The easiest practice for a healthcare practitioner is to simply prescribe a treatment to their patient, sit back, and hope it resolves their health issue. Studies in behaviour therapy, however, suggest that we can really stand to make a long-lasting difference if we first take the time to delve a little deeper into understanding the patient’s everyday life.
Whether it’s a recommendation for a new supplement regimen, a lifestyle or a dietary change, there is more involved in creating lasting behaviour modification than simply ...

In media today, inflammation is depicted as having a negative influence on health but for good reason. Inflammation is related to many disease processes especially those involved in auto-immune conditions such as Crohn’s disease, arthritis; asthma (1). It is easy to forget that the inflammatory response as part of the immune system is itself an adaptive process to aid in healing.

You may have felt it already: the runny nose, the sore throat, that embarrassing cough. Or perhaps you’ve taken the day off work because you’ve spiked a fever, felt achy all over, and are so tired you don’t want to get out of bed. Cold and flu season is in full swing. While your local drugstore is full of conventional and natural treatment options aimed at reducing the symptoms of colds and flu, this article summarizes research that supports going back to basics in terms of nutrition and proper hygiene to help....

They make us feel happy, they help us to sleep, they swing our moods in every direction, and they keep our metabolism revving. They have the potential to wreak havoc in our lives, but we just can’t live without them. No, this article isn’t about your spouse — it’s all about hormones!

The main difference between postpartum blues and depression lies in the severity and duration of symptoms. These symptoms can include sadness, crying, anxiety, losing interest in things that were previously enjoyable, a lack of desire to be with their newborn, and more. In the blues, these symptoms are present in a mild fashion and have a minimal impact on function. This is not the case with postpartum depression, which does interfere with normal function and is experienced more intensely and for longer. Existing depression, or a history of postpartum depression, increases the risk of experiencing depression postbirth....

Anxiety is extremely common; in fact, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reports that anxiety disorders are the most common class of mental disorders. Aside from the anxiety, 60–70% of people with anxiety also report that they have trouble sleeping. This is problematic, because the worse someone’s emotional distress is the worse they sleep, and having bad sleep may be contributing to worsening anxiety symptoms.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) can be a painful condition for children and parents alike, as they juggle the everyday struggle while hoping for answers from the medical community. JIA is the most common childhood rheumatic illness, and is defined as a group of chronic arthritic diseases which normally occur in children under the age of 16. JIA can present with morning stiffness, swelling, and tender joints, which force many children to opt out of extracurricular activities and can leave them unable to....

We’ve all seen the commercials on TV telling us to drink milk to keep our bones strong. We know that we hit peak bone mass before the age of 30, and as we age, our bone mass starts to decline. Depending on our genetics and lifestyle, some of us may decline faster than others. Osteoporosis is the age-related decline in bone density that men and women may experience after 50 years old.

Mushrooms have been used medicinally for thousands of years, mainly due to the beneficial effect they confer on the immune system, nervous system, liver, and kidneys. In China and Japan, mushrooms have been a part of medicine, especially as a tonic to support overall health. In recent years, medicinal mushrooms have gained popularity and are found as food, supplements, and beverages like tea and coffee.

Green tea is made from the leaves of the plant Camellia sinensis and has been used as a medicinal herb for over 4000 years. Many health benefits are attributed to the catechin and caffeine content, as well as that of the compound -theanine, accounting for about 50% of the total amino acids from these tea leaves.^[1] In addition to chemoprotective properties, green-tea consumption has been shown to enhance...

About seventy percent of children with T21 will have vision problems. Nearsightedness, farsightedness, and crossed eyes (strabismus) are the common visual disturbances found in children with T21. As a result, annual vision tests are very important for children with T21. Most of the conditions mentioned in the previous part of this article (https://www.naturopathiccurrents.com/articles/down-syndrome) are easily correctable.

The incidence of cancer has never been higher. We are seeing a steady increase in cases each year. It is estimated that in 2016 we saw 1.6 million new cases, with breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancers topping the list. Why are more people getting cancer? A carcinogen is a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissues. Its hard to conceptualize the numerous and varied forms of carcinogens we are exposed to daily...

Most women are very familiar with premenstrual syndrome (PMS), though how each individual woman experiences PMS can vary completely. Rapid fluctuations in sex hormones can lead to changes in energy, mood, and/or physical symptoms throughout her cycle, most predominantly during the last week of the luteal phase.

What supplements do you take to support your fitness goals? Talk to any athlete or visit your favorite fitness website, and you’ll get a long list of different capsules and powders that help to support the development of muscle strength, endurance, recovery, and general health.

For many, mental illness is fraught with many unanswerable questions. In my case, the question “Why me?” is one I have asked myself over and over. This question has become the central quest of my life’s work as a Naturopathic Doctor specializing in mental health, exploring why does mental illness happen?