In This Issue (Get QiMail delivered to your inbox )
– Create Lasting Resolve to Reach Your Goals with Acupuncture
– Healthy Brain Habits
– Mental Clarity Boost
– The Will Power Connection
– -News, Events and Community!
Create Lasting Resolve to Reach Your Goals with Acupuncture
The start of the new year is a time of looking back at what we have achieved in the past year and looking forward to the future. This period of remembrance and resolution may be challenging but it is both productive and rewarding. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine can help achieve the change you seek as it assists in illness prevention, stress relief, minimizes aches and pains, improves energy and nurtures balance. This calm and clarity strengthens your resolve as you take the next step in achieving your goals.
Here are a few ways that Acupuncture can help you achieve your goals:
Lose Weight
Losing weight is the most common New Year’s resolution. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine can help you reach your goal weight and maintain it by promoting better digestion, smoothing emotions, reducing appetite, improving metabolism, and eliminating food cravings–all of which can help energize the body, maximize absorption of nutrients, regulate elimination, control overeating, suppress the appetite and reduce anxiety.
Get in Shape
Renewed enthusiasm to exercise in order to enhance fitness levels, train for a competition, or lose weight can come at a painful price for those who try to do too much too quickly. Recent studies show that acupuncture effectively treats sports injuries such as strains, sprains, musculoskeletal pain, swollen muscles and shin splints.
Eliminate Stress
Stress reduction is always on the top ten list for New Year’s resolutions and for a good reason; it is often the cause of illness and deterioration of health. Numerous studies have demonstrated the substantial benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of stress, anxiety and lowering blood pressure. In addition to acupuncture, Oriental medicine offers a whole range of tools that can be integrated into your life to keep stress in check.
Improved Quality of Life
If pain is keeping you from living life to the fullest, acupuncture can help as it has no side effects and can be helpful for all types of pain, regardless of the cause or where it is located. Increasingly, people are looking for more natural approaches to help relieve painful conditions instead of relying on medication. In addition to reducing pain, acupuncture also hastens the healing process by increasing circulation and attracting white blood cells to an injured area.
Call today to see how Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine can help you keep your resolutions and prepare for the year ahead!
Healthy Brain Habits
Keeping the goals we have set for ourselves in addition to outlining and completing the tasks needed to accomplish those goals can be overwhelming. Here are a few steps you can take to help optimize brain health and sharpen your memory:
Eat More Produce – Studies that focus on food and memory show that the more produce you eat, the better. One 25-year Harvard Medical School study of more than 13,000 women showed that the participants who ate relatively high amounts of vegetables over the years had less age-related decline in memory. Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, and leafy green vegetables had the biggest effect on helping women retain their memory during the course of the study. In another study, the phytochemicals, anthocyanin (found in berries of all colors and cherries) and quercetin (found in onions, kale and apples), actually reversed some of the age-related memory deficits in laboratory animals.
Take Care of Your Heart – A healthy heart makes for a healthy brain. Because oxygen and nutrients are carried in the blood stream, anything that impedes blood flow will starve those all-important brain cells. Review your blood pressure and cholesterol level. Know your numbers and if they are elevated, take immediate measures to bring them down.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep -When we sleep, the brain has time to recharge. Studies show that 7-8 hours of sleep a night helps to strengthen memory. Practicing good sleep habits helps keep the brain and the rest of the body functioning at its best.
Exercise – Regular physical activity has been shown to decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by about half. Exercise increases blood flow to the brain and helps regulate blood sugar levels, both of which improve brain function and memory. Aim for 30 minutes a day.
Challenge Your Brain – Keep your mind active and challenged. Brain function decreases with age. Studies show that cognitive exercise can improve blood flow to the brain. Spend at least 15 minutes each day on a mental exercise such as a crossword puzzle, journaling or learning a new language in order to slow memory loss.
Mental Clarity Boost
Feeling a little foggy? Having trouble concentrating?
Massage acupuncture point Du 20 for some mental clarity.
Du 20 is located on top of the head, midway between the ears. It is used to clear the mind and improve focus.
Stimulate the point with your index finger 35-40 seconds for a quick “brain boost.”
The Will Power Connection
Is there a body/mind connection to will power? According to the principles of Acupuncture and Oriental medicine there is. Will power, or “Zhi,” is said to reside in the kidneys and the state of the Kidney Qi directly correlates to the fortitude of our will power.
