Acupuncture and Yoga

Nutritional therapist

Hoistic and massage therapies

This is the term given to hot flushes that accompany the menopause and occur at night and cause sweating. This is very common in premenopausal women.  Oestrogen levels are often lowest at night, which is why women often experience nocturnal hot flushes.

Hot Flushes are one of the most frequent symptoms associated with menopause and are experienced to some degree by 70-75% of women.

Hot flushes tend to start just before the menopause and may last for two to three years. However some women may experience hot flushes up to two years before menopause and in about 10% of women they may last for several years.

Hot flushes vary in intensity and some women only experience a few seconds of feeling ‘warm’ around the face.  For others a hot flush can involve a dramatic rise in temperature throughout the body along with feelings of dizziness, nausea and faintness.

The most common cause of a hot flush associated with the menopause is the changing level of oestrogen in the body. This has a direct affect on the hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain responsible for controlling appetite, sleep cycles, sex hormones and body temperature.  

For some reason the drop in oestrogen confuses the hypothalamus and makes it think the body is too hot. The brain responds immediately in a number of ways; your heart pumps faster, the blood vessels in your skin dilate to circulate more blood to radiate off the heat, and your sweat glands release sweat.

Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed the next morning. This happens despite having enough opportunity to sleep. 

Nearly everyone has problems sleeping at some point in their life and it is thought that a third of people in the UK have bouts of insomnia. Insomnia appears to be more common in women and more likely to occur with age.

There are several possible causes for insomnia, such as anxiety, a disrupted sleeping environment, or an underlying medical condition or health problem

The most common problem in young people with insomnia is difficulty falling asleep (sleep-onset insomnia). An insomniac may also experience-waking in the night for no reason at all (most common in older people), not feeling refreshed after sleep and not being able to function normally during the day, feeling irritable and tired and finding it difficult to concentrate, waking when you have been disturbed from sleep by pain or noise, waking early in the morning (the least common type of sleep disturbance).

It may be helpful to have a set time for going to bed and waking up (and avoid sleeping in after a poor night’s sleep); try to relax before going to bed; maintain a comfortable sleeping environment (not too hot, cold, noisy or bright); avoid napping during the day; avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol within six hours of going to bed; avoid exercise within four hours of bedtime (although exercise earlier in the day is helpful); avoid eating a heavy meal late at night, try to avoid watching or checking the clock throughout the night, and finally only use the bedroom for sleep and sex.

Some treatments that may be beneficial are acupuncture, relaxation techniques, and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a fairly common condition that causes uncomfortable sensations in the legs.

The symptoms of RLS can vary from being mild to severe. In severe cases, the condition can be particularly distressing and cause disruption to daily activities.

As well as experiencing unpleasant sensations in the legs, a person with RLS will also have an overwhelming urge to move their legs in order to get some relief.

The exact cause of RLS is unknown, but it is thought to be related to an imbalance of a chemical in the brain called dopamine.

It is estimated that between 5-10% of adults in western countries will develop RLS at some point during their life, with over five million people in the UK being affected by the condition.

RLS can affect both sexes, although women tend to be affected more often than men. The condition is also more common in older people, and the symptoms tend to get worse and more persistent as a person gets older.

If the symptoms of RLS are very mild, no treatment will be necessary. In cases where RLS is more troublesome, simple lifestyle changes can often help to ease the symptoms. For severe RLS, a combination of lifestyle changes and medication is often recommended.

A migraine is a severe headache that often has a number of associated symptoms, such as nausea, increased sensitivity and visual problems.

Migraines are common, affecting about one in four women and one in 12 men in the UK. It is thought that hormonal influences may be the reason why migraines affect more women than men. For example, some women find that migraine attacks are more frequent around the time of their period. However, this association has not been fully proven.

It is possible for migraines to begin later in life. However, it is more common for the condition to begin in childhood or as a young adult. About nine out of 10 people who experience migraines have their first one before they are 40 years old.

Women usually do the asking when it comes to fertility…   At the natural health and fertility clinic, our intention is to help men become more aware of their fertility issues.

Approximately 2.5 million men in Britain may be suffering from fertility problems, with high rates of smoking, stress and drinking believed to be contributory factors. However many men are in denial about the risk of infertility and tend to believe that problems in conceiving are more likely to be the “fault” of the woman

Male fertility is measured by sperm quality and count. A semen analysis will examine sperm count, percentage of active sperm (often called motility), sperm shape (usually called morphology) and the presence of elements other than sperm, for example blood cells or white cells which can provide evidence of damage and/or evidence of infection.

Normal Parameters for Male Infertility

The Current World Health Organisation (WHO) standards for assessing male infertility are:
Volume: more than 1 millilitre (ml)
Count: more than 20 million sperm per ml
Motility: more than 50% moving vigorously and purposefully
Morphology: more than 14% normal forms (ie. no deformities of the head, midpiece or tail).

