Monthly Archives: April 2017

Sensory deprivation tanks, more commonly known as float tanks, offer alternative approaches to improve mental and physical health.

Float tanks are light less, soundproof tanks filled with Epsom salt water.

The water is set at skin temperature and the individual can float effortlessly.

There are two float tank therapy locations near FGCU, The Float & Flourish Center in Bonita Springs and Cloud9 Float and Spa.

The Float & Flourish Center serves as almost a modernized day spa, with services including float therapy, oxygen bar and infrared sauna therapy. Cloud9 Float and Spa is located in Naples and offers the same experience.

According to the Journal of Psychology and Health, sensory deprivation is the purposeful removal of stimuli to one or more of the human senses.

This can lead to a relaxed state, even falling into a state of meditation.

This medical technique is called Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy.

Developed in the 1950s by neuropsychiatrist John C. Lily, Float Tanks would see its first surge in popularity in the 1980s with the release of the film Altered States.

According to a 1981 New York Times article, about $4 million in sales were made in 1981.

However, with the fear and rise of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, the popularity dimmed.

A study done by the European Journal of Integrative Medicine saw patients show improvements in physiological changes, alleviation of medical conditions, relaxation, personal growth and enhancement and an altered state of consciousness.

According to the Journal of Psychology and Health, a study showed to improve cortisol levels and lowered blood pressure.

Floatation therapy soothes muscle pain, cleanses pores and detoxifies the skin, said Guillermo Fernandez, owner of the Float & Flourish Center in Bonita Springs. It helps everyone. From high level athletes, to the everyday person with no athletic experience. Float tanks are one of the most effective stress-management techniques available.

Current and former high-level athletes have been known to use float tanks to aid in athletic performance.

Carl Lewis used float tanks to help him train for his long jump in the 1988 Olympics.

Golden State Warriors basketball player, Steph Curry said in an interview with CNN that he uses float tanks every two weeks.

See the rest here:

Float tanks gain popularity as alternative medicine - Eagle News

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - April 25, 2017) - More and more Canadians are using complementary and alternative medicines and therapies -- such as massage, yoga, acupuncture and chiropractic care -- and they're using them more frequently, finds a new survey by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

"Alternative treatments are playing an increasingly important role in Canadians' overall health care, and understanding how all the parts of the health-care system fit together is vital if policymakers are going to find ways to improve it," said Nadeem Esmail, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Use and Public Attitudes, 1997, 2006 and 2016.

The updated survey of 2,000 Canadians finds more than three-quarters of Canadians -- 79 per cent -- have used at least one complementary or alternative medicine (CAM) or therapy sometime in their lives. That's an increase from 74 per cent in 2006 and 73 per cent in 1997, when two previous similar surveys were conducted.

In fact, more than one in two Canadians (56 per cent) used at least one complementary or alternative medicine or therapy in the previous 12 months, an increase from 54 per cent in 2006 and 50 per cent in 1997.

And Canadians are using those services more often, averaging 11.1 visits in 2016, compared to fewer than nine visits a year in both 2006 and 1997.

The most popular complementary and alternative treatments used by Canadians in 2016 were massage (44 per cent), followed by chiropractic care (42 per cent), yoga (27 per cent), relaxation techniques (25 per cent) and acupuncture (22 per cent.)

In total, Canadians spent $8.8 billion on complementary and alternative medicines and therapies last year, up from $8 billion (inflation adjusted) in 2006.

Interestingly, the survey finds a majority of respondents -- 58 per cent -- support paying for alternative treatments privately and don't want them included in provincial health plans. Support for private payment is highest (at 69 per cent) among 35- to 44-year-olds.

