Tend Natural Health

Just because you do it
does’t mean you always will.
Whether you’re dancing dust
or breathing light
you’re never exactly the same,
twice

🌱 What mint family plant is growing ‘like a weed’ in my garden this spring? My gorgeous friend ‘Melissa’ (officinalis).  Melissa is deliciously bright tasting with some notes of lemon…and for that reason she sometimes goes by the nickname, Lemon Balm.  Melissa has been used for centuries to treat anxiety, sleep disorders, indigestion and wounds.   More recent studies have found that Lemon Balm positively impacts mood, cognition (dementia), and memory.
 
🌱 Actions/Functions of Lemon Balm: 
 
· Stimulate acetylcholine receptors, making it an excellent anti-spasm-type herb targeted toward soothing and smoothing digestion.
 
· stimulates GABA receptors in the brain, making it a calming agent for the central nervous system helping to relieve anxiety and depression
 
· Stimulate upregulation of matrix metallo proteinase-2 which aid in formation and growth of new blood vessels, repair of damaged tissues, and inflammation, collagen formation, and bone remodeling. 
 
· Contains volatile oils that  act as potent anti-virals helping to combat certain skin infections like herpes/shingles outbreaks. 
 
 PMID: 27167460
 
Plant 🌱 Warning: 
 
Lemon balm may interact with certain medications, such as thyroid medications and HIV medications.  Please speak with your doctor prior to taking lemon balm to prevent any interactions with medications or health conditions.

Do you know I’ve been cold water ‘plunging’ two days a week since January 1st? Dipping like this can be a love/strongly dislike relationship due to…well…the absolute freezing temp of the water. 🤣😂

❄️ All said and done, the net effect for me has been a great improvement in my mood, better sleep and mental discipline and resilience. Cool (pun intended), right???

❄️ Cold water immersion is something I’ve heard about for years but had never tried. I was moved to swim because doctors of old, without access to modern medications/therapies, used cold water to successfully treat a variety of ailments.

❄️ Today we can and have measured some of the tremendous health benefits from cold water exposure/immersion.

❄️ For optimal benefits plan to dip for a total of 11 mins/ wk over 2-4 days. After exposure allow yourself to warm up on your own (without a warm shower or blasting furnace). Shivering will confer the greatest health benefits which are:

🥶 Improved immune function
🥶 Physiologic Resilience to stress
🥶 Decreased Inflammation
🥶 Improved Mood and Mental Focus
🥶 Protection from Dementia
🥶 Increased Brown Fat and therefore increased metabolic rate
🥶 Improved Insulin Sensitivity

Hope to see ya’ll at the river!!! 💗🥶❄️

PMID: 34755128
PMID: 27704555
PMID: 34687652
PMID: 26966319
PMID: 30131418