Tag: Japan

Acupuncture’s Acceptance in America

Acupuncture has been used in China and Japan for centuries, and was introduced into Europe in the 1700s by Jesuit missionaries. However, it has been popular in the United States for only the past twenty or thirty years. Initially, its most dramatic and effective results here in America were to reduce or eliminate pain, where some patients undergoing surgery had no anesthesia whatsoever. Their pain was eliminated during the surgery by use of acupuncture needles.

The National Institute of Health has been interested in both the use and the growing interest in acupuncture, and has had a number of conferences whose main subject is the use of acupuncture. Interestingly, thousands of traditional physicians, dentists, and other health practitioners now use acupuncture for pain relief and other symptoms. Also, currently more than 10 million adults in the U.S. have used acupuncture at some time in the past, or are using it currently. (Though acupuncture is also perfectly safe for children, and frequently children respond more quickly to the treatments than adults.)

The National Institute of Health has looked at many studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture to relieve a specific set of symptoms. There are some outstanding successes, but making any sweeping statement is difficult because many of the studies are not easy to design. Or, more properly, there is some heated discussion on what studies have been so carefully designed that the results are beyond question. But there is general agreement that acupuncture is highly effective for a wide range of symptoms, including pain and nausea after operations, headaches, menstrual cramps, asthma, osteoarthritis, etc. Research is continuing and new results are coming out quite often. One of the best ways to keep up is to search the Internet for your symptom of interest together with the key word “acupuncture”. Also look for websites sponsored by NCCAM, a branch of the National Institute of Health that investigates alternative medicines.

Since the main equipment of an acupuncture practitioner are needles, the needles in an acupuncture office are regulated by the government to ensure safety of the needles. The FDA approves their use by licensed practitioners in acupuncture clinics. The requirements are that the needles are sterile needles and one time use only, so no one need be concerned about the problem with needle contamination. The acupuncture needles are regulated by the same rules as those in your doctor’s office. To avoid any concern, watch carefully that the acupuncture practitioner opens a new, sealed package for each patient and swabs the insertion sites with some kind of disinfectant before inserting the needle (such as alcohol, traditionally used by nurses).

This survey is intended to give an overview of how the traditional medical community and also the institutes of the government have given credibility to the use of acupuncture. Acupuncture has evolved from an interesting import from China to an established technique that many doctors recommend, or have even become trained in the technique themselves. Acupuncture clinics and practitioners now have standards set up and regulated by the government in order to ensure the safety of the clients. It has become an accepted part of the mainstream American health system.

How Laser Hair Removal Works on Different Skin Types and

How Laser Hair Removal Works on Different Skin Types and Hair Color

The effectiveness of laser hair removal is dependent upon several factors including skin type and hair color. Lesser factors include the condition of the skin, sun exposure, and the cycle of the hair.

There are four basic skin types – Caucasian European, African descent, Eastern Asian, and Middle Eastern / Mediterranean. Each of these four skin types have several things in common, such as the thickness of the dermis and epidermis, the number of hair follicles, and the skin’s layered components. However, there are many characteristics of each skin type that are very different.

Caucasian Europeans have the most varied skin type of all the groups. This group has light skin with great variation in skin color amongst the people which is determined by heredity. The people from this group are the best candidates for laser hair removal. Generally, they will need fewer treatments and attain the best results. Overall, the effectiveness of laser hair removal on individuals from this group is dependent upon a combination of their hair and skin color.

Individuals of African descent, with dark brown skin or poor candidates for laser hair removal. This is because the laser light is absorbed into the skin pigment, causing possible burns, scars, and keloids. The dark skin causes the laser beam to b drawn away from its target area.

People in Eastern Asian descent, which includes China, Japan and Korea, generally have the least amount of facial and body hair. They are usually good candidates for laser hair removal because their hair is dark, and they have minimal skin pigmentation.

Middle Eastern and Mediterranean people tend to have the most facial and body hair. Their skin color can very from dark white to medium brown. Those people with lighter skin generally make better candidates for laser hair removal. Skin bleaching agents, such as 4% hydroquinone, are sometimes used by people in this group to lighten the skin as much as possible. This is done to make the laser treatment as effective as possible and reduce the risk of burning the skin. This ethnic group has an increased risk of hyperpigmentation.

Hair color combines with skin type to further determine the effects of laser hair removal. Black or dark brown hair is usually coarser and contains the most pigmentation. These factors make it the easiest to treat because the laser light is most easily absorbed by the dark pigmentation. Lighter brown hair usually requires more treatments than darker hair. The lighter the hair color, the more difficult laser hair removal becomes. Red and light blonde hair contain phemelianin pigment which makes light absorption very difficult. Grey or white hair does not contain any pigmentation at all, therefor, they cannot absorb light. The Fitzpatrick Skin Phototype Scale and the Lancer Ethnicity Scale are used by professional technicians to determine the effectiveness of laser hair removal based on skin type and hair color.

The best combination of skin type and hair color for laser hair removal is light skin with dark hair. These people will have the best results with the least treatments.

