part of the body is interdependent with other parts. Thus, the only way to study a human body is to observe the system as a whole. It is this understanding of health and the human body as an interrelated system that underlies the unique diagnostic techniques utilised in Chinese medicine practice.
Differences in the Diagnostic Process
As well as their differing understandings of the human body, conventional and Chinese medicines adopt unique processes to diagnosing illness. Conventional medicine is steeped heavily in scientific processes, based on medical history, physical examination and laboratory investigations. Chinese medicine also makes use of medical history and the physical examination, but the diagnostic process diverges steeply from Western medicine’s approach.
Because Chinese medicine views the body as a unified system connected by channels which run through key organs and other locations on the physical body, the diagnostic approach always begins with an examination of the body as a whole, no matter where the specific complaint is centred or what the symptoms are. Chinese medicine doctors will analyse many elements of their physique, including body shape, hair, face shape, facial features and skin colour. This reflects the holistic philosophy of Chinese methods, which sees all parts of the body as interrelated, including physical appearance.
Because Traditional Chinese medicine views the body as a whole, similar symptoms can be diagnosed as resulting from different maladies and thus two patients displaying the same symptoms can be treated in vastly different ways. Chinese medicine’s approach can be simplified to three basic diagnostic approaches – external stimulation, internal treatment, and resetting of spiritual or informational flow between the different systems of the body.
External stimulation typically involves techniques like acupuncture, which is applied in the belief that the interconnectedness of the body means that stimulation in one area produces predictable effects on another. Internal treatment typically involves the administration of natural and herbal remedies that are formulated for specific key organs, again to affect one part of the body in order to produce an effect elsewhere. Finally, exercises are prescribed to redirect the energy within the body that has come out of sync.
Chinese medicine’s diagnostic approach is not completely dissimilar to the experience Western doctors apply to every patient they see as well, drawing on their own experiences as well as documented cases they have studied to arrive at diagnoses without or in some cases in spite of modern medical equipment and technology.