The oldest medical book in the world is the Huang Di Nei Jing or Yellow Emperors Classic on Internal Medicine. Its basic tenants are that human beings are a product of nature and not separate from nature and that changes in the environment and a failure to adapt to those changes can cause detrimental changes in human health. Fluctuating temperatures and other changes, such as more severe weather events and rising sea levels, may affect people’s environments in ways that, in turn, harm their health and well-being. At the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), researchers seek to better understand how climate change-related environmental factors may affect people’s health. NIEHS has funded grants exploring the health effects of climate change for more than a decade. NIEHS is also leading a new Climate Change and Health Initiative to coordinate solutions-focused research throughout the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with an aim to reduce health consequences associated with evolving climate conditions and extreme weather events.

How Does Climate Change Affect Human Health?

While climate change is a global process, its impacts may affect communities in different and unequal ways. Some of these effects are relatively direct, as when heat waves or hurricanes cause injury and illness, and even death. Some effects of climate change are less direct and involve shifts in our environment that, in turn, can affect human health. For example, changes in temperatures and rainfall can affect the lifecycles of insects that transmit Lyme disease and West Nile virus, leading to new or varied outbreaks. Rising sea levels can worsen the flooding from hurricanes in coastal areas, leading to more people being exposed to contaminated water, pollutants, and hazardous wastes. Climate fluctuations often occur with other health stressors, such as poverty, social disadvantage, and impaired language ability, to increase vulnerability. Under-resourced and marginalized populations are most at risk. 

As we all marvel at the brand new photographs by the James Webb telescope it is overwhelming to realize that we are also a product of the awesome beauty of nature. We are indeed stardust, as the elements being created by those distant galaxies are the same elements that evolve into the elements that create a life here on earth. Modern scientists and ancient Taoist philosophers both conclude that we and the natural world we live in are one and cannot be separated. We are not separate from nature, we are one with nature even though we have spent a good deal of our history conquering nature and indeed defiling it with our waste. “Science merely bears witness to the wisdom of the Tao” Professor Wen-Shan Huang a well-known sociologist, anthropologist, editor, and author and my original tai chi teacher.” The Dao, or the Way, is the approach in accord with the flow of Nature. The basic idea of the Taoists is to enable people to realize that, since human life is really only a small part of a larger process of nature, the human life which makes sense are those which are in harmony with nature” Zhong Daosong, Taoist master at Baiyun Temple.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d674d7a45444f34457a6333566d54/index.html

Modern scientists today are rediscovering the role that “natures therapy” has in human health. This month’s grand rounds at the Harvard Medical School’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine were entitled ‘Nature Nurtures: Exploring the Health and Healing Benefits of Being Connected to Mother Earth.’ This special edition was presented by Dr. David Victorson, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and served to launch our new Integrative Medicine and Planetary Health program line.

This presentation will provide an overview of some of the known health benefits of spending time in green and blue spaces, including a review of research best practices and recommendations for future inquiry. Links will be made between individual health outcomes and the health of our planet. Finally, data will be presented on psychosocial and biological outcomes from a nature-based program with young adults affected by cancer and their caregivers.

Watch the video Grand Rounds Here

https://youtu.be/al76L71kUsk

Spending more money on health care than any other country in the world the U.S. currently ranks 53rd for life expectancy in the world. Adopting healthy lifestyles could substantially reduce premature mortality and prolong life expectancy in US adults by as much as 14 years. Traditional medicine approaches to healthy lifestyles have been around for many centuries and are still quite popular today. Complementary and integrative approaches to whole-person health have included meditation as an integral part of medicine and this holistic approach may explain why these approaches have continued to motivate healthy lifestyles and hold such appeal for so many people.

World Health Organization W. Global Health Observatory Data Repository: Life expectancy – Data by country. Geneva, Switzerland: 2015. [Accessed February 14, 2018]. at http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.WOMENLEXv. [Google Scholar]

What are meditation and mindfulness?

