Herbal medicine and addressing the nervous system often go hand in hand as many herbs and natural remedies have been used for centuries to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and improve overall well-being. Very often when I am treating clients for various conditions, we have to address the nervous system as one of the underlying issues that is contributing to less-than-optimal health, healing and wellbeing.

In today’s Article I want to stir up a little bit of enthusiasm for herbal teas – a great DIY strategy that is often glossed over. Let me share with you a brief summary of some common herbs that you can pretty easily find so that you can take advantage of their medicinal properties, primarily as teas – an often underrated way of gaining all the goodness from herbal medicine.

But I want to reiterate what I just said which is the importance of the nervous system and the role it plays in your over all health. Of course it is important to find ways to relax and reduce stress and tension. Stating the obvious right? Please don’t just brush this aside thinking it is only herbal tea! And tea you can buy from a health food shop or your corner store.

“Herbal Teas Can Have Profound Positive Effect On Your Health”

So if you are not as well as you’d like to be, or you want to promote your health in some way, then DIY herbal teas are one place to start – and you really can’t go wrong!

Herbal Teas For Nervous System Health

Chamomile: Best known for helping the nerves to calm and to promote a relaxing sleep, chamomile is worth having on your shelf. It has been shown to have an effect on the central nervous system (1). Personally I don’t love the taste of Chamomile – I think I overdosed on it during my college years! So I like to blend it with something else that is relaxing. And that’s a good strategy to take generally. You want your herbal r=teas to taste nice of course, but when you are taking a health-focused DIY approach, then make sure the herbs you mix have a similar medicinal effect. (Chamomile and peppermint is not good for relaxation)

Lavender: I love this herb and use a lot of it in the skin products I manufacture at the clinic. As a herbal tea, a small amount is so nourishing on the nervous system helping to provide calm and balance. In herbal medicine I often prescribe it when there has been some sort of trauma – physical or emotional as well as for clients that are suffering anxiety.
Valerian Root: One of my favourite muscle relaxants which is very handy when stress and tension are felt physically in the muscles. I love the taste of this tea – the plant is rich in essential oils, iridoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, amino acids, and lignanoids, giving it the characteristic scent and taste (2).

Passionflower: Used as a herbal tea when you want to help induce sleep. Now I tell my clients, even when I have prescribed them a potent herbal tincture of something like Passiflora, that these herbs are not like taking a strong pharmaceutical sedative that will ‘knock you out’. No. When you take these herbs with the intention of sleeping better, they will have a physiological effect that is calming and sleep-promoting, but if you are sitting up watching some thriller on TV, then I’m sure you’ll remain wide awake! These herbs facilitate calm and relaxation.

Lemon Balm: I’m including this one because it is used a lot on herbal teas. It’s a great tasting one so can blend nicely with other herbs. It’s a more gentle relaxant, still valuable for sure, and it has the added benefit of helping to ‘calm’ the digestive system.
One study (3) showed that lemon balm had a positive effect on memory, judgment, and problem-solving – all associated with nervous system functioning.

Storage:
Please keep your herbal teas in an airtight container. If left exposed to the air the essential oils will evaporate the there will be oxidation of some of the active ingredients (4).

Concentration of Tea:
The safest (and easiest) way to have herbal teas is to buy them already in tea bags or prepared and packaged as loose leaf tea and to follow the recommendations from the manufacturer.

References

(1) Chamomile tea: Source of a glucuronoxylan with antinociceptive, sedative and anxiolytic-like effects
Pedro Felipe Pereira Chaves et al. Int J Biol Macromol Dec. 2020

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32795578/

(2) Chemical Components and Cardiovascular Activities of Valeriana spp.
Heng-Wen Chen et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695638/

(3) Reviews of articles on medicinal herbs.
Wendy McLean, Australian Journal of Herbal & Naturopathic Medicine; National Herbalists Association of Australia (NHAA) Jun2023; v.35 n.2, 86-90. (5p)

(4) https://www.goodandpropertea.com/blogs/all/how-to-store-tea

Pictures

Lemon Balm
lemon-balm-770051_640
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/users/congerdesign-509903/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=770051

