Now admittedly I’ve been winter swimming in icy waters in Scandinavia since I was 3 years old (voluntarily following my mom in the ocean, mind you). I’ve always been keen on the benefits of cold-and-heat alternating therapies and how it can tone our vagus nerve and thereby help alleviate stress and build resilience.
However, right now this cold therapy trend is getting out of control.
This trend is being pushed by influencers with no health education or people without an understanding of the nervous system - yes, even researches focusing on one aspect only i.e. how cold therapy can change our fat tissue. However, this is ONLY one aspect of how cold therapy is affecting us. We need to understand the bigger picture of how something is affecting us LONG-TERM and our body as a whole, before we dive in. Most importantly we need to understand how our own nervous system is wired and what therapies is best matched to that. Too many lack the understanding of doing things in short bursts or in moderation to stress the body short-term in order to build resilience long-term - instead they are pushing the body beyond capacity, staying in ice water for 5-20 minutes with the mantra “more is better” or just being solely focused on changing fat tissue without understanding what large doses of adrenaline release does to the nervous system.
Read MoreI am interviewed for Vogue Scandinavia about facts and myths of hangover cures. Read full article here if you are a member of Vogue: https://www.voguescandinavia.com/articles/because-we-know-you-need-ithere-are-the-best-hangover-cures or if you are not a member you can read it in pdf here. Feel free to share it.
Read MoreCan essential oils really boost the immune system (lymphocytes) in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy?One of the biggest challenges when you are in chemotherapy is to keep your lymphocytes up, so you can continue in treatment. Studies suggest that something as simple as essential oils can help with just that. 66 patients in the early stages of colorectal cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial. The aromatherapy massage for the intervention group consisted of 3x 45 min massage sessions over a week with ginger essential oil in coconut oil, while the control group only received standard supportive care. At the end of the week, the mean number of lymphocytes was significantly higher in the massage group and reported symptoms of fatigue, pain, and stress were significantly lower than in the control group.Statistically significant increases in the number of peripheral blood leukocytes and lymphocytes were also reported by another trial involving 12 breast cancer patients who received a 30-minute aromatherapy massage twice a week for four weeks with essential oils of sweet orange (Citrus aurantium), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) ) and sandalwood (Santalum album) in jojoba oil.
Read MoreThis time-tested method used extensively at some of the top Swiss clinics is now gaining more widespread recognition in the medical community. The full article is only available for subscribers and can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10609857/
Read MoreOpioid (painkiller) addiction is one of the greatest epidemics of our time, and luckily America is taking action on this debilitating situation politically, which has been a long time in the making. Did you know that after long-term taking pain-killers in the form of opioids you completely blunt you body’s NAD level? NAD is essential to protect tissues, induce DNA repair, and increase life span. NAD therapy has been seen to greatly reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms from alcohol and opioids. Now what is super interesting here is that the peptide BPC 157 has been shown to be able to regenerate damaged nerves in areas linked to pain i.e. combating chronic back pain for good. This break-through treatment method is making opioids obsolete for pain management. “BPC 157 promotes the ex vivo outgrowth of tendon fibroblasts from tendon explants, cell survival under stress, and the in vitro migration of tendon fibroblasts, which is likely mediated by the activation of the FAK-paxillin pathway.” (1) And also worth noting is, that this peptide has shown promise with regards to brain injury: “Brain-trauma study demonstrated that BPC 157 may preserve consciousness and lower brain edema, decrease the number and size of the hemorrhagic traumatic lacerations, and mitigate the intensity of subarachnoidal bleeding with significantly decreased intraventricular hemorrhage, and diminish mortality [68]. Also in supportive analogy, after contusion, BPC 157 (given locally or intraperitoneally) improved crushed muscle healing, with less post-injury haematoma and edema and a complete restitution of function. “ (2) Read the full studies below and ask your physician about treatment with BPC 157 if you suffer with chronic pain or brain injury.
Read MoreJoint pain and inflammation related disorders are almost something every single one of us deal with at one point in our life, whether we realize what the culprit is or not. If we do not target the inflammation triggers and eliminate it, we will not benefit fully from any healing recovery program. First step: identify the triggers and then the second step is to include as many of the top 10 anti-inflammatory foods from below list as possible with each meal. Keep in mind, that most people need not eliminate every possible trigger noted down here - everyone is different and has a different tolerance threshold.
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