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As summer moves on and the warmer days continue, you will find yourself seeking ways to beat the heat. Herbal teas are a great way to cool both the mind and body. Cooling herbal teas can alleviate symptoms of excess heat and have you feeling your absolute best during these heat-intensive summer days. Check out these three herbal teas that will ensure you stay cool:

Mint, Elderflower and Rosehips Tea: The combination of mint, elderflower and rosehips makes for a soothing herbal tea. Rose hips provide a much needed boost of vitamin C, the elderflower lends its immune-cleansing benefits and the mint finishes off the tea with the cooling touch of menthol.

Lemon Hibiscus Tea: This is an herbal blend just as good cold as it is hot. Regardless of the way this tea is poured, it provides specific cooling benefits to the body. Hibiscus is high in vitamin C and combats  high blood pressure, liver disease and other ailments. Lemon has a kick of vitamin C, too, but more importantly it is cleansing, cooling, and a natural diuretic.

Iced Green Tea, Lemon and Mint: The perfect summer refresher. The combination of these three ingredients work together in perfect harmony in order to cool the body down. Packed with vitamin C, menthol and antioxidants, this is another tea that will get your constitution headed in the right direction.

Negative ions may sound like something unhealthy, but in fact, recent studies suggest breathing air rich in negative ions can have a very positive effect on a person, both physically and mentally.

There are numerous health benefits to inhaling negative ions.  Once negative ions are inhaled and enter the bloodstream, they produce biochemical reactions that can increase the chemical serotonin, which helps manage stress and depression. Negative ions can also help increase the flow of oxygen to the brain which can eliminate drowsiness and increase alertness and mental clarity.

Negative ions are oxygen atoms charged with an extra electron. They are commonly found in natural places close to moving water and can also be felt in the air after a thunderstorm. You know that clean, fresh taste noticed near a beach or waterfall, or after a strong thunderstorm? These are all examples of negative ions saturating the air.

Negative ions can clear the air of pollutants like mold, pollen, pet dander, bacteria, dust and foul odors. They do this by attaching to positively charged particles, causing air pollutants to become too heavy to stay airborne. They then drop to the ground, which prevents them from becoming respiratory pathogens. This is why it is suggested that negative ionizers be used in your  home and office.

One of the best ways to experience the positive health effects of negative ions is to spend more time in nature. Stepping outside after a thunderstorm blows through, walking along the beach or even going for a hike in the mountains are all ways of getting exposure to negative ions that can ultimately lead to good health and a positive attitude. If none of these things are possible, adding a Himalayan salt lamp to the home is another great way to shift the mood.

Phonophoresis is a form of treatment that uses ultrasound waves to help pass a topical medicine or herbal remedy through the skin and into the injured body part. It is commonly used to reduce inflammation in a muscle, tendon, ligament or other soft tissue in the body. While inflammation is the natural healing process that occurs after an injury, it can also cause pain, swelling, redness and increased temperature in the inflamed body part.

Physical therapists have found that phonophoresis may be particularly helpful in treating tendonitis, bursitis, adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder), and arthritis, and there are reports that it is also effective in treating delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) which can occur after vigorous exercise.

The substances used most typically used during traditional phonophoresis treatments are anti-inflammatory medications, such as hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, salicylates, and lidocaine. At the Bresler Center, however, we are having even greater success using more natural remedies, such as cannabadiol (CBD) and other herbal topical agents. If you think that phonophoresis may be a treatment option for your specific condition, be sure to give us a call at 310-474-2777.

A study published by the JAMA Internal Medicine found that more than 70 percent of Americans consume more than the recommended daily amount of sugar. Sadly, most of us have become addicted to sugar which is often hidden in many of the foods and drinks we commonly consume. Added sugar can cause a whole array of problems that can be both short and long term. If you are experiencing health problems, lowering your sugar intake may be one of your best options. Below are 10 truths about the ugly side of sweets.

No nutrients: Refined sugar has absolutely no nutritional value and it is recommended to consume as little as possible. The first step is to eliminate sugar from drinks such as soda, juice and mixed alcoholic drinks. Large amounts of sweetener in these drinks can make them very addictive.

Harms your liver: Sugar can be just as damaging to your liver as alcohol and can lead to fatty liver disease. When you consume too much fructose, your body becomes insulin resistant resulting in various problems that can cause diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

Raises cholesterol: One study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that participants who ate the highest levels of added sugars also showed the biggest increases in bad cholesterol and triglyceride levels and the lowest levels of good cholesterol.

A leading cause of obesity: In America, sugar is one of the leading culprits of obesity. It is estimated that 80 percent of food products in the U.S. contain added sugar. The best way to lose weight and lower your risk of obesity is to eliminate all processed foods and drinks.

Bad for your teeth: As a child, you may remember having your dentist tell you to “eat less candy” to prevent cavities. As an adult, we know it’s not only candy that will cause cavities, but sugar that is found in your favorite drinks and everyday foods as well. What’s the best way to sustain healthy teeth and gums? Cut the processed and refined sugar.

