Smell the wellness

I had always assumed that its just tradition that you buy flowers for somebody that is ill.  Speaking as a woman who loves flowers, its always nice to receive flowers but I had underestimated their power.

Research completed by the American Society of Horticulture Science discovered that surgical patients exposed to flowers or plants in their recovery rooms have

  • lower blood pressure
  • lower heart rates
  • less pain
  • less anxiety
  • less fatigue

When compared to patients who whose rooms have no foliage, flowers or plants.   In fact, patients who had plants in their room even reported more positive feelings and satisfaction about their rooms than those without plants.

So clearly there is a lot of wisdom in the tradition of buying flowers for people when they are ill.

Reference

https://journals.ashs.org/horttech/view/journals/horttech/18/4/article-p563.xml

Related Posts

  • Action plan for a healthy small intestine

    The small intestine is as wide as your thumb and around 5.5m long.  It is both a food blender and assimilator as it digests more of your food than your stomach.  Food stays in the small intestine  for 1 - 4 hours before moving on to the large intestine for further processing. Maintaing a healthy small intestine is all about controlling your bacteria levels and mucus build-up on your intestinal walls which can cause havoc and deplete your energy levels.  If you have bloating, gas and loose bowel movements you may have a small intestine issues such as:

    • Candida
    • IBS
    • SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
    Tips
    1. Cut out imflammatory drugs e.g. asprin, paracetamol and avoid alchol.
    2. Take L-glutamine and butyric acid both of these can help heal the gut, but check with a nutritionalist first as dosage is important.
    3. Drink slippery elm tea which calms inflamation of the small intestine and helps relieve IBS.
    4. Up your intake of vitamins A and D - liver is an excellent sourch of these vitamins which protect the mucus membrane of the gut.
    5. Eat more antibacterial foods such as garlic, honey and sauerkraut which preven the growth of Candida, fungus and yeast infections.
    6. Take oregano oil (Oregnano Vulgaris) which has been shown to stop Candidan in its tracks.
    7. Take probiotics daily - look for a count of 50 billion or more in each dose.
    8. Take prebiotics daily - to feed the probiotics.  Or eat food prebiotic foods such as sauerkraut or kimchi.
    9. Go gluten free.  Cut out gluten for an entire week and keep a food diary to check if your symptoms improve.
    10. Mimosa pudica an ayurvedic herb is brilliant at wiping out parasites.
    11. Eat more ant-parasitics such as garlic, thyme, chilli, tumeric and ginger.
    References https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38800977 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15883716  

  • Natrual Ways to Reduce Anxiety – Part 2

    Having explained what anxiety is, I want to look at how people can help themselves to reduce their anxiety levels. Whether you suffer from occasional anxious thoughts to a full blow anxiety disorder yoga can be helpful.  Once study found that women who practiced yoga twice a week for two months reduced their anxiety levels significantly. Another scientific study found that regular yoga was more effective than walking for improving the mood and anxiety levels in healthy people.  Current thinking is that Yoga may work by boosting the levels of the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutryic acid) in the brain - which acts as an inhibitor in the brain reducing anxiety. References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19341989 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20722471

  • Reflexology and Pain Management – Part 2

    In part 1, I explored what pain was, the pain response and briefly explained how reflexology helps manage pain. Much anecdotal evidence shows the benefits of reflexology in pain management and several studies indicate successful treatment outcomes including pain reduction. (See references at end of article). However I would like to focus on one recent study by Dr Carol Samuel and Dr Ivor Ebenezer of University of Portsmouth as this is the first time Reflexology has been scientifically evaluated as a study for acute pain.  The results indicate that reflexology may be as effective as pain killers for common conditions such as osteoarthritis, backache and cancer. Participants attended two sessions, in which they were asked to submerge their hand in ice water. In one of the sessions they were given reflexology before they submerged their hand, and in the other session they believed they were receiving pain relief from a Tens machine, which was not actually switched on.  The use of the Tens machine is equivalent of a sugar pill in drug trials. The researches found that people felt about 40% less pain, and were able to stand pain for about 45% longer, when they used reflexology as a method of pain relief. So if you are in pain now, by not book a reflexology session. References Booth L (1997) Vertical Reflex therapy: results of a reflexology trail in a Bristol residential home for elderly Khan S, Otter S and Springett K (2006) The effects of reflexology on foot pain and quality of life in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: a case report, The Foot 16 pg 112-116 Brown CA and Lido C (2008) Reflexology treatment for patients with lower limb amputations and phantom limb pain: an exploratory pilot study, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 14 pg 124-131 Hughes CM, Smyth S and Lowe-Strong A (2008) Reflexology for the treatment of pain in people with multiple sclerosis: a double-blind randomised controlled trail, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 14(1) S1-S109