Explore : the journal of science and healing
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Sleep disturbance is common and associated with compromised health status. Cognitive processes characterized by stress and worry can cause, or contribute to, sleep complaints. This study systematically evaluated the evidence that sleep can be improved by mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), a formalized psychoeducational intervention that helps individuals self-manage and reframe worrisome and intrusive thoughts. ⋯ To date, controlled studies have not clearly demonstrated the positive effects of MBSR on sleep quality and duration. However, there is some evidence to suggest that increased practice of mindfulness techniques is associated with improved sleep and that MBSR participants experience a decrease in sleep-interfering cognitive processes (eg, worry). More research is needed using standardized sleep scales and methods, with particular attention to the importance of MBSR home practice.
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In this issue of Innovations in Integrative Healthcare Education, we are departing from our usual format of spotlighting specific projects or programs in lieu of presenting a more extended piece by MacKenzie on relationship-centered care and narrative medicine. The importance of these topics cannot be overestimated in their role of humanizing the healthcare encounter, improving self-awareness of the practitioner, and creating a space in which the patient feels deeply listened to. A commentary by Dr Michelle Sierpina is also included in this special section to put into context the power of narrative in medicine and in patients' lives. ⋯ By bringing our own culture, beliefs, and values to the exam room and then allowing the patient to share theirs with us, we create a new kind of relationship-centered, patient-centered care model. This allows the strength of the linear standard medical history, chief complaint, history of present illness, past history, social/family history, review of systems, etc, to be informed and enriched by the nonlinear, perhaps circular, patient story. This story making further allows deeper exploration of the patient's life goals as well as their medical goals.(1) It creates increased personalization of the provider-patient relationship and moves from the "I-them" to Buber's "I-thou." Enjoy the article and the accompanying commentary and consider how to implement this kind of care and mindfulness into the education of health professional students and your practice.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Efficacy of a pelargonium sidoides preparation in patients with the common cold: a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
The common cold is a viral infection with symptoms such as sneezing, sore throat, and running nose. It is one of the most prevalent illnesses in the world, and although commonly caused by rhinoviruses, antibiotics are often prescribed unnecessarily. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to evaluate alternative treatments such as herbal medications, whose efficacy and safety is proven by pharmacological and clinical studies. ⋯ EPs represents an effective treatment of the common cold. It significantly reduces the severity of symptoms and shortens the duration of the common cold compared with placebo. The herbal drug is well tolerated.
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This is the first in a series of two consecutive articles, both of which present the results of original research from a team of music-thanatology musician-clinicians working in Spokane, Washington. This article presents not only an overview of the music-thanatology narration style (through direct excerpts from clinical narratives), it also describes the interconnected physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of 11 dying persons and their families as they occur in a hospital setting. Core to narrative medicine practice, in the first article, we welcome these excerpts from patient, provider, and caregiver experiences to stand on their own, in their own voice, without interpretation. The second article will be published in the following issue and will focus on the clinical practice of music-thanatology, as well as the documentation of the palliation it offers to meet the complex physical, emotional, and spiritual needs described below.