Chamomile Tea
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
chamomile-829220_640
https://pixabay.com/users/congerdesign-509903/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=829220

Herbal tea Assorted
Image by gate74 from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/users/gate74-5942741/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2519551
tribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=770051

The Four Key Ways Remedial Massage Supports Your Immune System

When thinking about ways to stimulate your immune response, there are times that a multi-faceted approach will serve you well. Over the years, as a homeopath & Naturopath I have treated many clients with immunological problems of one sort or another using natural medicines. Sometimes this is enough. There are times, however, that Remedial Massage can also contribute to a well-functioning immunity.
In this short article I want to cover four ways in which massage will help support and stimulate your immunity.

1: The Need To Reduce Cortisol

One of the more obvious ways Remedial massage can stimulate your immune system is because of the stress reduction that occurs with treatment. Increased stress means increased cortisol in your system and too much cortisol leads to increased vulnerability to illness and disease. This hormone is made in the adrenal glands in response to stress and helps your body to cope with these stressors. So we need some cortisol, but the problem is when we are chronically stressed, continuously high levels of the hormone plays havoc with your physiology – including your immunity. So with massage the levels are reduced and this contributes ton a feeling of relaxation and calm.
An interesting study (1) discusses how relaxation promotes immunity:

“Patients with cancer suffer a wide range of physical symptoms coupled with psychological stress. Moreover, cancer chemotherapy induces immunosuppression and consequently causes respiratory infections. Massage therapy has been reported to reduce symptoms in cancer patients via an increase in psychosocial relaxation and to enhance and/or improve immune function.”

2: Parasympathetic – WAY TO GO!

With a good therapeutic Massage Treatment, the nervous system is calmed. Many of us experience this after a treatment. So what’s happening is that your sympathetic nervous system is being ‘turned down’ and as a result of this, the parasympathetic nervous system becomes more dominant. Now what’s interesting here is that it is the sympathetic nerves that contribute to the production of cortisol and so levels are reduced when you are relaxed.

Diego reported in Moderate Pressure Massage Elicits Parasympathetic Response (2008) the effects of massage on the nervous system and its relaxation effects. (1)

“The article reports on the efficacy of moderate-pressure massage in increasing vagal activity and causing greater parasymphathetic nervous system (PNS) activity. Results of a study investigating the impact of massage on vagal activity and autonomic nervous system show higher level of responses, decrease in heart rate and blood pressure.”

Endorphins are also stimulated by remedial massage and unlike cortisol, a peak of endorphins is a great thing! They are stimulated by various things like laughter, exercise, excitement and Massage. These experiences lead to an increased sense of relaxation and we know relaxation (or less stress) stimulates the immune function.

3: Blood & Lymph Are Key

One of the more obvious effects of Remedial Massage is the stimulation of blood and lymph flow. Both of these things play a vital role in the functioning of a healthy immune response. Immune cells are transported throughout your body via the blood and lymph flow also helps direct where the immune cells go in your body. By stimulating blood and jymph flow, the immune function is supported.

4: Sleep – The Elixir Of Life

The final example of how Remedial massage helps your immunity, is that sleep can improve after treatments and we all know a good night’s sleep is a key driver of a well-functioning immunity. There is a lot of research these days showing the effect of broken sleep and how your health is adversely affected, including immune decline.

References:

(1)Leg massage therapy promotes psychological relaxation and reinforces the first-line host defense in cancer patients.
Noto Y et al. Journal of anesthesia [J Anesth] 2010 Dec; Vol. 24 (6), pp. 827-31.

(2)Moderate Pressure Massage Elicits Parasympathetic Response.
Diego, Miguel A. Massage Magazine. Oct 2008, Issue 149, p92-92. 2/3p.

pictures:

1: Immunity
defense-1403067_640: Image by Bruno from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/users/bru-no-1161770/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=1403067

2: Massage
https://pixabay.com/users/kian2018-9392571/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3666269. chinese-medicine-3666269_640

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“Is It Time To Step Into The
New & Healthier You?”