"Complementary and alternative therapies play an increasingly important role in Canadians' overall health care, but policy makers should not see this as an invitation to expand government coverage -- the majority of Canadians believe alternative therapies should be paid for privately," Esmail said.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Nadeem Esmail, Senior Fellow

Fraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:

Bryn Weese

Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute

Office: (604) 688-0221 ext. 589

Cell: (604) 250-8076

bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter and Facebook

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit http://www.fraserinstitute.org

Read this article:

Fraser Institute News Release: Nearly eight in ten Canadians have used alternative medicines: survey - Marketwired (press release)

If youre skeptical about human-caused climate change or the safety of vaccines, would being berated in front of a live studio audience by a bombastic old man make you change your mind? Then congratulations, Bill Nyes new Netflix show, Bill Nye Saves The World, is literally just for you!

Wait...whered you go, bud?

I was excited when I heard that a new science show for adults was hitting Netflix, especially one starring 90s-kid nerd hero Bill Nye. But either the science guys jokes havent aged well or his schticka zany dad-figure in a lab coat stirring beakers full of colored liquidsdoesnt quite work when hes bellowing, red-faced, about the dangers of climate change denial, alternative medicine, and the anti-vaxxer movement. While seemingly aimed at the average layman who holds some science-skeptical views, Nyes new show delivers delivers so little information in such a patronizing tone its hard to imagine a toddler, let alone a sentient adult, enjoying it.

The format of the showwhich blends live studio interviews, field reporting, and Nye shouting into camera on subjects ranging from artificial intelligence to GMOsdoes have potential. Many of the studio guests are interesting and engaging. For instance, the first episode, which focuses on climate change and energy, features Mark Jacobson, a Stanford engineer who recently authored a paper on how we could run the entire world on renewables by mid-century. It would have been fascinating to hear Jacobson give a detailed summary of his idea for transforming the energy gridand Im sure he would have been happy to oblige.

Instead, we watched for an excruciating five minutes as Nye pitted Jacobson against another of his round table guests, energy and environment reporterRichard Martin, to explain at a ten-year-old level why Martin is like, totally wrong and dumb for thinking nuclear power should be part of our energy future, too. The entire exchange was apparently intended to bolster the (not exactly scientific) viewpoint Nye interjected throughout the segment, that nobody wants nuclear power.

This, unfortunately, is quintessential of the showa small amount of information packaged to promote a cartoon-caricature understanding of a complex science issue, slanted to the POV of an unabashedly political science comedian.

During Episode 2, which debunks alternative medicine, Nye and science communicator Cara Santa Maria repeatedly gang up on another guest, the mild-mannered filmmaker Donald Schultz, when he suggests that some non-Western medicine practices might not be entirely bogus. In a later episode focused on GMOs, correspondent Derek Muller visits a farmers market to interview some crunchy hippie-types about whether or not they consider genetic modification safe. Mullers interviews are packaged into a sort of freak-show highlight reel, which Netflix viewers get to cringe at alongside the studio audience, the crowd roaring with laugher every time one of the hapless veggie-lovers says something silly.

Are you feeling pumped about science yet?!

To be fair, I havent watched every single episode, and most of them do seem to have one or two solid segments. Muller visiting the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to speak with astrobiologists about the search for life on Mars, or traveling to South Korea to discover how K-pop is transforming views on gender identity and sexuality, were both palatable and mildly informative. And every now and then, the show manages to be downright funny, like when wrestling champion Ryan Couture is trotted on stage dressed as an indestructible tardigrade. As Gizmodo space writer Rae Paoletta put it, that single handedly saved the [space] episode.

Most of the entertaining bits share a common theme. The angry science man is nowhere near them.

Let me be clear. I believe climate change is real and human-caused, I believe that vaccines work, and I believe that most alternative medicine is a load of malarkey. Like Nye, Im outraged to see anti-science beliefs promulgated at the highest levels of our government. Nye and I are on the same teamand yet I still felt like I was being talked down to throughout his show. How will the average viewer feel?

Perhaps, theyll feel a bit like the live studio audience, laughing nervously during Nyes tirade about how Miamis going to be underwater if we dont get our collective shit together, and wishing they could be anywhere else.

