Tag Archive for: Immune System

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Seasonal Allergies and Acupuncture | acupuncture victoria bc

allergiesSeasonal Allergies and Acupuncture | acupuncture victoria bc   –  written by Victoria Spaurel R.Ac.

Acupuncture is an effective option for allergy symptom control. Although it does not, in my experience, stop symptoms from returning the following year, it does reduce the body’s reactivity, leaving you less dependent on medications, and able to enjoy your spring and summer more.

My treatments allow patients who normally live on anti-histamines all season long the ability to go off them if acupuncture is administered regularly during the season when they are affected. Typically treatments begin with the onset of symptoms and are repeated once per week for 3 weeks, then once every two weeks for the remainder of the season.

Once symptoms are under control patients report improved energy and less reactivity to pollens. In part it is because they no longer require energy sapping anti-histamines to function, but also because their immune system is no longer using up so much energy to react.

An additional benefit to acupuncture for hay fever is that it helps prevent all the secondary infections allergy sufferers are prone to – such as colds, conjunctivitis, or chronic sinusitis.

With the allergy season getting started, consider acupuncture. It is a safe, natural and drug-free method of effectively addressing seasonal allergy symptoms.

– Victoria Spaurel is a registered Acupuncturist having graduated from the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Victoria BC in 2005.  At Diversified Health, Victoria has had tremendous success assisting patients to reach their health goals. She uses a narrative approach to patient interviews, which helps build trust and enriches her understanding of the concerns at hand. Treatments are always designed and paced to suit her patients.

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Victoria Public Health Knows That Loneliness Has A Genetic Link To Illness

Victoria public health knows that loneliness has a genetic link to illness and that lonely people are more likely to get sick and die young because it affects their immune systems, according to new research.

Scientist at the University of California looked at the DNA of isolated people and found that chronically lonely people have distinct patterns of genetic activity, almost all of it involving the immune system.

Much like the age old question which came first the chicken or the egg, the study does not show which came first – the loneliness or the physical traits. Study author Steve Cole, a molecular biologist at the University of California said: “This study shows that the biological impact of social isolation reaches down into some of our most basic internal processes – the activity of our genes.”

Victoria Public Health Knows That Loneliness Has A Genetic Link To Illness

Photo Credit: discovermagazine.com

American scientists used a “gene chip” to look at the DNA of isolated people and found that those who described themselves as chronically lonely had weaker immune systems.

Their findings were remarkable – All 22,000 human genes were studied and compared, and 209 stood out in the loneliest people.

“These 200 genes weren’t sort of a random mishmash of genes. They were part of a highly suspicious conspiracy of genes. A big fraction of them seemed to be involved in the basic immune response to tissue damage,” Cole said. (The report has been published in the journal of Genome Biology).

The findings suggest that the loneliest people had unhealthy levels of chronic inflammation, which has been associated with heart and artery disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and other ills. Victoria Public Health knows that loneliness has a genetic link to illness, so the first step is to start talking about how you feel and take steps to let people into your lives.

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