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”6351″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]As a homoeopath & naturopath for over 30 years I have seen natural medicines have a profound, positive affect on people’s health and their life. And sometimes medicines are enough.
However, there are times when healing physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually, there can be huge benefits from addressing the way we think and feel, the stories we tell ourselves, old patterns of behavior and thoughts.

Healing With LOA Coaching, is an ideal program when you need extra support and encouragement as you move toward deeper levels of health and experience a growing sense of wellbeing. Using intentional mindset approaches as well as law of attraction (LOA) techniques, I can encourage and support you as you find new levels of health, healing and wellbeing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Often your old thinking patterns or past emotions can slow your progress. In some cases, they will sabotage your healing and your ability to enjoy the new, higher level of wellbeing you desire. Together, we can find ways to enhance your experience & sense of ‘peace, balance & wellbeing’. We need to be able to move towards a new, better, more aligned version of ourselves. We need to be able to allow the level of health we desire, to evolve and manifest. One way to do this is to make conscious and intentional decisions that will lead us to this deeper level of wellbeing.

This coaching is not counselling or psychology (which has its place for sure). I coach you back to fundamentals, back to the issues that are getting in the way of you moving through and forward. I also help you to focus on nourishing positive mindset patterns and celebrate and affirm with you all the progress you make.
Having me ‘on your side’ to support you in this way may significantly help you move forward more quickly and easily, towards where you want to be with your health, healing and wellbeing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”6344″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

How It Works: I will give you the following

-my full and focused attention
-concise, intuitive feedback
-laser focused comments
-encouragement to keep on track and step into the ‘new, healthier version of yourself’
-identify old patterns and to replace them with something more aligned
-give you a different perspective on situations
-help you create and live into new stories that you choose to tell about yourself.
-use law of attraction principles to promote your wellbeing and healing, helping to ‘create your reality’
-use intention mind set techniques to help ‘reprogram’ and ‘reshape’ your thoughts & feelings[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”6349″ img_size=”large”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

The Technology

You and I set up a Voxer group and use the chat & voice recording. You can send me voice message or text whenever you like, 24/7 and as often as you need to during the time period. My intention is to respond within 48 hrs but usually it is much, much quicker than that. If I am able to, I will respond straight away. In other words I under promise and over deliver!! (voxer is a little like what’s app. There’s a free version to download: www.voxer.com)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Not Everyone Suited

Healing With LOA Coaching is not for everyone so if it doesn’t sound right for you, that’s totally fine. For many people, simply using homoeopathic or naturopathic medicines is enough. If your intrigued but not sure, let me know and we can talk about it to see if this is going to help you. If this does make sense to you and sounds like it will help you, then let’s go! Let’s do it!

Investment

One month’s Support (28 days): $450 (AUS) paid in full.
One month is the minimum time I offer. Less than that is generally not enough time to make a lot of progress. We need time so that you can begin to step into the healthier version of yourself. However……..[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Would You Like My Support For One Week?

If you haven’t had Healing With LOA Coaching with me, then I offer a 1 week introduction. It’s a great way to begin to experience LOA and mindset approaches with me and see if we are a match. This is a once only option available for clients. Special 1 week offer – $150 (AUS). Non-refundable, paid in full.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Healing With LOA Coaching may help you to

• move through blocks that are preventing you from experiencing your optimal health.
• help shape the future you
• deal with emotional issues that may rise to the surface during homoeopathic treatment.
• Focus on a particular health issue for a set period of time and use LOA and mind set principles to help shape the new version of yourself and
• Change old patterns of behavior that no longer serve you.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Pictures

1: Smiling Man: Pexels from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/users/pexels-2286921/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=1836445

2: Smiling Woman: Martyn Dix from Pixabay portrait-2827173_640. https://pixabay.com/users/martyndix-6230113/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2827173[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]best flu remedy

What Is The Best Flu Remedy?

When we are approaching ‘flu season’ it is good health practice to have the beat flu remedy in place both for prophylaxis and treatment. It is helpful to remind ourselves that the common old flu is rather a serious matter. In fact, approximately 222000 were infected by the influenza in 2017 and sadly there were many deaths as a result of it.

