|
Scientist Praises Alternative Therapies
|
 |
|
|
| |
A dubious scientist has conducted an
in-depth study of alternative therapies and deduced - to her surprise -
that they are not merely mumbo jumbo.
Kathy Sykes said that she had previously been cautious about using
alternative therapies. She explains, "I would rather put my faith in
conventional medicine, which has been put through numerous trials and
research, and proven to work through rigorous experiments." However,
after spending months studying reflexology, meditation and hypnotherapy for a BBC documentary, she has had a change of heart.
In the last few years, alternative therapies have become increasingly
popular in Britain, although many scientists still refuse to
acknowledge their health benefits. However, the findings of Sykes'
investigation into alternative therapy might just change their mind.
To discover more about meditation, Sykes traveled to the Himalayas to
meet a Buddhist monk called Matthieu Ricard. Known as the "happiest man
in the world", Ricard has been meditating for 30 years and believes it
can change the way you experience every moment of your life, as well as reduce anxiety
and increase compassion. After meditating with Ricard, Sykes said that
she "definitely felt calmer and more at ease," which are thoughts that
comply with the findings of a number of studies. Professor Richard
Davidson carried out one of these studies at the Laboratory for
Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He
noticed a real change in brain activity when people meditated, which
showed people to be happier and less anxious.
Sykes made similar discoveries when she investigated hypnotherapy, she
said: "It's a therapy I've long considered pretty wacky, but I did
unearth some rather compelling work by Professor Irving Kirsch from
Hull University." Kirsch used an MRI scanner to monitor changes to the
brain when people under hypnosis were told to imagine a black and white
picture in colour. He also monitored them doing the same thing while
they were not hypnotised. By doing this, he discovered that, when
hypnotised, the subjects managed to activate the parts of their brain
needed to see colour. When the subjects were in a normal state, these
parts of the brain were not activated.
However, Sykes wasn't impressed with all the natural therapies
she looked into; she remains dubious about reflexology. Reflexology is
thought to heal a range of ailments by simply applying pressure to
different areas of the feet. Professor Leslie Walker from Hull
University has looked into reflexology and discovered that it can help breast cancer
patients to relax. However, there was no significant difference between
the results he obtained for reflexology and head massage. In addition
to this, an anatomist told her that the foot map used by reflexology
practitioners was dubious.
Reflexology aside, Sykes was clearly impressed by the health benefits
offered by meditation and hypnotherapy. She concludes: "There is no
doubt that certain studies in this field are yielding results which
made me - and possibly even the most skeptical of individuals - take
stock when it comes to the value of alternative therapies."
Source:
Daily Mail
| |
