Reposting this from Vital Juice. Great advice for those who stress about falling asleep:

Double-fist. For every glass of holiday cheer, drink a glass of water. “Alcohol may make you sleepy, but it keeps you out of deep sleep,” explains Michael Breus, PhD, author of Beauty Sleep. “Doing ‘a glass for a glass’ slows down the amount of alcohol that goes into your system, and helps you avoid dehydration.”

Count this. When you’re lying awake, “Count backward from 300 by threes,” recommends Breus. “It distracts you from all your other thoughts and worries. And it’s so doggone boring, it puts you right to sleep.”

Stretch out. Exercise promotes better sleep, so fit it in if you can–but if not, “Do stretches in bed,” recommends Breus. “Tight muscles actually keep you awake because it’s hard to get comfortable.”

Heat up. “Sitting in a tub that’s over 100 degrees for more than half an hour prompts a relaxation response,” says Breus. Bonus: “When you get out and your core temperature settles back down, your brain releases melatonin”–which helps to regulate your sleep cycle.

Global climate change has prompted efforts to drastically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels.

In a new approach, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative. The reaction is powered directly by energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis.

by Kate Henderson, L.Ac.

A problem for finding definitive evidence of acupuncture’s efficacy is that there is a lack of satisfactory research on its function. Much of the research that has been done is in the form of a “case study” which only observes one person receiving treatment, what their response was to it, if there was clinical improvement, etc. There are often no control groups or double blind studies which make it difficult to pinpoint if it was the acupuncture that worked or placebo.

After many years of neglect—if not outright skepticism—more rigorous research is being done in the West. But another problem is that the method of diagnosis is completely different in CM than in Western medical diagnosis. An MD may choose 10 patients for an acupuncture study that are all diagnosed with Diabetes. However, there is no “Diabetes” recognized in the theories of Chinese Medicine: people are diagnosed by their individual signs and symptoms which are highly idiosyncratic. And, because in many disorders there are many sets of symptoms that don’t all occur in the same way in different people, these ten diabetic patients may possibly all have a different CM diagnosis and, in true CM, would have ten different treatments prescribed for them. This does not allow for solid, consistent observation of how the treatment is working according to Western scientific methods, because it is not a standardized treatment for “Diabetes” (as a single, one-size-fits-all disorder as conceptualized by Western medicine).

Essentially, Western medicine focuses on cause and effect in research and treatment, and puts much emphasis on finding one method of action/reaction and then replicating the same result with a treatment to prove that it is valid. Chinese medicine is not focused on replicating the same result, as it sees each patient as a whole and concerns itself with regulating an entire system. Every patient is different, and the pattern of their particular disharmony is individual and treated as such.
Even so, acupuncturists, MDs and scientific researchers are working on ways around this translation problem to find a consistent protocol for testing acupuncture and demonstrating its effects. Through formulating suitable methods for capturing and demonstrating acupuncture’s these positive effects according to Western diagnostic and clinical standards remains a challenge, good studies have been done on pain management, neuropathy, infertility, osteoarthritis of the joints, drug addiction treatment and other disorders.
Continue reading Acupuncture Research

by Kate Henderson, L.Ac.

Qi is translated as “vital energy” or “vital breath.” Thus far, no Western-medical observation has ever validated the existence of the channels of Qi that run through the body in the patterns that Chinese Medicine describes, though some research has been suggestive. In the Western medical view, there is not currently a satisfactory scientific explanation for what acupuncture points are, let alone for what happens at specific acupuncture points or how acupuncture treats conditions understood through Western diagnosis.

Even so, all cellular activity has a measurable bioelectric current. Even in a Western clinical setting, it has been observed that 80 percent of the acupuncture points described by Chinese medicine seem to show a higher conductivity at their sites than the surrounding tissue. So, even by Western scientific standards, there is some phenomena that may eventually explain something about how acupuncture works. With only 80 percent of recognized Chinese points showing up in Western studies (done with machines meant to measure phenomena already understood and quantifiable in the West), there remains a translation gap between what Chinese Medicine understands, measures, and treats, and what Western Medicine understands, measures, and treats.

One organ neglected by Chinese Medicine theory seems to be the brain. When mentioned in Chinese Medicine texts, the brain seems to have little importance in clinical use, lacks a channel or points, and plays a negligible part in treatment. While Western medicine places much emphasis on the brain in clinical research, CM sees it as secondary to the system of organs (Liver, Heart, Pericardium, etc.) and channels as a whole.

Despite acupuncture’s apparent omission of the brain in its theoretical framework, acupuncture does have clear effects on the brain’s function, as well as the nervous system at large. An MRI study of patients receiving acupuncture shows a constellation of measurable responses in the brain, especially decreases in pain and distress signals in the limbic system.
Continue reading How Acupuncture Works