Nutr Neurosci. 2011 May;14(3):119-25.
Antioxidant and neuroprotective properties of blueberry polyphenols: a critical review.
Giacalone M, Di Sacco F, Traupe I, Topini R, Forfori F, Giunta F.
Source

Intensive Care Unit, Department of Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:

The aim of this work was to highlight the effects and the possible mechanisms of the action of blueberry polyphenols on the central nervous system (CNS).
METHODS:

An analysis was carried out, in a temporal order, of the most important literature about this topic and the results have been correlated with the beneficial and protective effects, mainly concerning the CNS.
DISCUSSION:

Over the last 10 years an increasing scientific interest has developed about polyphenols, which are very abundant in blueberries, as they have been seen to produce favourable effects related to neuroprotection and linked to a possible decrease of age-related cognitive and motor decline, as shown by the improvement of such functions in animal models with a supplemented diet. Such effects could not only be explained through a purely antioxidant action but also through more complex mechanisms related to inflammation, genic expression, and regulation of cell survival.
CONCLUSIONS:

Despite the wealth of data from animal studies, there is a relative lack of data concerning human beings, even if some positive results are beginning to emerge. Therefore, blueberry polyphenols could become useful pharmacological agents for various conditions including neurological diseases, but further studies are still necessary to attain this objective.

Sleep Apnea: “A Noisy Airway Is an Obstructed Airway”

My father taught me that phrase. I read an online report about treating sleep apnea syndrome using a didjeridoo. The didjeridoo is a traditional Australian Aborigine musical wind instrument. The conclusion of the study, published in the British Journal of Medicine, concluded that sleep apnea symptoms decrease with progressive use of the didjeridoo (Puhan, 2006). There is less obstructed breathing (i.e., snoring) when sleeping at night.

It is possible that this decrease is a result of the breathing exercise required by playing the instrument, which strengthens the throat muscles. I found it curious that traditionally, the didjeridoo’s beeswax mouthpiece is cleaned with two essential oils, lavender and eucalyptus. The results suggest a proof of principle in this work. Or you can use Snore Ease like I do each night.

Plausible mechanisms to explain the reversal of the sleep apnea problem suggest that, if traditional essential oils were used to clean the instrument, the oils may have acted as astringents to decongest the airways, possibly working in conjunction with the “workout” to strengthen the throat muscles. This example of a medical study making the news sounds fun and appears promising. Playing the didjeridoo might even relieve a person of having to wear a sleep apnea CPAP or BIPAP mask at night, or eliminate the need for corrective surgery.

Here is how to buy the following essential oils for sleep from doTERRA. The following essential oils have been suggested to be safe sleep aids:
bergamot, Lavandula angustifolia, Ravensara aromatica, mandarin, neroli,
sweet orange, Melissa officinalis, sandalwood, roman chamomile, and
valerian.

Sleep well tonight.

The oilMD

Essential oils can have specific stimulating or inhibiting effects on the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems of the human body that together form the autonomic nervous system. Certain other oils calm and relax the nervous system. Rose oil also has anticonflict and antianxiety properties. Rose and patchouli oils cause a 30% decrease in sympathetic activity.

Essential oil of rose, for example, decreases adrenal cortisol release, which is a sympathetic response to stress, by greater than 30% (Haze, 2002). In other words, you become greatly relaxed because your body is not excited in a sympathetic manner by reactions to worry and fears that may be a significant contribution to the causes of insomnia.

Hello! My name is Dr. James Geiger. As a physician, I care about my patients and friends, which drives me to always be looking for natural ways to stay healthy and get healthy when poor sleep or illness occurs.

Here is how to buy the following essential oils for sleep from doTERRA. The following essential oils have been suggested to be safe sleep aids:
bergamot, Lavandula angustifolia, Ravensara aromatica, mandarin, neroli,
sweet orange, Melissa officinalis, sandalwood, roman chamomile, and
valerian.

One of the most effective means of getting and remaining healthy is to help your body sleep and heal itself. Essential oils help to accomplish that. In my searches for the best products, I have discovered doTERRA essential oils. Why do I find doTERRA to be superior to other oils and other options?

DoTERRA oils are made from pure, organic sourced products and have been developed conscientously to earn the label of “Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade” oils.
DoTERRA as a business is rewarding, simple and reaps benefits.
DoTERRA is constantly investigating new products and sources. They aim to keep products pure from growth, harvest to end user.

You can benefit from doTERRA in one of three ways:

Purchase Retail. If you want to try out doTERRA, feel free to purchase retail direct from my store.
Become a Preferred Member for only $10 and start enjoying doTERRA essential oils at a discounted rate.
Become an Independent Product Consultant (IPC) for $35 and begin enjoying even greater savings and rewards! An IPC has the privelege of purchasing products at wholesale prices (25% below retail), plus earn free products and rewards points toward additional free products through the autoship and loyalty rewards programs.

