Health Tech Resources: Meditation Apps

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to improve memory, focus, and mental well-being and regular practice improves sleep quality. When I first heard about these studies on mindfulness meditation, I imagined that to get these benefits, one would have to spend at least an hour per day meditating.  I was surprised to find out that even five minutes can make a difference in stress hormone production and improved sleep.  There are many local resources for learning about mindfulness meditation with a group or counselor.  I highly recommend joining a group if you would like to deepen your practice but these apps

Allergy Medications: Possible Increased Risk of Dementia

A new study published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that certain allergy medications including diphenhydramine (Benadryl) may be related to changes in cognitive ability, brain deterioration and an increased risk of developing dementia. The reason that I wrote “may be related to” instead of “cause” is that the study shows that there is a strong correlation between people taking these medications and these outcomes. This does not mean that there is a definite causal relationship (in other words, we do not know if these medications cause dementia). News shows will often overstate the findings of a

Seasonal Allergies

When people ask me how I treat allergies, I often answer “it depends.” As a functional medicine doctor, I treat the cause of the symptoms instead of managing the symptoms. Because even seasonal allergies can have many different possible causes, there are also many possible treatments. Seasonal Allergies In pharmaceutical medicine, seasonal allergies are treated with an antihistamine. Antihistamines block the signal that your immune cells send out when they encounter an allergen. The antihistamines stop the allergic response at one of the last steps of the process. In functional medicine, seasonal allergies are treated based on asking why the

Integrative Medicine, Functional Medicine, Complementary Medicine, Alternative Medicine Conventional Medicine, Naturopathic Medicine, Holistic Medicine….What DO they all mean?

It can be confusing! So let’s define some terms…at Third Stone Integrative Health Center, we practice functional medicine, and integrate our approach with other specialists. Functional Medicine Functional medicine means asking, “Why is this symptom happening?” When the doctor asks, “why?” instead of just treating the symptom, the underlying cause of the symptom can be determined. Knowing the underlying cause guides us to the treatments that work more deeply and more completely because they address the root of the problem. For example, if you have high blood pressure, a conventional doctor will typically prescribe a medication to lower the blood

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