A safe place to talk openly about mental health & illness
We all have trillions of microbes living in our intestines. This microbiome, which develops in infancy, plays a major role in our digestion, but there's growing evidence that it affects more than just our digestive system. Role of the microbiome The collections of critters weighs about 2 kg and includes bacteria, fungi, and viruses. There… Continue reading Does the Gut Microbiome Affect Mental Health?
It's been more than a year, and COVID is still going strong. It's made a lot of people sick and it's killed a lot of people. The lockdowns and social distancing have given most people cabin fever, and the ongoing stress has been bad for everyone's mental health. But what about those of us who… Continue reading Has COVID Impacted Your Access to (Mental) Health Care?
According to a Washington Post article, Americans spend $35 billion per year on vitamins and supplements. Unlike pharmaceuticals, which have to demonstrate effectiveness and safety to get approved, supplements only need to demonstrate safety. That's a lot of money to spend on things that may or may not be helpful. Just because they're "natural" doesn't… Continue reading Do You Take Supplements for Your Health or Illness?
Curve Lake Cultural Centre While we're used to looking through a Western lens at health and wellness, I think there can be a great deal of value in looking at other ways of understanding. The medicine wheel is used by certain North American Indigenous peoples to tie together culture, traditional knowledge, health, and healing. Traditionally,… Continue reading What We Can Learn from the Medicine Wheel
i was talking recently with Luftmentsch of Vision of the Night about the health care systems in. the UK and Canada, and I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what a patient scenario might look like in particular health care system. Health care systems overview First, let's take a quick look… Continue reading How Does Your Local Health Care System Work?
I first heard of World Toilet Day last year, when the theme was leave no one behind. I was reminded earlier today din a post by Philosophy Through Photography that today is World Toilet Day 2020, and the theme this year is climate change. It's been observed by the United Nations since 2013 in recognition… Continue reading It’s World Toilet Day 2020
There are plenty of odd pseudoscientific health practices out there, but psychic surgery kicks it up to a whole new level of weird. Psychic surgery isn't like what happens in an operating room; it's more like what happens on a magician's stage. Sleight of hand, fake blood, and animal parts are used to make the… Continue reading Is Psychic Surgery a Real Thing?
Detox diets and cleanses are quite popular these days, especially if you're of the Goop-y persuasion. And while they might seem to make sense on an intuitive level, from a science perspective, is there anything to actually back that up? The "toxins" Commercial detox products tend to refer vaguely to "toxins" without actually specifying what… Continue reading Do You Need to Detox/Cleanse?
The term adrenal fatigue was first used by chiropractor James Wilson in 1998, and became popular with a book he published in 2001. I've written before about some of the quacky dabbling of chiropractors outside the neck and back pain issues we commonly associate them with. You can probably guess from that alone where I'm… Continue reading Is Adrenal Fatigue Real?
Alberta Board of Health/Public Domain It was 102 years ago that the last major global pandemic happened, known as Spanish influenza, and in many ways, COVID-19 pales in comparison. The Spanish influenza pandemic that began in 1918 didn't actually originate in Spain; that's just where it was first publicly reported. Its origins are unclear, although… Continue reading Spanish Influenza: The Last Big Pandemic
