Alternative Healthcare Options: A Fresh Look at an Established Lifestyle.
Among alternative health options are everything from natural herbs to acupuncture for controlling excruciating pain. The Chinese are generally credited with its beginnings in some form or another thousands of years ago.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, when a person’s bodily rhythms are out of sync, the environment may provide both temporary relief and long-term protection.
In Chinese medicine, herbs and other plants are often utilized to rebalance the body. To harmonize the body and the psyche, acupuncture, massage, and meditation are employed.
Chinese culture believes that everything in life, including our health, is influenced by cosmic forces. The two most powerful cosmic energies in the cosmos, yin, and yang, are used to symbolize these powers.
The moon symbolizes the feminine energy known as yin, whereas the sun stands for the masculine force known as yang. Chinese medical science has evolved from these old ideas in many ways to compete with Western medicine.
The early ways of thinking had to be revised when scientific facts emerged to refute the notion that these alternative techniques were “quackery.”
Finding such scientific proof has proven to be challenging. The large pharmaceutical corporations won’t spend a ton of money on research for methods that won’t be very profitable.
Funding for complementary and alternative medicine didn’t start to show up in academic circles until the middle of the 1990s. Since then, it has evolved into a therapeutic and healing method that is generally acknowledged on a global scale.
Concepts of Eastern Medicine.
You must first comprehend “Eastern civilization” to comprehend notions in Eastern medicine. A long history of tradition and social interaction may be seen in this community. One of the foundational ideas of Eastern medicine is that yin and yang split our bodies into regions, and yin and yang have long been a part of that tradition.
While yang is said to represent our outward organs, yin is thought to represent our inside organs (such as our skin). We consume a variety of foods, including herbs, which have universal components that support the stabilization of our bodies.
Our bodies will be in harmony if we consume the right mixture of yin and yang foods. The majority of diseases are brought on by our failure to consume the right meals, exercise, and rest our bodies and brains.
Even though they are “healthy” for you, eating too much yin or yang food might upset your equilibrium and lead to sicknesses or aches and pains. In addition to consuming the right meals to keep our bodies in balance, Eastern culture created workouts like Tai Chi.
Tai chi is an activity where you move gently to encourage stability and balance. This activity, as well as others like yoga, promotes enhanced blood flow.
Using Western Technology While Incorporating Other Methods.
Although western-educated doctors are increasingly integrating the skills they received in medical school with some of the recognized advantages of alternative medicine, western medicine has been sluggish to incorporate Chinese and other alternative ways of healing and illness prevention.
Reflexology and massage are Eastern healing modalities that Dr. Mehmet Oz, a well-known surgeon who regularly appears on the renowned Oprah Winfrey Show, performs on each of his surgical patients.
Dr. Oz said that by using these procedures, the recovery time after surgery is sped up. As more surgeons turn to treatments like Reiki to aid their patients’ healing, he is most likely not the only one to have adopted this beneficial way of thinking.
After a major illness or surgery, Reiki, an Asian energy treatment, is supposed to assist in restoring the body’s natural equilibrium. To ease the pain and tension brought on by sickness or operation, this tradition calls for a therapist who has been educated to touch 12 to 15 spots on the body.
According to a contemporary Chinese study, mixing Western and Eastern medical practices is beneficial for patients as well as medical research in general. For instance, studies have shown that giving cancer patients radiation treatment together with Chinese medicines may significantly decrease the number of tumors while also boosting the immune system.
Evidence that acupuncture does alter the central nervous system by releasing endorphins (pleasure hormones) from the brain and other parts of the body was also included in the Chinese study papers.
It is well recognized that these hormones support the health of our body’s organs. Daily meditation helps boost immune system defense cells like T-Cells, which are responsible for eradicating hazardous pathogens.
Many Chinese treatments, including meditation, are said by critics to be the consequence of the placebo effect, but fresh research from both Western and Eastern sources is slowly disproving this.
A lifestyle-based understanding must be developed to mix the finest elements of Western and Eastern ideologies. In contrast to the Western philosophy, which tends to treat diseases only after they manifest without much consideration for prevention or psychological support, the Eastern philosophy supports the prevention of disease by fostering a healthier lifestyle via nutrition and exercise.
More doctors are now using Western medical approaches together with traditional Chinese medicine and other complementary therapies to aid their patients. According to estimates, more than one-third of Americans supplement traditional medical care with some kind of alternative medicine.
Studies and research are being conducted daily, which warrants giving alternative health care options a much deeper look. You may learn about another benefit of using alternative medical practices to preserve and improve your health by watching the news every day.
What Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Can Do for You.
The combined use of medical procedures and items that aren’t a part of mainstream care is known as complementary and alternative medicine. Many people use CAM to prevent sickness and enjoy a higher quality of life.
People often resort to CAM since traditional medical approaches to managing persistent physical illnesses and psychosocial habits don’t always work. Another reason why more and more individuals are resorting to CAM is the absence of adequate insurance coverage.
Both provider and non-provider treatments are the foundation of CAM. Reflexology and acupuncture are examples of provider treatments, whereas herbal medicines, certain forms of exercise, and meditation are examples of non-provider therapies.
You may connect with your strength and become the greatest version of yourself by taking a complementary and alternative approach to your health.
Life might start to slip away from you and you can find yourself in the typical rut if you’re physically suffering or not cognitively sharp. The old Eastern medical discoveries with contemporary technology may help us find our way back to mental clarity and physical health.
You may wish to think about the following forms of healing techniques and treatments:
- Aromatherapy is a therapeutic modality that uses essential oils made from herbs, plants, and flowers. Massage, baths, or inhalation therapies are some of the available aromatherapy treatments.
- Acupuncture – A qualified acupuncturist inserts long, thin needles just under the skin in specific body parts during acupuncture. This treatment may aid in pain relief, relaxation of the mind, or the cessation of unhealthy behaviors like smoking. Typically, there is no discomfort at all.
- Herbal remedies – Involves using natural herbs to treat or alleviate symptoms of illnesses including sunburn, colds, the flu, headaches, and other conditions.
- Exercise – Yoga, a set of activities that encourage deep breathing, stretching, and cardiovascular health, is a big element of the Eastern philosophy that maintains physical fitness as a strategy to prevent diseases and battle them when they do arise.
- Natural diet – A balanced diet that includes both yin and yang foods may aid with weight management and increase mental clarity. The “common sense” foods that we all know are healthy for us, such as fruit, vegetables, unrefined and unprocessed grains, legumes, and nuts, make up a natural diet.
- Massage and reflexology are relaxing and healing modalities that promote blood flow and soothe sore, stiff muscles.
There wasn’t much information available on this developing healthcare industry until a few years ago. There are now an astonishing number of alternative medicine books available in book shops all over the globe.
Scientific research and educational publications regarding alternative medicine and its benefits may be found online with a quick search.
Comparing Costs of Medical vs. Alternative Methods.
The high cost of traditional medical care is also one of the reasons alternative methods of treating illnesses have become so popular, especially among Westerners. There is a lot of talk about how to treat thousands of people without health insurance, but no one seems to know the answer.
Small firms simply cannot afford to provide health insurance to their workers, while some major organizations’ all-inclusive healthcare plans are insufficient.
The cost of drugs is far cheaper in Canada and Mexico than it is in the United States, thus those who require prescription drugs often cross the border. More individuals will start experimenting with the techniques in their everyday lives to preserve balance as the advantages and reduced costs of alternative medicine become more widely recognized around the globe. They will also start looking for alternative healthcare practitioners that share these beliefs.
The Bottom Line About Alternative Medicine Therapies
Alternative medicine skeptics do exist, but they are now very rare and hard to find. Academic hospitals are incorporating certain alternative medicine practices into their curricula, including Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital.
In a recent piece on complementary and alternative medicine, U.S. News & World Report said that Children’s Memorial is often a “hard-nosed, tough-cases, research-oriented icon of western medicine.”
Others often join on the bandwagon and establish a balance of West and East when a teaching hospital like this starts to allow alternative treatments to coincide with their standard western beliefs.
The majority of doctors now agree that using alternative methods like yoga, massage, and reflexology every day is essential to maintaining good health. Although few Westerners have given that notion a chance, the Chinese generally think that a mix of Western and Eastern therapies may heal chronic illnesses like cancer.
It’s also crucial to recognize that the Western healthcare system provides treatment to a large number of individuals who may not be as receptive to the Eastern perspective on healthcare solutions. The phrase “alternative medicine” conjures up images of witchcraft and spirituality that many people find repulsive and even frightening.
Over time, and with the assistance of both Chinese and American understanding, both may profit from cross-cultural contact and raise peoples’ levels of confidence.
The most important thing in healthcare is to give patients the best therapy or treatment possible. As we bridge cultural gaps and learn more about the philosophical underpinnings of both Western and Eastern medical traditions, we’ll be able to develop new and more effective treatment modalities to share with the rest of the world.
