One of the best known and most popular herbs for sleep is valerian (Valeriana spp.) I never use it. When I teach about sleep herbs, whether it's to patients or colleagues, I always put valerian in the "herbs to watch out for" category. Why? Because not all herbs work...
Sleep is fundamental to health, and yet sleeplessness is an epidemic. Leaving aside the question of what causes this phenomenon (ranging from individual physiology to global climate change) one key issue is what we can do when insomnia hits us personally. Sleep...
Naturopathic patients are a pretty food-savvy bunch. We know what to ask about the provenance of our food. We pay attention to ingredients, to gluten, to dairy, to grass-fed/free-range/high-omega-3/sustainability parameters (except when we just go for a donut.) So it...
Most people understand SAD as a depression response to the short, dark days of winter. And indeed, that is the most common form.
But summer SAD is also truly a thing: hot days, unrelenting brightness that makes you think you have to be cheery and energetic, wildfire smoke in certain parts of the country — all of these contribute to seasonal depression in the summer.
Here’s one simple way to beat it.
How you poop offers important clues to your state of health or disease. Here’s how to know you’re doing — and what you can do to poop better.
Castor-oil packs are one of the most important tools I have as a naturopathic doctor for gently, effectively and inexpensively supporting health on several fronts simultaneously. Although the internet is filled with directions for doing castor-oil packs, every...
Medicare is confusing, and accessing naturopathic care through it has long been difficult. But recent advances make it easier to use your coverage to see an ND.
One of the big buzzwords in health care these days is "functional medicine." And, perhaps like you, for years I had no idea what it meant. When I first heard about it, during my days writing for the now-shuttered WellWire, people tried to explain: "It's what you do as...
When I was just starting my practice, I had the honor of speaking with a reporter for Indian Country Today about traditional techniques for staying well during flu season. This was a decade before COVID changed our lives forever. And while the ongoing pandemic still...
A few years ago, a patient came in with some unexplained symptoms. She'd been to the hospital twice, and even had a small surgery that didn't help the problem. Bad as that was, she'd also gotten some bad news on a related genetic test. You can imagine she was pretty...