I'm a big fan of aromatherapy. I have a diffuser and use a number of different essential oil blends, and I'm perfectly happy if they're just a pleasant placebo. Essential oils smell nice and they're a great way to practice self-care. But do they live up to the assorted health claims that are made about … Continue reading Are Essential Oils a Placebo or Something More?
Blogging and other writing take up a huge amount of my life, but I covered those in the last couple of days, so this is the assorted leftovers. I started off the year with two casual nursing jobs. In the spring I started finding that the patient visits I was doing for one of the … Continue reading Year in Review 2019 – Life & Health
One of my major pet peeves is pseudoscience, which Google defines as "a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method." There's a lot of pseudoscience out there in the world that can spread easily and quickly via the internet, and it often astonishes me what people will believe. There's also … Continue reading How to Spot Pseudoscience
As a Canadian, the fact that I have a pre-existing health condition doesn't affect my ability to access basic healthcare. Our health care system certainly isn't perfect, but our publicly funded system costs a heck of a lot less than the privatized system in the United States. Unfortunately, things look like they could get a … Continue reading I have a pre-existing condition
Depression does a number on my recall ability, so I turn to my bullet journal to help me look back on 2018 from a health perspective. The chances of my illness ever going back into full remission seem very slim at this point, so I think it's probably better if I set aside hopes of … Continue reading 2018 year in review: Health
Recently I watched an episode of the Netflix docuseries A User's Guide to Cheating Death that challenged the idea that "natural" is always good for you. I also saw a post by Trish on The Introspective Salon on the same topic, so I decided to throw in my own two cents about the issue of whether … Continue reading Is “Natural” Better for Your Health?
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study was a landmark research trial conducted by Kaiser Permanente and the U.S. Center for Disease Control. The study examined the correlation between adverse experiences in childhood and health outcomes in adulthood, and clearly showed just how profound that connection is. The ACEs study participants were asked to report whether … Continue reading What we can learn about trauma from the ACEs study