Influence of the moon on our behaviour

For the longest time, people have felt the influence of the (full) moon on their behaviour.
Especially on cloudless nights, many of us feel an urge to go outside and enjoy watching the full moon. Some will even go so far that they will go on a nightly hike or bike ride.
If this urge still persists today, how influential must the moon it have been in the past when we only could rely on light of the sun, moon and fire?

This is why so many people believe how lunar cycles can and do influence many other aspects of our behaviour and health.
The most persistent one is about its influence on menstruation cycles, fertility and even on the gender of babies. It's not too difficult to understand where this belief comes from: after all, a lunar cycle is almost as long as the average menstruation cycle.

However, until recently, scientists haven't been able to confirm most of the claims.
Only a short while ago it was confirmed how indeed, the full moon does have an impact on the length of our sleep. Even those who live in an urbanized environment, feel the effect of the full moon on their sleep cycle, even though it is far less pronounced than for indigenous people living without artificial light.

About time to explore whether the moon cycle really affects other aspects of our health and/or behaviour.

Plastics in our body

Only fairly recently we have become aware of the dangers of plastics in our environment.
For a long time we thought these plastics would not be of any concern to us. However, invariably, most plastics end up somewhere in the environment: they sit at the bottom of the sea, mix into beach sand, and blow in the wind. They’re also inside us.

It's possible that humans may be consuming anywhere from 39 to 52 thousand microplastic particles a year. With added estimates of how much microplastic might be inhaled, that number is more than 74 thousand.
People who drink only bottled water ingest an additional 90 thousand particles.

When researchers from Johns Hopkins looked at the impact of eating seafood contaminated with microplastics, they too found the accumulated plastic could damage the immune system and upset a gut's balance.

Scientists are scrambling to understand the dose at which microplastics start to have noticeable health effects. Like air pollution or harmful construction materials, those who have more exposure or pre-existing conditions may be less able to tolerate plastic.

Healthy bowel function: how does normal poop look like?

What are the different types of poop?

Zinc and HCQ

In the past few months, nearly everyone will have become familiar with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and how it has been welcomed as a miracle drug, only to be set aside as being too dangerous to expose sick patients with underlying cardiovascular diseases to it.

Upon learning how HCQ is supposed to be used in this crisis, I was flabbergasted to read how HCQ was put to use by itself, as a drug on its own. True enough, HCQ is a malaria drug, but it was not just meant to be used as a curative medicin on its own for COVID-19 but as a messenger to transport the true miracle mineral, zinc into cells.
The now famous Zelenko protocol which uses HCQ , azithromycin and zinc as well as a number of other essential vitamins and minerals, was never meant to be used in hospital either, but for use by doctors on patients who had just fallen ill.

Now the researchers who discredited HCQ in the Lancet article have been debunked as having used fraudulous data in order to promote a much more expensive drug in which one of the authors had a vested interested, we think it is about time to explain a thing or two on why and how HCQ is used in combination with zinc.

Why celebrating life with food is important for our health

Especially in the darkest months of the year, there seems to be an endless amount of celebrations.
No matter what is always a common theme: food is the main attraction! In fact, the focus society currently places on food has caused us to associate certain foods with holidays, past events and special times. When we sink our teeth into such foods, it can bring back memories we hold close and take us back to a time we enjoyed. Food is much more powerful than we think!

From catching up for coffee, relaxing over brunch, indulging in a long lunch or bonding at a BBQ, it’s hard to imagine getting together without the company of food. Food is something we all have in common, we all must eat, most of us find food pleasurable and trying new foods or cafes is a new experience we can share with others. 

Symptoms and natural treatments of indigestion

Indigestion or heartburn can happen when your body has trouble digesting food. Anyone can get it on occasion, or it can be an ongoing problem. Heartburn is especially prominent in December with so many holidays accompanied with delicious foods, that prompt us to overindulge.

While acid reflux is a common phenomenon, not all symptoms of it, are very obvious.
When heartburn happens, for instance due to smoking, alcohol, medication, carbonated drinks or some foods that are difficult to process (spices, fats, acids, fiber) may cause a valve-like stomach muscle to loosen, allowing stomach acid to backwash into the esophagus. This exposes sensitive tissue in the chest to stomach acids, causing painful symptoms.
Common symptoms of reflux are a burning feeling in your chest or stomach, burping, bloating, gurgling stomach, acid reflux, heartburn, nausea or even vomiting.

