“Healthy living” to most people means both physical and mental health are in balance or functioning well together in a person. In many instances, physical and mental health are closely linked, so that a change (good or bad) in one directly affects the other. Consequently, some of the tips will include suggestions for emotional and mental “healthy living.”
Personal Development Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. Personal development takes place over the course of a person’s entire life.[1] Not limited to self-help, the concept involves formal...
What Is Well-being? Well-being, wellbeing, or wellness is the condition of an individual or group. A high level of well-being means that in some sense the individual’s or group’s condition is positive. According to Naci and Ioannidis, “Wellness refers to diverse and interconnected dimensions of physical, mental, and social well-being that extend beyond...
5 Reasons Losing Weight Will Improve Your Life Whether you’re trying to lose 5 pounds or 50 you’ve probably been told (ad nauseum) about the many benefits of weight loss. From it’ll make you feel better about yourself to you’ll get a better paying job. We’ve heard them all before,...
Evidence-based Medicine Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is an approach to medical practice intended to optimize decision-making by emphasizing the use of evidence from well-designed and well-conducted research. Although all medicine based on science has some degree of empirical support, EBM goes further, classifying evidence by its epistemologic strength and requiring that...
Vaccine Hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy is a reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated or to have one’s children vaccinated. It is identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019.[1][2] The term encompasses outright refusal to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain...
Christian Laying On Of Hands In Christianity, the laying on of hands is both a symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers, along with a variety of other church sacraments...
What Is Energy Medicine? Energy medicine, energy therapy, energy healing, vibrational medicine, psychic healing, spiritual medicine or spiritual healing are branches of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel healing energy into a patient and effect positive results. This idea itself contains several methods: hands-on,[1] hands-off,[1] and distant[1] (or absent) where the patient and healer are...
Laying On Of Hands The laying on of hands is a religious practice. In Judaism semikhah (סמיכה, “leaning [of the hands]”) accompanies the conferring of a blessing or authority. In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers,...
What Is Reiki? Reiki (霊気) is a form of alternative medicine called energy healing. Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which a “universal energy” is said to be transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient in order to encourage emotional or physical healing. Reiki is a pseudoscience,[1] and is used as...
What Is Ayurveda? Ayurveda is a system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent.[2] Globalized and modernized practices derived from Ayurveda traditions are a type of alternative medicine.[3][4] In countries beyond India, Ayurvedic therapies and practices have been integrated in general wellness applications and in some cases in medical use.[5] The main classical Ayurveda texts...
Traditional Chinese Medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a branch of traditional medicine that is purported to be based on more than 3,500 years of Chinese medical practice that includes various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping therapy, gua sha, massage (tui na), bonesetter (die-da), exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy,[1] but recently also influenced by modern Western medicine. TCM is...
What Is Traditional Medicine? Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as “the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to...
What Is Naturopathy? Naturopathy or naturopathic medicine is a form of alternative medicine that employs an array of pseudoscientific practices branded as “natural”, “non-invasive”, and as promoting “self-healing”. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine, rather than evidence-based medicine.[1] Naturopathic practitioners generally recommend against following modern medical practices, including but not limited to medical testing, drugs, vaccinations, and surgery.[2][3][4][5] Instead, naturopathic...
What Is Bioelectromagnetics? Bioelectromagnetics, also known as bioelectromagnetism, is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities. Areas of study include electrical or electromagnetic fields produced by living cells, tissues or organisms, including bioluminescent bacteria; for example, the cell membrane potential and the electric currents that flow in...
What Is Chiropractic? Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine mostly concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine.[1][2] Some proponents, especially those in the field’s early history, have claimed that such disorders affect general health via the nervous system,[2] through vertebral subluxation, claims which are contrary to scientific...
Regulation And Prevalence Of Homeopathy Homeopathy is fairly common in some countries while being uncommon in others. In some countries, there are no specific legal regulations concerning the use of homeopathy, while in others, licenses or degrees in conventional medicine from accredited universities are required. Homeopathic preparations are not effective for...
What Is Homeopathy? Homeopathy or homœopathy is a system of alternative medicine created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann, based on his doctrine of like cures like (similia similibus curentur), a claim that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people would cure similar symptoms in sick people. Homeopathy is a pseudoscience – a...
What Is Mental Health? Mental health is the level of psychological well-being or an absence of mental illness. It is the state of someone who is “functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioural adjustment”.[1] From the perspectives of positive psychology or of holism, mental health may include an individual’s ability to enjoy life, and to create a balance between life...
What Is Gestalt Therapy? Gestalt therapy is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy which emphasizes personal responsibility, and focuses upon the individual’s experience in the present moment, the therapist–client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person’s life, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of their overall...
Self-help Groups For Mental Health Self-help groups for mental health, or mutual aid groups are voluntary associations of people who share a common desire to overcome mental illness or otherwise increase their level of cognitive or emotional wellbeing.[1] Despite the different approaches, many of the psychosocial processes in the groups are the same. Self-help...