Meditation has a history that goes back thousands of years, and many meditative techniques began in Eastern traditions. The term “meditation” refers to a variety of practices that focus on mind and body integration and are used to calm the mind and enhance overall well-being. Some types of meditation involve maintaining a mental focus on a particular sensation, such as breathing, a sound, a visual image, or a mantra, which is a repeated word or phrase. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and its medical qigong practices, there are meditations and mantras for every disease known to man. The idea of TCM is that the patients must be an active participant in their own healing not merely a victim of their disease. Some forms of meditation use mantras, some use mandalas or visual images, and some like tai chi or qigong involve physical activity but all forms of meditation revolve around the practice of mindfulness, which involves maintaining attention or awareness of the present moment without making judgments.

With over 100,000 deaths in the US, last year from opioid drugs the drugs we use to control pain have become a major cause of death in the country. Fortunately, much modern scientific research has shown that controlling pain is not just about drugs and surgery. When it comes to treating chronic pain these days people have many evidence-based treatments available.

• According to the National Institutes of Health, a growing body of evidence suggests that some complementary approaches, such as acupuncture, hypnosis, massage, mindfulness meditation, spinal manipulation, tai chi, and yoga, may help to manage some painful conditions.

Summary of some of the research

• A 2017 review looked at complementary approaches with the opioid crisis in mind, to see which ones might be helpful for relieving chronic pain and reducing the need for opioid therapy to manage pain. There was evidence that acupuncture, yoga, relaxation techniques, tai chi, massage, and osteopathic or spinal manipulation may have some benefit for chronic pain, but only for acupuncture was there evidence that the technique could reduce a patient’s need for opioids. 
• A 2017 evaluation of the research on acupuncture found evidence that it has a small beneficial effect on acute low-back pain and a moderate beneficial effect on chronic low-back pain. Based on this evaluation, a 2017 clinical practice guideline (guidance for health care providers) from the American College of Physicians (ACP) included acupuncture among the nondrug treatment options for management of both acute and chronic low-back pain.
• Massage therapy might provide short-term relief from low-back pain, but the evidence is not of high quality. Massage has not been shown to have long-term benefits for low-back pain. The 2017 ACP guideline included massage therapy as an option for acute but not chronic low-back pain.
• A 2017 research review concluded that mindfulness-based stress reduction is associated with improvements in pain intensity and physical functioning in low-back pain, compared to usual care, but the effect may be small and short term. The 2017 ACP guideline included mindfulness-based stress reduction as an option for chronic but not acute low-back pain.
• There is some evidence that progressive relaxation may help relieve low-back pain, but studies on this topic have been small and not of the highest quality. The 2017 ACP guideline included progressive relaxation as an option for chronic but not acute low-back pain.
• Spinal manipulation appears to be as effective as other therapies commonly used for chronic low-back pain, such as physical therapy, exercise, and standard medical care. The 2017 ACP guideline included spinal manipulation as an option for both acute and chronic low-back pain.
• A 2018 evaluation of the research on yoga for low-back pain by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that it improved pain and function in both the short term (1 to 6 months) and intermediate term (6 to 12 months). The effects of yoga were similar to those of exercise. The 2017 ACP guideline included yoga as an option for chronic but not acute low-back pain.
• A 2016 evaluation of the research on herbal products for low-back pain found evidence that cayenne, administered topically (applied to the skin) can reduce pain. Two other herbal products used topically, comfrey and lavender essential oil, and two herbs used orally, white willow bark and devil’s claw,may also be helpful, but the evidence for these herbs is not as strong as that for cayenne.
• Studies of prolotherapy (a treatment involving repeated injections of irritant solutions) for low-back pain have had inconsistent results.
• For more information, see the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) webpage on low-back pain.

Watch the video below for a Video of the Grand Rounds from Harvard Medical School.

Stress is a physical and emotional reaction that people experience as they encounter challenges in life. When you’re under stress, your body reacts by releasing hormones that produce the “fight-or-flight” response. Your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure go up, your muscles tense, and you sweat more. Occasional stress is a normal coping mechanism. However, long-term stress (also called chronic stress) may contribute to or worsen a range of health problems including digestive disorders, headaches, sleep disorders, and other symptoms. Stress may worsen asthma and has been linked to depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses.

There is no drug to cure stress. But we do have access to a built-in “stress reset button.” It’s called the relaxation response. In contrast to the stress response, the relaxation response slows the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and decreases oxygen consumption and levels of stress hormones.

Some people use psychological and physical approaches, such as Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, mindfulness, or relaxation techniques, to release tension and counteract the ill effects of stress.