The male partner contributes to almost half of all infertility problems that couples face yet often refuses to think he may be the possible cause of the couples failure to conceive.
10-20% of all men have sperm counts below the WHO cut-off level.
1-2% of all males are completely infertile and produce no sperm at all

Causes of male infertility:

It was previously thought that mumps could cause sterility in men but in fact it is now known to be extremely rare for mumps to lead to sterility. Stress, infection, alcohol and smoking will all impact on fertility.

• Infected semen can be a cause of infertility.
• Heat can reduce sperm production. This is why the testicles are outside the body in the scrotum rather than in the abdomen like the ovaries.
• Very frequent intercourse can lead to a dramatic reduction in sperm count and cause the man to be effectively infertile. If you ejaculate as much as 2-3 times a day you are likely to have a problem. If you want to be at your most fertile you have to wait at least 3 days between each ejaculation!
• Smoking over 20 cigarettes a day has been shown to reduce both the sperm count and the sperm motility.
• Excessive alcohol intake can lead to low sperm counts for a variety of reasons.
• The workaholic man can find that fatigue can have similar effects on his interest in intercourse as well as stimulate a desire for excessive alcohol intake
• Excessive fluid around the testicle – hydrocele is a known problem
• Varicocele: Varicocele is an abnormal dilatation of the testicular veins and around 15% of healthy fertile men in the general population have a detectable Varicocele. In the infertile population, up to 40% of men have been found to have a varicocele, so there seems to be an association with infertility. Evidence suggests that varicoceles cause progressive damage so whilst a young man with Varicocele may be fertile it is possible that his fertility will decline with time

Treatment

Obviously no-one wants to have a fertility problem but there is no doubt that taking some time to find out more about the things that control your fertility can help. Not only will the information help you control the powerful emotions that can surface during this time but also the additional knowledge can give you a much better chance of success.

Acupuncture can help low sperm motility, low sperm count, and poor sperm morphology.

Preparation for pregnancy should begin several months prior to conception. If both partners begin a preconception healthcare programme including fertility acupuncture, nutrition and reflexology at least 3-4 months prior to conception, it is possible to have an impact on the health of both the egg and sperm and reproductive outcomes.

Our 3 month male fertility acupuncture and sperm improvement programme is recommended because the continuous process by which stem cells develop into mature spermatozoa takes about three months and is known as “spermatogenesis”,

6 Week Male Fertility and Sperm Improvement Acupuncture

Research shows that even an intensive 6 week male fertility and sperm improvement programme, consisting of 2 male fertility acupuncture appointments per week prior or during IVF or fertility acupuncture treatment is beneficial.

Normal Parameters for Male Infertility

The Current World Health Organisation (WHO) standards for assessing male infertility are:

Volume: more than 1 millilitre (ml)
Count: more than 20 million sperm per ml
Motility: more than 50% moving vigorously and purposefully
Morphology: more than 14% normal forms (ie. no deformities of the head, midpiece or tail).

Acupuncture Research for Male Infertility:

“Quantitative evaluation of spermatozoa ultrastructure after acupuncture treatment for idiopathic male infertility.” Fertilty Sterility. 2005 Jul;84(1):141-7. Pei J, Strehler E, Noss U, Abt M, Piomboni P, Baccetti B, Sterzik K.

“Influence of acupuncture on idiopathic male infertility in assisted reproduction therapy.” Dr. M. Zhang et al. J Huazhong University SCI Technology Medicine SCI 2002; 22(3):228-30.

“Effect of acupuncture on sperm parameters of males suffering from subfertility to low sperm quality.” Arch Andrology. 1997 Sep-Oct;39(2): 155-6, Siteman S, Eltes F, Wolfson V, Lederman H, Bartoov B, Institute of Chinese Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel.

“Effects of acupuncture and moxa treatment in patients with semen abnormalities.” Asian J Androl, 2003 Dec; 5(4): 345-8, Gurfinkel E, Cedenho AP, Yamamura Y, Srougi M., Human Reproduction Division, Discipline of Urology, Sao Paulo Federal University, Paulista School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In everyday language depression refers to any downturn in mood, which may be relatively transitory and perhaps due to something trivial.  This is different from clinical depression. In the field of psychiatry the word depression more specifically refers to a mental illness when it has reached a severity and duration to warrant a diagnosis.

The signs and symptoms of self-loathing, a decrease in self-esteem, periods of sobbing for no apparent reason, feeling of helplessness, feeling that you will never get better, anxiety over little or slight things, avoiding social situations are just a few common symptoms.

Post-partum, or post-natal depression, (another form of depression) is experienced by 10-15% of women within first 3 months after giving birth and can last as long as two years.

Owing to physical, mental and emotional exhaustion any form of depression is undeniably disruptive to a person’s social functioning and/ or activities of daily living.

It is widely recognised that certain biochemical imbalances in the body produce symptoms of depression. These can be helped in a number of ways, with acupuncture, nutritional therapy and exercise such as Yoga, even in combination with Western pharmaceutical drugs.