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Survey Says Echinacea No Help for Colds


I have never used Echinacea for a cold but this latest study of 700 people seems to show that it does not do much to help.

Funny thing is that lots of people swear by taking Echinacea in the first signs of a cold to reduce the symptoms and time of a common cold.

The study of more than 700 adults and children suggests the tiniest possible benefit — about a half-day shaved off a weeklong cold and slightly milder symptoms. But that could have occurred by chance.

For most people, the potential to get relief a few hours sooner probably isn’t worth the trouble and cost of taking the supplement, researchers said.

Echinacea No Help for Colds

With no cure for the common cold, North Americans spend billions on over-the-counter pills, drops, sprays and other concoctions to battle their runny noses, scratchy throats and nagging coughs.

Some turn to echinacea (ECK-in-AY’-shuh), a top seller marketed as a product that helps the immune system fight infections.

In the past, some studies found it did nothing to prevent or treat colds; others showed modest benefit. Research on echinacea, also known as purple coneflower, is hard to compare because there’s more than one kind of plant, and different parts of it are used.

With government funding, Dr. Bruce Barrett and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin tackled the question again, using newspaper ads and posters to find volunteers with colds in the Madison, Wis., area.

The participants ages 12 to 80 were randomly assigned to get echinacea tablets, a dummy pill or no treatment at all. Those who got the herb took the equivalent of 10 grams of dried echinacea root the first day and five grams the next four days.

Twice a day, they graded their symptoms until their cold was gone.

Results of Echinacea Study

From those scores, the researchers saw a trend toward shorter and slightly less severe colds for those taking echinacea compared to those who didn’t. However, the results did not reach statistical significance, meaning they could have occurred by chance. There were no apparent side effects from the echinacea.

Barrett and other experts said the findings would probably be viewed as positive by echinacea supporters but as the “nail in the coffin” by critics.

“It’s not a compelling result in either direction,” said Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council, which follows research on herbal products. He said Barrett is on the group’s advisory board.

Blumenthal said the study was well designed, used a good quality product at a reasonable dosage and tested echinacea in a real-world setting, rather than giving colds to research volunteers.

The study’s findings were released Monday by the Annals of Internal Medicine. The authors include the co-founder of the Australian company that provided the echinacea for the study, but he was not involved in the research.

It was funded by the National Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health. The centre, set up to test herbs and other alternative health remedies, has spent US$6.8 million testing echinacea since 2002.

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Anxiety After Quitting Smoking

There can be gain and anxiety after quitting smoking. I know that many people are trying to quit smoking right now and now that we are in the third

weekend of the new year they are really struggling to keep away from the cigarettes. I wanted to let you know that I understand how tough things are but the end is in sight and you will not have that urge anymore.

Here are a couple things that bother a lot of people and get them thinking that smoking is not so bad. If you need a little more help then please go to the quit smoking resource I trust

Anxiety after quitting smoking

Anxiety after quitting smoking

Anxiety after quitting smoking

One of the concerns that many people have is gain and anxiety after quitting smoking.

Weight gain after quitting smoking is actually one of the reasons why many people refuse to quit and why others will start smoking again when they see that they are starting to gain unwanted pounds.

Most people will notice some gain when they quit smoking and on average the increase in will be approximately five pounds.

There are however many ways to make sure that you won’t put on and these are healthy lifestyle choices such as the correct food and good exercise.

Considering the major benefits you will be making to your health both now and in the future by quitting smoking you might as well go all the way and boost your fitness levels too.

The advantages of quitting outweigh gain after quitting smoking

Smoking does help people to keep their down and some fashion models smoke cigarettes because the nicotine in them speeds up the metabolism and that helps to burn fat due to the increased demand for energy. By burning more calories to supply the energy demands it is easier to remain thinner.

In addition to speeding up the metabolism nicotine acts like a stimulant and that can help to suppress the appetite.

