Category Archives: General Health

My Prescription for You: Buy a Plant

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

April 20, 2022

House plants are great. They look good. They put you in a great mood. And they improve air quality in the house. That’s what I want to zero in on today; how house plants can act as air purifiers in your home.

Now, you have to remember. Your house is not hermetically sealed. Whatever is in the air outside of your home makes its way indoors. So we’ve got all of these airborne pollutants circulating through our homes, whether we want them or not.

One of these is nitric dioxide, or NO2. This is a gas that gets into the air from burning of fuel. So it comes from cars, trucks, buses, boats, tractors and other fuel-burning vehicles. The average level in homes is about half of what it is outdoors. Continue reading →

These Tiny LED Lights are Ruining Your Health

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

April 18, 2022

A lot of folks don’t realize their bedrooms have got to be dark for a good night’s sleep. Their devices need to be turned off about an hour before bedtime, and there really can’t be any light seeping in. The blinds have to be drawn.

But it’s more than that. There are all of those LED lights from your TV, phone charger, stereo and other devices. You have the little blue lights. You have the little green lights. They drive me crazy! I have to cover them up or I can’t sleep at all.

Those little lights are more than an annoyance. They are bad for your health. Continue reading →

9 Head-to-Toe Stretches to Ease Aches and Pains

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

April 13, 2022

The first thing a cat or dog does when it wakes up is stretch. It gets their blood flowing and muscles moving again after they’ve been inactive. But the veterinarian didn’t tell them to do it. They do it naturally and it feels good.

Even though stretching also feels good for humans, we seem to think we only need to do it before and after exercise. Or during rehabilitation for an injury. We aren’t like the cat and the dog. We don’t stretch “just because we can.”

But that’s a big problem, because we lose a lot of range and flexibility as we age. Continue reading →

Food Additive may be Fueling Dangerous Superbugs

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

April 4, 2022

In the March 30 issue of Advanced Natural Wellness you learned about the impact certain foods have on your gut microbiome; and the impact your gut microbiome has on your health.

Today I want to alert you to a little-known sugar that can lead to a dreadful condition called Clostridium difficile. This is a bacterial infection that occurs when the gut microbiota gets out of whack, particularly after the use of antibiotics.

Now, back in the1980’s and 1990’s, C. difficile wasn’t really much of a problem. It was easily treatable. Continue reading →

The Bugs in Your Gut…

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

March 30, 2022

In the past 15 to 20 years, what we’ve learned about the importance of the human gut microbiome is amazing.

Before that, we spent a lot of time demonizing the bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes that hang out in our guts. We were wrong about so many things.

Back in the day… Continue reading →

Binge Watching is a Risky Activity

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

March 28, 2022

With so many streaming services at our fingertips, it’s easy to get trapped into a binge-watching marathon. And that’s risky business.

When people spend hours at a time sitting still, they are just asking for trouble. I even tell people that “sitting is the new smoking,” because the health effects are similar.

Blood flow slows down and your blood becomes more viscous. This puts you at greater risk of developing blood clots. Because blood tends to pool in your legs and feet, that’s where you’re going to get the clots. Continue reading →

COVID Has Deepened an Epidemic of Loneliness

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

March 23, 2022

As we enter our third year living with COVID, some people are still afraid to leave their homes.

But even before the virus, social isolation was a growing epidemic. Rates of loneliness doubled between the 1980s and 2017. And a Harvard survey conducted in October of 2021 showed one in three people reported feeling lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time or “all the time.”

The thing is, loneliness doesn’t cause people to isolate themselves. But isolation definitely leads to loneliness. And that’s not a good thing. Continue reading →

Herbal Teas for all that Ails You

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

March 4, 2022

I don’t think people realize that herbal teas aren’t really tea, per say. Green and black teas all come from the Camellia sinensis plant.

Herbal teas, on the other hand, are made using the leaves, stems, roots, flowers, bark, seeds or petals of specific herbal plants. So they are more of an herbal infusion, even though we call them herbal teas.

And we all know about these herbal concoctions. Most of us use them at some point in our lives. Continue reading →

When Your Feet Feel Like They are On Fire

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

March 2, 2022

People don’t comprehend the absolute unremitting pain of peripheral neuropathy. It begins with tingling in the feet, then moves on to a feeling of “pins and needles” or burning sensations like your feet are on fire. It can even feel as if you’re walking on clouds – like your feet aren’t touching the floor – because you can’t feel the floor.

But it’s not until the real pain starts that people begin to get upset. That’s when it starts interfering with daily activities, because it’s difficult to walk or remain standing for any length of time.

Left untreated, it could lead to numbness and a loss of feeling in the feet, which can severely affect your balance. Continue reading →

5 Nuts You Should Eat Every Day

By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

February 25, 2022

I love nuts. Sometimes I’ll buy them mixed, other times I’ll just grab a bag of one type or another. That works out well for me, because I don’t have a favorite. I like all of them.

What I’ve found is that when I get different nuts to put in my salad each night, I can rotate them. One night I’ll toss in some almond slivers. Another night it’s walnuts or pecans. Sometimes I even get a little crazy and use candied walnuts and candied pecans…and well, I really like the occasional crunchiness on my fork.

One of the things I like best about nuts is that they’re so darned good for you. Continue reading →