Happy Winter! Topics in this Newsletter: News at the clinic, cell phones and your health, and a great home remedy for cold and flu season.
News at Vital Source:
Part of the mission of Vital Source Natural Medicine is to practice medicine and business in a sustainable fashion. As an attempt to grow and expand this effort, I have recently joined two great organizations focused on local economy and sustainability. Sustainable Connections is a network of businesses in Bellingham and the surrounding area that supports keeping business local and encourages sustainable business practices. The Fourth Corner Exchange is a cooperative local currency exchange that trades “Life Dollars” instead of US dollars for local goods and services….a sort of barter network with an actual currency and organized system for exchange. I’m excited to be part of both of these wonderful organizations!
In the News…Cell Phones and Your Health:
Concerned about cell phones and what kind of health impact they might have? This is a question I hear from patients a lot. I recently read an article and watched a video posted on Mercola.com that I found very informative. Dr. Mercola is a prominent MD that has a comprehensive natural health blog. This recent posting featured a talk by Dr. Martin Blank of Columbia University about cell phone use and EMF radiation. In his talk he gives an explanation, including recent research, of how cell phone radiation may damage your cells. Dr. Mercola continues with an article summarizing the talk, and citing some research about cell phone use and brain cancer risk. He also provides some ideas for how to reduce your exposure to cell phone radiation.
Click here to watch the video and/or read the article.
Fending off Colds and Flus this Season:
Do you feel like you catch lots of colds and flus in the wintertime? Do you ever feel a cold coming on and not know what to do to keep it from taking hold? The Warming Sock Treatment is one of my favorite ways to help fend off a cold or flu. It’s a wonderful hydrotherapy treatment that supports the immune system. It’s very easy to do and feels great. One of my favorite things about it is that it doesn’t involve “taking” anything. It simply supports the body in its own natural healing process. It also has a sedating action and many patients report that they sleep much better during the treatment than they usually do.
Warming Socks acts by reflexively increasing circulation and decreasing congestion in the upper respiratory passages, head, and throat. The combined effects of better rest, decreased congestion, and increased circulation make for a powerful immune enhancing treatment. It can be helpful at the very onset of an infection, or at any point during the course of an infection to speed healing. Other uses for the Warming Sock Treatment include pain relief (especially for headaches) and as a general tonifying treatment for increasing circulation to the feet.
General Indications:
Sore throat or any inflammation or infection of the throat, neck pain, ear infections, headaches, migraines, nasal congestion, upper respiratory infections, coughs, bronchitis, sinus infections, and to increase circulation to the feet.
Supplies:
1 pair white cotton socks
1 pair thick wool socks
Warm bath or warm foot bath
Directions:
- Take a pair of cotton socks and soak them completely with cold water. Be sure to wring the socks out thoroughly so they do not drip.
- Warm your feet first. This is very important as the treatment will not be as effective and could be harmful if your feet are not warmed first. Warming can be accomplished by soaking your feet in warm water for at few minutes or taking a warm bath.
- Place cold wet socks on feet. Cover with dry thick wool socks. Go directly to bed. Avoid getting chilled.
- Keep the socks on overnight. You will find that the wet cotton socks will be dry in the morning.
- Enjoy….and feel better in the morning!
If you’d like, feel free to download my handout on Warming Socks from my resources page under the “commonly used patient handouts” section.