In this short article I want to highlight the issues that are really important from a Naturopathic / Homoeopathic point of view and share with you some remedies that may help with colds, flu’s, coughs and colds. Now it is a bit silly to say something is the best remedy as there are many ways to deal with the flu depending on the circumstances and the person being treated.

There are however some basic, absolutely essential fundamentals that can have a massive effect of how well any remedy can work. This is what I want to share with you today.

Vulnerability – A Key Factor

Some individuals are more susceptible to infections than others and the reasons for that are many. Have you ever wondered why certain people will catch a cold while others are spared, even though they have been in contact with infected people? One important factor in determining susceptibility or weaker immune systems, is your current state of health. In other words, “how healthy are you right now?” This will contribute to your vulnerability to infection.

Building Your Health Status

There are so many ways you can do this of course. When the flu season is approaching, you need to be as healthy as you possibly can be.  I don’t mean to be simplistic, but this attitude and approach can make all the difference. If you do happen to fall sick it is possible you will be less effected by the symptoms and the flu wont last as long – because of your robust health! Makes sense doesn’t it.

The very best piece of advice I can offer you is to

act now and build up your levels of health.

So it’s the usual things that contribute to your health. For example: exercising regularly, having a highly nutrient-dense diet, making wise choices about the type of treatments you have and how you take care of your mental and emotional health. Another great example is to make sure you are sleeping well and getting enough good quality sleep. You might like to check out my article Insomnia – Natural Cures. Fatigue and lack of sleep are going to lower you immune system and ]may make you more vulnerable to the flu.

Emotional Balance. The Best Flu Remedy ?

Perhaps! Emotional health is every bit as important as our physical health. Although a bit of a cliché, it is well-known that ‘emotional stress’ will lower the immune system’s ability to fight infections and therefore, reducing stress becomes a really important component of preventing and treating the flu. We need to find ways to deal with negative emotions (including stress) and  begin to restore emotional health and balance, as much as possible.

So there is obviously not just one best way to deal with the flu. Having said that there are definitely some more general approaches that can potentially improve flu symptoms and help you to recover more quickly as well as help reduce the likelihood of contracting the flu in the first place.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Today I want to bring your attention to an important part of the healing process – a deep understanding of the nature of health and healing helps you to achieve greater levels of health. I’m all about education – knowing what is health and what constitutes healing. If you’re going to have significantly better health, it’s important to know the different mechanisms that can occur along the way.

A Healing Crisis Is Healthy
One of these process is called a healing crisis. Essentially it is a worsening of symptoms or reoccurring of them within the context of your treatment and your progression towards becoming healthier. Now let me be very clear about two things here: the first is that there is a limit to how much we want symptoms to aggravate and secondly, many people don’t experience a healing crisis at all – or nothing really noticeable.

But when it does occur it can be very mild or more significant and how you deal with this is really important if you want to keep on the path of healing.

Let me give you some examples

1. Someone who has had suppressed anger my find that during treatment, their anger levels rise and come to the surface and they may begin to overtly express this anger – they might have outbursts here and there. Physical symptoms may be exacerbated at the same time.

2. Another example is someone who has been having a lot of antibiotics for say, tonsillitis. During Naturopathic or homoeopathic treatment, the tonsils may flair up (not infected) and become hyperactive if you like, as the immune system is stimulated.

3. And another aggravation of symptoms may occur after a consultation when we have talked about some deep inner feelings and experiences – it’s a little like the cover had been lifted from deep seated emotions and airing them brings them to the surface and this can seem like an aggravation of symptoms – emotional and or physical.

4. If someone has been of a unhealthy diet and then suddenly changes their eating patterns to include only health foods and beverages, there can be an unpleasant healing crisis as the body readjusts to new foods and begins the elimination processes. As a Naturopath, we use specific techniques and medicines to minimise this sort of healing crisis as the symptoms can be very unpleasant and actually harmful to the body. For example, it is very stressful for the liver to detoxify loads of toxins during a healing crisis and so careful liver support id required.