In Oriental medicine, disease prevention begins with a protective layer around the exterior of the body called wei qi, or defensive energy. If you catch colds easily, have low energy and require a long time recuperating from an illness, your wei qi may be deficient.
Nourishing Qi can help greatly enhance the body’s ability to thrive in times of stress, aid in healing, prevent illness and increase vitality. According to Oriental medicine, recharging your battery and regeneration of vital energy, Qi, will help you live, look and feel your best!
News, Events and Community!
– John’s schedule changes every trimester based on his teaching schedule, he always has room for new and existing patients. You can schedule up to three months in advance and see the new hours using our online scheduling system: http://www.appointmentquest.com/provider/2120071333 or call (510) 814-6900
– In January 2012 we will be introducing “Shang Han Lun Mondays” a low cost straight TCM clinic on Monday afternoons. Details will be posted in our facebook events.
– We are open on Saturdays for drop-in appointments from 10-2.
– Please join our Facebook community http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alameda-Acupuncture-Dr-John-Nieters-LAc/126245057390177
– The office will be closed December 23-26 and December 30-31. Have a wonderful holiday. Remember Winter is the time to let Yin have it’s way and rest!
-Thanks to “L” in Alameda for this wonderful review on Yelp.com:
“John is one of the most tuned in healers I have met. Its what makes his treatments so effective, I have seen him for a variety of health issues over the years and have often referred people to him. While I see different acupuncturists for different reasons, John is the one I want to see when my health takes a dive or acquire one of my creative injuries.
In 2004 western medicine had exhausted all treatment options for my polycystic ovarian syndrome, in fact my doctor was on board for a full hysterectomy, when I consulted John about it within a few months his acupuncture treatments and herbs got me on a regular cycle, within a year there was no sign of disease. Recently I had a flare up and I am currently uninsured so i can’t even get western medicine tests, while it took me a little longer than I would prefer to snap out of my denial I quickly got in to see John and he fixed me up and set up with some lovely herbs.
Some things you just can’t waste time on and you need to see the best, I’m glad i did. ”
Upcoming Events
January:
What: TCM Gynecology & Obstetrics
Instructor: Dr. John Nieters, L.Ac. DAOM
When: Thursdays Jan 5, 2012 to April 12
Time: 1:45pm – 4:45pm
Where: Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences
Call: (510) 763-7787 and ask for “Nah”
Learn how to use acupuncture and herbal medicine to treat: sub-fertility, PMS, painful periods, endometriosis, fibroids and menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, night sweats, dryness and insomnia. Learn how to work as a primary care practitioner with fertility patients, or coordinate care in a multi-disciplinary approach using Chinese Medicine along with IVF treatments and other western fertility methodologies.
What: Nutrition & Supplements
Instructor: Dr. John Nieters, L.Ac. DAOM
When: Jan 3, 2012 for 10 weeks
Time: 9am-12pm
Where: Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences
Call: (510) 763-7787 and ask for “Nah”
Learn how to integrate concepts of Western nutrition and supplements into your clinical practice. This is an in depth study of nutrition and health.
John Nieters, L.Ac. DAOM, clinical practice in Alameda, CA specializing in recalcitrant or “knotty” chronic disease conditions, women’s health and musculo-skeletal disorders. John is an advocate for education and integration in healthcare.
February:
What: UC Berkeley Integrative Medicine: Traditional Chinese Medicine
Time: 2/27/12 7-9pm
Where: , UC Berkeley, Chan Shun Auditorium, 2050 Valley Life Sciences Building
Cost: FREE
Dr. John Nieters, L.Ac. DAOM will present an overview of Traditional Chinese Medicine including philosophy, modalities and practical applications. The public is welcome to attend this event for FREE.
UC Berkeley Integrative Medicine: This class is a survey course on a di versity of healing sciences, and medical practices. It will encompass specific fields of healthcare and medicine from all over the world as well as fields expanding in the United States. We invite professionals from practices such as: allopathy (modern western medicine), osteopathy, naturopathy, homeopathy, midwifery, Native American Medicine, acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, Taoist Medicine, ayurveda, ethnobotany, yoga, energy medicine, meditation, psychiatry, chiropractic, and many other fields to share their insight and knowledge in the healing arts of medicine across cultures.
The goal of this course is to promote awareness and expose students to the different types of complimentary and alternative therapies in the medical field. Our aim is for each student to walk away with a basic awareness of what each medical therapy and health practice is about and how to evaluate evidence scientifically. We hope that this knowledge will be sufficient to intrigue curiosity and encourage students to search for more information on their own.