Read this article:

Bill Nye Spends Most of His New Netflix Show Yelling at the Audience - Gizmodo

Patients who face serious illnesses are sometimes attracted to alternative medicines, also referred to as holistic or new age medicines. These can include treatments like homeopathy, hypnosis, energy therapies like Reiki, acupuncture, and herbal remedies, to name just a few.

These approaches raise various medical and ethical concerns. An important 1998 article in the New England Journal of Medicine sums it up this way:

What most sets alternative medicine apart, in our view, is that it has not been scientifically tested and its advocates largely deny the need for such testing. By testing, we mean the marshaling of rigorous evidence of safety and efficacy, as required by the Food and Drug Administration for the approval of drugs and by the best peer-reviewed medical journals for the publication of research reports.

Beyond the fact that their clinical efficacy has not earned a passing grade using ordinary methods of scientific investigation, the basic premise behind some alternative medicines can also be highly suspect, raising concerns about superstitious viewpoints or misguided forms of spirituality motivating certain therapies.

If we consider acupuncture, this technique does appear to provide benefit in certain cases of pain control. Yet similar results have been reported using sham needles tapping the skin in random places with a thin metal tube. Brain scans have demonstrated that treatment with genuine needles, as opposed to the sham needles, does cause detectable changes in the brain. But, when researchers ignored acupuncturists recommended meridian placement of needles, and instead did random placement in the skin, the same brain effects were observed. Hence, it is unclear whether the results seen from acupuncture arise mostly from the well-known placebo effect or not. Further research should help resolve this question.

Even if the observed effects are not placebo-related, acupunctures non-rational justification for its purported effectiveness remains a concern. It is based on energy principles that neither science nor faith affirm. Dr. Glenn Braunstein described it critically in the following way:

Chi, the invisible nutritive energy that flows from the universe into the body at any one of 500 acupuncture points, is conducted through the 12 main meridians [channels] in (ideally) an unbroken circle. Meridians conduct either yin energy (from the sun) or yang energy (from the earth). All maladies are caused by disharmony or disturbances in the flow of energy.

Clearly, then, some alternative therapies, beyond the basic issue about whether they work, raise serious spiritual concerns as well.

Another new age therapy known as reiki, developed in Japan in the late 1800s, claims that sickness can be caused by a disruption or imbalance in a patients reiki or life energy. Reiki practitioners try to heal a patient by placing their hands in certain positions on the body in order to facilitate the flow of reiki from the practitioner to the patient.

A 2009 document from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops stresses, In terms of caring for ones spiritual health, there are important dangers that can arise by turning to reiki. The document notes that because reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for Catholics to put their trust in the method, because to do so would be to operate in the realm of superstition, the no-mans-land that is neither faith nor science.

Scientific investigations of another new age therapy, the popular herbal remedy known as echinacea (taken early to ward off a cold) have revealed no difference between echinacea and a placebo in controlled studies involving several hundred subjects. While some herbal remedies may be harmless and inert placebos, others may have more serious health consequences if ingested above certain dosages due to ingredients of unknown potency derived from natural substances.

Sometimes a remedy can be borrowed from Chinese, Indian or another medical tradition, but it should be chosen for its efficacy, safety, and reasonable mode of action, and not be in conflict with principles of sound medical science or Christian teaching.

Health improvements that arise from alternative remedies may be due not only to the placebo effect, but also to the fact that patients are usually given more time, attention and focused concern by alternative practitioners than by traditional physicians. This can translate into modified habits and changed lifestyles, leading to various health benefits.

Modern medicine can be legitimately faulted for downplaying this dimension, so that, in the memorable words of pediatrician Jay Perman, Doctors tend to end up trained in silos of specialization, in which they are taught to make a diagnosis, prescribe a therapy, and were done. But were not done.

The famous Greek physician Hippocrates once noted the same point: It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has. Todays physicians-in-training, fortunately, are seeking to incorporate more and more of these patient-centric and holistic aspects into their own traditional medical practices to improve patient care and outcomes.

Father Pacholczyk is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and director of education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Philadelphia.

Read more:

The ethics of new age medicine - Catholic San Francisco