The Development of Acupuncture

Chinese medicine is thousands of years old. The earliest recorded use of acupuncture is from the reign of the Yellow Emperor, and is supposed to be from about 2600 BC. The ancient Chinese noticed that certain areas of the skin became more sensitive when a person had a certain health problem. Over time, the Chinese started recording the location of the sensitive areas for a particular symptom or set of symptoms. These areas were associated with the internal organs whose malfunction caused that particular symptom. When outlines of the human body were drawn, these sensitive points were connected in ways to explain the functioning of the human body. The functioning of the body includes the various major organs of the body, and also the entire functional system, including the energy for the organ.

Looking at a text on acupuncture, there will be a number of spots, which relate to the sensitive areas described above. There will also be lines, or “meridians”, which connect the various organs and indicate how the energy of the organs flow from one to another. The concept of energy (the “Qi”) is fundamental to the application of acupuncture. According to the Chinese, we are given a certain amount of Qi at birth, and this is dissipated by daily living, and restored by ingesting food and air. In the foundation of acupuncture, the imbalance of this energy at various points in the body is the cause of illness. The absence of this energy at some point is death. The Qi circulates through the body in a cycle, moving from meridian to meridian and organ to organ. This energy is constantly moving, dissipating, and being restored.

The use of the needles in acupuncture is to affect the energy level, and so the functioning, of an organ by stimulating or reducing its action. Some organs respond more directly and quickly than others, such as the liver. Acupuncture can be used for pain control, for stress relief, and for a multitude of other physical symptoms and diseases.

China was where the technique of acupuncture and its medical foundations began. Japan also has an extensive history of acupuncture as an accepted and effective treatment for their people. Japanese acupuncture has the same foundations as Chinese acupuncture, but several interesting differences in technique. Acupuncture traveled to Europe in the seventeenth century, being brought back by Jesuit missionaries who had lived in Beijing. Acupuncture did not receive wide acceptance at that point, though there were pockets of practitioners in several places in the West. Acupuncture got significant attention here only when M. Morant from France published many writings on acupuncture in the 1940s. The detail and volume of his writings caught the attention of western physicians, who started considering it for pain control.

Currently, acupuncture is widely accepted by western physicians in several categories, including pain control and stress relief. Indeed, for some operations no anesthesia is needed at all, just the services of an acupuncturist. This is a distinct advantage, in that the normal operation of the patient’s organs is not altered by an artificial anesthetic. This work in the west has caused new interest and study in the land where acupuncture originated, in China. They have discovered many old, previously unknown texts, and are working on extending the applications. It is an exciting time for the field of acupuncture.

The Right and Effective Home Remedy for Acid Reflux

Are you fond of eating junk food, protein-rich food and processed foods? If you do, well, this is bad news for you. You are certainly a candidate for an acid reflux problem in your stomach and esophagus.

Acid reflux is a condition that is a prelude to ulcer. It is caused by a disturbance in the acid-alkaline condition in the stomach.

Eating specific acid foods that are hard to digest induces stomach spasms or twitching which causes the cardiac sphincter, opening between the esophagus and stomach to open for gases to form that should not.
This is an indigestion problem that has gotten out of hand and created acid wastes to flow up to your esophagus causing an irritation. This irritation, if not controlled can result to ulcers and other infections. The acid reflux diet that you have been eating should now be changed.

Once you have the symptoms of acid reflux, you need not resort to medications at once to cure the problem. You can start with home remedies that are surely less expensive.

You may start with changing your diet. You have to say goodbye to the following food and beverages: tea, coffee, radishes, garlic, onion, spices (pepper), oils, alcohol, sugar, soft drinks, diet soft drinks, asparagus (Brussels sprouts), high protein foods, pasta noodles, corn starch, eggs, plums, prunes, cranberries, and all processed foods including junk foods. Now, you may want to cry. All your comfort foods are gone.

If you think, you cannot abruptly eliminate them in your diet; start with taking just small amounts. Then start substituting them with the following: fruits, citric fruits in small amounts though due to their acidic content, all kinds of vegetables and almonds.
If you feel that you are not feeling the acid reflux symptoms anymore, you may go back to your previous diet in moderation though to prevent recurrence of the acid reflux.

Aside from proper diet, there are practical home remedies to avoid the acid reflux symptom. They are:
Avoid smoking before or during meals.
Eat in an upright sitting position.
Do not lie on the bed immediately after eating.
Take small walks after eating. It stimulates the digestive system.
Avoid exercise after a large meal.
Avoid wearing tight clothes.
Do not drink alcohol while eating.
Chew food slowly and thoroughly.

One of the home remedies for treating acid reflux is the ginger alternative. Ingesting ginger with a meal helps to reduce an upset stomach. The ginger is grounded and added to foods and taken in tea or capsule form. Most herbalists recommend consuming 500mg. of ginger with a full glass of water after meals.

We are often told by our physicians to drink more water, if possible at least 8 glasses each day. The water helps eliminate body toxins and allow the body to expel acid naturally.

Green tea has been used for centuries in Japan and other oriental countries as an after dinner drink. Green teas assist the body in the digestion process, and help soothe the stomach’s sensitive tissue.

Herbal teas containing peppermint, chamomile, ginger, licorice root and catnip even in just small traces help the stomach lining repair itself. Often, one cup of tea following dinner is enough to reduce future acid reflux symptoms.

So, kiss acid reflux symptom goodbye!