Time Magazine Alternative Medicine Issue

 

I’m making my way through the Time Magazine Alternative Medicine issue so you don’t have to.
So far I’ve learned that
1. Cleanses are of no particular value except in what you’re NOT putting into your body for a few days.
2. Vitamins and Nutraceuticals are of no particular value as a product, and may lead to worse habits since you feel like you’re “getting all your vitamins.”  So stick to a good diet and good choices. (Easier said than done, which is why supplements are such a great business.)
3. There is finally some data to show that massage and chiropractic lower stress and are good for pain. Duh.
4. Music therapy is gaining more acceptance, and has been shown to be of help in a myriad of conditions.  For example, after Gabrielle Giffords gunshot wound, music therapy helped train her brain to forge a different route to spoken language. And that music can help patients who have gait problems from Parkinson’s or a stroke.
5. Lots more studies on yoga showing its calming effects resulting in better mood as well as all of the beneficial effects on the body.  I liked this quote

Yoga is about learning to be where you are in this moment and not trying to be somewhere else or in some other body.

And the author goes on to say

After a few months of yoga, there may be no other body you’d rather be in.