Risk of contracting type 2 diabetes: Consuming too much sugar causes glucose levels to become elevated which can be toxic to your body. When this happens, your body has a harder time producing enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels normal which can then lead to type 2 diabetes.

If you’re having difficulty overcoming your sugar addiction, we can definitely help. Call us at 310-474-2777.

While topical creams and cosmetic products can improve your skin from the outside, nutritional supplements taken orally can have an impact from within the body. Consuming collagen peptides has clinically been shown to promote younger looking skin by improving epidermal moisture content which prevents skin aging.

Other studies have demonstrated that collagen peptides can prevent the formation of deep wrinkles, improve skin suppleness, replenish moisture levels in hair (increasing growth and retention), and supports stronger and accelerated nail growth.

Supplementation with collagen peptides can also protect the degradation of connective tissues in athletes which ensures the cohesion, elasticity, and regeneration of skin, hair, tendons, cartilage, bones, and joints.  A 2011 study found that supplementation with 30 – 70 grams of collagen peptides per day reduced the risk for muscle, tendon, and ligament injuries in athletes. Collagen peptide supplements are the perfect protein to consume before and after exercise, helping to maintain and restore the protein content of muscle.

Collagen Peptides are also a great, natural alternative to quick-fix medications for gastrointestinal problems.  Rather than simply masking symptoms, the 18 amino acids found in collagen peptide can prevent and even heal many digestive disorders by increasing stomach acid, healing stomach ulcers, aiding in digestion, and healing and sealing the gut lining.  If you’d like to know the specific brand of supplements that we recommend, please feel free to give us a call at 310-474-2777.

Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States. As many as one quarter of all Americans are considered overweight. Consequently, nearly $33 billion will be spent annually on weight loss programs and almost 85 percent of those trying to lose weight will fail. There are many reasons why Americans are getting larger waistlines, but ultimately, the most common cause is related to when, what, and how much they eat and exercise.

Acupuncture is a drug-fee, safe, and effective method for helping with weight loss. A vast majority of people tend to look for the “quick fix” which usually doesn’t work in the long run. However, if a person is able to take control of their actions and make healthy decisions, then acupuncture can greatly speed up the process of  shedding pounds.

When it comes to weight loss, acupuncture helps to increase your metabolism, reduce water retention, rebalance hormone levels, regulate sugar metabolism, and reduce stress, which can lead to binge eating and other unhealthy eating habits. Acupuncture for weight loss is not a “magic bullet” that automatically cures the problem. Controlling your diet and getting proper exercise and rest are all crucial when trying to lose weight. With our support, many of our patients are able to do all these things together and as a result, they’ve had great success in losing weight when all other attempts have failed. Please call us at 310-474-2777 if we can help you, too.

Human beings automatically respond to the perception of threat or danger by the release of adrenalin and other hormones that result in increased heart and breath rate, increased blood pressure, changing the flow of blood to large muscles, etc.) This is meant to be a temporary overdrive system to meet the challenge that is threatening or dangerous.

When we become chronically stressed, however, the body can be pushed beyond its ability to re-establish homeostasis (balance), and its recuperative abilities can become exhausted. That’s why learning to relax is now considered a survival skill for maintaining health in the complex and stressful world in which we now live.

According to the scientific method, you cannot reliably change anything that you can’t measure. Although most everyone today will acknowledge that they have a lot of stress in their lives, very few know how to regularly and reliably measure all of the effects that it is having upon us.

At the end of each day, we recommend that you take a few minutes to complete our Daily Stress Check List. This will allow you to keep track of the ways that stress may be causing certain physical symptoms, may be affecting your mental processing and daily behaviors, and may be evoking stress related feelings.

You can download a copy of the Daily Stress Check List by clicking here. If you are consistently checking more than 12 boxes, contact us at 310-474-2777 for a stress management program that really works.

Our nation is in the midst of an unprecedented opioid epidemic. More people died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any prior year on record, and the majority of drug overdose deaths (more than six out of ten) involved an opioid. Since 1999, the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids—including prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin—nearly quadrupled, and over 165,000 people have died from prescription opioid overdoses.

Public health officials are calling the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history, killing more than 33,000 people in 2015. Overdose deaths were nearly equal to the number of deaths from car crashes. In 2015, for the first time, deaths from heroin alone surpassed gun homicides

To help deal with this problem, physicians, dentists, and other prescribers must consider the numerous effective alternatives to opioids for post-operative, acute, and chronic pain control. These include acupuncture, massage and physical therapy, transcranial and interferential neurostimulation, phonophoresis, intermittent hypoxic training, nutritional and herbal supplements, medical hypnotherapy, biofeedback training, and interactive guided imagery(sm), among others.

Using these alternative approaches, we have been successful in helping our patients to significantly reduce or eliminate their opiate and other prescription pain medicines without the discomfort frequently associated with narcotic withdrawal. Contact The Bresler Center at 310-474-2777 for more information.