John Douillard's LifeSpa | Ayurveda + Natural Health
Ancient Wisdom meets Modern ScienceAyurveda + Natural Health News
Could your diet protect your brain as you age? In 2015, researchers at Rush University wanted to see if dietary changes could stave off cognitive decline in the elderly. They combined the Mediterranean diet with the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) into a hybrid diet called “the MIND diet.” Researchers compared all three diets for
Health-Related Severity May Be Linked to Vitamin D Deficiency Studies find that communities of color experience more health issues than other populations. But why? One reason may be chronic vitamin D deficiencies.1,2 Darker skin requires more sunlight to convert UVB rays from the sun into pre-vitamin D on the skin. This pre-vitamin D is absorbed into the
Sleep: Let’s Get Back to Basics Years ago, when I was touring with Deepak Chopra giving Ayurvedic consultations and lectures in different cities, I had a patient who complained of waking up with a headache every morning. I gave him an herbal protocol and three months later, I returned to his town. I saw him
Spring Fever? Do you think human beings are made to mate at a certain time of year? Throughout nature, we see seasonal breeding as part of species survival. Most animals are forced to mate in the summer-fall, in order to give birth in the spring. Mating during late fall or winter would push birthing into
Do you have trouble sleeping? It seems logical to assume that difficulty falling asleep is caused by excess energy. Based on this logic, sedation would offer a remedy. While sedatives do sometimes work, they often leave you groggy and foggy in the morning, or they just stop working over time. In this article, I make the
Melatonin Fights Rise of Occasional Teen Anxiety Do you think teenagers are becoming increasingly anxious? Teenagers between 13 and 18 have seen a sharp 20% rise in occasional anxiety between 2007 and 2012.12 The National Institutes of Health found one in three adolescents experience occasional anxiety.2 Today, adolescents are digital natives. They have grown up with screens, leading many researchers to believe the rise in stress level is linked to excessive screen time. In America,
Are You Breathing Wrong? You enter the world with a gasp of air, and take an estimated 500 million breaths in your lifetime.1 Breathing is the first and most fundamental motor pattern,2 a primary autonomic function, and absolutely vital to life. You don’t even really think about your breathing—it just carries on day and night,
There is a stark contrast between how little attention is given to lymph in the West and how highly it is revered in Ayurveda. The lymphatic system is considered one of the seven body tissues in Ayurveda, the first to become compromised under stress. The Sanskrit for lymph is rasa, which is also the word
Ayurvedic Anatomy of Psychology According to Ayurveda, we feel emotional impressions in the emotional heart. This is called sadaka pitta—the aspect of pitta that feels everything. These impressions are then transported to the brain through the carrying channels of prana vata—the emotional aspect of vata. Emotional impressions felt by sadaka pitta are carried and written
What are Circadian Rhythms? Circadian rhythms are light-dark cycles, as old as the first life on Earth.1 All life, so it seems, had to be intimately connected to cycles of the sun to continue to evolve. One of the most important tenets of Ayurveda is living in sync with natural rhythms. Daily eating cycles, sleeping
Gallbladder removal is the most common elective abdominal surgery in America. Gallstones, just one reason the gallbladder fails, affect 10-15% of Americans, or 20-25 million people. More importantly, why has gallbladder disease risen by 20%+ in the last 30 years?1 In the 1960s, America was told a lie that fat would cause heart disease! Since
You’ve probably heard sugar is bad for you. But, how bad is it, really? Let’s start with the addictive nature of sugar . . . it’s more addictive than cocaine! In one study, animals were offered a choice between two feeding levers: one loaded with sugar or saccharin and the other with cocaine. 94% of
