Author: theholisticadmin

I was sitting outside my office, in the howling wind and rain, taking yet another casual puff of my e-cigarette when I realized I had a serious problem.What started as a casual alternative to the occasional cigarette quickly became a full-blown addiction.Five million e-cigarettes are thrown away every week in the UK, creating an environmental disaster.Credit: ShutterstockVeronica is trying hypnotherapy to kick her e-cigarette habit.Credit: Stewart WilliamsHere I was, 47 years old and a mother of two, yet I was behaving like a teenager sneaking around in the school bathroom to smoke.And I’m not alone: ​​Children as young as 7…

I was sitting outside my office, in the howling wind and rain, taking yet another casual puff of my e-cigarette when I realized I had a serious problem.What started as a casual alternative to the occasional cigarette quickly became a full-blown addiction.FourFive million e-cigarettes are thrown away every week in the UK, creating an environmental disaster.Credit: ShutterstockFourVeronica is trying hypnotherapy to kick her e-cigarette habit.Credit: Stewart WilliamsHere I was, a 47-year-old mother of two, behaving like a teenager sneaking off to smoke in the school bathroom.And I’m not alone: ​​Children as young as 7 are becoming addicted to e-cigarettes, forcing…

Introduction Insomnia is one of the most prevalently encountered sleep disorder characterized by perceived difficulty in falling asleep and/or maintaining sleep, leading to unsatisfactory sleep (1). It has been reported that the prevalence of insomnia disorder in the general population has reached 10%−15% in China (2). Particularly, under the influence of factors such as the epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the incidence rate is still ascending (3). Insomnia not only seriously harms patients’ physical and mental health, but also increases the social medical burden (4). Studies have shown that insomnia can increase the risk of depression, dementia, hypertension, diabetes,…

Summary Box What is already known about this subject? – Acupuncture has effectively improved melasma conditions at low cost with minimal side effects. – Traditionally, one acupuncture course comprises 10 sessions for a chronic condition but dose-response evidence of acupuncture for melasma has been lacking. – The number of acupuncture sessions performed in various randomized controlled trials varied from 21 to 60 over 4–16 weeks. What are the new findings? – Five sessions of acupuncture improved the melanin index (MI) by 28.7 and melasma area and severity index (MASI) by 3.4 points. – About 10 sessions of acupuncture improved MI…

1. Introduction Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a psychological disorder characterized by persistent depression, decreased interest and behavioral withdrawal after stroke (1, 2). The main manifestations are psychiatric symptoms, such as insomnia, depression and low self-esteem, and even suicidal tendencies, which can lead to cognitive impairment (3, 4). Nosologically, PSD is a special type of depression that lacks clear concept and diagnostic criteria at present. In clinical practice, PSD is mainly diagnosed based on the history of stroke, manifestations of depression, and auxiliary assessment of relevant scales. The International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (ICD-10) classifies PSD as an organic mood…

Gelato is more than just ice cream, and it’s not just an Italian thing.Sweet frozen desserts such as gelato have been eaten for thousands of years all over the world, including Iran.Sam Mizan is a gelato maker based in Perth. Trained as an architect, he loved gelato so much that he started his family’s frozen sweet treat business.Joe Trilling spoke to Mr Mizan about the difference between gelato and ice cream. She also noticed that a special friendship had developed between the gelato maker and one of his customers.“To be honest, the way you stir gelato is [and] It’s slow,”…

In a sprawling interview with Roberta, Barbara Bullock shares her experiences with dance, music and spirituality, three hallmarks of her bold and passionate works. Bullock knew Sun Ra and his Arkestra members, who used to visit her when they were in town. She got to travel to Haiti with the Arthur Hall dancers and talks about that experience. And she recounts her sisterly friendship with A.M. Weaver, the late, beloved curator and writer, who meant so much to her. Enjoy this interview! And be sure to follow the links at the bottom for more information and pictures! Barbara Bullock, seen…

1. Introduction As one of the main constituents of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture has been used to treat various diseases in China and other Asian countries for more than 3,000 years (1). In 2010, The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization added acupuncture to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2). Acupuncture is the discipline of studying meridians, acupoints, and acupuncture therapy (3). The theoretical basis of acupuncture is the meridian system. Meridian is the channel for the flow of vital energy, or “qi,” throughout the body (4). When the flow of qi is interrupted, disease…

Introduction The hypothalamic-pituitary-ovary (HPO) axis plays an important role in female estrous cycle and reproduction (Harris and Santoro, 2011; Clarke, 2014). The hypothalamus exhibits pulsatile release of gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) into the pituitary, which lead to a similar releasing pattern of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) to peripheral blood (Schally, 1970; Schally et al., 1971; Stamatiades et al., 2019). FSH and LH then co-activate the ovarian secretion of 17β-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) via their receptors in the granulosa cells or luteal cells (Albritton, 1941; Nalbandov and Card, 1946; Liu et al., 2018), while the secretion and release of…

Introduction In the past two decades in particular, there has been a remarkable increase in interest coming from psychology, medicine as well as the whole field of neurosciences in topics such as religiosity and spirituality as being related to various parameters of mental health, psychological well-being, and coping with illness (cf. Rosmarin et al., 2020). This comes rather surprisingly, as originally the whole field of natural sciences viewed religion rather critically. Accordingly, Sigmund Freud rated religion as a kind of obsessive-compulsive neurosis (Freud, 1907) as well as an illusion, which will dissolve in the future (Freud, 1927). But not only…