Problems in your GI tract or other health issues also can cause indigestion. These include:
- acid reflux, gastroesophageal reflux (GER), or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): A reaction to food and drink where contents come back up from your stomach. The acid can come up into your esophagus, the tube-like organ connecting your mouth and stomach. Acid reflux also can produce vomiting. This condition causes heartburn because of the high acid contents.
- irritable bowel syndrome: a disorder that affects your intestines. Symptoms include stomach pain, bloating, gas, constipation, and diarrhea.
- infection: a bacterial infection from Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) can cause indigestion.
- gastroparesis: A condition that affects digestion. If muscles in your GI tract stop working, your body slows down or stops the movement of food. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, bloating, and acid reflux.
- ulcer: A sore on the lining of your stomach (peptic ulcer), small intestine, or esophagus.
- gastritis: Inflammation of your stomach lining.
- stomach cancer: This is a rare condition, but indigestion can be one of its signs.

Should I worry about my cholesterol levels?

Recently, new guidelines were introduced for what is deemed to be a healthy cholesterol level. While formerly, it was adviced to introduce cholesterol lowering drugs when your 'bad' cholesterol level amounted to over 2.5 mmol/litre, that number now dropped to 1.8.
This big drop will probably result in a vast increase of people that are being administered cholesterol lowering drugs.

But what if I told you, cholesterol is a poor marker for heart health?

For decades, cholesterol testing has served as that warning for many. An elevated level of "bad" LDL cholesterol has been just the warning people needed to change their ways. It has played that role for several reasons. People like tests because the results seem objective. Reliable measurement of cholesterol is easy and relatively inexpensive. It makes sense biologically. LDL cholesterol, a protein-wrapped package containing fat and cholesterol, tends to slip out of the bloodstream and lodge in blood vessel walls, forming the plaque that leads to clots and heart attacks.

And it makes sense statistically. The correlation between lowering your LDL and lowering your chances of having a heart attack or developing other forms of heart disease is well documented. Indeed, exercise and dietary changes are good for the heart partly because they lower LDL cholesterol levels.

Usefulness of herbal medicine in modern times

Natural plant products have been used throughout human history for various purposes. In fact, written records of the use of herbal medicine date back more than 5000 years, and for much of history, herbal medicine was the only medicine.

Today, plants are being used to treat a number of health concerns and conditions, including allergies, arthritis, migraines, fatigue, skin infections, wounds, burns, gastrointestinal issues and even cancer, proving that it’s true that food is medicine. These herbs are less expensive and they’re a safer means of treatment than conventional medications, which is why so many people are choosing to go back to this traditional idea of medicine.

Why do we get the flu in winter?

Being cold doesn’t literally make you catch a cold, but it certainly seems likely how the coldest season is, as a matter of fact, the 'cold' season. Why is there a substantial increase in common colds and flus as soon as it gets cold outside?

The flu really does thrive in winter

There’s no doubt that the flu virus somehow thrives in the cold.
As it turns out, the virus is basically designed to jump from person to person when the air is cold and dry. Studies have shown that transmission rates are highest when temperature and humidity are both low. Because cold air naturally holds less water, low humidity levels are typical for winter.
Even when we make our homes comfortably warm, the air stays just as dry unless we use a humidifier.

But why do viruses thrive in cold air?

Cold air may help the flu virus survive longer outside of a human host, making it easier to linger after a cough or sneeze. And apparently the virus does a better job of circulating in low humidity.
An infected individual exhales virus encased in tiny water droplets, and those droplets evaporate more quickly if the air is dry. If the flu droplet shrinks fast enough, it can become so light that it circulates around in the air instead of falling to the ground.

Natural family planning

In the past week another birth control method came under fire for a brief moment: even the intrauterine device (IUD or coil) with the lowest amount of hormones when compared to the birth control PILL, has an oftentimes negative effect all over the body and is not 'just' effective locally. I was like, "duh, what else were you expecting?" .
Afterwards, the news disasppeared rapidly out of the headlines as of course, what else is to the disposition of a fertile woman, who likes to have sex, but doesn't like to get pregnant? A condom!
Indeed, a condom. But what if you have a steady and reliable partner, who isn't likely to get a STD, then it is quite something to always be using 'that' contraption.

How to prevent hay fever

It is that time of year again when we are hit most with hay fever attacks. Hay fever is caused by flowers, grasses and trees that rely on wind for pollination and shed pollen in large amounts.
Up to 30% of people in European countries suffer from one type of hayfever or another, which means they get an allergic reaction to some type of pollen, with the most common one causing problems being birch and grass pollen. As most birch pollen is produced in April and grass pollen season starts in May, both April and May can be called 'hay fever' months.