In addition to earning free products, you have ownership in your own personalized web shopping site where you can send friends and family to purchase product, sign up as a member under your account and much, much more. When a new IPC joins, you earn immediately “fast cash” back from their membership and credit for every purchase or autoship order they make.

Autoship for yourself is a great benefit. With our autoship program you can change your order each month in order to receive the products you need!!

I invite you to browse my doTERRA website at www.mydoterra.com/oilmd today to learn more about essential oils!

James Geiger MD

What is the best aid to sleep?

Insomnia is an individual experience just as any remedy or treatment by
prescription is an experience on the individual. Testing different essential oils
in different fashions may provide a natural solution to obtain better sleep. At
bedtime less essential aroma is better. A strong concentration of any aroma
can be stimulating, just as loud music played when attempting to go to sleep
can keep you awake. Experiment to find your ideal scent for sleep by using an
oil of choice on a cotton ball placed under the pillow, diffused throughout the
room, diluted in an atomizer of water “spritzed” as a hydrosol on the body, or
massaged on the reflexology points under the big toes.

The following essential oils have been suggested to be safe sleep aids:
bergamot, Lavandula angustifolia, Ravensara aromatica, mandarin, neroli,
sweet orange, Melissa officinalis, sandalwood, roman chamomile, and
valerian.

James Geiger MD

doTERRA Essential Oils

2. Providers will establish successful ACOs, which will emerge from private or public-private initiatives.

3. Health plans will rebrand in 2012 as the focus turns to consumers. According to IDC, in 2012 at least 70% of health insurance companies and technology resources (beyond ICD-10) will be channeled toward enhancing consumer engagement and care or health management strategies.

4. There will be greater integration of payment systems with clinical performance and outcomes. Twenty percent of health plans will leverage investment strategies started in 2010 and 2011 to integrate care, network, and payment strategies. Integrating these systems will help differentiate health plans and will allow for an increase in analytics software investments to support outcomes-based payment programs.

5. Pharmaceutical companies will add software that provides real-time alerts, data integration, and analytics to create actionable information that will drive operational efficiencies.

6. ACOs will need to develop an enterprise analytic framework that includes clinical analytics. 2012 will see ACOs battling to find significant IT and human resources to meet analytic requirements. These resources will be needed to support an integrated model that will make data available for all stakeholders, anywhere and anytime.

7. The relationships between pharmaceutical companies and outsourcing firms will shift from what historically has been one-off relationships with siloed systems of processes being outsourced, to broader and deeper partnering relationships across entire functional areas.

8. As physicians, nurses, and mid-level practitioners increasingly use their personal mobile devices to conduct work-related tasks, hospital CIOs will have to deal with increased security risks.

9. Health plans will deploy second-generation communication strategies, developed with the aid of analytics software, to support consumer communications throughout 2012.

10. The second generation of consumer communications will leverage consumers’ social networks, including family, friends, and co-workers, to encourage healthy habits. For example, through mobile devices and social networking sites like Facebook, social connections can encourage (or prod) people to follow medical, diet, or exercise regimens, such as monitoring glucose or blood pressure readings on home health monitoring devices.

List from Information Week.

For most of us, a worthwhile resolution usually involves our health.

My own personal resolution is to give you some of the best reasons in the world to exercise and follow a healthier lifestyle.

Exercise is essential to our health, particularly for women.

Studies show that exercise at different “doses” of physical activity yields different responses in cardio-respiratory fitness among sedentary, overweight, and postmenopausal women with elevated blood pressure.

Women who exercise to varying degrees experience the positive changes of increased muscle mass and decreased fat, proportionally determined by how much they work out.

Exercise not only builds muscle and burns fat; it also resets the body’s resting metabolic rate to a higher set point, so you burn more calories when resting.

Walking is an ideal exercise, because it is low impact and still somewhat strenuous. Walking 10,000 pedometer-measured steps daily has been shown to create positive metabolic balance (i.e., weight loss). Normally, we walk about 6,000 steps a day and need 30 minutes more of treadmill time to gain the remaining 4,000 steps.

If you walk less than 5,000 steps a day then your lifestyle is considered sedentary: couch potato status.

Women and men need daily walking and workouts with weights several times per week.

Yes guys, both women and men may begin developing osteoporosis in their thirties, so get moving!

As the oilMD I’d also recommend several essential oils that may contribute to bone health, such as: sage, juniper, pine, dwarf pine, and eucalyptus, and even oils derived from common kitchen spices. Rosemary, thyme, and sage are also effective due to their high monoterpene content. Choose Bone Balancer by the oilMD.