Each of these situations may be indications that you are moving towards a healthier state. In fact, us Naturopaths and Homoeopaths usually see a healing crisis as a really good sign as your healing progresses. If this does happen with you, don’t panic! Just stop any medication you are taking and give the clinic a call.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The science of sleep is fascinating – our body undergoes tremendous regeneration and healing as well as helping us to mentally and emotionally process our experiences. One only has to become a little sleep deprived to gain insight into the importance of sleep. The link between lack of sleep and disease is very strong and I really want to encourage you to find ways to both improve your sleep as well as to enhance it, thereby maximising your own health potential and helping to prevent the onset of serious illness and disease.

In my clinic about 20% of my clients have issues with their sleep and I usually see the best results with herbal, nutritional or homoeopathic medicine. Of course there are often other health-related issues going on as well and so when treating insomnia, recurrent nightmares, unrestful sleep etc. a holistic approach is essential if you really want to address underlying health problems. Finding effective ways to reduce stress and tension are often (but certainly not always) an important part of the formula for improving sleep.

If you are not sleeping well you may be at risk of the following diseases:

1. Alzheimer’s Disease

In the JAMA Neurology, 2013, Spira AP, Gamaldo AA, An Y, et al. (1) found that deficient sleep is associated with Alzheimer’s as well as influence the progression of the disease. It had been known that sleep enabled the central nervous system (which includes the brain) to ‘cleanse’ itself neurological ‘waste’ that contributes to dementia. The marker for Alzheimer’s is beta-amyloid and this molecule was found in higher concentrations in people that were sleep deprived.
2. Blood Sugar Irregularities, Diabetes & Obesity
Obesity and diabetes are closely linked and lack of sleep is also associated with obesity. One of the issues here is the amount of fatty acids in the blood and it was found that in men who had four hours of sleep over 3 days, had highly elevated levels of fats in their blood, 15-30% more than men who had 8 ½ hrs of sleep a night. Now I realise it is an extreme situation to have such little sleep, but the point is that under this stress, the blood fats were adversely affected and the question is whether less degrees of sleep deprivation will adversely affect lipid levels. It was also found that insulin resistance increased with higher fatty acid levels and this is a driver of diabetes.
3. Cardiovascular Disease
A Russian study involving 657 men showed a strong correlation between heart attacks and sleeping disorders – almost 2/3 of the men in the study had both heart attacks and a sleeping problem. The men were 2.6 times more likely to have a heart attack and 1.5 times more likely of having a stroke.

4. Suicide
A study from Stanford University of Medicine involving 420 people over a 10-year period looked at the incidence of suicide and sleep problems. It was determined that those suffering regular sleeping problems were 1.4 times more likely to commit suicide. In this study, the more vulnerable people were white men over the age of 85 with other health issues as well as increased stress levels.

5. Ulcerative Colitis

Both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are associated with sleep deprivation and indeed over-sleeping and addressing these sleep issues is often part of the treatment plan for my clients with these potentially devastating illnesses of the digestive system. The ‘right’ amount of sleep is needed to help control the inflammatory processes that play become over active in these digestive disorders.
One study of women (2) has shown that 6 or less hours of sleep increases the risk of the diseases while more than 9 hours per night of sleep also had a similar effect.

6. Prostate Cancer
A study involving 2,425 men from Iceland (3), it was found that the risk of developing prostate cancer rose 60% if they had difficulty getting off to sleep. The risk doubled for those having trouble staying asleep. This observation was attributed to levels of melatonin, a hormone known to suppress tumour growth.

Having Problems Sleeping?
Come on in for Naturopathic Treatment

References
(1) Spira AP, Gamaldo AA, An Y, et al. Self-reported Sleep and β-Amyloid Deposition in Community-Dwelling Older Adults. JAMA Neurology. 2013.
(2) Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) I since 1976 and NHS II since 1989
(3) 2013, Journal Cancer Epidemology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
http://theheartysoul.com/5-diseases-your-lack-of-sleep-could-be-causing/?t=DrM
More references available on request