Your Health: Medwatch

Orders Doctors DON'T Give
Arthritis Today, JULY-AUGUST 2006
by Dorothy Foltz-Gray

Going beyond meds in search of good health.

If your doctor wrote “Turn off your television” on a prescription pad, you might be surprised. But you may increase your overall well-being taking such unconventional advice as these simple-but-sound ideas:

• Take news fasts. “Try avoiding news for a few days and note how you feel,” says Andrew Weil, MD, founder and director of the University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine in Tucson. “Listening to or watching news often creates anxiety, anger and a sense of powerlessness,” he says. Such feelings can increase stress, muscle tension, sleeplessness and depression, all of which can aggravate arthritis.
   

• Awaken naturally. “Our minds and bodies are under constant stress with no time to relax,” says Isaac Eliaz, MD, an integrative physician in private practice in Sebastopol, Calif. “At least one day a week, let yourself sleep until your brain and body tell you it’s time to wake up, and take a nap on weekends. The extra rest offers a break for joints, and lets the body repair itself during sleep,” says Dr. Eliaz. He suggests heading to bed between 9 p.m. and midnight: “That’s when our cells do their best repair work,” he says.
   

• Breathe easy. “Breath is the link between the body and mind, and it offers the possibility of calming the involuntary nervous system,” says Dr. Weil. Focus on your breathing for at least three minutes each morning before you get up. Inhale through your nose, allowing your belly to expand. Exhale through your mouth, letting your belly and chest drop.
   

• Snub the critic. When you are constantly self-critical, you waste precious energy, undercutting your immune system, says Dr. Eliaz. The remedy? Begin by choosing one day when you refuse to criticize or push yourself. Ask your family to help by gently reminding you not to be so hard on yourself. Gradually add another day and another, until you are your best supporter every hour of every day.
   

• Get hot and cold. Finish your daily shower by letting hot water run down your spine for 10 seconds, switch to cold for 10 seconds, and repeat three times, suggests naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist Laurie Steelsmith of Honolulu. The practice relieves stress by opening blood vessels and soothes pain by bringing blood to the body’s surface, she says.