A third way that nicotine helps people to stay thinner is because it causes the food to stay in the stomach longer and reduce the feelings of hunger.

These are definitely not good enough reasons to keep up the nicotine habit!

So you will need to make some lifestyle changes to avoid anxiety after quitting smoking. The easiest and most obvious step to take is to make sure that you are drinking enough water throughout the day.

This will help you to remain hydrated and it will also give you a fuller feeling in your stomach that will reduce the amount of hunger pangs you get.

This will stop you from eating excessively and it will also help to boost your energy levels which will make it easier for you to do some form of exercise that will help to boost your metabolism in much the same manner as the nicotine has done but without the negative effects on your health.

This is not to say that gain and anxiety after quitting smoking is unavoidable as a good percentage of people will actually lose weight. Just monitor your and no matter which direction it goes in you will always be better off from quitting even if you do gain a few pounds.

Anxiety problems while quitting smoking

Many people use the effects that nicotine can deliver to self medicate for depression and anxiety. It has been shown that the nicotine and other chemicals in cigarettes can help to improve the mood of a person and also to lessen the effects of anxiety.

While this is a temporary fix there is a need to tackle the underlying problem that is causing the depression as it can lead to more serious consequences.

Depression after Quitting Smoking

It is also very difficult to quit smoking when you are feeling depressed as the withdrawal symptoms that can come from quitting smoking and not getting the nicotine fix can cause a person to feel depressed.

By treating the depression properly with counseling, medication or other means a person will have a better chance of quitting smoking.

Anxiety attacks will also need to be sorted before any attempts at quitting smoking are attempted as once again cigarettes contain chemicals that help to release norepinephrine which lessens the effect of anxiety and depression.

Without the cigarettes to release norepinephrine a person who is feeling depressed or anxious is likely to have increased levels of anxiety and this makes it difficult for them to maintain their composure when on a program to stop smoking.

This is a situation where other alternative methods of quitting smoking such as hypnosis and acupuncture can help add support to mainstream method such as nicotine patches, pills and gum.

Yoga is an excellent discipline to train the correct breathing techniques and by using these techniques in times of stress and anxiety similar feelings of control to those achieved from smoking can be experienced without the detrimental affect to health.

easyquitSo what if it is really that easy? What if all your beliefs about how hard it is going to be to quit are completely false? What if, after just one session of hypnotherapy or NLP you find it incredibly easy to become and remain a happy, confident non-smoker for life?

The reason why hypnotherapy NLP are so successful is because both our beliefs about smoking and our habitual smoking behaviours reside within your unconscious mind. So whilst consciously we may wish to quit, all too often our all powerful unconscious mind simply would not let us.

If you are quitting smoking and notice increased levels of anxiety it might be necessary to use a higher strength medication for your nicotine replacement and drop the strength at a slower rate to help cope with the changes.

Getting started quitting and staying off the tobacco can be hard but it is so incredibly satisfying to know that you are improving your life and that you have quit for good so you may need more help quitting smoking. Weight gain and anxiety after quitting smoking can be avoided but make sure you quit smoking no matter what.

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Fitness Obsessed Obesity Epidemic

I ran across this infographic that really shows the impact of obesity rates across the United States. Obesity is a real issue, not just for individuals and families, but also for the health care system as a whole

We all know the fix for this and it is found in every corner of this blog. We must set an example for all those around us by eating more whole foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, lean meats), and cut out as much sugar as possible.

Also we need to get rid of those refined foods and crap starches that we all gravitate towards as we watch the Biggest Loser (I am pointing the finger at myself here as well).

Evercise needs to be a priority. Every day try to get your whole family out for at least 30 minutes of exercise. Over time these habits add up and we can changer our lives, oour families lives. And eventually this obesity epidemic can be stopped

I ran across this infographic that really shows the impact of obesity rates across the United States. Obesity is a real issue, not just for individuals and families, but also for the health care system as a whole

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