These oils work by inhibition of osteoclasts that remodel and tear down bone cells (Muhbauer, 2003).

Here’s another powerful reason to exercise more: your brain.

Exercise Your Brain Power
Scientists have made preliminary observations that new nerve cells can be grown in the human brain simply by putting subjects on a three-month aerobic workout regimen.

New brain cells are actually created as we exercise.

The wonderful Miracle Gro-like substance called brain-derived neutrotrophic factor (BDNF) induces growth of new neurons.

Exercise affects cognitive ability just as it affects muscles, making the brain better and smarter. These new BDNF-stimulated brain cells have increased capillary circulation and higher levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

Researchers also believe that exercise benefits your memory. Paradoxically, exercise is remotely chemically akin to the combined antidepressant effects of taking Prozac and the mental stimulation of taking Ritalin. Call it natural medicine for your body, if you will.

Physical activity could also become instrumental in preventing Alzheimer’s disease, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other cognitive disorders.

No matter what your age, an active body is essential for an active mind and strong immune function.

Also keep in mind that the better quality foods you eat and the more you exercise throughout your life will not just build up your muscles, but it may prevent heart and brain failure.

Will you keep that New Year’s Resolution to eat well and exercise?

I guess it all depends on how much smarter, happier, and healthier you wish to be to enjoy many more New Years to come.

The oilMD Holiday Sale features oil and book deal! You can choose any oilMD blend, and The Sweet Smell of Success hardcover book for $14.95. Save $25.

Among other almost-miraculous medical secrets, I’ll be revealing to the world why I’m so fascinated by the field of aromatherapy and essential oils and you’ll get a rare glimpse of what it’s really like to be a doctor in the operating room.

I hope you’ll tune in.
To learn more visit www.oilMD.com or www.jamesgeigermd.com.

Have a Healthy and Happy New Year!

Did the Three Wise Men Want the Christ Child to be Wealthy and Healthy?

Hark, did the Herald Angels Sing about Essential Oils?

So, you’re probably wondering, “What does Christmas have to do with essential oils?”

Well, you may recall the story of a visit by three wise men to the Christ Child, as told in the Bible, St. Matthew 2:1:

“. . now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem . . . they presented unto him gifts: gold, and frankincense and myrrh.”

RX For holiday gladness and joy.

PS 45: 7-8 …anointed with the oil of gladness so that your garments smell of myrrh, cinnamon and aloes….

Could it be those three wise men really were wise beyond their times? Obviously they wanted the newborn Christ Child to be wealthy (gold) and healthy.

Healthy?

Well, truthfully, numerous essential oils such as frankincense and myrrh were in fact quite a valuable commodity in ancient times – even more valuable than gold. Face it, wealth isn’t much good without one’s health.

Evidence clearly suggests that oils were an integral part of healing in ancient times. I know because Egyptian medicinal scrolls dating back to 1500 BCE were uncovered in the tombs of Egyptian royalty.

Add to that the fact that in 1817, an archaeologist discovered one of the most vital scrolls – the Ebers Papyrus medical scroll – tucked between the legs of a mummy in the city of Thebes, Egypt. This 870-foot long scroll describes more than 800 remedies for diseases, many of which included numerous essential oils that possessed powerful medicinal properties.

The scroll also reveals that Egyptian healers had a remarkably high success rate, treating as many as 81 diseases with oils, such as: frankincense, cinnamon, myrrh, rosemary, galbanum, hyssop, cassia, and spikenard, often mixed with honey.

Of course, the Egyptians didn’t have controlled scientific conditions to test essential oils as we have today. Instead, they just learned by trial and error and simply passed along any healing secrets they discovered.

We are still researching and learning all we can about essential oils today. The only difference is we do strict clinical testing. We write down our results and pass them along to colleagues who can test our theories and conclusions.

It seems that modern society and yes, the medical community, is slow to remember the ancient healing roots humankind once possessed but we are learning something new each day. Will we ever catch up to our essential oils past?

I think so. We just need to be diligent and a bit more open-minded about accepting new possibilities and finding alternative means to heal our bodies and prevent illness, rather than filling a prescription.

There is a natural means to good health and that’s why I’m here to tell you all about it.

I hope you enjoy a wonderful, happy, and healthy Christmas!

Dr. James L. Geiger
The 0ilMD

There are very many health benefits to be gained with the implementation of essential oils from plants into the management of medical diseases.

This presentation, by a board certified anesthesiologist, who is also a clinically certified aromatherapist, using essential oils in the operating room, describes the science of aromatherapy.Current medical journal articles and abstracts are discussed in great detail, including bacterial quorum sensing, biofilms and synergy with antibiotics.